It has been suggested that it’s more useful to teach that the third tone is low rather than dipping. This could help with third tone problems in connected speech. The “model” third tone with a rising tail could then be treated as the exception to the rule. Based on this idea, I created this “perceptual tone diagram.”
04
Dec
2006
2006
Alf, Lord of the Dolphins
Have you heard of the Chinese river dolphin? The Guardian recently wrote a story called On the trail of the Yangtze’s lost dolphin. By “lost” they mean “likely already polluted into extinction.” (Whoops… who could have predicted what whacky side effects repeated dumping of untreated chemical byproducts into a river could have?)
Alf on his Quixotic mission
The species may already be long gone, but that hasn’t stopped an international expedition from getting out there and trying to …
11
Sep
2006
2006
Papers, New Classes, and Friends
Recent events:
- Saturday, Sept. 2, I stayed home and wrote a 4,000 character paper for a class.
- Sunday, Sept. 3, I stayed home and wrote a 4,000 character paper for another class.
- Monday and Tuesday nights, Sept. 4-5, I worked on a 3,000 character paper for still another class.
- Wednesday night, Sept. 6, Pepe helped me clean up my papers. Alf showed up.
- Thursday, Sept. 7, I turned in my three papers and attended my two new classes for the …
21
Sep
2005
2005
The ZUCC Chronicle
Jamie’s recent post outlined his history with China. It was a history which crossed mine. The most significant common experience was had in a college in Hangzhou we call ZUCC. (If you’re American, you say Z-U-C-C, kind of like F-B-I. If you’re Aussie or kiwi, you say “Zook,” rhyming with it “book.” I have always wondered about that little cultural linguistic difference.)
In chronicling my three years at ZUCC, I aim to do three things:
- Create an easy …
07
Feb
2005
2005
Redcoat Alf
Remember Alf? He used to keep a blog about his life in Hangzhou. Well, ever since Blogger became practically impossible to use in China, Alf has gone on hiatus. So, with his permission, I’ll share one of his recent photos.
Alf and Greg recently acted as European soldiers for a Chinese TV series. Altogether, there were only six foreigners to represent a British and a French army. How did they do it? Well, only one army was shown at a …
28
Nov
2004
2004
Eat Poop You Cat
“Eat Poop You Cat” is a party game I recently discovered via Metafilter. The premise:
Each person writes a sentence, such as, say, “The hot soup burned my tongue.” The next person illustrates the sentence. Then the first portion is folded over, and the next person must try to reproduce the original sentence from the drawing. Then the drawing is folded over, and another illustration is produced.
The mutations can be hilarious. You don’t have to “know
…
08
Jan
2004
2004
Coming Soon…
Happy New Year, everybody. It’s been a while since my last entry, I know. In the meantime a lot has happened (although really, not much).
I have completely moved into my new apartment in Shanghai, and it’s awesome. My ZUCC co-worker friends were all going to help me with the final move, but they all bailed on me at the last minute for lame reasons like “no money,” except for Greg. He was a great help, and strong as …
21
Feb
2003
2003
Random News
Man, lately I’ve been bad about responding to any e-mails, writing in my blog, and reading anyone’s blog. I also have tons of pictures from Yunnan that I want to get online. (Despite my whining, I actually took a lot of pictures, and a lot of them are decent.) But the school semester starts Monday, and my new job as ZUCC foreign teacher liaison has already begun. I’ve been running around today doing stuff for that, and I’m going …
15
Dec
2002
2002
Whingefest
Not long ago I had an IM conversation with Alf. He’s teaching in Xinxiang, and he clearly does not have a foreign teacher community over there like I now have here. He mentioned that his friends that read his blog say that his blog is mostly just a bunch of complaints. We talked a bunch about those complaints. I post occasional complaints, but I haven’t posted many lately. I think having complaints is a natural part of living in …
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