恭賀新禧 or Happy CNY

Happy Chinese new year ^^ Hopefully the year of the ox will be as good as the year of the rat, maybe even more successfull. Well, we'll see... ;-)

Showing off some language skills ;-)

Well, not really. Just providing here some alternative versions of Merry Christmas in different languages.

Chinese (Mandarin)	圣诞快乐 (Sheng dan kuai le)
Dutch	Vrolijk Kerstfeest
English	Merry Christmas
Finnish	Hyvää Joulua
French	Joyeux Noël
German	Frohe Weihnachten
Japanese	メリークリスマス (Merry Christmas)
Spanish	Feliz Navidad

Now you are prepared for the next meeting with international consultants :-P

Weird signs...

When I was in China last year I saw this funny sign. The text says "盗窃光缆, 后果严重" which means something like "copper theft is a crime". Nothing special so far but I was really suprised when I saw that there are even t-shirts with this printing which shows again that western people like chinese writings no matter if they make any sense or not...

A nice song: 张悬 - 宝贝

One of the most beautiful Chinese songs I got since I started learning Chinese is 宝贝 by Taiwanese singer 张悬. 翔瑀 sent it to me last year because she said it helps to get an idea about Chinese pronounciation. Thank you 翔瑀 for this song and all the other help. Really hope you are getting better soon :o)
All the others can download it here.



張懸 – 寶貝 (歌詞)
张悬 – 宝贝 (歌词)
Zhang Xuan – bao bei (ge ci)
Zhang Xuan – Baby (lyrics)

我的寶貝 寶貝 給你一點甜甜
我的宝贝 宝贝 给你一点甜甜
wo de bao bei bao bei gui ni yi dian tian tian

讓你今夜都好眠
让你今夜都好眠
rang ni jin ye dou hao mian

我的小鬼 小鬼 逗逗你的眉眼
我的小鬼 小鬼 逗逗你的眉眼
wo de xiao gui xiao gui dou dou ni de mei yan

讓你喜歡這世界
让你喜欢这世界
rang ni xi huan ze shi jie

嘩啦啦啦啦啦 我的寶貝
哗啦啦啦啦啦 我的宝贝
hua la la la la ~ wo de bao bei

倦的時候有個人陪
倦的时候有个人陪
ze ge shi hou you ge ren pei

唉呀呀呀呀呀 我的寶貝
唉呀呀呀呀呀 我的宝贝
ai a a a a a ~ wo de bao bei

要你知道你最美
要你知道你最美
yao ni zhi dao ni zui mei

我的寶貝 寶貝 給你一點甜甜
我的宝贝 宝贝 给你一点甜甜
wo de bao bei bao bei gui ni yi dian tian tian

讓你今夜很好眠
让你今夜很好眠
rang ni jin ye hen hao mian

我的小鬼 小鬼 逗逗你的小臉
我的小鬼 小鬼 逗逗你的小脸
wo de xiao gui xiao gui nie nie ni de xiao lian

讓你喜歡整個明天
让你喜欢整个明天
rang ni xi huan zheng ge ming tian

嘩啦啦啦啦啦 我的寶貝
哗啦啦啦啦啦 我的宝贝
hua la la la la ~ wo de bao bei
倦的時候有個人陪
倦的时候有个人陪
quan de shi hou you ge ren pei

唉呀呀呀呀呀 我的寶貝
唉呀呀呀呀呀 我的宝贝
ai a a a a a wo de bao bei

要你知道你最美
要你知道你最美
yao ni zhi dao ni zui mei

唉呀呀呀呀呀 我的寶貝
唉呀呀呀呀呀 我的宝贝
ai a a a a a ~ wo de bao bei

孤單時有人把你想念
孤单时有人把你想念
gu dan shi you ren ba ni xiang nian

唉呀呀呀呀呀 我的寶貝
唉呀呀呀呀呀 我的宝贝
ai a a a a a ~ wo de bao bei

要你知道你最美
要你知道你最美
yao ni zhi dao ni zui mei

嘩啦啦啦啦啦 我的寶貝
哗啦啦啦啦啦 我的宝贝
hua la la la la ~ wo de bao bei

倦的時候有個人陪
倦的时候有个人陪
ze ge shi hou you ge ren pei

唉呀呀呀呀呀 我的寶貝
唉呀呀呀呀呀 我的宝贝
ai a a a a a ~ wo de bao bei

要你知道你最美
要你知道你最美
yao ni zhi dao ni zui mei

要你知道你最美
要你知道你最美
yao ni zhi dao ni zui mei

Happy Mid Autumn Festival

祝你们中秋节快乐。

Happy Mid Autumn Festival to all the readers and enjoy the moon tonight.

