How to write a Chinese essay

Language Learning Chinese
41

When writing a recommendation letter to be translated, provide bugger-all useful information, instead sticking to clichés, and stressing Confucian virtues despite the intended audience being Westerners. Be sure to include information that the recommender would have absolutely no business knowing about. The aspect that the recommender is most familiar with (usually class or job performance) is little more than an afterthought. All class projects and theses are done in groups. And never describe the applicant as “intelligent”, “resourceful” or “studious”. Always describe them as 認真負責 (conscientious and responsible).

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Dear Sir or Madam:

I (本人) am pleased to recommend the applicant, a student in a class of mine, for entry into your program.

While attending our school, the applicant was an active participant in extracurricular activities. He/she (其) was a member of the Department Student Association, organizing activities such as Freshman Orientation Camp and the School Anniversary Party. He/she was also a cadre :laughing: of the Wellness Club. Moreover, he/she was also captain of the Department basketball team, leading the team to win second place in the 13th National Intercollegiate Department Basketball Cup. The applicant was always eager to help his/her classmates, and always had a sunny disposition that fostered team unity.

After graduation, the applicant worked at a convenience store as a “part-time” :unamused:, in which he/she showed superb performance, providing excellent service and always finishing off the day with no errors on his/her cash register receipts.

As for the applicant’s personality, the applicant was conscientious and responsible, with an optimistic character. The applicant was raised in a poor family with many economic disadvantages. His/her parents farmed betel nuts and raised ducks, barely eking out an existence. This contributes to his/her humility, filial piety, and unquestioning obedience to authority figures, as well as his/her independence and logical thinking skills.

The applicant completed a senior graduation thesis, in which he/she showed a certain degree of performance. In the process, he/she created questionnaires, gathered data, analyzed it, and presented it to the class. He/she served as leader of the project team in carrying this out.

Given the above, I believe that he/she is ready to take on the challenges of your program.

Oh, by the way, I might as well tell you that the applicant took a class of mine, showing a certain degree of performance. He/she did not skip class and sat in the front row, taking extensive notes which were well organized and written in tidy penmanship. After class, he/she would approach me to ask questions about the course material.

Based on my observations, I gladly recommend the applicant for admission to your curriculum.

Sincerely yours,

Professor

42

Hmmm…I always took that as a code word for not too bright.

Or am I missing the obvious again?

43

Hmmm…I always took that as a code word for not too bright.

Or am I missing the obvious again?[/quote]
Well, yeah… it’s meaningless filler, standard fare. It’s similar to how saying “He never missed class and always sat in the front row” means “If I could actually think of something good to say about him, I would have said it already.”

44

If it’s an essay about a company, include two long clauses separated by a semicolon. One shall start with “對內” (“internally”, describing matters taking place totally within the company); the other shall start with “對外” (“externally”, describing matters dealing with customers, suppliers, contractors, etc.).

45

When quoting people, use 表示 or 指出. Never deviate from these two verbs.

If you feel you must :roll: be different, you can use 解釋.

46

You missed some:

  • Moresoever
  • Intentioningly
  • Neverthelesswise
  • Foregoingly

Oh wait, these are used by native English speakers too.

47

Another one: Use the construction “在 …下” as often as you can.

48

That one’s getting me through college :notworthy:

49

Chris,

If I might add another pointer:

  1. Always start with a conclusionary statement first. Then claim to show the reader why you are right in the body of the essay, but instead pepper the body with more conclusions, non-sequiturs, assumptions, and still more conclusions. Never let them doubt your conviction; that is more precious than powers of reasoning. repeat and bombard until the reader is numb.
50

[quote=“Jack Burton”]Chris,

If I might add another pointer:

  1. Always start with a conclusionary statement first. Then claim to show the reader why you are right in the body of the essay, but instead pepper the body with more conclusions, non-sequiturs, assumptions, and still more conclusions. Never let them doubt your conviction; that is more precious than powers of reasoning. repeat and bombard until the reader is numb.[/quote]
    Yes indeed! :thumbsup:

I just finished working on a 17-pager that could have been limited to 7 pages if the writer had decided not to keep repeating herself over and over again.

51

[quote=“Chris”][quote=“Jack Burton”]Chris,

If I might add another pointer:

  1. Always start with a conclusionary statement first. Then claim to show the reader why you are right in the body of the essay, but instead pepper the body with more conclusions, non-sequiturs, assumptions, and still more conclusions. Never let them doubt your conviction; that is more precious than powers of reasoning. repeat and bombard until the reader is numb.[/quote]
    Yes indeed! :thumbsup:

I just finished working on a 17-pager that could have been limited to 7 pages if the writer had decided not to keep repeating herself over and over again.[/quote]
Didn’t there use to be a question in the civil service exams in which you had to rewrite a one-page piece in no less than four pages or something? That’s considered GOOD writing here. :laughing:
Brevity, or in other words, using as few words as possible to convey meaning, which is to say, not making full and complete usage of your entire vocabulary; to wit, using three words when you could just as easily use fifteen or even twenty to say exactly the same thing, is seen as a failing, or used to be.

52

Christ! I thought teaching was bad. I have it easy. I groan when I have to correct some of my wife’s offerings, but I’m getting off lightly by the looks of it.

