Once upon a time, there was a careless painter. One day, while he was painting a horse, he got an invitation to paint a tiger for a local rich man. He had finished the head of horse and then he went on with the same picture the body of tiger.
When he came back, the elder son asked him what it was. He replied, it was a tiger. When the younger one asked him, he told him it was a horse.
One day, the elder son saw a horse in the street. "Oh, there is a dangerous tiger!" He went to the animal,fought with it and beat it to death. Another day, the younger son saw a tiger in the forest. "What a pretty horse!" He told himself. He tried to ride the animal,however, he was eaten soon.
When he saw the left of his son and the dead horse, the painter couldn't help crying. He lost one of his son and had to pay a lot for the dead horse.
From then on, 马虎mahu has been used to describe a careless or non-serious person. And later, 马马虎虎 got the meaning of so-so because the picture the painter drew was just a so-so one.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
How are you? and 你好吗 (ni hao ma)?
"GREETING" is the first topic of every language.
These days i have heard lots of Chinese learners say "你好吗(ni hao ma)?" when they meet someone. "你好吗(ni hao ma)?" is translated directly from "How are you?" but absolutely different function in Chinese.If you have lived in China even ten years, you will never heard a native speaker say "你好吗(ni hao ma)?"
We do say 你好(ni hao), which is a pretty damn cool expression, it can be used at so many occasions, such as:
1. Greeting. In the morning, you meet your colleagea at the lobby, you can say "你好"
2. Ask for help. You got lost in Shanghai, you want to ask someone for direction, just use "你好", whatever who she/he is, girl, boy, man, woman, old, yong.
3. Ask for serveice. You finish your dinner at Peace Hotel, you want to ask for the bill, just say"你好", the waiter will come to you.
Do you have such a magic expression in your country? Tell us!
Monday, January 22, 2007
The Trinity of Mandarin learning ------ The student, the teacher and New Concept Mandarin
Time flies! Another brand-new year knocked our door open to say Goodbye to the year of 2006. If life is a piece of blank paper on which life experiences draw artistic pictures, one year’s time in New Concept Mandarin added another stroke to my life paper. Thanks to the students, the stroke is smooth, pleasing and meaningful.
New Concept Mandarin, as a bridge between students and teachers, has always been a great platform for students from different nations, who accordingly become each excellent “performer” on the stage. With the help of each teacher or “director”, the “performers” have been making progress and interpreting the art of language in different ways. It is also due to the trust and care that “performers” give to the platform, New Concept Mandarin has come to another prosperous era.
As one of the “directors”, it is so hard for me to hide the joy of gratification, which undoubtedly comes from students’ efforts and progress. Take three of my students for example. Brian Bone, Giuliano Raponi and Jenny Seaman have finished their Survival I and II courses in the last four months and just started the third level learning not long before. Just after less than half a year’s learning, Giuliano is able to have small talks with natives around, like shop keepers, his Aiyi, who were the people he was struggling to deal with when he just got here. Jenny is a successful company owner. Before she started her Mandarin learning, every time she was having a meeting with her Chinese employees or clients, she was like, just as she said, someone who seemed to have nothing to do with the business. Now she gets more confident on these occasions as she starts to pick up the words and even the sentences from what people say. Brian also gets more of the feeling that he has become one part of the surroundings where he felt pretty much isolated when he just came to the city, for he has started the communication with local people in their language.
Everyday, students come to the office to spend two hours with the teacher, sharing their learning experiences, expressing profound interests in local cultural life and exchanging what they have heard and witnessed. At suchlike times, I usually prefer to be a listener, for it is such an enjoyment to hear the changes taking place in their lives in China, for which they have made so many efforts and tried so hard. And their efforts in learning the language finally pay off. Meanwhile New Concept Mandarin and its staff also get rewarded at such moment when they have helped make those wonderful changes. It is all worth it!
New Concept Mandarin, as a bridge between students and teachers, has always been a great platform for students from different nations, who accordingly become each excellent “performer” on the stage. With the help of each teacher or “director”, the “performers” have been making progress and interpreting the art of language in different ways. It is also due to the trust and care that “performers” give to the platform, New Concept Mandarin has come to another prosperous era.
