I had originally planned on going to a debate about globalization and a hip hop/slam poetry performance on Saturday, and a translation slam on Sunday evening. But I am in Hong Kong, so it is a touch inconvenient for me to participate in those Beijing-based activities.
If you had asked me on Friday morning on my way to work "Joe, will you leave Mainland China this weekend?" I likely would have laughed. [I expect some god of fate and messed up plans is gazing down on me with a smirk, saying "Look who's laughing now"] Although the company I work for, American House, is supposed to take care of my visa stuff, some combination of a lack of communication within the company and plain old ignorance means that American House apparently didn't notice that my visa was set to expire on March 13th. One way or another, they dropped the ball. I was told on Friday morning that there was a possibility that I would need to leave Beijing in order to renew my visa, and I was told on Friday afternoon that I would have to leave for Hong Kong.
American House is paying for the flight and the visa, but all other costs are to be paid by me. One could look at it as a vacation with free airfare. However, I kind of want to save money for Spain this summer, so I am less than thrilled about a forced some-expenses-paid business trip to Hong Kong. This is gonna put a dent in my budget for the month, since a meal that costs 8 RMB in Beijing costs 25 Hong Kong Dollars in Hong Kong. Lodging is a huge expense, eating up over 200 HK$ a night. If I already had enough money saved up for my trip to Spain this summer, then I would probably treat this a little more like a vacation and less like a weekend in exile, but I still want to save up some more cash before leaving Beijing this summer.
Anyway, back to Hong Kong: I got out of the airport at 9:00pm on Saturday night, I found a hostel at around 11:00pm, and went straight to bed. They put me in a dorm room, which was not what I was planning or expecting. I woke up early in the morning (naturally), and switched hostels immediately the next morning to get a single room. With no visa business that I could take care of on Sunday, I put a book and a camera into my backpack and hit the streets.
Sunday morning was fairly uneventful. I mostly just wandered the streets. I visited the Hong Kong Flower show in Victoria Park (which is right next to my hostel). There were some interesting exhibits and pavilions, but the different flower arrangements could only hold my attention for so long, so I soon wandered off to some streets a little more inland from Victoria Park.
After lunch, I had 21 HK$ in my pocket, and I was desperate for an ATM. I wandered for at least an hour before I managed to find a an ATM. I tried 7-11s, fancy hotels, and random streets, but I couldn't find an ATM or a bank for the life of me. I used the last of my money to order noodles at a little restaurant on a small street. I very proudly used the few Cantonese phrases that I had learned from CantonesePod.com and Lingopal Lite app that I downloaded. Fortunately, the owner also spoke a bit of English and a bit of Mandarin, because I all I can say in Cantonese is "hello," "thank you," and "sorry, I don't speak Cantonese."
After lunch I decided to look at the rest of Victoria park. The biggest thing that struck me about Victoria park was how many South East Asian (Thai and Malaysian) looking women and girls were sitting around on plastic sheets, wearing head scarves. I wonder if there was an enormous women's-only tour group from somewhere in Hong Kong that day, or if perhaps there ladies were all locals and they just hung out in the part. I hadn't expected to see so many (people who from their clothing I assume are) Muslims in Hong Kong, nor had I expected to many South East Asian looking people. A very small minority of the people I saw on the street looked 'Chinese' like most people in Beijing or most other mainland cities.
While strolling though the park I saw a group of Chinese men and one forienger playing push hands, a Tai Chi exercise. After I had sat and watched for a few minutes, a Chinese guy came up to me and asked me (in English) if I wanted to play tai chi with him. I told him (in a mixture of Mandarin and English) that I hadn't done it before, but if he would teach me I would be happy to learn. I ended up playing push hands with this fellow for a while, and then with a few other guys. The guy that spoke to me in English had a really psychotic laugh, but it helped me to laugh as well and relieve the tension that I find naturally builds up in situations that I perceive as confrontational. Doing tai chi it helped me to relax and not tense up too much or focus too hard. Nonetheless, I got some scratches on my arms from the times where people moved quickly and strongly. Undoubtedly, although I hadn't really trained in push hands before, my other marital arts experiences, as well as my general physical awareness, clearly helped me. After just a few minutes one old Chinese guy asked me "how many years have you been practicing taichi?" Later on, another guy asked me "what style do you do?" All my cross-training sure has had benefits, because I can honestly tell them that I have never trained in tai chi, and they respond with amazement, as though I am some kind of natural kung fu savant. There was also a white guy there named Dimitri who seemed very interesting. He said that he trained a lot, and he has also done aikido in the past. I enjoyed pushing hands with him, and I enjoyed talking to him about tai chi a lot as well. As the hours wore on though, I did get fairly tired, so I eventually thanked my teachers and bid them adieu.
