Vietnamese. I enjoy spending time there, enjoy the food, and do a lot business with them. Vietnam has a great energy in my experience. Feels like Taiwan in the 90s in a way as it was rapidly developing but still very rough around the edges that gives it some character. People have a real can do attitude.
Welcome!
I loved Nha Trang. Most down-to-Earth and likeable people in Vietnam by a fair margin.
So, anyone on this thread is looking at being tri to quad lingual within a year.
We can do some rough ratio equations. Must be less Laowai per capita who speak fluent Vietnamese. Thus special snowflake value in business appreciates. I heard it was 30-40% Mandarin/Cantonese loan words too…
Do you have a plan? Brian has flaked already.
PS, Don’t forget See Em Reap… just a plane ride away.
Don’t forget kids… vids like this can be 3 months study…
Reposting…
I found it about 2 weeks ago. It actually reminded me of Andrew, as I research similar substances.
I figure if I study this for 6 months I can flog sprays in back alleys.
There is a LOT of useful vocab for women and money.
Well this is pleasantly surprising.
Go to Thailand and smoke a ciggy with the local diaspora…
No visa or culture hassles.
Then maybe a quick trip to Kunming.
I have to say chilling with an overseas Chinese in Bangkok would be a royal pleasure.
Onward.
I’m working on my Mandarin, I mean actually studying it again. I’m memorizing words related to my faith and am aiming for better listening comprehension. I can tell it’s getting better.
And I started watching shows in Korean. I turn on the Korean subtitles. This is a slow way to learn a language but I’ve got time. My Korean used to be pretty good years ago.
Really happy to hear that.
May I ask your current self-estimated HSK…?
Do you have a specialist vocabulary? Industry/Tang Dynasty History/TCM?
Ah, you’re studying the Bible. That’s an amazing book to study in Mandarin, I imagine. Do you know “Gandalf of Yuanshan?”…
I have another friend who speed read the Bible, 100 times.
We were out drinking NYE 2019… he told me some slanderous things about The Nazarene’s grandmother. I will not repeat them here.
Chinese people are fascinated with the Christ mythos. Telling the story in Mandarin, and being chilled, will start a lot of cross cultural exchange…
Stick around if you wish. This thread is kind of a comet.
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I’m on my phone so I’ll quote only once and answer in one paragraph.
I have no idea about HSK level. I’m not even sure what that is, but I seem to have a general idea.
I’m listening to simultaneously translated sermons (English to Mandarin) and making note cards of words I don’t know. I went to a church in Hualien the last two weekends (all conducted in Mandarin). I could sing about 90% of the words in the songs, and I understood about 60-70% of the sermon. I looked up all Bible verses in the PowerPoint or that the pastor mentioned, and that was quite helpful for comprehension. I’m getting there.
Not sure about Gandalf of Yuanshan.
Pretty impressive. Mandarin Corner has helped me a lot.
I guess you are HSK 5-6. I went to a church in Sha Lun with a friend. I understood about 30%… but it didn’t matter, cos the guy who interviewed me at the end was perhaps the haughtiest, coldest snob I ever met in Taiwan. A true affront to God, common decency and even humanity itself… ha.
Hualien people are probably a lot more chilled and fun.
I want to understand some Biblical Chinese myself…
My friends Mum said my 30% comprehension rate was “not enough”… fair enough. I also thought that they were very morally deficient. I rate their moral fortitude at 25%.
They see themselves as benevolent High Dragons, patiently teaching the foreign monkey about Jesus.
Needles to say. I did not go back.
These ppl were very rich, too.
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Generally you need to understand at least 95% to even get the gist of what’s being said. For example: What 80% Comprehension Feels Like - Sinosplice
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This is pretty typical for a lot of “Christians” in Taiwan. There are plenty of Christians across the world that have no idea what decent respect for others looks like (kind of the opposite of what Jesus came to earth to teach. At least in all my interpretations of the Bible. Maybe “love thy neighbor as thyself” means “be an ass to everyone because you hate yourself”?) and for some reason get caught up in a weird moral superiority game. That being said, one of the reasons the Mormons (and other missionaries) learn their target language so fast is that they pray and do their devotionals and all the other stuff in their target language, but it’s all stuff they can already recite in their sleep in their native language. So they just need to connect what they already know and can say with ease to new sounds and then they do that every day. Add to that following along with text while someone else is reading and you are golden. So maybe go church shopping and find one where you can just sit and be present and not be judged by some jerk. Download all the readings and songs to LingQ (that’s an app) follow along, noting the words you don’t know and then just keeping on going.
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Pleased to hear you say that…
I talked to many Mormons in Danshui, and sometimes Beitou… and I found them very clean cut, personable, kind, gentle, polite. All qualities I value very highly, way over and above any pseudo-polite doctrinal ‘discussions’, which bore me to death.
I actually have the book of Mormon on my shelf. I have dragged it all over South East Asia, and cannot bring myself to throw it away… despite having cleaned out my luggage several times… ha.
I only opened it once, and I think I saw “He saw the King was dead, and he pretended to be wroth” which intrigued me no end.
You are correct on those learning methods. Im trying to get something together which is efficient and fun here. In fact, I think efficiency and fun are much more closely related than the casual linguist would suspect.
