Friday, November 7, 2008

Chinese Class - something i don't get -








> Learning Chinese > Reading and Writing
something i don't get
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wontonsoup -

what's with these wierd lyrics by jay chou?

不要再這樣打我媽媽
mai gan na lei da wo ma ma
我說的話你甘會聽?
wo shou de hua ni gan mie tia?
說都說不聽 聽
gong dou gong bu tia tia
痛是我們在痛 痛
tia shi wo men tia tia

why does he say tia?, instead of ting and teng?



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xiaocai -

Coz it is not in mandarin... By the way, have you heard of the song?










wontonsoup -

yup, everthing else looks mandarin though and sounds like it










xiaocai -

Really? These verses don't look like mandarin to me at all...

Anyway, in case you don't know, the name of the song is 爸,我回来了 (Dad, I'm back) sung by
周杰伦 (Jay Chou) and the verses you quoted are a mix of mandarin and 台语 (Taiwanese, or
闽南话 or Hokkien, whichever way you would like to call it).
"mai gan na lei", "ni gan mie tia" are definitely not mandarin to my ear. I'm not a native speaker
of this dialect though, maybe someone else in this forum would like to help to identify which part
is actually Taiwanese...










wontonsoup -

oh ok, a mix of the two...ic












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Thursday, November 6, 2008

Learning Chinese - An Introduction, my plans and some questoins -








> Studying, Working and Living in China > Living in China > Teaching English in
China
An Introduction, my plans and some questoins
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Ebbo98 -

Hi,

I am 31 years old, English, and currently working in IT which I have been doing so for over 8
years now. My current job is ending in roughly 18 months due to the company I work for being
bought by a larger group. It is very complicated and boring so I will not go into any details.

Once I am redundant, I am planning to move my family to China. My wife is 29 and my children are 8
and 5 years old.

I want to move to China for the experience and to teach. I have always wanted to be a teacher and
I have always believed that living abroad is something everyone should try but due to
circumstances, neither has been an option for me. Now with my job coming to an end and my kids
growing up, I think it is the perfect time. Money has never been important to me; as long as I
have enough to keep a roof over our heads, I am happy. I have been lucky in that I have a job that
is pretty well paid but I know that coming to China is certainly not going to make me rich. In
fact, I am expecting the opposite to happen.

By the time we are ready to leave, I should have at least £10K saved not including my redundancy.
Will this be enough for a family of four?

While in China, I hope to be studying to become a qualified teacher in the UK so that when I do
return, I will be able to carry on what I have started. Would this be possible with work
commitments?

Does anyone have any experience of taking youngish children? I have read a couple of threads but
the children involved have been a bit older than my pair. If possible, I would like to send them
to a local school but I would imagine that the language barrier would stop that. I intend to learn
Mandarin with them before we go but I very much doubt they could learn enough in 18 months to be
able get along. Would I have to live near a large city to get them into an international school,
as I would prefer not to if I could help it?

Would it be difficult for us both to get jobs teaching in the same school? My wife has been a
housewife since the children came along but before that she used to work as a teaching assistant
at a local school and was actually planning on going to uni to become a teacher before the
children came along.

What is the likelihood of an employer offering accommodation for the four of us?

Finally, neither of us have degrees. I have IT certifications that I know will not be of much use
practically but would these be of much value when applying for jobs? We will be doing a TESL
course later this year but I do not even know if that will count for much.

I have waffled on long enough now, so thanks for taking the time to read this. Any replies will be
gratefully received. I know that no one can give definitive answers to these questions but any
thoughts will be most useful.



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kdavid -

Aside from your family, your individual qualifications are more than enough to land you a job
anywhere in the country (outside of the better-paying large international schools--with a few
years of experience and some ESL-related qualificaitons, however, you'd be able to qualify later
on). Finding work out here isn't difficult. However, find *good* work can sometimes be a task.