Yesterday started my Chinese class ^^

Yesterday my intensive Chinese class started. As I expected reading was way easier than actually speaking out for me. Thanks to the internet I think I have mastered about 150-200 Chinese characters so far but I really have my problems in pronouncing some of the silbs beginning with "zh" or "q". But this is only a matter of time. At least I hope so... ;)
加油

one more nifty Google tool 'Google Pinyin Pad'

More than a year ago everybody's IT nightmare or darling (depends on your point of view) Google released their cool IME (Input Method Editor) for Chinese out of nowhere.
With this tool you can easily input, suprise suprise: traditional and simplified Chinese characters on your Windows PC. Since I tried it the first time I'm loving it because the built-in dictionary is really awesome. Unfortunately shortly after the release there were some rumours about plagiarizing from a tool by Chinese internet Company Sohu. Well in the end, I don't really care about that because all that matters is that you get a wonderful Input pad ^^

Move on to download it here.

Trip to Bad Homburg

Last Tuesday I had to make a trip to Bad Homburg near Frankfurt to bring my Mum back home from the hospital. Well, as you can imagine this was not the kind of happy trip you did with your parents when you were a little child. Nonetheless traveling by train is one relaxing thing for me.
On the 3 hours ride I had enough time to study for my exams and I even took some pictures at the main station.
One thing I like about big train stations airports is that you see people from all over the world, talking in different languages. Especially when you see how families get reunited or the couples meet their beloved once again. Yeah kinda nice scene. But you can also see the tyical business guys, far away from family and friends. who just make the next calls on their now working cellphone. That's about my
On the way back I had the chance to test a (for foreigners) 'typical German meal'. The famous bavarian Schweinshaxe. Yummy, but after this 'snack' my stomach was sooooo full :-(

By the way: This little snack is called in Chinese 豬腳
Another funny story happend when I had some questions at the DB (German railway company) infopoint. Two Asians, I think they were Taiwanese cause they had green passport, talked in mandarin about me. Actually I found this amusing cause I really understood some basic words. Hehe :-D

weird dreams and some pleasant side effects

I know I usually try to avoid posting too personal things on my blog but this night I have some kind of creative climax ;)
One trigger for this seems to be a weird dream that occured lately:

In this dream I was invited to a wedding. I don't really know who married, but all I remember is that everybody talked Chinese. And I don't only mean some Chinese guests, NO everybody. My whole family was present. Even my great grandma chatted in Chinese with my mum and my brother was joking around in Chinese aswell. So I asked my grandma "Hey, since when do you speak Chinese?" and she simply replied "Well, I learnt it within a few days. But tell me why do you need so long for learning easy and simple sentences?". I felt like there was a big "WTF?" sign on my head...

So what does that tell me?
Well since the Chinese course at the VHS Dortmund has been canceled due to too less interested students I fear that I might never master Chinese to an acceptable level. At least I would like to have a simple conversation... :'(
Hmm, someone told me I should "gasgeben/Jia you" and I think this nails it.
So I started to sort my old self made dictionary into my very own vocabulary book. Specially edited for my needs. I will try to post some short examples soon to let you get a glimpse of it ;)


Ok ok, now it is time to kick some asses ;)

Will Chinese become the next French/Spanish/Latin at school

To be honest I never liked Latin even though I am some kind of history fan because it is a dead language. French was never an option for me because whenever I wanted to choose French, there was no French language course at school because too less students registered.
And this August I started with Spanish, BUT maybe it would be a wise decision for the politicians to think about this twice. China as the upcoming super power and global player in all parts of society is already now at the start in my opinion more important than other countries would like to be (no offense guys).
Of course you learn English at school as the first foreign language, cause it is THE world dominatin language but why not learn Chinese language as the second foreign language.
Of course there should be still the choice to choose between other alternatives, but some people seem to forget that languages learnt during school time are way easier to master than it is when the student is already 30.
I also started to learn Chinese language at an education center because I really like the language and someday I hope to use it like my own language.

