Emilie Story Part IV

今天早上我打電話給大學，我說我要請病假。

我的上司好像有點奇怪，他說：“你是誰？”

午飯後，我上網，打入”太安樓“。看看地圖，太安樓在西灣河。

下午出去前，我看看兒子的睡房，是空的。

奇怪。

然後我坐地鐵去西灣河。

太安樓很大，有很多店和很多人。

我找找看看，不過我看不到那個女人。

我不知道要做什麼，回到街上。

那時正在日落，天空是紅色的。

我認出這條街-是夢裡的那條街。

我開始走路......

Do you know what these words mean?

Hira Hira - Japanese: the feeling you get when you walk into a dark and decrepit old house in the middle of the night.

Kanjus Makkhicus - Hindi: a person so miserly that if a fly falls into his cup of tea, he'll fish it out and suck it dry before throwing it away.

Jayus - Indonesian: someone who tells a joke so unfunny you can't help laughing.

Agelast- English: a person who never laughs

Dactylion- English: the tip of the middle finger

Eccedentesiast- English: a person who fakes a smile

Mytacism- English: the incorrect or excessive use of the letter M

Tarantism- English: an urge to overcome melancholy by dancing

Vigesimation – English: the act of killing every twentieth person

Tetrapyloctomy – English: the act of splitting a hair four ways

Words & Visual Art

"Words are for communication and cities are for living...Traditional Chinese characters became simplified characters; old cities have become new cities..."

-Hung Keung

Kinetic Typography animation by Matt Rogers

Loanword in Mandarin Chinese

Could you understand the following story?

I got a call from a friend inviting me to go to a pàiduì tonight when I was lying on my shāfā, after doing yújiā. I said while sipping my píjiŭ, "Kù! Let's go xuĕpìn this afternoon?"

After my friend had put her new clothes on, I heard her whispered to herself, "I am beautiful, I look like a mótèr!"

At night in the pàiduì we drank xiāngbīn and ate sānmíngzhì, while someone was playing jítā in the background.

When we left a friend asked me if I cared for a ride in his jípŭ chē. "No, you have had too much xiāngbīn, I'd better take a bāshì!" I turned down his suggestion and walked away.

Hightlight here to see the pinyin in English:

pàiduì party

shāfā sofa

yújiā yoga

píjiŭ beer

xuĕpìn shopping

mótèr model

xiāngbīn champagne

sānmíngzhì sandwich

jítā guitar

jípŭ chē jeep

bāshì bus

Party Lover Roberto

A short story about Roberto, a party lover.


By my student Jihoon


罗伯特喜欢派对。


他很幽默和随和。他长得不太好看，但是他常常笑，笑的时候让他活泼的脸看起来更好看。


他很有自信，也常常能猜到一个人喜欢怎么样的派对。


罗伯特很会玩，常常开很奢侈的派对，但是他不是有钱人。


他不在派对的时候，性格完全相反，在工作的时候他很认真和成熟，他努力地赚钱；


但是就在派对把钱全部花光。


他重复着这样奇怪的生活，只有一件事情不变：


他总是很忙，好像他明天就会死去一样。


如果有的事今天不做，以后没有机会做。


我可以在他身上感到他对生命的爱。

Taxi Cantonese 2

Taxi Cantonese 1

If you don't want to end up in the middle of nowhere, and being charged a fortune; it would be better to speak some Cantonese while you are taking a taxi in Hong Kong.

Here are some useful phrases for telling the taxi driver your destination. More to come in the next few posts!

Click the images to enlarge, or even print them out!

Naughty Donkey Making a Mess

An interesting, creative food name can definitely make an impression, especially on the foodies.

Last Wednesday I met a friend for dinner. My friend was planning a trip to Beijing next month. As a foodie, she told me the first thing she wanted to do in Beijing was to try a famous Beijing snack named “Rolling Donkey”(驢打滾；驴打滚; lǘ dă gŭn)-glutinous rice rolls with sweet bean-flour.

Our first encounter with the snack was in “My Memories of Old Beijing”, an autobiographical novel written by Lin Haiyin in 1960. The book was a very interesting read and was highly recommended by schools back then.

Sadly and interestingly enough, my friend could recall nothing from the book but only “Rolling Donkey”. The reason why it was named as such was because the rice rolls are covered with yellow bean-flour, looking like a donkey making a mess on a dusty, sandy ground. A playful name like this made itself impossible to slip away from her memory.

