Today, I showed my students in the Mandarin Chinese I classes the Four Treasures of the study (wén fáng sì bǎo 文房四宝), which refers to the essential tools a scholar in ancient China used in written communication. These tools, including 笔、墨、纸、砚, (bǐ, mò, zhǐ, yàn,Brush, Ink, Paper, Inkstone), are still used by calligraphers and Chinese brush painting artists all around the world. Here is a video introducing them: Today, where the Americans are celebrating the Veteran's Day, the Chinese consumers are indulged in an online shopping spree. Originally a sort of anti-Valentine's day for the singles (the Arabic Numeral 1 is regarded as a symbol of the unattached), the Double 11 Day, also called the Singles Day, has evolved in just a decade's time into the biggest online shopping day of the year, comparable to Black Friday here in America without physical stores involved. Here are some articles you might want to read: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34773940 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-34784444 http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/chinas-singles-day-business-boon-online-shopping-n460886 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-09/why-singles-day-in-china-is-bigger-than-cyber-monday http://www.cbsnews.com/news/china-singles-day-alibaba-jd-com-breaks-record-number-of-sales/ And a video... American publisher of business forcasts Kiplinger ranked ten best languages for your career, among which Mandarin Chinese was number one. Here is why:
1. Mandarin Chinese Native speakers: 848 million Number of job postings in 2014: U.S.: 21,770; total, English-speaking countries: 72,597 Median annual salary: U.S.: $43,680; English-speaking total (in U.S. dollars): $30,637 More jobs require Chinese than any other foreign language except Spanish. And Mandarin is only the seventh-most-popular language studied by American undergrads, according to a recent report by the Modern Language Association of America. That means less competition for jobs requiring Mandarin, which range from retail and sales openings to personal financial advisers, who make a median salary of $148,750 a year, according to Burning Glass. The State Department, in its description of Mandarin as a "critical language" for Americans, cites a high demand for Chinese speakers in booming Asian economies, including China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. If you decide to learn this top language for your career, prepare to study hard. The tonal language is consistently ranked as one of the most difficult for English speakers to pick up. Read more at http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/business/T012-S001-best-foreign-languages-for-your-career/index.html |
Archives
九月 2016
About MeI currently teach Mandarin Chinese at Avon Public Schools, Connecticut. I am also Associate Professor of English in the School of Foreign Languages at Shandong Normal University. Categories
全部
|