Post: #176

(07-14-2014 08:19 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  Because Beijing or peking has always been the center of Chinese civilization, going back to the times of emperors, etc. There was no way a South Chinese dialect going to become the standard. Cantonese time came and went. Cantonese is closer to the more original forms of Chinese.

Bijing dialect =/= standard mandarin

also no it wasnt, beijing is one of many historical capitals, as was hangzhou, nanjing (southern capitol), guangzhou, and about 5 others.

Post: #177

(07-14-2014 08:07 PM)G_global Wrote:  I'm all nali as I started in Shenzhen though pimsleur uses the RRRRR. Some of the translation programs even add er to the end of 一点，as does my textbook, and it seems so strange and superfluous to me. Indeed, though, Mao adopted northern Chinese for the simplification, even though he was a Hunanese.

it shouldnt be superfluous. its not [ending] + R, it's just R, 玩儿 isnt "wan er," its just "war"

Post: #178

(07-14-2014 11:13 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  Random question, does having braces make pronouncing mandarin more difficult?

no

Post: #179

(07-14-2014 11:13 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  Random question, does having braces make pronouncing mandarin more difficult?

This is the most interesting question about Chinese that I've ever seen.

My best guess is that for a native speaker, no. For someone learning the language, probably, as learning good Chinese pronunciation means learning to move your mouth and tongue in new ways and since braces tend to scrape along the inside of your lips, I could see how this could add a minor complication to the overall experience.

However, I couldn't see this being anything more than a minor inconvenience in the major inconvenience that is learning Chinese.

Post: #180

(07-15-2014 01:09 AM)clever alias Wrote:  

(07-14-2014 08:19 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  Because Beijing or peking has always been the center of Chinese civilization, going back to the times of emperors, etc. There was no way a South Chinese dialect going to become the standard. Cantonese time came and went. Cantonese is closer to the more original forms of Chinese.

Bijing dialect =/= standard mandarin

also no it wasnt, beijing is one of many historical capitals, as was hangzhou, nanjing (southern capitol), guangzhou, and about 5 others.

Note the word in bold. There has been many capitals in the past, no doubt. Even then, there has always been others with high importance as well. Regardless, No southern dialect was going to be well received if Mao pushed that. He did what he wanted but still understood the logistics of everything.

I also agree that Beijing dialect is not standard mandarin. Which is why I dropped it from my own personal use.

Post: #181

Stumbled upon this over on chinasmack. Thought it was pretty funny.

Where can I sign up for the token shirtless white guy job? lol













http://www.chinasmack.com/2014/pictures/...iters.html

Post: #182

Seems like that badwolf guy knew a lot about china. OP, where did you end up teaching?

Post: #183

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Post: #184

Native English speaker, or Native mandarin speaker? Can you pretend to be a Native English speaker?

Post: #185

I don't know if this is the case, but of the three guys I knew well who taught english, none of them had a visa to do so.

My gal in China had a turkish woman teaching english in her school.

(04-30-2015 09:50 PM)Akwesi Wrote:  I'm trying to find out what the visa situation is like now. I read somewhere that if you are not a native speaker, you will not be able to get a visa to teach English. Is there any way to get around this?

Post: #186

...

Post: #187

I lived in China for almost two years on an L visa. I left frequently and re-entered, and never had any issue with any of it. I was never questioned, searched, or even asked to wait extra time whilst they reviewed my passport, which had dozens of visas. I was almost always crossing by the land border between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, so when I left, they would have no idea (I think) whether I was dawdling in Hong Kong or heading overseas. In reality though, so long as your passport and visa are in order, I don't think it really matters. Its unlikely if you've a very mild accent that they'd pick up on it, or even if they did, it really wouldn't be to their interest to call you out on it (except, if you get in some disagreement with the school, they very well might try to hold this against you as a way to deny you payment of remaining monies owed (assuming they figure it out)). You certainly look the part, and that stupidly counts more than anything. The advance degrees - if they're from an English or American school also will present very strongly. I was solicited several times to teach, and I don't have any teaching degrees (though like you, I've taught some at the college level).

I don't know if the schools would ask to see your passport - if its not a native speaking country, perhaps you could tell them that your mother was from such a country, and that would probably be an acceptable answer. First hand, I don't know. You should without trouble be able to earn 10K RMB per month working 15-20 hours per week in a school for adults, and that should be the lower end of the spectrum. Some of my friends who do private tutoring and/or work with children, or teach at multiple schools, do better than that.

Post: #188

Flaky chicks aren't the product of more foreigners hitting them up - the hottest Chinese girls as a rule tend to speak no English, because they are hot and don't need to, but because they're hot they have options - options = instability. She flaked because a better offer came her way. If she's really attractive you think you may have an in but there is most certainly at least one rich guy in her orbit, and at least 4-5 attractive, young Chinese guys, and while sure she may have some curiosity for it that might be good enough to get a few bangs out of her, that doesn't beat being able to communicate and relate to someone from her own culture.

Even if your Z visa is questionable it's still better to have one than to have something else and have to conceive a backstory.