Here are some other interesting Chinese food names I have heard of:

(Click the Chinese names for the photos)

羊乳扇; yáng rŭ shàn: Goat’s Cheese Paper Fan (Yunnan Snack) –Thin, crispy goat’s cheese slices, looking like paper fans

硬面鐲子;硬面镯子; yìng miàn zhuó zi: Floured-Bracelet (Beijing snack)-Baked ring-shaped bread with sesame seeds.

蛤蟆吐蜜; háma tŭ mì: Honey-Spitting Toad (Beijing Snack)-White sesame bread stuffed with red bean paste. The bread cracks in the middle making the stuffing visible.

燈影牛肉；灯影牛肉；dēngyĭng niúròu: Light-shadow Beef (Sichuan snack)- Beef cut thin as if light can shine through, like a piece of canvas of a shadow play.

Love Pre-Anno Domini

First attempt to translate and rewrite one of the greatest pieces of Vincent Fang, a Taiwanese multi-Golden Melody award nominated lyricist.
This translation couldn't be completed without help from a friend, who is a poet.
Visit Arturo Leone's website here.

愛在西元前

古巴比倫王頒布了漢摩拉比法典 刻在黑色的玄武岩 距今已經三千七百多年

妳在櫥窗前 凝視碑文的字眼 我卻在旁靜靜欣賞妳那張我深愛的臉

祭司 神殿 征戰 弓箭 是誰的從前 喜歡在人潮中妳只屬於我的那畫面

經過蘇美女神身邊 我以女神之名許願 思念像底格里斯河般的漫延

當古文明只剩下難解的語言 傳說就成了永垂不朽的詩篇

我給妳的愛寫在西元前 深埋在美索不達米亞平原

幾十個世紀後出土發現 泥板上的字跡依然清晰可見

我給妳的愛寫在西元前 深埋在美索不達米亞平原

楔形文字刻下了永遠 那已風化千年的誓言 一切又重演

我感到很疲倦離家鄉還是很遠 害怕再也不能回到妳身邊

愛在西元前 愛在西元前

Love Pre-Anno Domini

It was 3700 years ago
that the King of Babylon
erected the black basalt stele
where the code of Hammurabi was inscribed.
You are studying the epigraph
at the front of the glass box
while I am adoring your face
in complete solitude.
The priests, the shrines, the wars, the bows and the arrows,
to whom did they once belong?
And why should I care if I know
I am the one you belong to?
Before Hera I made a vow in the name of the goddess;
my love flew through like the Tigris.
When the tangled tongues who
spoke in abstruse languages,
and salivated the dusty ash
of their ancient civilization,
legend turned into a poem to live on.
I left to you my love
pre-Anno Domini.
It was buried deep, deep under Mesopotamia.
Unearthed was the dozens of centuries-old tuppu
with my words clearly imprinted on it.
I left to you my love
pre-AnnoDomini.
It was buried deep, deep under Mesopotamia,
where immortality was cuneiformly carved;
where my words were everlastingly revived.
The history is about to repeat itself.
I need a rest but it will be a long way home;
how I long to return to where you belong.
Love pre-Anno Domini.
Lovepre-Anno Domini.

The motivation

I heard the sounds of children playing, cars honking, and “RRRRRRRrrrrr”. I opened my eyes; a few mosquitoes were having some fun in my hotel room.

Today was my first day in B.

I walked to the front desk. Nobody was there, so I left them a note complaining about the mosquitoes.

It was noon, and I wasn’t fed yet. Right next to my hotel there was a local restaurant. Sweet and sour pork, Kung Pao chicken, chow mein…mhmmm. At the door, a chubby woman looked at me and shouted, “ limian zuo!”

I couldn’t wait to look at the menu: “The thin cow picks three text cure” ...didn’t know what that was. “Living to fry the beef rice” …what?? “The bureau swallows to take the fish idea powder” I had no idea what “fish idea powder” was, probably it was the brain part?

OK, enough.

I checked with the chubby lady to see if they had pork, or chicken. She looked puzzled and said,“bu dong, bu dong!” That left me with no choice but to look down at my menu again. I noticed that on top of the menu, there was “The fried rice of Indonesia”

Hallelujah.