As one of the “directors”, it is so hard for me to hide the joy of gratification, which undoubtedly comes from students’ efforts and progress. Take three of my students for example. Brian Bone, Giuliano Raponi and Jenny Seaman have finished their Survival I and II courses in the last four months and just started the third level learning not long before. Just after less than half a year’s learning, Giuliano is able to have small talks with natives around, like shop keepers, his Aiyi, who were the people he was struggling to deal with when he just got here. Jenny is a successful company owner. Before she started her Mandarin learning, every time she was having a meeting with her Chinese employees or clients, she was like, just as she said, someone who seemed to have nothing to do with the business. Now she gets more confident on these occasions as she starts to pick up the words and even the sentences from what people say. Brian also gets more of the feeling that he has become one part of the surroundings where he felt pretty much isolated when he just came to the city, for he has started the communication with local people in their language.
Everyday, students come to the office to spend two hours with the teacher, sharing their learning experiences, expressing profound interests in local cultural life and exchanging what they have heard and witnessed. At suchlike times, I usually prefer to be a listener, for it is such an enjoyment to hear the changes taking place in their lives in China, for which they have made so many efforts and tried so hard. And their efforts in learning the language finally pay off. Meanwhile New Concept Mandarin and its staff also get rewarded at such moment when they have helped make those wonderful changes. It is all worth it!
Monday, December 25, 2006
From Dongguan on this special day
I have not wrote anything for a long time, while started from my primary school which always had some Chinese-composing competition between differents schools or cities in my home province, Hunan. and I won several times by some articles were stated by judges with "clear idea, good structure , fluent expressions", which enough to mark a good composition to a child especially with a moral main idea(moral is an important part in Chinese culture ) which is demostrated through a nice story that just came out of my brain and it's not ture.
Time goes by, now i 'm writing again in a different language and with a mouse. By standing at the tail of 2006, and i am very glad that we can have this new space for us to share the things in the year passed and in future. our students in Dongguan , they are a special group that i couldnot help to tell that they are lovely. they will use "mei3lv2美驴" ( "pretty doncky" )intead of "mei3nv3 美女",which is "pretty woman" and they darely to say "pretty doncky"very loudly outside of my classroom. and especially every single time they will kiss or be kissed when they ask questions by"qin1wen3亲吻(kiss)" "Qinwen, ni de pijiu duoshao qian? Qinwen(kiss again), qu Ole zenme zou?"Actually which is "qing3wen4请问（excuse me）". these little funny things that happened in my classes like a dessert after a main dish which decorated the studying days. i think i need to declare that the above things were told not be rude to anybody who made a similar joke , just for something that we share. Actually we are in a great harmony . I was lucky enough that my clients often like to treat their instructor some food or drinks, spending sometime together, also with their family. To teach mandarin in NCM is a good experience and also enjoyful.
It seems has no end for this article, let me conclude it with a wish cause today is a special day.I wish the ones who is working and studying in NCM , good luck accompanies with you all through 2007 and goes to 2008 for Olympics. ( then to be continued.)
Time goes by, now i 'm writing again in a different language and with a mouse. By standing at the tail of 2006, and i am very glad that we can have this new space for us to share the things in the year passed and in future. our students in Dongguan , they are a special group that i couldnot help to tell that they are lovely. they will use "mei3lv2美驴" ( "pretty doncky" )intead of "mei3nv3 美女",which is "pretty woman" and they darely to say "pretty doncky"very loudly outside of my classroom. and especially every single time they will kiss or be kissed when they ask questions by"qin1wen3亲吻(kiss)" "Qinwen, ni de pijiu duoshao qian? Qinwen(kiss again), qu Ole zenme zou?"Actually which is "qing3wen4请问（excuse me）". these little funny things that happened in my classes like a dessert after a main dish which decorated the studying days. i think i need to declare that the above things were told not be rude to anybody who made a similar joke , just for something that we share. Actually we are in a great harmony . I was lucky enough that my clients often like to treat their instructor some food or drinks, spending sometime together, also with their family. To teach mandarin in NCM is a good experience and also enjoyful.
