Tuesday, February 23, 2010

blog 5

昨天我有睡觉。 今天我起床八点钟。 我吃早饭了。 然后开车来学校。 来学校二十分钟。

Sun Tzu was a military genius, who is acknowledged for writing a book of military tactics and such called "The Art of War." Sun was a general under the command of the king of Wu. An interesting legend, be it true or not, was a test that the king gave to Sun, an order to turn his 180 concubines into a trained army. It is said that Sun split the ladies into groups of two, putting the king's favorite concubines as the commanders. When the concubines didn't follow Sun's orders, Sun had the commanders put to death, stating "...that if the general's soldiers understood their commands but did not obey, it was the fault of the officers" (wikipedia). It is not surprising that the concubines became obedient and followed orders very quickly. The Art of War isn't simply a book for military people. Many people, business leaders, politicians, and more look to Sun's writings for inspiration on furthering there positions. I have started to read the book myself, but I'm only up to a few pages. Hopefully, I'll learn something useful from it.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

blog 4

这个周末,二月十四号是中国新年。 今年的动物是老虎。 作年牛了, 明年兔子。我生日年的蛇。 我的生日是六月十号。

We recently watched "Cow" in Chinese class. I have a feeling that some of my classmates aren't too happy with the movie that we chose, mostly because it was very confusing. I looked the plot up on the internet, and it said that the movie was about how Niu Er developed his "relationship" with the Dutch cow he never wanted in the first place. It was interesting, but very confusing, because the movie kept moving back and forth through time. Also, some of the horrifying parts seemed really funny, although I'm sure that the producer didn't mean for them to be. I was expecting a happy ending, and while the ending was somewhat happy, the way the actor acted made it seem very sad and depressing. Although I enjoyed watching the movie, I don't think that I'd jump at the chance to see it again.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

blog 3

五月九号我去中国。 我要太玩儿了! 昨天我开车汽车。 我也走去中文课。 明天我汽车。

C-Pop is a fast growing industry throughout the Chinese music genres. It is split into two different types: cantopop and mandopop. Mandopop started around the 1920s, and were called 'shidaiqu'. A few years later in the 30s-40s the Seven Great Singing Stars changed Chinese music completely, with their new types of tunes. Their music was so unique and original that the film industry often had them work as actors and singing soundtracks. It was the first time that China saw female singers rise to a high level of prestige to star in the music industry. It came to an end when the Japanese occupied Shanghai. In the 1950s, the communist party declared pop to be pornographic, so the pop music made its way to Taiwan. C-pop once more became popular on the mainland in the 70s when Deng Xiao Ping opened China to the world. Now, in the 2000s, pop has really taken off, with many new stars arising in Taiwan. Singing competitions such as Super Girl Contests have encouraged more young artists. Now, Taiwanese idols are filling the market there, and many hope to take part in a Chinese remake of Hana Yori Dango.

blog 8

五月九号我去中国。 我要太玩儿了! 昨天我开车汽车。 我也走去中文课。 明天我汽车。

I bought "Chinese for Dummies" about a year ago when it was onsale in Morris' bookstore. That was back when I first started the classes. I recently started flipping through it, and I have to say that it isn't a bad resource tool for learning. The book goes more in depth then the textbooks and has very focused topics. Chapters include:
Getting to Know a little Chinese, Basic grammar and numbers, introductions and greetings, making small talk (family, work, live...), eating and drinking, shopping, exploring town, recreation and sports, talking on the phone, at the office and around the house, money, directions, hotels, transportation, traveling abroad, and emergencies. (Also includes the typical stuff found in the dummies books and CD dialogs) What it doesn't have is the characters for everything, so it isn't too good, unless you looked up every word and wrote them down in the book. I guess that would be good dictionary and character work.

Monday, January 25, 2010

202.2

我要买一件衬衫和一条裤子把。 这条裤子虽然颜色好,但是大小不合适。 这件衬衫跟那衬衫一样。 我要小号的条裤子。 一共多少什么? 五十块。

I recently read an article on the internet about a boy in Xiashuixi who stabbed a government official to death. The boys name was Zhang Xuping and he was paid 1000yuan ($148) to kill the official (Li Shiming). Li was hated by mostly everyone in Xiashuixi for his corruption, especially after he razed 28 acres of forest without permission and no compensation. Zhang was sentenced to death, but hopefully the people in his village will get the sentence overturned. (Previously a sentence was overturned when a woman killed an official when he was going to rape her.) However, I doubt that the government will let him off. Hopefully, I'll be wrong.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100121/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_killer_hero

Friday, January 15, 2010

chin202.1

你好。 星期六我去看电影了。 我的爸爸也去看电影。 今天我买蓝条裤子。 狠便宜! 明天我要买一个紫色ゆかた.

(do our sentences have to make sense? or can they just be random sentences?)

If you ever plan to go to China but have trouble speaking Chinese, or are just too shy too, then a good thing for you to learn is how to count on your fingers in Chinese. This will be most useful when haggling over things. The gestures are very similar to the way Americans count on their fingers, up to number five, where whey become different. 0= closed fist. 1= single pointer finger upwards. 2= pointer and middle finger. 3= pointer, middle, and ring finger. 4= pointer, middle, ring, and pinkie finger. 5= pointer, middle, ring, pinkie, and thumb. 6= thumb and pinkie. 7= thumb, pointer, and middle finger all touching. 8= thumb and pointer up, like a 'L'. 9= closed fist with pointer curled upwards. 10= pointer with middle crossed over, like signing 'r'. Most of these should be done with the palm facing away from you. Though I did read a book where a lot of the vendors that were haggling had calculators, thus removing the need to learn how to count on your fingers.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

相思- 王维 "translation"

translation

-yeah, right

Ormosia was born in South Country; come spring time it sends out a few branches
Of which willing lords collect many. These things make us think of each other the most.