After lunch, I went into a shop selling electronic goods. I walked around and set my eyes on a headset. Before I tried it on, I noticed that there was a notice saying:

I needed more hints to understand what kind of business they were doing in this shop, so I went out and checked the name of the shop again; it said “Translate Server Error”.

I needed a walk to clear my head.

I went into a zoo, and saw a sign:

Creepy, but I smiled back.

Everyone was on the way back to their offices; not many of them had time to stay in a zoo. I saw a few monkeys sitting inside a cage. These funny and furry friends stared at each other; looking bored. I saw another sign:

I wanted to have some fun. I put my right hand into the cage and tapped one of the monkey’s shoulder (whose back was facing me), then I looked away immediately before he turned around, acting as if I was an innocent visitor. He examined my facial expression carefully, and then turned his back on me again. I was having so much fun and couldn't stop from doing it again. This time, his friend saw what I did. And before I knew what was going on, I felt a sharp pain on my index finger.

The monkey bit me!

My finger was bleeding so badly and I didn’t know to whom I could turn for help. I decided to return to my hotel and took a rest.

I put a bandage on my finger and laid down on bed, and then I heard the mosquitoes again. With all the frustrations and pains I had gone through today, I rushed out and shouted at the front desk, “I need all the mosquitoes to be out of my room, now!” The front desk lady, looking scared, replied in broken English, “I see your note, but not understand your handwriting…”

I went back to my room, laid down again, and stared at my bleeding finger, the mosquitoes were started to get excited I could tell.

I needed to look for a Chinese language course tomorrow.

Emilie Story Part III

Part III of the story by Emilie, my student who is a also a talented photographer for Time Out Hong Kong, read her photoblog here.

十一月二十三日 晚

昨晚，我再做一樣的夢，不過有了一點不同：

我醒來前，那個女人說了一個詞。

醒來後，我很快寫下：太安樓。

然後，我在睡覺，但是沒有做夢。

今天，在大學我不能專心，我的學生都問候我。

下午，我回家，試試打電話給在倫敦的太太，不過她很忙，沒有時間說話。

我的兒子再出去跟女朋友一起。

然後我再看那張紙，那三個字：太安樓。

我想我不可以不去。

The power of the word

"Of all the powerful weapons of destruction that man has invented, the most terrible – and the most cowardly – is the word."- Paulo Coelho

I enjoy reading quotes; they are usually precise and influential.

To me, word is:














...and many more.

What made the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination against race, colour, sex, religion and national origin related to voting, employment and public services throughout America?

It was because of a young American pastor believed that all men were created equal, and publicly dreamt about his four little children would one day live in a nation where they would not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.

What brought down the Berlin Wall? It was by an unintentional, yet powerful mistake. On 9 November, 1989, Günter Schabowski was asked by a reporter at the end of a press conference that when a new law permitting GDR citizens more freedom of travel would take effect. Without being informed in advance, he assumed that it would be on the same day of the regulation notes being handed, he then said,"As far as I know effective immediately, without delay."

Later the same night, thousands of East Berliners rushed to the Wall and tried to climb over it, left the guards with on choice but to open the gate to let the people into West Berlin.

What cost Chinese human right activist Tan Zuoren 5 years in jail? He was accused of "inciting subversion of state power" after publicly questioning why so many schools collapsed in 2008 Sichuan earthquake-while other buildings around them remained standing. Many speculated that the poor construction of the schools was because of corruption.

Imprisonment is probably one of the best ways to shut a powerful vocal critic up.

All the above people, including the words they said, have had great impacts on history and our society.

Now then, what about the powerful words in our daily life? They are usually simple, yet striking and magical.

A person who once meant a lot to me had a problem that many of us have in common-being reluctant to apologise with saying "I am sorry".

The only time when I heard it, my heart was melted in an instant, and tears were running down from my eyes. (was it implying that the effectiveness of words has something to do with its frequency of usage?)

What words in daily life are the most powerful to you?

It's just ketchup

One day, I was interested in writing a post about English words of Chinese origin. I remembered it was a typhoon night, I went to consult this professor who lived across the street from me. I heard her playing mahjong with her friends when I pressed the doorbell.

When she finally opened the door, she was wearing a yellow silk cheongsam with pink lychee patterns on it, holding a cup of Oolong and said,"Chop-Chop! Come on in!"

