Infrequent Nights

After an extended end of term break I'm back at the books again. This term I'm in a new sort of class called "News and Views." As opposed to a language type textbook we have a specially written textbook with accompanying news stories on CD. We listen to news the reports and try to figure out what they hell they're on about. It's challenging, but just the sort of practice I need. Furthermore it looks like my teacher is a talented one. She teaches at both Taida and Shida, and is one of the textbook's co-authors.

My Chinese is at a level where I can use it without much difficulty in most day to day situations. This is both a blessing and a curse. Because I can now talk around problem areas, and get by without TOO much difficulty I am less inclined to study. I need to keep telling myself that my Chinese sucks so that I'll be the sort of hard-working, obsessive student I need to be to really take it to the next level.

I've only got a few months left here in Taiwan and I want to use them as productively as possible so expect less in the way of posts here. I'll be hard at the books for the next few months.

Posted by Ryan at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The People Daily online reports that there isn't enough progress being made towards training the five million Chinese teachers that are needed worldwide. Well actually, the article claims both four and five million are needed. I'm not sure which number to believe. To be honest I don't buy either of them. It estimates there will be 100 million Chinese as a second langauge (CSL) students by 2010. That number seems absurdly high to me. While I've no doubt Chinese study is becoming increasingly popular, I'll be skeptical of the 100 million students figure until I seem some evidence and understand how they estimated it.

Nonetheless the article demonstrates just how serious the PRC is about CSL. They're naturally anxious to have as many Chinese speakers worldwide as possible, and they seem to be actively encouraging the study via a number of initiatives including funding their 'Confucsius Institutes' as well as training scads of teachers and publishing copious study materials.

Posted by Ryan at 08:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I read a report in today's Taipei Times, but couldn't find it online so you get the link to the Xinhua version. The article claims Chinese is easier to learn than some think because, while it has over 50 000 known characters, only 900 of those are needed to understand 90% of what one reads. While I've no doubt this is true (I can understand 90% of what I read) it is slightly misleading. Ninety percent sounds like a lot to understand, until one actually reads a sentence and doesn't understand 10% of the important content. Then that 10% will seem mighty big indeed. For instance:

Just yesterday my #@$%* was not working properly so I decided to *#$*!. Have you ever done that before?

While you can understand about 90% of that, it doesn't help much as you still have no idea what I'm on about (nor do I, it's just an example). The commonly held consensus is that one needs between 2000-3000 characters to be functionally literate in Chinese. While 900 is certainly a good base, the holes in one's knowledge will still at times severly hamper communication.

Posted by Ryan at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I almost had a heart attack the other day. I was out for a beverage with a friend. We went to a local cafe, popular with students from Shi Da. As soon as we walked in I saw, sitting in a corner, Gao Wei Li. At least I thought it was Gao Wei Li. This guy bore a striking resemblance to the star we Chinese students all know and love. He had the hair, the posture, and the clothes. Everything looked right. Granted he seemed surprisingly young, but I figured he had aged well.

I kept looking at him over my shoulder, trying to figure out if it was really him. I thought of going over and asking but he was busy studying. It was then I noticed what he was busy studying: Practical AV Chinese, book #1. Unless our Gao Wei Li has suffered from amnesia and lost his Chiense skills, or really likes reading the dialogues he performed so long ago this man couldn't be the real Gao Wei Li. I was slightly disappointed with my discovery. But at the same time slightly contented. For the time being it is nice to have Gao Wei Li as an ethereal personality I can imagine dancing around the streets of Taipei. If I were ever to meet him, his mystical qualities may evaporate. So for now the real Gao Wei Li remains unfound. He is still dancing around my imaginary Taipei, and setting a good example for ex-pats the country over.

Posted by Ryan at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Warning: Excessively self-indulgent post approaching.