Your only obstacle, I forsee, lies with your family. Here are some things to look into:

1. Housing. While the money you've saved should be a good amount put towards buying a house /
apartment out here, whether or not foreigners can legally own property out here might be a problem
for you. While I don't have any direct experience with this, I have read on these forums that we
can't *own* our own houses, and instead have to go through a middle-man to buy property.

2. Schooling for your children. Unless you're children enroll in an international school (private,
expensive, and most likely filled more so with Asians than westerners), your children will have a
very difficult time assimilating to the school system here. It's nothing like what we are used to
as westerners. Add in the language barrier, and the initial difficultyin learning spoken Mandarin
(and the long-term investment needed to master writing and reading), I'd fear that your kids
wouldn't be able to keep up with their peers back home.

If you were coming alone, I'd say go for it. However, bringing your family sounds like quite a
task, and while I'm sure it's far from impossible, I wouldn't expect the transition to be easy to
cope with, especially since your children are at a very young (and important) age for learning and
developing their own identity.










muyongshi -



Quote:

1. Housing. While the money you've saved should be a good amount put towards buying a house /
apartment out here, whether or not foreigners can legally own property out here might be a problem
for you. While I don't have any direct experience with this, I have read on these forums that we
can't *own* our own houses, and instead have to go through a middle-man to buy property.

I hope this isn't true because that means my friends didn't just buy their house and will be very
disappointed when I tell them. But from what it sounds like in your case is renting will be a
better option as you plan to go back to your home country eventually. Right?

No problem getting a job. I know so many people that have moved here with their families and even
at similar ages to your own children. There is an adjustment and a stretching but you can all do
it!

Just consider cities carefully as you look at where to live and what type of your can't do without
things that city will or will not have. Especially for the kids.

I would also suggest being very prepared as a family. Talk about it a lot and let the kids really
process out their feelings too.










Ebbo98 -

Thanks for the quick responses.

My children are obviously my number one concern in all this. If I do not think they will be happy
and able to settle in, then we will not be going. It is as simple as that.

I think that I have enough time before we plan to go, to get them ready and to make sure they are
happy going. I just know that when I was their age, I would have loved to live somewhere
completely different. It would have been a huge adventure for me.

muyongshi - I don’t suppose you could put me in touch with anyone you know with children who
have gone to live in China. It would be useful to get an insight on how they started and how they
are getting on now.

Thanks










gato -

Are you sure your wife and kids want to come to live in China as much as you do? It may be
particularly difficult for them if they are not mentally prepared to living in a third world
country.










imron -

Check out this episode of the "Up Close" program run on CCTV (click on the little icon to play, or
follow this link). It's an interview with Charlotte MacInnis, an American who moved to China with
her family when her and her sister were about the same age as your children.










simonlaing -

Hi Ebbo,

Teaching English might be one thing to do , but you may want to consider teaching some IT reslated
courses at some of the Tech universities.
My friend Thomas from Canada teachs computer game graphic design and programming. He seems to
enjoy it and can keep up with some the industry changes.
You should apply to the large unviersities that have science and technologies as part of their
curriculum.

If you can afford to get a teaching degree before you come to China you will earn 4 times normal
ESL teachers by working in International schools. They pay upwards of 25k RMB a month where as
you're looking at 5 -10K for normal ESL jobs.

You wife may be able to get work as well as a teacher, the cost of nannies and babysitters here
are low.

Suzhou and Nanjing both have decent international schools. Plus other mid sized cities will have
them aswell. I did know of a swiss family that had their child in grade 1 or grade 2. But into
Highschool CHinese local kids have no life outside of school and you may want to take that into
account. Elementary and Middle school, they are still stressed with music lessons and tutoring at
night but they can still occassionally go out to play.


Good luck,
Simon










Ebbo98 -

Thanks for the responses so far.

My wife is as excited as me about moving to China but we have so far only mentioned it in passing
to the kids. I am popping into our local bookshop on the way home from work tonight to hopefully
find a guide that the they will understand. After that then it is plenty of TV and websites to try
to get them to understand what is going to happen. I don't know how much my 5 year old will take
in but we will see.

