Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
snowflake
Orange Belt
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:21 pm
Location: Midwest USA
Languages: English (N), Mandarin (intermediate)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1292
x 237

Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Sun Oct 09, 2016 5:23 pm

Last time I miscalculated the Glossika reps....recalculating, there are over 45k repetitions at this point. Once into solidly working the Glossika material, a number of friends said that my Mandarin improved a lot. So though there are a number of bumps, things are on the right track. I am settling into a decent routine with reviewing the Glossika material.

I’m attending the local meetup which helps my motivation. Yesterday the one native Mandarin speaker there, a mainlander, was disparaging Taiwanese Mandarin. I grew up with native Chinese speakers often making fun of how other native speakers speak even when it was the same Chinese language/dialect. There is a native Mandarin speaker in one of my groups who while he was in Canada was told by a Toishanese person that you don’t speak Toishanese then you’re not Chinese. And from other things I’ve heard, Mandarin speakers have disparaged other types of spoken Chinese sometimes qualifying who is Chinese by what type of Chinese the person speaks. This is a face of Chinese societal behavior that I dislike. The current chapter of “David and Helen in China” touches on another one, arranged marriages. I’ve been having difficulties getting through this chapter and have decided to do as much as possible and just move on. I was talking to my overseas Taiwanese chat partner (S) about this, mentioning that there were some arranged marriages in my family including one for my brother. S seemed surprised at how traditional my mother is. That is the usual reaction native Mandarin speakers have regarding my parental family. They often also express surprise with my familiarity with traditional culture as well as surprise with what I know about mainland and Taiwanese modern history. Anyhow S said to just take the things that I like (about Chinese culture).

I've been watching 微微一笑很倾城 on and off. It's based on a romance novel of the same name. This mainland drama seems to be geared toward a very young audience which makes me feel rather old.
…Original book in Chinese; http://www.gumanxiaoshuo.com/weiweiyixiaohenqingcheng/
…Fan English translations of the book;
1....https://wwyxhqc.wordpress.com/2014/12/3 ... %E5%9F%8E/
2....http://bookbychapters.com/a-slight-smil ... roduction/
…TV drama; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8oGhDZy ... G31Ed50dsH
…Movie; it stars Angelababy but I can't seem to find the YouTube link now.

: 5 / 36 David and Helen In China
: 104 / 104 : 55 / 104 : 0 / 104 Glossika Fluency 123
: 45540 / 90000 Chorusing Using Glossika – Goal is 90,000 Repetitions
: 574 / 3000 2016 Output Challenge – Audio
: 14 / 15 Read Chinese, Book 2 (Yale Mirror Series)
: 4 / 23 Tales and Traditions Vol 1
1 x

User avatar
snowflake
Orange Belt
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:21 pm
Location: Midwest USA
Languages: English (N), Mandarin (intermediate)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1292
x 237

Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Wed Oct 19, 2016 11:48 pm

This is a long and rambling post. It arises out of my frustration in working “David and Helen in China” (See “Course Completion Challenge -- Open for business!” thread in Language challenges & teams). I posted to an ABA focused email list asking for ideas on how to better motivate myself. These are some of my thoughts which have come out so far on this matter.

Someone suggested using another textbook that I hopefully would stomach better….. since I’m currently working a 2nd year textbook in traditional characters, this is the list I came up with.

1. Yale Press
........1.1. David and Helen in China; what I’m using
........1.2. DeFrancis Series
........1.3. Yale Mirror Series; I am using the graded readers in this series and also have the text book. Unfortunately, I cannot find answer keys for the exercises.
2. Practical Audio Visual Chinese
3. Integrated Chinese
4. Far East Everyday Chinese Series
5. A Course in Contemporary Chinese (National Taiwan University)
6. http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/interact/ebook/d ... sh/web.htm ; freebie downloads that Lorinth let me know about. Should probably hunt around and see if I can find the audio and teachers guides.
7. AP prep textbooks; would have to look to see what is available for traditional characters.

Every time I ask my chat partner a question about something in “David and Helen in China”, he expresses how good the spoken vernacular is and how the book is so much better than any of the language textbooks he's dealt with. This sort of talked myself into looking harder for a way to motivate myself rather than change materials.

