http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/; Weblog RSS feed from bbc.co.uk/languages - the BBC's language learning website en-gb Copyright notice languages@bbc.co.uk languages@bbc.co.uk Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:31:14 BST Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:31:14 BST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss; learning & interactive blogging tool gelato shop for a cup of gelato. Italian had been particularly hard for my sister to pick up and she frequently made pronunciation errors. I'm not sure if it was the arduous hike, the hot weather, or the handwritten (and hard to read) ice-cream labels, but when it came time for her to order, my sister asked, Posso avere un pompino? to which the lady tending to the order turned bright red before bursting into a glee of laughter, and a young Italian man leaning against the counter suddenly turned his attention to my sister, offering her a sly smile. It turns out that instead of asking for a scoop of pompelmo (grapefruit) ice-cream, she had put to use Italian slang, and unwittingly asked for a certain oral practice! To this day, pompelmo is the one Italian word my sister pronounces flawlessly.]]> Tue, 09 Dec 2008 05:09:52 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200812/19966.shtml Der Kaplan klebt Pappplakate. The chaplain puts up cardboard posters.

2. Wenn der Papst pupst, piepst der Propst: "Prost!" When the pope breaks wind, the provost pipes up: "Cheers!"]]> Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:02:50 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200812/19965.shtml Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:12:33 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200812/19964.shtml Um ninho de mafagafos, com cinco mafagafinhos, quem desmafagafizar os mafagafos, bom desmafagafizador será.]]> Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:22:44 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200812/19961.shtml un navet, a turnip, rather than une navette - fortunately the puzzled look on the rail worker's face soon made me realise my mistake ....]]> Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:12:33 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200811/19959.shtml kran (meaning tap) has the same meaning both in Polish and Afrikaans, which was a word that died out in German a long time ago. With the migration of people throughout history, it is only natural that words should get loaned. English has embraced words from French, Latin and who knows where else and we don't complain about English dying out! I heard that if you want to speak clean French go to Quebec - they have their own French word for hot dog there, unlike in France.]]> Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:09:43 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200811/19939.shtml na zdrowie, bless you, I smiled and told her zamknij się, shut up. Not so much a problem with the delivery, more so with my shot selection.]]> Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:22:58 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200811/19938.shtml gozar to say that I had fun while I was abroad in other countries. People seemed to understand it so I kept on saying gozar for almost everything for the first few weeks. It wasn't until I used the word in class when my Spanish speaking teacher realized what I was trying to say, pulled me aside, and informed me that in Portuguese, gozar is used as the verb 'to have an orgasm'. Not even my host mother bothered to correct me on it ... and I even said it to my 14 year old host brother! So embarrassing ...]]> Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:41:56 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200811/19921.shtml Poso kani? How much does it cost? Being Spanish his accent was perfect but he decided to add an extra s on the word kani which then translated into how much do you cost! After about two minutes I walked in only to see a rather bemused shop assistant and my boyfriend still not realising what went wrong!]]> Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:41:49 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200811/19919.shtml boligrafo or pluma. I learned this lesson when I asked a colleague to préstame tu pene. Luckily, my colleague understood that I wanted to borrow his pen, not to know him intimately.]]> Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:12:37 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200811/19918.shtml In Brazil, before signing, we usually abbreviate the word assinatura, signature into ass.]]> Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:41:22 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200811/19902.shtml Sat, 01 Nov 2008 13:11:39 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200811/19897.shtml Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:21:32 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200811/19896.shtml Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:01:54 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19894.shtml Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:11:48 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19893.shtml Les chemises de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches ou archi-sèches?
Are the archduchess' shirts dry or super dry?]]> Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:10:34 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19892.shtml We get around 80p a day lunch allowance, so I'm trying not to go mad on it! Lunch for the Chinese is the most important meal of the day, and who am I to complain. My only resolve is that with the long lunches and big dinners I'm going to visit the pool near our apartment. Yes, we have a pool near the apartment. It's a very flashy new build, so new in fact its not in last years guide book. We both feel like indulgent (and slightly guilty) foreigners. There are lots of middle class Chinese in the same block, but also so many ex pats that the supermarket downstairs sells an array of foreign goods, from sauerkraut to Kalamata olives. I guess like any cosmopolitan city, there's something for everyone. Jenny Woos sells Tetley tea (although sadly not fair trade!), and there's the favourite Ganges curry house for when we need a taste of home! Otherwise were trying to eat local(ish), and are enjoying the sushi, dim sum, roasted sweet potatoes that are in season, and the odd fish head soup and live scorpion skewer yum!
For now we have become adapt at hand signals and body language. But I'm looking forward to starting my language classes and actually being able to communicate with the locals. It's getting embarrassing pointing at maps to the taxi driver, and I would like to say more than ni hao. Our tutor is going to come round a couple of times a week. It's been a long time since I learnt a new language so it's a little scary. Hopefully if I'm forced to use it everyday it'll be easier to learn. I'm particularly keen to refine my bartering skills, as its impossible to ignore the shear volume of shopping plazas and markets. Before settling into work we were taking advantage of the sunny skies to do some sightseeing. Although it's now turned a little cooler the weather is beautiful, with blue skies and just a few rainy days to clear away the smog. The Forbidden City, Beihai Park and Lama Temple are all gorgeous places to spend a day or more. The Chinese architecture and colours are sunning. We tried to recreate scenes from the Last Emperor by running down the red corridors. We also accepted our fate to look like foolish westerners and dressed up as a Chinese Emperor and Empress. Much to our embarrassment the whole of Beijing seemed to descend on us to take photos of the crazy westerners. Still, the view from JainJang park which overlooks the Forbidden city was worth the attention when we made our way up there at sunset. We're listing out our activities for the weekends, with a contemplative afternoon at the Temple of Heaven set for this weekend.
Also keen to get stuck in a work, and see how whats in store for me over the next year (alongside lots of short breaks around China!).]]> Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:01:54 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19891.shtml to - is pronounced 'toh', so I ordered 'toh' hamburgers, fries and drinks. The cashier looked at me, behind me, scanned the restaurant and repeated 'toh'? Yes, 'toh'. She shouted out the order and the staff got busy. One hamburger appeared, then two, three, four, five ... I looked around to see if anyone else had ordered and started to panic. How much will it cost? Astronomical! I repeated 'toh', holding up two fingers. She said 'toh' and held up ten + two fingers. 'Toh' was understood to be tolv so I had ordered 12 of everything! I don't think I was very popular but they were good enough only to charge me for two in the end! The correct pronunciation of Norwegian to is more like 'too'.]]> Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:11:45 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19888.shtml Chandra means moon, yaan means vehicle, so Chandrayaan means the lunar vehicle.]]> Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:51:33 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19886.shtml
Hollywood
I'm now working as part of a translation team for a Chinese film company, that are making a new special effects facility in Beijing; the first project being an English language movie about Mermaids (see Mandarin) no less! The film is set to be an underwater 'Lord of the Rings' style adventure with a Hollywood cast and a French director. The director has already been enjoying life in Beijing for the last three months and the cast has yet to be signed up.


So three days after the start of the Olympics I was on a plane to Los Angeles to attend 'Siggraph 2008' the annual special effects exhibition (see Mandarin). I went with some of the Chinese CGI team, the Chinese producer (see Mandarin) and the director. Our purpose was mainly to generate interest. Being the only 'native' English speaker in the team my responsibility was to talk to the attendees and answer their questions.

More dollars than sense
As we prepared to set-up at the exhibition hall, the realities of the differences in costs between China and the US became all too apparent. The exhibition wanted to charge us $2000 to set up the stand, and another 1000$ to rent one table and four chairs - for just three days. To my Chinese colleagues this seemed extortionate as it amounted to over 20,000rmb. For that money in Beijing you could rent a couple of luxury apartments for a month!

So the producer decided to take drastic action, and we drove to a nearby B+Q to buy tables, chairs, some wood and tools to build the stand ourselves! Waiting outside the store were lots of guys from Central America, mostly Mexico, offering their services as builders and electricians. With none of us being professional builders, the decision was made to hire one and we took him back with us to the exhibition hall to start work on the stand (see Mandarin). We got some strange looks from the other exhibitors as we worked through till 1am helping the Mexican guy erect our exhibition display stand. And it worked out beautifully, costing a princely sum of $200 in total (including $100 for the Mexican guy). We had saved nearly 3000$, which was deeply satisfying for everyone - and still managed to have an attractive display for the exhibition.

In attendance at Siggraph were giants such as LucasFilm and Pixar, and I found myself speaking to Hollywood bigwigs and special effects guys as interest in Beijing was at a real high. The success of the Olympics was making everybody sit up and take notice. What was amazing for me is that we had gone all the way to LA, the glamorous home of movie stars and Hollywood - and they were all talking about Beijing!

The place to be
I returned to Beijing in time for the end of the Olympics and was faced again with how much it had changed. Lots of the street food vendors and street sellers were banned for the games duration and many of the 'fake' DVD shops had closed, making the city seem like a quiet and slightly sterile place. However, there are some noteworthy changes. The new subway system is in place, with newer trains meaning coverage of the city is much better than before and tickets are cheaper than ever - its only 2yuan to travel anywhere in the city. The downside is that there are still airport like security checks on the subways and people are required to have their bags scanned. The visa situation is still very strict, and as I write this I am preparing for yet another trip to Hong Kong (sigh).

Rent is slowly dropping again, and many people are happy that the Olympic mania is now over. However, 2008 has been a somewhat turbulent one for people living and working here and I asked the opinions of my new colleagues about their thoughts about Beijing, post-Olympic games. One of my new colleagues a translator, Zhang Hong, had this to say: "I am very proud of the Olympic games. Everybody is watching the growth of China, and China is in the spotlight of the world. I am proud China can hold such a splendid game. We are showing the world China has a very promising prospect. I also think the Chinese government should enhance their natural disaster watchdog that many casualties can be avoided."

I asked my other colleague Li Hua, who is an actress and the movie director's PA, what she thought the next big thing here would be for Beijing? She said: "The next thing is that the government needs to think about Chinese people more than Chinese economics. Keep the city clean and don't let pollution come back like before. I don't like the life after the Olympic Games in Beijing now because traffic and pollution is getting worse again."

Mandarin words and phrase, introduced in this diary entry:

mei3 ren2 yu2, mermaids
te2 xiao4, special effects
zhan3 lan3 hui4, exhibition
zhi4 pian4 ren2, producer
zhan3 wei4, stand
an1 quan2 jian3 cha2, security check

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Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:19:31 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19881.shtml wo3 yao4 mai4!". The shopkeeper grinning said emphatically, no no!, "wo3 yao4 mai4!, ni3 yao4 mai3!" ..... "No, I want to sell!, you want to buy!" Lucky he cleared that up :)]]> Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:31:06 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19874.shtml osyol meaning donkey. His mother's jaw nearly hit the floor, and all went quiet ... They misheard me, and thought I'd said kosyol which means billy-goat and is also an extrememly rude swear word.]]> Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:51:08 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19872.shtml Medio gusto verte. I kept thinking: why are they just half happy to see me? Until one day after a few beers I couldn't contain myself and asked them. Why are you only half happy to see me? And they burst out laughing and told me that it was really Me dio is really two words (which means It gives me). Needless to say, I now do the word separation test before I ask my questions.]]> Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:41:06 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19870.shtml ¿Cómo quieres que te quiera si él que quiero que me quiera no me quiere como quiero que me quiera?
How do you want me to like you if the one I want to like me doesn't like me as I want him to like me.]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:31:18 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19868.shtml Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:20:58 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19865.shtml Rijstpap: pronounced like 'raced pap', with a slight roll to the beginning r. I love this word! It means rice pudding, and it rolls off the tongue deliciously, just like rice pudding. I learned while skiing that the snow that the snow that is too melted to ski on is also called 'pap', because of its pudding-like consistency. Food references are the best.]]> Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:11:22 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19863.shtml Ni hao. In Mandarin Chinese it equates to hello, but it is actually two words: ni = you (informal) and hao = good/well. So ni hao actually and literally means you good, you well? My pet hate are dictionaries and books that fail to give you the literal meaning of words/phrases and oversimplify things. My tip is to try to find the literal meaning of words/phrases. You will expand your vocabulary faster and gain a deeper insight into what you learn. Some language learners dissagree with this. Does any one out there agree though? ... :)]]> Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:31:00 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19862.shtml Ben in Turkish means 'I am'. So we learned the very meaningful phrase 'Hi, I am I am'!
Another time we were studying adjectives in my high-school time in the classroom. Our teacher wanted us to answer the opposite words of the adjectives on the list: 1) cheap \ ? (expensive) 2) good \ ? (bad) 3) clean \ ? (dirty) 4) etc. We answered the first two questions, but one of my friends was quick to say 'dirt' for the answer of the third question. My teacher said 'No-no, we are still at the third question'. We were confused by the answer because all the students in the classroom were already concentrating on the (wrong) answer 'dirt'. The reason for this confusion was that 'dirt' and 'number 4' in turkish has got same pronunciation. Dirt in Dnglish, dört, number 4 in Turkish.]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:02:47 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19861.shtml Katzen platzen, wenn sie kratzen, scratching cats explode.]]> Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:22:05 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200810/19856.shtml Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:21:18 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19845.shtml Ma ismiya? He looked at me strangely and shrugged. I repeated myself, Ma ismiya? A weird silence feel between us. He replied weakly, La a'ref or I don't know. I looked at him and thought he was joking. He doesn't know his own name? Ha! I repeated a third time, Ma ismiya? The student walked away from me with a confused look on his face. Suddenly, I realized that I was asking the student: 'What is my name' not 'What is your name'. He didn't know me and, of course, didn't know my name. He must of thought I was crazy. I tried to apologize later but he avoided me for the rest of the evening. I don't blame him.]]> Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:21:26 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19839.shtml Oui, mais je suis un idiot dans la ville! - Yes, but I am an idiot in the town! instead of un idiot en vélo - an idiot on a bike. We laughed, and now my friend gets referred to as the town idiot!]]> Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:42:28 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19838.shtml Abfahrt which means to depart but sounds like somthing about farting. Then there is dick: Er ist dick means he is fat. How about hören, to hear, and just when you think you have the rules of grammar figured out, the rules change, lol. My Mom said she couldn't teach us German because we kept laughing at words like this. Now you must admit these words sound like words that aren't thrown around in public social situations, lol.]]> Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:21:17 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19837.shtml eventualmente, but it is not! Eventualmente stands for in case of, in the event of, i.e. something that might, or might not, happen. Now I got the difference. Cheers.]]> Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:41:23 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19836.shtml Do videna, Panna Maria. She gave me a look an idiot deserves, but quickly smiled and answered, Uz davo, nie. Instead of saying 'Goodbye, Mrs (Pani) Mary', I yelled for all to hear 'Goodbye, Virgin Mary' and her quick response was 'Not for a long time'.]]> Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:02:23 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19824.shtml pour mettre mes cheveux sur votre poitrine. The lady rushed away looking horrified. Later he asked a French speaker what she could have thought he said. The friend laughed and said the only meaning he could think of was that apparently my father wanted to lay his head on her chest.]]> Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:41:27 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19817.shtml Il pète plus haut que son cul, he farts higher than his own backside.]]> Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:21:21 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19814.shtml On est champion! We related this story to our neighbours on the camp site who fell about laughing and sang Henry Champignon everytime they saw him. On our return they sent a post card from their home town in France addressed to Mr Henri Champignon!]]> Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:02:03 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19812.shtml Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:51:19 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19806.shtml je voudrais un 'cushion' pour mon lit. The store assistant was not at all impressed, and it was only upon consulting his dictionary at home did he realise that the English word 'cushion' sounds awfully like the French word for 'pig', cochon. Needless to say we soon understood the store assistants disgruntlement at his repeated requests for a pig for his bed!]]> Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:21:11 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19805.shtml mein Neffe) was younger he had an extremely short hair cut - prickly like a hedgehog! Now 'hedgehog' in German is Igel but as I love messing about with language I thought Heckenschwein sounded more fun! (literally 'hedge pig') :-)]]> Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:04:34 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19803.shtml Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:08:49 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19801.shtml pollo but the rest I didn't know. Fortunately for me, the lady butcher mimicked the action of "breasts" and with much hilarity in the butchers I got what I wanted - and a whole lot more as I had ceased to be embarrassed about speaking! I have never forgotten the phrase nor the kindness of the butcher who helped me out!]]> Mon, 01 Sep 2008 11:51:34 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200809/19800.shtml bellecombaises (on the surface = the female residents of Bellecombe but to the pun-tuned ear has a double meaning: les belles qu'on baise. In your French dictionary this will translate as the beauties that one "kisses" but in French slang the verb to kiss (baiser) goes deeper than that and is to be used warily in polite company.]]> Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:50:55 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200808/19796.shtml Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:03:06 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200808/19791.shtml Vi ska till parken och mata änkorna, we´re going to the park to feed the widows. The difference is only in the dots above the a: anka is duck, änka is widow. I still get to hear about that after 20 years ...]]> Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:51:09 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200808/19787.shtml quiero ordenar. To my surprise he pointed at the gents. After some further confusion I realised that he thought he heard me say quiero orinar, I want to urinate. However, I managed to pay for the bill in the end.]]> Sat, 23 Aug 2008 07:01:38 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200808/19786.shtml inek var. He did stop but he couldn't stop laughing. Maybe it was because I told him "there is a cow". I should have said inecek var (pronounce 'inejek var').]]> Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:21:03 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200808/19784.shtml Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:02:35 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200808/19780.shtml
The great visa fiasco
A concern for myself and many foreigners these last few months has been the issue of renewing visas (see Mandarin). Due to the Olympic Games, China has introduced some pretty strict new regulations (see Mandarin). The Business 'F' Visa, which is what I had, has been suspended and all tourist visas (see Mandarin) have been limited to about 30 days. Only student and work visas have remained, but these are increasingly hard to come-by with the application process being made much more complicated than before.

Because of this I was faced with the possibility of having to permanently leave China for the first time in nearly 4 years. Although I plan to return to the UK eventually, I was still reluctant to leave the country that has become my adopted home. I felt frustrated and even a little betrayed with this situation especially as I had hoped to be here for the Olympics and was seemingly being 'kicked-out' right at the finishing line. I would also have to put my business plans on hold.

Hong Kong again, and again
As I was preparing to move out of my apartment and send all my stuff home, there seemed to be a softening in the policy. I was able to go to Hong Kong and get a 60 day tourist-visa but would have to leave the country to renew it after 30 days. So in the last two months I have gone to Hong Kong twice and will still need to go again next month.
Many of my other friends were not so lucky, or as determined (see Mandarin) as me to stay, with old colleagues, ex-classmates and other foreigners leaving in droves. Many of the language schools here have lost their teachers, meaning they are desperate for replacements - often offering triple rates. In between trips to Hong Kong I have had lots of job offers for teaching roles, but turned most of them down.

With the equestrian events being held in Hong Kong a new Olympic plaza now has pride of place by the Harbour. During my stays in Hong Kong I spent my evenings walking along the river checking out the handprints of the Asian movie stars and also a life-sized statue of Bruce Lee (see Mandarin).

Beautification of Beijing
My trips to Beijing have given me the chance to see the new impressive terminal 3 airport, which looks like a city from a sci-fi movie. Beijing has changed a great deal since I first came here, but it seems that these last few weeks have seen the biggest changes of all. Firstly, all the construction work has now stopped and all the workers who came from other provinces (see Mandarin) have now left.


I understand that there are stricter controls on identity permits (see Mandarin) for people traveling into the city. Police now line the streets marshalling vehicles and pedestrians alike, on the countdown to the grand opening. There are new regulations on traffic, with cars with even-numbered number plates, alternating days with cars with odd-numbered number plates (see Mandarin).



Beijing is certainly a greener city than when I first arrived. Trees and flowers line up most of the main streets and facades of buildings have all been re-painted. The old style communist buildings have all disappeared. Unfortunately a lot of traditional styled Chinese buildings have also been given a "modern" make-over - which in my opinion takes much of the city's character away. For example the Chao Yang Theatre (see Mandarin) had an elaborately looking traditional Chinese style roof and entrance, but now it is a sleek looking modern building that could be in any city in the world.

There are now advertising boards everywhere, and Beijing boasts the longest screen in the world which is located at "The Place" (see Mandarin). The screen is now a huge shrine to a very famous brand of cola that is sponsoring the games. It's pretty surreal.
Most of the athletes have now arrived and I have seen 'fresh' looking foreigners walking around draped in their national flags. But somehow Beijing seems to have many less people than before. And at times the streets are eerily quiet as the build-up to that opening ceremony (see Mandarin) looms 8th/08/08 8pm.

The opening ceremony
I have just sat through the opening ceremony at home with some friends here in Beijing and was extremely impressed by it. I was especially happy that it highlighted so much of China's traditional culture - and in such spectacular style. My mum emailed me soon afterwards and had said this to say: "I watched the opening of the Games and think it was brilliant. The Chinese have done themselves proud."

A new job
With all the jobs offers I have been getting recently, one in particular was too good to refuse. It was for a Chinese film company to help with translation work for a Hollywood director (see Mandarin) - so of course I accepted. This is an amazing opportunity and in a field I have always been interested in. Tomorrow I will fly out to Los Angeles (see Mandarin) to attend a movie special effects conference.