I have had a look at a few international schools. Looking at the fee's that is certainly out of
the question. There is no way I can afford £7K each a year, so it's back to the drawing board
there.

I hadn't thought about teaching IT. Is that something that is in demand? I assumed the language
barrier would prohibit me from teaching anything other than English. When I do return to the
England, I intend on becoming an IT teacher anyway because it really is in demand here now so that
sounds very interesting.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I would be able to get a degree in 18 months. I was looking at the
life degrees that certain places advertise now. I know it’s not worth much here but does anyone
think it may be worthwhile getting in this situation or would a company take a few IT
certifications in place of a degree.

Thanks for the TV link. I will certainly watch it this evening.










imron -

I think at that age your kids will find it to be one big adventure. I spent a period of time in
Indonesia when I was around that age and it was great. Personally, I also think that at that age,
sending them to a local school will be fine. Yes there will be a language barrier to begin with,
but by the end of the first year, they'll be speaking Mandarin like natives










roddy -

Few thoughts.

In your circumstances, I would recommend looking at a university teaching post rather than a
private school job. They don't pay so well, but you're likely to get decent accommodation on
campus, which will remove one of your major headaches. Those jobs also tend to be more stable, and
at a guess would be more open to the idea of taking on a family - although I'd imagine they won't
be too keen unless both you and your wife are taking on jobs. There are often schools attached to
the universities and you should be able to get your kids in there, if you decide that's the way
you want to go, at little or no cost.

Not having a degree could well be a problem - most places will ask for one and in some (all?)
areas you can have trouble getting all your documentation without one. The situation is unlikely
to be any more relaxed in 18 months time. Emphasize what you've got in terms of certificates /
experience and see what happens. I'd start looking now - it is early, but it might take time to
find something you are happy with and knowledge gained now will stand you in good stead later.












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Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Chinese language - request: streaming internet radio in putonghua ? -








> Learning Chinese > Speaking and Listening
request: streaming internet radio in putonghua ?
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Tommie -

My question is:, is there 'normal' internet radio in putonghua available somewhere?
e.g. http://english.cri.cn/webcast/programs.htm is IMO neither live, interesting nor purely
Chinese.

I am looking for something which is streaming, live - hence 'always on'
(e.g. http://www.classicfm.nl/ 'Luister live'-button),

not downloadable 'Audio-on-demand' as with Deutsche Welle
(http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,2142,4703,00.html) or BBC.

Could anyone please help?
Many thanks in advance!



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gato -

Here are two lists of Chinese radio stations available online
http://www.hicru.com/broadcast/index.asp
and
http://www.guang.net/radio.htm

For example:
mms://alive.bjradio.com.cn/AM603
北京人民广播电台首都生活
Right now, a talk show on relationships is on.

http://www.rsi.sg/chinese/main/index/1/1/gb/.html
Radio International Singapore's Mandarin broadcast










gato -



Quote:

For example:
mms://alive.bjradio.com.cn/AM603
北京人民广播电台首都生活
Right now, a talk show on relationships is on.

It's just past midnight here, and now they are doing a talk show on sexual health. Mostly
middle-age male callers. Hmm.










imron -

Not to mention cri's live radio stream it mostly streams Putonghua.










Tommie -

Thank you All !

I'm just listening into some programs.

Gato, actually some 'Talk'-programs will be very useful for me,
(no matter the context)
as there will be much more recognizable language
than e.g. from news programs.
(I only had medium (comprehension) level in Chinese 14 years ago)












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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Free Chinese Lesson - Help: the most appropriate translation for "Have a good day" -








> Learning Chinese > Speaking and Listening
Help: the most appropriate translation for "Have a good day"
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mytulip -

People who speak English often end their conversations with "Have a good day!" Since Chinese
people usually don't say that, I am trying to figure out the most appropriate translation for the
phrase. I come up with "祝你一天都愉快/开心”。Do you have a better one? Please feel
free to brainstorm.Thanks!



