Be an Amateur Translator
At the risk of converting this blog into a poor man's Sinosplice, here are a couple of other tips for the Chinese language learner. If you, like me, find the dialogues and passages in your Chinese textbook dull and uninspiring, hit the web. Chinese newspaper articles often aren't much better, but there are plenty of other sites with interesting essays and articles on a variety of subjects. This happens to be one I like- a site devoted to cultural issues in China.
First, choose an article, regardless of length. You won't be reading all of it at once anyway, so give yourself plenty of time to delve into the text. If you're a beginning or intermediate student, focus on one paragraph per day. Give yourself the following two tasks: first, use your dictionaries to translate the paragraph into modern, idiomatic English. This entails not only learning the meaning of each word or phrase you encounter but also rendering them into something resembling decent prose. Should you be unable to understand a particular sentence, leave it in question marks and ask a tutor or friend to explain it for you.
Second, write down the pinyin (with tone marks) for each character you encounter. Having done this, read the paragraph out loud (while looking at the characters), preferably with a Chinese friend there to guide you. Insist on perfection- remember, speaking with incorrect tones means speaking incorrectly. Since you'll only be working on one paragraph per day, don't worry if it takes you several repetitions before you're able to read the passage fluently. Most likely, your brain will attach a tone to a particular character and you'll be able to remember it in the future.
If this process seems slow and interminable, don't worry- after a few weeks you'll find that you need to check your dictionary less and less often, and at that point you can increase your daily study to two or three paragraphs.
Finding a suitable article shouldn't be hard: if you're a sports nut, read about sports. If you're a politics junkie, crack open a newspaper. If you're into movies, then read about them in Chinese. This will give you the vocabulary and phrasing you need to talk about subjects that interest you in Chinese.
If you're an advanced student, you probably won't need to go about this process so methodically. Nevertheless, you can never be "too good" at Chinese.
I'd be curious to see if anyone else has tried this method and can add to or refine some of the points I've made. It works for me!
UPDATE: A friend of mine who works as a Chinese/English interpreter came up with another good tip: watch 5 minutes of TV (preferably the news or another program in which proper Chinese is spoken) and actually repeat, word for word, what the commentator says, even if you have no idea what the words mean. Doing this will do wonders for your ability to separate what seems like an endless stream of rapidly spoken Chinese into discrete words and tones. After 5 minutes, you'll probably be too exhausted to continue or will have to explain to your roommate why you were just talking to the television set.
Everyone Loves a Good Sex Scandal
Imagine, if you will, that Justin Timberlake takes his computer to the shop for a routine repair. A few of the employees assigned to the task discover that his hard drive contains thousands of photographs of Timberlake in flagrante delicto with Lindsey Lohan, Mandy Moore, Scarlett Johannsson, and Jessica Simpson. Eager hackers then spread these photos across the Internet, and before Timberlake even knows what hit him the fall-out from the scandal begins. The already fragile Lohan contemplates suicide. Moore and Johannson are dumped by their boyfriends, and Timberlake's current squeeze (Jessica Biel? I can never remember) gives him the boot, as well. Timberlake then releases a video calling for restraint, but all involved know that their careers will never be the same.
Sounds preposterous? Perhaps, but this is a fairly accurate summation of the current scandal embroiling the Hong Kong entertainment world, the dominant media market in the Chinese orbit. The Justin Timberlake in this case is a young lad named Edison Chen (pictured above), who while born and raised in Canada is a major film and recording star in the territory. The ladies in question range from squeaky-clean pop stars to veteran actresses.
I have nothing to add to this story, but for round-the-clock coverage your source is the indefatiguable ESWN.
Add "leaked sex tapes" to the already lengthy list of why it's better to be rich than famous.
The Spielberg Wars
Steven Spielberg recently withdrew from his role as adviser to the Beijing Olympics in order to protest against China's economic support of the genocidal Sudanese regime. This minor story has revived the old "should we boycott the Olympics" discussion, in which I have little desire to participate. For a more thorough analysis, Richard devotes a long post to the subject at The Peking Duck.