But suprise, suprise: It is not that hard!

OK, you have to learn new characters, but new vocables have to be learnt for all new languages.
And maybe this way, Germans or western employees in general, are way better prepared for the competition on the global market.

Shui diao ge tou lyrics

Some of you might know the song 'Shui diao ge tou' which has been covered by Faye Wong several years ago. In case you are interested in it, here are the lyrics in 1. Traditional Chinese, 2. Simplified Chinese and for the guys who are unable to read kanjis: 3. Pinyin.

It took some time but I've found only the lyrics in Traditional Chinese (+English translation) on the link above at Wikipedia.

To download the lyrics as a Word .doc file click here.

1 Traditional Chinese
2 Simplified Chinese
3 Pinyin

I.
1. 水調歌頭
2. 水调歌头
3. Shuǐ diào gē tóu

1. 丙辰中秋，歡飲達旦，
2. 丙辰中秋，欢饮达旦，
3. bǐng chén zhōng qiū, huān yǐn dá dàn,

1. 大醉，
2. 大醉，
3. dà zuì,

1. 作此篇，
2. 作此篇，
3. zuò cǐ piān,

1. 兼懷子由。
2. 兼怀子由。
3. jiān huái zǐ yóu.

II.
1. 明月幾時有？
2. 明月几时有？
3. míng yuè jǐ shí yǒu?

1. 把酒問青天。
2. 把酒问青天。
3. bǎ jiǔ wèn qīng tiān.

1. 不知天上宮闕，
2. 不知天上宫闕，
3. bùzhī tiānshàng gōng quē,

1. 今夕是何年？
2. 今夕是何年？
3. jīn xī shì hé nián?

III.
1. 我欲乘風歸去，
2. 我欲乘风归去，
3. wǒ yù chéng fēng guī qù,

1. 唯恐瓊樓玉宇，
2. 唯恐琼楼玉宇，
3. wěi kǒng qióng lóu yù yǔ

1. 高處不勝寒。
2. 高处不胜寒。
3. gāo chù bùshēng hán.

1. 起舞弄清影，
2. 起舞弄清影，
3. qǐ wǔnòng qīng yǐng,

1. 何似在人間！
2. 何似在人间！
3. hé sì zài rénjiān!

IV.
1. 轉朱閣，
2. 转朱阁，
3. zhuǎn zhū gé,

1. 低綺戶，
2. 低綺户，
3. dī qǐ hù,

1. 照無眠。
2. 照无眠。
3. zhào wú mián.

1. 不應有恨，
2. 不应有恨，
3. bù yīngyǒu hèn,

1. 何事長向別時圓？
2. 何事长向别时圆？
3. hé shì cháng xiàng bié shí yuán?

V.

1. 人有悲歡離合，
2. 人有悲欢离合，
3. rén yǒu bēi huān lí hé,

1. 月有陰晴圓缺，
2. 月有阴晴圆缺，
3. yuè yǒu yīn qíng yuán quē,

1. 此事古難全。
2. 此事古难全。
3. cǐ shì gǔ nán quán.

1. 但願人長久，
2. 但愿人长久，
3. dànyuàn rén chángjiǔ,

1. 千裏共嬋娟。
2. 千里共嬋娟。
3. qiān lǐ gòng chán juān.

China - Things you were afraid to ask for - Part 1

A lot has been written in blogs, newspapers or magazines about China. Well now koteshi writes about this topic too BUT he will tell you reader things you maybe didn't know or what nobody usually tells you.
So be prepared for some unusually language courses, inside-looks into chinese modern culture and points of view and much more to come ;)