Character-Based Tweeting

My last post was about tweeting in Chinese. Apologies to my English-speaking followers… But it’s so easy, really. The 140 characters that Twitter allows is an essay in Chinese.

That is not an exaggeration. I applied for a job in Beijing last year, and the application had a <100 character personal essay requirement.

It makes me want to tear my hair out that there aren’t more Chinese tweets out there. I never come close to using all 140 characters… the unfathomable opportunities for character-based tweeting are not being tapped into, and something should be done about it.

So I am trying.

I’m really hoping to get some kind of following among Chinese speakers of any nationality on Twitter, though, so I’ll be keeping up with the annoying Chinese tweets until I run out of things to say. Now, if only I had a phone that supported Chinese characters...!

...And in case you're interested:

If you speak Chinese and follow me on Twitter, I'm doing an un-translatable, sarcastic, and satiric series on how to get a Chinese boyfriend. Just some lessons I've learned along the way (all these tweets start out with "找中国男朋友，第几课.")

If you speak English, you lose out because A) the concepts are way too "Chinese" to explain, B) I guess I could explain them, but not in under 140 characters, but C) wouldn't be good enough to blog in English about.

You can try to translate them, but then you're not allowed to judge me on the awful translation and the fact that you still don't understand.

My Chinese New Year

I celebrated Chinese New Year on Friday night (instead of Wednesday) by going to a party hosted by the Chinese Business Professional Association at the OSU Fisher College of Business.

My Sichuan friend who I graduated with at Muskingum, Tao Huang (left), is getting his MAcc from OSU and helped organize the event.


Happy Year of the Rabbit! 兔年快乐！

The celebration started with dinner catered by Lee's Garden, and then the performances started. There was a really impressive lion dance that involved the dancers lifting each other into the air, and then we watched a video of professors trying to give greetings in Chinese - hilarious! Next came the music segment, and I definitely knew all the songs and their artists, much to the chagrin of my Chinese companions. "No, I swear to you, Cai Yi Lin 蔡依林 sings this song, not JJ Lin 林俊杰!"

Another highlight was the Chinese dress qipao 旗袍 show. This past week I worked hard to alter my own dress - I lost a lot of weight since I had it made in China in 2008. I successfully took in all the seams and darts, which was a huge project. But anyway, the women walked in with flowers, ribbons, fans, feather boas, and other props, and their variety of dresses were really beautiful.



After the performances were games and prizes, and everyone just mingled and had fun for the rest of the time. In this picture I'm playing the kongzhu 空竹, like a yo-yo and top combination.

Obviously, my favorite part of celebrating the Chinese New Year was speaking and listening to the Chinese language! I'm always amazed at how easily everything comes back to me, but also how much I have to learn and practice. Totally contemplating a trip to China within the next year or two...?



Photo collage from the New Year party: Red envelopes containing Chinese money - a Chinese tradition; Brush and ink for Chinese calligraphy; Two of the cutest children on the earth; Baby slippers and decorations; Fan with Beijing opera masks and a bowl of green tea leaves.




新年快乐，恭喜你发财！ 兔年吉祥！
(Just some "Happy New Year" type sayings... I refuse to translate words like "prosperous" and "auspicious" like that's normal. Not going to do it.)

I Hate English

Ok, it's not that I hate English, I am just having trouble speaking it, which makes me frustrated. It's the little things, like verb tenses (past perfect), irregular verbs (too embarrassing to give an example), and specific words people don't often use (orthopedic).

And then, expressing myself is really hard. I have about 50 things I want to say, and I can't get my thoughts in order to make an intelligent sentence. I'm not necessarily thinking in Chinese. I'm not really thinking in any language. I have ideas in my mind that I haven't put in English yet- I learned not to think in English because I'd have to translate it to Chinese. Instead, I would take my thoughts, ideas, and concepts, and just say them as best as I could in Chinese.

My family can put up with me, but I hope I don't sound like an idiot when I go back to school.

Don't Ask "Why?"

Something I have noticed recently, and especially in Beijing and on my flight home, is that when announcements are made in Chinese, no good information is given. For the most part, Chinese people just do what they're told and don't ask why. It's so different in the U.S.