How about this one:

  1. Start a point in a paragraph.

  2. Continue with another train of thought (preferably several) in the same paragraph and several others.

  3. Ambush the reader with the rest of the point from several paragraphs ago.

53

well yea, maybe not the same cause i’m not taiwanese and have only been studying chinese for about a year, but i’m sooo guilty of: “Pepper your essay with plenty of “not only… but also…” and “although … but…” structures” hahaha

54

Well, as a learner of Chinese, you could be practicing sentence patterns. Nothing wrong with that.

Here’s another: suddenly start talking about something without introducing the idea first. Even better if that information could have been useful earlier in the essay.

Example: discuss having worked for a company. Describe your experience in detail. Later in the essay, casually mention that your father runs a business. Then only at the end of the essay do you reveal that the company you worked for was your father’s business. And say so in a matter-of-factly tone that sounds as if you assumed the reader knew this all along.

55

When writing about a past experience, you have two options:

  1. Write a beginning and an end, but no middle.
  2. Write a beginning and a middle, but no end.
56

A colleague of mine had letters of recommendation written for her by a supervisor and her university lecturers. The letters of recommendation are to help secure her a position in a university degree in England. I was interested to see which of her qualities were considered notable and appropriate for an application for a uni degree in England:

  • ‘a passion, optimistic and amiable personality’
  • ‘She was always sitting in the front of the classroom’
  • ‘a stable personality’
  • ‘I was impressed deeply by her graceful behavior’
  • ‘an excellent swimmer of Annual Sun Moon Lake International Swimming Carnival’
57

[quote=“Fortigurn”]A colleague of mine had letters of recommendation written for her by a supervisor and her university lecturers. The letters of recommendation are to help secure her a position in a university degree in England. I was interested to see which of her qualities were considered notable and appropriate for an application for a uni degree in England:

  • ‘a passion, optimistic and amiable personality’
  • ‘She was always sitting in the front of the classroom’
  • ‘a stable personality’
  • ‘I was impressed deeply by her graceful behavior’
  • ‘an excellent swimmer of Annual Sun Moon Lake International Swimming Carnival’[/quote]
    Cringe! Yes! Yes!

Also:

  • 認真負責 (earnest and responsible): a trite phrase that screams, “I really don’t know much about this person.”
  • “Her goals are clear.” (It wouldn’t surprise me if this meme originated from a suggestion that rec letter writers demonstrate that the applicant has clear goals.)
  • “He always came to class on time, never left early, and never skipped class”. (Big red flag: it screams “This person performed so poorly that I have to resort to commenting on attendance.”)
  • “Although I did not work with her personally, as President of the ROC, I can see from her records that…” (from the Taiwanese belief that the higher the recommender’s position, the more weight it carries, when in the West it’s those immediately above you who carry the most weight)
  • “Although he only earned a score of 59 points in my class, he did very well in classes taught by my colleagues…” (So, why isn’t one of these colleagues writing the letter?)
  • She is humble, respectful to her elders and superiors, and faithfully follows orders.
  • Or the recommender launching right into a description of extracurricular activities and saying precious little, or nothing, about the applicant’s performance in the class he/she taught.
  • And the “omniscient recommender syndrome”: when the recommender seems to know details about the applicant’s life that he should have no business knowing.

And the obligatory non-description of a project, with all the cliched words:

“I divided my students into groups (分組) to work on a team project. Mr. Huang took a leadership position, allocating tasks (分工) and helping the group reach a consensus (共識). He fostered team unity (向心力), so much so that the team members were all on the same wavelength (默契). He was also in charge of gathering and analyzing data (收集分析資料). When he gave the presentation, he was well organized and spoke clearly, receiving affirmation (肯定) from his fellow students and from me. I was deeply impressed. (印象深刻)”**

** From reading recommendation letters written in Taiwan, it would appear that in every class in Taiwan, students are always divided into teams for projects. There are no individual projects, it seems. If a project or paper is mentioned without further qualification, the default assumption is that it’s a team effort. The letter can go for many lines before mentioning teammates, but they will be suddenly mentioned without prior introduction. The applicant is invariably a team leader, and is invariably in charge of gathering data and giving the presentation. Notice how there’s no description of what the project was actually about, or what their findings were.

58

Interestingly, the Preamble to the US Constitution is very Chinese in its structure:

Subject, then “in order to”, followed by a long list of items, before finally reaching the verb near the end.

59

And Happy Constitution Day to all of you! :bow:

I’d like to get to that level where I could write an essay in Chinese. I’m just wondering how long it might take. I already speak a bit of Chinese and regularly get compliments on my speaking ability.

So far I’ve learned to write three words. In fact “three” is the most difficult of those.

I know that I’ve been a bit of a slacker when it comes to writing, but I’m now willing to buckle down and learn a new word every month.

So, how long might it take for a driven student like me? :neutral:

60

On that note, ALL of my teachers at university here are big attendance freaks. They don’t care if you come to class and sleep, AS LONG AS YOU’RE THERE. Whether you learn or not is beside the point, you earn the label of ‘serious student’ merely by showing up.

:loco:

This is why, if I do grad school, I most definitely won’t be doing it here. Too much emphasis is placed on BS that doesn’t matter, and it puts a lot of unnecessary stress on the students.