As I continued to wander through the park, I saw a group of Hong Kong kids, probably teenagers, just hanging out. One or two of them was attempting some simple hip hop and break dance moves. I was looking for an excuse to do something a bit more entertaining and interactive than just walk around (which I had been doing all day), so I walked over and (through body language) asked if they could breakdance. They couldn't, so I showed them how to do a simple baby freeze (for which I got a HUGE round of applause), a CC and a helicopter. It only lasted a few minutes, as those kids didn't have the strength to actually do the moves. It is interested to reflect on my physical background and how it differentiates me: I could do these moves within five minutes of seeing them. As long as the steps were broken down for me, my body was able to perform the motions. For these kids though, no matter how slowly I did it, they just didn't have the body control to perform the actions.
After grabbing some cheap dinner (cheap by Hong Kong standards is apparently HK$30!) I got a converter for HK$15 so that I could plug in and recharge my computer and iPod, and headed home for an early night to get me rested for taking care of visa stuff the next morning.
Waking up on Monday, I went straight to the China Travel Agency which is less than a five minute walk from my hostel room. I paid for a rush visa, and was told that I could pick it up at 7:30 the same night. The passed uneventfully. I walked along more roads, through more parks, and in and out of more restaurants. Hong Kong Park was very nice, and I spent some time browsing through the selection at a couple English-language bookstores. I also got multiple servings of the delicious Hong Kong-style waffle (like a regular waffle, but covered in sugary honey and peanut butter), although my tummy could have done without the disgusting McDonald's which I settled for for dinner.
In the evening I picked up the visa, and immediately booked a plane ticket back to Beijing for the next morning. An evening which combined various online readings and the documentary film Inside Job left my asleep early and well-rested enough to wake up early for a flight at 8:30. Although I almost didn't find the bus stop to get me to the airport on Tuesday morning, I ended up getting to the airport in time. In fact, the Hong Kong airport was the cleanest and most efficient airport I have ever seen. I wouldn't mind having that airport as my home base.
I still get a great vibe from Hong Kong, and I would be very open to living int he city for a while. I really which that I didn't have to go down there that weekend, though.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Translation #1
Origin: A post on Baidu Tieba, an online forum.
Title: 中国娃come.努力改变自己！加油！/ Come on China dolls! Try hard to change yourself! You can do it!
Original: 外国人就像狮子老虎，主食肉动物。中国人就像山羊，主食草动物。弱不禁风的山羊终究要被强壮的狮子老虎给吃掉...，何时所s中国人才能变成狮子老虎，才卜会被外国德狮子老虎欺负/看不起？
My translation: Foreigners are just like tigers and lions, they are carnivorous animals. Chinese people are just like mountain goats, herbivores. In the end the weak and fragile mountain goats will be eaten by the strong lions and tigers..., when all Chinese people become tigers and lions, only then will we get respect from the foreign lions and tigers.
Origin: http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=1019713708
Title: 中国娃come.努力改变自己！加油！/ Come on China dolls! Try hard to change yourself! You can do it!
Original: 外国人就像狮子老虎，主食肉动物。中国人就像山羊，主食草动物。弱不禁风的山羊终究要被强壮的狮子老虎给吃掉...，何时所s中国人才能变成狮子老虎，才卜会被外国德狮子老虎欺负/看不起？
My translation: Foreigners are just like tigers and lions, they are carnivorous animals. Chinese people are just like mountain goats, herbivores. In the end the weak and fragile mountain goats will be eaten by the strong lions and tigers..., when all Chinese people become tigers and lions, only then will we get respect from the foreign lions and tigers.