I like those gospel churches. The more clappin and singing, the better.
I think they are terrified of the Return of The King…
And they put all their best black magicians in denominations all over.
Now what if the King doesn’t even set foot in their God Forsaken churches.
Surprise!
Can you understand this dude? I can if there’s pinyin, but I cant without subtitles. Despite the fact that I cant grab much of what he says, he still remains an absolutely captivating public speaker…
He got a nation in the palm of his hand with nothing more than incandescent scholarship.
None of the rest of us are in competition with him. He is dragging us upwards. Plenty of room for any fkr reading this to make themselves a niche outlier.
In the Taiwan YT Laowai-obsequisphere, if you do anything better than… “Hi everyone, Im white, and Im going to visit a NIGHT MARKET”… you are on to something…
I am going to write some speeches over the next year. If anyone helped me refine them, Id share any luck…
This guy is funny…
12 Things I HATE About Living In Taiwan (youtube.com)
Couldn’t agree more. I’m also very sick and tired with all the 拍馬屁vids made by foreigners in Taiwan. I had to discover all these downsides of living in Taiwan for myself for the past 6 months. If I watched a video like this before I came here it might make settling down here a lot easier. This video was like a breath of fresh air. I also like how you kept it very fair throughout the video. Keep up the good work!
拍馬屁
Pāimǎpì
我是台灣人，但是我覺得你說的太好了！我跟你一樣的感受！雖然我愛台灣，但是我希望台灣能改善這些缺點！
謝謝你！真實的說出台灣的缺點。
太感動！終於有人願意說出來了，非常客觀，一針見血
台灣人別再自為了，不要像井底之蛙，被媒體搞得越來越笨，我們得一起變好啊…
Tài gǎndòng! Zhōngyú yǒurén yuànyì shuō chūláile, fēicháng kèguān, yīzhēnjiànxiě táiwān rén bié zài zì wéi le, bùyào xiàng jǐngdǐzhīwā, bèi méitǐ gǎo dé yuè lái yuè bèn, wǒmen dé yīqǐ biàn hǎo a…
So touching! Finally someone is willing to speak out, very objective and to the point.
Taiwanese people should stop being so self-satisfied, and stop being like frogs in a well, being made more and more stupid by the media. We have to get better together…
Wǒ shì táiwān rén, dànshì wǒ juédé nǐ shuō de tài hǎole! Wǒ gēn nǐ yīyàng de gǎnshòu! Suīrán wǒ ài táiwān, dànshì wǒ xīwàng táiwān néng gǎishàn zhèxiē quēdiǎn! Xièxiè nǐ! Zhēnshí de shuō chū táiwān de quēdiǎn.
I need to do something like this, but in Mandarin… for some software I am building. Im about 3 months away til I get the vocab. I need to teach version control and Github to non-tech people.
I may also do dual language presentations in Spanish/Chinese - Chinese/Indonesian - Chinese/Russian etc…
3 Secrets to Learn Anything - David Heinemeier Hansson | MetaLearn Podcast (youtube.com)
Random YT comment repeated many times, pasteable to in Google translate. A worthy exercise for a Sunday morning.
太感動！終於有人願意說出來了，非常客觀，一針見血
台灣人別再自為了，不要像井底之蛙，被媒體搞得越來越笨，我們得一起變好啊…
太感動！終於有人願意說出來了，非常客觀，一針見血
台灣人別再自為了，不要像井底之蛙，被媒體搞得越來越笨，我們得一起變好啊…
太感動！終於有人願意說出來了，非常客觀，一針見血
台灣人別再自為了，不要像井底之蛙，被媒體搞得越來越笨，我們得一起變好啊…
太感動！終於有人願意說出來了，非常客觀，一針見血
台灣人別再自為了，不要像井底之蛙，被媒體搞得越來越笨，我們得一起變好啊…
Paste and listen on repeat… HSK 4 vocab.
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。…
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山…
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。…
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山…
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。…
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山…
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。…
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山…
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。…
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山…
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。…
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山…
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。…
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山…
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。…
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山…
大山绝对是语言天才，还有搞笑天赋。…
我唯一承认比我中国话说的好的外国人就是大山…
The number of tones in Cantonese can indeed be a bit confusing. Traditionally, Cantonese is said to have six basic tones1. However, when considering the three “entering tones” (which are shorter versions of some of the basic tones), the total count goes up to nine tones2.
Some sources might mention up to twelve tones due to variations and additional distinctions made by linguists2. This can include tonal variations in different contexts or dialects within the Cantonese-speaking regions.
Are you learning Cantonese, or just exploring its linguistic features?
- Copilot
Plot Summary of Dream of The Red Chamber: The Most FAMOUS Chinese Novel (youtube.com)
In the novel’s frame story, a sentient Stone, left over when the goddess Nüwa mended the heaven aeons ago, wants to enjoy the pleasures of the “red dust” (the mundane world). The Stone begs a Taoist priest and a Buddhist monk to take it with them to see the world. The Stone, along with a companion (in Cheng-Gao versions they are merged into the same character), is then given a chance to learn from human existence, and enters the mortal realm. In the Cheng-Gao versions, he is reborn as Jia Baoyu (“Precious Jade”) – thus “The Story of the Stone”