The annoyance of using the “David and Helen in China” answer key is central to my frustration.

Another central item which is a problem for any standard textbook is how to drill sentence patterns. I haven't solved this one yet. My memory is pretty bad and lots and lots of drilling helps. Unfortunately, finding palatable material for that has been difficult. FSI is great for that but at this stage listening to English explanations of the Mandarin word for "to go" is really irritating. In spring I started using Glossika. Most audio material is not specifically put together with drilling in mind. I have a ton of audio material though for drilling it’s not that useful. Hmm, even if I complete “David and Helen in China” afterward I will forget most of it as that's what’s been happening. Maybe this is a reason not to work a textbook until I've got a solution for this. Maybe I should think about supplementing Glossika to use it as a course?

Something else for a textbook, create audio for drilling which would be a good amount of work. I did something akin to that this past Jan using a Taiwanese published English phrase book…recorded myself saying the Mandarin sentences and passed those clips by native speakers. The effort stopped due to having a procedure in Feb. In March I could not recall any of those sentences….that’s how bad my memory is.

On memory…….I was reading an article about memory anchors (https://glossika.com/blog/memory-anchors/) and thinking about some words that I recall better like metal frame as in the frame at the airport gate to verify your carry-on is within size. I remember metal frame due to having to repeated ask how to say metal when in Taiwan this last time, and also walking home from the train station chorusing Glossika … "如果 放不下 這個 金屬框架,那 就 是 太大了。" and "你 可以 在 那邊的 金屬框架 測量 它的 尺寸。" While working the sentences, I was thinking about the components in metal frame. Robotically repeating audio in and of itself doesn’t help me as much as it might other people.

Also thinking about reading skills level….My language exchange partner suggests that I don’t need to be that concerned about 書面 and points out that our time is limited. He’s also not a reader. Then I thought about a friend from the mainland who reads specialized subject books (non-academic) in Chinese and often runs into words that she doesn’t know, cannot find in a dictionary, and cannot find online. It’s to the extent that she may give up and not finish the book. Then I thought about my American friends who have been in Taiwan 15-20 years and their Mandarin level. I’m going back to Lee Kuan Yew’s book to see what his thoughts are on reading in Chinese. There are books which are originally published in Chinese that I’d rather try to read in the original language.

I finished "Read Chinese, Book 2" and have started book 3. Book 3 is starting to get into 書面.

: 7 / 36 David and Helen In China
: 104 / 104 : 64 / 104 : 0 / 104 Glossika Fluency 123
: 48060 / 90000 Chorusing Using Glossika – Goal is 90,000 Repetitions
: 574 / 3000 2016 Output Challenge – Audio
: 4 / 23 Tales and Traditions Vol 1
: 15 / 15 Read Chinese, Book 2 (Yale Mirror Series)
: 1 / 19 Read Chinese, Book 3 (Yale Mirror Series)
: 0 / 20 Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (Yale Mirror Series, supplementary reader)
0 x

User avatar
snowflake
Orange Belt
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:21 pm
Location: Midwest USA
Languages: English (N), Mandarin (intermediate)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1292
x 237

Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Wed Nov 16, 2016 11:16 pm

Ramblings.....I’ve been having some minor health flare ups which means that not a lot is getting done.

I recently attended a social gathering, a potluck with all Chinese food, lively conversation, and no planned program. One woman complemented on my improvement and described my Mandarin as originally miserable/tragic (悲慘). Think I last talked to that person about 6 years ago. Anyhow I lucked out in that the conversations there were not too horribly out of my range, especially for a multi-party gathering.

My “study routine” has morphed into primarily using Glossika and the iTalki lessons with the “David and Helen in China” textbook as a supplement. Interestingly these 3 complement each other very well. The Glossika mainland Chinese Daily Life product is supposed to be out fairly soon and am planning on getting that.

Looked a bit at the HSKK which would be less expensive and sounds less intimidating than the ACTFL OPI. The closest HSKK test site is about 2 hours away. Participants also have to deal with background sounds of others taking the test. I’m going to download the sample HSKK sample tests for practice. The other option, the TOCFL speaking test would require a plane ticket. Anyhow, I’m thankful that I still have a good amount of time to prepare.