A constructive way to view the boycott debate would be to cast morals aside in favor of a simple cost/benefit analysis. What positive outcomes would result from a boycott? Would it persuade the Chinese government to alter its foreign policy in a nod to international opinion? Not likely. Would Beijing liberalize its political system? No. Did the US-led boycott of the Moscow games in 1980 have positive consequences? No. Are there significant risks involved with a boycott? Certainly.
If someone were to write a thoroughly researched, well-reasoned opinion piece arguing that a boycott would serve international interests, then I would not hesitate to read it. Instead I encounter articles like this that do little more than recycle the same old tired complaints about China's domestic and international misdeeds.
Hillary- The Democratic Giuliani?
Firing up the ol computer this morning I see that Barack Obama, as expected, has swept the Potomac Primaries (Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC) and has now won eight states in a row, 23 out of 35 overall. Hillary Clinton has brushed these losses aside by claiming that none of the recent states were favorable to her for a variety of demographic reasons. Instead, she has focused her attention on the delegate-rich states of Texas and Ohio, both of which hold primaries on March 4.
Does this gambit- writing off smaller states for an extended period in order to wait for the big prize remind you of anyone? Rudolph Giuliani, once the national frontrunner in the Republican primary, effectively chose to skip the earliest primaries in order to devote his resources to Florida, then several weeks down the line. By the time the Florida primary rolled around, Giuliani had been out of media focus for so long that he had lost all of his momentum, leading to a feeble third-place finish in the state and the subsequent withdrawal of his candidacy. Is Clinton risking the same fate?
Probing the surface, the comparisons to Giuliani are rather thin. Clinton still holds a slight lead in overall delegates, testament to both the Democratic Party's proportional allocation structure but also to her real strength as a candidate. Clinton has won twelve contests, including New York and California, while Giuliani never won a single state. The former New York mayor had serious problems with the Republican base owing to his liberal positions on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. Clinton by contrast has broad appeal within the Democratic party and the majority of Obama voters have said they will have no problem supporting her in the general election should she capture the nomination. And in a nod to her strategy, Hillary still holds sizable leads in both the Texas and Ohio primaries. Texas, in particular, shows the strength Clinton has with Latino voters, a crucial electoral block that has been lukewarm toward Obama thus far. Should the latter win the nomination, he would have to expend serious energy keeping Latinos in the Democratic fold, especially against a candidate John McCain.
Yet were I a Clinton supporter, her campaign trajectory would leave me concerned. She recently was forced to loan $5 million of her own money to her campaign in order to keep up with Obama's fundraising prowess, and her sudden firing of campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle cannot be interpreted as a good sign. Recent polls show her losing to presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in the general election- the same polls that show Obama winning. And while she does lead in Texas and Ohio, Obama has shown a knack for catching up the more voters get to know him. Obama's recent spate of victories will give him tremendous momentum heading into the big states, momentum that might compel otherwise pro-Hillary superdelegates to switch their allegiance to the Illinois Senator.
It's far too early to call the nomination for either one, or even to anoint either as the frontrunner. But let's put it this way: should Clinton win Texas and Ohio, she'll be right back in the thick of things. Should Obama win both, then Clinton's candidacy will be in deeper trouble than it has before, with serious danger of finding herself on the losing pile alongside her one time opponent in the 2000 New York Senate race, Rudolph Giuliani.
Traditional and Simplified
I'm often asked whether I can speak and read Chinese. I usually respond with a simple, "yes, sort of". The real answer, should anyone be so foolish to indulge me, is far more complicated.
First of all, what is meant by Chinese? Many foreigners without experience in the country think of China as having two main languages, Mandarin and Cantonese. They assume both languages exist side-by-side, and so when asked if I can speak Chinese, a follow-up question is often "Mandarin or Cantonese?".
To clear up confusion, what we call "Mandarin" in the West is actually the national language of both the People's Republic and Taiwan. This language developed as a lingua franca of several northern and southwestern dialects and was eventually promoted as the national language in the 20th century. The Chinese refer to it as "common speech" and use of the tongue is mandatory in all schools. Except in remote rural areas, most Han Chinese speak and understand Mandarin and many use it to the exclusion of all other languages.