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gato -

慢走!= walk slowly!










againstwind -

Now that the difference of greeting is related to culture, it is likely that some of them can't be
interpretated, even we want to seek "the most appropriate". I think so.

Therefore, I don't really think that Chinese would say "祝你一天都愉快/开心" or something
like that when ending conversations. Perhaps they rarely care whether you're happy or not. They
just care for your safety —— is China a dangerous nation? But why?:—— then they will say
慢走, or 慢点儿(like many Pekinese say), be slowly or walk slowly, with a subaudition that
TAKE CARE!










adrianlondon -

The trouble with "man zou" is that you say this to someone who's leaving. So it really is liek
"Have a nice day!" that Americans use.

If it's you who is leaving then I don't think you can use that.










gato -

You can use "多保重" (i.e. "take care") even if you are the one walking slowly away.










mytulip -

Thank you, guys. That really helps. The Chinese people don't say "have a nice day", but they do
say "have a nice weekend" (周末愉快). Another question. When talking on the phone, "慢走“
wouldn't be right. How about “保重"? How do the Chinese end their phone conversations?










monicamars -

Chinese often say"好了,就这样吧“,“您去忙吧”,“打搅了啊” when finish a
conversation










againstwind -



Quote:

When talking on the phone, "慢走“ wouldn't be right. How about “保重"?

Sometimes people do say 保重 when ending a talk on the phone. But is still not in common use.
Because 保重 means "to take care of your health", but it is used when someone will leave far
away for a long time. If you'll meet your friend tomorrow, obviously it's not proper that you say
保重 to him when ending the call.



Quote:

How do the Chinese end their phone conversations?

Mmm...
再见 (goodbye/ bye) , 回儿见 (see you later) and 明天见 (see you tomorrow) are ok.
In fact, in most of time, I feel we just say nothing except 好 or 就这样吧 when ending a call
(especially between friends).










liuzhou -



Quote:

How do the Chinese end their phone conversations?

They say "Bye Bye!"










heifeng -

保重feels like you are going off into the great unknown....ie you won't see each other for a
while. usually I just hear something like
注意身体啊
over the phone...or something like that...












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Monday, November 3, 2008

Chinese Online Class - Beida Fall 2007 - Page 2 -








> Studying, Working and Living in China > Universities and Schools > Studying
Chinese in Beijing
Beida Fall 2007
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PinkxMinkx -

Shadowdh: are you attending the short term chinese program? hm, when they received my application,
they made my guarantor sign a form stating that I would find my own accommodation as there was no
room for me in the foreign dorms....

so, what sort of level chinese is everyone at? interested to see if I will be in the same class as
anyone.. I'm probably intermediate, can understand pretty much everything (as long as you don't
get into politics etc) speaking and writing is pretty shocking...

Also , how old is everyone ? And where are you all coming from ?





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josephine -

PinkxMinkx, I'm in exactly the same boat as you: same Chinese level, being preemtively kicked out
of Beida dorms etc.

I'm 23, from London (and slightly scared you're going to post exactly the same thing now...)










PinkxMinkx -

lol, im 21 from melbourne, australia. wished i was in london though...










magnusgren -

I'm 22, from Sweden, and have studied Chinese for 1 year now at my Swedish university. Not sure
exactly about my level, but I'm going to Beijing on June 17 for a summer course at Beiwai (BFSU),
so hopefully I could improve some before the Beida placement test. I'm planning to stay for the
whole year, and will be staying in a one room apartment relatively close to Beida.










Shadowdh -



Quote:

Shadowdh: are you attending the short term chinese program? hm, when they received my application,
they made my guarantor sign a form stating that I would find my own accommodation as there was no
room for me in the foreign dorms....

so, what sort of level chinese is everyone at? interested to see if I will be in the same class as
anyone.. I'm probably intermediate, can understand pretty much everything (as long as you don't
get into politics etc) speaking and writing is pretty shocking...

Also , how old is everyone ? And where are you all coming from ?