When my flight out of Beijing was delayed, the English-speaking announcer would say, "We have to remove some cargo from the aircraft because we are too heavy. First the crew will have to come from the other terminal, so the wait could be up to an hour." Another time he said, "We are being delayed because there are about 10 aircraft in front of us. Each one is taking about 2 minutes to take-off, so please be patient and expect another 20 to 25 minute delay." But, the Chinese announcer would just say something like, "In order to meet the airport's standards for take-off, we are being delayed an hour," and, "Thank you for being patient, we will take off in half an hour." Absolutely no explanation was given in Chinese. It's possible that the Chinese announcer didn't understand the English explanation, but I see this lack of explanation other places, too.

A final example that sticks out to me is a sign I saw in a restaurant in Beijing. The English said "Employees Only" but the Chinese said "Do Not Enter." Yes, we foreigners like our explanations and reasons, thank you very much.

The Gym

I joined a gym last week. My good Chinese friend LiLi told me about it because she started taking yoga classes there.

The gym is about a 15 minute walk from the university. I walk down a dirty, crowded street, past a poor area of town, and into a dingy building. The elevator is broken, so I climb up to the fourth floor in a dark, damp stair well. The lights are sound-activated and are off until I clap, stomp my feet, or cough.

When I reach the fourth floor, I slowly open the door and find, to my surprise, a completely normal-looking gym. It’s clean, has new equipment, and the people working out seem very western. American pop music is playing. I always breathe deeply and pretend that I’m back in America for just a few minutes. The contrast shocks me every time.

My first day, I had a complete exam, including body composition and strength tests. I found it fascinating, but I was surprised that I can have a nearly fluent conversation in Chinese about things like blood pressure, physical injuries, nutrition, and muscle mass. Using technical words like these is great for my Chinese. When I go to classes, it’s the same. We talk about breathing, body parts, direction words, and motion words.

Recently I had been feeling a little glum and tired; working out has been great for me. I have more energy, and when I get back from a full day of classes, it’s actually relaxing to go for a run or practice yoga.

HSK

There is a standardized Chinese language test called the HSK; it’s like the TOEFL is for foreign students wanting to study in the U.S.

“HSK” stands for the Chinese words for Chinese Level Examination (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi). The highest score is a 9, and I don’t know if many Chinese students could get a 9 on it. The lowest score is a 2 (no, I don’t know what happened to 1).

I’m taking the HSK in two weeks. I’m not nervous about it, because I actually don’t care about my score. I’m fine with getting a 2, and would be absolutely elated to get a 3. The important thing for me is not what my score is, but that I have a score. I can try to describe my Chinese proficiency all I want with words, but having a score is like a pass to getting a job or getting into a Chinese grad school.

I took a practice exam last week and I thought I did horrible on it. Then I talked to some other students and I’m actually ok with getting a 42/120. I’m not sure what HSK score this correlates to… possibly a 3, but I don’t know how the scoring actually works.

I bought my “HB” pencils (there’s no #2 here), got my picture taken for my HSK ID, and am studying grammar every day. Now I’m just waiting…

The Berlitz Method

Berlitz is a German guy who came up with a method for teaching languages. I picked up a copy of The Berlitz Self-Teacher: German at a used book store over Christmas break. Just a random buy. I figure if this German guy came up with a method for teaching languages, learning his native language from him would be right-on.

I’m still actively studying Chinese, but my goal with Berlitz was for a basic knowledge of German. I plan on moving on to French and Italian, brushing up on that high-school Spanish, and then working my way through whatever languages catch my eye as I go about living my life.

So, over Christmas break, I eagerly worked my way through about half of Berlitz. Just for fun, you know. I’d like to add that the copy I purchased was published in 1950. Handkerchiefs and pocket watches play large roles in early chapters.



...Little did I know at the time of the purchase that I would be making a trip to Germany five months later...

Trains

I spend an excessive amount of time on trains. It’s getting ridiculous. I’ve tried to break up my traveling, going from nearby city to nearby city so that I’m not on a train for more than 24 hours at a time.

When I have a long distance to cover overnight, I try to get a sleeper car, but sometimes there aren’t any. Surprisingly, spending the night on a hard seat surrounded by the 134 other people in the car isn’t quite as bad as expected. Maybe I’m just an optimist.

Ok, it’s pretty bad, but not unbearable. For some unknown reason (er… check out one of my previous posts called “Coal”) Chinese people won’t open the windows on the trains. So not only does it get a little toasty, the smell is overwhelming. And the bathroom on the train doesn’t make things smell any better, either.

