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Does Your Language Shape How You Think?
Does Your Language Shape How You Think? - NY Times I believe yes. Times is a good example. If I write any more I am going to get in trouble... From the article. Chinese, on the other hand, does not oblige its speakers to specify the exact time of the action in this way, because the same verb form can be used for past, present or future actions. Again, this does not mean that the Chinese are unable to understand the concept of time. But it does mean they are not obliged to think about timing whenever they describe an action. Labels: Learning Chinese
China to Job-Seeking C.E.O.’s: Come Work for China
China to Job-Seeking C.E.O.’s: Come Work for China - NY Times. A common problem with state owned companies is nepotism, where the best person may not get the job, but a relative or other politically well connected person does. The term used for offspring of the Chinese leadership is princeling. The same happens in the US with Ambassador postings. Many of them go as political payoffs for the administration that assumed power. Labels: chinese corruption, made in china
“guo jin, min tui,” or “the state advances, the private sector retreats.”
“guo jin, min tui,” or “the state advances, the private sector retreats.” Saying by Chinese business owners when talking about State Ownership of Industries in China. Good article - China Fortifies State Businesses to Fuel Growth - NY Times With the exception of Singapore, most state run companies have not done that well. And with the state owned businesses increased political power, will this change? Labels: China's Government, made in china
Even More Socialism Studies!
Music and Learning Chinese
Interesting. I've been reading through Coginitive Daily's old article (but still very helpful) by David Munger on a research whether music helps people learn language or not.
The researchers made up some words and had people listen to it just spoken or with musical tones. Then they tested which set up had more people recognizing the made up words. Guess which set got to identify more words? Yup, those tested with music got to recognize the made up words better.
So if you think Chinese is just too difficult and different, and you are not too sure if your child will learn the Chinese words, you can be sure Chinese songs with simple lyrics can help your child learn and remember some Chinese vocabulary.
There are a lot of available Chinese songs for kids CDs and read-along Chinese stories that you can choose from so your child can enjoy Chinese. Singing or reading along doesn't even feel like studying. Be prepared for your child to tug at your sleeve and request that you play Chinese CDs at home or in the car.
Please visit our Learn Chinese with Music Weekly Sale!
Golden Walk
I am reading a book that is scaring me a bit... It's called The Five Year Party, How Colleges have given up on educating your child and what you can do about it. A new term is Golden Walk. The walk given by a student on your campus tour. And how the student walks backwards and tells you all about the college. It seems these walks are carefully planned and rehearsed marketing activities. There is one consultant who charges up to $20,000 to help a schools Golden Walk. Labels: college admissions
China Traffic Jam could Last Weeks
60 miles long with speeds often at 1/3rd mile per hour. Some drivers were trapped for 5 days in the jam. Its in day 11. The traffic jam is on the 110 Expressway that runs from Huaian in Hebei province, northwest of Beijing, to Jining in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (coal mining area). Multiple causes for the traffic jam: 1. All roads lead to Beijing. 2. Increase in cars has out paced the roads. 2000 new cars per day in Beijing. 3. Road Construction 4. Illegal coal trucks use this route due to no checkpoints. 5. Increase in illegal coal trucks from the North due to illegal coal mines in the south being closed. 6. Illegal overloading of trucks increases wear on road 7. The amount of vehicles that can enter Beijing proper is limited, especially at night. References: China traffic jam enters Day 11. A tale of deceit and criminality? - Christian Science Monitor China Traffic Jam Could Last Weeks - WSJ Gridlock is a way of life for Chinese - Guardian Labels: china economy, china's future
Feng Shui & Deals
When Feng Shui Helps Determine a Deal’s Fate - NY Times The article is good on going over some of the basics. In Mandarin, 8 sound like Wealthy and are good. 4 Sounds like death, so not good. If a couple of digit number ends with an 8, its better. 2's are also good. 6 are OK. Labels: Chinese Culture
1 in 3 Nikes Counterfeit?
