Spending time in China By Michael Murphy I arrived in China on August 25, 2011. Having traveled to 24 countries in my life, I'd never been to China. In fact, it was my first trip to Asia. I don't usually get a lot of preconceived ideas before traveling to a new country. Usually those ideas are soon shattered after I arrive and I find a completely different place than I imagined. China was no exception. Far different than I ever thought. A driver from the school that I'd be working at, picked me up at the airp .. [Continue reading] Zhongyuan Festival in Taiwan Zhongyuan Festival, also known as Ghost Festival, is a festival and holiday observed by Chinese populations in many countries worldwide. It is believed that the Gate of Underworld opens every year on the first day of the seventh Chinese lunar month and closes on the first day of the eighth month, and in between these two dates ghosts roam free on Earth seeking food, host bodies and entertainment. For this reason, in Taiwan, the seventh lunar month is also called Ghost Month (鬼月). It rough .. [Continue reading] Using subtitles when learning a language Watching movies and television in the target language is a recommended tool for language learning, be it with subtitles - in the target language or in English - be it just with the original audio track in the target language - or even an internationally well-known film dubbed in the target language. Learners usually agree on the importance of audiovisual input for language learning. They just do not seem to agree on the best time for starting. Some learners say that one should watch videos ri .. [Continue reading] How to Stay Motivated When Learning a New Language All is going well in your language learning, until one morning you wake up and realize that you just can't do it anymore. You look at your pile of flashcards and your grammar workbook in despair. The idea of conjugating one more verb makes your stomach twist. You're done. You may as well give up. Not so fast! All learners go through slumps in learning. It's normal to feel apathetic, discouraged, or even frustrated at times. If you're feeling this way, it doesn't mean that it's time to qui .. [Continue reading] How much reviewing can you take? When it comes to the intensity at which one may make use of a language course, two types of learners can be identified: those who do not move on until they have learned everything in a lesson and those who cannot tolerate reviewing or getting stuck at one single lesson for a long time, and therefore move on even if they have not learned everything. I personally belong to the second type. I am not really fond of going through the same lesson (or the same movie or novel, for that matter) more .. [Continue reading] Penghu Early Friday morning my Rotary host parents drove me and two other exchange students to Taoyuan airport. All of the exchange students in Taichung's Rotary district met there and soon we were on a propeller plane together - destination Penghu. Penghu is an archipelago, made of 64 small islands, off the west coast of Taiwan. We landed in Penghu and it was a gorgeous day, with white clouds adorning the deep blue sky. In our district, there are 25 of us Rotary exchange students. We were all very .. [Continue reading] Confusing pairs for chinese students My chinese friend Mr. Wang told me one day he thought my doctor was beautiful. I scratched my head and wondered what he really meant. Since I have no doctor here in Beijing , I assumed he meant something else. Mr Wang noticed the confused look on my face and then he added that she looked more chinese than no-chinese. At last, I realised he meant my Daughter. To many chinese ears DOCTOR and Daughter sound similar. Another friend asked me if I could ride a house! I quickly realised .. [Continue reading] Common challenges for English-speakers learning the language I think the first obstacle most foreigners have to overcome when learning Chinese is the overwhelming feeling you get when you realize what you're getting yourself into - tones, characters, sounds you've never heard before, the seemingly backwards grammar and sentence pattern. Once you determine that you can learn the language because you want to and you will try your best no matter what strange things it throws at you, it all becomes a lot easier. Then you have to tackle each challenge one by o .. [Continue reading] Hong Kong On my way back to Canada, I had decided to stopover in Hong Gong (xian3 gang3 in Mandarin). The passengers boarding the plane between Taipei and Hong Kong are roughly equally distributed between Cantonese and Mandarin speakers. To ease the communication, and regardless of the absurdity of such a situation, the stewardesses use English as a lingua franca. I set foot in Hong Kong a few days after the beginning of the H1N1 flu, seen as a very serious threat by the local authorities: all the airp .. [Continue reading] Taipei and Danshui