The worst part about trains, other than grime and foul odors, is getting bored. I try to alternate between reading, listening to music, writing, talking to children, and avoiding talking to creepy old men. Chinese children are great to talk to. And they’re so cute. The creepy old men are just creepy and old and have never seen a foreigner before so they ask me strange questions. Real examples:

“What language is spoken in America?” I just thought everyone knew.
“Are there fields in America?” How do you think the population gets fed?
“At what age do girls get married in America?” Everyone gets married at exactly the same age… not.

But trains are part of what I love so much about China. The Chinese rail system really brings out the true nature and character of the people.

On the train, strangers talk and laugh together. They share their food and trade seats so families can sit together.

But trains definitely bring out the bad side as well. Many Chinese people don’t understand the concept of waiting in line. I always get pushed and shoved and stepped on. I’ve been knocked over on several occasions. And no one apologizes. This is all just waiting for the train to arrive. Actually getting on the train can be worse.

On my way from Hohhot to Baotou, the aisles were filled with people who didn’t have seats. At every stop, more people would get on than would get off. Upon arriving at Baotou, I grabbed my bag and tried to get off the train. But twenty or more people were trying to get on. And it was like a mosh pit.

I just started pushing people and asking them to let me off. Then the train attendants tried to help me get off by pushing other people and then by pulling me. Nothing worked. Finally, I just started yelling, “Let me get off the train! You’re all crazy!” I’m not sure if the people getting on were alarmed simply by a foreign girl calling them insane, or if they were shocked that I was speaking Chinese. There was a lot of exclaiming going on.

And they thought I was Russian. Do Russians yell a lot?

Mongolia

This week, for the first time, I successfully made a joke in Chinese.

With my Chinese friends, if I ever say something I think is funny, I have to explain in English why I said it. And by then, it’s definitely not funny anymore.

So, what I said definitely isn’t funny in English, but I can’t say “I told a joke” and not tell it. I’m not expecting you to laugh.

I was in a taxi and my driver was pretty cool. We talked about why I’m in China and what I like about it here. I told him that I really liked traveling in Inner Mongolia.

I asked him to clarify the Chinese names of Inner Mongolia, a province in China, and the actual country of Mongolia. The name for Inner Mongolia is like “Mongolia inside of China” and Mongolia is “Mongolia outside of China.”

When he said this, I smiled and he asked why.

Of course Mongolia is outside of China! Why not “USA outside of China” “England outside of China” “Saudi Arabia outside of China?” (Much more concise in Chinese.)

I think the driver laughed for a good minute or so.

I’m still laughing because China thinks it owns everything, including Mongolia, Genghis Khan, Mount Everest, Kazakhstan, the color red, and North Korea.

The Dreaded Phrase

A few months ago, I learned a Chinese phrase that I really liked. It’s jia you and it’s used kind of like how we use “let’s go” or “go, fight, win.”

I like the phrase because of what it actually means. Jia means to add. You means oil. And the idea is “add oil to the fire.” Like… keep on going, keep on burning. Get it?

And, interestingly, the word for gas station is jia you zhan with zhan meaning a stop or a stand.

But because of the Olympics, I never stop hearing jia you. It’s getting exceptionally annoying. No one says anything else. In English, we have several phrases to convey this same idea. In Chinese, they only use one. And they use it often.

I don’t want to hear it again… so much so that I’m not proofreading this post because I can’t bear to even see the words again.

A Whole New World

I couldn't get train tickets from Chengdu to Kunming like I had wanted. I contacted some of my Chinese friends and was invited to return to my friend Bei's home, so my traveling is looking a lot different than it did a few days ago.

I flew from Chengdu to Xi'an on Sunday. Flying in China, for me, is not preferable. Because China is so diverse, it is shocking to step off an airplane into what seems like another world. By train, I can watch the countryside change and I have a day or two to get used to the differences in the regions.

In fact, staying in Chengdu made me truly realize how diverse China is. Some example are the food, the spoken language, and the habits and customs of the people. When I first came to China, I liked the food, but it was so different that I didn't want to eat much. When I arrived in Sichuan, it was the same. The food is so different from the Lanzhou food I am used to that I didn't have much of an appetite for the first few days, even though the food was delicious. The spoken language in Chengdu was difficult to get used to as well. For instance, the "sh" sound is pronounced more like a simple "s" which caused much confusion for me. And, in Chengdu, the people are more relaxed and laid back. They are more wealthy than in Lanzhou, their city is more western, and they are more concerned with safety and sanitation. The differences between the provinces are enormous, and traveling is very eye-opening and educating.