Mandarin words and phrase, introduced in this diary entry:

qian1 zheng4, visa
gui1 ze2, regulation
lu3 you2 qian1 zheng4, tourist visa
jue2 xin1, determined
li3 xiao3 long2, Bruce Lee
wai4 di4 ren2, migrant worker, lit. outside place people
hu4 kou3, identity permit
dan1 hao4 shuang1 hao4, odd number even number
chao2 yang2 ju4 chang3, Chao Yang Theatre
Chao Yang Theatre, the Place
kai1 mu4 shi4, opening ceremony
hao3 lai2 wu4, Hollywood
dao3 yan3, director
luo4 shan1 ji1, Los Angeles


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Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:59:55 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200808/19776.shtml Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:41:00 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200807/19750.shtml bwyd tin prominently displayed. This would seem natural enough, as bwyd means food, but the second word they were looking for was tun (pronounced the same as 'tin'). Tin, with an i, is a less-than-polite word for someone's backside.]]> Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:10:57 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200807/19749.shtml What does poca madre mean? I asked.
Qué chido he answered.
So what does qué chido mean?
It means de pelos!
And what does de pelos mean?
It means poca madre!
We had gone full circle and I was still in the dark. Some time later I discovered that poca madre, chido and de pelos all meant 'good' in some circles in Mexico City, and I still wonder why he didn't just tell me it meant bueno!
This person is still my friend, fifteen years later, and a professional, but he still speaks the same way. And now I do too.]]> Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:01:40 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200807/19743.shtml Siete forestieri? My friend replied: We're British, not from the forest. I guess that confirmed the question - we were "foreigners" ...]]> Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:41:16 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200807/19741.shtml a la derecha, todo recto etc., I gave my last guidance, to let us off at the temporary barrier in the road. A la barrio I said, only to witness a startled expression of our driver in the rear view mirror. Para aquí secured our goal but suspecting that my a la barrio request had caused the startled reaction, I placed my hand on the barrier repeating barrio. She instantly dropped her face on to the steering wheel; I knew to hide her amusement at my attempt at Spanish. Consulting my dictionary the moment I got home, I found that I had asked to be dropped off at the "red light district" and not the barrier. I bet she couldn't wait to tell her fellow drivers when she got back to the taxi rank. Taxi parada if you don't mind.]]> Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:20:49 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200807/19740.shtml
After my last diary entry I continued to live and work in Competa and with the support of some very good friends, buenos amigos, gradually began to enjoy my life here and to cope with living on my own. Friends and family from the UK visited regularly too and for some it's become a second home, su segunda casa, once a year!


La agencia de contactos
Eighteen months or so ago and about two years after Fred died I began to think that I might be ready to contemplate the idea of finding a new relationship, something that until then I never thought I would want to do. But, as everyone tells you, you do eventually move on and so, encouraged by girlfriends Mel and Jo who were staying with me at the time, I registered with a couple of internet dating sites, agencias de contactos por internet. We had a real laugh, nos reimos mucho, writing my profile and defining the kind of man I was looking for! It took me a while to find the right site, which turned out to be one specifically aimed at ex-pats living in Spain. I was very dubious, not to say nervous, nerviosa, about the whole thing and did have one unsuccessful first 'date' which I found very off-putting and I'm not sure how long I would have continued and remained optimistic. However ...

Mr Right
Fortunately, I then got a message from Tony who lives and works in the UK but has a holiday home, una casa de vacaciones, in Andalucia which he visits regularly. We met for the first time in Bristol when I was there for a visit and have been together, estamos juntos, ever since. Initially this meant him travelling to Spain every few weeks but then last autumn it became a more regular relationship and thereby hangs another tale ...

Back to work!
Last summer I began to find life in Competa a little lonely in between Tony's visits and I had a particular dread of the oncoming winter, el próximo invierno. It's cold 2000 feet up and the long winter nights can get quite tedious when you're on your own in the countryside. I was also beginning to hanker for life back in the UK to be honest and was uncertain where I wanted to settle in the future, en el futuro. So I made a firm plan to return to Bristol to work for the winter. By October I had a six month contract to work for a housing association, had let my house and was in Bristol looking for a flat to rent, estaba buscando un piso de alquiler. I had a wonderful time enjoying the very different delights of city living in a smart new flat by the docks and was enjoying the challenge, el desafio, of working again. Everyone thought I was mad, loca, having chosen to be in the UK during the winter and there were moments as I stood at the bus stop, la parada de autobús, in the rain when I thought they might just be right! But overall I loved it and of course Tony and I were able to see each other every weekend, nos veíamos cada fin de semana.

Where next?
I'm still pretty uncertain about where I want to live in the long term but am trying just to live in the present and enjoy the luxury of semi-retirement. But for now, Tony is going to join me in Spain and we'll see where life takes us. We both love Spain and Bristol and hope to be able to enjoy, disfrutar, a little of each. In the meantime, mientras tanto, I'm continuing to work at the hotel doing their financial administration work as they very kindly held my job open over the winter. I am looking forward to, estoy esperando con ansia, a very different life, una vida muy diferente, and the chance to explore Spain with my new partner. I have re-started Spanish lessons and fortunately don't seem to have forgotten too much over the winter.

Thank you, muchas gracias, to everyone who has sent such kind messages through the website. They are very much appreciated.]]> Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:25:16 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200806/19736.shtml Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:31:19 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200806/19721.shtml zapatos fritos, and he just kept saying "¿Qué?" I thought the poor kid didn't have an idea what potato chips were ... ahem ... I found out later chips are patatas fritas, and cool Roger was offering him fried shoes.]]> Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:20:54 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200806/19720.shtml
May 12th 2:38pm
I was at my computer checking emails and chatting to friends online, when suddenly the apartment began to shake. Initially I thought nothing of it thinking perhaps it was a large vehicle or crane outside my block (see Mandarin). But I live on the 23rd floor and shouldn't have been feeling it so intensely. And it continued - one minute - two minutes. I asked a friend on msn if he could feel it - his work is 15 minutes away from me. He could. Women in his office were screaming. As the shaking seemed to get stronger, I was worried too. 23 storeys is a long way up - or down. But realising it was a tremor (see Mandarin) I trusted and hoped it would subside. After about three minutes it ended and I was left feeling disorientated and dazed. I suffered a splitting headache and feeling of nausea for the rest of the day but otherwise put the event out of my mind.

Aftermath
It wasn't until the evening of the next day that I heard from friends and reports that the earthquake had flattened buildings, including schools, and killed thousands of people in Si Chuan province. I felt sick. That same tremor I had thought nothing of, had resulted in the death of so many.
Soon after hearing the extent of the earthquake I contacted my old Chinese teacher who is from Si Chuan. She told me that fortunately her parents were out of the province. But they had not been able to return home due to the damage and the danger of after-shocks (see Mandarin). It's been nearly a month now and they are still unable to go home. She urged me to make a donation (see Mandarin) for the search and aid of survivors - and also to encourage my foreign friends to do the same. "Every yuan can help" she told me.

Coverage
Since that day, coverage of the earthquake and the search for survivors have dominated TV and newspapers everywhere. The whole country has been caught up in a wave of grief and also a sense of profound helplessness. All of my Chinese friends have made donations and wish more could be done to help. Another friend of mine, Li Duan, even attempted to fly to Si Chuan to help as a volunteer (see Mandarin), but she was turned away at the airport. It was just too dangerous (see Mandarin).

An outpouring of emotion
Seven days after the earthquake, there was a vigil at Tiananmen Square for the victims. I went with PPY, my friend from my football days. Thousands of people attended, most bringing Chinese flags (see Mandarin) and candles (see Mandarin). In all my years in China, I have never seen such a public outpouring of emotion. It had the energy of a political rally, yet a real sense of tragedy and loss. With chants of Come on, China (see Mandarin) and Come on, Si Chuan (see Mandarin) and the lighting of thousands of candles the evening was electric. Some people came with signs reading we are all Si chuan people (see Mandarin) - others laid candles on the ground in the shape of a heart and there was even a mass singing of the national anthem in front of The Forbidden City.
In a strange footnote, about an hour into the vigil, plain clothes officers went around telling people to put out their candles - I'm told for safety reasons but am not really sure why.

Tragic numerology
Personally I feel this earthquake has dealt a terrible blow to the morale here, especially in this Olympic year - of all years. Traditionally in China, 8 is an auspicious number, the Olympics will be held on 8/8/08. So it is even more tragic that the earthquake occurred exactly 88 days before its start.
On a personal note, I would like to offer my deepest condolences and wishes to those affected by this tragedy (see Mandarin).

Mandarin words and phrase, introduced in this diary entry:

xiao3 qu1, block
zhen4 dong4, tremor
yu2 zhen4, after-shocks
juan1 kuan3, donation
zhi4 yuan4 zhe3, volunteer
wei1 xian3, dangerous
guo2 qi2, flags
la4 zhu2, candles
jia1 you2 zhong1 guo2, come on China
xjia1 you2 si4 chuan1, come on Si Chuan
wo3 men dou1 shi4 si4 chuan1 ren2, we are all Si Chuan people
wo3 dui4 zai4 di4 zhen4 zhong1 shou4 zai1 qun2 zhong4 biao3 shi4 tong2 qing2, I would like to offer my deepest condolences and wishes to those affected by this tragedy

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Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:32:51 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200806/19713.shtml Kaiserschnitt instead of Imperialschnitt which was that establishment's variant of chocolate cake. No wonder that the waitress looked puzzled as I had asked for a caesarean.]]> Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:21:19 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200806/19712.shtml Combien sont ces six saucisson-ci ? Ces six saucisson-ci sont six sous. Six sous ! C'est trop cher !
How much are these six sausages? These six sausages are six sous. Six sous! This is too expensive!]]> Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:04:02 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200806/19711.shtml Sat, 31 May 2008 07:30:49 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200805/19709.shtml ¿Dónde están los bañeros?". Needless to say the waiter was utterly confused, but I did eventually find the toilet. Bañeros, lifeguards, baños, toilets. Lesson learned!]]> Fri, 30 May 2008 16:10:49 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200805/19706.shtml Shtokavski (Stokavian)", but this would leave out other dialects in Croatia, like kajkavski, ikavski. Still, it is more realistic than to make up languages as borders are drawn. No one is advocating that these nations have to merge into what we have seen in the past (Yugoslavia), but we simply ask them to respect linguistics - the science of language.
The truth is, despite Dalmatian being so different even to Croats in Zagreb, a Sarajevan can perfectly understand them. I would like to reaffirm that Hochdeutsch (High German) and Plattdeutsch (Low German) differ even more so than the "different" languages of Croatia, Bosnia-Herz., Montenegro, Serbia. A German from North Rhine-Westphalia will have a very difficult time understanding a Bavarian, as opposed to a Serb from Belgrade who will sense only minute differences when traveling to Croatia.
The moral of this story? Don't invent languages because of political strifes. I understand that after the war, genocide and forced immigration abroad have created bitterness between the nations of former Yugoslavia, but this does not give them the right to twist linguistics for their own nationalistic ambitions. Croats want to re-affirm their differences, Bosniaks (the Muslim Slavs of Bosnia-Herz.) want to have their own sense of identity, while Serbs still cling to their own nationalism through the Cyrillic alphabet (which is mentioned as the key difference); many forget to mention that Serbs also use the Latin script. Remove politics (as should be done in a normal world) from linguistics, and we have one language in four neighbouring countries ready to embark on a peaceful entry into the European Union.]]> Sun, 18 May 2008 21:01:49 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200805/19701.shtml dime un vaso", which left him speechless. We all burst into laughter since she actually intended to say "dame un beso", give me a kiss. What she said was, tell me a glass. Lol, that was soooo embarrassing.]]> Sat, 17 May 2008 22:01:18 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200805/19700.shtml Madre, instead of madera, wood. My poor hubby has never lived this down.]]> Wed, 07 May 2008 16:04:00 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200805/19694.shtml Wed, 07 May 2008 03:01:16 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200805/19693.shtml Ich habe eine Schweizerin kennengelernt, wir haben uns in Spanien besoffen. Then the teacher looked at me wide-eyed,and asked: Was?! Besoffen? ... I had mispronounced the past participle of the verb treffen, so the teacher understood that we had got drunk together in Spain! Of course I meant getroffen.]]> Sun, 04 May 2008 19:10:44 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200805/19690.shtml bêcher, to dig. No no no, so I realize he wanted the word shovel. Everytime I would say shovel, he would say "no not horse!" I say yes, shovel! He says: You do not dig with a horse! I never realized if you say shovel in English it sounds like cheval in French.]]> Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:50:39 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200804/19687.shtml le plafond with boots on. They were quite amused and puzzled as clearly most people walk on the floor, rather then "the ceiling".]]> Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:40:55 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200804/19681.shtml
There is an expression "swim in the sea of business" (see Mandarin) and since my last entry, that's exactly what I've decided to do. After a year of feeling restless at my last job in the headhunting company, I decided to try my hand at exporting products from China. Things have started slowly, but I comfort myself in the knowledge that there isn't a business in the world that is instantly successful. Otherwise we would all be doing it ;-)

My most recent project involves manufacturing solar energy products in China and exporting them to Africa. Last month, I attended a solar energy exhibition in Shanghai. As a result, I have realised just how much China is embracing the renewable energy revolution; and was impressed with how many solar powered traffic and street lights I've started seeing around the country. Even in Tiananmen Square, the heart of Beijing, solar energy is starting to dominate. Many new apartments have solar powered water heating units installed on their roofs. Seems there is indeed some hope for a greener, cleaner future.

Olympian build-up
For as long as I have been in China, the 2008 Olympics has been a media obsession. Watch any Chinese TV programme and after 10 minutes there is guaranteed to be an Olympic commercial or news update. And it's been like this for the last four years. What is interesting is that many of my Beijing friends haven't been openly excited about it. Housing prices in Beijing have quadrupled, and the cost of living here has increased exponentially.

Only last week, my landlady told me that, my rent would increase by 500rmb for the next contract renewal which is due before the Olympics. I told her that this was unacceptable. She answered that she had expected this, and had arranged for someone to come and view the apartment that very evening and I could leave in a month! So with 'shotgun' to head, I agreed to the increase.

Trouble in the West
My Beijing friends tell me that in their eyes, the Olympics are finally a chance for China to prove to the world that it has arrived on the world stage. So as you can imagine, the recent situation in Tibet and its reaction have been cause for much venting.
Most Chinese people here are pretty unified in their opinions. Namely that China is being treated harshly by the West who with one-hand wages an immoral war in Iraq and on the other-hand accuses China over Tibet.
As far as the national media is concerned the Dalai Lama is at best a trouble-maker and at worst a terrorist . The Tibetan protestors were dubbed the "Dalai Lama clique".

Opinions
I spoke to some of my closest Chinese friends here about the issue, this is what they said.
Ping ping, my friend in Shanghai, 24 year old, female was philosophical. She said: "This is a very complicated political and social problem, all I can say is that I am also a person who loves their country!"
Joan Li, my friend from Beijing, whom I've known for about 3 years told me: "We are boycotting foreign media which makes false reports about China about Tibet. The West has never really understood China, and still doesn't!"
Anthony Yang, an old student of mine from the North-East of China and a close friend, now studying in Singapore, says: "The news about Tibet is really bad, and some foreign media have distorted the news, they are reporting fake news to cheat foreigners."
Since the chaos with the Olympic torch, the local media has been particularly critical of France. Jade Wen, a 23 year old studying in the UK told me: "I was going to go shopping in France but now I don't think I feel like going."
I think that Chinese people working and studying abroad have been most affected by this situation. Recently on msn, there was a very colourful demonstration where in front of nearly all of my Chinese contacts "love China" was displayed - using a red-heart. As for me I have found that despite the political tensions people here have been even more friendly and keen to show that whatever happens on a political scale friendship will not be affected.

Mandarin words and phrase, introduced in this diary entry and more:

Business
zai4 shang1 hai3 zhong1, you2 yong3, swim in the sea of business
tai4 yang2 neng2, solar energy
chu1 kou3, to export
zhan3 lan3, exhibition
shang1 ye4 / yi4, business
shang1 ren2, business man
jiao1 yi4, deal
mai4, sale
tou2 zi1, investment
xin4 xi1 ji4 shu4, IT
jing4 zheng1, competition (business)

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Olympic games
ao4 yun4 hui4, Olympic games
ao4 yun4 sheng4 huo3, Olympic torch
dian4 shi4 jie2 mu4, TV programme
xin1 wen2, news
yun4 dong4, sports
yun4 dong4 yuan2, athlete
jiang3 pai2, medal
jin1 pai2, gold medal
bi3 sai4, competition (sporting)

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Tibet protests
xi1 zang4, Tibet
mei2 ti3, media
da2 lai4 la3 ma, Dalai Lama
kong3 bu4 fen4 zi3, terrorist
du2 li4, independence
kang4 yi4, protest
guo2 jia1 zhu3 yi4, nationalism


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Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:33:42 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200804/19680.shtml Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:20:56 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200804/19678.shtml Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:20:46 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200804/19663.shtml Sul tagliere l'aglio taglia.
Non tagliare la tovaglia.
La tovaglia non i aglio.
Se la tagli fai uno sbaglio.
Which means:
Cut the garlic on the cutting board.
Don't you cut the tablecloth.
The tablecloth is not garlic.
If you cut it you make a mistake.]]> Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:21:00 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200804/19662.shtml Stadtzentrum doesn't exist anymore, instead even the smallest villages now claim to have Citycenters. Kaffee zum mitnehmen has been universally scored out and replaced with coffee to go. The best, though, has to be Public Viewing, used at the World Cup in Germany. Nobody told the Germans obviously that this means a public viewing of a corpse in many English speaking countries.]]> Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:21:11 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200804/19660.shtml Desearía comer algien - of course, I meant 'something' to eat (algo) rather than 'someone' (alguien).

Note: A less formal way to say that you're hungry is tengo hambre literaly: I have hunger.]]> Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:40:58 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200804/19659.shtml Kuku kaki kakakku kaku-kaku. Literally, this translates as 'the toe nails of my older sibling are stiff' ... but then you can also involve your grandpa ... Kakak, kok kuku kaki kakek kaku-kaku, kak? or literally, 'Older sibling, why are the toe nails of grandpa stiff?']]> Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:51:35 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200803/19649.shtml Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:01:29 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200803/19647.shtml Jesús to what we are expected to say gracias to thank them for caring about us. Also if we're on a bus, when you get out, an English speaker will thank the driver for the trip while a Spanish one will just say bye since you've paid for your trip. The list is endless!]]> Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:30:58 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200803/19646.shtml evet, mümkün, yes, it's possible. I thought he had said evet maymun, yes, monkey! Boy, was I cross, until I later looked it up my Turkish dictionary!]]> Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:30:46 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200803/19643.shtml Is fearr le Ghaeilge briste ná Béarla cliste - It's better to have broken Irish than perfect English.]]> Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:01:09 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200803/19632.shtml legumbrismo. As it was a rarely used word at the time, no-one dcould disagree with me.

Editor's note: Today, the word vegetarianismo is quite established.]]> Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:30:40 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200802/19621.shtml Tu m'en veux alors ? I understood this as 'Do you want me', so I replied with a flourish: Bien sûr, je t'en veux !, thinking I was confirming his question. I could not understand why this seemed to make matters worse ... It was only much later in the day that I found out that the little addition of the pronoun en in this construction turned the meaning of the verb vouloir, to want, into s'en vouloir, to blame oneself! I had said to him 'Of course I blame you!' Oops! I should have said: Bien sûr, je te veux !]]> Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:32:51 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200802/19616.shtml Ça va ? Ha !?Tu vois ça là-bas ! Ouah ! Papa a la baraka ! Ah bah ça ! Which means "How are you? Ho! Look there! Wow! Dad is lucky! That's unexpected!"]]> Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:20:43 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200802/19611.shtml Tas de riz tas de rats. Tas de riz tentant taz de rat tentés. Tas de riz tentant tenta tas de rats tentés. Tas de rats tentés tâta tas de riz tentants. Which translates as: "a heap of rice, a lot of rats, inviting a heap of rice, tempted lots of rats, the inviting heap of rice tempted lots of rats, the tempted lot of rats tried the inviting heap of rice". Quite funny, isn't it?]]> Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:40:44 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200802/19610.shtml Kaeru pyoko pyoko mi pyoko pyoko awasete pyoko pyoko mu pyoko pyoko. That's a nice one, stating something like "three frogs *croak croak* altogether six frogs *croak croak*"]]> Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:40:44 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200802/19609.shtml pajero. He looked at me aghast and then fell about laughing. Instead of asking for a straw pajita, the word I had used was a rather crude term for (how can I put this) ... a tiresome idiot. I wonder who at Mitsubishi gave their rather large 4-wheel drive the name Pajero!

Editor's note: In Spanish-speaking countries, the Mitsubishi Pajero is known as Mitsubishi Montero. It was first named Pajero after the pampas cat (leopardus pajeros), but the name was soon dropped, because it indeed means something entirely different in many Spanish-speaking countries ...]]> Sat, 16 Feb 2008 21:10:39 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200802/19606.shtml muh, the dog barks wau wau and the rooster crows kikeriki. The donkey cries iah, the horse wiehert and the cat says miau. The sheep baas bäh and the goat bleats mäh. The owl cries uhu-uhu and the birds make piep-piep. The bee buzzes summ-summ. The frog and the duck are mutually comprehensible - they both go quack.]]> Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:20:52 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200801/19571.shtml
It is now just over five years since we moved to France. The twins Edward and Lydia are nearly four years old, and time has flown. We have never regretted our decision to come here, even though at times we have struggled. We now live full time in Vence, and have bought a mobile home in the mountains, so that we can visit often.