It's definitely possible to get English teaching work as a non-native speaker - lots of areas have low supply of English speakers and schools get desperate, but as others have touched on it can be tough to get the necessary Visas. Someone said something about living for ten years in the UK or Canada or saying you have a native-speaking parent, that should play. I've worked with English teachers from Ghana, Spain, Russia, France, Mexico, Cameroon, Malaysia and Trinidad.

I pay twice as much for a beautiful apartment in a newer complex downtown than I would living in a slightly older place a few minutes away. Location location location, and yes, because my complex is new and nice has gotten me bangs from some of the girls living in the older complexes that resemble Chechnya that I can see from my balcony.

Wechat and QQ. Being white, tall and blonde in China is like having a $250,000 a year income and game in America.

The girls in the shirtless white guy Chinasmack article are like average at best (and very obviously foreigner bangers). You want to up your quality a bit, you're gonna have to learn (or at least try) to speak a little bit of the language. I can read and write a bit, all self-taught. It's taken me two years (I plan to take a university course next year) and I'm still at best a 4/10 across the board.

There are two cities I will recommend. The first is Nanjing - ancient capitol, large, central (Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou daytrips possible), university town, lots of history, lots of greenspace, but gets hot as fuck. The second is Haikou. Tropical, clean, small(ish), HK, Shenzhen and Sanya adjacent, but the talent didn't supremely impress me and in June-July I imagine the heat is oppressive.

Post: #189

(07-12-2014 09:41 PM)Global Entry Wrote:  From my standpoint, I saw very little progress with Pimsleur, Rosetta etc until I started to incorporate a few one-on-one classes and more importantly, character study at the same time. I feel like, for me, and this may not translate to others, by learning all three Ive finally now begun to triangulate it and make the connections between written and spoken Chinese. I think that many of these tools bring something to the table, but by themselves, they are all vastly insufficient. Even college courses appear to merely provide a good base more than anything else. A Russian friend who was heavily trained as a translator in a military university in Russia told me that until he got here, he really still didn't know anything, though he was tops in his class.

Submersion is going to be best, learning here, being forced to speak it. That means not only making the leap, but also not living in an expat area and shopping/getting by only around English speakers. And don't do Guangzhou, in my opinion, to learn Mandarin. I'm not a big fan of the city anyway (Kai might have a different opinion) but regardless, its heavily Cantonese dominated. You can certainly learn Mandarin there, but might as well simplify things.

Could you please give us an idea of a time frame, how many months it took you or your Russian friend to get to this intermediate Chinese-language level? Getting comfortable in the language in 6 month time sounds feasible to you? or too optimistic? Or will I need one year submersion and intense, daily learning?
And would your Russian friend say that Chinese is even more difficult than Russian? bcause if so, it's frightening!
I am under the impression that China, with chinese language skills, is the place to be and the monster poossy paradise! plus the huge business opportunities! Every serious thoughtful young player should try his luck in China; think millions of job openings, tens of millions of inexperienced thin and gorgeous Chinese women and so on!

Post: #190

(05-01-2015 09:38 AM)Global Entry Wrote:  I lived in China for almost two years on an L visa. I left frequently and re-entered, and never had any issue with any of it. I was never questioned, searched, or even asked to wait extra time whilst they reviewed my passport, which had dozens of visas. I was almost always crossing by the land border between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, so when I left, they would have no idea (I think) whether I was dawdling in Hong Kong or heading overseas. In reality though, so long as your passport and visa are in order, I don't think it really matters. Its unlikely if you've a very mild accent that they'd pick up on it, or even if they did, it really wouldn't be to their interest to call you out on it (except, if you get in some disagreement with the school, they very well might try to hold this against you as a way to deny you payment of remaining monies owed (assuming they figure it out)). You certainly look the part, and that stupidly counts more than anything. The advance degrees - if they're from an English or American school also will present very strongly. I was solicited several times to teach, and I don't have any teaching degrees (though like you, I've taught some at the college level).

I don't know if the schools would ask to see your passport - if its not a native speaking country, perhaps you could tell them that your mother was from such a country, and that would probably be an acceptable answer. First hand, I don't know. You should without trouble be able to earn 10K RMB per month working 15-20 hours per week in a school for adults, and that should be the lower end of the spectrum. Some of my friends who do private tutoring and/or work with children, or teach at multiple schools, do better than that.

Thank you for great info. +1. I will probably go and check out Shenzhen and Guangzhou in the next couple of months unless something comes up.

Post: #191

Rent-a-Foreigner in China | Op-Docs | The New York Times

Post: #192

I have to admit, I got "rented" once. Its kind of a long drawn-out story, with lots of details and not that interesting overall. Not exactly campfire material. I didn't get paid much, though I did get a RT first class trip from Shenzhen to BJ out of it. No bangs, and not even a nights hotel stay though.

Post: #193

I'm sick and tired of been stuck at home in the UK with no prospects.

So starting next week i'm going to start applying for ESL positions in China. I'm going to try and bypass recruiters and apply directly to schools via online job boards as there's a lot of negative reports on recruiters being scammers etc.