80% of the counterfeit goods seized by US Customs comes from China. Inside the Knockoff-Tennis-Shoe Factory - NY Times The problem I see in the lack of IP Protection is it also hurts Chinese businesses that try to innovate. They also get hurt by counterfeiting. Labels: made in china
Delaying Kindergarten
I have such mixed feelings on the should you delay your child or not. With our daughter my wife and I decided to have her go forward a year. So she is usually the youngest in her class by a couple of months. Our thought was this gives her another year. A lot of teachers and administrators were against it. With my nephew, I wish he had been delayed. He's in the third grade going on fourth and I am very worried about him. But, as an Uncle, all I can do is give advice to my brother and sister in law. The Littlest Redshirts Sit Out Kindergarten - NY Times Labels: Children Development
Festival of Ghosts in Malaysia and Singapore
If the living visit the dead on Qing Ming and Cheung Yeung Festivals, for Festival of Ghosts, it is believed that the spirits of the dead visit the living.
Festival of Ghost is celebrated by the Chinese around the world on the fifteenth day of the 7th lunar month. So if we compare with the Western Calendar, that's August 24, 2010 this year. (next Tuesday)
On this day, it is believed the gates of Heaven and Hell are open to the world, so spirits can come and go here and there. People can cook special vegetarian food for their ancestors and leave them on the table set with empty seats.
In Malaysia and Singapore, a performance show is staged specially for the spirits during the Ghost Festival. This festival is called Getai or Hotai. These loud shows are to appease the spirits and entertain the living. If you look for Getai or Hotai in Youtube, you will find performances in simple or fantastic costumes that will leave even the spirits goggle-eyed. Labels: Chinese moon festival
Baby Sitters for Teaching Chinese
Chinese WiFi on the iPhone?
The iPhone 4 appears it is going to support WAPI, the Chinese standard for WiFi. Apple Tweaks Wi-Fi in IPhone to Use China Protocol - PC World It seems about 50% of the phones sold in China are sold on the black market and support WiFi, and not WAPI. The result has been poor sale for the authorized WAPI phones. Apple iPhone officially sold in China did not include WiFi, so most people bought ones with WiFi that were sold originally outside of China. And since these were jail broken, they were also loaded with all sorts of unauthorized applications such as Skype (not the China authorized version that is not secure). Labels: apple, made in china
China to Invest Billions in Electric and Hybrid Cars
Harvard students for under $15,000 a year?
Who's Searching for Chinese Made Easy?
For sometime now, the ChildBook people have been thinking of the 22,000 people apparently looking for Chinese Made Easy textbooks online. Who and where are they? If they aren't getting the book from us, why?
We always try to be a step ahead in giving you information so that when you need anything, it will be there conveniently for you. We were concerned that we were somehow not meeting your expectations because compared to 22,000 we relatively were providing few Chinese Made Easy books.
After sometime of searching for answers, it hit us that yes, 22,000 people were looking for Chinese Made Easy. But they were looking for food! There was a show named Chinese Food Made Easy... plus looking at data from other sources the searchers for the Chinese Made Easy textbooks were much smaller than 22k.
It was strange and funny because the answer was right under our noses. We've been seeing top page results for food-related Chinese Made Easy for some time now, but it just didn't ring a bell.
So now we can relax a bit about that. But if you do need information on our products, just say so, and we'll try to provide it so that it's easy for you to shop for your learn-Chinese materials.
Bye for now!
Please check out our Chinese Made Easy and other great textbooks are at our Chinese Textbooks and Curriculum page.Labels: ChildBook products, chinese made easy
China's fight against disposable chopsticks
Chinese teens sample American summer camp
Kindergarten costs more than College?
China Beach
I was looking up railroad tunnels in Santa Cruz (yes, Iron Mountain really uses one for document storage) along with mole people (yes, people actually live in tunnels below NY). I had a fun discussion yesterday that was a lot of fun and I wanted to check some facts.
Anyway, I came across this today:
Labels: chinatowns
Teachers - A great one can make a difference
Good article from the LA Times -
A Times analysis, using data largely ignored by LAUSD, looks at which educators help students learn, and which hold them back.