"Sorry to bother you this late but I just want to ask you about..."I noticed that there was a blood stain on her collar, so I asked,"did he beat you again?" She checked it with a mirror but then quickly said,"oh, no, no...it is just ketchup, I was eating chips the other day..."

Poor lady, she was probably brainwashed by her conservative mother that all ugly truth of the family should be kept as secrets. "So, what brings you here again?"



I know, what a strange story! Please try to find the words that you think are from Chinese.

Highlight here to make the answers visible!

Did you find 9? Excellent!

1. Typhoon
2. Mahjong
3. Silk
4. Cheongsam
5. Lychee
6. Oolong
7. Chop Chop
8. Ketchup
9. Brainwash

Hand Gestures

Home Sweet Home.

I am back.

In Italy, I was trying to speak with an Italian family, but after failing to hold a conversation in Italian for more than 3 minutes, I switched to sign language; yes, the famous Italian hand gestures.

...and it worked.

I even bought a book called Supplemento al dizionario italiano (Supplement to the italian dictionary) to understand this interesting culture better.

Here are a few unforgettable gestures taught by the book:

1. Che vuoi? (What do you expect?)





Shake your hand up and down, depends on how impatient you are!



2. Bere (A drink)






3. Che peso! (What a bore!)

Tap your hand slowly against your chest to show that the thing or the person is boring enough to cause indigestion!

In Chinese culture, people don't use hand gestures as much as Westerners; but we do have hand gestures for number 1-10:

Jokes

The summer sun is not merciful here in Hong Kong; I am running away for three weeks.

Going to three countries where hopefully, in one of them I can practice my hopeless Italian. For the other two, I am going to use sign language.

I have been reading some jokes about these countries as the starter of my journey.

Belgium:

How do you drive a Belgian crazy?

Lock him in a circular room and tell him there's frites at the next corner.

Germany:

Do you know why Germans build such high-quality products?

So they won't have to go around being nice while they fix them.

Italy:

How do you shut up an Italian?

Tie their hands behind their backs.

I hope they didn't offend you, but made you laugh...but just to be fair, here is a Chinese one:

Why would the world have been a better place if Adam and Eve were Chinese?

Because they would have eaten the snake instead of the apple.

Funny Cantonese Animal Slangs

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about funny animal names. This time, I am quite interested in looking into the Cantonese slang related to animals.

Before I started this post, I was writing down as many slangs as I could think of, and was quite surprised to find out I could came out with at least 10 within 1 minute...

蛇王 (C-sèh-wohng)

Snake King-call a lazy person a Snake King, because a snake likes to curl up its body and rest.

色狼 (C-sīk-lòhng)

Colour Wolf-the equivalent in English is horndog.

In Buddhist terms, "colour" refers to all sort of materialistic things that evoke desires-especially sexual desire.

Wolf symbolises evil and greed (think about the wolf in The Three Little Pigs, also the one in Red Riding Hood)

A Colour Wolf means a person has a greed for sex.

失魂魚 (C-sāt-wàhn-yú)

Terrified fish-call a panic person a terrified fish. We all know how a terrified fish acts like-it turns around and swims away like a flash of lightning.

笑面虎 (C-siu-mihn-fú)

Smile Face Tiger-call a hypocritical person a Smile Face Tiger; usually it is to describe a person who seems to be kind but is actually wicked.

扮豬吃老虎 (C-Baan-jyū-sihk-lóuh-fú)

Disguised as a pig, and eats a tiger-to describe a person plays dumb in order to manipulate other people.

What Made My Day

In the morning, Charlotte, my 8-year-old student, gave me a big hug, followed by a kiss on my face, then she told me,

" Nǐ shì wǒ zuì xǐhuan de lăoshī!"

*你是我最喜欢的老师！

You are my favourite teacher!

And because I am her favourite teacher, I deserved this cute puppy that she got from Ocean Park yesterday, and I was allowed to bring it home.

This is one of my best days in my life :-)

Emilie Story Part II

十一月二十二日 雨


我說明一下。

每晚，我做一樣的夢。

夢裡，我和一個女人在街上一起走路。我不知道她的名字，我不知道她幾歲，但是我認識她。

夢裡，我們常常走路，那條街很長。

那時常常是日落，城裡沒有人，只有我們。

這個女人常常有重要的事要說，不過她從來不說。

然後，我醒來。

不過昨天，在電影院裡，我看見了她，但是她正在離開

最後她不見了。

Funny Animal Names

Like many other languages, Chinese language has many compound words. A compound word is a word that joined by two or more old words.

