So while some of us foreigners are feeling eager to be tested by the HSK, a portion of the Chinese population is wishing a more arduous kind of standardized testing upon us:
When China becomes more powerful, we’ll make all the foreigners take band 4 or 6 exams! Classical Chinese would be too simple; it’ll all have to be answered using calligraphy brushes, but that’s going easy on them. Going hard on them would be a
…
Some wisdom I gained the other night:
You can teach your Chinese wife to skank to old Less Than Jake tunes, but you can’t make her really enjoy it.
OK, I’ll admit, I don’t enjoy Less Than Jake now nearly as much as I did at the Gainesville shows back in the day. Despite the somewhat disappointing outcome, it was more than worth it to see my wife skanking. (Has anyone ever been to a ska…
Since I’m spending a fair amount of time on it these days, I figured it’s about time I plugged a blog I’m doing for ChinesePod: The ChinesePod Integrated Chinese Blog.
The idea is to take a textbook that a ton of universities are already using and connect it to other online resources and free materials in digital form. Through this blog, college students motivated to really learn Chinese can easily complement and beef up their IC studies.
Obviously, ChinesePod…
Image from Authorize.net
I’m probably just being over-sensitive here, but when I saw this image on Authorize.net‘s website, this is what went through my mind: Is this “positive racism” (read: Asians are smart and good with computers, so they can protect you well from fraud) or “negative racism” (read: guys in China are totally trying to defraud you)? I’ve had enough issues trying to use an American card in China and being flagged for fraud (despite repeatedly…
Jonathan of The Art of Living has e-mailed me with a link to his report of the new HSK. Although not yet officially in use, the new Chinese proficiency test is apparently already being tested on groups of students.
Some telling passages from Jonathan’s report:
I have to say, it was a big improvement. The test was neatly organized into four sections that covered all aspects of communications: listening, speaking, reading, writing. The old test only covered listening
…
I saw this Globe and Mail article today: Journalist Lancashire dies at 76.
I’m starting to wonder if one of my co-workers is a pirated person. I mean, come on. He’s also Canadian, from Toronto. He has a great interest in China. Oh, and his name is also David Lancashire.
Fishy indeed.
What’s going on here?
It’s actually a case of subtle, punny Chinese dissidence online. Rebecca MacKinnon explains.
Godzilla photo by Nanther
For reasons which will become clear soon, I was researching Godzilla recently. I was curious about the name. Godzilla seems like a great English name, but it’s a Japanese creation, and the Japanese name is ゴジラ (Gojira). So I had to wonder… did the Japanese start with the English name “Godzilla” and transliterate into Japanese, or did they start with “Gojira” and semi-transliterate into the fantastic “Godzilla?” The use of katakana for…
I recently read an interesting and provocative article about a movement called radical honesty. The founder posits that everyone would be better off–that we’d be taking the steps to true communication–if we would all just say exactly what is on our minds. It’s not meant to be hurtful; you don’t insult people and walk away. After you speak your mind you stick around for the fallout, because radical honesty tends to beget radical honesty, and once you strip away…
John has lived in China for
10
years. He is a linguist focused on SLA and tech.
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