Origin: http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=1019713708
Friday, February 25, 2011
China Shakes the World
Although I finished reading China Shakes the World a few weeks ago already, I still have a strong impression of it. This is not because it was such a wonderful book, not was it absolutely horrible either. I have no doubt that the book was better back in 2006 when it first came out, but the biggest impression that I had of the book was this: reading it was a waste of my time. Now, to be honest, there were things in the book that were new to me. There were some interesting stories and a few facts that I found interesting. In total, however, I believe that the time I spent reading the book was not well spent, and could have been better spent reading a different book.
I was wary from the beginning about reading a book that was so old. I wouldn't consider all books published in 2006, to be hopelessly out of date, but since China is changing so fast I was automatically turned off by knowing the book was more than two years old. This may sound very strange to people who are not Sinologists or China watchers. Think about it though: the economy, society/culture, political situations and even the language are changing so quickly that a delay of a few years makes knowledge ancient and obsolete. Some books are still applicable after a few years, but many of the China watcher books are made obsolete by changing conditions. However, after seeing that Mark's China Blog Reviewed this book, I decided to give it a chance. I should have trusted by gut reaction.
I think that most of the information that I got from the book was interesting, but were things that I already knew. I see this as complicated/exacerbated by two things. First, I read blogs (and when I have enough free time, tweets) about China, so I stay very up-to-date. For instance, nobody is gonna read anything about the attempted Jasmine Revolution at Wangfujing in a book for at least a year and I have great doubts that Yu Jianrong's micro-blog will get written in a book anytime soon, regardless of how revolutionary it has been. On a good day I know about the events and happenings before they even get published in the Washington Post or the New York Times. On a bad day I get the inside scoop on China issues that most people in the U.S. have never heard about, and that China watchers restricted to the New York Times, The Economist and Foreign Policy (as I used to be) won't hear about it for a week or more.
The second factor is that I already know so much about China. I am not gonna make any exaggerations: there are still loads of things that I don't know; I am not the smartest China watcher in the world; I often don't even draw my own conclusions. However, having taken a few undergrad classes, read a few books and having lived in Beijing and had plenty of conversations with smart people a lot of the information I get out of books or articles targeted and "regular" consumers are nothing new or special for me. May shocking news about how ethnically diverse China is, or about how China has so many polluted cities, or about China's this or China's that would be new to someone who isn't a China watcher. I am a part of this small population though; we are people who make a hobby/living out of knowing what is going on in this country. A lot of the info in China Shakes the World was like this: I already knew it. It is occasionally nice or pleasing to read things that just confirm what you already know, but rarely (ever?) is this intellectually stimulating.
I will just have to be a bit more selective with what China-focused books I read.
I was wary from the beginning about reading a book that was so old. I wouldn't consider all books published in 2006, to be hopelessly out of date, but since China is changing so fast I was automatically turned off by knowing the book was more than two years old. This may sound very strange to people who are not Sinologists or China watchers. Think about it though: the economy, society/culture, political situations and even the language are changing so quickly that a delay of a few years makes knowledge ancient and obsolete. Some books are still applicable after a few years, but many of the China watcher books are made obsolete by changing conditions. However, after seeing that Mark's China Blog Reviewed this book, I decided to give it a chance. I should have trusted by gut reaction.
I think that most of the information that I got from the book was interesting, but were things that I already knew. I see this as complicated/exacerbated by two things. First, I read blogs (and when I have enough free time, tweets) about China, so I stay very up-to-date. For instance, nobody is gonna read anything about the attempted Jasmine Revolution at Wangfujing in a book for at least a year and I have great doubts that Yu Jianrong's micro-blog will get written in a book anytime soon, regardless of how revolutionary it has been. On a good day I know about the events and happenings before they even get published in the Washington Post or the New York Times. On a bad day I get the inside scoop on China issues that most people in the U.S. have never heard about, and that China watchers restricted to the New York Times, The Economist and Foreign Policy (as I used to be) won't hear about it for a week or more.