Edward and Lydia are attending the local maternelle, nursery school, and are bi-lingual. I understand most things that are said to me, but being beaten hands down by Ashley in conversation. Ashley now plays football with the Vence veterans club, and I have set up my own business looking after holiday properties for foreign owners. Life is good! Thank you to everyone for your comments.]]> Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:44:52 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200801/19570.shtml des magasins, shops, rather than des magazines.]]> Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:50:34 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200801/19568.shtml chabolas, shanty housing, only I couldn't remember the word and said cebollas, onions. I felt a little bit silly after that ...]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:40:33 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200801/19567.shtml Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:20:46 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200801/19555.shtml Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:01:29 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200801/19554.shtml un tonneau to put in the pegs. Unfortunately, the word is marteau. Un tonneau is a wine barrel.]]> Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:02:51 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200801/19550.shtml bain de mouche (literally bath of fly/fly bath, which doesn't really exist) instead of bain de bouche (mouthwash). That was over a year ago, and he won't let me forget it until this day.]]> Sat, 05 Jan 2008 15:30:43 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200801/19545.shtml Stół z powyłamywanymi nogami, a table with broken feet
W czasie suszy szosa sucha, during drought the road is dry
Szedł Sasza suchą szosą w czasie suszy, Sasha was walking a dry road during drought
Król Karol kupió królowej Karolinie korale koloru koralowego, King Charles bought red corals for the Queen Karolina (in Polish it is an alliteration)
Extremely difficult to pronounce, not only for foreigners. By the way, one of the most popular Polish radio reporters is called Strzyczkowski. :)]]> Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:01:34 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200801/19542.shtml conejos. They went into absolute seizures of laughter and a couple of them actually hit the floor with delight. He arrived home, slammed the door and said, 'What does CONEJOS mean, anyway?!' I knew in an instant what had happened and I, too, hit the floor laughing. He had really intended to call them pendejos, a multi-purpose insult not uncommon in the workplace.]]> Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:50:32 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200801/19535.shtml me duele la españa. We all had a good laugh when we realized she had said "My Spain hurts" instead of me duele la espalda, my back hurts. It was a running joke for the rest of the year.]]> Sun, 30 Dec 2007 17:01:54 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200712/19534.shtml QUESTION: Bababa ba? Is it going down? (Can be used in the context of someone deciding to get on an elevator.)
ANSWER: Bababa. It's going down.
Now who says you can't have a normal conversation using one syllable?]]> Fri, 28 Dec 2007 20:30:42 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200712/19533.shtml hai capito? I asked him what this means and he answered 'Do you understand?' I obviously didn't understand so I kept asking 'No I don't understand, what does hai capito? mean? This went for quite some time until the boy gave up and excused himself. Later I realised that hai capito? actually means DO YOU UNDERSTAND!]]> Wed, 19 Dec 2007 04:10:38 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200712/19522.shtml Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:51:28 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200712/19521.shtml Dietro a quel palazzo c'è un povero cane pazzo. Date un pezzo di pane a quel povero pazzo cane!
Behind that palace there's a miserable crazy dog. Give a little bread to that miserable crazy dog!]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:10:54 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200712/19505.shtml bekommen, to receive, sounds like it should be related to the English word become.]]> Sun, 25 Nov 2007 00:50:46 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200711/19492.shtml Blasen. Obviously as a teenager the first words the Germans tought me were slang, in which Blasen is oral sex, you should have seen my face when she asked! Turned out, ten confused minutes of disbelief later that Blasen also means blisters! Oh the fun!]]> Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:40:31 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200711/19477.shtml eso sí que es in Spanish. This means "that's correct".]]> Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:12:52 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200711/19461.shtml Ich möchte eine Packung Salzschlangen, bitte. The lady handed me a pack of Salzstangen, lit. salt sticks, kind of thin pretzel sticks, saying: Schlange ist ein Tier, snakes are animals, ... I think you mean this ...]]> Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:12:50 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200710/19458.shtml schälen, to peel, I should just have put the grapes into a couple of Schalen, bowls.]]> Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:40:33 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200710/19455.shtml Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:30:39 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200710/19442.shtml basar lavan, the white meat', not knowing that basar lavan is 'ham' in Hebrew.]]> Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:20:28 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200710/19435.shtml nie meaning 'never'. Anytime somebody says it there is a giggling bunch of students in the back muttering "we are the knights who say NI!".]]> Tue, 02 Oct 2007 01:40:44 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200710/19425.shtml ne me quitte pas. I repeated this to a customer who fell about laughing. I should have said ne quittez pas which means "hold the line". Instead I had said "don't leave me"! It's also the title of a very famous French song by Jacques Brel ("If you go away" in English).]]> Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:01:23 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200709/19423.shtml
This year, our company had its usual kick-off meeting abroad. Last year they went to Korea, but much to my delight this year the management decided to take us on a four-day 'all expenses paid' trip to Bali island.
After stopping briefly at the impressive Singapore airport, we arrived in Bali to be greeted by our tour guide (dao3 you2) and some locals who placed flower wreaths around our necks in a gesture of welcome. We were put up in a luxurious five star hotel in which I shared a room with my boss, Raymond.

The tour guide's rant
The next day after a fantastic buffet breakfast (zi4 zhu4 zao3 can1), we boarded our coach for the beach (hai3 tan1). Our tour guide was a Chinese Indonesian who spoke fluent Mandarin with a heavy accent. During the journey he would not stop talking! I could understand about two-thirds of what he was saying which I was pleased about but what he was saying was not particularly pleasing at all.
Instead of giving a balanced historical background for each place of interest, he seemed intent on ranting about how the local Bali people were "lazy" (lan3) and the men "never worked". He insisted they only earned money through renting property to rich foreigners. This was despite the fact that all the drivers, service people at the hotel, shop keepers, road cleaners, waiters and cooks where Bali locals.

Shadows of the past
After a 45-minute drive we were taken to a busy road lined with tourist shops leading to the beach. On the way we passed the infamous site where the Bali bomb (zha4 dan4) went off in 2002. What was left of the 'Sari Club' was still just a burnt out husk, conspicuous in such a bright and lively setting. Sombrely we stopped to take pictures and reflect on why such a beautiful island could be subject to such horror.

Chinese food
The beach was full of surfers and locals selling drinks and renting deckchairs. The water was clear, beautiful and the sun was beaming. Annoyingly we were only given a very short time to enjoy this and were ushered back to the coach to take another 45 minute drive to the restaurant for lunch. Much to my chagrin, the restaurant only served Chinese food and I wondered why we would come all the way from China to eat Chinese food in Bali especially when it was not up to Chinese standards according to my colleagues. And they would certainly know.

That afternoon was the same. We were taken by coach to the wonderful Tanah Lot Temple, which was built overlooking the ocean only to be hurried back to the coach for another hour drive to yet another Chinese restaurant. Why couldn't we choose a restaurant closer to the temple? And why couldn't we sample some Indonesian cuisine? At this point, I and a few others complained mutinously to Raymond. He saw our point and the next day we ditched the tour guide and travelled independently.

Exotic animals
I took a trip with Raymond to Turtle Island (hai3 gui1, turtle, dao3, island). Turtle Island was full of not only amazing giant turtles but a menagerie including monkeys (hou2 zi), eagles, a huge python and a giant bat.
Bali was a fantastic experience, and I must say that the people of Bali were the most welcoming, friendly and spiritual people I've ever met. I am so privileged for being able to experience this as the only foreigner in a Chinese company.

Lifelong ambition
During the trip I even managed to fulfil a lifelong ambition (wo3 yi1 sheng1 de yuan4 wang4, my life wish) which was to ride an elephant (da4 xiang4). As no-one else shared my enthusiasm for elephants I hired a car to the national park where I had an elephant ride which took me through jungle and local villages.


A big thank you!
The last three years in China, for me have been a priceless experience. Many people questioned my decision to come to Beijing and there were moments after I'd arrived that I did too. I've had many ups and downs since coming here but in China I found myself able to grow incredibly as a person and found myself doing things I would never have imagined before.

Writing this diary has been a great way for me to share some of my experiences in China and I am very grateful for all of the positive comments people have left. I really hope that some people can find these entries useful and I hope they can provide a good and honest insight into living/working and studying in China. Thanks for taking this journey with me.

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:21:11 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200709/19414.shtml Mon, 17 Sep 2007 12:14:26 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200709/19405.shtml De koetsier poetst de postkoets met postkoetspoets. Meaning: The coachman cleans the stagecoach with the stagecoach cleaner. The sounds p, t, k and s are making it hard not to err and say something that sounds a bit like kotsen, to vomit.]]> Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:10:53 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200709/19398.shtml Tussentaal (in-between-language). It is probably this variety that people have in mind when they say that there is such a language as Flemish, but it is not, like Standard Dutch, a language that is constant all over Flanders. There are distinct varieties in East Flanders, Limburg, and the Brabantine area which includes Vlaams Brabant and Antwerp. These division sort of go along dialect group borders. Not only the pronunciatoin, but also syntax can differ widely. In West-Flanders, this Tussentaal hardly exists: people seem to be either more loyal to their dialect, or they make more effort to speak something closer to Standard Dutch. Which doesn't mean they don't have distinctive accents when speaking Dutch, far from it. The scientific use of the term 'Flemish' is restricted to the not at al homogenous dialect group that covers East and West Flanders, Zeeland Flanders (in the Netherlands) and French Flanders (France). When people insist on using the word 'Flemish' for a supraregional variety in the northern half of Belgium, they can eiter mean the forementioned Tussentaal - which Dutch people can hardly understand indeed - or the Standard Dutch that is also spoken in Belgium. The latter might have a distincitive accent from northern Dutch, but is understood in Holland. It is used in news programmes, and by most professional broadcasters. Tussentaal however, has been seeping into fictional programmes like comedy, and, more recently, drama. It is those programmes (mainly drama) that are being broadcasted on Dutch channels, with necessary subtitles. Dutch people however, will have no problem understanding Flemish news readers, 'announcers' (we still have hosts and hostesses that link programmes on screen), and professional broadcasters (not including one-trick celebrities). Because Antwerp and Vlaams-Brabant form most of the economical stronghold of Flanders (together with parts of East Flanders), the Tussentaal mostly used in drama, is the Brabantine one. Sometimes, dialect is used, but then it is also usually a Brabantine-based one. This is all for commercial reasons. For example: Antwerp has more than double the ihhabitants of Limburg, so go figure. For the other Flemings (people from West-Flanders, East-Flanders and Limburg), this is about as alien as the northern Dutch accent, so subtitling wouldn't go amiss for them either. It is true though, that everyday language for most Flemish people varies between their dialect, their regiolect (Tussentaal) and Standard Dutch. Flemish like code-switching, even within sentences. That makes it difficult for foreigners (including Dutch and our French-speaking compatriots) to communicate with us in Dutch. Apparantly, many people don't want to make the effort to speak their standard language, although with the older generations, it is usully due to a lack of education and, more importantly, their lack of social mobility. Flemings who call Belgian Standard Dutch 'Flemish', often do so because they feel the need to differ from the Dutch. It might be based on right-on hatred, but more often it has to do with friendly neighbourly competition, which also exists between the countries that make up the UK. When Dutch use the term Flemish, they usually do so because of political correctness. Although they know that what Flemish speak is (some kind of) Dutch, they do not want to offend a neighbouring people by sounding imperialistic. As an end remark, and in this I'm not speaking as a scientist: I believe that cohesion between the Southern and Northern Dutch is still the best way to maintain Flemish identity and (semi-)independence within the Belgian context, where our language and culture is looked down upon by (a minority of) francophone Belgians. By those I don't mean the ones living in Wallonie, minding their own lives, but the monolingual Bruxellois, and their unadapting overspill in the surrounding Flemish countryside. They are morally the descendants of minority of Flemish francophone bourgeois and clericals, that caused Belgium to separate from the (rest of the) Netherlands, installing a French speaking regime that denied cultural but, more importantly, social rights to the Dutch dialects speaking majority of the new-found country.]]> Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:40:31 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200709/19397.shtml kake) so I said: Ich hätte gern Kacke und Kaffee. (Kacke means 'poo'.)]]> Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:10:45 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200709/19395.shtml Du kannst mich hier putzen, you can clean me here. She actually meant to say "You can drop me off here" but as putzen, cleaning, sounds like the English word "put", she made the mistake, resulting in the host parent nearly tearing with laughter. To make matters worse, my friend attempted to correct herself, saying, Du kannst mich hier abwerfen, you can throw me out here. She's never used the words putzen and werfen wrongly ever since this experience.]]> Sat, 01 Sep 2007 07:50:36 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200709/19390.shtml Natürlich! Das ist eine Kinder Enttäuschung. I couldn't understand why my pen friend and all of her friends burst into laughter until it was explained to me that I should have said Kinder Überraschung for Kinder Surprise ... Kinder Enttäuschung means Kinder Disappointment!]]> Mon, 27 Aug 2007 00:10:35 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200708/19384.shtml Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:10:32 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200708/19379.shtml
One of the most impressive things about my trip was the Hong Kong Island to Kowloon (jiu3 long2, nine dragons) ferry service. This was cheap and ran frequently from early morning till late at night. I love the water and being on boats, so I really enjoyed the bumpy trip across the river.
In Kowloon, I tried out the famous Hong Kong subway system and was impressed by how clean (gan1 jing4) and modern it was. Although buying a ticket from the vendor machines was a bit counter-intuitive and I wasn't the only foreigner who had to ask for assistance.
I spent the day exploring Kowloon and then on my last night took a late night boat cruise along the harbour (gang3). Although the neon lights along the harbour at night made for a beautiful backdrop, I was disheartened by the fact that all of them were advertisements for the 'usual suspects' in terms of global brands which made the harbour seem like just a massive billboard.

Helpless tourist
On the way back to Beijing, I decided to first take a flight to Guilin. I was a little apprehensive as I had no hotel booked beforehand and my flight was at night, which meant that I would be getting into Guilin after 11pm. I had visions of sleeping out on the roadside, and prepared myself for the worst.
On arrival, as I got through customs (hai3 guan1, sea check) and was heading out of the airport, I was hailed in English by a woman behind a desk near the exit. I looked at the desk and was relieved to see a sign above it read 'Guilin Tourist Service'. Though I hate to admit it, at this vulnerable point in my journey I was never happier to be treated like a helpless tourist (you2 ke4, travel visitor)!
The tour agent was not only really friendly but also a great help. I was able to book a hotel, get a bus ticket to my hotel and even booked a trip for a five-hour cruise down the famous Lijiang River the next morning. My hotel was not spectacular, but my room was clean and functional, and I was more than satisfied with the price and condition - it was better than the roadside!

Misty mountains
In the morning, I was collected early from the hotel by mini-bus and we picked up several other passengers of various nationalities for the tour. It rained heavily that morning to our dismay but as we boarded the cruise boat the rain began to subside, leaving a wonderful mist which only added to the splendour of the surroundings.
On either side of the Li Jiang river were wonderfully shaped-hills and mist-covered mountains. These mysterious mountains formed fantastic shapes and gave me such a feeling of peace and serenity; it is no surprise this part of China is the subject of countless paintings and postcards. The journey was punctuated by rain, although I was happy to stand on the deck under shelter, savouring the scenery.

Native Americans
The cruise ended in the town of Yang Shuo, which was a lovely, friendly place, full of markets, restaurants and parks. Here I visited a park dedicated to one of China's ethnic groups (shao3 shu4 ming2 zu2). On seeing their traditional costumes and dances I was struck by how similar these people were to Native Americans. The resemblance stretched to not only their clothes and art, but also to their physical appearance. They were certainly distinguishable from Han (han4 zu2), which is the ethnic group that makes up the majority of Chinese people. The sad part for me was that the park seemed to be like a kind of human zoo where these people were on show and were seemingly made to perform and smile on cue. I was told by the guide (dao3 you2) that they were happy for the work, but I promised myself that in the future I would try to go to a genuine village and steer clear of parks like this.

Nevertheless, I left Guilin feeling very positive. People there were so unbelievably friendly and the beautiful landscape was just what I needed as a break from my life in the city.
This was my first trip to the South of China and it left me wanting more.

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:40:37 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200708/19378.shtml Debaixo da pia tem um pinto, enquanto a pia pinga, o pinto pia, quanto mais a pia pinga, mais o pinto pia.
Under the sink there's a chick, while the sink leaks, the chick cheeps, the more the sink leaks, the more the chick cheeps.]]> Sun, 12 Aug 2007 00:50:32 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200708/19367.shtml Dave adore la France, il a toujours une grande souris sur son visage, Dave loves France, he always has a big 'mouse' on his face ... You have to be very careful to pronounce the 'r' in un sourire, smile, if you want to say someone is smiling!]]> Fri, 03 Aug 2007 21:40:34 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200708/19358.shtml
I managed to get to the Garden Road Station where a cable car would take me to the top of Victoria Peak and to a stunning view over Hong Kong. I was dismayed to see a huge queue of people, stretching way around the corner of the station and onto the road. Generally, I have had bad experiences regarding queues (pai2 dui4) in China (1.3 billion people - think about it!), but this one moved quickly and orderly, and in no time at all I was getting onto the cable car.

Top view
The cable car was packed and the ride was a slow and impossibly steep one. We found ourselves sitting at 45 degree angles for most of the trip! But the scenery (feng1 jing3) was fantastic and I must say I really enjoyed it. Once at the end of the ride, we were ushered to disembark at what I can only describe as a high altitude shopping mall.
There were signs saying "This way to the Peak", but on the way I had to navigate my way through four floors of ultra cheesy touristy souvenir shops and fast food joints. There were famous fast food franchises galore and even a "Forest Gump" themed shrimp restaurant. Sadly, this place could have been anywhere in the world and I quickly made my way to the top to get a real view of Hong Kong.
When I finally reached the viewing point, Victoria peak did not disappoint. I had a clear, panoramic view of Hong Kong harbour. What struck me was how densely built up it was. In such a small area of land there were so many skyscrapers and modern looking buildings, seemingly on top of each other.

Chinese chit chat
After returning from the peak, I decided to check out Hong Kong Park, which was five minutes' walk from the cable car drop-off point. Hong Kong Park was smaller than I expected, but it was well worth checking out. It was serene and scenic, with a beautiful garden and lake populated by fat, exotic fish and turtles. While taking a seat to rest and enjoy the moment, I shared a bench with an old lady from China. Once she realised I could speak Chinese, we got chatting. She told me how the previous day her phone had been stolen from her bag on the subway in Hong Kong. She suspected the thieves (xiao3 tou1, little thief) were from her hometown in China, and told me how in the last few years, many had come from there to Hong Kong to prey on unwary travellers. She told me to be very careful with my stuff. This was quite a moment for me, because this woman spoke no English at all, and a year or so ago, I wouldn't have been able to have this conversation.

Bird flu reminder
Hong Kong Park was next to botanical gardens, a zoo (dong4 wu4 yuan2, animal park) and an aviary. Due to the recent outbreak of bird flu, the aviary was fenced off with big "keep away" signs in view. After the SARS epidemic, I could see Hong Kong was not taking any risks.

A trip to Aberdeen
My excursion on Hong Kong Island ended with a trip to a place called Aberdeen, named after the 4th Earl of Aberdeen, British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, George Hamilton-Gordon. Aberdeen, although now developed, still remaines a traditional fishing village and for 30HKD I was taken on a 30-minute boat ride around the harbour which was full of a fantastic array of fishing boats, from the modern to traditional. There was even a huge floating restaurant which must be a nightmare to work on.

Ex-pat haven
After Aberdeen, I took a one-hour ferry ride to a place called Lama Island. This was a remote haven for ex-pats to escape but it was hardly Alex Garland's "The Beach". It was a cliché of a place, with shops selling bead necklaces, Bob Marley and Che Gavara t-shirts. As the last ferry was leaving soon, I had the feeling that I wanted to escape, too. So I got the ferry back to Aberdeen. I hear Lama Island has wonderful hiking, but I didn't get to see the best of it on this trip.

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Thu, 02 Aug 2007 13:43:51 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200708/19352.shtml
During the Chinese New Year holiday, I decided to take a trip to Hong Kong (xiang1 gang3 - which translates as "fragrant port") and Guilin. Hong Kong, because I had never been there before and Guilin, which is in the South of China, because the Chinese boast of it being the most beautiful place on Earth!

My work colleague helped me book the ticket (ding4 piao4) to Hong Kong, one-way (dan1 cheng2 piao4). One of the benefits of working in a Chinese company is that I can now take full advantage of, not only my colleagues' Chinese, but also the company's relationship with travel agents. This often means I can get tickets a little cheaper than normal. The other great advantage of buying a ticket with an agent in China is that the agents deliver the tickets to your address by hand! There is none of the hassle of waiting for the post to mess things up. I say this because while in London over Christmas, I ordered a ticket to Beijing and arranged a delivery date on three occasions. All three occasions involved me waiting home all day and the ticket failing to show up!

Cosmopolitan City
After a painless 2 hour flight, I arrived in Hong Kong. Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about the journey was the fact that ALL passengers, foreign and Chinese alike had to fill in numerous customs/immigration forms for entry into Hong Kong. It seems full re-unification still has a little way to go.
My hotel was on Hong Kong Island, and I was instantly made aware of the cosmopolitan nature of Hong Kong, by the fact that my hotel was overlooking a Muslim cemetery, which in turn was next to a Sikh temple! I had never seen this in China and would probably be hard pressed to find it anywhere else.