I've come to the realization that deep within my psyche lies a defect of some sort. I seem to be inexplicably attracted to learning ridiculously difficult, and in some cases bordering up on completely useless, skills. I'm not really sure where my drive to speak Chinese comes from, but I have noticed that it shares many similarities with some of my other 'phases' (which I use for lack of a better word) such as my earlier drive to be a professional juggler. I made a decision when I was about 18 or 19 that I was going to be a professional juggler. Thereafter I trained virtually non-stop for a few years. Subsequently, I achieved what I had set out to do and have since performed in over a dozen countries. My current hardcore daily studying schedule resembles my early juggling training schedule. Which begs the question: Why do I insist on learning such difficult things? And why, once I make my decision, do I so obsessively pursue my goals?

Being able to juggle a five club cascade isn't a particularly useful skill. In fact it is in some ways representative of waste. I spent thousands of hours training, and what do I have to show for it? A useless trick that doesn't last very long. While Chinese language skills are arguably more useful than juggling, I have no really good reason to bother learning Chinese. Rather I think it is the initial difficulty that attracted me to the language. I enjoy mastering things that I find difficult. Furthermore, I enjoy the process of training myself to become better at something.

It is the results that really attract me. When I see myself progress from one day to another, whether it be a more solid juggling pattern, enhanced ability to read an article in Chinese, or what have you, I feel as if I have accomplished something, and it is this sense of accomplishment that drives me. Why I strive for this sense of accomplisment I don't know, but I suppose it is preferrable to not having motivation of any sort.

One good thing to be said for learning Chinese is that it elicits much more respect than juggling. Juggling is perceived as silly by most. It is difficult to argue with their assesment. Chinese though carries a mystique of difficulty (well deserved I'd say) and considering the current geo-political situation is thought by many to be a very practical area of study. I suspect it, like the other things I train myself to do, will prove useful in the future.

Posted by Ryan at 05:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It's not like me to blog about those crazy crazy VCDs twice in a row, but this is important. Previously my Book Two lessons 11-16 VCD was pretty knackered. The last three lessons didn't work. The other day I got a working copy and just got around to watching lesson 15.

Words can't really express how this video makes me feel. I had no choice but to capture some video and post here. Maybe watching this will help you to understand why I love these video so much. Also, posting it might help with my search for Gao Wei Li.

I absolutely SWEAR I did not see this before making the Michael Jackson in a lumberjack shirt comparison below. Be patient if it takes a while to load. I promise you, it's worth it (you might want to press play to start the download, and then pause the playback while your browser caches so you don't get stop-start playback).

Update: The word on the street is that Gao Wei Li is still in Taiwan. While one cannot put too much faith in the word on the street it is better than no word at all. If this is indeed the case, I think my chances of tracking down Gao Wei Li are slightly better. I wonder what he could be doing here. Running a dance studio maybe?

Posted by Ryan at 02:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

If you have studied Chinese in Taiwan, chances are you've used the Practical Audio-Visual Chinese textbook series. It's a decent series of textbooks, with a number of supplementary learning materials. If you were lucky enough to have access to the VCD versions of the textbook conversations then you'll be familiar with the American character Gao Wei Li and the astonishing number of Chinese classmates he has in what is purported to be an East Coast American University. This is his picture here.

I watch the VCDs on a semi-regular basis as a way to enforce things I have studied before. I often find myself wondering about the 'actors' (I use that term very loosely here) playing the roles of the textbook characters. What are they doing now? Do they have these VCDs at home? Does Gao Wei Li still use his Chinese? I'm not even sure if the Chinese we hear him speak in the VCDs is actually his voice, as the audio is obviously dubbed. Maybe his Chinese is actually pretty crap. Who knows? I'm sure somebody does, and I want to find out. WHERE IS GAO WEI LI? And furthermore, what is his real name? The VCDs don't have any real credits letting us know who plays who, so I can't even google the guy.

Most of the footage is shot on the Shida campus here in Taipei. The guy who plays Gao Wei Li was likely a student at the Mandarin Training Center. Judging from the style of clothing, and a few other hints dropped within the films I'd say they were produced in the early nineties. Let's say 1991-1992ish. So by my calculations and estimations that puts the guy who played Gao Wei Li at about 40 years of age. He looks like an American. Could be Canadian. I'd bet a lot against European, but it's possible. If you've seen this man, please report back here. If you know his name let me know. I've no idea why I care, but every time I watch these VCDs I find myself wondering about him. Maybe he's stll in Taiwan? Maybe he's become wildly successful? Maybe his brush with acting in Taiwan spurred him to pursue a career in the performing arts? Maybe he cut his hair. I hope he cut his hair. I had similar hair in the early-mid nineties. It looked as bad on me as it does on him. I never consciously did that weird curly thing on my forehead though. That's just creepy. Too much like Michael Jackson in a lumberjack shirt.