Many animal names in Chinese are compound words; some people found them strange; some found them quite clever.

Could you guess what animals they are in the below:

袋鼠 （C-doih-syú; M-dàishŭ)

Bag Mouse

壁虎 （C-bik-fú; M-bìhŭ)

Wall Tiger

海象 (C-hói-jeuhng; M-hăixiàng)

Sea Elephant

長頸鹿/长颈鹿 (C-chèuhng-géng-luhk; M-chángjǐnglù)

Long Neck Deer

鴨嘴獸/鸭嘴兽 (C-ngaap-jéui-sau; M-yāzuǐshòu)

Duck Beak Monster

Click on the characters to check the answers!

A poem for (Mandarin) tones lovers

《施氏食獅史》

石室诗士施氏，嗜狮，誓食十狮。
氏时时适市视狮。
十时，适十狮适市。
是时，适施氏适市。
氏视是十狮，恃矢势，使是十狮逝世。
氏拾是十狮尸，适石室。
石室湿，氏使侍拭石室。
石室拭，氏始试食是十狮尸。
食时，始识是十狮，实十石狮尸。
试释是事。

Warning: This piece may damage your vision, and make you sound like a lisper temporary.

« Shī Shì shí shī shǐ »

Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.
Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.
Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì.
Shì shí, shì Shī Shì shì shì.
Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shìshì.
Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shíshì.
Shíshì shī, Shì shǐ shì shì shíshì.
Shíshì shì, Shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī.
Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī, shí shí shí shī shī.
Shì shì shì shì.

Thank you for your effort, and you deserve the translation:

« Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den »

In a stone den was a poet called Shi, who was a lion addict, and had resolved to eat ten.
He often went to the market to look for lions.
At ten o'clock, ten lions had just arrived at the market.
At that time, Shi had just arrived at the market.
He saw those ten lions, and using his trusty arrows, caused the ten lions to die.
He brought the corpses of the ten lions to the stone den.
The stone den was damp. He asked his servants to wipe it.
After the stone den was wiped, he tried to eat those ten lions.
When he ate, he realized that these ten lions were in fact ten stone lion corpses.
Try to explain this matter.

The poem , consists of 92 characters with 1 sound in 4 tones, was written by Chao Yuen Ren, a Chinese American linguist, to against the idea of replacing classical Chinese characters with romanization. The poem is almost impossible to understand by romanization but characters.

I hope you had a good time there.

Emilie's Story Part I

This was originally a piece of holiday homework for Emilie, it later turned out to be a short story!

Part I was written by me, the rest was by Emilie.

Part I

十一月二十一日 雨

我看到她了。

今天我很忙。清晨要開車送太太到機場，她要到倫敦工作五天。然後回家後把車給兒子，今天他要用我的車上班，聽說他有了一個新的女朋友。

我坐出租車回大學，今天我們要和校長開會。那是一個三小時的大會，我們沒有時間說笑，也沒有時間吃飯，今天早上一點也不輕鬆。

晚上回家後兒子不在，我一個人出去吃飯和看電影。我去了中環的IFC看電影，看的是活地阿倫的《遇上陌生情人》。他的電影我都覺得有意思，但是生活更有意思。

然後，我在電影院看到了她。

作文：請用不少於400字完成日記。

When I said He, what I meant was...

"She quitted his job, took three-month holiday and went to France. She then later went to a Le Cordon Bleu school to follow his passion as a pastry chef... "

"...wait, is the person a he or a she?"

This is not an uncommon question you would ask when you have a conversation with a native Chinese speaker.

One day, I was in Causeway Bay on my way home, a foreigner asked me for direction, "excuse me, do you know where the Discovery Bay pier is?"

"It was in Central near IFC mall."

He looked a bit puzzled.

"Sorry! I meant 'it IS in Central'!!! Yes... present tense!"

You don't have to be a fluent Chinese speaker to know that saying "he" and "she" in spoken Chinese are the same; and in Chinese language, there is no tenses.

Many people here in Hong Kong started learning English when they were about 3 or 4. Some people even learnt to speak English before Cantonese.

We are expected to write, read and speak English on a decent level.