I am there for the year. An opportunity arose (more on that later) which meant I can do the year
abroad... I have been told that should I get a place in Beida then I should also get a room but
depending on the details of the opportunity I may yet look for an apartment.

I have just finished year 2 of my degree and would say that I would be at lower intermediate to
intermediate. I live in London (at the moment but will be moving more south east in a few weeks)
and am 35, I also like walks through the forest and movies and reading...










beijingbabe -

I'm 22, also from London. I'm there for only one semester and also had to sign the you're homeless
form. I'm not entirely sure what my chinese level is, just took a HSK and found it impossibly
difficult, so probably lower intermediate?
Liz










PinkxMinkx -

lol are you tall, dark and handsome as well?

on a more serious note: how long does everyone think it takes to be fluent in mandarin ? (is it
possible to speak like a native? )

also,, how do i quote: ???????????

I have just finished year 2 of my degree and would say that I would be at lower intermediate to
intermediate. I live in London (at the moment but will be moving more south east in a few weeks)
and am 35, I also like walks through the forest and movies and reading...










Shadowdh -



Quote:

lol are you tall, dark and handsome as well?

on a more serious note: how long does everyone think it takes to be fluent in mandarin ? (is it
possible to speak like a native? )

also,, how do i quote: ???????????

how about tall, darkish and not too ugly...

as for fluency... varying levels but to speak like a native then perhaps a lifetime... or maybe a
bit sooner if youre dedicated... )

and for the quote just copy the text and then when you reply there is a symbol that looks like a
speech bubble with words in it, you just click on that and then enter the text between the quote
marks... presto...










josephine -



Quote:



Quote:

Quote:
lol are you tall, dark and handsome as well?

on a more serious note: how long does everyone think it takes to be fluent in mandarin ? (is it
possible to speak like a native? )

also,, how do i quote: ???????????

how about tall, darkish and not too ugly...

get your arse (and your personal ads) over to thatsbj, Shadowdh!

Anyway, I am native Chinese (moved abroad when I was a kiddy) so the stuff I knew growing up I am
fluent in, but the stuff I've learnt since studying Chinese I apparently pronounce with a Brit
accent (and a look of intense concentration) According to unkind 'friends' this makes me sound
like I have multiple personality disorder... does that help any?










PinkxMinkx -



Quote:

Anyway, I am native Chinese (moved abroad when I was a kiddy) so the stuff I knew growing up I am
fluent in, but the stuff I've learnt since studying Chinese I apparently pronounce with a Brit
accent (and a look of intense concentration) According to unkind 'friends' this makes me sound
like I have multiple personality disorder... does that help any?

yeah I did a quote!

oh, so no chance for me to speak perfect chinese
my parents can both speak perfect chinese but I'm told i have an australian accent when i talk

so when is everyone arriving in beijing? i haven't organised flights yet, I still have to quit my
job....












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Sunday, November 2, 2008

Free Chinese Lesson - Mandarin Chinese...? - Page 3 -








> Learning Chinese > Speaking and Listening
Mandarin Chinese...?
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flameproof -



Quote:

I don't quite understand why it doesn't make sense. Surely it is entirely possible to learn
mandarin just by listening up to quite a high level.

who said you can't? Kids can speak good Chinese before the ever see the first character. Lots of
folk in China can't read and write, still, can talk.



Quote:

In my view you can learn tonal languages by listening just as you learn other languages.

All languages are tonal, ok, except sign language. If you don't use tones you speak like PC
generated sound.



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HashiriKata -



Quote:


Originally Posted by flameproof

All languages are tonal, ok, except sign language. If you don't use tones you speak like PC
generated sound.


This is a very new concept of tones (a clearly mistaken one, of course! )










flameproof -

HashiriKata
Spoken language is always sound. You can pick up tones perfectly by hearing. In fact, many Chinese
don't know tones at all.










roddy -

Many English speakers don't know that you make 'th' sounds by putting your tongue slightly forward
of your teeth. That doesn't stop Chinese learners of English struggling to make the sound
inordinately grateful when you explain this to them. Sometimes they're so happy they don't even
say sankyou.