As for Xi'An, I not only have been here before, but it is fairly similar to Lanzhou. It feels more like home! Going to Bei's home will be like home as well; when I first came to China, I stayed with Bei and her familiy. At that time, I was unable to verbally communicate with them. Now that I can speak Chinese, I will be able to truly express to them how grateful I am for their kindness to me.

The Roommate Dialect

My roommate Aidana and I always do our best to speak in Chinese- it's easier since she speaks Russian and I speak English. Aidana is knows much more Chinese than I do, but is just half a level ahead of me in the Chinese courses here at Lanzhou University, so there are tons of words that we don't know how to say. Chinese grammar is simple, but I'm sure we make many mistakes.

Also, we have this bad habit of not looking up how to say the names of objects. Instead, we use an adjective and then the Chinese word for "thing." Sometimes we add hand motions. At one point we didn't know the word for hairdryer, so we said (translated) "hair-dry-thing." The actual word for hairdryer translates to "blow-wind-machine," and I think our description is much better. The thing is, though, if we used our made-up word for hairdryer in a store, they would think for a second and then point us to the hairdryers, so I think it works just fine.

Maybe it's not really Chinese, but our own dialect. Our "Roommate Dialect" has English and Russian accents, odd grammar, and objects usually don't have actual names.

Teaching English

As a native English speaker, I find myself giving mini English lessons to people all the time. I also regularly tutor some Korean friends, and I've seen incredible improvement in my roommate's English (her native languages are Kazakh and Russian).

I've realized that if I hadn't learned English as a child, I don't think I would be able to study and learn it. I believe that English is a more of a spoken language and that grammar rules have been applied after-the-fact in an attempt to try to explain the language. You're welcome to disagree with me, but I've been around polyglots from a dozen different native languages and backgrounds for the past four months. They have all studied English at some level, and we're all studying Chinese together. We're very interested in languages, in methods for learning languages, and methods for teaching them.

Some of my friends have been studying English for over 12 years, but with no one to practice with and no one to correct them, they mostly know only vocabulary. I highly commend them for their hard work studying, and it's so rewarding to help someone learn when they really want to work hard.

Some difficult concepts that I've failed at explaining about English include: using the present tense to talk about definite future plans ("I fly home in August" instead of "I will fly home in August."), the very clear but subtle difference between "about to" and "going to," why the present perfect tense is so important ("I have lived here for two years" means you still live here), and when to use which preposition. One of my Korean friends made up a song to help with prepositions. It's to the tune of that West Life song: "You are so beautiful to me, I am so jealous of you, I am so happy for you, etc." Also, I had a discussion with my roommate about how "I'm up for that" and "I'm down for that" both mean you want to follow through with the suggestion that was just made!

One beauty of the English language, however, is that when a mistake is made, the speaker's meaning is still easily understood. Maybe an incorrect verb tense was used, the verb was unnecessarily made plural, an article was left out, or an incorrect preposition was used, but the listener still has a full understanding of the speaker's meaning. That's the point of a language, anyway: to communicate. In contrast, when I make a mistake in Chinese, the listener usually has no clue about what my meaning is. Maybe they don't try to understand me, but the nature of the language is very different from English.

On a related note, I've notice that in China, English is taught as a skill, not as a means of communication. Some Chinese students want to practice their English on me, and it's difficult not because their English is poor, but because they don't want to communicate with me. They want to spit out English sentences. This isn't communication!

So, to all of my foreign friends: keep studying English. I'm proud of you. I don't think I could learn the language!

He, She, and It

Chinese speakers consistently make mistakes with "he," "she," and "it" when speaking English. I have unsuccessfully been trying to understand this phenomenon since I came here, and I think reason must come down to the psychology of language.

In Chinese, the three pronouns are all pronounced the same way: ta1. They have three very clearly different characters, though: 他，她，它. I can't understand why all Chinese people would mess these up, because don't they picture the character in their minds as they speak? This question has led me to believe that Chinese people do not associate spoken Chinese with written Chinese; when they speak they do not picture the characters in their minds. I therefore assume that when they speak and say "he," "she," or "it," they do not differentiate between them. So, when they switch to English, they still do not differentiate between these pronouns.