In the early morning, I visit Sun Yat Sen memorial, the father of the first Chinese republic, revered on the two sides of the strait. It is the perfect time to observe many inhabitants practicing shadow boxing, yoda or Latin dances in the park just before going to work. Afterwards, I go to the National History Museum. I ask for a ticket. When it comes to pay, I cannot find my wallet in my back bag. A bit embarrassed, I explain to the cashier that I can't pay the ticket and that I need to go b .. [Continue reading] Lugang Lugang (deers' harbor) is an historical town that was of economic and cultural significance one hundred years ago. As a legacy of this golden era, the city has many historical buildings and temples. The city heart is a labyrinth of colourful alleys. The city is also known for his Buddhist craft and tens of shops sell such artifacts. The most famous local dish is the beef tongue, a pastry of suggestive appearance. One of the most popular tourist attraction is the gentlemen lane: http://tourism. .. [Continue reading] Jia yi and Zhuang hua Back from the island, I go back to PingTung. For the first and the last time of my trip, my shortcomings in Chinese proved to have some negative consequences. In the bus station, I ask for a ticket towards Kaoshiung 高雄 . Alas, the cashier understands Kaoshu 高樹 and, after having giving me my ticket, urges me to take a bus that is about to leave. As I am running out of time, I don't check my ticket and get on the bus. One hour later, at the bus terminal I finally figure out my mistake and .. [Continue reading] Sandimen and Liuchiu Today's stage is Sandimen township, a peaceful hamlet surrounded with beautiful mountains, mostly inhabited by aboriginals. It hosts a so-called aboriginal park devoted to the customs of Taiwan original tribes. In spite of being too tourists oriented, this attraction is interesting since it describes rather well their dances, beliefs etc. After visiting the park, I walk towards the village in itself, across a river. Plenty of trees around, either mango or betel nuts ones. The village looks dirty .. [Continue reading] Tainan Taipei being undoubtedly the most westernized Taiwanese city, I decided to head south. There, English is an entirely foreign language, westerners are much rarer and the traditional Chinese culture is more present. Noblesse oblige, my first stage is Tainan, the former southern capital, which hosts many historical buildings, only a couple of hours away from Taipei via the high speed train. Tainan's climate is a subtropical one. When I arrived there (beginning of May), the temperatures were already .. [Continue reading] More than a strait ? As my conference is about electrical engineering, a majority of the scholars are Chinese, usually from the mainland. For nearly all of them, it is the first time in Taiwan, given the tremendous difficulty to be issued a visa. When I speak with them, we swiftly shift to political subjects, about the Taiwanese independence and the Chinese civil war. As they are all very educated and bright people, their opinions are of acute interest. The only things they agree on are: Taiwan is a beautiful place, .. [Continue reading] National Palace Museum and Carcassonne On today's menu: the national palace museum. This museum, second to none but to Le Louvre or the Metropolitan, is built on the private collections of the late Qing emperors. Originally from the Forbidden City, they were brought to Taiwan by the Nationalists (see http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh97/masterpiece/index1_en.html to learn about their tumultuous whereabouts). One can browse a selection from the museum collection here: www.npm.gov.tw/en/collection/selections_01.htm A favourite of mine is the .. [Continue reading] Taroko, Communists, and a Tourist Trap - Day 2 At dawn, I leave the hotel towards Taroko, one of Asia's seven wonders, a stunning natural park located close to Hua Lian. Besides a brunch of fellow researchers, an aged Taiwanese gentleman, a distinguished retired medicine professor, and his wife are part of the tour. As they happen to speak French and are eager to practice, we speak together, mostly about politics. As he seems to be over sixty, he probably arrived in Taiwan with the nationalist army during his childhood. He explains to me how .. [Continue reading] Arrival in Taiwan - Day 1 Thanks to an IT conference that was taking place in Taipei, I had a chance to travel to Taiwan. When my paper was accepted at the conference, I set up my mind to learn Chinese as fast as I could to enable me to tour the country in a much more interesting manner. In effect, I was aware that outside Taipei, English was an entirely foreign language and that knowing some Chinese could enhance my trip there. The Far East being indeed far, the trip from Toronto to Taipei lasted 15 hours. Though, a .. [Continue reading] |
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