In addition to Mandarin, countless languages and dialects exist in China. Cantonese is merely the best known of these, due to its use in Hong Kong and in Chinese diaspora communities throughout the world. On the mainland, few people outside of Guangdong Province understand Cantonese.
The vast majority of Chinese dialects and languages belong to the Sino-Tibetan language family, with the main exception being the Turkic Uighur language spoken in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang. That being said, a Kunming native would not be able to understand the Shanghai dialect at all, and vice versa. To remedy these gaps in communication, the Chinese government has long insisted Mandarin be exclusively spoken in schools and business settings.
With spoken Chinese out of the way, let's consider the written language. Originally, all Chinese languages (with the notable exception of Tibetan) were rendered in traditional characters. These characters are also widely used in Japan, and once in Korea and Vietnam, too.
In the early years of the People's Republic, Mao Zedong authorized the simplification of many Chinese characters in an effort to boost literacy. He reasoned that traditional characters were too complicated for peasants to learn, and in fact he seriously considered junking characters altogether in favor of an alphabet. For a variety of reasons, characters survived- but not traditional characters.
Simplification was not without its controversies, and several elite critics of Mao's edict found themselves in deep political trouble. Hong Kong and Macao, then controlled by the British and Portuguese respectively, maintained traditional characters, as did Taiwan. Only Singapore adopted Mao's modifications to the written language. These differences persist to this day.
After reform and opening, traditional characters became fashionable on the mainland, and many restaurant signs and advertisements now use them for aesthetic effect. Most educated Chinese have learned to read them, and I suspect that an effort to revert back to the old written system would have much popular support. Citizens in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao have fought to protect traditional Chinese in international settings, as organizations such as the UN adopted simplified characters after recognizing Beijing as China's legitimate government in the 1970s.
If I were running China, I would seriously consider reverting back to exclusive use of traditional characters. After all, there is little evidence that simplification has aided literacy (when controlling for other variables) and little reason to suspect it would. Plus, China's long-term strategic goal is to unify Taiwan under Beijing's control, and projecting an image of "One China" would be easier if the whole of China again used the same script.
Or for purely selfish reasons, it would make those pesky Hong Kong karaoke video subtitles a little easier to read.
The Businessman
A friend and I were sitting over beers at a cafe when a casually-dressed Chinese guy approached and said, "mind if I join you?". I praised his English and asked how he learned the American vernacular so well. He said, "Oh, I lived in New York for eight years- got my Masters degree at Queens College". He told us his life story: grew up in Kunming, got a degree in computer science "before the dot-coms crashed", moved to New York, then Singapore, and finally back to China, where he lives and works in Hangzhou. He had come back to Kunming to celebrate Spring Festival with his mother.
He described at length the differences in conducting business in New York, Singapore, and China. The one atmosphere he disliked most? Singapore. "In Singapore," he said, "everyone just works and works and works. Weekends too. Everyone talks about business, and only the rich can really afford to have a social life,". He found it hard to make friends- the Singaporeans were "cold". Moving to Hangzhou was a relief.
My Australian friend, who recently launched an internet hotel-booking business in Kunming, asked him what the business climate in China was like. "In China," he said, "everything revolves around PRC. Do you know what that means?"
"The People's Republic of China?" I guessed, fatuously.
"Haha, the other meaning is Patience, Relationships, and Compensation". First, patience is required. He described how nothing could be decided in just one meeting. A business meeting usually turned into dinner, then another dinner, and then perhaps a karaoke session. And then, he said, "they might be willing to work with you".
Relationships, as foreigners soon learn in China, matter far more than they do in the West. Without the presence of 关系, very little can get done. Know the right people, and previously impenetrable barriers magically disappear. For a Kunming native new to Hangzhou, making the right connections took time.
Yet despite some difficulties with work, he still preferred China's overall business climate to that of Singapore. The Chinese are able to relax and have fun, qualities largely lacking in their equatorial cousins. Despite a developed market economy and a long capitalist tradition, Singapore seemed to lack the vibrance of still-Communist China.