The taxi excursion to the 'Garden Road' station
I decided my first excursion would be a cable car (lan3 che1 - translates as rope car) ride to Victoria Peak, so I jumped in a cab and showed the driver the map (di4 tu2) - and told him 'Garden Road' in English. He responded in perfect sounding English too, and we set off. After 30 minutes I realised we were going to the wrong place. Mainly because the guidebook said that Garden Road was only 5 minutes away from my hotel!

I asked the driver, still in English, where he was going and he repeated 'Garden Road' but with the cab fare rising in excess of 60 HKD I asked him to stop and showed him my map. Then we had a confused, frustrating discussion about where I wanted to go, and where he thought I wanted to go. Clearly it was going no-where, so as a last resort I asked him if he spoke Mandarin. This was a last resort, because to my knowledge, the language spoken in Hong Kong is of course Cantonese, which is completely different to Mandarin. "Shi4 de" (Sure) he said somewhat relieved, "Ni3 shuo1 ba" (go-on speak). So I told him, "wo3 yao4 qu4 hua1 yuan2 lu4 de, lan3 che1 zhan" - (I want to go to Garden Road's cable car station). "Ah, lan3 che1 zhan4 shi4 ba? Ming2 bai le!" (Oh, you want to go to the cable car station? I understand! )

I guess the driver was more surprised than me that we could converse in Chinese, but this was still unexpected as I was told that few people spoke Mandarin here. In fact when I was studying Chinese in Beijing, I had several classmates from Hong Kong.
Whether his poor English was a ruse for unsuspecting tourists, I didn't know - call it my cynical London nature. But he took me where I wanted to go, and only took 30HKD instead of the 60+HKD on the meter. He wished me a happy new year and drove cheerfully on his way. My Chinese was starting to come in handy.

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Thu, 02 Aug 2007 13:36:36 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200708/19351.shtml Hey du da! So this is the phrase my friends have heard many times.]]> Fri, 27 Jul 2007 23:02:38 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200707/19346.shtml der Slip is the German word for knickers. Not going to make that mistake again.]]> Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:53:35 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200707/19340.shtml Der Geschmack der Toten, instead of Der Geschmack des Todes - at least my prof saw the humour in it!]]> Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:51:51 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200707/19336.shtml Sat, 21 Jul 2007 17:52:31 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200707/19335.shtml wegen der Beine as I put it German. I couldn't understand why she fell about laughing until I realised that Beine means legs. The correct word for "fishbone" is Gräte.]]> Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:11:44 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200707/19332.shtml C'est combien pour une personne sur le bâton ? I asked, only to be looked at in a confused state by the shop keeper and his friends. Then they started to make gestures like they were clubbing each other. I realised my mistake and corrected to C'est combien pour une personne sur le bateau ?, how much is it for one on the 'boat'. Never ask how much it is for one on the 'stick'! And to make matters worse, one of the chaps in the shop had a terrible, loud patterned shirt on. I commented to my girlfriend (rather loudly as I thought he couldn't understand English after all) how it had looked like someone had chucked up on his shirt. The chap then proceeded to start speaking to me in very good English of how much it was for a trip and what gear is provided. I left rather quickly!]]> Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:21:21 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200707/19326.shtml J'aime le goût du vent, spécialement le vent rouge. I thought I was saying I like the taste of 'wine', specially red wine but I mistook the pronounciation for vin, wine, saying vent, wind, instead. My French host mom was a bit confused asking Comment peux-tu goûter le vent ?, how can you taste the wind? This confused me even more so I said Dans un verre ?, in a glass? Once we figured out the word switch we had a quite a laugh, turns out she likes rosé wine best :o)]]> Wed, 04 Jul 2007 21:40:47 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200707/19321.shtml Il est très mort. I meant to say C'est très triste !, it is very sad. My husband poked me in the back before I said anything else. But it wasn't untrue what I said: he was very dead.]]> Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:32:53 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200707/19320.shtml Señora, cómpreme un coco.
No compro coco, porque poco coco como poco coco compro.
Madam, buy me a coconut.
I don't buy coconut, because I don't eat much coconut.]]> Mon, 02 Jul 2007 17:04:51 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200707/19319.shtml Mon, 02 Jul 2007 04:21:14 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200707/19318.shtml a conta). I asked him if he felt comfortable to do that and he said it was pretty easy. Before I went to the restroom to powder my nose I called the waiter over. After about ten minutes I came back and what did I see? The waiter there at same place and my boyfriend desperately trying to explain something. The waiter made a very funny face and asked, "are you sure, sir?" My boyfriend said the waiter did not understand him. I asked him to repeat to me what he had said, so he repeated ... and I understood why the waiter was so confused. My boyfriend said to him: Canta, por favor! Canta, por favor! Sing, please! Sing, please!]]> Mon, 02 Jul 2007 02:31:04 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200707/19317.shtml Na gore ararat zreet krasnyi vinograd - ara ara ararat zreet krasnyi vinograd. The translation: Red grapes are ripening on Mount Ararat - on Mount Ararat red grapes are ripening.]]> Thu, 28 Jun 2007 07:30:34 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200706/19315.shtml marché, my shopping list included gherkins from the produce vendor. I stepped up and bravely asked for des cochons. When I was met with puzzlement, I dove deeper in and explained (in words and pantomime), vous savez, les petits cochons, ils sont verts et très très petits - by this time they were laughing hysterically and waving other vendors over to enjoy my efforts. After sufficient humiliation someone finally took pity and explained that what I wanted were cornichons, as opposed to cochons, pigs. It broke the ice and, ever after, I was a celebrity whenever I visited this market.]]> Mon, 25 Jun 2007 00:02:17 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200706/19311.shtml Les renards sont bons. Much amused, my friend informed me that if I really did think foxes were good to eat, she wasn't going to argue otherwise.]]> Sun, 17 Jun 2007 19:11:29 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200706/19305.shtml Nous avons bougé la maison (literally, we have moved house). Then we realised he thought we had physically moved our house to different location! It seems the French don't move house, they changer de maison or déménager. He was also somewhat surprised when I tried to say Nous sommes des Chrétiens, we are Christians. He thought I has said Nous sommes des crétins, we are idots!]]> Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:41:09 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200706/19283.shtml la reine des tartes ... which, I quickly found out, in French loosely translates as the queen of the idiots ... to put it mildly! Fortunately, she did have a sense of humor!]]> Fri, 08 Jun 2007 21:53:05 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200706/19281.shtml ¿Quieres una bebita?
The ladies found it extremely amusing that he would offer me a baby, rather than una bebida, a drink!]]> Fri, 08 Jun 2007 10:06:06 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200706/19279.shtml Vous êtes marchands ? I replied in all innocence, Mais non, nous sommes seulement collecteurs. Puzzled by her rather embarrassed mirth at my reply we left her shop and went on our way. It was not until I returned home and checked my dictionary that I discovered the reason for her amusement. I should have said collectionneur, not collecteurs to have indicated our status as collectors, not gatherer!]]> Sun, 03 Jun 2007 09:03:12 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200706/19271.shtml jugo de zapote I requested jugo de zapato. This brought a great outburst of laughter as I had said 'juice of shoe'.]]> Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:03:00 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200706/19265.shtml anteeksi onko sinulla tulta? The word tulta translated into English means fire, and I'm sure many Finns abroad and in Finland have made this mistake. Many Brits in Finland also find this funny.]]> Thu, 31 May 2007 17:10:24 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200705/19264.shtml Fri, 25 May 2007 14:41:25 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200705/19259.shtml J'ai pété, I have farted. You can then look at your victim with an expression of disgust at what they've just declared to you.]]> Tue, 22 May 2007 17:32:10 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200705/19253.shtml
Chinese New Year holiday

During the Chinese New Year holiday, I decided to take a trip to Hong Kong (xiang1 gang3 - which translates as "fragrant port") and Guilin. Hong Kong, because I had never been there before and Guilin, which is in the South of China, because the Chinese boast of it being the most beautiful place on Earth!

My work colleague helped me book the ticket (ding4 piao4) to Hong Kong, one-way (dan1 cheng2 piao4). One of the benefits of working in a Chinese company is that I can now take full advantage of, not only my colleagues' Chinese, but also the company's relationship with travel agents. This often means I can get tickets a little cheaper than normal. The other great advantage of buying a ticket with an agent in China is that the agents deliver the tickets to your address by hand! There is none of the hassle of waiting for the post to mess things up. I say this because while in London over Christmas, I ordered a ticket to Beijing and arranged a delivery date on 3 occasions. All 3 occasions involved me waiting home all day and the ticket failing to show up!

The trip to Hong Kong

After a painless 2 hour flight, I arrived in Hong Kong. Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about the journey was the fact that ALL passengers, foreign and Chinese alike had to fill in numerous customs/immigration forms for entry into Hong Kong. It seems full re-unification still has a little way to go. At the airport, I found it very easy to get information and change Chinese RMB to Hong Kong dollars - 1HKG = 1RMB and was told to take the Airport Express train (100RMB!) to get to my hotel.
My hotel was on Hong Kong Island, and I was instantly made aware of the cosmopolitan nature of Hong Kong, by the fact that my hotel was overlooking a Muslim cemetery, which in turn was next to a Sikh temple! I had never seen this in China and would probably be hard pressed to find it anywhere else.

The taxi excursion to the 'Garden Road' station

I decided my first excursion would be a cable car (lan3 che1 - translates as rope car) ride to Victoria Peak, so I jumped in a cab and showed the driver the map (di4 tu2) - and told him 'Garden Road' in English. He responded in perfect sounding English too, and we set off. After 30 minutes I realised we were going to the wrong place. Mainly because the guidebook said that Garden Road was only 5 minutes away from my hotel!

I asked him, still in English, where he was going and he repeated 'Garden Road' but with the cab fare rising in excess of 60 HKD I asked him to stop and showed him my map. Then we had a confused, frustrating discussion about where I wanted to go, and where he thought I wanted to go. Clearly it was going no-where, so as a last resort I asked him if he spoke Mandarin. This was a last resort, because to my knowledge, the language spoken in Hong Kong is of course Cantonese, which is completely different to Mandarin.

"Shi4 de" (Sure) he said somewhat relieved, "Ni3 shuo1 ba" (go-on speak)

So I told him, "wo3 yao4 qu4 hua1 yuan2 lu4 de, lan3 che1 zhan" - (I want to go to Garden Road's cable car station) "Ah, lan3 che1 zhan4 shi4 ba? Ming2 bai le!" (Oh, you want to go to the cable car station? I understand! )

I guess he was more surprised than me that we could converse in Chinese, but this was still unexpected as I was told that few people spoke Mandarin here. In fact when I was studying Chinese in Beijing, I had several classmates from Hong Kong.
Whether his poor English was a ruse for unsuspecting tourists, I didn't know - call it my cynical London nature. But he took me where I wanted to go, and only took 30HKD instead of the 60+HKD on the meter. He wished me a happy new year and drove cheerfully on his way.

My Chinese was starting to come in handy.

End of part 1 !

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Tue, 22 May 2007 12:36:39 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200705/19251.shtml
Chinese New Year holiday

During the Chinese New Year holiday, I decided to take a trip to Hong Kong (xiang1 gang3 - which translates as "fragrant port") and Guilin. Hong Kong, because I had never been there before and Guilin, which is in the South of China, because the Chinese boast of it being the most beautiful place on Earth!

My work colleague helped me book the ticket (ding4 piao4) to Hong Kong, one-way (dan1 cheng2 piao4). One of the benefits of working in a Chinese company is that I can now take full advantage of, not only my colleagues' Chinese, but also the company's relationship with travel agents. This often means I can get tickets a little cheaper than normal. The other great advantage of buying a ticket with an agent in China is that the agents deliver the tickets to your address by hand! There is none of the hassle of waiting for the post to mess things up. I say this because while in London over Christmas, I ordered a ticket to Beijing and arranged a delivery date on 3 occasions. All 3 occasions involved me waiting home all day and the ticket failing to show up!

The trip to Hong Kong

After a painless 2 hour flight, I arrived in Hong Kong. Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about the journey was the fact that ALL passengers, foreign and Chinese alike had to fill in numerous customs/immigration forms for entry into Hong Kong. It seems full re-unification still has a little way to go. At the airport, I found it very easy to get information and change Chinese RMB to Hong Kong dollars - 1HKG = 1RMB and was told to take the Airport Express train (100RMB!) to get to my hotel.
My hotel was on Hong Kong Island, and I was instantly made aware of the cosmopolitan nature of Hong Kong, by the fact that my hotel was overlooking a Muslim cemetery, which in turn was next to a Sikh temple! I had never seen this in China and would probably be hard pressed to find it anywhere else.

The taxi excursion to the 'Garden Road' station

I decided my first excursion would be a cable car (lan3 che1 - translates as rope car) ride to Victoria Peak, so I jumped in a cab and showed the driver the map (di4 tu2) - and told him 'Garden Road' in English. He responded in perfect sounding English too, and we set off. After 30 minutes I realised we were going to the wrong place. Mainly because the guidebook said that Garden Road was only 5 minutes away from my hotel!

I asked him, still in English, where he was going and he repeated 'Garden Road' but with the cab fare rising in excess of 60 HKD I asked him to stop and showed him my map. Then we had a confused, frustrating discussion about where I wanted to go, and where he thought I wanted to go. Clearly it was going no-where, so as a last resort I asked him if he spoke Mandarin. This was a last resort, because to my knowledge, the language spoken in Hong Kong is of course Cantonese, which is completely different to Mandarin.

"Shi4 de" (Sure) he said somewhat relieved, "Ni3 shuo1 ba" (go-on speak)

So I told him, "wo3 yao4 qu4 hua1 yuan2 lu4 de, lan3 che1 zhan" - (I want to go to Garden Road's cable car station) "Ah, lan3 che1 zhan4 shi4 ba? Ming2 bai le!" (Oh, you want to go to the cable car station? I understand! )

I guess he was more surprised than me that we could converse in Chinese, but this was still unexpected as I was told that few people spoke Mandarin here. In fact when I was studying Chinese in Beijing, I had several classmates from Hong Kong.
Whether his poor English was a ruse for unsuspecting tourists, I didn't know - call it my cynical London nature. But he took me where I wanted to go, and only took 30HKD instead of the 60+HKD on the meter. He wished me a happy new year and drove cheerfully on his way.

My Chinese was starting to come in handy.

End of part 1 !

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Tue, 22 May 2007 12:35:25 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200705/19250.shtml Va t'en! Unfortunately, this means 'Go away' - I should have said Vas-y. You could see the mother thinking 'What a horrible old bat!' and my friends were curling up in embarrassment.]]> Tue, 15 May 2007 11:32:08 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200705/19242.shtml Schnabeltier, platypus, Schmetterling, butterfly, and Schmusepuppe, cuddly toy, ... I see a pattern here, not only do they all begin with 'sch', they are all cute!]]> Tue, 15 May 2007 09:52:39 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200705/19241.shtml Sat, 12 May 2007 22:22:11 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200705/19235.shtml École Nationale Supérieure d'Électronique, d'Électrotechnique, d'Informatique, d'Hydraulique, et des Télécommunications. Gah, an abbreviation of an acronym!]]> Sat, 12 May 2007 16:04:01 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200705/19234.shtml due letti di prosciutto. The man looked rather perplexed until I intervened and repeated the request for due etti di prosciutto. I later explained to my wife that she had asked the man for two 'beds' of ham.]]> Fri, 11 May 2007 21:31:52 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200705/19233.shtml Ich hoffe, dass ich gelegt werde. As my German teacher read this she burst out laughing uncontrollably but wouldn't tell me what I had written. She just changed it to Ich hoffe, dass ich eine Platzierung bekommen werde. Apparently initially I had written "I hope I get laid" rather than "I hope to get placed"! Woops!]]> Thu, 10 May 2007 21:22:21 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200705/19232.shtml ¿Querría decirme dónde está la puerta a Cuitadella, por favor?" The bus driver looked confused and started pointing to the door, saying "Está aquí, la puerta." Undeterred, I continued with, "La puerta - donde están las barcas." I'd totally mixed up the genders. La puerta is door whereas port is el puerto. No wonder the Spanish people at the back of the bus didn't want to help me - it was too funny!]]> Mon, 07 May 2007 13:41:35 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200705/19227.shtml chu chu. I thought I'd said that I'd come back for the butterfly (cho cho). What I'd really said was that I'd come back for a 'kiss'.]]> Mon, 07 May 2007 12:50:36 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200705/19225.shtml Ni bi ma? The assistant looked at me terrified and shook her head without saying anything. I repeated my question several times but with no result. In the end I walked away bemused. After about 5 minutes I realised my mistake and walked back into the shop and sheepishly asked the same assistant: Ni you bi ma? Instead of asking "do you have a pen?", I've initially asked her "are you a pen?" I didn't buy anything.]]> Fri, 27 Apr 2007 09:34:52 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200704/19206.shtml l'addition, I asked for le combinaision. The waiter and the patron tried to control themselves, but then burst into hysterical laughter. It seems I had ordered an undergarment that we in the USA call a "long-line bra" - essentially a corset.]]> Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:22:32 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200704/19200.shtml Sun, 22 Apr 2007 14:02:31 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200704/19197.shtml con mi más profunda simpatía and there it was: affection, exactly the right word I thought - 'with my deepest sympathy'. Great! When the shop assistant saw the card she started to laugh and well, I had to laugh too when she told me the meaning.]]> Fri, 20 Apr 2007 08:41:24 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200704/19195.shtml io sono finita. At that all my friends started laughing, and they later revealed to me that I had gotten my verbs mixed up, and what I had said was literally 'I'm finished' (in the life/death sense)! They then told me that instead, I should have said io ho finito.]]> Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:41:53 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200704/19182.shtml nieve, I used the word for grandchildren, nietos. My sentence came out as: "Up north where I live, we have many grandchildren one meter tall". The listener responded with a perplexed look and asked "Nevada?". The conversation died at that point. A few hours later I realized my mistake and my wife and I had a good laugh.]]> Tue, 10 Apr 2007 06:52:41 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200704/19181.shtml Ich möchte ein paar schöne Damenunterhosen kaufen. Or words to that effect. The young lady blushed a deep shade of red and then produced the briefest pair of panties that I had ever seen. The embarrassment was written on her face as she held them up for my perusual. My thoughts and dreams of speaking German deserted me. "Oh no", said I. It was now my turn to be embarrassed, I hurriedly showed my army stocking as a visual aid to what I was trying to purchase. The Pfennig dropped. Ah, Strumpf! said the much relieved young lady. Who then proceeded to assist me by selling me the pair of nylons that she would have liked to have bought. I believe the price of the stockings was six D-Marks.]]> Fri, 06 Apr 2007 22:31:12 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200704/19179.shtml Camper 1: "Who is that singer Don du Sang? He's on tomorrow. Is he any good?"
Camper 2: "Don't know - never heard of him."
When in the square later, camper 2 very quickly realised there was a blood donation.
Later that year camper 2's friend was pleased to tell about Don's singing sister - Collecte de Sang.]]> Tue, 03 Apr 2007 22:51:34 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200704/19173.shtml hechtingen) removed. Unfortunately I used the word hersenen by mistake. They laughed long and hard at the thought of my poor son having his 'brain' removed!]]> Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:40:37 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200703/19167.shtml sputnik: prefix c, pronounced 's' in English, means with; put is path; nik attaches the word to a person. So sputnik: the one on the same path (with someone).]]> Wed, 28 Mar 2007 12:33:43 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200703/19164.shtml Ena taxi? I'd been practicing the language before the holiday and confidently replied in Greek, "No, we are walking". After a few confused looks and some repitition, I found that the waiter had actually asked Endaxi? which means "OK?" I was very embarrassed and explained that the meal was actually very nice. Fortunately, he also saw the funny side and brought us over some some complimentary ouzo too.]]> Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:43:03 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200703/19136.shtml cavolo in Italian) I boldly asked for some carrots and a small white horse (cavallo in Italian).]]> Sun, 11 Mar 2007 00:51:20 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200703/19132.shtml J'ai la banane means 'I am very happy' but literally translates as 'I have the banana'!

Editor's note: See some more Cool French phrases.]]> Sat, 03 Mar 2007 00:50:50 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200703/19119.shtml Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:33:43 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200703/19117.shtml impregnować has no connotation of "to fertilise" or "to make pregnant", though we can use this word to mean "to saturate" as well.]]> Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:40:40 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200702/19110.shtml pantzouria, window shutters, instead of pantzaria, beetroot casserole. To this my dad responded: Mazi me ta parathira? With the windows?]]> Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:04:07 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200702/19109.shtml doppelte obenliegende Nockenwellen, double overhead camshaft.]]> Fri, 23 Feb 2007 19:23:11 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200702/18399.shtml Shla Sasha po shosse i sosala sushku, Sasha was walking along the street and eating a biscuit.
And another one: Ot topota kopit, pyl' po polu letit, the dust is clouding after the hourse which is running in the field.]]> Fri, 23 Feb 2007 12:41:35 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200702/18391.shtml constipado, huevos, jamon/jabon, casado/cansado, burro, etc. as a means of lightening the atmosphere and adding a note of jollity - after all, it can be hard work!
Confusion between words, puns etc. are a great way to remember class work and everybody has a great time. I am always encouraging my class to have a go and not be afraid to spit it out, even if they are not sure they are 100% correct.
I've made awful howlers in both French and Spanish when I've been abroad, and I'm still alive.
Most of my students have suffered from appalling language teaching in schools where they lost confidence in their ability to communicate in another language, mostly because of the emphasis on not saying anything unless you knew how to say it perfectly.
My personal view is that you should have a go. Most Spaniards are very accepting and delighted that you have made the effort to learn anything about their language at all.
By the way, I love the Cool Spanish and Cool French sites. I was watching The Sopranos series on DVD dubbed in French, and as you can imagine, there were some words not available in the dictionary. I found a couple of them on the site, so cheers!]]> Mon, 19 Feb 2007 16:42:24 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200702/18382.shtml
The red lanterns (hong2 deng1 long2 - red light baskets) and decorations are now up in every shop window and outside every house and look great. This signifies the coming of the Chinese New Year and the 'Year of the Pig'. Red, of course is a lucky colour in China, and symbolizes wealth and fortune. In fact, even the highest note in Chinese currency – the 100RMB bill, is red.
Much like Christmas in the West, Chinese New Year is a time for people to be with families. And the hordes of people travelling around at this time are taking long trips back to their hometowns (lao3 jia1 – translates as ‘old home’) to spend time with loved ones. So actually during this time, Beijing is not as busy as usual.