I am hopeful the article helps. Some schools in LAUSD have a 60% drop out rate, which is a crime. The cost to society of a high school drop out can be huge. I was a student teacher in LAUSD and it had a huge impact on me. It was so different from my daughter's school where most kids want to learn and are driven by high parental expectations to do super well in school. Where I student taught, the students were so apathetic. An example was I offered a make up test for students who had missed a test, I came to school early. No students showed up for the test. I still shake my head in wonder at that. I find it incredibly sad.
A great teacher, and a poor teacher, can make a huge difference in your child's education. The headache is figuring out who the good ones are. I have noticed this with my daughter that she does so much better with a great teacher. She has been very lucky to have had a number of great teachers.
A good resource for parents to find out more about their teachers. I was surprised for my daughter's school how accurate it was on the teacher profile and how many teachers were in it. http://www.ratemyteachers.com
Labels: Schools, Tips from Our ChildBook Parents and Teachers
Great Comment on the Economist
I was reading an article about, They Have Returned and I thought this comment was a classic... Ohio wrote: Aug 13th 2010 4:44 GMT If someone is hiring people to post pro-China and anti-US comments whenever there's a China article on the Economist website, please re-interview and offer better pay. The standard of the comments have fallen from CPC propaganda to just silly in the last few weeks. And they need an editor. One good comment with a well constructed conspiracy theory and correct grammar and sentence structure is much more effective than 5 hastily submitted unintelligible ramblings. And another person gave a link to 50 Cent Commentors. Labels: US Chinese Image
Irish Boy in Finals in China's Storytelling Competition
My school district Superintendent Fired
I just read this in the local paper. Wow. Walnut Valley Unified fires superintendent citing `change in direction' - SG Tribune And my daughters school has a new Principal. The previous one retired. I am still not very happy with her for not finding room for my daughter in an honors class for the program she was head of. It made my daughter's junior year more challenging for that class when she got into honors. But that is the headache of budget cuts. Classes are hard to come by and hard decisions were needed. My daughter's school has had to bear a lot of budget cuts. And our school district does not get as much funding as others because of the crazy way funding is apportioned in California. Labels: Schools
New Chinese-Canadian website a portal to past
I have learned a lot about Chinese history in the US, but not for Canada. A new webe site is being created about the Chinese experience in Canada. I have been to 3 Chinatowns in Canada so far. Vancouver, Quebec, and Montreal. Chinatowns I have found are a great place to get good food when your traveling at a reasonable cost. My page on Chinatowns also has a listing for Canada. Labels: chinatown
Homeschool Unit on World History - Ancient China
Ancient China has passed the flying colors of being included as a homeschool subject unit on great civilizations - Ancient China was once a great superpower, is currently a superpower, is instrumental in inventing or discovering technologies we use today and its culture is so old it's just cool and mysterious.
If you want to use colorful books on Ancient China that will be interesting to your homeschooler, here are some that might interest your child and even you!
And for those studying Chinese for your homeschooling language curriculum, please drop by our Weekly Sale as we are featuring a Home Schooling Sale this week! Labels: Homeschooling Chinese
High Speed Trains in China
Bettig Big on HIgh Speed Rail - Time Key Points: - China is going to double the amount of miles of high speed rail in the next two years
- China in 1981 has 54,000 km or rail. By the end of the year it will have 100,000
- Currently China has 6442 km of high speed rail.
Questions: 1. Will the cost to maintain the system make sense in the long run? 2. Will China's population increase in wealth quick enough to be able to afford the system. I hope they have something like the Euro Pass or what Japan has for using the Bullet Trains when I finally get to China. I am not a train freak, but my Father sure is. And I grew up with a model train board that took up our garage! Labels: trains
Student Loans vs. Credit Cards
Begging for Ingenuity on Chinese Valentines
Today I learned that Chinese Valentines is also a day for Ingenuity-Begging Festival, since young girls ask for skills that will help them maintain the home. Since Zhi Nu, the main character in the Chinese Valentine legend, was pretty much the ultimate weaver, young girls asked for blessings of skills on this special night (she just weaved clouds, if you weren't ingenious to be able to do that, I don't know what is.)
So here is a picture I saw on http://www.cultural-china.com/ (thank you for letting me borrow the picture:-) about a nice depiction of the festival.
