Job Discussion Forums

Ger · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 334

I just have mixed feelings about the response below that I received from a Chinese post-doctoral fellow specialised in Hydrology & Hydralics. It seems to be complimentary and helpful on one hand, but quite something else on the other hand. What is that "something else"?

"I assume that you are a foreigner overseas instead of a Chinese, right? In that case, your knowledge in Chinese language is delightful and favorable for the reason that the Chinese lanuage is definitely more difficult to foreigners, considering more assocaited complex expressions,terms and pronunciations than English, which is resulted from the profound and long-lasting Chinese cultures. I am pleasured to help you to find your entrance to the Chinese language, here I would like to be informed of your major at CUHK and subsequently I could ecommend relevent Chinese books to you as an extra reading sources to promote your Chinese language background.

Best wishes,

您好！我猜您是外国人而不是华人吧？如果那样，您现在的汉语水平和取得的成绩是令人欣慰和值得骄傲的，有着悠久文化渊源的中文的语法、习惯用语和发音的确比英语复杂得多。这里我乐意帮助你找到一条适合你的汉语言学习的途径，另外，您是否可以告知我您在香港中文大学的所学专业？如果那样，我可以针对性地推荐一些汉语读物给你提高汉语言的文化背景，这对你帮助将汉语水平从初级水平提高到中级是非常有益的。

祝您事事顺心！"

william wallace · Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 2869 Location: in between

Well Socialist/nationalist propaganda was drilled successfully into his psyche. Seems to have mastered that new official language Chinglish. Wink

not sure ?Is he offering you a job ? Internship? Below that are about 100 question marks, which I suppose is Chinese Characters, yes ?

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Perhaps you should respond as to how pleased you are with his grasp of the complex English language and, in return, you would be happy to help him master it better and clear up some of his inconsistencies . . . should that be his pleasured.

Henry_Cowell · Joined: 27 May 2005 Posts: 3352 Location: Berkeley

Tell him that English has become unbelievably complex during its short-lived existence of a little more than 1000 years. How complex is that??!!! Wink

InTime · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 1676 Location: CHINA-at-large

kungfucowboy83 · Joined: 25 Jan 2006 Posts: 479

Ger · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 334

To William Wallace:

We are engaged in language exchange (http://www.ilc.cuhk.edu.hk/).

To InTime:

盲人摸象 (mang2 ren2 mo1 xiang4) [literally: blinded ones grope elephant's parts!] means to draw a conclusion from incomplete data.

How could this assertion be proven?

To Henry_Cowell

"English has become unbelievably complex during its short-lived existence of a little more than 1000 years."

What data is there to support this claim?

Shan-Shan · Joined: 28 Aug 2003 Posts: 1074 Location: electric pastures

InTime · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 1676 Location: CHINA-at-large

Ger,
So..CUHK Independent Learning Centre...English Learning
What is your function there?
Student?
Staff?

Please clarify...

I listened to the section on ANAGRAMS.
http://www.ilc.cuhk.edu.hk/english/elearning/anagrams/index.html

The HK chap seems quite (self-)conscious of his voice...its elegance...
To my ear, it lacks energy, emotion, pizzazz, memorable-ness.
But then, some folks like the Keanu Reeves-style.
I don't.

Having a section on ANAGRAMS w/out mentioning DaVinci Code!

RE:
Mang Ren
Mo Xiang

As in...
Men are from Mars
Women are from Venus

Contemporary Chinese un-foreplay men
are from the Land of Paradigm Paralysis.

China PRC govt. publishes Massage for Couples

Loving Couples
Massage Each Other

InTime · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 1676 Location: CHINA-at-large

RE: complexity of English

When Chinese folks present me with this
"Mine/Ours is bigger/more complex than yours...", I respond with Empathy to this adolescent pen' ile prurience-competition.

There's the saying:
Chinese is easy to learn (that is..."user-friendly")
...and difficult to master

Many relevant metaphors in the movie My Fair Lady.
George Bernard Shaw...wise man and vegetarian...revealed the rhythmic speech patterns/community of the Cockney...compared to the elegance/refinement/alienation of the upper classes.

Contemporary "educated" English is NOT user-friendly for NNS learners.
It lacks a CENTER.
The Greek/Latin/Germanic elements require perhaps a few more centuries
for COHERENCE to develop.
Super-vise
Over-see

And...the French dictionary compared to the English dictiionary?
English contains a comparative "wealth of words"?
Or...is it "flabby" and "soft in the gut"?

Here are some elephantine perspectives on complexity

randyj · Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 8:56 pm Post subject:

Except for the rather misguided notion that Chinese language grammar, pronunciation, and syntax are much more complex than English, it seems a sincere offer to raise the OP's Chinese level from primary to middle level. I have received many such offers in the past. Although I have been offended, the truth is that my Chinese is very basic.

Ger · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 334

To In-Time:

I am simply a user of the Independent Learning Centre (ILC). I registered in the hope of learning Mandarin in exchange for English. The learning doesn't have to take place at the ILC. The ILC has an online Language Exchange Forum with adverts from CUHK students and staff (and others perhaps) who want to practise a language. Users can also visit the ILC and use the resources there too. So I am a user, I am registered to access the resources. I am not a member of staff, and that is not my voice delivering the ANAGRAM workshop! That speaker sounds like a Hong Kong person to me.

A Token of My Extreme · Joined: 14 May 2004 Posts: 76