Family celebration
Chinese New Year in Beijing has not been what I expected it to be. As a kid I used to watch Chinese New Year celebrations on TV and I would always see crowds of people in the streets watching the Dragon dance. But in reality, in Beijing, it has never actually been like this. In fact, the streets are quite deserted and most people stay home with families.

Fireworks
What I didn’t expect, however, were the fireworks. For a full week, the evenings are lit up with fireworks and huge explosions go off continuously. To the uninformed it could sound like a war-zone! People buy fireworks and set them off everywhere. There is pretty much free reign and the fireworks they have here are much more powerful and spectacular than the ones I’m used to in the UK. Last year a 12 year ban on fireworks in Beijing was lifted by the government so they've gone to town this year!

Getting older, getting married?
This week I will also be celebrating my 32nd birthday. And, of course, when I tell people how old I’m going to be, the first question is always ni3 jie2 hun le ma? - Are you married yet? I am told that in Chinese thinking, a man in his 30s is at his best and it's the best age for a man to get married. There is a Chinese expression, san1 shi2 er2 li4 which translates as 30 years, mature and independent.
As you would expect, this makes for some interesting conversations at work. As my excuse jie4 kou3, I always try to say that in the west it’s common for a man to be well into his 30s and still unmarried but I am usually forced to promise my co-workers that I will aim to get married by 35 years old!

Serious business
Actually, marriage is a serious business in my workplace. Since I have been working at this company, seven women (all aged in their mid 20s) have been married. That is seven staff members in less than 12 months and the office only has 40 staff! I have worked in England for over six years, in all that time and in all the companies I've worked for, I think I can only remember two cases of colleagues getting married!
In fact, over the Chinese New year, there will be two of my colleagues celebrating their weddings. This seems to put a great deal of pressure on women in their mid-20s. And there is always a chorus of envious sighs and ooohs and ahhhs whenever yet another colleague sends an email round announcing they will tie the knot!
There is certainly little of the cynicism about marriage that I or many of my friends from back in London have. It’s refreshing to be sure, but I must admit – something about it all scares the hell out of me!

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Fri, 16 Feb 2007 14:56:37 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200702/18376.shtml Mun mummoni muni mun mammani, mun mammani muni mun! Which means that my grandmother gave birth to my mother who gave birth to me!]]> Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:42:12 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200702/18373.shtml cześć pronounced "chesh-ch," but I thought my colleague had said teść ("tesh-ch"). As a result, I ended up introducing myself to people by saying "father-in-law" instead of "hello".]]> Tue, 06 Feb 2007 23:22:04 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200702/18360.shtml equipaje) instead of a team (equipo) of instructors.]]> Fri, 26 Jan 2007 19:03:11 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200701/18346.shtml luego cambié de opinión, he said luego cambié de cerebro, which means then I changed my brain. There were a few seconds of dead silence, as everybody stared at him in astonishment, and then we all got it and had a good laugh.]]> Fri, 26 Jan 2007 18:20:45 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200701/18345.shtml Sono inglese, sono stupido, I had mistaken caldo for cold and freddo for hot. Never again.]]> Wed, 24 Jan 2007 21:21:37 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200701/18339.shtml Liesje leerde Lotje lopen langs de lange lindenlaan.
Liesje taught Lotje how to walk along the long lime tree lane.]]> Thu, 18 Jan 2007 11:40:25 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200701/18328.shtml mitriyot umbrellas, instead of pitriyot, mushrooms. I made everybody laugh, but I got my pizza with mushrooms.]]> Fri, 12 Jan 2007 05:02:33 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200701/18317.shtml Fuss is Arabic slang for fart. So it was always funny in school when the teacher would ask who was causing a 'fuss'.]]> Mon, 08 Jan 2007 02:50:24 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200701/18308.shtml batom quite frequently, not paying much attention to the context. When a conversation about guns and police came up, I thought I'd be smart and contribute with 'the police in England don't use guns they only use batom'. Stunned silence followed by roars or laughter. What I'd actually said was, the police in England don't use guns they only use lipstick! A baton in Portuguese is a cassetete or bastão.]]> Tue, 19 Dec 2006 13:21:21 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200612/18291.shtml I borrowed the Spanish verb (molestar, bother) and anglicised it. He was very surprised! Later on, I realised that the verb "to molest" means "to bother, to annoy", and it only obtained its sexual connotation in the past 50 years or so.]]> Tue, 12 Dec 2006 16:51:33 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200612/18285.shtml
Due to the fact that my new company has branches in Shanghai and Guangzhou, a couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be sent on a business trip to Shanghai. So I left on the Friday and was to stay for three days in Shanghai, working on the Friday and Saturday. After reaching my hotel in Shanghai via plane, (fei1 ji1) taxi and then stepping out into the city, I was taken aback by the amount of people on the streets. Shanghai was even more crowded (yong1 ji3) than Beijing!

Lively debate
The two days of training the staff was hard work but went well, and my colleagues in Shanghai were extremely friendly and welcoming. We had dinner together on the Friday night and had a very lively discussion (huo2 yue4 de tan3 lun4) on topics such as “Why do foreigners always have ugly Chinese girlfriends?” I suggested they would best answer this question by first looking at the question of “Why do pretty Chinese girls always have ugly foreign boyfriends?”. It was an entertaining debate.

Not only did Shanghai have a fantastic variety of restaurants (including Brazilian, Indian, Western and Thai food) but the décor and quality of these places far exceeded my expectations. The central part of Shanghai, looked as though it was built only yesterday. And the designs of the restaurants were stylish, innovative and modern. Service staff were appropriately decked out in colourful, traditionally themed uniforms.

The Old Town
Luckily for me, my Korean ex-classmate kindly agreed to show me round, so our first stop was to a very popular tourist spot in Shanghai known as The Old Town. Now if I thought the normal parts of Shanghai were crowded then The Old Town was insane! There is a common Chinese expression “ren2 shan1 ren2 hai2” (people mountain people sea), which could not be more appropriate to describe the scenes that greeted us. The whole area was swarming.
The Old Town was a series of alleyways (hu2 tong4) and indoor and outdoor markets all set to the backdrop of fantastic traditional Chinese architecture. After being pushed and pulled by the multitude of domestic and foreign tourists, we managed to get to a lake near the Yu Yuan gardens. This lake is famous for having a bridge with nine corners, the number nine bearing great significance in Chinese culture. Had there not been so many people, all hell-bent on posing for and taking pictures, this part would’ve been enjoyable, so we didn’t linger.

The little tea house
On the “Nine corner bridge” lake was a wonderfully antique looking Chinese tea house (cha2 guan3), which was just too inviting not to visit. Inside we were served a kind of flower-bud tea, which expanded when hot water was added and produced a wonderfully rich and refreshing taste. It was probably the best Chinese tea I’d ever tasted. The tea-house was an extremely calming experience, allowing us to relax, look out of the window and be totally separated from the madness outside!

Art on the Peoples’ Square
Before I left I also visited the Peoples’ Square (Ren2 min2 Guang3 Chang3), which had a free, modern art exhibition (hua4 zhan3), celebrating and promoting human expression.
Now, I could see what all the fuss about Shanghai was. It was only later in my trip, when I got to visit another ex-classmate studying outside the centre of Shanghai, that I saw the other parts of the city that looked much older and rundown. In fact, these parts of Shanghai were in worse condition than some of the really bad parts of Beijing.
During my trip the weather in Shanghai was pretty warm. So, even though it still late Autumn I was still able to wear short sleeves, so coming back to the hard Beijing cold, certainly was a ‘nice’ slap in the face!

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Tue, 12 Dec 2006 16:05:34 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200612/18284.shtml Vous sortez et le froid gèle les cheveux du nez. - "You go out and the cold freezes the hair in the nose". My friends burst out laughing, and then told me that in French cheveux are only the hair on the head, those in the nose (and elsewhere) are called poils. So my description has conjured up the image of someone with long hair hanging from their nose, freezing.]]> Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:10:29 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200612/18272.shtml je suis pleine and wondered why they fell about laughing. It took a while to understand that I had not said I was full but pregnant. When asked a little later if we should move inside, I said I was cold, and this produced another round of hilarity, as the local translation was "I'm frigid". This of course, made them all wonder how I became pregnant in the first place. More wine was the only answer I could come up with.

Editor's note: Plein(e) can mean "pregnant" but only in calf or lamb for instance. Plein(e) is also the slang for being very drunk.]]> Tue, 05 Dec 2006 18:32:14 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200612/18269.shtml éxito - success trying to get out. The translation of "exit" is salida. Éxito means "success".]]> Tue, 05 Dec 2006 18:20:30 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200612/18268.shtml spruitjes. The correct word would have been sproetjes or sproeten. But ever since I can't quite shake the image of a green me. Spruitjes are Brussel sprouts.]]> Tue, 05 Dec 2006 10:20:33 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200612/18263.shtml was. Goedenavond. Mag ik was te eten hebben, alstublieft?, I asked. The amusement shown by the locals told me I'd dropped a clanger but the guv'nor knew what I meant (and recognised a paying punter when he saw one). Was in Dutch means 'wax', so I'd just expressed my desire to chomp on a candle or two! (It should have been ... wat te eten ...).]]> Mon, 04 Dec 2006 17:32:15 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200612/18262.shtml Que tu n'es pas jolie ! - How ugly you are! He ended up with a slap! He should have said Pourquoi es-tu malheureuse ? - Why are you unhappy?]]> Sun, 03 Dec 2006 05:00:30 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200612/18260.shtml Frauenarzt. Even with my basic German it was easy to translate Frau meaning woman, and Arzt meaning doctor. I'm a man who had no problem seeing a woman doctor for my sore throat. At the reception I opened my mouth and pointed in my face. The receptionist looked at me blankly and pointed to the waiting room behind me. Let me just tell you that the German word for "gynaecologist" will never be forgotten.]]> Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:20:56 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200612/18258.shtml Estoy cansado..... I didn't notice the letter n in the word, so the meaning of the word became completely different. Cansado means 'tired' and casado means 'married'. I became angry and he had to explain to me the meaning of the words. I was so ashamed!]]> Fri, 01 Dec 2006 12:13:35 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200612/18257.shtml Wed, 29 Nov 2006 23:31:52 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200611/18256.shtml Se l'arcivescovo di Costantinopoli si disarcivescovisconstantinopolizzasse tu ti disarcivescoviscostantinopolizzeresti come si è disarcivescoviscostantinopolizzato l' arcivescovo di Costantinopoli?
If the archbishop of Constantinople disavowed his archbishopric of Constantinople would you then disavow your archbishopric of Constantinople, just like the archbishop of Constantinople disavowed his archbishopric of Constantinople?]]> Fri, 24 Nov 2006 14:42:56 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200611/18248.shtml Thu, 23 Nov 2006 14:22:37 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200611/18247.shtml Wed, 22 Nov 2006 14:02:21 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200611/18245.shtml Penne aglio con pomodoro - "Penne with garlic and tomato sauce" but pronounced it more like pane - "bread" and I got garlic bread with tomatoes instead of pasta!]]> Sun, 19 Nov 2006 20:41:00 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200611/18243.shtml Rape a al marinera translated as "Rape in the sailor's style", rape being Spanish for "monkfish".
I've also seen un batido de fresas, a strawberry milkshake translated as "a beating of strawberries". It's so entertaining!]]> Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:41:35 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200611/18241.shtml se colgó. What that actually means is that he hung himself ... well, I don't think the service was THAT bad!]]> Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:13:42 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200611/18240.shtml Tue, 07 Nov 2006 12:02:37 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200611/18231.shtml Ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard is an expression I came across recently. Literally, it means "That doesn't break three paws to a duck". How on earth has it come to be the equivalent of "it's nothing to write home about"?]]> Mon, 06 Nov 2006 18:20:42 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200611/18230.shtml Du bringst mich auf die Palme - You make me go on top of the palm tree.
Du gehst mir auf die Nerven - You are walking on my nerves.
Du gehst mir auf den Senkel - You are walking on my shoe lace.
Du gehst mir auf den Wecker - You are walking on my alarm clock.
Du gehst mir auf den Keks - You are walking on my cookie.]]> Mon, 06 Nov 2006 12:21:28 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200611/18225.shtml tringle and curtains - rideaux, I needed those thingumajigs (trucs - things - a very useful French word) that go on the tringles and grip the curtains. (What I meant in English was that I wanted curtain rings with clips.) She told me, Vous avez besoin des anneaux avec pinces. Unfortunately, she didn't have any more. So, the next day, I confidently walked into another branch and asked for agneaux avec pinceaux - lamb with paintbrushes. Every time I look at my curtains now, I picture sheep precariously balanced on top clutching paintbrushes in their hooves.]]> Sat, 04 Nov 2006 19:10:55 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200611/18220.shtml Eichhörnchen in German, Eekhoorn in Dutch. I am sure there are others too. For native German speakers one of the hardest English words to say is "Wombles of Wimbledon". Ask them to try, you will be in for a laugh.]]> Sat, 04 Nov 2006 15:40:38 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200611/18219.shtml Leitungswasser). He then proceeded to tell the waiter that he wanted Wasser aus der Pfeife or pipe water. What he didn't know is what he said meant water out of a smoking pipe (bong) not from a sink. Hilarious because he got the craziest of looks from our waiter who avoided coming back to our table for the rest of the evening until it was time to pay.]]> Sat, 04 Nov 2006 15:20:46 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200611/18218.shtml shchee....]]> Tue, 31 Oct 2006 15:22:42 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18216.shtml Jeroen, je wijf is aan de telefoon. Everybody started laughing and I was informed that wijf does not mean "wife", it actually means "chick". Not a good start! On my last day everybody reminded me of this incident amid much hilarity! The Dutch word for wife is vrouw.]]> Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:03:12 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18211.shtml Ich habe meinen Freund gegessen. After they had stopped laughing at me they pointed out my mistake. I had said that I had eaten my friend instead of eaten WITH my friend. I should have said Ich habe mit meinem Freund gegessen.]]> Sun, 22 Oct 2006 19:01:31 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18208.shtml Sun, 22 Oct 2006 16:01:06 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18203.shtml Fri, 20 Oct 2006 09:41:00 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18201.shtml un jambon in their swimming pool, instead of one leg, une jambe. They were very kind and didn't say anything about it until weeks later, when they laughed about various other mistakes also... We are still here, have bought a flat and are finding the BBC course "Ma France" very useful.]]> Thu, 19 Oct 2006 14:20:47 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18200.shtml Tue, 17 Oct 2006 13:40:59 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18178.shtml qualcosa per la costipazione. When I added that it was for someone who had difficulty going to the toilet, I was met by puzzlement. It wasn't until later that I discovered that the correct word is stitichezza. Costipazione is a bunged up nose or a bad cold. I got the blocked up part bit right, but for the wrong part of the body!]]> Sat, 14 Oct 2006 05:00:44 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18174.shtml Vorrei succo di fragole, per favore meaning "I would like strawberry juice, please" however what she actually said was Vorrei succo di fagioli, per favore meaning "I would like bean juice, please"! The barman was astonished until he realised, but we still ended up with lovely fresh strawberry juice!]]> Fri, 13 Oct 2006 23:10:55 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18173.shtml Vorspiel. I reasoned that it would mean something like "before the performance". However, it was clear from the surprised/amused look on the ticket seller's face that I'd got it wrong. It turns out I asked whether there'd be any foreplay... oops! Trouble is, I still don't know what I should have said - I just know I won't be asking that again!

Editor’s note: You were on the right path. The German word for trailer is Vorschau.]]> Fri, 13 Oct 2006 16:20:50 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18172.shtml Ça va, mais j'ai un mal au cul. She looked at me strangely and said Mal au cul and tapped her behind or Mal au cou and touched her neck. I quickly understood my mistake, pointed to my neck and said Non, non, mal au cou.]]> Fri, 13 Oct 2006 00:20:43 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18170.shtml
I have now settled into my new job routine, which is either ridiculously busy (mang2) – or extremely slow (man4). I guess this is what life is like in an executive search company. Working for a successful Chinese company is certainly an enlightening experience and so far most surprising things I have found regard holidays, overtime (jia1 ban1) and the role of the management.

In regards to holiday time, I have found to my dismay that although in China there are three public holidays – which are five days each (Spring Festival, May Holiday and the National Holiday), we only have ten days a year of flexible annual leave (nian2 du4 jia4) - which cannot be taken all at once. This is much more restrictive than the 20 days annual leave, plus public holidays, in the UK. In China the public holidays are usually really busy and there is a mad rush for train/air tickets as they are frequently sold out days before the holidays begin. Travelling during public holidays can be more stressful than working!

Having worked in a college here in Beijing and now in an office environment, I have noticed that management decisions are rarely if ever challenged by staff – even if a member of staff disagrees he/she will never express this to the manager (jing1 li3). This usually means that overtime is common and accepted without question. Again this is very different from my experience of working in London. It means managers have far more power over their staff than I am used to. It also means good management is vitally important here. Recently, I went on a team building away day to a park in a Beijing suburb – this really helped me get to know my co-workers a little better and involved speed boats, mountain hiking and temples. Apparently we will do this every three to four months.

A strange change of perspective
I’ve now been in Asia for 18 months straight without going home and I have noticed some serious changes in the way I view things. And I mean this on a superficial level as well as a mental one. In fact sometimes when I come across westerners, I’m taken aback at how unfamiliar they have slowly begun to appear to me. Their noses (bi2 zi) and eyes (yan3 jing) seem really big and they are either, usually tall (gao1) and built like an ox or incredibly overweight! For me being a tall, big nosed, westerner myself, this is as freaky as it sounds. In fact some friends from London recently came to visit me and I was surprised at how “strange” (qi2 guai4) their facial features looked! Not like I remembered at all. What was happening to me? Despite the fact that I look in the mirror every morning and have found no change, I have still managed to find western faces a little unfamiliar at times. Of course, this is because for the last 18 months most of the people I am surrounded by are Asian and this includes subconscious influences such as TV (dian4 shi4) and advertising billboards. But it is a strange and interesting phenomenon, more so because I’m a 6ft 4 black man (hei1 ren2) and don't look remotely Asian!

Two kinds of people
I was recently given an interesting insight into Chinese perception of foreigners by one of my colleagues last week. She jokingly told me that in Chinese eyes there are only two kinds of people, Chinese and foreigners. To which we both laughed. Of course this is something I had already grown to suspect but also made me wonder; how will I be perceived in my new company? Will there be a constant barrier between me and my colleagues? I guess I will just have to wait and see.

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Thu, 12 Oct 2006 15:55:37 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18168.shtml senza carne - without meat.The woman looked at me strangely and I realised that being unable to roll the r in carne, what I had asked for was a slice of pizza without dog - cane!!]]> Mon, 09 Oct 2006 05:00:45 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18159.shtml Scheißhaus. Opa quietly said it was probably the Schießhaus as I did not look like I had an intestinal problem and that we were shooting that day.]]> Sun, 08 Oct 2006 16:10:39 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18158.shtml bu xie (pronounced "buu shee-eh") which in Chinese translates as "you are welcome" and means "don't mention it".]]> Sun, 08 Oct 2006 15:00:57 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18157.shtml toh lo-ghar-ee-az-mo parakalo... (emphasis on the o in -mo and -lo. She grew more confident with every attempt and I was sure she was going to pull it off..

Came the evening meal, and as the time drew closer she became a bit reticent; go on, I said encouragingly, you can do this - and, yes she did: toh loghareeazmo parakalo she somewhat said, too meekly but feeling very proud. "Madam, the toilets are over there" came the telling reply. Sad. I think she forgot the emphasis. But, hey, never mind, at least she tried! Have you?

Ed's note: that's indeed Greek for "The bill, please", although if meekly said with an English accent it's possible the waiter thought he'd heard ee twa-leh-tah, the toilet.