In the picture you can see young girls learning to knit and sew. The older ladies teach the young ones, and of course, like any festival, there is a lot of food to help the celebration along. I'm guessing those are dumplings in the picture.
Chinese Valentines is also called the Seventh of the Seventh, meaning it's the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. So in our time, that will be on August 16 this 2010.
Happy Valentines! Labels: chinese valentines
Why Young People Love Monkey King
Here is a gem of a video by Asia Society interviewing Prof. Anthony Yu as he talks about why young people are enchanted with Monkey King and the story Journey to the West.
Well really, I think it's not just the young people who are fascinated with the Monkey King, I think everybody regardless age, does!
Sorry, no embed code is available, so you'll have to clink the link below.
http://asiasociety.org/video/education-learning/monkey-king-and-youth-appeal Labels: monkey king
Learning a Language From an Expert, on the Web
Women Attracted to Red per Study
Per a multi-cultural study in the Multicultural study published Aug. 2 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General a man wearing Red is more attractive to women. It makes men appear more powerful and of higher status. I wonder how that applies to ChildBook.com The web site is Red. But in Western Culture Red is also the color of Danger. Stop signs are in Red. In China Red symbolizes prosperity and high status. Per Chinese Color Symbolism Red is the color of good luck, happiness, joy, life's energy, and for brides, since it is of energy as symbolized by fire. This is why you get Red Envelopes for Chinese New Year filled with money! Reference: Women attracted to Men in Red, Research Shows - University of Rochester Labels: Chinese Culture
Hong Kong iPad without Traditional Characters
It's silly, but Apple launched the iPad in Hong Kong without Traditional Chinese Character support. Hopefully that will change at the rumoured August PR event by Apple. The lack of Traditional Chinese support is one of the major reasons I have not bought an iPad. I value my head, since my dear Taiwanese Mother-In-Law might take it if I gave her a computer that only supported simplified. On second thought, she would not, but her daughter (my wife) would. Labels: chinese characters
Walnut teens WOWs Dragon Boat Festival
Walnut High School (the other High School in my daughter's school district) has Dragon Boat Team. The competed in the Dragon Boat Races held last week at Long Beach in Southern California. Which I missed again :-( I was busy taking people to the airport. The boats look just like the Dragon Boat coloring pages! Walnut teens WOWs Dragon Boat Festival - SG Tribune. Labels: dragon boat festival
China Missile Threat - 2 Views
China is developing a missile that may be able to sink an aircraft carrier. After President Clinton in a Taiwan election put three US Air Craft Carriers off China' coast sending a message the US would back Taiwan, China's military's focused on preventing this in the future. They have developed a missile that theoretically could take out an air craft carrier. One view is its a huge threat and neutralizes the premier method of US force projection for protecting Taiwan. The other is China's military has a huge corruption problem leading to quality issues and have not even been tested yet and is a lot of hype. The two views: Chinese Missile could shift Pacific power balance - Christian Science Monitor What Goes Around, Comes Around - Strategy Page Older Post: Red Dawn 2010 with China as the Invader - Film got delayed due to MGM's bankruptcy. As did the Hobbit. Labels: taiwan, US Chinese Image
Back to School Learning Chinese Lesson Plans
It's not only the kids who are psyching themselves up to back to school, the teachers and homeschooling parents are preparing too.
If you're a teacher or parent and wondering on what extra activities you can provide in the classroom, or activities to prime up your child for school here are some lesson suggestions, taken from our ChildBook Resources to Teach Chinese .
Read the book together and compare Yeh-Shen with the mainstream European Cinderella.
Lessons that may be used to discuss poetry in :"A Thousand Peaks
Moon Festival is on Sept. 22, this would be a timely lesson children can enjoy
Discussing the current state of pollution in China, it's effect on the local population, what the Chinese Government is doing about it, and comparing it to pollution in the United States and what the current trends are.
If you need more, you can head over to our ChildBook Free Lesson Plans section for Teachers and pick what you think suits the child.)