"So would you say China's society is more open than Singapore's?" I asked.
"Oh absolutely. Are you kidding? This place is a dream."
On Electronic Chinese-Language Guides
Recently I wrote a comparison of the Chinese learning software Wenlin with the online dictionary Nciku, concluding that each compensated for the other's weaknesses, making both useful. Today my aim is more ambitious: what is the essential combination of web/software/electronic devices for the English speaking Chinese student?
1. Wenlin
As I wrote, Wenlin is best suited for deepening one's understanding of Chinese characters and how they function in the language. I use Wenlin if I encounter a character whose origins I'm unsure of, or am curious in which other words a certain character appears. Wenlin's other main use is for translating paragraphs written in academic or vernacular Chinese, as its ability to render Chinese sentences in accurate English is unsurpassed.
2. Nciku
Nciku's English to Chinese dictionary is far larger than Wenlin's, often providing accurate translations of relatively obscure English terms. Nciku also includes useful example sentences in each of its entries (something Wenlin does only occasionally) which have the unintended effect of improving your grasp of Chinese grammar. Finally, Nciku's writing function recognizes even badly-written characters, so whenever I scribble one with my mouse I always seem to find what I'm looking for.
3. Kingsoft
Unlike Wenlin or Nciku, Kingsoft does not require one to copy and paste Chinese or English terms into a separate interface. Quite simply, Kingsoft will translate any English word it finds on your computer into Chinese, and any Chinese character it finds into English. Note that I said character, not word. One of Kingsoft's weaknesses is that it often fails to pick-up multi-character words, creating a good deal of confusion. Its lack of pinyin on English to Chinese can also be a hindrance if you don't recognize the characters it gives you. Kingsoft is ideal though for IM conversations which value speed over accuracy.
4. Pleco
There are many hand-held dictionary devices, but in my experience Pleco is the best. Available mainly for Palm products, Pleco combines a huge dictionary with an easy-to-use interface, making word searches simple and fast. As a hand-held device, I have used Pleco mostly in class and in situations when I'm outside and am curious about a certain character I see on a sign or shopfront. A must-have for a Chinese student.
Here's a situational guide for each device:
1. You're reading a Chinese newspaper article on-line, but are having trouble with some of the more difficult characters: Wenlin
2. You're understand a Chinese word but are not sure how to use it in a sentence: Nciku
3. You're looking for a ready-made source of Chinese slang: Nciku
4. You're chatting on QQ with your Chinese friend and don't understand a few of the things she's written: Kingsoft
5. The new software you've installed doesn't come in English and you're reluctant to press the wrong button: Kingsoft
6. You're on the bus and are curious about an advertisement that keeps flashing on the screen: Pleco
7. You've seen a certain character before but are not sure what it is, or where else it appears: Wenlin
8. You're reading a Chinese novel at home and can't figure out a tricky phrase: Nciku.
9. You've gotten drunk and lost your Palm PDA, your internet connection expired because you're too lazy to pay the bill, and you are too cheap to buy Kingsoft or Wenlin and too wimpy to download them off of a torrent: a good old-fashioned paper dictionary.
Hundred Flowers Campaign Redux?
Via Richard, the Chinese government plans to relax internet censorship this summer in advance of the Olympic Games in Beijing. For those of us long frustrated with the ever-unpredictable cyber nanny, this is good news- no longer will we (presumably) need a proxy to access sites such as BBC News or blogs hosted by Typepad and Blogspot.
