What follows is a collection of
random topics that I have been dwelling on for some time now. I warn you
that some are a bit more niche than others.
- Chinese
is very hard. This isn't a complaint, merely an observation from
experience. The topic of why this is so is one that myself and my
classmates here at CET have talked about quite a bit since arriving.
Let's start with the fact that Chinese is a tonal language.
This is elementary to why Chinese is so difficult for Westerners to
process. There are four tones in Chinese (five actually, if you
count the fact that a word can actually have no tone). This means
that changing the tone of a word changes it's meaning entirely. For
example, the word for glasses is yanjing, but the word for eyes is also
yanjing. The difference is that one uses the first tone, and one
uses the fourth tone. If you went to the doctor and told him your
yanjing hurts, and use the fourth tone instead of the first tone, you
would be telling him that your glasses were in pain. This would
cause him to stare at you with some disbelief and confusion. I get
this look very often. Another important reason is that I am simply
not a native speaker. It is my understanding, derived from speaking
with a psychology graduate school student friend of mine and from personal
experience, that there is a psychological phenomena that
result from this. Basically, when you and I speak English, my native
tongue, my mind is constantly predicting the word that will follow the one
you just spoke. That's why we can finish each other's sentences.
It's like counting cards, I now that the list of words you could use
is getting smaller and smaller. With Chinese, I have no such sense.
Because I'm so focused on translating the word you just said, my
mind gives little thought to the words you're going to say next.
This is, as you can imagine, quite frustrating, as it means that I
am often about two steps behind someone speaking Chinese. That's why
I have to do a lot of smiling and nodding in response to their stares of
confusion and disbelief.
- The
Chinese system is also quite difficult, for the simple reason that it is
not phonetic in any way. Imagine you see a new word in
English, what do you do first? You try to sound it out of course,
while looking
for root words that would help you figure out what it means. For
example, disestablishmentarianism, a very long word to be sure, but if you
say it phonetically, and you break it down into its root compenents
(dis-establish-mentarian-ism) you can figure out that it has to do with a
certain way of thinking related to working against a certain establishment
or way of life. Now try that with this Chinese character: 你好。 Those of you
with prior experience will realize that this is one of the most basic and
important Chinese phrases, "ni hao," or as we now it,
"hello." The reason you
had no idea that was the case is that you have almost no way of puzzling
out how to say that character. Your only hope is that it is somehow
pictographic, meaning it literally looks like what it want to be.
This is not very common, and nearly useless once you get past
Chinese 101. This is why other Asian speakers, specifically, those
who grew up writing and speaking Japanese, have such an advantage over
Westerners. First of all, I have to establish that Japanese is not a
tonal language, so they have little advantage when it comes to speaking
Chinese. Japanese and Chinese writing, however, do share many basic
characters, known as Kanji, that the Japanese have borrowed from the
Chinese writing system. This fact gives those educated in Japanese a
slight advantage in the field of writing. I summary, when learning
to write Chinese, you have to do more than just memorize the definition
and pronunciation of a word, you also have to memorize how to write, as
you can't puzzle it out using phonetics.
- Enough serious academic
discussions, lets's talk about naked old men. The naked old men at
my gym, to be specific. Now, I have never been a gym going person,
as I have always gotten my exercise on the road or track through running.
As such, I have little experience with gym changing rooms.
Now, everybody knows the cliche about old men and changing rooms,
how they will sit there, naked with one leg up on the bench, and try to
have a conversation with you. While this has yet to happen to me here in
China (nor anywhere for that matter), I have definitely seen more than my
fair share of old man butt during my time at the gym (for those of you who
are interested, a fair share of old man butt is exactly one per lifetime).
This is definitely a cultural thing, but it is an interesting
paradox, as Chinese culture is remarkably mute when it comes to topics
like nudity, sex, and even personal feelings. This doesn't seem to
stop the old men at the gym, however, as they will disrobe with no
warning, leaving me staring at the floor and fumbling to put my keys in my
pockets as I make break for the door.
EJR
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