Job Discussion Forums

[carlspackler]

In my experience, words in which the th is unvoiced, the th sound is rendered as an s sound, as in thin, thick, thrombosis, and my favorite Thursday (which becomes Sars Day).
In words where the th is voiced, it becomes a z sound, as in this, that, and heathen.

[jg]

I don't think its just Shanghai. I was amazed at how often in small-town (anything under 5 million ) China I met people who, after conquering their fear, would come up to me and demonstrate some currency with the language. And when I was living in Shanghai, you could smell the fear - if you don't learn English, you can't compete, and that idea resonates greatly in such a huge, viciously competitive country. Even the people outside of Shanghai, Beijing, etc, want to be competitive. And from having taught both groups in the US, the Chinese seem much better able to grasp English, for whatever reason.

Plus, based on my experiences, Chinese people are really aggressive, they have to be! I haven't been to Japan, but people who have been to both countries always remark on how much more polite the Japanese are... but that goes both ways. Chinese people will pounce on a native speaker in order to better their language skills, they get over their "shyness" pretty quickly.

[AgentMulderUK]

[AgentMulderUK]