Tag: Chinese
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Bathroom cartoons
Here are 3 small cartoons that I’ve taken pictures of in various bathrooms.
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Small victories
One of the greatest and most underrated joys of learning a new language is have small victories. All too often, big victories are emphasized – especially here in Taiwan and especially when learning English is the topic. However, I find so much more satisfaction in small victories. Learning new [hanzi]æ¼¢å—[/hanzi] and recognizing them on tv,…
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Someone wants us to have kids
In Taiwan, it is common to eat sweet foods on and after your wedding day. It is thought that eating sweet food will help the newlywed couple have a baby boy. The reason is a Taiwanese proverb: [hanzi]åƒç”œç”œï¼Œç”Ÿå…’å[/hanzi]。 ([pinyin]chi1 tian2tian2, sheng1 er2zi4[/pinyin]) It doesn’t sound as good in Mandarin, but it rhymes in Taiwanese ([pinyin]jia…
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Transformers 2 comes to Taiwan
Transformers 2 came to Taiwan this past week. It started on Thursday, I believe, but we didn’t get a chance to see it until yesterday, Saturday. We tried reserving a few tickets, but were repeatedly shot down by the theaters: they were sold out or weren’t selling tickets over the phone. Finally, we had a…
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I think I’m speaking Chinese
I check in on the Forumosa Forums every now and then. If you can manage to get past all the threads where people just bitch about everything that’s wrong with Taiwan and how it should be fixed, there are some interesting threads there. One of the threads I’ve been reading lately is the “Ways to…
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Zoo Engrish
This Engrish picture today comes from Forumosa, a popular meeting and discussion place for expats and Taiwanese. At first it seems rather incomprehensible, but thanks to some of the Chinese speakers at Forumosa, it was quickly decoded. The first sentence means “No destruction of property.” The second sentence is really odd, but it’s just a…
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President shoes
I learned something new from one of my students the other day. She was wearing Crocs shoes, and I asked her what they called those shoes in Chinese. She replied that they were called [hanzi]布希鞋[/hanzi] (bùxÄ«xié) or Bu Shi Shoes. You see, ever since W. was caught wearing crocs, the Taiwanese decided to venerate him…