So You Want To Learn To Say More Than Just Ni Hao?
December 4th, 2008
Some of you have inquired about what you can do to learn some Mandarin before we leave and/or possible resources out there that you might check out. Please see the below excerpt in a recent email I received from one of our grads that took a proactive approach to this trip and experience, and hence scored a job out of it:
“Hi Chris,
Things are going really well for both Matt and I. We have both been working hard at work and are starting to get a good understanding of whats going on at our company. The management and co-workers seem to really enjoy us being here. I know that a lot of the girls/guys we work with have improved their English just from conversations with them and listening the Matt and I talk. We also teach and English class one a week to some of our co-workers.
I have started listening to a Pod Cast called ChinesePod.com. It is meant for foreigners to help them learn Mandarin. But they also talk a lot about the culture. It does a very good job at describing situations that students will encounter while in China and how they should react, plus with the added benefit of what they might hear people say to them. I think it would be very beneficial for the students going on the trip this year to listen to a couple of episodes, not only to learn some mandarin but the learn more about how to interact with locals while they are here. Listen to a couple of episodes and let me know what you think.
…. You should add in there the best way to get the pod casts is to get itunes, then go to the itunes store and type in a search for ChinesePod. They will be able to download all the new and old episodes. If anyone has every down loaded a Pod cast before it is very easy to do. I would recommend that they download all the past free episodes and listen to them. There is only a couple of hours worth and they will learn a lot.”
FYI: click HERE to check out Matt’s China experience blog.
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, Shenzhen, China
6 Comments Add your own
1. Matthew Neal | December 4th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Thanks for the information on where to get some free Chinese lessons! I know from personal experience that the ability to effectively communicate while overseas can add a wonderful dimension to any trip. In high school I was fortunate enough to be able to take a European study tour similar to the China/India study tour we are about to embark on in 6 months.
I know for a fact that the people who were able to speak in the local language were able to gain a lot more form the trip than the other students, and learn more from the culture. I was lucky enough to have a friend who spoke German and French as well as my mother who speaks a little Dutch. These people were able to help me out a ton. I still think they were able to learn a little more from the trip and each individual culture though. They definitely were able to accomplish regular tasks more easily, as well as were able to read the historical artifacts and descriptions in the unaltered original language.
I really encourage everyone to take a couple lessons or just listen to the free podcasts online. After all it’s always good to be able to ask your own way to the bathroom. With the podcasts and internet it is actually pretty easy to find relatively cheap and useful aids for learning Mandarin. I did a little searching on I-tunes and found a ton of useful applications for download. There is also a relatively cheap ($3.99) “Not lost in translation” 20 minute guide to Mandarin available on I-tunes (it has everything from greetings, help and directions, to pickup lines). However, if anyone wants to get together and buy a copy of Rosetta-Stone let me know.
2. Matt Eves | December 4th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I listened to a few of the episodes on iTunes. The episodes that say “newbie” next to the title are about ten minutes long that teach a basic phrase for “newbies” in Mandarin. The first one had to do with plastic bags in the grocery store. They talk about how China supermarkets and stores charge for plastic bags now and how it has been a very effective way to reduce waste. Most people have adapted by bringing in reusable bags when they shop and seem to be very supportive of the change.
The sample dialogue was clear and they replay it 3 times for clarity. Then, the hosts of the podcast break down the phrase and repeat each sentence three times. They do an excellent job keeping the lesson simple to where anyone could repeat the phrase and understand what was being said. The next Newbie episode involved the phrase “hurry hurry” so they wouldn’t miss the train. I imagine this may be very useful in June!
I think this is a good resource if you just want to do one a day or a simple program. It is entertaining and you take away some Mandarin with you. For the more ambitious, I wouldn’t recommend it if you want to do an in depth study. The hosts’ commentary is often irrelevant and can seem to drag on for how much material there is in the ten minutes.
3. Eric White | December 9th, 2008 at 10:48 am
rocketchinese.com also has about a dozen free lessons
4. Jenna Healy | December 10th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Why knowing only English can be a disadvantage…
Yes, we should ALL want to learn to say more than just Ni Hao.
The globe is learning English… why? Because we’ve told them to. Part of the shift of power or what Zakaria calls the “rise of the rest” is the global use of the English language, nearing one quarter of the planet. Zakaria says:
“What sounds young and modern today is English. No language has ever spread so broadly and deeply across the world…
…Some 80% of the electronically stored information in the world is in English”
We know English is spreading like wildfire, but people do not forget their native tongue to take on English. They use it as an additional language. The gap here seems obvious to me: Americans know English, that’s it.
The rest of the world has adopted business practices, from the U.S. and Europe; we pushed this to happen. What Westerners failed to predict is how the lack of our own foreign language and culture knowledge would leave us behind, as much of the world is becoming bi and multi-lingual.
Many Californians know Spanish, probably because of the proximity to Mexico and the immigrant influence on California’s agricultural economy. In this golden state, most of us land on a spectrum of understanding and/or speaking Spanish.
Other languages do not seem to be commonly spoken, by Americans born in the US that is. It’s refreshing to hear the occasional foreign language in our not-so-culturally-diverse town.
We seem to be a tattle tale of a country and the one to point fingers. Zakaria states, “we are the only country in the world to issue annual report cards on every other country’s behavior.”
What has happened while we were pointing fingers and giving report cards elsewhere? Has our own ego created our potential demise?
5. Logan Travis | December 12th, 2008 at 11:55 am
I’ll be honest, I know almost nothing about the Chinese language. I’m sure learning at least some basic phrases would help immensely on our trip. However, what I do “know” about Chinese is it has a vast array of dialects. A quick Google search turned up this site: Chinese Dialects. Cool huh? Click on the makers for major cities and in opens a dialogue box listing the most used dialect. Mandrin ranks as top in Beijing but not in Shanghai (Wu language) nor Guagzhou (Yue language + Unclassified?) which we also plant to visit.
Knowing some Mandrin is probably better than nothing, right?
6. DWOLF | December 14th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
One other thought from Beijing.
I am in my mid-40s and find myself using my Chinese now more than I did 20 years ago when I finished my master’s degree. What will it be like in 20 more years? And what will be the implications for all of us when the ranks of the Fortune 500 begin to fill with the names of Chinese companies?
Logan is right. A little Chinese is better than nothing. And the more you learn, the better.
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