The cynic in me is reminded of the Maoist era Hundred Flowers Campaign, launched in 1957 when the Chairman solicited criticism from the country's citizens. When Chinese intellectuals responded with complaints about the Communist Party's monopoly on political power and abrogations on free speech, Mao suddenly reversed the campaign and detained a large number of domestic dissidents, labeled them as "rightists" and sent them into labor camps. Historians differ on Mao's motives: some say he launched the campaign in order to weed out undesirable elements, while others believe he was alarmed by popular discontent and compelled to react strongly . In any case, the Hundred Flowers Campaign was but an eerie prelude to the forthcoming Cultural Revolution. The rest, as they say, is history
To the current Chinese leadership, a temporary relaxation of Internet censorship amounts to little more than holding their breath until the Olympics are over. They are undoubtedly aware of the Olympics' political history- of the Mexican government massacring protesting students in 1968 and the Seoul 1988 games triggering the end of South Korea's military dictatorship, to name just two examples. I suspect very little will happen, in practice, as high economic growth and national pride in holding the games should dampen unrest somewhat. Then again, every foreign journalist worth his salt will try to work politics into his reports: from environmental damage to the destruction of the hutongs to the occasional mass protests by factory workers and outlawed religious groups, and any other angle that might intrigue foreign audiences.
The Olympics will focus the spotlight on China as never before, and I would hope that foreign watchers will see the country for what it is: a prospering, developing country with many complex problems but hardly on the verge of revolution or collapse.
Happy New Year (China Edition)
Today is the first day of the lunar New Year in China, referred to here as 春节 (chunjie) or Spring Festival. In the past (when salaries were higher and Chinese didn't have to be studied) I always took the opportunity to travel at this time- usually to the sunny beaches of Southeast Asia. I never felt that I was missing much: friends who had stayed spoke of the nightmare of domestic travel, the constant fireworks, the absence of friends both foreign (traveling) and Chinese (home with family), the lack of open shops and restaurants, and a general dearth of things to do.
So I approached this holiday with a feeling of dread, stockpiling groceries as if constructing an earthquake shelter. Yet, I must say that so far Spring Festival hasn't been too bad. In fact, there are a lot of things about it that I like. For one, the firework show last night was quite exciting to watch, even if it sounded at times like I was trapped in Beirut circa 1982. The Chinese I encountered on the street had an extra spring to their step, delighting when I wished them a happy new year. The streets were gloriously quiet- a shocking state in a Chinese city- and for once the (non-firework created) noise pollution downtown abated.
Of course, being in Kunming we had reliably beautiful weather. During the daytime, temperatures hit about 25 degrees C in the sunlight with a slight breeze- very pleasant indeed for early February. I imagine my mood would have been darker had I been stuck in a snowy blizzard somewhere, but even still there's something quite magical about this holiday no matter where in China you are. I'm glad I stayed.
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Snap Political Analysis
Some brief thoughts about the US presidential election after Super Tuesday:
-The biggest winner from the Republican side is Mike Huckabee. No, he won't be the party's nominee, but Huck's ability to win in the deep South could make him a viable VP candidate. If not, Huckabee will undoubtedly gain a lot of momentum in his political career after this win and will be a major voice on the Elephant side regardless of what happens in November.
-The biggest loser, undoubtedly, is Mitt Romney. The Republican media establishment backs him, but he simply hasn't been able to match the gravitas of John McCain or the Christian appeal of Mike Huckabee. He's exactly the sort of candidate who looks good on paper but can't perform when it counts. If he drops out soon, which some are predicting, the libertarian wing of the Republican Party will face a very unappetizing choice between the other two.
- As for McCain, Romney's bad night solidifies his status as the inevitable nominee. But his inability to win in the former Confederacy is troubling; will he have to take a Huckabee on board to placate social conservatives? A Mac and Huck ticket would not go over well on Wall Street.
-The Democrats, as expected, are even. For Obama, this is good news only in the sense that no one will refer to Hillary Clinton as the presumed frontrunner anymore. Yet Clinton took the night's biggest prize- my home state of California- which could portend her strength as a national candidate.
In political terms I'm a pessimist by nature; two successive Bush victories taught me never to get my hopes up too high. But I have to say that the Democrats should be feeling pretty good about themselves right now. Overall, their turnout has been consistently higher than the Republicans has, indicating a high degree of enthusiasm for the election. While both Clinton and Obama are flawed candidates, neither has serious problems with their party base a la Huckabee and McCain. Should Clinton eek out the nomination, as most people expect, forming a ticket with Obama would be a serious possibility- and serious trouble for the Republicans.
But as a pessimist would say: there's still time for things to go wrong!