Realized that my mother’s comprehension of Mandarin probably depends on it sounding like the Toishanese equivalent. It's sort of like a correction that a Hong Kong friend who speaks Mandarin gave me. She corrected 星期 saying to use 禮拜. This was after having to explain in English what I said. That said, I've used words found in readings that my overseas Taiwanese chat partner did not know. Those have not been a matter of using a literary term which is not used in spoken speech..... haven't quite figured out what may be happening there.

I’m again finding it difficult to learn/maintain both traditional and simplified characters. Sigh

: 104 / 104 : 88 / 104 : 0 / 104 Glossika Fluency 123
: 55260 / 90000 Chorusing Using Glossika – Goal is 90,000 Repetitions
: 4 / 23 Tales and Traditions Vol 1
: 1 / 19 Read Chinese, Book 3 (Yale Mirror Series)
: 0 / 20 Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (Yale Mirror Series, supplementary reader)
0 x

User avatar
snowflake
Orange Belt
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:21 pm
Location: Midwest USA
Languages: English (N), Mandarin (intermediate)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1292
x 237

Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Fri Dec 09, 2016 1:29 am

I came across 2 kids comic book series for ages 9-12 that explain 成語’s, both are called 漫畫中國成語. One set seems to have 6 volumes, the other 10. If anyone is interested, the series with 6 volumes has preview pages at the http://www.kingstone.com.tw/ bookstore site. I was going to tackle 成語’s later and look for the comics during my next visit to Taiwan but my iTalki instructor is introducing some. She thinks correctly using 成語’s will help with the test (HSKK or ACTFL OPI) and is trying to get me to smoothly do the equivalent of Toastmasters Table Topics in Chinese. I’m shy about talking to begin with so this is quite daunting.

I’m reading an online ongoing English fan translation of 我真是大明星.
http://gravitytales.com/Novel/im-really-a-superstar
http://tw.hjwzw.com/Book/Chapter/35320 original, traditional characters
There are a number of aspects which are not to my liking but what over shadows those is that this is turning out to be a gentle introduction to Chinese literature. Woven into the story are poems, couplets, Buddhist gathas, etc which are explained. I’m starting to understand the humor of a play on words. There’s an example in chapter 236;
我為自己代言... Wo wèi zìji dàiyán ...I’ll speak for myself
我喂自己袋鹽... Wo wèi zìji dài yán ...I’ll feed a bag of salt to myself
People may need to read the preceding few chapters for context. Due to the poems etc I hope to be able read sections of this book in Chinese when my skills are stronger. Note that some people strongly object to the book as the main character bashes Koreans, Japanese, etc.

Started watching a mainland drama based on a book by 丁墨 called 如果蜗牛有爱情. It’s a crime thriller with a romance thrown in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NuI_pgxdiQ 1st episode
http://www.ninjareflection.com/search/l ... se%20Drama Fan recap of episodes
https://tiffybook.com/2014/04/10/when-a ... chapter-1/ Incomplete fan translation of the book
I find 丁墨’s writing rather difficult to read so didn’t hunt for a good site to read the book in Chinese.

: 104 / 104 : 104 / 104 : 5 / 104 Glossika Fluency 123
: 59400 / 90000 Chorusing Using Glossika – Goal is 90,000 Repetitions
: 4 / 23 Tales and Traditions Vol 1
: 1 / 19 Read Chinese, Book 3 (Yale Mirror Series)
: 0 / 20 Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (Yale Mirror Series, supplementary reader)
0 x

User avatar
snowflake
Orange Belt
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:21 pm
Location: Midwest USA
Languages: English (N), Mandarin (intermediate)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1292
x 237

Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Wed Dec 28, 2016 11:57 pm

I’m having a lot of motivation issues so am thinking through what would constitute the path of least resistance, part of that is to read translated works instead of fiction written by Chinese authors. Chinese novels let me swim in aspects of the culture that are not to my liking. What hasn’t helped is that in the last two months there were some deaths, two in the family (early Nov and early Dec) and a close friend who passed away this week after Christmas. My mother asked us to observe some traditions which sort of surprised my mainland and Taiwanese friends. One of those was that my nuclear family was unable to attend the usual family Christmas celebration hosted by my sister as we should not be visiting peoples' homes for a month afterward (the person who passed in early Dec is on my husband's side). A mainland friend felt that was silly. My Taiwanese chat partner said that my mother is extremely traditional.