I think many people who are learning a second language share a similar situation- it seems fine when longer time is given to us to construct a sentence. However, when we are in a situation that requires an INSTANT RESPONSE, we make more mistakes. Our brains are not fast enough to construct a "perfect" sentence.

If you are Chinese, you might miss out the "s" after a plural noun; or forget to change the tense of a sentence when it is a past event; or missaying "he" when it is actually a "she"...

If you are a native English speaker, you might put the time word at the end of the sentence (In Chinese, a time word is generally placed in front, or after the subject.); you might add an unnecessary article in front of a noun.

How can we train our brains to think faster? You have to speak and response, try to have conversation with native speakers; hitting language or grammar books all the time won't bring you anywhere close to fluent level.

A student of mine who also speaks fluent Japanese, told me that he practiced Japanese while spending nights in Japanese bars talking to local people over drinks. Now living in a city surrounded with not-so-patient people, he tries to "annoy" the taxi drivers...

So, what do they actually mean?

明(Mandarin-míng;Cantonese-mìhng)

sun+moon=bright

掰 (M-bāi; C-bāai)

hand+divide+hand=to break off something





囍 (M-xǐ;C- héi)

happiness+happiness=double happiness (used for marital happiness)

嬲 (M-niăo; C-nāu)

man+woman+wan=M-to flirt with someone;to tease; C-to angry at someone (I'd be surprised if no one got angry...)

囚 (M-qiú; C-chàuh)

to surround+person=imprison

The stories behind the characters

Many people complain about how difficult it is to learn Chinese characters.

It is true that most of the time, we do not have a clue what the pronunciation of a Chinese character is until you learn it.

But, what about the meanings?

Could we tell the meanings of a Chinese character by just looking at it?

(before answering, try looking at these characters, though you have to have some basic knowledge of Chinese characters first!)

明，掰，囍，嬲 ，囚

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's Valentine's Day!

Have been reading poems these day and found one I quite like. (Though it is a sad poem!)

Have it translated into English here:

我知道凡是美丽的总不肯，也不会为谁停留。

所以，我把我的爱情和忧伤挂在墙上展览，

并且出售

——席慕容《画展》

Art Exhibition

If beauty does last, it is a rare privilege.

Therefore,

my love and sorrow are hanging for sale,

on the exhibition wall.

-Xi Murong

Symbolisms of Chinese Lunar New Year Food

Gūnghéi fatchòih！



Chinese Lunar New Year is coming! You might have heard about there are many Dos and Don'ts during the New Year, but Chinese people could be far more superstitious than you might first imagine!




Here are the symbolisms behind some popular New Year food(romanization in Cantonese):



Fish (魚; yú)—Have leftovers of money;年年有餘;Nìhnnìhn yáuhyùh



Chive(韭菜;gáuchoi )—Everlasting; 長長久久;chèuhngchèuhnggáugáu



New Year Cake (年糕;Nìhngōu)—Promotion;步步高升;Bouhbouh gōusīng



A kind of algae in dark green colour (髮菜;fatchoi)—Wealth; 發財;fatchòih



Sweet dumplings (湯圓;tōngyún)-Reunion;團圓;tyùhnyùhn

Let the Bullets Fly

A drama between a bandit and a mobster.

The metaphor of the film maybe obvious, but it doesn't make it easier to draw all the connectiones in the cinema.

Here are my favourite quotes:






张麻子：「你说是钱对我重要，还是你对我重要？」

Zhang: What do you think is more important to me? Money or you?

黄四郎：「我」

Huang: Me.

张麻子：「再想想」

Zhang: Think about it again.

黄四郎：「不会是钱吧」

Huang: Well...money?

张麻子：「再想想」

Zhang: Think about it again.

黄四郎：「还是我重要」

Huang: I think it's me.

张麻子：「你和钱对我都不重要，没有你，对我很重要」

Zhang: Neither of them.

WITHOUT YOU-is more important.

The English Language In 24 Accents

Wow! I wish I could do Mandarin in 24 accents too!

The accents are so different that people from the north would have difficulties understanding the accent of people from the south.

Wall Eye Knee

Here is an interesting research done by University of Haifa.

Maybe I should start saying

"knee how ma" to students.

I do agree perception of the speech plays a key role in the second language learning process. If the message is not clear to the learner, no conversation is going to be held.

In the long run, I doubt if it still works. "Wall Eye Knee" sounds a bit awkward to express what you really mean to your Chinese girlfriend.