So please keep the feelers out for Gao Wei Li. I doubt I'll be successful in my quest, but sometimes the internet can be a wonderful thing...

Posted by Ryan at 09:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

The fellow who lived in my room before I moved in left me a bunch of books. Included in the pile were a few aimed at self-learners of Chinese. "A Guide to Proper Usage of Spoken Chinese" is by far the most useful amongst them. This book is meant to supplement one's study of Chinese. It is by no means a stand-alone text book. Guide to Spoken Chinese aims to clear up a large number of grammatical and vocabulary issues often encoutered by English speakers learning Chinese. This is exceptionally helpful as the issues tackled are just the sort often overlooked by broader ranging textbooks, and even by teachers in the classroom.

The book aims to clear up incorrect usage before it becomes "fossilized" by helping students to learn where they may have misunderstandings, and clarifying the rules for them. Those who will benefit most from this book are intermediate Chinese learners. They will have a sufficient language base to be able to understand the lessons and examples given, but will still benefit greatly from the clarifications provided.

The book is not written in such a way as to require reading from front to back. One is free to browse through the lessons to focus on the areas where she has difficulty. There are 114 lessons in this slim book. As a result of covering so much ground they could be slightly more indepth. Most of them are sufficiently detailed, but others could use more example phrases to help clarify the distinctions made. For those who wish to practice there are exercises and an answer key in the back of the book.

This book is useful. It does what it sets out to do, which is all that can really be asked of it. It won't teach you Chinese, but it might help fix and improve the Chinese you already know. I recommend it to supplement one's studies with more indepth clarification of grammar and vocabulary usage.

Posted by Ryan at 05:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The administration staff at the CCLC (Center for Chinese Language and Culture) are quite possibly the rudest, most inept group of individuals I have ever had dealings with, and I've dealt with my fair share of rude ineptitude. As I've mentioned before, I like the school. The teachers are good. The facilities are nice. That said, dealing with the school on an administrative level is incredibly frustrating. I am not alone in my opionion. Just about every student has their own horror story of having to deal with the administration. Those who don't have horror stories stil have a marked distaste for the way they are treated by the office staff.

I am a scholarship student. This means every month the government of Taiwan pays me to study Chinese. If my marks fall below a certain level, or I miss too much class I do not receive my scholarship. Fair enough. Last month there was an error calculating my attendance at the CCLC office. As a result this month when I went to withdraw money from my bank account there was nothing there. You see they don't inform you if they are going to withhold your scholarship mnoney. They just do it. So students are treated to the nice surprise of having no money for a month, and wondering what the hell they're going to eat in the meantime.

Today I dealt with the mass of administration to get my problem solved. At first they told me there was pretty much nothing they could do. After a bunch of haggling, and going from office to office and desk to desk I sussed out my difficulties. I had my teacher from last term write a short note explaining that there had been an error and I had indeed been in class on the days they had me marked as absent. I again did the desk shuffle presenting my note to numerous individuals trying to get them to help me out. I finally got my records changed and went to the scholarship lady smiling with the proof that I had indeed been in class last month. She says "fine you'll get your money at the beginning of next month." Which means I essentially have to go three weeks without my money. Which means I'm looking forward to eating sawdust for a few weeks. I asked her why she couldn't get the money in sooner (they already have the money sitting in their account). To which she replied she has to wait for all the other students who have errors from last month's scholarships to sort out their problems so she can deal with them all at once. When I suggested to her that they start informing students when there is a problem regarding their scholarship before they withold the money she looked downright surprised, as if the thought had never crossed her mind. Her reply was that it was a good idea, but she wouldn't be able to do it. With that I was dismissed.