OneEye -



Quote:

Many English speakers don't know that you make 'th' sounds by putting your tongue slightly forward
of your teeth. That doesn't stop Chinese learners of English struggling to make the sound
inordinately grateful when you explain this to them. Sometimes they're so happy they don't even
say sankyou.

Precisely. There are sounds in Mandarin you just can't learn by simply listening. I've never met
anyone who claimed to have learned English just by listening who didn't have a strong accent due
to pronunciation issues.

bomaci,

It just makes no sense to skip studying the tones. Your argument seems to be that you can learn
just by listening, and I haven't disagreed with that. I just don't think it's the best way to go.
A little studying makes things so much easier. Sure, listening is important, but I think you'd be
impeding your own progress by not studying a bit. And like I've said, a few hours of studying the
tones and pinyin can save a lot of time and headache.

Thanks for the IME recommendation, though.










flameproof -



Quote:

you just can't learn by simply listening

Children learn by listening. You can really ignore tones completely when you just listen, because
you simply copy. As long as you copy correct you are 100% accurate.










xiaocai -



Quote:

Children learn by listening.



Quote:

Kids can speak good Chinese before the ever see the first character

I think kids are different from adults in terms of "picking up a language", and quite obviously,
this forum is not for children who are interested in learning Chinese...So the analogies might not
be very appropriate here.
Kids have the gift for imitation but will start losing it when growing up. So that is why there
are "native speakers" and "non-native speakers".

Even for those "semi-native speakers" like me whose fisrt language is not mandarin, the fisrt
Chinese classes would be 四声 and 拼音 in primary school (maybe this is taught in kindergarten
now). And we did have to memorize quite a few rules and practice everyday...










roddy -

To say that kids learn by listening is a major oversimplification - they listen and also speak and
get huge amounts of feedback on the speech. There's also theories of critical periods for language
acquisition; and the fact that (most) adults have the ability to learn in additional ways that
children just don't have.

Quote:

As long as you copy correct you are 100% accurate.

Obviously. It's the copying correctly that's the problem.










flameproof -



Quote:

Obviously. It's the copying correctly that's the problem.

I agree to some extend. You have to be aware that you need to have some accuracy. But that's the
way to go.

To learn tones with no context is meaningless, dead boring and for me impossible.

(OK, when I look up a word in Pleco I look at the Pinyin tone marks and use them, but I prefer
listening)










OneEye -



Quote:

Children learn by listening. You can really ignore tones completely when you just listen, because
you simply copy. As long as you copy correct you are 100% accurate.

Actually, what you quoted from my previous post was not about tones, but pronunciation issues.
There are some consonants in Mandarin that simply don't exist in English (the retroflexed i, r,
sh, zh). And, like I wrote earlier, there are also some pairs of consonants that sound the same to
an English-speaker's ear, but are actually different sounds in Mandarin (zh/j, q/ch, and x/sh).

It becomes difficult to distinguish these sounds when you don't hear them in your native language
and you never say them. A child can hear these and imitate them, but an adult has more difficulty
because he hears a foreign language through a "filter" of his own language. After some explanation
and training, it's possible for him to differentiate between the sounds and to produce them on his
own, but it would be very difficult to just get it right by listening only.

Sure, if you can copy 100% correctly, no problem, but I have a very hard time believing anyone can
do that without studying it. I have a highly trained ear as a professional composer and music
studio engineer, and can hear things in music that 99.9% of the population never could (my success
depends on it), and I had trouble hearing the difference between these sounds until I used the FSI
Pronunciation and Romanization Module. And it's precisely because I had no exposure to these
sounds and that I was hearing through an American "filter" that I had these problems, and I really
believe that no amount of listening to dialogue would have fixed this. But within a few days of
spending one hour per day on the FSI P&R Module, I had no trouble at all with pronunciation,
tones, transcribing pinyin, or anything related.