It seems has no end for this article, let me conclude it with a wish cause today is a special day.I wish the ones who is working and studying in NCM , good luck accompanies with you all through 2007 and goes to 2008 for Olympics. ( then to be continued.)
Friday, December 22, 2006
Dragon Boat Race
Dragon Boat Festival is a Chinese traditional festival. The team of Suzhou Expats joined the annual Dragon Boat Race on June 9th. "No 1 goes to EAS!" Hurray !!! Let us give them a round applause!!!
EaST mEets wEst !
Jessie(the groom )'s Mum is our client in Suzhou. I was invited to attend his wedding. A crash happened between them, today is a big day. Let us all pray for them!
Thursday, December 21, 2006
On Festival Gifts
Every year, when Christmas is drawing near, most students become busy shoppers, especially lady students. Every time we finish the class and I ask them "What are you up to?" they always make this unanimous reply "I'm gonna buy Christmas gifts for my families back home". So when they come back to the next class, I usually ask them to make a short report in Mandarin on what they have purchased. They are always happy to share. Some of them buy Chinese antiques or accessories for their families and friends; some purchase local specialties or clothing to take back home. I am very intrigued, because in Spring Festival, the Chinese counterpart of Christmas, we do not usually send item presents to our families, instead we give money, which we call a name "Red envelope money",which in Chinese is "ya sui qian". Unlike people in foreign countries who have the custom of exchanging gifts with one another, Chinese do not randomly give money to others in the festival. The rule is that the older generation gives money to the younger one within a family, and in south China like Guangzhou, the married couple usually gives money to their single friends.
Why do Chinese call the money "ya sui qian"? There is a story here. In ancient times, there was a demon with blank body and white hands. His name was Sui. Every eve of the first day in a year, he would sneak into people's house and touch children' heads, so that the kids would get fever which caused mental problems in them afterwards. Therefore, every year at that time, in fear that Sui might hurt their kids, parents would not go to sleep but guard the kids with all the lights on, which was called “Shou sui” (defend against Sui). There was one couple who just got a son in their old age. They cherished the kid very much. At that night, like other parents, they accompanied their son playing with him. They wrapped up some coins with red paper and put it under the kid's pillow. It was almost five o'clock in the morning. The couple thought Sui might not come, so they went to bed. But the demon still showed up. Just when he approached the kid, a bunch of golden light sprung out from the pillow. With a shrill screaming, Sui disappeared in horror. Later, the news quickly spread all over the town. From then on, on every New Year's Eve, people would use red paper, wrap some money inside and give it to their kids, so that Sui was never able to harm them. They called the money "ya sui qian" referring to the money that was used to keep away the demon "Sui". And this custom passed from generation to generation until now.
So the story comes to an end, I am sure that now you are not confused about the custom any more if you used to. But if you are also thinking about sending presents to your Chinese friends during the Spring Festival, here is a piece of advice for you: fruits, cakes and flowers can make ideal choices.
Why do Chinese call the money "ya sui qian"? There is a story here. In ancient times, there was a demon with blank body and white hands. His name was Sui. Every eve of the first day in a year, he would sneak into people's house and touch children' heads, so that the kids would get fever which caused mental problems in them afterwards. Therefore, every year at that time, in fear that Sui might hurt their kids, parents would not go to sleep but guard the kids with all the lights on, which was called “Shou sui” (defend against Sui). There was one couple who just got a son in their old age. They cherished the kid very much. At that night, like other parents, they accompanied their son playing with him. They wrapped up some coins with red paper and put it under the kid's pillow. It was almost five o'clock in the morning. The couple thought Sui might not come, so they went to bed. But the demon still showed up. Just when he approached the kid, a bunch of golden light sprung out from the pillow. With a shrill screaming, Sui disappeared in horror. Later, the news quickly spread all over the town. From then on, on every New Year's Eve, people would use red paper, wrap some money inside and give it to their kids, so that Sui was never able to harm them. They called the money "ya sui qian" referring to the money that was used to keep away the demon "Sui". And this custom passed from generation to generation until now.
So the story comes to an end, I am sure that now you are not confused about the custom any more if you used to. But if you are also thinking about sending presents to your Chinese friends during the Spring Festival, here is a piece of advice for you: fruits, cakes and flowers can make ideal choices.
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