Category Learning Chinese

Oh why, why, why: Singing in Mandarin

December 4, 2015 · by · in Chinese class, CLD, Duibuqi, Learning Chinese, Mandarin, Singing, Taipei, Video · 19 Comments

Dear Taipei, When you’re learning a language, sometimes you have to throw all your dignity out the window and do a terrible tone-deaf cover in front of your whole class. (Video below…) The other day when our teacher said that in lieu of our usual weekly speech we would instead have to perform something in […]

When even you don’t know what’s next

September 13, 2015 · by · in Advice, Future, Learning Chinese, Life, Study · 13 Comments

Dear Taipei, “When are you leaving?” and “When are you coming home?” are two questions I’ve been asked a lot especially lately– of which I’ve come to dread. It essentially boils down to friends, family and even relative strangers wanting to know what my plan is next. Which is is a fair enough question, but one I don’t yet […]

Finding clarity in a bowl of red noodles

June 2, 2015 · by · in Learning Chinese, Life, Study, work · 4 Comments

Dear Taipei, 好久不見! (Hao Jiu Bu Jian– Long time no see)! It really has been a long while since I wrote. To be honest, I don’t know where the month that has passed since I last wrote has gone. In fact, I don’t know where any of my time goes, because if you know me, […]

Lesson #725 in Chinese: Word order is very important.

April 7, 2015 · by · in Chinese class, CLD, Learning Chinese, NTU · Leave a comment

Dear Taipei, Just a quick post for now because I have to start my homework (my, what a convenient time to be blogging), but thought I should share this. Lesson #725 in Chinese: Word order is very important. In a recent chapter test, I had to rewrite an incorrect sentence to make it grammatically correct […]

Week 2: Ni HOW DO I LEARN THIS LANGUAGE?!

March 14, 2015 · by · in Advice, CLD, Future, Inspiration, Learning Chinese, NTU, Reflections, Video · 2 Comments

Dear Taipei, Truth or dare? (Please pick dare, lest you RUIN my blog post). Oh, dare? Good choice. Watch the below video. All 5 minutes 42 seconds of it. MULTIPLE TIMES UNTIL YOU WANT TO RIP YOUR BRAIN OUT. I promise you that is the PG version of what torture you will want to inflict […]

First day at Chinese Language Division (CLD), NTU

March 12, 2015 · by · in CLD, First day of school, Learning Chinese, NTU · 1 Comment

Dear Taipei, 好久不見! (Long time no see!) Impressive, right?… NOT. I “learned” it in class last week, but alas, my abyssal memory and the fact I haven’t been revising enough means I haven’t learned it off by heart. Anyway, it has been a long time since I’ve updated. To be honest, I have just been […]