I’m going to step back and take a rest while working out what the path of least resistance would look like.

: 104 / 104 : 104 / 104 : 14 / 104 Glossika Fluency 123
: 61380 / 90000 Chorusing Using Glossika – Goal is 90,000 Repetitions
0 x

User avatar
snowflake
Orange Belt
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:21 pm
Location: Midwest USA
Languages: English (N), Mandarin (intermediate)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1292
x 237

Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Sat Jan 28, 2017 4:54 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovFB8bk39LU

Update; Realised the clip above does not have English subtitles....instead look at the youtube clip in
https://qz.com/896840/what-its-like-to- ... ntal-song/


: 104 / 104 : 104 / 104 : 33 / 104 Glossika Fluency 123
: 65970 / 90000 Chorusing Using Glossika – Goal is 90,000 Repetitions
0 x

User avatar
snowflake
Orange Belt
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:21 pm
Location: Midwest USA
Languages: English (N), Mandarin (intermediate)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1292
x 237

Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Sun Mar 05, 2017 2:35 am

Due to motivation problems, I pretty much went to using the least path of resistance. For a while that meant not attending my native Mandarin speaking groups, not having iTalki lessons, etc. Now I’m depending primarily on Glossika and actual interaction… that is regularly attending my groups, continuing with the iTalki lessons on alternate weeks, and having more conversations. I still read, watch movies, listen to music, etc. The plan for the additional conversations was to pay for iTalki instant tutoring but then 2 people contacted me about language exchanges. One person is in 深圳市, originally from 贵州. He speaks with a soft “sh” and uses a slight R sound. The most noticeable accent item so far is that he pronounces 内地 as lei4di4 which supposedly is characteristic of a Cantonese accent. I haven’t spoken yet with the second person. He’s from Taipei so the accent could be anything from broadcast-like 国语 to a heavy Taiwanese accent. My overseas Taiwanese chat partner has a noticeable Taiwanese accent which often omits R sounds. He normally says the number 2 as e4 though purposely includes a soft R sound for me. His zhe4 sounds more like ze4. Anyhow I had planned on using mainland iTalki tutors with hopefully somewhat standard accents to balance things out. This has me thinking about the native speakers I typically come into contact with. Being a peripheral member of the local Mandarin speaking community here, there rarely has been the option to pick and choose the accents and speech levels that I encounter like one might with tutors and instructors. For instance, last weekend at one of my meetings the group leader kept using the word dong4lu4. Afterward I asked someone what that meant. She said it’s a more literary term that means angry/anger. Dong4lu4 doesn’t show up in YellowBridge, MDBG, or the freebie Pleco dictionary so c'est la vie. In any case, I’m continuing to slowly march forward.

Have my plane tickets for the trip to Taiwan this summer. Recently purchased some comic books, DVDs, and audio books (western authors) from Amazon in mainland China. Those should be here at the end of this month.

My parental family had a get-together at a restaurant tonight to celebrate a birthday. By coincidence some people from my Friday evening group were at the same restaurant as part of a larger gathering. While talking with my friends, someone else from their gathering came up to us. My friends introduced me to that person saying that I am Taiwanese. It seems that regularly visiting Taiwan the past few years has a number of my Mandarin speaking friends associating me with being Taiwanese instead of Cantonese (I don't mention being Toishanese).


: 104 / 104 : 104 / 104 : 51 / 104 Glossika Fluency 123
: 71100 / 90000 Chorusing Using Glossika – Goal is 90,000 Repetitions (started early April 2016)
1 x

User avatar
snowflake
Orange Belt
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:21 pm
Location: Midwest USA
Languages: English (N), Mandarin (intermediate)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1292
x 237

Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Sun Apr 16, 2017 1:24 am

The 贵州 person (R) sent a good amount of material, software, childrens stories, childrens poems, childrens audio stories, etc. He encouraged me to immerse in mainland news and culture. He also encouraged using traditional methods such as memorizing and reciting poems aloud which are done in both the mainland and Taiwan. R sent MP4s for 5 children’s poems including these;
“咏鹅”
鹅、鹅、鹅,
曲项向天歌。
白毛浮绿水,
红掌拨清波