Posted by Ryan at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Wenlin is my absolute favorite Chinese learning resource. I can honestly see myself using this computer program, or some incarnation of it, until I either miraculously acquire Mandarin fluency or I die. At first glance Wenlin appears to be an electric dictionary. Which it of course is, but it is so much more. The real power of Wenlin is its interface. One can search by pinyin, stroke count, radicals (by number or stroke count), character components, word, phrase, English meaning, character frequency, word frequency, unicode number, and more methods I'm likely forgetting to mention. If one is really stuck he can even use his computer's mouse to draw the character into an input box.

What this all means is that when one needs information Wenlin makes it easy to find. If I'm reading and I see a character I don't know I can find it easily as I have numerous ways of looking for it. If it's used it conjunction with another character I can search by words containing that character. If it has a component I recognize I can search by that component. If I can guess how its pronounced I can search by that sound, and so on and so forth.

Wenlin has sound files for every character, plus stroke order animations. These features are especially useful for people earlier on in the process of studying Chinese. Cantonese pronunciations are also included for many more popular characters. Many characters are accompanied by interesting etymological data, and some even have tips designed to make remembering the character's structure easier. Furthermore all characters are available in simplified and traditional forms.

Beyond all the regular functionality of a dictionary Wenlin offers much more. It can be used as a word processor/text editor or to view documentation. I often cut and paste Chinese news stories off of websites into Wenlin when I read them. Not only can I make the font nice and big to make reading the Hanzi easier, if I run into reading difficulties I can scroll over the characters and the program will display a definition at the bottom of the screen. The program is smart enough to know that if two characters used as a word are together the word's definition should be displayed. Included with the full version of the program are numerous full length texts drawn from China's long literary history. The texts are accompanied with English translations and offer students a good way to practice their Chinese and learn more about Chinese culture.

There is a high-quality flash card training/testing system included. I have used it briefly, but as I find my preferred learning methods do not jive with flash cards I haven't tested it extensively. Nonetheless this should be an attractive feature to many students.

Like I said, Wenlin is my absolute favorite resource. It makes my studying faster, more efficient, and easier. This means I am able to get more done in the hours I put in, which I like to think means I'll progress faster than I would otherwise. All that said, it isn't cheap. Purchasing information is available on their website. Note that academic, and institutional discounts are likely available. There is a demo version available for download, but it is severly hampered by the size of the dictionary included.

Posted by Ryan at 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Chinesepod is a relatively new resource for people interested in learning Chinese. Podcasted from Shanghai on approximately a daily basis it mixes good instruction technique, with high production values and amiable hosts. As the podcast just started in September of 2005 the selection of lessons is still heavily weighted towards the beginner/basic level. However for those with appropriate levels of Chinese experience these lessons will provide valuable assistance.

The podcasts themselves are free. If one wishes she can pay a subscription fee for access to supplementary training materials. I can't speak to the value of these as I've never used them. I do occasionaly listen to the 'intermediate' lessons and often find them useful. If anything, listening to extra Chinese lessons, whether I find them too easy or not, certainly isn't doing any harm to my Chinese abilities.

Interestingly this podcast has climbed up yahoo's ranking of podcasts to consistently rank in the top five. This speaks both to the growing popularity of Chinese as a foreign language, and to the overall quality of the service. I highly recommend chinesepod to beginners and even people who consider their Chinese abilities at an intermediate level.

Posted by Ryan at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (1)

Over the next week or so I'm going to point out a few resources for those studying Chinese whether on their own or at a school. They're things I use to supplement my studies at Shi Da, and should be useful to just about anyone trying to learn Chinese.

The first is arguably my most used resource: Radio Free Asia. While it isn't strictly a resource for learning Chinese, it does offer huge amounts of Chinese (and other language) programming on a daily basis. One of the strong points is the archiving of the material. Programs are available for direct download for a few days after their original broadcast, or one can subscribe to an RSS feed.

