The phrase ‘long time no see’ is one of the rare exceptions where it seems that English has absorbed a little piece of Chinese. In this case, the grammar. The sentence structure of 好久不見 (hao 3 jiu4 bu4 jian4) is quite unlike anything else in the English language, and it has been posited that it…
This month, I review two electronic learning aids developed for people learning Chinese. This time, however, they are produced by Asian companies. Read the reviews here: XCome Dictionary for Asus EeePC & Dr Eye Han Easy (html page) (pdf) Enjoy! The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…
It has been a little while I posted anything outside of the Taipei Times, so that must mean that it must be time for … Gratuitous funny packaging shot! This is for Taiwanese brand ‘Boring Pie’ spicy rice crackers, which was hilariously funny, right up until someone pointed out the Chinese name ‘無聊派’ means the…
Taipei Times – Chinese Learning Technology It’s two in two weeks, as I am introducing the mobile section of my Chinese language review series. I do aim to catch up with developments in my new job but I have barely had a moment to think thus far – it is making DEM seem like a…
Taipei Times – Chinese Learning Technology It’s been a wee while, but I am back on the writing bandwagon after a ‘sabbatical’ – or rather, a break while I got my head around changing jobs and going on holiday. But here it is – and this is something I want to make regular – a…
Our teacher, Austin, arranged a school trip for us today to visit the catchily-titled Taiwan Museum of the Institute of History and Philology. The name might not be world-class, but the exhibits certainly are, and they have a very nicely designed exhibition space. I was impressed. The Oracle Bones I was especially excited to see…
Happy Lunar New Year everyone! 新年快樂！ The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…
Here’s the latest literature that is gracing my bed side table – a hard-hitting commentary on children in the modern educational environment. Written by the controversial and outspoken British author, Michael Rosen, it plots the fate of a small child who decides, one fateful day, to bring a small rock into class to show to…
After many months of almost getting my backside in gear, I have finally got round to creating a blog in Chinese. Finally, I hope that this provides me with an easy way to enjoyably prepare written work for my Chinese teacher! I want it to be a dynamic document, so if you are a Chinese…
I have never had migraine in my life before very recently, but in the last month and a half I have been having about one per week. I think this might be related to sleep and being anxious about one or two rather big things, but it is still unsettling when a machine (my head)…