“悯农”
锄禾日当午,
汗滴禾下土。
谁知盘中餐,
粒粒皆辛苦。
These poems are part of what all school children learning growing up. He seems to expect me to go through the standard material that children use growing up in the mainland. The cultural differences between the mainland and Taiwan are also peeking out during our conversations. Taiwan is culturally closer to the West than the mainland, though it’s interesting to see the mainland differences up close and in detail. It’s different interacting with my mainland friends since they have had to acclimate to life here in the US. Anyhow Mandarin is hard enough with my motivation issues and these little bumps so this may be a short-lived exchange relationship. The traditional Chinese approach to education makes me balk. The mentioned bumps might lightly jostle other language learners but to me these are jolts.

Related to expectations, cultural norms, and the like….Last summer when having dinner with a group of friends in Taiwan, an American man (K) was asked about his upcoming marriage. It turned out he met his fiancée though a dating website. A Taiwanese woman (M) at the table asked about K’s first date with the woman whom he became engaged to. M thought it was normal on the first date to give complete details on hopes and aspirations for the relationship which I believe reflects arranged marriage conventions. K explained that they talked about general topics. M was surprised about the lack of detail in sharing their objectives and pressed for more information. K explained that had his fiancée provided that level of detail during their first date, he would have felt she was over eager. I volunteered the word “desperate”. This was an eye opener for M.

I’ve started having language exchanges with A who is from Taipei. He has been in the US for 8 years and has an American university degree. While A’s Mandarin has a slight staccato quality, his pronunciation is much more standard than my regular Taiwanese chat partner (S). A's mother is a Taiwanese diplomat. His verbiage compared to S is a bit different. For example, A said to say 中国人 instead of 普通话母语人, and 台湾人 instead of 国语母语人. S was wondering why A was insisting on these distinctions. S is fine with 普通话母语人 and 国语母语人. My husband suggested that A’s corrections reflects his mother being a diplomat.

I purchased the mainland version of the Glossika Daily Life material though have been taking a break from working Glossika lately. Their mainland Travel material is also available now though I already have the Taiwanese version.

I’ve been watching on-and-off 三生三世十里桃花 on YouTube, skipping less interesting sections, am also familiar with the book that the series is based on. There’s a movie version of this story which is expected to be released in July. The 贵州 person said this TV series is really popular (火爆) and feels it’s very difficult for a language learner. I suspect a decent number of language learners would skip Xianxia (仙侠) movies and TV dramas due to the vocabulary and non 日常对话 but these appear to be forcing my brain to process word components. An example would be 息怒. I already knew 息 from 熄火 and 怒 from 愤怒. The series uses 息 in other combinations. I have no idea if 息怒 is used in everyday life but that doesn’t matter to me because of the connections my brain seems to be making.

I finally signed up for 微信. My Friday group has a 微信 group that has a good amount of activity. It’s changing my vocabulary and 说法. The threads have ranged from selling used furniture, someone’s 10 ½ mo niece in Beijing who swallowed a curtain tie, a baby shower that I attended, etc. More mainland characteristics will probably creep into my Mandarin since pretty much everyone in that group is from mainland China.

Hacker;
Mainland.... 黑客, hēikè
Taiwan....... 骇客/駭客, hàikè


: 104 / 104 : 104 / 104 : 62 / 104 Glossika Fluency 123
: 5 / 104 Glossika Daily Life
: 74740 / 90000 Chorusing Using Glossika – Goal is 90,000 Repetitions (started early April 2016)

Update 4/22/2017; Corrected some grammar.
0 x

User avatar
snowflake
Orange Belt
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:21 pm
Location: Midwest USA
Languages: English (N), Mandarin (intermediate)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1292
x 237

Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Sun May 28, 2017 4:58 pm

Ramblings...also I have a headache so hopefully this all makes sense.