The programs themselves are often quite interesting, and expose one to a wide array of spoken Chinese. Shows like 老百姓的声音 (lao bai xing de sheng yin: voice of the people) gets Chinese speakers from around the world talking about issues of import to them. RFA definitely has a political slant to its programming. As an organization with the majority if not all of its funding from the United States Government, the reportage must be taken with a grain of salt. Nonetheless I find most of the coverage enjoyable. I especially like the program where a deep voiced, slow speaking Chinese man recites the names, birth dates, and a short anecdote about people who were persecuted during the Cultural Revolution.

I just wish the PRC had a similar English language service to broadcast across North America and Europe. That would be entertaining.

Posted by Ryan at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been studying Chinese at Shi-Da since September. This is my six month progress statement. I've had a number of inquiries regarding how much one can learn, how quickly it can be learned, etc. So I thought I'd address some of those questions here to make the answers readily available to all.

When I started my Chinese was at a very basic level. After my preliminary placement test at Shi Da they stuck me into a book 1 lesson 13 class, using the Practical Audio-Visual Chinese series. At the beginning I felt I was in over my head. I probably should have started around lesson 7, but I had a good teacher and I studied a lot in my spare time. I opted for the "intensive" classes, which means that there are three hours of daily instruction as opposed to the two that most classes offer. In the past six months my Chinese has certainly improved. I can get by in day to day situations now. Broken, error ridden conversations are possible. I can even struggle through a newspaper article if I have a dictionary at hand.

While I have progressed, I have spent the majority of my time here studying. As languages are not my strong suit, I've put in hour upon hour of practicing on top of the demands of my coursework. At home Chinese radio is always on. I read Chinese as much as possible. I use outside materials to supplement my textbooks. And I try to have converstions when and where I can.

Thus far I've studied through the end of the second book 'shang' (that is the first half of the second textbook, which is for some unknown reason split into two books). Next term I'm going to switch to the Far East Everyday Chinese series, as I had a look through one of the books and found the material to be more suitable. I'd much rather learn how to say modem than typewriter. I've decided to return to Canada this summer so I've only got three months left. I'm going to try to be even more persistent by studying for at least an average of 8 hours per day during my last term here. I'll be sure to post a follow up report in a few months.

Posted by Ryan at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

The textbook series we use has a collection of what are probably the least entertaining cartoons I have ever laid eyes on. I particularly (dis)liked this one, which does an excellent job of demonstrating the artist's perception of whiteys. The Asian fellow on the left asks "Aren't you cold, I'm already wearing a sweater." The silly Aryan holds up his unnaturally hairy foreigner arms and replies "I'm not cold at all, see I have my own built in sweater."

Posted by Ryan at 09:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's IHT has a good report about the growing popularity of Chinese as a second language: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/11/news/china.php. I think it's great the language is gaining such popularity. I just hope these 'Confucius Institutes' don't use the PRC state published Chinese as a Second Language texts I was using in Canada: The "New Practical Chinese Reader" series. There are many better texts out there, including the one used at my school.

It's a fine series of texts really. I've enjoyed using them for the past few months. The only shortcoming is in the production of the VCDs. For some reason, I reckon because they hired a poor audio technician while they were shooting, they've dubbed over all the dialogue with stuff taped in studio. The music is humorous, and the acting is (as is to be expected) hilariously inept. My favorite bits are the completely out of context montages between different sections of a lesson. The lesson I'm currently studying has a montage glorifying the Taiwanese army. This photo is a screen capture from the video. I'm not exactly sure what these soldiers are doing here, but I like to think that they're saluting the Generalissimo.

This lesson's second montage includes a voice over describing the plight of poor Taiwanese students, forced by their parents to study overseas. Apparently as time passes and these students live away from the calming and purifying influences of Taiwanese family and culture they turn to smoking and later mugging overseas Chinese ladies on the street. That is if the video is to be believed.

The video also has great examples of how to use the grammar we're studying. Our current lesson shows a man waiting at a table frustrated and hungry looking. When his wife FINALLY arrives with the food he uses a new sentence pattern to berate her saying "Two hours and you only made me three dishes!?!" The book and VCDs are full of entertaining gender sterotypes and examples of how to express them using one's newly acquired Chinese. I can only hope that the Mainland's international language centers do such a good job teaching people to express their admiration for the wisdom of the dictatorship of the masses.

Posted by Ryan at 02:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My school, and all Chinese language schools in Taiwan (to my knowlege) teach traditional Chinese characters. They're the official characters here in Taiwan. The other day in class our teacher mistakenly used a simplified character when writing on the board. This isn't unheard of. Taiwanese often use simplified versions of some characters when they're handwriting, and in a rush. Nonetheless one of the Japanese students had a bit of a giggle, and said something like "just like on the mainland." Well this produced an incredible outburst from the teacher. She lept to the defense of her simplified character usage and said everything she could to disassociate it with the mainland. She began to shout "They're not from the mainland! All Chinese use simplified Characters! It has NOTHING to do with the Mainland!" This was both entertaining and educational. I was entertained by her few minutes of tirade, and learned that one had best be careful when making comparisons to the Mainland. Some people can get pretty worked up about the topic.

Posted by Ryan at 08:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I’m in my second term at NTNU’s Chinese Language and Culture Center. As many of you know I originally opted for the intensive classes as I reckon more tutelage must be better. There aren’t many intensive classes as the majority of students choose the two hour/day versions. That said, the school is actively promoting three hour intensive classes. Last term my class had 6 students. I reckon that is a reasonable number of students for a language class. This term I showed up after the break to discover my class had eleven students. Not only was this too many students for the teacher to instruct effectively (ie. it slowed the class down way too much), but we barely fit in the classroom.

The school’s documentation says intensive classes are limited to eight students, so I sent an email to the administration the day after classes started, bringing the issue to their attention. Their response was that I should pay extra to have private lessons. This wasn’t acceptable, so I went in person and stated my case in a kind but firm manner with the head teacher. This began over a week of dealing with the office employees of the CCLC who are infamous with both students and teachers alike as lazy, at times rude, and often bordering upon useless.

They kept telling me that they couldn’t find a teacher for another class. They said they wanted to split the class but we’d have to wait for another teacher. I went every day to hassle them. It got to the point where I had to delegate the hassling to other students as the office staff was becoming exasperated with my perseverance. I’d learned that the best way to get results when dealing with these people is to make it obvious to them that you have an issue and won’t go away until it is resolved. By the end of the week the whole class went to the office en masse to demand that we be split. It was during a class break, and I reckon the office staff knew we were coming as they were nowhere to be found. We waited until after the break ended. About five minutes after we were meant to be back in class the staff came trickling back in, rather surprised to see an entire class of students standing around waiting for them. They acquiesced and agreed to split the class on Monday.

So this week I started with my new class of five students. We’re progressing more quickly, and I am again content at the CCLC. I don’t mean to give the impression that it isn’t a good school. It is. The teachers I’ve met are all well-meaning, well-trained and personable. The facilities are good. The other students are friendly. It just resembles many other Taiwanese institutions in that the level of ‘customer service’ I’ve come to expect as a North American is lacking. That said, we North Americans are spoiled. I remember often feeling a similar way in England, New Zealand, and many other countries. This isn’t to say that these countries don’t have excellent customer service at times. It is just that, overall, North American firms, for numerous reasons, consistently place customer service higher on the list of priorities than firms from many other regions.

Posted by Ryan at 12:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As I type, I’m taking a break from studying. I’ve been doing a lot of studying recently. Class always starts with a test, and I need to keep my test marks up to keep my scholarship funds rolling in. As a break I’m watching some strange cartoon in Chinese. I find the cartoons help me with my listening comprehension. The subtitles in Hanzi are particularly helpful. One of the characters just transmogrified into an imposing white angel. Now there’s a huge talking tiger as well. I’ve now completely lost track of what the hell is going on. All I know is that the little flying teddy bear is more powerful than he looks.