For more Greek visit our Greek page.]]> Fri, 06 Oct 2006 12:01:20 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18152.shtml Kolla! Der är en hora på gatan. His look changed from quizzical to outright confused as he looked out of the windscreen at the same time as the rest of the bus turned their eyes silently to look at me. I reverted to English and said more quietly "There's a hare in the road" whereby Per corrected my hora, hor-a, to hare, ha-re, with a huge grin on his face. I appear to have suggested that a 'lady of the night' had caused the sudden stop.]]> Mon, 02 Oct 2006 21:10:33 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200610/18146.shtml ___ et quart, and ___ moins quart. In English, we don't say "it's noon and a half", for instance, while in Canadian French, it's perfectly alright to say il est midi et demi. I'm sure he'll grasp it eventually, but I think his effort is very sweet.]]> Fri, 08 Sep 2006 20:50:28 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200609/18117.shtml acheter, acheter! I think I used it because I knew the word I needed began with "A" - either attendre, to wait, or arrêter, to stop or maybe I was confusing it with German Achtung, attention, which you hear in German train stations all the time. So I plumped for the only French word I could think of at the time beginning with "A". Everyone leant out the windows and stared at me, astonished. Miraculously the train did actually stop and a grinning train guard helped me on - they probably wanted to meet the person who wanted to "buy" the train.]]> Thu, 07 Sep 2006 13:20:27 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200609/18111.shtml soutien-gorge. Literally translated, it would seem to mean "throat support" and that made sense to him. He had no idea that the word really means bra. He walked up to the druggist and asked for a soutien-gorge. The druggist's jaw dropped to the floor. Our friend asked again. The guy started shaking his hands in front of his chest, mimicking breasts. "We don't sell bras here!" We couldn't stop laughing, it was so funny!]]> Wed, 06 Sep 2006 23:20:53 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200609/18110.shtml Moja żona druga. This came as a shock to my mother-in-law and all who were present because they were under the impression that I had never been married before, which was the case. Instead of saying moja żona droga, my dear wife, I actually had called her my second wife. Big difference between droga, dear, and druga, second.]]> Wed, 06 Sep 2006 06:50:41 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200609/18104.shtml Ohrwurm was in English. Only once it was described to me did I realise that it meant a-catchy-tune-in-the-head (literally 'ear-worm')! So if ever you have an (annoying) song in your head that you keep singing to yourself, then you can say that you have an Ohrwurm!]]> Wed, 06 Sep 2006 01:10:37 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200609/18103.shtml
With the World Cup over and summer on its last legs, its also the end of another personal era for me. I have accepted a job here in Beijing which means my days of being a student are over. Getting a job in China very much depends on who you know, connections (guan xi) are definitely something you need to keep a close eye on here and it just so happens that I had a friend who knew about a job opening.
So I have now started a new job at an I.T. headhunting company (lie2 tou2 gong1 si1), basically doing proofreading work. I decided to leave my studies and take the job in the hope that it will provide me with an opportunity to work in a fully Chinese environment and to also apply what I've learnt in the classroom to the real world. Of course the other reason is money, especially as the acting work just wasn't paying the bills.

Privileged to be the only foreigner
All of the staff are Chinese which means I feel quite privileged to be the only foreigner in an office of 40. My first week highlighted the huge gap between studying in a class and surviving in a real language environment. Suddenly I found that I couldn't understand anything anyone said. Much of the language my new colleagues (tong2 shi4) use relates to their work so its pretty specialised and I've had to learn new terms such as CV (jian3 li4) and consultant (gu4 wen4) very quickly. Quite a few of my colleagues speak very good English which can actually be frustrating because if they say something in Chinese which at first I don't understand they will automatically revert to English, and in the future always use English when talking to me about that subject. This isn't helpful for my Chinese, but is done automatically, so I usually have to ask them to specifically speak in Chinese. They probably think I'm mad.

Teaching business English
Much of my work revolves around business English (shang1 wu4 ying1 yu3) as I also provide the staff with training every-week so I also have to get up-to-spec on the IT executive search lingo. Coming from an IT background, this isn't proving to be too hard. Though it is hard learning these terms in Chinese!

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Tue, 05 Sep 2006 16:26:03 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200609/18098.shtml Sun, 03 Sep 2006 13:40:26 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200609/18074.shtml para seis mesas. I was very red-faced when she explained that mesas meant tables! I should have said para seis meses. But how the Spanish love it when they see you are trying!]]> Fri, 01 Sep 2006 03:11:56 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200609/18070.shtml Ich bin eine Jungfrau thinking this meant "I am a young woman". His eyebrows shot up and he corrected me with Mädchen Only much later did I realise that I had used the word for virgin!]]> Sat, 26 Aug 2006 12:50:44 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200608/18063.shtml schießen (to shoot) not scheissen (to sh*t)]]> Wed, 23 Aug 2006 00:31:04 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200608/18057.shtml Omuz = shoulder, domuz = pig. They looked at me blankly and I got annoyed that they seemed to think I was crazy.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 05:01:06 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200608/18044.shtml Terrorismusbekämpfungsergänzungsgesetz meaning "supplementary law on fighting terrorism".]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 03:30:57 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200608/18043.shtml Basta, basta, enough, enough! However, he thought she was casting aspersions on his parentage, and my father had to do some hasty explaining!]]> Sat, 12 Aug 2006 13:40:44 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200608/18040.shtml Wo ist das Loch?, I thought I'd help by pointing to the loch and saying Das Loch ist da drüben (over there). This was met by puzzled looks. It was only after the third or fourth time that the students realised what I was on about. They were in fact asking "Where is the hole?". In German Loch means hole while loch (or lake) translates as See.]]> Wed, 09 Aug 2006 23:01:24 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200608/18031.shtml mermelada. Thinking this meant "marmalade", when the waiter came over, she asked him in English if she could have one with jam on instead because she didn't like marmalade. He nodded, and walked off. A few minutes later, he returned with a rather flat-looking croissant stuffed with meat - it was only a few minutes later that I realised that he must have thought she'd been saying that she didn't like mermelada (jam), and could she have one with jamón (ham)...

Ed's note: It's not a rarity in Spain to have a croissant as a savoury pastry, sliced in two and filled in with ham or ham and cheese.]]> Tue, 08 Aug 2006 10:51:28 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200608/18021.shtml encontrarse como un pulpo en un garaje, feel like an octopus in a garage.]]> Sun, 06 Aug 2006 11:01:12 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200608/18018.shtml Vous êtes ennuyeuse ? Immediately my friend corrected me - I think you mean Vous ennuyez-vous ? My first effort actually came across as 'you are boring'!]]> Tue, 01 Aug 2006 12:52:43 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200608/17999.shtml salaud of course! Thinking he had been saying salut (which, by the way is not correct either, unless you know the person very well). No wonder they did not appreciate his greetings ... the French word salaud is a very insulting word only used by people who really want to show their disgust of others. It is as if you were to say "Bastard!" to everyone you met in the street! Not the best way to start a conversation ...]]> Tue, 01 Aug 2006 10:20:59 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200608/17997.shtml tengo 30 anos rather than tengo 30 años . Without the ñ sound, years turns into anuses. Ever since, every time I looked at the girl with the unusual number of anuses I would start laughing again.]]> Mon, 31 Jul 2006 01:10:35 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17981.shtml voy a mearme instead of voy a mear. Now I should add that this is not the politest way of expressing a need to go to the toilet, but as you may have guessed instead of telling them I was going to pee (albeit in slightly stronger language) I had in fact informed them that I was going to pee myself. Well they thought it was funny !

Ed's note: The same as in English, you can pee yourself with laughter, me meo de risa]]> Thu, 27 Jul 2006 18:50:49 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17959.shtml Is Wien deinetwegen schön? She laughed, as she translated it as "Vienna is beautiful because of you!" I then realised I should have said Ist Wien deiner Meinung nach schön?]]> Thu, 27 Jul 2006 13:11:27 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17956.shtml Mon chien n'a pas de queue ("My dog has no tail"). Unfortunately, I mispronounced the word queue so that it came out as cul ("bum"). You can imagine the bewildered look on the teacher's face! In the end I had to write it down so that he understood.]]> Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:01:00 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17953.shtml Merci beaucoup - "Thanks a lot". Or at least, I thought that's what I said until my German friend explained I'd actually pronounced it as Merci, beau cul - "Thanks, nice bum"! That would explain the odd look from the large lady who'd served me.]]> Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:01:00 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17952.shtml Je suis chaude ("I'm hot/horny") to a bus driver when she was in France! Instead of being outraged, he seemed quite pleased!! She was really embarrassed later on when she realised what she'd said!!]]> Tue, 25 Jul 2006 22:11:03 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17950.shtml voyou ("lout") came out a bit too much like voyeur ("voyeur"). They all laughed but I hadn't realised my pronunciation mistake and thought they just didn't believe me!]]> Tue, 25 Jul 2006 17:31:40 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17949.shtml treize enfants ("thirteen children"). Only when they expressed incredulity did I realise that I should have said trois ("three").]]> Tue, 25 Jul 2006 13:50:57 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17948.shtml Tue, 25 Jul 2006 12:41:41 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17947.shtml daite pozhaluista eshcho odin stakan) when he instead asked for another starik, old man. Needless to say the barwoman started to laugh and then moments later we heard hoots of laughter from the kitchens when she told her workmates.]]> Tue, 25 Jul 2006 12:32:01 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17946.shtml Lavez mes chevaux s'il vous plaît, "please wash my horses" --- think about it Hee hee. She should have said: Lavez-moi les cheveux s'il vous plaît.]]> Tue, 25 Jul 2006 09:50:49 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17943.shtml un préservatif pour bois and wondered why everyone fell about laughing. He didn't know that préservatif is French for a condom! He should have asked for un conservateur.]]> Tue, 25 Jul 2006 09:31:28 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17942.shtml Ma fille, ma fille !]]> Thu, 20 Jul 2006 14:01:36 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17936.shtml Y a-t-il quelqu'un ici qui parle français ? ("Is there anybody here who speaks French?") It was some time before everyone recovered. I was too anxious about getting the question grammatically right and forgetting the content.]]> Thu, 20 Jul 2006 10:01:53 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17933.shtml
Italian culture in Beijing
With the World Cup (shi4 jie4 bei1) starting, there has been a great interest in world culture in Beijing of late and recently I went with some friends to an Italian cultural music festival in Chao Yang Park. There are not many parks in Beijing and most of them charge an admission fee (men2 piao4) of about 10-20Yuan. Beijing has a large Italian contingent, most of whom are working and studying Chinese and there are loads of Italian restaurants offering favourites like Spaghetti and Pizza. There is an ongoing debate here between Italians and Chinese as to whose food is the best in the world. These debates can get really lively especially when the Chinese claim that they invented Spaghetti as Marco Polo "stole" the recipe during his travels to China! The music festival lasted the whole week and on the day I went, a lovely warm Saturday, it was dedicated to folk music from the city of Lecce - which on a map of Italy is the "heel" of the "boot". I really enjoyed the live music and wasn't alone. Hundreds of Chinese people including lots of families came from all over Beijing to watch, listen and dance to the lively rhythms of Lecce. Beijingers really have a great enthusiasm and appreciation for live music.

Beer garden
Due to its large population of foreign students, Wu Dao Kou is proving to be a fantastic place to watch the World Cup. The best spot is called the "Beer Garden" which is an outside bar, selling cheap beer (4Yuan a pint) and a delicious selection of food including Muslim Kebabs (from the Chinese Muslim province of Xing Jiang), fried rice (chao3 fan4) and chips (shu4 tiao2). The bar covers a huge space complete with tables, chairs and a huge screen on which the World Cup games are shown. Due to the time-difference in Asia (ya4 Zhou1), most of the games are shown late at night with the first game starting at 9pm and the last game starting at 3am! This fact however has not stopped the beer garden for filling up to "standing room only" proportions, and me and my friends usually have to get there an hour before each game just to get a seat. In fact the front few tables are now only availably by reservation.

Great atmosphere
During games the atmosphere (qi4 fen1) is quite fantastic as students from all over the world cheer on their respective teams. There are loads of Germans, Italians, Mexicans, Brazilians, Japanese, Africans, Swedes, Koreans and of course English out-here so it really has a special feel. In addition the Chinese have a great passion for the World Cup and the country is totally caught up in World Cup fever. This is particularly impressive especially as the Chinese team didn't qualify. Yet still, men, women and children all have interest in the likes of 'Ballack, Beckham, Henry and Ronaldhino.

Korean fans
Last week after Koreas 2-1 victory against Togo there was a huge celebration in Wu Dao Kou, with delighted Korean fans (han2 guo2 qiu2 mi2) taking to the streets, wearing their national red colours, flags in hand. The local Chinese police (jing3 cha2) however were not impressed and so Korean games were banned from being screened at the beer garden. To my knowledge the celebrations were all good natured and really helped bring the World Cup to Beijing, so I was a bit disappointed by this decision. Korea have since been knocked out of the competition, so I'm sure the local police are breathing a sigh of relief.

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Wed, 19 Jul 2006 15:08:06 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17931.shtml meugler, meaning "to moo". I was in hysterics as my friends debated whether French cows say meugle instead of "moo"! :o)

Editor's note: In fact, the French cows say meuh!!!]]> Wed, 19 Jul 2006 09:41:04 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17927.shtml doof, meaning "stupid" or "daft", as it is an abrupt, to-the-point word that just seems so appropriate! Another word which I find funny is stutzig, meaning "puzzled". When I see or hear this word I always get a mental picture of someone looking politely perplexed!]]> Wed, 19 Jul 2006 09:41:04 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17926.shtml Das Hobby, das darin besteht, verschiedene Zugtypen zu sehen (literally "The hobby which involves seeing many types of train") - I've never forgotten that to this day!]]> Wed, 19 Jul 2006 02:40:41 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17923.shtml Taisez-vous ! ("Be quiet!"), with a surprised expression and a quick Excusez-moi ? ("Excuse me, I'm sorry") from my teacher, I was left confused, as it seemed I had offended her. Straight away it came to me, what I was meant to say was, à vos souhaits ("bless you"). After turning a slight shade of red I replied with a small, euh... je suis désolé. ("Er... I'm sorry") I knew I was forgiven when my teacher quipped, pas grave ! ("it doesn't matter") and laughed it off.]]> Wed, 19 Jul 2006 00:10:40 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17922.shtml Qu'est-ce que tu veux me faire ? thinking I was asking her what she wanted me to do. In fact, not yet having grasped the notion of the subjunctive (I should have said Qu'est-ce que tu veux que je fasse ?). I had asked her : 'What do you want to do to me?' She went red, giggled and kindly corrected me. Problem was, I'd asked the same question every morning for 5 months and she was the first to put me right.]]> Tue, 18 Jul 2006 23:30:54 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17920.shtml chocolate con churros. Instead I asked for chocolate con burros, chocolate with donkeys - twice before the barman corrected me.]]> Tue, 18 Jul 2006 22:41:10 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17919.shtml préservatif around my throat. It took some time before someone explained to me that préservatif meant condom - around my neck!!!]]> Tue, 18 Jul 2006 22:31:07 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17917.shtml plus belle, more beautiful. This bewildered and non-French speaking Englishman tried to understand what they were trying to say by repeating it back, C'est poubelle ? Lots of finger pointing at a rubbish bin, whilst saying poubelle, and a female companion, saying plus belle, soon put me right.]]> Tue, 18 Jul 2006 15:41:05 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17914.shtml bien cuit ! was met with bemused looks from the French pair. Bien cuit means "well done" in the context of cooking meat!]]> Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:10:45 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17912.shtml Así está mejor, estoy muy caliente. He backed away. A week later I realised I 'd said: "That's better, I'm really randy" rather than "I'm so hot".

Editor’s note: Caliente means hot when applied to objects, when applied to people it means randy. To say you're hot, you say tengo calor.]]> Sat, 15 Jul 2006 00:50:34 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17905.shtml Der Potsdamer Postkutscher putzt den Potsdamer Postkutschkasten. Meaning, 'The potsdam mail coachman polishes the Potsdam mailcoach'.]]> Fri, 14 Jul 2006 22:50:57 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17904.shtml antico. I wondered why everyone around the table burst into laughter. Later I found out I called him an 'antique'!]]> Thu, 13 Jul 2006 12:01:42 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17900.shtml ¿Prefiere un casado frío o caliente? My student was surprised by the offer but quickly replied, No gracias los prefiero solteros. A casado is the special of the day at Costa Rican restaurants. We had a good laugh, and throughout the trip called the meals solteros!!]]> Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:41:10 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17895.shtml Baden Württemberg, is now completely fluent in the German language but, in earlier days, she was puzzled by certain yearly celebrations, namely Froh Leichnam, literally meaning 'happy corpse'. She knew that Leichnam was a corpse but could not understand why an inanimate body should be "happy" - or froh. Eventually curiosity got the better of her and she, reluctantly, queried the reason for this deceased joviality. Amid peals of laughter - and startled expressions of surprise - she was informed that the German people were celebrating FRONLEICHNAM - the Feast of Corpus Christi.]]> Sat, 08 Jul 2006 16:01:29 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17892.shtml trucha, from the menu, except in his accent it sounded more like chucha (the C-word in Peru) which would explain why the waitress was so shocked and embarrassed.]]> Wed, 05 Jul 2006 13:51:00 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17847.shtml Sommersprossen - freckles, literally summer germination, also Flitterwochen which has to be the best word for honeymoon, meaning 'fluttering weeks'. Krankenwagen means exactly what it is: sick person's car, 'ambulance'.]]> Sat, 01 Jul 2006 11:50:31 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200607/17842.shtml Ich bin zweisprachig aufgebracht. They looked at me very funny, then explained (in a tone of careful patronisation) that being aufgebracht actually means being angry. What I should have said was Ich bin zweisprachig aufgewachsen; I grew up bilingually. So much for that statement! But they still said I had good pronunciation :-).]]> Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:50:28 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17839.shtml sono inglese, non capisco. We visited an activity park where there were lots of Italian school children. He later told me he startled a child who wanted to play by saying solo inglese, non pesco, meaning something along the lines of "only English, I do not fish".]]> Wed, 28 Jun 2006 21:30:38 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17834.shtml connard laqué. The waiter looked puzzled at first then giggled. My husband had asked for a fried crispy stupid person. Instead he should have said canard, which means "duck".]]> Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:31:40 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17826.shtml manzanilla. However we ordered a manzanilla in one bar and wondered why it took them so long to pour a glass of sherry. They bought out a herbal infusion elaborately prepared in a glass teapot. It turns out that manzanilla is also a herbal tea. Why they assumed we wanted tea rather than sherry I don't know - maybe because we're English!]]> Mon, 26 Jun 2006 13:51:24 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17818.shtml Schützenfest, a local celebration with tents and loud oompah music. The big tent was very crowded and finally we found some table space across from some young ladies. After many beers we were starting to get real friendly with the girls and I was particularly attracted to the cute girl in front of me. In my tipsy state my confidence in my German was increasing by leaps and bounds. I wanted to jump over to her side of the table so above the blaring music I blurted out loudly Ich möchte dich bespringen! The girls laughed uncontrollably and told me what I had said was "I want to jump on top of you!", also a rude way of saying "I want to have sex with you". What I should have said was Ich will zu dir hinüberspringen!]]> Mon, 26 Jun 2006 01:40:30 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17816.shtml
Italian culture in Beijing
With the World Cup (shi4 jie4 bei1) starting, there has been a great interest in world culture in Beijing of late and recently I went with some friends to an Italian cultural music festival in Chao Yang Park. There are not many parks in Beijing and most of them charge an admission fee (men2 piao4) of about 10-20Yuan. Beijing has a large Italian contingent, most of whom are working and studying Chinese and there are loads of Italian restaurants offering favourites like Spaghetti and Pizza. There is an ongoing debate here between Italians and Chinese as to whose food is the best in the world. These debates can get really lively especially when the Chinese claim that they invented Spaghetti as Marco Polo "stole" the recipe during his travels to China! The music festival lasted the whole week and on the day I went, a lovely warm Saturday, it was dedicated to folk music from the city of Lecce - which on a map of Italy is the "heel" of the "boot". I really enjoyed the live music and wasn't alone. Hundreds of Chinese people including lots of families came from all over Beijing to watch, listen and dance to the lively rhythms of Lecce. Beijingers really have a great enthusiasm and appreciation for live music.

Beer garden
Due to its large population of foreign students, Wu Dao Kou is proving to be a fantastic place to watch the World Cup. The best spot is called the "Beer Garden" which is an outside bar, selling cheap beer (4Yuan a pint) and a delicious selection of food including Muslim Kebabs (from the Chinese Muslim province of Xing Jiang), fried rice (chao3 fan4) and chips (shu4 tiao2). The bar covers a huge space complete with tables, chairs and a huge screen on which the World Cup games are shown. Due to the time-difference in Asia (ya4 Zhou1), most of the games are shown late at night with the first game starting at 9pm and the last game starting at 3am! This fact however has not stopped the beer garden for filling up to "standing room only" proportions, and me and my friends usually have to get there an hour before each game just to get a seat. In fact the front few tables are now only availably by reservation.

Great atmosphere
During games the atmosphere (qi4 fen1) is quite fantastic as students from all over the world cheer on their respective teams. There are loads of Germans, Italians, Mexicans, Brazilians, Japanese, Africans, Swedes, Koreans and of course English out-here so it really has a special feel. In addition the Chinese have a great passion for the World Cup and the country is totally caught up in World Cup fever. This is particularly impressive especially as the Chinese team didn't qualify. Yet still, men, women and children all have interest in the likes of 'Ballack, Beckham, Henry and Ronaldhino.

Korean fans
Last week after Koreas 2-1 victory against Togo there was a huge celebration in Wu Dao Kou, with delighted Korean fans (han2 guo2 qiu2 mi2) taking to the streets, wearing their national red colours, flags in hand. The local Chinese police (jing3 cha2) however were not impressed and so Korean games were banned from being screened at the beer garden. To my knowledge the celebrations were all good natured and really helped bring the World Cup to Beijing, so I was a bit disappointed by this decision. Korea have since been knocked out of the competition, so I'm sure the local police are breathing a sigh of relief.

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Sun, 25 Jun 2006 14:44:02 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17930.shtml un dedo (a finger) from home instead of un dado (a dice). Yes, they laughed and luckily none of them brought a finger.]]> Mon, 19 Jun 2006 15:00:57 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17801.shtml chien is chienne, 'dog', and a puppy is chiot, she proudly announced to our neighbours that she was so excited finally to have a chiotte of her own. They, of course, were highly amused because chiottes is a rather vulgar word for 'loo'.]]> Sun, 18 Jun 2006 16:50:34 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17800.shtml Sun, 18 Jun 2006 09:50:29 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17799.shtml exiter must mean "to go out." (It doesn't!) He began yelling exiter, exiter as loud as he could. The word excité in French has a completely different meaning, "excited" or "aroused", and any French person who heard him certainly gave him a wide berth. Finally my sister came searching for him, and died laughing when she heard what he was calling out.]]> Sat, 17 Jun 2006 19:21:12 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17798.shtml der Angstschweiß, cold sweat, or literally 'anguish sweat'.]]> Tue, 13 Jun 2006 13:50:40 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17793.shtml drei, three, drinks, just as I had asked.]]> Tue, 06 Jun 2006 05:01:12 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17775.shtml Poquito a poquito Paquito empaca poquitas copitas en pocos paquetes, bit by bit Paquito is packing some wine glasses in a few packages.]]> Mon, 05 Jun 2006 13:20:31 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17772.shtml Bevölkerung', population. He really meant to say 'due to Bewölkung', cloudiness.]]> Sun, 04 Jun 2006 10:40:29 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17770.shtml Je voudrais un sac de thé, pointing at the cup. People at the tables around began to laugh. It appears that I asked for a large bag of tea, not a tea bag. I should have asked for un sachet de thé.]]> Sat, 03 Jun 2006 23:10:50 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17768.shtml Fri, 02 Jun 2006 18:40:36 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17765.shtml m'a bien dégueulé (instead of engueulé) for coming late. Her reaction made sure that I never again confused dégueuler - to vomit and engueuler - to give a loud ticking off.]]> Fri, 02 Jun 2006 17:10:49 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17763.shtml Die Sonne schneit. She just looked at me and laughed. I meant to say: Die Sonne scheint which means 'the sun is shining' instead of 'the sun is snowing'. In my defence those words sound very much alike ...]]> Fri, 02 Jun 2006 05:50:24 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200606/17761.shtml Seitensprung, which in German means to have an affair!]]> Wed, 31 May 2006 14:30:39 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17749.shtml si4 shi2 si4 ge shi2 shi1 zi (phonetically: sih shr sih guh shr shr zuh). It means forty-four stone lions!]]> Sun, 28 May 2006 18:01:11 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17740.shtml pour mon frère, j'achète une jupe rouge, 'for my brother I buy a red skirt', popped into my head. After my teacher roared with laughter, I corrected the mistake, making it clear that my brother wasn't actually a skirt-wearing tranvestite.]]> Sun, 28 May 2006 15:50:22 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17739.shtml Schweinestall)! She had her revenge a few weeks later when we, along with a group of colleagues, wives and girlfriends, were in a restaurant and about to order. I was attempting to request that my meal included a green salad, but I could not remember the German word for 'lettuce'. I asked my girlfriend for help. She, mis-hearing my question, thought I had asked what the German word for 'letters' was and duly told me: Buchstaben. I then, much to the bafflement of the waitress, carefully asked for ein Buchstabensalat, a letters salad!]]> Sat, 27 May 2006 15:40:31 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17737.shtml j'ai mon passeport et un facteur. The receptionist started to laugh and said une facture (a bill). I had announced that I had my passport and a postman!]]> Thu, 25 May 2006 21:31:24 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17734.shtml Thu, 25 May 2006 10:11:20 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17732.shtml Wed, 24 May 2006 13:30:30 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17728.shtml Wenn mein Onkel keinen Bart hätte, wäre er meine Tante. Literally translated this means: If my uncle didn't have a moustache, he'd be my auntie, in the sense of: If the beggar had a horse, he'd ride out of town. Unfortunately I didn't say Tante, but Tunte, which is slang for a homosexual instead!]]> Sat, 20 May 2006 19:10:34 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17719.shtml muñeca. I couldn't understand why there was a big deal over a broken dolly - until I found out it's also the word for wrist.]]> Wed, 17 May 2006 17:20:26 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17712.shtml ¿Quiere usted cerrar la escotilla? - Would you close the port-hole?
¿Le apetecen angulas rebozadas? - How about some eels in batter?
Límpieme los zapatos. - Clean my shoes, will you?
And my favourite: ¿Cuánto cobran ustedes por la pension de los criados? - How much do you charge for servants' board and lodging?]]> Tue, 16 May 2006 22:00:58 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17708.shtml y menya golova kak kazan which means 'I have a head like a large saucepan', meaning, she explained, that she had a bad headache!]]> Mon, 15 May 2006 00:00:37 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17703.shtml Thu, 11 May 2006 18:10:27 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17677.shtml
The other day I realised that my diary, written from late 2002 to early 2005, was still there on the BBC languages website. Having re-read the last couple of entries I thought it might be una buena idea, a good idea, to add an update, just so you know I'm still here in spite of earlier doubts about how long I would stay.


Support from friends and family
I have been lucky enough to be supported by some great friends here as well as by friends and family in the UK, many of whom have been out to visit. There have been times, especially on the bad days, when I've seriously considered moving back to Bristol but I know that would not solve anything. Here I have the luxury of unas vistas preciosas, a beautiful view, un buen tiempo, good weather, and above all a busy social life during the day as well as in the evenings. It may not be the right place para siempre, for ever, and sometimes I do struggle with the claustrophobia of small town life. I try not to look too far ahead, just to the next visitors or the next plan to improve la casa y el jardín, the house and garden. After that who knows.

Three part-time jobs
In February last year I was hoping to find some work to keep me occupied. Well now I have three part-time jobs and am generally pretty busy. My main work is with a local web-based agencia inmobiliaria, estate agency. The boss Denise and I go out together to take the details of las nuevas propiedades inmobiliarias, properties, and then I write a description for the website. I really enjoy this as it helps me get to know the area, meet more people and occasionally practise my Spanish. As an added bonus, Denise and I get on really well and we make sure we fit in regular coffee and lunch breaks.

I also do some administrative work for a nearby country hotel that specialises in walking holidays. There couldn't be a more beautiful drive to work or more peaceful setting once I arrive. As I drive I often remember to compare it to my traffic bound commute in Bristol and feel very privileged to be here.

The third job is the weirdest but is actually more of a hobby. I mentioned in last year's update that Fred had started a band here in the village. This had involved us investing in a decent sound system which I initially thought I would need to sell. However I have started offering my services as a DJ and have amassed a range of mainly 60s and 70s music and put on discos for friends and at various local venues. I would never have imagined myself doing such a thing but it's muy divertido, great fun.

Progress in cracking the language
As far as learning the language is concerned I think I'm beginning to make progress at last. For the first year or so after Fred died I didn't make any effort but since Christmas I've been having private weekly conversation lessons and I love it. I have enough grounding in grammar to get by but realised I lacked confidence to speak. Charlamos un poco, we chat a little, for an hour and learn some grammar along the way when necessary. It's done wonders for my confidence and although my Spanish is still basic I feel able to cope with most situations and no longer have to translate from English to Spanish in my head before I speak.

Feline friends
My companions at home are dos bonitos gatos, two beautiful cats - a ginger male and a black female who is ready to give birth any day now. I wasn't sure how old she was and by the time I took her to the vet it was too late. I'm just sorry I'll have to leave the kittens in the care of friends when I go to Seattle to visit my son and his family next month. I already have offers of homes for them and no doubt I'll be tempted to keep one.

Returning happiness
So that's how my life is going nearly two years after it was turned upside down so unexpectedly. Progress is slow and often unpredictable but I am getting stronger as time passes and even feel happy some of the time. Again I'd like to thank all the people who have taken the time to send messages of support via the website - I am touched by them all. Thank you.]]> Thu, 11 May 2006 16:12:26 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17676.shtml
The weather is getting pretty nice again here which means that lots of people are out playing football. Organised football is extremely popular in Beijing and there are many amateur 11-a-side teams. Most universities have a full size football pitch (zu2 qiu2 chang3) and there are often full size and 5-a-side pitches at the many sports centres spotted around the capital. Many of these amateur teams have been playing together since school and I'm told many Chinese guys join the teams as a way of staying in touch with old classmates. Although most matches are 'friendlies', games are taken very seriously and include a referee (cai2 pan4) and two linesmen. The pitch rental and match officials are paid for by both teams, usually costing around 500 Yuan (£33) per team.

Fighting football
Perhaps because of the close relationship between the players or the competitive nature of the games, fighting between teams is not uncommon. In fact I remember talking to a Singaporean guy studying in Beijing who was also a part-time referee. He had refereed games in England and told me that amateur football matches in Beijing were less physical than in the UK but much more likely to erupt in pitch brawls. On first hearing this I was sceptical, but having played in and watched many amateur games in Beijing, I've witnessed quite a few fights. I'm not sure why this phenomenon occurs, but it doesn't happen in other sports like basketball which is also widely played. Perhaps what makes this even more strange is that many of the names of the Chinese teams do not even remotely suggest ill feeling of any kind. For instance we've played against teams called the 'Friendly Weekend Football Club', 'Pork Bun Vendors' and even 'Happy Rabbits' (kuai4 le4 tu4 zi).

The Beijing Scorpions
Last year I joined an amateur football team called the Beijing Scorpions (xie1 zi). This was a team founded by James, a Canadian and Pei Ping Yang, a native Beijinger. Both are obsessive about football and more than a little eccentric, especially Pei Ping Yang. Pei Ping Yang - PPY for short - speaks English really well and is a university graduate (da4 xue2 bi4 ye4 le). Curiously, his self-given job title is 'professional lottery player' which he says is his full-time occupation. Like in England, China has a national lottery in which hopeful participants can win millions of RMB every week for the price of a 2 Yuan ticket (cai3 piao4). Every day PPY meticulously studies past lottery results and devises top-secret mathematical formulas in the hopes of winning the jack-pot. Needless to say we are still waiting for him to strike it lucky. But good luck (jia1 you2) to you PPY, certainly one of the most colourful characters I've met in China.

Year of the Dog football tournament
Last weekend we played in a two day 8-a-side 'Year of the Dog' football tournament which James organised after weeks of hard work. Three foreign teams and three Chinese teams were invited to participate (can1 jia1) in an event designed to promote friendship (you2 yi4) amongst Chinese and foreigners (wai4 guo2 ren2). The tournament was a huge success and played in a good-natured but competitive spirit. Each team played five games lasting 45 minutes in lovely spring Beijing weather. The Beijing Scorpions won the competition winning all of our games and playing some good football in the process - itself a testament to the fact that our team consists of players from all over the world including China, Kenya, Thailand, Canada, Korea and England.

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Fri, 05 May 2006 10:01:20 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17532.shtml
The weather is getting pretty nice again here which means that lots of people are out playing football. Organised football is extremely popular in Beijing and there are many amateur 11-a-side teams. Most universities have a full size football pitch (zu2 qiu2 chang3) and there are often full size and 5-a-side pitches at the many sports centres spotted around the capital. Many of these amateur teams have been playing together since school and I'm told many Chinese guys join the teams as a way of staying in touch with old classmates. Although most matches are 'friendlies', games are taken very seriously and include a referee (cai2 pan4) and two linesmen. The pitch rental and match officials are paid for by both teams, usually costing around 500 Yuan per team.

Fighting football
Perhaps because of the close relationship between the players or the competitive nature of the games, fighting between teams is not uncommon. In fact I remember talking to a Singaporean guy studying in Beijing who was also a part-time referee. He had refereed games in England and told me that amateur football matches in Beijing were less physical than in the UK but much more likely to erupt in pitch brawls. On first hearing this I was sceptical, but having played in and watched many amateur games in Beijing, I've witnessed quite a few fights. I'm not sure why this phenomenon occurs, but it doesn't happen in other sports like basketball which is also widely played. Perhaps what makes this even more strange is that many of the names of the Chinese teams do not even remotely suggest ill feeling of any kind. For instance we've played against teams called the 'Friendly Weekend Football Club', 'Pork Bun Vendors' and even 'Happy Rabbits' (kuai4 le4 tu4 zi).

The Beijing Scorpions
Last year I joined an amateur football team called the Beijing Scorpions (xie1 zi). This was a team founded by James, a Canadian and Pei Ping Yang, a native Beijinger. Both are obsessive about football and more than a little eccentric, especially Pei Ping Yang. Pei Ping Yang - PPY for short - speaks English really well and is a university graduate (da4 xue2 bi4 ye4 le). Curiously, his self-given job title is 'professional lottery player' which he says is his full-time occupation. Like in England, China has a national lottery in which hopeful participants can win millions of RMB every week for the price of a 2 Yuan ticket (cai3 piao4). Every day PPY meticulously studies past lottery results and devises top-secret mathematical formulas in the hopes of winning the jack-pot. Needless to say we are still waiting for him to strike it lucky. But good luck (jia1 you2) to you PPY, certainly one of the most colourful characters I've met in China.

Year of the Dog football tournament
Last weekend we played in a two day 8-a-side 'Year of the Dog' football tournament which James organised after weeks of hard work. Three foreign teams and three Chinese teams were invited to participate (can1 jia1) in an event designed to promote friendship (you2 yi4) amongst Chinese and foreigners (wai4 guo2 ren2). The tournament was a huge success and played in a good-natured but competitive spirit. Each team played five games lasting 45 minutes in lovely spring Beijing weather. The Beijing Scorpions won the competition winning all of our games and playing some good football in the process - itself a testament to the fact that our team consists of players from all over the world including China, Kenya, Thailand, Canada, Korea and England.

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Fri, 05 May 2006 10:00:18 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17531.shtml Est-ce que vous regretterez vos jours à l'université ? Immediately, I replied with an emphatic: Non. I was a little surprised to see the look on the examiner's face as she asked: Pourquoi ? Then it clicked - regretter in French doesn't always mean 'to regret' but can also mean 'to look back' which it does in this context. Fortunately I was able reply along the lines of 'one should never ever look back' which seemed to be acceptable. I passed the exam!]]> Tue, 02 May 2006 13:30:26 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17391.shtml ¿Me cobra, por favor?, can I pay, please?, he asked: ¿Me compras, por favor?, will you buy me, please?]]> Mon, 01 May 2006 09:50:21 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200605/17351.shtml Sun, 30 Apr 2006 20:10:25 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/17331.shtml heiliges Wasser. The hairdresser was a little shocked and muttered something about crazy English people until I explained to him that she meant heißes Wasser, hot water, and not heiliges Wasser, holy water. I have never let her live it down!]]> Sat, 29 Apr 2006 18:00:45 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/17311.shtml Tre tigri contro tre tigri. Trentatré tigri contro trentatré tigri. Three tigers against three tigers. Thirty-three tigers against thirty-three tigers.
Sopra la panca la capra campa, sotto la panca la capra crepa. On the bench the goat lives, under the bench the goat dies.]]> Fri, 28 Apr 2006 10:10:27 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/17252.shtml ... je me suis trempée. At least he got a good laugh. I meant to say, ... je me suis trompée. I've made a mistake and instead I'd chosen the wrong vowel and written, 'I've dipped myself'. And so I had.]]> Tue, 25 Apr 2006 14:20:26 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/17190.shtml mon mari a 48 ans. Later on the train in France, the conductor came to collect the tickets while I had taken our son to the toilet. I understood the conductor's puzzled look when I returned and discovered my husband had told him, mon mari a les billets, my husband has the tickets.]]> Sat, 22 Apr 2006 03:00:31 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/17149.shtml Fri, 21 Apr 2006 05:00:30 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/17109.shtml Apelle, figlio di Apollo, fece una palla di pelle di pollo i tutti i pesci venirono a galla, per vedere la palla di pelle di pollo fatta da Apelle, figlio di Apollo.
Apelle, son of Apollo, made a ball of chicken skin and all the fish rose to the surface to see the ball of chicken skin made by Apelle, son of Apollo.]]> Thu, 20 Apr 2006 16:50:26 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/17089.shtml minuit and minute. You can imagine her expression when I asked if the paella was going to take twenty 'midnights'!]]> Thu, 20 Apr 2006 16:00:23 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/17069.shtml Klara ukrala u Karla Korally, a Karl u Klary ukral klarnet. Clara has stolen corals from Carl, and Carl has stolen a clarinet from Clara.
Na dvore - trava, na trave - drova, ne rubi drova na trave dvora. There is grass in the garden, there is firewood on the grass, don't cut firewood on the grass of the garden.
The next one is sometimes considered to be childish since it is much simpler:
Yekhal Greka tcherez reku, vidit Greka v reke rak; sunul Greka ruku v reku, rak za ruku Greku tsap. Greka was walking across the river, Greka saw a lobster in the river; Greka put his hand in the river, and the lobster snatched Greka's hand.]]> Thu, 20 Apr 2006 12:20:38 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/17049.shtml Thu, 20 Apr 2006 11:00:35 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/17029.shtml Pas de frites, after which he went on to order pas de frites, s'il vous plaît. And that's exactly what he got. The lady behind the counter gesticulated rather crossly that she served 'no fries'.]]> Mon, 17 Apr 2006 05:00:15 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/16908.shtml piscine actually means swimming pool. Once I had to send a letter to a parent to confirm it.]]> Fri, 14 Apr 2006 12:10:38 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/16868.shtml Mir ist schlecht, I'm not well, and Ich bin krank, I'm ill, and ended up saying: Ich bin Schrank - meaning 'I'm a wardrobe'! I didn't have time to see their faces as I dashed out!]]> Thu, 13 Apr 2006 22:50:36 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/16848.shtml If you can't make certain sounds, decide on a precise way to approximate them and use the approximation rigorously.
One excellent way to improve pronunciation is of course the obvious listening to tapes and repeating. You'd be surprised how poorly we hear our own voices, so I highly recommend recording yourself and comparing the recordings of yourself to the native speaker. Another good method for learning good pronounciation is a trick all babies know and we adults forget: baby talk. The trick is to just combine a bunch of vowels and consonants from the language without any sense or syntax or meaning. Divide and conquer: this is the best way to approach a new language. Sitting in your room saying 'goo goo ga ga bonjour' might seem a little silly at first, but it works.]]> Tue, 11 Apr 2006 18:10:44 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/16728.shtml poco in Italian. The trouble is she mispronounced poco adding an 'r', so what she actually said to my boyfriend's father over and over again was: porco, porco every time he offered her some more food. Porco in Italian means 'pig'!]]> Sun, 09 Apr 2006 14:50:27 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/16609.shtml no sea maldita!, and the entire family gasped in shock as I've said 'don't be damned'. Later I realized that I had been trying to tell her, no sea malita, which is the Ecuadorian equivalent of 'don't be a poor sport'.]]> Sun, 09 Apr 2006 01:30:21 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/16607.shtml Sat, 08 Apr 2006 22:50:20 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/16588.shtml Thu, 06 Apr 2006 19:40:30 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200604/16567.shtml Fri, 31 Mar 2006 15:01:13 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200603/16386.shtml
I have started the new spring semester and am really enjoying it. The level is much harder and I finally find myself in a class where I am the only English speaking man. It seems that at the higher levels Western students generally give up and go back home (hui2 guo2)! Most of my class now consists of Korean and Japanese students - so when we communicate it has to be in Chinese. I'm really happy about this as it means that I will have no choice but to practise my Mandarin. The downside is that my classmates are really good at writing characters, so I stand out as being pretty bad though this is a trade-off I'm willing to accept. Most days after class I go home and go through the next day's lesson or prepare (zhun3 bei4) for the upcoming dictation (ting1 xie3).

My life now bears little resemblance to a few months ago when I was a less than a model student enjoying the colourful Wu Dao Kou nightlife. In fact now I'm quite the nerd. In class I sit next to a Korean dude with glasses and we talk in Chinese about the previous night's homework! I've noticed that many Korean students here enrol at more than one college or university. When one class is over they get ready to take another class somewhere else. This is all in preparation for the Chinese HSK (han4 yu3 shui3 ping2 kao3 shi) exam. The HSK is the Chinese language proficiency test equivalent to the TOEFL. I'm told that it carries some weight in Korea and Japan, but the study-load seems torturous! I might take it in the future but for now I don't quite feel ready and I'm not sure if it is recognised in the UK yet.

Language learning Chinese style

Classes are very much taught in the 'Chinese style' which means that most of the time we focus on memorising texts (ke4 wen2). We usually read through a text, quickly answer some comprehension questions and then are given a few minutes to memorise the text in its entirety. The teacher will then go around the class and make us recite it word for word. Generally, I'm the worst performer at these excercises mainly because I'm just not used to this kind of learning. In spite of or possibly even because of this my Chinese is indeed improving (you3 jin4 bu4) and I'm feeling more confident than ever before.

