祝周先生生日快乐!
January 13 is the 111st birthday of Mr. Zhou Youguang (周有光,Zhōuyǒuguāng), known as the "father of Pinyin", China's official romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. 祝周先生生日快乐!
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The Following article was translated by eChinacities.com
While many articles have been written about cross-cultural misunderstandings and miscommunications betweenforeigners and Chinese, often times, these articles are written from the perspective of the expat. The following article, which recently appeared onwenxuecity.com, follows similar ground but from a Chinese perspective, and for a Chinese audience (hence all of references to “foreigners” which in this case, generally means “Westerners”). While we may think that some of the explanations are a bit odd, it is nonetheless an interesting piece of cultural anthropology. With no further ado, here are the top ten misunderstands according to Chinese. 1 Praise (赞美) Foreigners take delight in praising others, and are also happy to receive praise, but Chinese will often refuse another person’s praise in order to demonstrate their modesty. This refusal will likely baffle foreigners, as it seems to them that you don’t accept their sentiment. Meanwhile, Chinese will often say kind words to another person with whom they are trying to curry favour. One way we ingratiate ourselves is by telling guests things like: “You must be tired? You should go and have a good rest” (您应该很累吧?好好休息一下). However foreigners will misunderstand this common greeting, and instead think that you are commenting on the state of their physical appearance. Foreigners really like it when others exaggerate their youthfulness or strength, and if you question their physical heath (as in the above example), they may get upset. 2 Saying “Thank you” (致谢) Chinese believe that you needn’t say “thank you” to family members or good friends after they help you, and that saying such a thing actually implies an unfriendly or estranged relationship. But foreigners are accustomed to saying “thank you” when a family member or good friend helps them, and they are taught to use polite language such as “thanks” and “please”. So, when you’re hanging out with foreigners, you definitely don’t want to be ungenerous with your “thank yous”. Not saying “thanks” will cause foreigners to assume that you are shy or impolite. 3 Traveling with a friend (出游) When Chinese travel with friends, if someone wants to buy some souvenir, they will generally first calculate how many people are in the group, and then purchase accordingly. Even if someone politely declined, Chinese will still buy one for him or her. But when travelling with a foreigner, if you decline a souvenir, don’t expect to get one anyway. Foreigners believe that they are respecting your decision by not buying you something after you’ve declined it. So, if you really want something, you should directly say so. And afterwards, be sure to sincerely thank them (see #2); in their eyes, that’s the polite way of doing it. 4 Addressing (称呼) When foreigners hear Chinese referring to them as laowai (老外), they’re unhappy, because they don’t think of themselves as being old, but as young and healthy. It’s only after they hear Chinese call a small child laowai that they realise that it has nothing to do with age, that it’s just a respectful form of address for foreigners. 5 Seeing somebody off (送别) The manner in which Chinese express emotions is relatively restrained. When seeing somebody off, choking back your tears, being stingy in your embrace and other “indifferent” displays of affection will deeply shock foreigners. So, if you’re saying goodbye to a foreigner, your manner should be a bit more unrestrained, lest they think of you as cold-hearted. 6 Give yourself a round of applause (鼓掌) During Chinese public speeches, if others start applauding something the speaker has said, to express his or her gratitude, the speaker will generally pause the speech and start clapping along with the audience. Foreigners don’t understand why you’d want to applaud yourself, which they see as very immodest. So, if your giving a speech in front of a bunch of foreigners, it’d be better to bow or wave instead of applause. Of course, just smiling and standing there is an option as well. 7 Eye contact (眼神) For many Chinese, when talking with others or giving a public speech, we shy away from making eye contact with the audience, as it’s considered quite rude. But when foreigners give public speeches, they are sure to keep near-constant eye contact with the audience, and it’s unlikely that you’ll see a public speaker who buries their head in their manuscript while talking. If you don’t have the courage to keep eye contact with your audience during your public speech, then don’t expect the audience to interact or fully engage in what you’re saying. 