Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

And why am I torturing myself so?

From my Chinese textbook 《Hochschuldeutsch (1)》 and UBC textbook for German “Treffpunkt Deutsch” (pp 9) respectively:

ch 读作[ç]，为清辅音，读音与汉语“xi”的声母“x”相似，但发[ç]时嘴张得较大，舌尖向下接近下门齿，嘴角向后咧。ch 在 e, i, ei, eu, äu, ä, ö, ü 和所有辅音后面均发[ç]。

German ch

After i and e, the sound represented by ch is pronounced like a loudly whispered h in huge. (this is so damn straightforward)

ch 在 a, o, u, au 后面读作[x]。发音时张嘴，舌尖抵下门齿舌背向硬颚后部拾起，但不贴上，用力送气，气流通过舌背和硬颚间的缝隙，发摩擦音。

After a, o, and u, the sound represented by ch resembles a gentle gargling.

I am so glad I brought my UBC textbook here instead of selling it while I was at UBC. One of the wisest choice in my life, huh?

I want to follow the class, so everyday is German day for me from now on.

Ich kann Blut kotzen (I can puke blood).

Every German lesson (on Monday and Thursday afternoons) I sit at the back of the classroom and barely grasp the grammar the nice teacher is teaching, although I hope that will change soon. Since the class has less than 20 students, I have to answer an average of three questions per hour. Everyone answers fluently and accurately while I struggle with the answers and translations by frantically flipping though my German dictionary in English and trying my luck when it’s my turn.

I guess I should be glad I’m the class entertainer since I come up with misinterpretations like “There are many ways to lead Rome (有很多方法带领罗马）” for “All roads lead to Rome （有很多路通道罗马）”

I will pull through.

Back at UBC I was learning Beginners’ German from a German PhD student whose lessons were quite fun and engaging. Even though he was unsure of certain grammatic rules, we always forgave him because beads of perspiration would form on his head even in the midst of winter. Our German textbook introduces grammar step by step and we were just getting into past tense. Learning was in short sentences. I was already struggling with so many rules to remember and vocabulary to memorize, but I managed to get by with pastel colours.

Here in Fudan my classmates are done with grammar rules and usages. My current textbook is filled with PASSAGES and during today’s lesson I was completely lost when the teacher read the passage and the class started analyzing sentence structures. Usages and grammatical rules are briefly reviewed in Chinese and I can’t really follow. There’s way too much I need to catch up with, and I’m not sure if I can handle learning a 3rd language with my 2nd language in such a short time. What is 第1-4格respectively? And then there’s 强变化动词，不规则变化动词 (irregular verbs?)，不定式 (indefinite?)，现在时(present tense?)，过去时(past tense?)，完成时…

I am so dead.

To Jason: Prams Prams Prams!

So you tell people you’re from Singapore.

Speak Mandarin well enough to get you by in China and you’ll be complimented for such fluency. “Where did you learn to speak Mandarin?”

Speak English properly and you’ll be praised with “you speak English really well!” or “BUT you have no accent!!!”

Explaining may offend, so just smile and say thank you.

Seriously.

When you’ve gone beyond the “how are you” stage and are out of words to use to respond to what others are saying (for instance, after they talk about what their major is and what they plan to do for their thesis or the like, well, basically what to fill in for “that’s ___”), keep this following word list in mind:

1. (Of course, this word should be first on the list) Cool

2. (That’s) Great

3. (That’s) Fantastic

4. Nice!

5. Brilliant

6. Stellar!

7. Wonderful

8. AWESOME

9. Sweet!

10. Solid!

Other tips:

Remember something from your last conversation with that person and bring it up again so she/he feels good that you were paying attention/that you care.

Exit lines are also very important. Make sure you give the other party the impression that you absolutely enjoyed their company (albeit for just 2-3 minutes). Lines like “Hey it was really great talking to you, but I’ve gotta get going to ____, but I sure hope we can catch up again! Good luck/ Have fun with your ____ [insert whatever the other party mentioned she/he was going to do]!”

Actually, I’m beginning to appreciate small talk as a fine art. Make it natural to talk to people while you wait in line, in the elevator, anywhere…you never know who you might get to know!

In China’s blogosphere, GFW (Great Firewall (of China)) has become a verb! Use it like you use “google”. For instance, blogspot, wordpress, technorati, wikipedia, the BBC, has been blocked by the GFW, and now Flickr has been GFW-ed too (read here).

Many foreigners have found their way around the net nanny’s game, and someone formulated a quick fix for viewing blogspot blogs. I use anonymouse.org, but it’s really quite a hassle.

The other day Yahoo was blocked for a few hours, so I suppose the net nannys have been block testing.

It’s frustrating, but it’s amusing too I guess. And a quantum leap for net buffs who devise ways for all to work around GFW.

There are many other things I want to blog about but I can’t load my pictures on Flickr (might be the effect of firewall blocking, as I can’t view blogspot again), so those shall wait.

I had my last session of my external German class today. There was no lesson, just the exam. I wasn’t motivated to take the exam at first for fear of failing, but I was pushed by someone’s words of wisdom, when she used the analogy of canoeing, and not finishing the race. So I guess no matter what the outcome is, at least I crossed the finishing line (or buoys).

And I’ve learnt that it’s alright to learn a third language using your second language.

With one external exam down, I have 9 school exam papers to go. One thesis paper, and 8 closed-book exams. Argh.

What do you do with a B.A. in English?
What is my life going to be?
4 years of college,
And plenty of knowledge,
Have earned me this useless degree!
I can’t pay the bills yet,
‘Cause I have no skills yet,
The world is a big scary place!

Listen to it. Thanks dubdew, for providing a link to such an apt verse.

I’m almost halfway through my Bachelor’s degree in Shanghai, but I’m still struggling with written Chinese and some Chinese classes. I’m attending heavier English classes now due to course requirements, which limits the classes I have in Chinese this semester to a miserable 3 (out of 10). Two and a half to be exact. One — Disgusting Visual Basic (Computer) Class; Another — Marx’s Journalism…Thought(?) ; half — An Introduction to Historical Classics - The Old Testament (because I get to study English material whilst listening to the lecture in Chinese).

Hmm, I think I speak better Mandarin now, and idiomatic PRC Chinese phrases are part of my tongue already, but my Chinese (writing) still has too much room for improvement. I still have problems understanding teachers in the classes mentioned, only understanding words like “VB”, “Marx”, “Babylon”, “Palestine”, “Genesis”, “Moses”, “Adam”, and “Egypt”, but none of the words in between.

With the next semester in Canada, which direction do you think my Chinese will go? Up HuangShan Mountain, or down Niagara Falls?

Working on my Chinese is part of my study plan here, and work on it I must.