Back to my original point: I'm sure that you can learn Chinese to a high level without studying
pinyin, tones, proper pronunciation, or any of that. I never argued against that, though you and
bomaci seem to be trying very hard to convince me of it. My argument is that it's not a good idea,
considering the bang for the buck you get from studying it. It just doesn't seem to be a smart way
to go about it. And, boring or not, it's only a few hours, and the payoff is more than worth a
little boredom.

So, if you can explain to me why it makes more sense not to study it, please do. I'll admit I was
wrong. But don't just tell me that it's possible, or that some people have done it. That's
irrelevant. Reportedly, Stan Getz couldn't read music, but that doesn't mean I'm going to tell
every kid that picks up a sax that they shouldn't bother learning to read music. Listening is
extremely important in jazz and language, and I'm not discounting that, but it isn't the be all
and end all. Studying stuff on paper builds skill and knowledge that will help tremendously when
it comes to actually producing sound.












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Saturday, November 1, 2008

Chinese School - Songs that are not cheesy? - Page 2 -








> Chinese Culture > Music
Songs that are not cheesy?
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HashiriKata -



Quote:


Originally Posted by rezaf

please write their chinese names. i want to listen to them.


Here is my attempt to translate what Lu wrote into Chinese:

'my love has left me/died/is terminally ill/married to someone else'
我爱人抛弃我了/死了/患了不治之症/嫁给别人了

Hope it helps!




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Chinese Textbooks Wide range, cheap, varied languages. Also Chinese cartoons, toys, gifts.
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HNHSoft Dictionary Learn Chinese on Smartphone and PDA with real person's voice.
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rezaf -

http://mp3.baidu.com/m?tn=baidump3&c...C2%DE%C8%D1%B8finally I found what I was looking for.
爱情转移 (陈奕迅) It is not rock and roll but still very good music. It has enough sadness .










rezaf -

http://mp3.baidu.com/m?tn=baidump3&c...C5%C0%D6%CD%C5 this one is perfect死了都要爱
同名专辑
looks like some shirley bassey song










smalltownfart -

There is a wealth of "hidden" rock and and indie Chinese music, that you will only find if you
spend a bit more time digging around for a bit.

There is a pretty decent compilation series from China called "Modern Sky", that focuses on the
more mainstream kind of rock and indie rock.

Beyond the godfather 崔健 and other older rock acts, some newer bands that I find interesting
(off the top of my head):

mainland:
新裤子 -(new pants) smarty-pants electro indie-pop
木马(muma) indie rock
瘦人 (thin man) rock/metal
二手玫瑰 (second hand rose) rock mixed with beijing opera theatrics
郑钧 - melodic catchy rock, a popular favourite
超载 - a well-known metal act that has somehow gone kinda pop-disco in the last couple of
albums

Taiwan:
杨乃文 Faith Yeung (britpop with an edge - incidentally, she is v. gorgeous)
伍佰 wubai Very famous asian rock singer, wrote many well known songs that were covered by many
artists, he also sings in taiyu.
1976 - college rock band, these guys sound like they grew up listening to joy division & new order

You might like to check out niubi's pages at niubi.com, you can see the album art and links to
where you can get these albums outside Asia:

http://www.niubi.com/shop/index.html
http://www.niubi.com/shop/yesasiamusic.html

wade










Lu -

I posted a list with rock and other alternative music some time ago somewhere else in the music
forum, you can try and find that. There are several threads like this one.

Rezaf: I was just kidding, that's not the name of the genre or band. There are a lot of sad cheesy
Chinese songs, don't know many titles as I don't particularly like cheesy songs. One that comes to
mind is 童話, by Michael, forgot his Chinese name. If you are in China, just watch some Channel
V or MTV and you'll know what kind of song I mean.










skylee -



Quote:

One that comes to mind is 童話, by Michael, forgot his Chinese name.

That is 光良 / Michael Wong -> Watch










rezaf -

they certainly don't have any talent in rock music.












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