8 Gift giving (送礼) Chinese like to give gifts in pairs, such as two bottles of wine, two cigarettes etc. This is done both to show that we are not stingy, and because two is a culturally auspicious number. Also, when visiting a friend or a relative’s house, it’s very common for us to bring them some fruit. But in the West, when someone gives someone else a bottle of wine as a gift, it is always a single bottle. Perhaps this is because it is custom to drink the bottle of wine that the guest brings with the meal, and if the guest brings two bottles of wine, it would seem as if they are a bit of an alcoholic. It’s also uncommon for foreigners to bring fruit to a friend or relative’s house – fruit is generally the kind of gift that you’d bring someone staying in a hospital. Also, when Chinese receive gifts from others, it’s custom to take the gift and quietly set it aside and wait to open the gift until after the guests have left (lest they come off as greedy). Conversely, foreigners hope that you’ll open the gift in front of them, and then thank you for the gift afterward. 9 Being a guest in someone’s house (做客) When Chinese visit someone’s house, they like to roam about and peek around at everything. But how will foreigners look upon these acts? Although it’s hospitable to make a guest feel at home, for foreigners, it’s still taboo for guests to meander around their house nonchalantly invading their privacy. Similarly, we should refrain from asking them about private matters such as their salary, age etc. 10 Eating (吃饭) Many misunderstandings with foreigners take place at the dinner table. When Chinese invite foreigners to eat at their house, they will likely prepare 8-10 dishes. It’s best to mentally prepare the foreigners for the size of the meal to come, otherwise they will probably not have any room left by the time the final dishes come out. If you go to a foreigner’s house for a meal, there may only be one or two dishes on the table. Also, the way foreigners will comment on the meal (“These dishes are all so tasty”) are completely different from the way Chinese people comment on the meal (“this dish is too [X]…I’ll make do with it and eat a little bit.”). Chinese express their interest in others by giving them bits of food to eat, which foreigners never do – they’re most happy to let people pick and choose what they want to eat by themselves. Also, when dining with a foreigner, don’t act humble or subtle about what you want to eat – most foreigners are very direct, and if they ask you if you like eating something and you politely decline, they’ll respect your decision and won’t try to give it to you again. So, when dining with foreigners, if you’re hungry, let them know! In short, foreigners’ expressions and methods of dealing with people are very direct, and Chinese are more tactful. May the Force be with you! 愿原力与你同在 Yuàn yuánlì yú nǐ tóngzài! Phrase spoken mostly by Jedi Knights 绝地武士 (juédì wǔshì) in Star Wars (星球大战) (xīngqiú dàzhàn)
Christians in China might use the formulation ‘与……同在 ‘ to say things like ‘God is with us’ 神与我们同在 (Shén yú wǒmen tóngzài) The word 愿 yuàn is used to say ‘may…’ at the start of sentences. (from Mandarinsanity.com) 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 From BBC: A professor in China has invented a taxing new way of preventing students from turning up late for his classes. Wang Sijun, who teaches at a university in Sichuan province, has been giving tardy students a complex character to write out on paper 1,000 times. The Chinese character for "biang", is made up of 56 pen strokes. The word holds no meaning but local media said Mr Wang drew inspiration for it from the name of a noodle dish he had while visiting Shaanxi province. The Chengdu Economic Daily newspaper reported that two unfortunate students had received the penalty so far. The first student said she could not continue writing the word after the 200th time as it became "so tiring". In the end, she had asked Prof Wang to commute the punishment, and promised that she would never be late for class again. The second latecomer volunteered instead, to draw one hundred Terracotta Warriors, also a specialty from Shaanxi. He took more than four hours to finish his drawings. 'Creative' form of punishment Chinese characters are often rated among the most difficult languages in the world to write and master. They are made up of simple strokes, variations of eight basic ones, which are combined into characters. Those in turn, are used to form words and sentences. Experts often say that the only effective way to master the art of writing Chinese is by repetition. So students frequently practise handwriting exercises, writing out multiple lines of Chinese characters by hand. Following news of the professor's punishment, the "biang" character has spread widely online. On Chinese social media, many netizens exchanged praise for the professor's "creative" form of punishment. "One look at that and I won't ever be late for class again," commented one user on popular micro-blogging platform Weibo. "This sounds like an interesting and refreshing mode of punishment," said Luying Yang, a teacher on Weibo. Another said: "The professor was not asking for too much from his students to not arrive late for class - so I think this was actually quite a reasonable penalty. The word looks painful to write but it was not an outrageous punishment overall." Mei Wei Zhu said the punishment could have been worse: "Imagine if he made them write out their punishment in traditional calligraphy." Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivered a 20-minute-long speech entirely in Mandarin at Tsinghua University. As a member of the Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management (SEM) at the renowned Chinese university, Zuckerberg also had a Q&A session with the head of SEM the last year.
