We are what we speak--cross culture awareness

Learning a new language not only opens the doors of communication, it allows us to delve into the nuances and psychology of another culture. Learning a new language gives us the ability to open our minds to a new way of thinking and perceiving the world.

Once one of my friend who is in a language school telling me that, you will easily notice all the students from different language department has a certain way of study, entertainments and life focus influenced by the language they study. In a word, we could say that when you learn a new language, it penetrates into our daily life and core values gradually.

In the West, there is a thirst to promote the individual. In Eastern cultures, respect lies in the community and family as a whole. In China, harmony is of utmost importance, whereas in the West, transformation is celebrated. China, in its tradition of harmony, has stayed stable for longer. However, as they embrace change, they are beginning to adapt and progress at a phenomenal rate. The West is curious about the harmony and spirituality which lies at the root of Eastern cultures, but this has not yet been fully adopted into Western culture just yet.

Here is a graph based on the difference between Eastern and Western's problem sloving.

The western way of problem-solving is usually fairly direct and focused. They articulate a problem and then define a solution with all the steps which are needed to be taken to reach the end goal. They also generally appreciate constructive criticism and embrace suggestions from anyone who has a good idea irregardless of their position within a hierarchy.

The Chinese seem to take a rather different approach. Instead of tackling a problem head-on we will talk around it in circle-like discussions until a mutually agreeable solution is found. This seems to be partly about maintaining “face” (Mianzi) and not upsetting anyone by being indirect whilst also allowing people to steer a conversation in a direction of their choosing.

I'm gonna finish today's blog with one of the Four books of Confucian philosophy called "ZhongYong" or  Doctrine of the Mean. Here is a link with English subtitle, enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1YwK2f4wmc

Learning chinese character--- strokes

• Chinese characters are made out of simple basic strokes. A good first step to learn Chinese characters is to learn the basic strokes. The table below lists all the basic strokes used in the modern Chinese characters, giving the name and example characters.

 http://www.archchinese.com/chinese_character_strokes.html

• Modern Chinese characters have their roots in calligraphy, so stroke order is vital in writing Chinese. Having the wrong stroke order would cause ink to fall differently on the page and make Chinese cursive literally indistinguishable.

1. TOP TO BOTTOM

When a Chinese character is “stacked” vertically, like the character 立 (lì) or “to stand,” the rule is to write from top to bottom.

2. LEFT TO RIGHT

When a Chinese character has a radical, the character is written left to right. The same rule applies to characters that are stacked horizontally. Take a look at the “吃 (chī)” example below, which means “to eat.”

3. SYMMETRY COUNTS

When you are writing a character that is centered and more or less symmetrical (but not stacked from top to bottom) the general rule is to write the center stroke first. Check out the character “小(xiǎo)” which means “small.”

4. HORIZONTAL FIRST, VERTICAL SECOND

Horizontal strokes are always written before vertical strokes. Check out how to write the character “十(shí)” or “ten.”

5. ENCLOSURES BEFORE CONTENT

You want to create the frame of the character before you fill it in. Check out how to write the character 日(rì) or “sun.”

6. CLOSE FRAMES LAST

Remember this step as, "You want to fill the closet before you close the door.” After you write the middle strokes, close the frame, such as in the character “回(huí)” or “to return.”

7. CHARACTER SPANNING STROKES LAST

For strokes that cut across many other strokes, they are often written last. For example, the character 半 (bàn), which means “half.” The vertical line is written last.

However, there are always exceptions to everything. In order to truly master stroke order, you need to increase your Chinese skill on a whole and be exposed to new vocabulary.

that's all the rules explained in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eJ5ys03NHA

What are your lucky numbers?

In China, whether a number is considered lucky or not is often related to the similarity between the pronunciation of the number (i.e., its sound byte) and the sound of another word which carries a positive connotation.
Here is a short video about numbers in China. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwvlAbisiRc

As youve all learn your numbers at this stage and just a quick check hows your s, sh, I've got some classic numbers tongue twister here for you guys to practice. https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7679122956034134476#allposts

How to prounce jqx and zcs correctly?

One of my student have trouble with distiguse PinYin jqx and zcs, is not only him as most of Chinese who from South part of China also has the same problem. Today, im gonna post two pic demonstrate the tongue postion of those sounds. Hope that will help you!

 the pic above is tongue postion j q x

this pic is tongue postion of z c s


Here is five tongue twisters to check if youve all done a good job with learning your PinYin!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=211vCE7rh38

Just some tapas to start it up :)

大家好，

Just some interesting short Youtube video about China I'd like to share with you. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdTV2t0wTjw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btA3-6i5xmI

Can you tell me whats the name of the fllowing places/things/objects?