Sounds Like Home
Sounds Like Home - Every once in awhile, I hear the language of my parents, Toisanese, being spoken in Honolulu. In Honolulu Magazine. By Nancy J. Usui who also has a blog http://www.toisanpride.com/Just because a person says they speak Chinese, it does not automatically mean Mandarin. There are a lot of Chinese dialects spoken (which Mandarin has now become the main one over the last 100 years). Labels: Learning Chinese
Back to School Reading List
Summer is almost over and so are the days just goofing off and sleeping and waking late. It's time to brush up on one's Chinese again and it wouldn't hurt to pick up a book or two and practice reading Chinese characters! If it's the first time for you to take a Chinese subject this school year, it wouldn't hurt to know some words already, right?
Some books are for practicing reading Chinese. There are also books in English you might find interesting. Plus, you might need some help so I included some dictionaries you can consult when you go through this
Back to School Reading List (mixed ages and levels)
In Chinese
Greedy Puppy. Simplified Chinese Chinese, Pinyin, English. Paperback
The Pipi's Go for a Picnic (Wo Xihuan Series), Simplified, Softcover. 36 pages
A Hankie For The Wild Bunny (Wo Zhen Bang Series) Simplified, Softcover. 36 pages
Chinese Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes
The Frog in the Well - Hard Cover. Traditional and Simplified Chinese and English
A Red Gourd (Masterpieces of Chinese Children's Literature), Simplified/English, Hardcover. 53 pages
The Mouse Bride, Hardcover Book
The Making of the Monkey King
Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China
In English
I Hate English by Ellen Levin
Look What Came From China by Miles Harvey. English. Softcover.
The Great Voyage of Zheng He, Bilingual Book
The Lost Horse: A Chinese Folktale by Ed Young
Julie Black Belt, The Kung Fu Chronicles, Oliver Chen, English, Hardcover, 36 pages
The Seven Chinese Sisters
Dictionaries and References
Chinese English Dictionary with Pictures by Milet (Chinese/English), Traditional Chinese
Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters, Simplified, Paperback
Concise English-Chinese Romanized Dictionary by James C. Quo, 316 pages
$100 Million Counterfeit Seized in SF
Plagiarism in the digital age
Summer Reads - Any Book
Its amazing how much kids lose during the summer. A three year study found ginvg low-income children access to books during the summer and allowing them to choose runs they want to read helped reduce the summer reading gap. The key is finding something kids like to do. Make it interesting and fun. A bit of structure is required since some kids would be very happy waking up at noon and goofing off for the rest of the day during the summer. For other schools its amazing on how much Summer Homework is assigned. My daughter goes to one of those schools and was busy before leaving on her vacation doing lots of work for her English, French, and IB. Summer Must-Read for Kids? Any Book - NY Times Labels: Schools
CA has new Education Standards!
Libraries - Bigger Source of DVD's than Netflix?
I found this surprising. Libraries: a bigger source of DVDs than Netflix - LA Times The selection at my local library of DVD's was not that great. And my collection of Science Fiction was bigger. And their Chinese book selection for kids was also small. But where I live does need a bigger library. The library is packed all the time. Labels: libraries
80% Counterfeit Goods Made in China?
Per the CBP last year 80% of all counterfeit goods seized in the US were from China. The article mentions the reason for so many counterfeit goods is excess capacity in China. Another one not mentioned, is its an easy for for a factory to make extra money. One shift for the real good under license. Another shift for the counterfeit ones that go through a side door. Economic Indicator: Even Cheaper Knockoffs - NY Times. Labels: made in china
So-Called 'Digital Natives' Not Media Savvy, New Study Shows
So-Called 'Digital Natives' Not Media Savvy, New Study Shows - NY Times This sums up the study results: During the study, one of the researchers asked a study participant, "What is this website?" The student answered, "Oh, I don't know. The first thing that came up." Wow. One of the key things I learned in college was to ask the question, why did the person write this? What was their goal? It helps when figuring out the credibility of a page. Who is the author? What is their agenda? What is their background. Sometimes a quick google search is needed. There as one article in the Christian Science Paper on China. Slightly negative. So I google the author and it explained why once I figured out the authors background. It's surprising how many articles in the media are a bit lazy on researching what they are writing about and what is left out. Labels: Tips from Our ChildBook Parents and Teachers
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