As to how well he speaks Mandarin, please refer to this article. I will give him a thumb up because of his attitude to learn and his obviously relentless effort to practice despite his busy schedule. Here's a New York Times story. And a CNN report. You can see a video of him giving new year's greetings to the Chinese people in Mandarin. The NSLI-Y Program offers scholarship for high school students to learn chinese, in china10/22/2015 The following is taken from the NSLI for Youth website:
If you have a passion for learning languages and want to immerse yourself in a foreign culture, this program may be for you! The application deadline for 2016-17 programs is October 29, 2015 at 4 PM EST. ABOUT NSLI-Y The National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, provides merit-based scholarships for eligible high school students and recent high school graduates to learn less commonly taught languages in summer and academic-year overseas immersion programs. NSLI-Y is part of a U.S. government initiative that prepares American citizens to be leaders in a global world. Now more than ever, it is important that Americans have the necessary linguistic skills and cultural knowledge to promote international dialogue and support American engagement abroad. NSLI-Y aims to provide opportunities to American youth that will spark a lifetime interest in language learning. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Chinese (Mandarin) Summer Program Location: China Program Dates: Summer programs are six to eight weeks in duration and typically start in mid-June to early July and end in early to mid-August Language Class Hours: Minimum of 120 hours during the program Accommodations: Host families or a combination of group housing and host family stays Academic program: The Chinese summer program aims to enhance students’ ability to communicate with confidence in the target language. The program increases students’ Chinese language proficiency through intensive in-class language instruction, cultural presentations and activities, and host family stays. Volunteer service activities with community-focused organizations and cultural activities such as cooking, Chinese arts and crafts, and martial arts classes complement classroom learning and provide studChinese cultural classents with diverse opportunities to practice their language skills. Pre- and post-program expectations: Beginners must complete pre-program language assignments, which will include an introduction to the language and basic phrases. Participants with prior experience in the target language will be expected to take pre-program language assessments. All participants will be expected to complete a pre-program survey and several post-program surveys and language tests. Chinese (Mandarin) Academic Year Program Possible Program Locations: China, Taiwan Program Dates: Late August to June Language Class Hours: 10 to 20 hours per week Accommodations: Host families or a combination of dormitory housing and host family stays Academic program: The Chinese academic year program aims to enhance student’s ability to communicate with confidence in the target language. The program provides intensive in-class language instruction (at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels) and host family stays. Volunteer service activities with community-focused organizations, cultural classes such as calligraphy, tai-chi, kung-fu, and Chinese chess, and local excursions to cultural and historic sites complement classroom learning and provide students with diverse opportunities to practice their language skills. There were stories considered less newsworthy by mainstream American media when the Chinese president Xi Jinping paid a state visit last month (He started a visit to the U.K. today), but they might be more relevant to the Mandarin Chinese learners in this country. Here are some highlights:
and on Huffpost Politics
Read full text here. Here is the link of the office site of the 100K Strong Foundation. |
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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
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