The second factor is that I already know so much about China. I am not gonna make any exaggerations: there are still loads of things that I don't know; I am not the smartest China watcher in the world; I often don't even draw my own conclusions. However, having taken a few undergrad classes, read a few books and having lived in Beijing and had plenty of conversations with smart people a lot of the information I get out of books or articles targeted and "regular" consumers are nothing new or special for me. May shocking news about how ethnically diverse China is, or about how China has so many polluted cities, or about China's this or China's that would be new to someone who isn't a China watcher. I am a part of this small population though; we are people who make a hobby/living out of knowing what is going on in this country. A lot of the info in China Shakes the World was like this: I already knew it. It is occasionally nice or pleasing to read things that just confirm what you already know, but rarely (ever?) is this intellectually stimulating.
I will just have to be a bit more selective with what China-focused books I read.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Hot springs, nutella, and more reasons to stay in Beijing
I don't have any major new or high quality reflections to share, but there are several small- and medium-sized things that I want to write about.
First, I got to see Sūn Zhǎn (孙展) for, I think, the first time since summer. She lives really close to a bunch of hot springs out on the east side of Beijing. She lives so far to the east, in fact, that she lives in Hebei Province (河北省). Her parents both work at university which is only a few kilometers on the Hebei side of the Hebei-Beijing border, and they have a very nice apartment on the campus. Since Sūn Zhǎn lives so far away I rarely see her, but over Spring Festival we decided that we should get together, so this past Sunday I got up early to meet her at the DaWangLu (大望路) Subway stop, from which there is a bus that goes right by the hot springs, and to right in front of the university her parents work at. How convenient. The bus takes about an hour, but Sūn Zhǎn and I got lucky because there was a guy driving out that way who was willing to take us for twenty yuan. From there we got an illegal cabbie (just a guy trying to use his car for some extra cash without being a part of a taxi company really; a 黑车) to go straight to the hot springs (The TongZhou Imperial Hot Springs Water Park, officially).
We paid out entrance fee plus a deposit, and went into out separate areas to change into out swimsuits. I have never had a swimsuit that fit so tightly, and it felt really weird at first, but I then saw that none of the Chinese guys was wearing the kind of loose-fitting trunks that I had always considered to be normal swimwear for men, so that made me feel more at ease. The hot springs had a large area that was more like a water park than what I would think of as a hot spring, with slides, and kiddy play area, and a large pool with artificial waves. There was another area that was more hot though, in which the water was (supposedly) kept at 40° (Celsius of course! What kind of anti-progress backwater country do you think I live in, Belize?). There were also some smaller hot pools to the side, with temperatures ranging from 36° to 38°, although some of them felt a lot hotter. These small pools were Chinese medicine pools, and they functioned just like a pot of tea: you put the leaves or medicine in a pouch and let it steep in the hot water. Different pools were good for different things, but unfortunately the medicine which is good for sex drives wasn't out today. Sūn Zhǎn and I spent some time steeping in other medicinal pools. The Chinese word for soaking in a hot spring (or in a Chinese medicinal pool, for that matter) is 泡/pào, which is roughly "to steep" or "to soak." This is, logically, the same word which is used to talk about making tea or to describe soap suds. We soaked in one that increases the body's energy and one that increases the body's resistance to cold. Since I detest the frigid temperatures in Beijing so much, I felt that the later pool would do be a lot of good. We also managed to eat ice cream, lay on a heated stone floor, and eat an expansive buffet lunch. What a place! It was quite an experience in total, and it felt really good to take a full day to relax and treat myself to something nice like that.
After we left the hot springs we went to Sūn Zhǎn's home briefly so that she could show me where she and her parents lived. Then her mom took us out for a nice Peking Duck dinner, which left me thoroughly stuffed and satisfied. They bid me farewell, and I took the a very comfortable bus ride back to DaWangLu. Before I arrived at DaWangLu I had fully intended to get on the subway and go directly home. As I neared DaWangLu, however, I remember how Sūn Zhǎn had told me that a market, 新光天地 (Shin Kong Place) near there had just started carrying Nutella. The prospect of not only tasting Nutella again, but of owning my own jar and being able to consume copious amounts proved to be too much of a temptation. After wandering around one of the highest class market place I have even seen in Beijing I finally found one of the fanciest grocery stores I have ever seen in Beijing. After I finally asked a worker where they had the peanut butter I found the lovely nutella. What an expensive treat!
Another item is my renewed curiosity about the HSK. While having dinner with Nadia over the weekend, she mentioned to me that anyone testing at a 4 or higher on the HSK could get a full scholarship for any Chinese college. That could be for a master's degree, or it could be for just language courses and special short-term study. That sounds awesome! I don't want to a masters or any more Chinese language classes right now, but I am fairly confident that it would be relatively easy for me to scare at a 4 or higher. It is nice to know that the option is available to me: if I decided someday that I want to pursue a masters in China, I can not only get it tuition-free, but I would even get a small stipend from the Chinese government each month. I am thinking about taking the HSK just to see what level I score as.
Life gets even better, though! (mejor que nunca, as some might say) Nassau is in Beijing. She arrived on Sunday, and after a week of crashing at my place and adjusting to Beijing time she has found her own apartment and begun to officially work full time at American House. Nassau also tells me that Rochelle LaMacchio, another close friend from Kalamazoo is planning on moving to Beijing sometime within the next six months. This is exciting enough in itself, but Jamie Sturm, my longtime language learning buddy, eternal almost-roommate, and good friend is going to move back to Beijing as well! Add this to the potential to work with Fede as a juggling performer and teacher and Beijing is starting to look like a really good option for my the next year. If only Beijing was in Spain!
First, I got to see Sūn Zhǎn (孙展) for, I think, the first time since summer. She lives really close to a bunch of hot springs out on the east side of Beijing. She lives so far to the east, in fact, that she lives in Hebei Province (河北省). Her parents both work at university which is only a few kilometers on the Hebei side of the Hebei-Beijing border, and they have a very nice apartment on the campus. Since Sūn Zhǎn lives so far away I rarely see her, but over Spring Festival we decided that we should get together, so this past Sunday I got up early to meet her at the DaWangLu (大望路) Subway stop, from which there is a bus that goes right by the hot springs, and to right in front of the university her parents work at. How convenient. The bus takes about an hour, but Sūn Zhǎn and I got lucky because there was a guy driving out that way who was willing to take us for twenty yuan. From there we got an illegal cabbie (just a guy trying to use his car for some extra cash without being a part of a taxi company really; a 黑车) to go straight to the hot springs (The TongZhou Imperial Hot Springs Water Park, officially).
We paid out entrance fee plus a deposit, and went into out separate areas to change into out swimsuits. I have never had a swimsuit that fit so tightly, and it felt really weird at first, but I then saw that none of the Chinese guys was wearing the kind of loose-fitting trunks that I had always considered to be normal swimwear for men, so that made me feel more at ease. The hot springs had a large area that was more like a water park than what I would think of as a hot spring, with slides, and kiddy play area, and a large pool with artificial waves. There was another area that was more hot though, in which the water was (supposedly) kept at 40° (Celsius of course! What kind of anti-progress backwater country do you think I live in, Belize?). There were also some smaller hot pools to the side, with temperatures ranging from 36° to 38°, although some of them felt a lot hotter. These small pools were Chinese medicine pools, and they functioned just like a pot of tea: you put the leaves or medicine in a pouch and let it steep in the hot water. Different pools were good for different things, but unfortunately the medicine which is good for sex drives wasn't out today. Sūn Zhǎn and I spent some time steeping in other medicinal pools. The Chinese word for soaking in a hot spring (or in a Chinese medicinal pool, for that matter) is 泡/pào, which is roughly "to steep" or "to soak." This is, logically, the same word which is used to talk about making tea or to describe soap suds. We soaked in one that increases the body's energy and one that increases the body's resistance to cold. Since I detest the frigid temperatures in Beijing so much, I felt that the later pool would do be a lot of good. We also managed to eat ice cream, lay on a heated stone floor, and eat an expansive buffet lunch. What a place! It was quite an experience in total, and it felt really good to take a full day to relax and treat myself to something nice like that.
 |
| Shin Kong Place (新光天地) is one a pretty upper class shopping center |
Another item is my renewed curiosity about the HSK. While having dinner with Nadia over the weekend, she mentioned to me that anyone testing at a 4 or higher on the HSK could get a full scholarship for any Chinese college. That could be for a master's degree, or it could be for just language courses and special short-term study. That sounds awesome! I don't want to a masters or any more Chinese language classes right now, but I am fairly confident that it would be relatively easy for me to scare at a 4 or higher. It is nice to know that the option is available to me: if I decided someday that I want to pursue a masters in China, I can not only get it tuition-free, but I would even get a small stipend from the Chinese government each month. I am thinking about taking the HSK just to see what level I score as.
Life gets even better, though! (mejor que nunca, as some might say) Nassau is in Beijing. She arrived on Sunday, and after a week of crashing at my place and adjusting to Beijing time she has found her own apartment and begun to officially work full time at American House. Nassau also tells me that Rochelle LaMacchio, another close friend from Kalamazoo is planning on moving to Beijing sometime within the next six months. This is exciting enough in itself, but Jamie Sturm, my longtime language learning buddy, eternal almost-roommate, and good friend is going to move back to Beijing as well! Add this to the potential to work with Fede as a juggling performer and teacher and Beijing is starting to look like a really good option for my the next year. If only Beijing was in Spain!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
I ♥ Spanish Film and Bollywood
Over the spring festival vacation I watched a bunch of movies. Even though work has resumed, no juggling this week plus no improv this week means that I have spent more evenings chilling out at home, so my high rate of movie watching has continued.
I started off the spring festival vacation by watching some Spanish movies, which consisted of an excellent film by Pedro Almodóvar, Todo sobre mi madre. I next saw a couple of films with Penélope Cruz, such as Jamón, jamón and Volver, both of which I enjoyed. Although these three movies may not be representative of Spanish cinema, so far I really enjoy what I've seen. I had seen The Girl of Your Dreams during my senior year of college and I enjoyed it a lot too. Of course, if I restrict myself only to the cream of the Spanish cinema crop, I have no doubt that I will enjoy what I see. I look forward to seeing more of Pedro Almodóvar's movies, as well as movies featuring Penélope Cruz.
But I got a lot of cinematic excitement from outside of Iberian Peninsula as well. I don't remember why I downloaded several films from India, but ever since watching 3 Idiots a few months ago I have gained a new appreciation for Bollywood. Such an appreciation, in fact, that I am now telling all my friends that they should watch 3 Idiots. In the past two weeks I have added greatly to my knowledge of Indian film by watching Lage Raho Munna Bhai, then followed by a couple of films featuring Aamir Khan, who is currently one of the biggest stars in Indian film. I didn't enjoy Taare Zameen Par quite as much as 3 Idiots, although I saw a lot of similarities in the ideas portrayed by the two films. I just finished Lagaan this afternoon, which was really a behemoth of a movie at nearly four hours. I can see why it was subtitled as Once Upon A Time in India, as it was a very epic film, encompassing a colonial/imperial struggle, a clear personal rivalry and some very strong emotions throughout. Not Epic like Lord of the Rings or the Matrix. I mean more like epic as in Ben Hur, although I find myself unable to put into words exactly why I draw that connection. No wonder this is considered a modern classic in Indian film. I really enjoyed it, and I highly recommend that everybody checks it out.
There are still a few other films with Aamir Khan that I have on my computer that I haven't gotten around to yet, but they are definitely a priority for my as far as watching films go. It has also piqued my interest in other Indian film, and I have just looked up a list of highest grossing Indian films and started to download a bunch of them. I have high hopes for Bollywood and I. For my language-learning future, perhaps Urdu/Hindi is in the works after Portuguese. I can think of nothing more appropriate to end this post than to say that I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
I started off the spring festival vacation by watching some Spanish movies, which consisted of an excellent film by Pedro Almodóvar, Todo sobre mi madre. I next saw a couple of films with Penélope Cruz, such as Jamón, jamón and Volver, both of which I enjoyed. Although these three movies may not be representative of Spanish cinema, so far I really enjoy what I've seen. I had seen The Girl of Your Dreams during my senior year of college and I enjoyed it a lot too. Of course, if I restrict myself only to the cream of the Spanish cinema crop, I have no doubt that I will enjoy what I see. I look forward to seeing more of Pedro Almodóvar's movies, as well as movies featuring Penélope Cruz.
But I got a lot of cinematic excitement from outside of Iberian Peninsula as well. I don't remember why I downloaded several films from India, but ever since watching 3 Idiots a few months ago I have gained a new appreciation for Bollywood. Such an appreciation, in fact, that I am now telling all my friends that they should watch 3 Idiots. In the past two weeks I have added greatly to my knowledge of Indian film by watching Lage Raho Munna Bhai, then followed by a couple of films featuring Aamir Khan, who is currently one of the biggest stars in Indian film. I didn't enjoy Taare Zameen Par quite as much as 3 Idiots, although I saw a lot of similarities in the ideas portrayed by the two films. I just finished Lagaan this afternoon, which was really a behemoth of a movie at nearly four hours. I can see why it was subtitled as Once Upon A Time in India, as it was a very epic film, encompassing a colonial/imperial struggle, a clear personal rivalry and some very strong emotions throughout. Not Epic like Lord of the Rings or the Matrix. I mean more like epic as in Ben Hur, although I find myself unable to put into words exactly why I draw that connection. No wonder this is considered a modern classic in Indian film. I really enjoyed it, and I highly recommend that everybody checks it out.
There are still a few other films with Aamir Khan that I have on my computer that I haven't gotten around to yet, but they are definitely a priority for my as far as watching films go. It has also piqued my interest in other Indian film, and I have just looked up a list of highest grossing Indian films and started to download a bunch of them. I have high hopes for Bollywood and I. For my language-learning future, perhaps Urdu/Hindi is in the works after Portuguese. I can think of nothing more appropriate to end this post than to say that I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Americans Learning Languages: Spanish and Chinese
A few weeks ago Nicholas Kristof wrote an opinion piece about Americans learning foreign languages. First, I want to say that I am immensely pleased that I can understand what this article’s title means without the use of anykind of a translation program or intermediary to change it into English. This makes me feel very cool. I am always thrilled when multiple languages that I can understand are present in a single environment.
I agree with Kristof on a lot of points, such as the overblown importance in the U.S. of having children learn Chinese. I also agree that more languages should be learned, period. The U.S. has done plenty over the last few decades to prove that it's education system is not globally focused enough. With the way the world is changing, if Americans want to prepare their children to be leaders they had better make sure that their kids know about the world outside of the Unites States.
As someone who has studied Chinese up to a level where I can use the language to live, as well as as someone who lives in China, I have a couple of things to add to this. One big benefit of Americans learning Chinese is the ease of working in China. Like myself, other fresh college grads with no special skills or qualifications can easily spend a few years teaching English in China. If you don't believe me just look at the classified adds on Craigslist for Beijing or TheBeijinger to take a look at the demand: (As of February 3rd, 2011, a category labeled "English Teaching" has over 800 adds, whereas the number two is "Acting, Modeling & Voiceovers" at just under 120 adds)
A VERY strong point why one should first study the Spanish are the "meta-skills" one gains about language learning, as well as the confidence gained from having sucessfully learned a foreign language. For instance, after a year of studying Chinese in Beijing, I knew that I could learn vocabulary from other languages, I just had to spend a certain amount of time in front of some flashcards, and then use the words in conversation to reinforce them. Both of this are (for a native English speaker) much easier to get from Spanish than from Chinese. From the personal experience of studying both, I can honestly state that I could speak more Spanish from less then one year of study than I could speak Chinese after two years. Kristof lays it out nicely when he says
So for students in the U.S.? I would recommend starting to learn Spanish as early as the Germans start to learn English. Public schooling can always be supplemented with trips to Spanish speaking locales, special summer camps, or local cultural/language events. Once Spanish is at a good level, then I would suggest providing the child with a second foreign language, which could vary depending the priorities and interests of the parents and the child, although I would certainly recommend Chinese or Arabic.