I don't think I'll be applying to the first tier cities as I have no experience teaching ESL and don't know how competitive I will be compared to the teachers there, so salary might be lower compared to the cost of living in them cities.

The main cities I've liked the look of are Hangzhou, Chengdu, Xian, Wuhan and Kunming. Maybe Haikou on Hainan island.

I'm just going to see what offers I get and go from there.

Post: #194

Right now I am in the process of looking to teaching ESL in China as well. My main concern right now is finding a location that isn't covered in smog and pollution. Does anyone know what cities have the cleanest air and water in China at present? The most recent reports I've been able to find are from 2013, which I do not know if they are still valid.

Post: #195

(07-06-2015 02:19 PM)Aristophanes Wrote:  Right now I am in the process of looking to teaching ESL in China as well. My main concern right now is finding a location that isn't covered in smog and pollution. Does anyone know what cities have the cleanest air and water in China at present? The most recent reports I've been able to find are from 2013, which I do not know if they are still valid.

Here's a website I found that might help you

http://aqicn.org/map/china/

From my research as a general rule the cities in the north of china get very bad air pollution/smog in winter due to burning coal, so you might want to bear that in mind.

The problem is in whatever city you go to in china is going to have bad air pollution compared to western cities.

Here's something I copied from Wikipedia it's very outdated but you can do some research on the actual cities and see if the information is still valid.

Quote:As of 2004:
The top five environmentally friendly cities: Haikou, Zhuhai, Zhanjiang, Guilin, Beihai

The top five cities with most effective pollution controls: Nantong, Lianyungang, Shenyang, Suzhou, Fuzhou

The 10 cities with worst air quality: Linfen, Yangquan, Datong, Shizuishan, Sanmenxia, Jinchang, Shijiazhuang, Xianyang, Zhuzhou, Luoyang

Post: #196

Thanks, also does anyone know what the linguistic distribution in Guangdong is like? I am more interested in learning Mandarin than Cantonese, and am wondering which is more widely spoken in the cities within that province.

Post: #197

(07-09-2015 05:05 PM)Aristophanes Wrote:  Thanks, also does anyone know what the linguistic distribution in Guangdong is like? I am more interested in learning Mandarin than Cantonese, and am wondering which is more widely spoken in the cities within that province.

The linguistic distribution is: in Guangdong people speak Cantonese.

Shenzhen is its own thing, conjured up out of a fishing village into a city of 10+ million since the 1980's. So Mandarin is spoken there, but its a jumble of different accents speaking it. Like if you took all the different English speakers in the world and made a city of it. Fine for native speakers but can sometimes be annoying for non-native speakers.

I really like Zhanjiang, though its "small" for a Chinese city. Western Guangdong is beautiful.

Post: #198

(05-01-2015 04:04 PM)Nonpareil Wrote:  There are two cities I will recommend.

The first is Nanjing - ancient capitol, large, central (Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou daytrips possible), university town, lots of history, lots of greenspace, but gets hot as fuck.

The second is Haikou. Tropical, clean, small(ish), HK, Shenzhen and Sanya adjacent, but the talent didn't supremely impress me and in June-July I imagine the heat is oppressive.

Nanjing never did anything for me but I went there a long time ago, maybe 8 years ago. Right as the first subway line was finished. Summer is too damn hot and the winter is rainy and cold. Maybe the fall is nice. Spring probably rains all the time.

Haikou is a wonderful city but I've only been there in Dec-Feb. I love that place. Its a great size for a city. A lot of it can be walked and there are good bars, coffee shops, etc. Lots of people walking around, again in the winter when its dry and warm, not hot and rainy like much of the year.

I think if I was going to move somewhere in China it would be Haikou or Shenzhen. But those places aren't "great" for learning Mandarin. That would be north China.

Post: #199

Shenzhen is very hot during the summer, and tends to rain a lot year-round. Also, you get a lot of Cantonese spoken in Guangdong. Much less in Shenzhen, more so in Guangzhou (both located un Guangdong). Anyway, all of Guangdong is hot and sticky. Most people would probably only enjoy living there during the winter when the rest of China is cold and bitter. Strictly for learning Mandarin, I'd probably choose Shanghai/Suzhou/Hangzhou. Beijing as well, probably.

Post: #200

(07-06-2015 02:19 PM)Aristophanes Wrote:  Right now I am in the process of looking to teaching ESL in China as well. My main concern right now is finding a location that isn't covered in smog and pollution. Does anyone know what cities have the cleanest air and water in China at present? The most recent reports I've been able to find are from 2013, which I do not know if they are still valid.

I'd recommend avoiding China altogether, unless you want to work virtually for free.

There are places in China with cleaner air and environment....and foreigners who are willing to teach at rock bottom prices flock to them and basically give away free labour just for the opportunity to be there. Hainan as one example.

If you want to make money, you're going to be breathing bad air.

This is based on anecdotal information. Other forum members with better experience in these areas might disagree with me.