Classes go well. My teacher is a year or so older than me. Like most unmarried folks here, she lives at home with her parents. Her favorite activity is shopping, which again is not unusual for folks her age here. I think she has a bit of a crush on me. For the first few days I just thought I was being overly sensitive, but it is becoming apparent by her usage of classroom ‘examples’ that I may be the teacher’s pet. For instance she often addresses each of us in turn when explaining a new word or grammatical rule. She will go around the room and say things like “Yesterday Bob ate lunch at home”, “Today Sarah will study Chinese at school”, and “Tomorrow Ryan will dance at teacher’s house” (I’ve used English names instead of Chinese ones for simplicity’s sake). These examples crop up on a daily basis. So far she has used: “Ryan drinks alcohol with teacher” “Ryan eats dinner at teacher’s house” “Ryan goes for a walk with teacher” and my personal favorite “Teacher slept in Ryan’s bed.” The crush is flattering, and humorous. It doesn’t really affect classes and adds a bit of excitement to my day. I’m waiting for the examples to get completely absurd before I start acting like I’m on to her. When she starts saying things like “Ryan has very nice eyes, and I’d like to touch his package” I might voice some concerns.

Posted by Ryan at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Before my current endeavour I’d never genuinely tried to learn a second language. My French is passable, but that is simply a product of growing up reading the French sides of endless cereal boxes, and occasionally listening to Radio-Canada. Having never really attempted to learn a second language I hadn’t given much thought to those who, on a daily basis, work in a language other than their mother tongue. Well, it isn’t that I hadn’t given it thought, rather that I couldn’t appreciate it fully.

The experience is an interesting one. There is a tangible distance, for lack of a better word, between myself and the locals. I feel hamstrung on a daily basis. Language, being my principal way of interacting with the world at large, is an incredibly important facet of my personality. In English I fancy myself a moderately articulate individual with a functional vocabulary at my disposal. While trying to use Chinese my ability to express myself is compromised. I am effectively a different person in Chinese than I am in English.

Nonetheless, I’m learning. I don’t reckon I will ever be as proficient with Chinese as I am with English, but I will certainly improve. Hopefully my ability to identify various Chinese foods is one of the first things to improve. About fifty percent of the time I’ve little to no idea what it is I’m eating. Sometimes I can hazard a guess as to whether it be game or fowl or seafood. Other times I am completely flummoxed. This evening I was having some scrambled eggs and rice with bean sprouts. Or what I thought was bean sprouts. That is until I noticed they were a bit too soft, and made a closer inspection. Up close I noticed my bean sprouts had eyes. I haven’t yet encountered anything I wouldn’t eat. I’ve had a few things I didn’t enjoy a whole lot, but I’ve also had some things that were great.

Posted by Ryan at 02:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Class was intense. I gather that is why they refer to it as the ‘intensive Chinese’ lessons. I’ve been put in a ‘slightly beyond beginner’ class. There are six students and one teacher. We meet at 2pm until 5pm daily.

We started our lessons on Chapter 13 of the ‘Practical Audio/Visual Chinese 1’ textbook. Today I have a test covering the first seven Chapters of the text book. This wouldn’t be much of an issue, as I’m familiar with most of the material, but for the traditional characters. Essentially I had to memorize 140 Hanzi this weekend to prepare for the test. How effective I was remains to be seen.

On Saturday I went apartment hunting and came home with the goods. I found a nice place very very close to school. It is just off Shi Da road which is very near NTNU (colloquially referred to as Shi Da Da Xue or Shi Da University because of its location). I’ll be sharing with three other fellows. One is an older South African gentleman who works as a teacher here. Another is an anti-social Irish-Pakistani who apparently is always either working or shut up in his room. The third is moving soon, so I will get a new roommate within a few weeks. I don’t move in until the 25th. I will stay where I am in the interim. It is convenient enough.

Taipei has an interesting apartment deposit scheme. There is conventionally a deposit to be put down on a room or apartment of two months rent. However this deposit does not go to the landlord. It instead goes to the person who is vacating the room or apartment. One gets his own deposit back when he finds someone to replace himself as he leaves. Therefore as I leave Taipei I’ll (hopefully) get my deposit back from the person I find to replace me in the apartment I’m currently living in. I guess it makes the landlord’s job easier as departing tenants have a pecuniary interest in keeping the place rented, thereby discouraging unwanted vacancies.

Posted by Ryan at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)