I’ve been rather blah lately which is a combination of seasonal allergies and the demands of my job. Unfortunately, that also means that my speaking skills, which have never been great to begin with, are in a slow downward spiral. The frequency of language exchanges has decreased due to being tired from the job. I should increase those especially since 2 of my language exchange partners are pressing to chat more frequently...would probably need a coffee drink each time to help with being tired and my shyness in speaking. The shyness has gotten better though has never completely gone away. The coffee drink is also a reward of sorts which settles my emotions a bit. Possible downsides would be unneeded calories and habituation so the drinks will no longer be a motivator.

My Sunday group started flipping back and forth between using traditional and simplified characters. Back in early Jan I switched to simplified to help with motivation issues so using traditional characters is extremely frustrating now as we go around taking turns reading aloud. This is especially challenging when dealing with transliterated names of historical figures.
Bang head here ==> X.

I attended the graduation ceremony of one of my Mandarin speaking group members. There I was introduced to the schools’ local branch director (school is based in another state). This school is oriented toward Mandarin speakers so the native speakers meeting me for the first time were surprised to find out that I am American born (a common reaction). People were encouraging me to sign up for classes. It turns out all the textbooks are in English or originally written in English, class discussion in Mandarin, assignments are written in English.

One group asked me to talk about the upcoming trip to Taiwan which will be like last years’. So, I worked with my iTalki instructor to prepare something and ended up literally reading that to the group. My grammar is horrid when “winging things” and my mind tends to go blank.

It gets interesting dealing with cultural differences in how things are said. I was talking with a chat partner about a business trip that is coming up. I generally will check a bag due to having back problems. I also need to swap out suitcases and will use one that needs to be cleaned (dusty). I knew to say 我的腰痛 for the back problem but got the suitcase part wrong. 我的行李箱有很多灰塵/我的行李箱有很多灰塵 is what I wanted to say that’s not how native speakers talk. They would say 我的行李箱有点脏/我的行李箱有點髒.

There have been noticeable listening comprehension jumps lately.

I have not been working Glossika lately so am sort of “stuck” toward the end of Fluency 3 and the beginning of Daily Life. I’m visiting Taiwan in about 2 months so need to get back to chorusing/shadowing. Given my horrid memory, continually drilling seems to be of primary importance in being able to coherently speak.

: 104 / 104 : 104 / 104 : 66 / 104 Glossika Fluency 123
: 5 / 104 Glossika Daily Life
: 75820 / 90000 Chorusing Using Glossika – Goal is 90,000 Repetitions (started early April 2016)
0 x

User avatar
snowflake
Orange Belt
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:21 pm
Location: Midwest USA
Languages: English (N), Mandarin (intermediate)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1292
x 237

Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Wed Jun 07, 2017 10:47 pm

I leave in a month to go to Taiwan and am doing prep work, or trying to....given a combination of factors am not getting a lot done. One thing giving me a headache is modifying a talk that was originally prepared 2 years ago. A Shanghainese friend translated it for me and then my Taiwanese chat partner made modifications. Afterwards a Guangxi friend with a very standard accent recorded it for me. Once in Taiwan there were objections to the mainland 说法 (yes the text was in traditional characters). I gave the talk in English. I am currently working with my Taiwanese iTalki instructor to redo the 说法. She initially was a bit taken aback as the 说法 is not that problematic for her Taiwanese sensibilities. So we are talking a lot about the differences in how mainlanders express themselves vs Taiwanese and sometimes how someone in Taipei might express something compared to someone in a more rural area. In case people are wondering, this instructor got her masters degree in the mainland and taught there afterwards.

An example of the changes being made;

Original;
我有三个孩子:两个女儿和一个儿子。
我的老二名叫H,今年她25岁。

Revision;
我有2个女儿和1个儿子,
今天我想跟大家分享的是一段跟我家二女儿有关的经历。
她的名字叫H,今年已经27岁了 (of course ignore the age change)

My instructor describes Taiwanese speech as generally 绕来绕去 around the topic whereas mainlanders are 直接.

The term 老二 also refers to a male body part. My 1st Taiwanese chat partner tried to get me to not say this term but he only stated that is not how they say things....makes a big difference to pay an instructor!

Thinking about this, suspect that if I was not ethnic Chinese then there probably would have been less objections to the original 说法... sigh.
0 x


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests