Hi, Ruby here, today I want to show you how we say weather in Chinese. We like to keep class short, so you can learn more easily.
1.晴天
Sunny day
qíng tiān
2.陰天
Cloudy Day
yīn tiān
3.霧天
Foggy Day
wù tiān
4.下雨天
Raining Day
xià yǔ tiān
5.颱風天
Typhoon Day
tái fēng tiān
Hey everyone, sorry for such a long lapse in my posting, life has been crazy! I just wanted to let y'all know that I'll be back to writing soon, and we're also going to have a new co-author on the blog...my wife Ruby! Also, my Chinese learning book that I have been working on since last year is nearing completion, so keep checking back for more information. That's all for now, stay tuned!
Also we like to know what new things you want to hear from us.
1. Travel
2. Language
3. Cuture
4. Others
Please leave us comment in the below then we can get into it!
Have a awesome day!
Logan and Ruby
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Living in a foreign country offers many unique and exciting opportunities. You get the chance to really get to know your new "home" a lot better than you would if you had just visited it for a week or two of travel. You will get the chance to see and do things that people who are merely visiting will never get the chance to do or see. You'll get to know and appreciate your host culture, discover new favorite foods, and have the best possible chance for succeeding in learning a foreign language. This sums up nicely my time spent in Taiwan.
It's not all sunshine and rainbows, however. As fun as it is living abroad, It can be equally frustrating. As often as I spend time talking about all of the things that I love in Taiwan, today I will be sharing my top 5 "complaints" about what has become my "second home". Enjoy, and as always please share your experiences/opinions below!
1. Random old guys backing you into a wall and forcing you into endless conversations:
![\"photo](\"https://eazychinese.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/photo-2.jpg\")
I love a good conversation as much as the next guy, but sometimes it's just not a good time to chat me up. But this happens pretty often. You know that feeling you get when you are reading a really good book, intently turning the pages to see what happens next? I love reading, and always brought a book on the train ride from Taoyuan county to Taipei for my weekly martial arts classes. It's a great way to kill the time you are otherwise wasting in transit. Can't tell you how many times I've had a well meaning elderly man sit next to me and interrupt me every few seconds, even after I tried as tactfully as possible to disengage myself from conversation. The results? Me still on the same page ten minute later! This used to drive me nuts.
2. People don't understand your Chinese, because you look funny:
![\"photo](\"https://eazychinese.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/photo-3.jpg\")
I like to think that I don't have a huge ego problem, but I know that my Chinese is pretty darn good. So it always annoyed me when someone didn't understand my fluent Chinese, because they saw me and expected English to come out of my mouth. It also used to drive me nuts when I was with my wife and someone kept asking her questions about me, even after I displayed that I was more than capable of speaking for myself. I know it's not meant to be rude, but it kinda is!
3. The lack of concern that many people have for the environment:
![\"photo](\"https://eazychinese.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/photo-4.jpg\")
Of course this is getting to be a problem everywhere these days, but I felt it was more so in Taiwan than it is back here in Texas. True, the rapid rate of Taiwan's industrialization has had some negative consequences for the environment, but that's not the whole story. People throw their trash all over the place: streets, bushes, gutters, rivers…no place is safe! I remember vividly one time while I was waiting for my bus, an old man walked by me and casually shoved an empty pack of cigarettes into a bush. Seriously, go hard is it to find a trash can?
4. The casual rudeness that people often display:
![\"unnamed\"](\"https://eazychinese.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/unnamed.jpg\")
In the big, metropolitan city of a Taipei, people are conditioned to lookout for themselves, and to disregard others around them. When you're in a crowded street, or MRT station in Taipei, you will get shove, pushed, stepped on, elbowed, and much more. Some of this is, of course, due to the dense population, unavoidable. What I don't like, is how the majority of people won't even give you a simple "excuse me" when they jab you in the kidney as they squeeze by.
5. The crazy traffic!:
![\"photo](\"https://eazychinese.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/photo-5.jpg\")
This one is pretty self explanatory. There are countless cars, and especially scooters in Taiwan, and only a limited amount of space. This leads to heavily congested traffic, a scarcity of parking spaces, an extremely high rate of deaths on the road(especially for those riding scooters) and generally chaotic streets everywhere. To top it off, people generally have very little regard for the laws of the road, , which makes it doubly dangerous, for drivers and pedestrians alike.
There it is. I'm glad I got that off of my chest. Now, don't take this post the wrong way. For everything on this list, there are at least a hundred things I have to say that are positive about Taiwan. I love Taiwan, and it really and truly is my "home away from home", but I'm here to give you the whole story, and sometimes the truth is ugly!
What has your experience in Taiwan been like? Please share below!
[popdom id=\’2\’]
Living in a foreign country offers many unique and exciting opportunities. You get the chance to really get to know your new "home" a lot better than you would if you had just visited it for a week or two of travel. You will get the chance to see and do things that people who are merely visiting will never get the chance to do or see. You'll get to know and appreciate your host culture, discover new favorite foods, and have the best possible chance for succeeding in learning a foreign language. This sums up nicely my time spent in Taiwan.
It's not all sunshine and rainbows, however. As fun as it is living abroad, It can be equally frustrating. As often as I spend time talking about all of the things that I love in Taiwan, today I will be sharing my top 5 "complaints" about what has become my "second home". Enjoy, and as always please share your experiences/opinions below!
1. Random old guys backing you into a wall and forcing you into endless conversations:
I love a good conversation as much as the next guy, but sometimes it's just not a good time to chat me up. But this happens pretty often. You know that feeling you get when you are reading a really good book, intently turning the pages to see what happens next? I love reading, and always brought a book on the train ride from Taoyuan county to Taipei for my weekly martial arts classes. It's a great way to kill the time you are otherwise wasting in transit. Can't tell you how many times I've had a well meaning elderly man sit next to me and interrupt me every few seconds, even after I tried as tactfully as possible to disengage myself from conversation. The results? Me still on the same page ten minute later! This used to drive me nuts.
2. People don't understand your Chinese, because you look funny:
I like to think that I don't have a huge ego problem, but I know that my Chinese is pretty darn good. So it always annoyed me when someone didn't understand my fluent Chinese, because they saw me and expected English to come out of my mouth. It also used to drive me nuts when I was with my wife and someone kept asking her questions about me, even after I displayed that I was more than capable of speaking for myself. I know it's not meant to be rude, but it kinda is!
3. The lack of concern that many people have for the environment:
Of course this is getting to be a problem everywhere these days, but I felt it was more so in Taiwan than it is back here in Texas. True, the rapid rate of Taiwan's industrialization has had some negative consequences for the environment, but that's not the whole story. People throw their trash all over the place: streets, bushes, gutters, rivers…no place is safe! I remember vividly one time while I was waiting for my bus, an old man walked by me and casually shoved an empty pack of cigarettes into a bush. Seriously, go hard is it to find a trash can?
4. The casual rudeness that people often display:
In the big, metropolitan city of a Taipei, people are conditioned to lookout for themselves, and to disregard others around them. When you're in a crowded street, or MRT station in Taipei, you will get shove, pushed, stepped on, elbowed, and much more. Some of this is, of course, due to the dense population, unavoidable. What I don't like, is how the majority of people won't even give you a simple "excuse me" when they jab you in the kidney as they squeeze by.
5. The crazy traffic!:
This one is pretty self explanatory. There are countless cars, and especially scooters in Taiwan, and only a limited amount of space. This leads to heavily congested traffic, a scarcity of parking spaces, an extremely high rate of deaths on the road(especially for those riding scooters) and generally chaotic streets everywhere. To top it off, people generally have very little regard for the laws of the road, , which makes it doubly dangerous, for drivers and pedestrians alike.
There it is. I'm glad I got that off of my chest. Now, don't take this post the wrong way. For everything on this list, there are at least a hundred things I have to say that are positive about Taiwan. I love Taiwan, and it really and truly is my "home away from home", but I'm here to give you the whole story, and sometimes the truth is ugly!
What has your experience in Taiwan been like? Please share below!
[popdom id=\’2\’]
Hey everyone, how's it going? Today I'm coming at you with another interview. Today's victim is Chinese learner Ray Hecht. He''s been living in Mainland China for years, and has a lot of interesting things to say on his blog about China, dating in China and learning Chinese. Plus he shares some pretty sweet art and poetry as well, so hop on over to his site and check out his writing! Being a fellow comic geek, I can relate to a lot of what he has to say!
Now on to the interview.
![\"螢幕快照](\"https://eazychinese.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/螢幕快照-2014-10-09-2.59.30-PM.png\")
Q: What Made you decide to learn Chinese?I was first interested in Asian culture by way of Japanese manga and anime, being a long-time comic geek in my youthful days (and still a geek in my older days). As I got older I became more interested in film, and after watching many classic Kurosawa I came upon Cantonese films of Wong Kar-wai in my teenage years. Eventually this led to watching the film Farewell my Concubine, directed by Chen Kaige, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. In addition to watching the 90s films of Chinese 5th generation filmmaker Zhang Yimou, I became fascinated by China. However, I studied Japanese in college. Learning kanji did give me me a head start in learning hanzi, although the languages are quite different. I never did end up moving to Japan, just visiting a few times (learning some of the language did help). I later got an opporutnity to move to Shenzhen and I fully embraced it. Currently, Mandarin is the only other language besides English I speak with any fluency, though I always have more to learn.
I've been studying for six years, and in the first year I learned 'survival Chinese.' I've been getting better at being more conversational in the last 3 years I suppose, but on having deep conversations I know I still have ways to go. The problem is that most conversations are the same: "Where are you from?", "Are you married?" "How many years have you been in China?" etc.
My biggest challenge at first was definitely the tones. Then, the characters although I am always making progress even though it takes years. When it comes to characters, just be patient but make a little progress all the time. In speaking, the grammar of Chinese is easier and I was able to formulate simple sentences quite fast (even if not pronouncing it correctly). "I like…" "I'm from…" and that sort of thing.
I suppose the best advice is to be fully immersive, go to China — or Taiwan, or Singapore — and start speaking. If you are in a big city in China, be careful not to be in the bubble that is the expat scene in which you rarely even speak Mandarin. Push yourself to practice those phrases you studied in real-life, it's the only way!
Q:Do you have a favorite Chinese phrase? If so, what is it and why?
Well, 多少錢 duoshaoqian ("How much money?") would be the phrase I say the most often, in going out shopping everyday. Some vocabulary words are fun, when Chinese can be so literal. Technological words such as 電腦 diannao (electric brain: computer) and 電影 dianying (electric shadow: movie) and many more.
One trick is to not stress about tones too much, and just try wait you're best until one day it becomes effortless. You can still communicate, don't be afraid to make mistakes. With pronunciation, one can imitate another more advanced learner of Mandarin instead of imitating native speakers. After all, any fluent learner was once a beginner and can offer great advice.
Thanks for taking the time to share with us Ray! I hope everyone will learn from Ray's experiences, and move forward in their own studies. I especially agree with his point on getting out there and SPEAKING. So what are you still doing here? Get out there and practice your Chinese!
[popdom id=\’2\’]
I think that anyone who has found there way to my little corner of the web will agree that command of Chinese is a valuable, desirable skill to have. Though not particularly an easy one to obtain. Granted, it helps a lot when you know the right way to approach your studies, but don't be fooled, you are still in for a lot of work if you want to really take your Chinese to the next level.
One of the best, if not the best ways to do this is to live abroad and completely immerse yourself in a Chinese speaking culture. There is no lack of language programs for foreigners living in Taipei, Taiwan for example. I myself attended one such school for a semester. You could also higher private tutors from amongst the locals to further your studies. These are both great ideas, but they aren't cheap.
In today's article, I'm going to offer you some alternatives: 5 free ways to learn Chinese. I think we can all "afford" free, right? So let's take a look.
1. Live with a Chinese family:
If you decide to live abroad, one way to rapidly improve your Chinese(especially comprehension) is to live with a local family. I did this for around half a year or so when I was living in Taipei and focused on intensely on my Chinese studies at Shida University.I lived with an elderly couple that went by simply "A'gong" and "A'po", Meaning grandfather and grandmother respectively in Taiwanese dialect. They must've been at least in their 70s, and they didn't speak a lick of English. Needless to say, my Chinese improved immensely just chatting g with them…and boy did they love to talk! If you have the opportunity, I definitely recommend living in a household where Chinese is spoken exclusively, it will really help you speed-up your progress.
2. Find a Language Exchange Partner:
If you don't have the opportunity to live with a Chinese family, you can at the very least make friends with a local person and have them become your language exchange partner. Trust me, you will have no lack of people wanting o be your friend just to learn English, so why not take advantage of that and learn Chinese? It's a win-win situation for everyone. Because Chinese people can be shy when they feel their Enlish is not up to par, don't let that stop you. Star conversations, be friendly. And when all else fails, check on Tealit.com for people interested in finding an LE partner(if you're in Taiwan), or make a profile on Italki.com and find a partner to Skype with. The bottom line is: Make it happen!
3. Watch Chinese shows on Youtube:
One of the best ways to improve your listening comprehension and vocabulary in a foreign language is to watch TV shows in that language, and Chinese is no different. Do a Youtube search for 康熙來了, one of my wife's favorite shows. It's a talk show with a lot of funny characters. You should also check out 大學生了沒 while you're at it! Or if you are in the mood for something more serious, check out 痞子英雄, a Taiwanese cop drama. Another good option would be to watch the news. These are just a few examples, but you get the idea, now go veg-out in front of the TV!
4. Listen to Some Music:
Another great way to improve your listening skills is to listen to Chinese music. You can find a lot of music for free on youtube, or on various radio apps. Why not start by searching for these artists' songs on youtube: Lu, zhang, Chen. That will get you off to a good start.
5. Go to your local Chinese restaurant:
Another idea for improving your Chinese without spending any money is to go down to the local Chinese restaurant and try to speak with your waiter in Chinese. Now, they will most likely be from Hong Kong and primarily speak Cantonese, but most will likely speak Mandarin as well. You'll never know if you don't try! My wife and I have started a lot of conversations by just ordering food, since she is Chinese. It always makes for an interesting time. So go on, be adventurous!
I hope that you found something that you could use in this article. It's easy to think that you'll never learn a language due to limitations that you place on yourself, such as being unable to find native speakers to interact with. Just know that there really is a lot that you can do, you just have to have an open mind to see the possibilities. If you want it bad enough, then you'll make it work.
![\"Free-Image拷貝\"](\"https://eazychinese.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Free-Image拷貝.jpg\")
PS
If you found this article useful, then check-out my article 10 tips to reverse engineering the Chinese language for more Chinese learning tips! Also, please don't be afraid to comment below and share your thoughts!
PPS
Don't forget to join my mail-list to stay up to date with all of the developments here at EazyChinese.com!!!