Since I started learning Chinese, I have come to think of it as two different languages: the spoken language represented by pinyin and the written language represented by characters that give no clues for how to pronounce the word. Sometimes I encounter a problem where I attach the English word to the Chinese character. So I see a character and know the meaning, but I forget the pinyin and therefore cannot say the word in Chinese. In reverse, but not so much of a problem, is when I know how to say a word but have never seen the character so cannot recognize or write it.

I am beginning to believe that all literate Chinese separate the spoken and written languages. Because they don't picture the characters as they speak, they may only use the characters for reading. It would be more than possible for some or most Chinese to read characters and think of the meaning of the word without the pinyin pronunciation crossing their minds.

And then, what about those who are illiterate? How do their minds process the language?

These concepts are difficult for me to grasp and I obviously need to do some research- but the Chinese firewall keeps blocking me from viewing research articles! I am fascinated with this subject and I wanted to share my thoughts on the topic.

Normal

Since my American classmates have come, I've realized how much I've gotten used to China without even realizing it. It's actually strange to hang out with them. I had forgotten all about college humor, I forget that I don't have to speak English slowly to them, and I hadn't even realized that some things in China seem strange to them.

They often make fun of me, but I certainly deserve it. I have forgotten many English words and my grammar is unusual. I often word sentences oddly and end up saying something I didn't mean.

I wonder if I'll ever be "normal" again...

Chinese Pop and Children's Books

My classes have been pretty lame lately, and I'm so thankful that I only have about three weeks or so left. I love learning Chinese, but my classes just aren't helping too much.

So instead of studying for class, I studying on my own.

I just got some Chinese pop music. It's not good music, but the songs are catchy and I hear the same ones everywhere I go. I've learned a lot of new words and characters, as well as grammar.

I also bought a children's book with short narratives and descriptive pieces and it's been really fun to read. Even though the stories are written by and for Chinese, I relate to them. It makes me remember my childhood and is a reminder that no matter from what country or culture a person is from, people love, need, and want the same things.

Unplanned

I finally found out when my exams will be. There is no syllabus or academic calendar here, so up until this week, they've been saying vague things like "the end of June" and "the middle of July" which gives almost a whole month of leeway. I'm glad that I wasn't counting on any of this information to book train and plane tickets!

My exams are the final week in June, and I know they're going to be easy. Not only do I know the vocab, characters, and grammar that I'm responsible for, the university wants their program to look good. From what I've heard, they don't fail anyone. And, my grades here transfer back home as pass-fail. I'm just not worried at all.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do after my exams. "Unplanned" describes everything about this semester, and I intend to keep it that way. I fly home from Beijing August 10th, so between exams and then I'm going to travel. Some of my non-plans include traveling with my friend Dustin for a week or two, visiting some Chinese friends at their homes, and... ok, that's all. I think it will be more exciting to look at a map for some ideas, go to the train station, and then see what happens. I just want to travel all over China by train, and planning ruins the surprise.

The End Is Near-er

Last week, several dozen international students took their final exams early and returned to their home countries. As far as I understand it, the early exam was allowed because of the earthquake. Regardless, Zhuan Jia Lou is much quieter and I miss the friends who left.

Normally, I wouldn't think about leaving until it's time to leave, but since some friends have already left, it's been on my mind.

It's going to be so difficult to say goodbye to some of my friends here. I'm really going to miss my western friends, especially Dustin. We have similar goals and reasons for coming to China, we traveled all over together, and he's taught me so much. It's going to be even harder to say goodbye to some of my Korean friends. How do you thank someone for being patient enough to make friends with you even though you can't speak the same language, for staying up until two in the morning several times a week to teach you Chinese, and for teaching you about the culture, history, and customs of another country? It might be most difficult, though, to say goodbye to my roommate Aidana. When I first got here, she showed me everything I needed to get settled in Lanzhou. She took care of me when I was sick, listened to my horrible Chinese as I talked for hours, was always up for my ridiculous ideas, and put up with my crazy music and my messy side of the room. She isn't just my roommate; she's my good friend and I love her.

I don't have to say goodbye quite yet, but the end of the semester is getting closer and closer.

I Thought This Was A Blog-Worthy Accomplishment...

I wrote a journal entry completely in Chinese today.