I agree with Kristof on a lot of points, such as the overblown importance in the U.S. of having children learn Chinese. I also agree that more languages should be learned, period. The U.S. has done plenty over the last few decades to prove that it's education system is not globally focused enough. With the way the world is changing, if Americans want to prepare their children to be leaders they had better make sure that their kids know about the world outside of the Unites States.
As someone who has studied Chinese up to a level where I can use the language to live, as well as as someone who lives in China, I have a couple of things to add to this. One big benefit of Americans learning Chinese is the ease of working in China. Like myself, other fresh college grads with no special skills or qualifications can easily spend a few years teaching English in China. If you don't believe me just look at the classified adds on Craigslist for Beijing or TheBeijinger to take a look at the demand: (As of February 3rd, 2011, a category labeled "English Teaching" has over 800 adds, whereas the number two is "Acting, Modeling & Voiceovers" at just under 120 adds)
A VERY strong point why one should first study the Spanish are the "meta-skills" one gains about language learning, as well as the confidence gained from having sucessfully learned a foreign language. For instance, after a year of studying Chinese in Beijing, I knew that I could learn vocabulary from other languages, I just had to spend a certain amount of time in front of some flashcards, and then use the words in conversation to reinforce them. Both of this are (for a native English speaker) much easier to get from Spanish than from Chinese. From the personal experience of studying both, I can honestly state that I could speak more Spanish from less then one year of study than I could speak Chinese after two years. Kristof lays it out nicely when he says
Spanish is easy enough that kids really can emerge from high school with a very useful command of the language that they will retain for life, while Mandarin takes about four times as long to make the same progress. Chinese has negligible grammar — no singular or plural, no verb conjugations, no pesky masculine and feminine nouns — but there are thousands of characters to memorize as well as the landmines of any tonal language.Benny the Irish polyglot writes at some length about the benefits of confidence (from the vantage point of learning Esperanto as an easy way to gain said language learning confidence), and from my own experience of studying foreign languages I can confidently say that I now view it as a much easier task than I did four years ago, precisely due to the fact that I have some under my belt already. Indeed, a good part of my desire to learn more languages is due to knowledge of how easy it is. If I devote two years a language, that gives me plenty of time to reach at least a conversational level.
So for students in the U.S.? I would recommend starting to learn Spanish as early as the Germans start to learn English. Public schooling can always be supplemented with trips to Spanish speaking locales, special summer camps, or local cultural/language events. Once Spanish is at a good level, then I would suggest providing the child with a second foreign language, which could vary depending the priorities and interests of the parents and the child, although I would certainly recommend Chinese or Arabic.
South-South Relations
While read some blogs on Brazil recently, I stumbled across something mentioning Brazil’s growing projects in Africa. My interest was instantly piqued, and I suddenly realized that I wasn’t only interested in China-Africa relations, or China Latin-America relations, or China-Brazil relations. Something broader described my interest. It is only a description, of course, since to define is to limit, and my interests are wide and highly mutable. Regardless, describe (this facet of) my interests it does: South-South relations. What a beautiful phrase, allowing me to briefly describe a curiosity of and/or interest in all the BRICs (minus Russia), the N-11 countries, everything south of the Rio Grand, and the entire landmass between the Mediterranean Sea and South Africa. I wonder if South-South relations are something that I can actually claim as a field of study? Is it too broad? The breadth of SSR as a potential field certainly does match that of my interest and curiosity, but it also goes beyond. For instance, I am not particularly interested in Central Asia, Western Asia or Eastern Europe. South East Asia intrigues me, but not at nearly the same level as Africa or Latin America. This may require some pondering
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