Having taken a CELTA course (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) a couple of years ago I've come to realise that the Chinese teachers in China do exactly what we were told not to do when teaching a language. In class we mostly listen to the teachers go throught the text 'lecture style' meaning that during lessons 'student talk time' is pretty limited. This means it is vitally important to seek out language partners (yu3 ban4) outside of class time. Language partners provide the necessary spoken Chinese practise lacking from actual lessons. Learning partners are easy to find as many Chinese students at the university are really keen to learn English. At the moment I have two and they are both delightful people and really helpful. It is also really popular for students here to hire private tutors (fu3 dao3 lao3 shi1). These tutors are usually Chinese students training to be teachers. The price is usually 20-30yuan an hour and it is a popular supplement to classroom learning.

Hot pot!
I recently spent my 31st birthday (sheng1 ri4) in China and celebrated by eating my favourite kind of Chinese food - hot pot (huo3 guo1). In Beijing, hot pot is popular during the autumn and winter months. It's basically a large pot with boiling soup with dishes of thinly sliced meat and vegetables. The meat is then added to the soup and because is so thinly sliced it cooks within minutes. The cooked meat and veg can then be eaten and dipped in the delicous (ma2 jiang4) sesame sauce. It's a really social kind of eating experience and encourgages conversation as you wait for the food to cook. Cooking the meat and stiring the soup while sitting around a huge boiling pot is also strangely therapeutic ...]]> Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:21:24 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200603/16168.shtml
I have started the new spring semester and I'm really enjoying it. The level is much harder and I finally find myself in a class where I'm the only English speaking man. It seems that at the higher levels, Western students generally give up and go back home (hui2 guo2). Most of my class now consists of Korean and Japanese students - so when we communicate it has to be in Chinese. I'm really happy about this as it means that I will have no choice but to practise my Mandarin. The downside is that my classmates are really good at writing characters, so I stand out as being pretty bad, though this is a trade-off I'm willing to accept. Most days after class I go home and go through the next day's lesson or prepare (zhun3 bei4) for the upcoming dictation (ting1 xie3).

My life now bears little resemblance to a few months ago when I was a less than a model student enjoying the colourful Wu Dao Kou nightlife. In fact now I'm quite the nerd. In class I sit next to a Korean dude with glasses and we talk in Chinese about the previous night's homework! I've noticed that many Korean students here enrol at more than one college or university. When one class is over they get ready to take another class somewhere else. This is all in preparation for the Chinese HSK (han4 yu3 shui3 ping2 kao3 shi) exam. The HSK is the Chinese language proficiency test equivalent to the TOEFL. I'm told that it carries some weight in Korea and Japan, but the study-load seems torturous! I might take it in the future but for now I don't quite feel ready and I'm not sure if it is recognised in the UK yet.

Language learning Chinese style
Classes are very much taught in the 'Chinese style' which means that most of the time we focus on memorising texts (ke4 wen2). We usually read through a text, quickly answer some comprehension questions and then are given a few minutes to memorise the text in its entirety. The teacher will then go around the class and make us recite it word for word. Generally, I'm the worst performer at these excercises mainly because I'm just not used to this kind of learning. In spite of, or possibly even because of this, my Chinese is indeed improving (you3 jin4 bu4) and I'm feeling more confident than ever before.

Having taken a CELTA course (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) a couple of years ago I've come to realise that the Chinese teachers in China do exactly what we were told not to do when teaching a language. In class we mostly listen to the teachers go throught the text 'lecture style' meaning that during lessons 'student talk time' is pretty limited. This means it is vitally important to seek out language partners (yu3 ban4) outside of class time. Language partners provide the necessary spoken Chinese practise lacking from actual lessons. Learning partners are easy to find as many Chinese students at the university are really keen to learn English. At the moment I have two and they are both delightful people and really helpful. It is also really popular for students here to hire private tutors (fu3 dao3 lao3 shi1). These tutors are usually Chinese students training to be teachers. The price is usually 20-30yuan an hour and it is a popular supplement to classroom learning.

Hot pot!
I recently spent my 31st birthday (sheng1 ri4) in China and celebrated by eating my favourite kind of Chinese food - hot pot (huo3 guo1). In Beijing, hot pot is popular during the autumn and winter months. It's basically a large pot with boiling soup with dishes of thinly sliced meat and vegetables. The meat is then added to the soup and because is so thinly sliced it cooks within minutes. The cooked meat and veg can then be eaten and dipped in the delicious sesame sauce (ma2 jiang4). It's a really social kind of eating experience and encourgages conversation as you wait for the food to cook. Cooking the meat and stiring the soup while sitting around a huge boiling pot is also strangely therapeutic ...

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:19:14 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200603/16167.shtml Gefeliciteerd. Dikke trut, which I thought meant 'Congratulation. Big kiss'. When my friend read what I wrote, she asked me why I called her mum 'a fat tart'. I was meant to write tut, kiss, and not trut, tart. What one letter makes a difference in meaning! We all still laugh about this.]]> Mon, 27 Mar 2006 01:50:31 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200603/16145.shtml Fri, 24 Mar 2006 11:50:35 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200603/16125.shtml älg ätare not an alg ätare. The guy in the shop was very nice, seeing as I'd tried to ask for an 'algae eater' but actually asked for a 'moose eater'. I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd brought out a shark!]]> Mon, 20 Mar 2006 06:50:24 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200603/15965.shtml -en, for example: Blume, flower, and Blumen, flowers, ... so the girl described how she had missed several 'buses' on her way to the event. So, the German for bus is Bus but if you add the -en you get Busen which means 'breasts'! Somehow, I've never forgotten that one.]]> Thu, 16 Mar 2006 11:30:29 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200603/15845.shtml Tue, 14 Mar 2006 23:50:41 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200603/15765.shtml Learning German was a challenge for someone who didn't even have an O level in a foreign language, and who was convinced she couldn't "do" languages, but I love the challenge, and after just six months fairly intensive coaching in England before coming here, I was thrown into speaking, writing and reading German on a daily basis. At first every little achievement gave me a real buzz - even something as simple as buying a railcard.
There is quite a big difference between West and the former East Germany. I find people over here very friendly, and there is a real sense of community, although they are not so used to hearing foreign accents as in West Germany.
Living abroad has helped me to grow immeasurably as a person and is something I would recommend to anyone. Not to say there aren't things I miss about the UK, but being away has perhaps helped to appreciate them! Macht's gut!]]> Mon, 13 Mar 2006 16:30:38 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200603/15725.shtml El arzobispo de Constantinopla se quiere desarzobisconstantinopolitanizar. El desarzobisconstantinopolitanizador que lo desarzobisconstantinopolitanice, buen desarzobisconstantinopolitanizador será.
The archbishop of Constantinople wants to be un-archbishop-constantinopolized. Whoever un-archbishop-constantinopolizes him, a good un-archbishop-constantinopolizer will be.]]> Fri, 10 Mar 2006 23:20:34 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200603/15666.shtml ¡Amante - callate!. The rest of the class burst out laughing as I had just yelled 'Lover - be quiet!' to a 12 year old in the back row.]]> Fri, 03 Mar 2006 13:51:28 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200603/15384.shtml yau lok which I always thought meant 'next stop'. I later found out it means 'buy oil', or at least the way I was saying it, it did. I always wondered about those funny looks from my fellow passengers ...]]> Wed, 01 Mar 2006 22:40:40 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200603/15204.shtml Ich habe Hunger in German means 'Im hungry' in English, but is literally 'I have hunger'. If you think of it as 'I have hunger' when you are in the early stages of learning the language it will come much more naturally. This principle applies to all languages.]]> Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:50:34 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200602/15144.shtml During my first week of work, I was asked: Was ist du? I stared blankly for a while. Being that the sentence was actually very basic, I understood the words, but also realised that they made no real sense: 'What is you?' My colleague repeated the sentence so I hesitantly replied: Ande. After some amusement she explained that she had said: Was isst du?, what do want to you eat, from essen, to eat. Only one 's' more!]]> Sat, 25 Feb 2006 16:40:36 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200602/15124.shtml hummer means 'lobster'!]]> Mon, 13 Feb 2006 18:50:29 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200602/14563.shtml Elle est d'Inde which sounds just like: Elle est dinde, she's turkey. My friend had a good laugh at my expense!]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2006 20:50:29 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200602/14545.shtml Non, merci. Je suis finis. The waiter laughed, and made clear to me, by crossing his hands across his chest and bowing his head, that what I had just said was: 'I'm going to die' or 'I'm finished' (professionally). To say 'I'm finished', the proper phrase was simply: J'ai fini.]]> Thu, 09 Feb 2006 15:10:50 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200602/14503.shtml ich habe einen Vogel, an idiom meaning 'I am crazy' - which my penfriend politely pointed out.]]> Wed, 08 Feb 2006 14:50:32 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200602/14443.shtml
My first Christmas (sheng4 dan4 jie2) spent in Beijing was pretty good, although I missed my friends and family from London. Most Chinese people I spoke to here thought Christmas was an interesting concept and were curious as to how we celebrated it in England. Like the English, Chinese people are lovers of tradition (chuang2 tong3) and I was asked if I would be hanging a stocking above my bed!

In Wu Dao Kou, lots of shops had Christmas decorations and waiters and waitresses wore Christmas themed uniforms. I was a surprised by the Christmassy feel to the area and at times it felt almost like home. It was when I ventured to areas outside of the foreign students' quarters that I realised the rest of the city was oblivious to it.
On Christmas Eve I had dinner with my classmates (tong2 xue2 men2) at a pizza café and on Christmas Day we went to a Japanese restaurant and had chicken steak. Not what I'd call a traditional Christmas but then China is not the place for a traditional Christmas.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day were a lively affair and there was a distinctive buzz around the place. I went with my classmates to the Tongan embassy in Beijing for a New Year's Eve party. I have to admit it all sounds rather random but I guess to studenty types like us that was part of the appeal. This season was certainly one of the most interesting and bizarre Christmas and New Years I've spent but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Chinese New Year
And there was more to celebrate - the Spring Festival (chun1 jie2), the biggest event in the Chinese calender (nong2 li4). The Spring Festival is to the Chinese like Christmas is to us. It's mainly a time when people go home and visit their families. This means that most of my Chinese friends who are studying in Beijing but are not actually from Beijing have gone home. It lasts about two weeks and it's common for shops to be closed for that time. During the Spring Festival Chinese people traditionally eat zhao3 zi. This is a kind of dumpling stuffed with meat or vegetables. It's very filling and very delicious.

Red (hong2 se4) is considered a lucky colour in China and there are lots of red posters outside of people's front doors. The posters are showing the character fu2 which means wealth and good fortune. It is usually hung upside down to represent wealth arriving (fu2 dao4 le) as the character appears like a jug pouring out all of its wealth to the home. Kids are especially happy at this time of year because their parents will give them red envelopes (hong2 bao4) containing money.

Working Life
Since my last entry my acting career hasn't exactly taken off, but I did film an advertisment (guang3 gao4) for a Chinese medicine (yao4). I acted as Brazillian guy who couldn't drink (he1 jiu3) or smoke (chou1 yan1) because he had a bad stomach-ache. After taking the medicine he becomes healthy again and can continue to ... er ... drink and smoke! Very strange but that's what the director wanted me to say. So for 500 yuan I signed my life away to film for two hours of pretty easy and fun work. I'm not so sure about the moral implications. I spoke in English so I'm sure my dialogue will later be dubbed into Chinese.

Acting aside there is usually a lot of English teaching work going around and I have turned down quite a few jobs since I've been here. I did however take a one-off Saturday job that involved travelling to a Beijing suburb (jiao1 qu1) and teaching English to a group of bank workers. This was really good fun and the work involved correcting pronunciation and playing English language games. The Chinese bankers were generally quite young and we had a lot of fun. It didn't feel like work at all and so I agreed to do it again.

Its been almost a year since I taught and not all of my memories of last year's teaching were good but I really enjoyed it this time. I was paid 700 yuan for the day and was not only treated to lunch with the rest of the bankers but also watched a performance given by a Chinese ethnic group. I was even cajuled into participating in a dance where I had to hop between moving bamboo sticks which is more dangerous (wei1 xian3) than it sounds!

Motivation
My Autumn/Winter course has just finished which means I have a four week holiday before it starts again. Lots of my friends in London tell me that my Chinese must be fluent now ... unfortunately it isn't. I wish it was but there's a long long way to go. I often ask myself why I decided to learn a language that takes a lifetime to learn and another lifetime to write. The answer is simple. In 2006 I can speak to 1.3 billion more people than I could two years ago.

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Tue, 07 Feb 2006 16:08:35 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200602/14402.shtml laufen which I always presumed meant 'to run'. However after looking like my heart had dropped the family laughed when I explained the loss of colour to my cheeks ... Now I know that laufen can also simply mean 'to walk'.]]> Mon, 30 Jan 2006 13:10:34 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/14140.shtml Dove sono i gamberetti?, where are the prawns? - only to be met with a confused look and certainly not the required directions to the toilets. The requested phrase was of course: Dove sono i gabinetti?]]> Sat, 28 Jan 2006 13:30:52 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/14120.shtml misir.]]> Sat, 28 Jan 2006 01:20:29 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/14119.shtml Scheißbuden ...]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:20:50 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/14059.shtml Répa, retek, mogyoró, korán reggel ritkán rikkant a rigó. Carrot, radish, peanut, blackbirds rarely cry out in the early morning.]]> Wed, 25 Jan 2006 22:30:31 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13982.shtml Nie wieder! which translates as 'Never again!' It was quite embarrassing, but I survived.]]> Wed, 25 Jan 2006 19:50:31 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13981.shtml la croissance du chômage, the increase in unemployment. My mother heard it as les croissants, le fromage. Every time I think about Jacques Chirac very seriously discussing croissants and cheese with his nation, it just makes me laugh. It does sound like something the French might be concerned about.]]> Wed, 25 Jan 2006 15:50:30 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13959.shtml Twee meisjes verdronken, which I imagined to be 'two girls drunk' and jumped to the conclusion that this meant they were worse for wear from drinking. I nudged my friend and laughed about 'kids today'. He looked stunned until he realised my mistake. The word wasn't gedronken (past tense of 'to drink') but verdronken, which means drowned. I felt terrible.]]> Wed, 25 Jan 2006 10:00:52 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13939.shtml une crème aux oeufs, egg cream. But what she actually said was creme des oiseaux, bird cream. The French people we were dining with looked a little horrified.]]> Wed, 25 Jan 2006 02:00:52 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13938.shtml Mon, 23 Jan 2006 11:50:41 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13878.shtml heerlijk ('he-er-leak') which means 'wonderful' in English. There's just something pleasing about that word!]]> Mon, 23 Jan 2006 11:40:29 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13858.shtml Mon, 23 Jan 2006 09:26:09 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13798.shtml caoutchouc, rubber! He looked puzzled for a moment, knitted his eyebrows then grinned and said: 'Wouldn't you prefer cacahuètes, peanuts? Needless to say, the answer was, Oui, s'il vous plaît.]]> Sun, 22 Jan 2006 16:30:17 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13779.shtml equipaje?', I enquired. Blank stares all round. Then one bright kid asked; 'Do you mean equipo?' I'd been asking them to name their favourite English 'luggage'!]]> Sun, 22 Jan 2006 16:20:14 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13778.shtml It has been a long struggle with so many stories about the pitfalls of buying through an agent who provided us with a Spanish lawyer, thus needing the agents to provide a translater all the time as we don't speak any Spanish yet. The lawyer turns out now to also be the family solicitor of the huge family that we have bought our finca off. He is now refusing to deal with us after such a long time. He now says it would be a conflict of interest as he works for the Spanish family that we are having boundary problems with.
The ongoing battle we have had with this local Spanish family. We have learnt so many valuable lessons whilst trying to buy our finca and it is true that you must never use the same solicitor as the people you are buying from. Always get a solicitor who speaks English. Always make sure you get a proper officially stamped copy from the local town hall showing your boundaries and the sizes of these boundaries and the size of your plot. If possible get fences up as soon as you can define these boundaries.
Our last trip left us amazed and frightened. The Spanish family has built an illegal house behind us on one of the remaining family plots. To gain access to this new building they have simply put a road on the edge of our land. Being friendly people we let this go, with the result that the road has got wider and wider. We came back to our finca to find that boundary posts have been moved and deep holes dug into our land to facilitate huge gate posts and a fence also on our land. When we challenged this by filling in the holes and place huge bolders on the original line of our boundary our new neighbours (part of the same family) came out screaming and shouting at us and the husband threatened to shoot my partner. And so it goes on and on. I hope this little snippet of our experiences may be of interest to others planning to make this move. We are trying to look on the bright side and hope that our problems with our boundaries and our Spanish neighbours will be resolved amicably. We are very much looking forward to retiring to the warmer climate and our peaceful little place in Spain.]]> Fri, 20 Jan 2006 11:30:16 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13658.shtml In French, 'batteries' is les piles.]]> Thu, 19 Jan 2006 10:50:15 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13598.shtml helado) in their drinks when I meant to ask for him not to give them ice cubes (los cubos del hielo)! I realized it later, though the waiter, politely, did not even blink at what I had said and he brought the glasses without ice or ice cream. The kids never let me forget that!]]> Thu, 19 Jan 2006 05:00:31 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13578.shtml Jesus está em nossa meia! and received a puzzled reaction from the congregation. He was trying to say, 'Jesus is in our midst' (Jesus está em nosso meio!), but instead it came out as, 'Jesus is in our sock!']]> Tue, 17 Jan 2006 11:00:23 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13438.shtml El perro de San Roque no tiene rabo porque Ramón Ramírez se lo ha cortado.
The dog of San Roque doesn't have a tail, because Ramon Ramirez has cut it off.]]> Fri, 13 Jan 2006 23:10:13 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13358.shtml Thu, 12 Jan 2006 13:20:12 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13278.shtml Rote Armee Fraktion, red army party, which was a German left-wing terrorist group in the 70s, 80s and 90s.]]> Wed, 11 Jan 2006 23:40:13 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13238.shtml Il vous plaît? and I answered: Oui, Il me plaît, lit. yes, it pleases me. Then he asked, et votre ami ?, and your friend? I answered: Oui, il me plaît, aussi, yes, he pleases me, too. He burst into laughter and went into the kitchen where I heard more laughter and the chef came out to look at our table, giggling. It took me all night to finally realize what I had said and then I had a good laugh. Tricky use of indirect pronouns!]]> Tue, 10 Jan 2006 23:50:10 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13219.shtml Mon, 09 Jan 2006 22:20:16 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13179.shtml el postre, the dessert. I wanted to order dos piñas, two pineapples, but it came out as dos niños, two children. Needless to say I didn't get my dessert.]]> Mon, 09 Jan 2006 15:10:15 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13158.shtml Gymnasium, grammar school, in Germany, I caused shock and then amusement with a class of thirteen year olds when I went to throw a piece of rubbish into the bin but missed. I only spoke English in class and as the paper flew past the bin onto the floor I said, 'Missed!' Unfortunately, the class thought I was speaking German and that I had said, Mist!, damn! Not what they expected from a polite Englishman!]]> Mon, 09 Jan 2006 08:50:12 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13118.shtml batería, drums, and batidora, mixer. She nearly wet herself imagining him playing it!]]> Thu, 05 Jan 2006 10:10:35 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/13038.shtml Tue, 03 Jan 2006 19:50:13 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/12981.shtml Tue, 03 Jan 2006 18:00:14 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/12980.shtml une douzaine des yeux, s'il vous plait. Of course what I really wanted were some eggs, but instead I had a dozen pairs of customers' 'eyes' looking at me, with the shopkeeper in fits of laughter!]]> Tue, 03 Jan 2006 17:50:13 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200601/12979.shtml sör?, beer? And me answering 'sure!' which sounded to my host father's ear just as sör: Beer? Beer!
A nice to note to self: a simple igen, yes, can save you wonderous confusion ... or possibly bring more on.]]> Sun, 25 Dec 2005 21:20:12 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200512/12878.shtml Wie geht's deiner Familie? Wir sind Geldstrafe. The dear child had looked up the word 'fine' in the dictionary. Not noticing the far more similar German word fein, the penfriend went for Geldstrafe instead.]]> Tue, 20 Dec 2005 07:10:15 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200512/12696.shtml Sun, 18 Dec 2005 23:40:11 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200512/12576.shtml Zwischen zwei Zwetschgenzweigen zwitschern zwei Zeisige.
In between two plum branches (Zwetschge = Bavarian for High German Pflaume, plum) twitter two siskins (siskin = a type of finch).]]> Fri, 16 Dec 2005 13:00:19 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200512/12535.shtml It is not enough to ask politicians to influence this 'from the top down' - only by speaking and learning endangered languages do we create a demand for eg. the teaching of native languages in schools. It is up to the individual to sit down and study, and to parents to instruct their children (or engage a private tutor), to lead by example and influence others to do the same, not to the state to dictate what languages we should speak.
Just a point of interest though: in the interest of communication amongst the different cultures which now make up Britain, might it be more appropriate to teach Arabic in schools rather than Welsh or Gaelic? Personally, I think there is scope to expose children to both!]]> Fri, 16 Dec 2005 12:50:12 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200512/12534.shtml
Last week (shang4 ge xing1 qi1) I was approached by a guy named Xiao Wang and asked if I was interested in being a paid extra in a Chinese TV programme. At BLCU, Western students are often approached by modeling agencies and film crews. Having studied film at university I naturally jumped at the chance. I was told that the shoot would last a whole day and would be filmed in Hui2 rong2 which is about an hour outside of Beijing by bus.

Too tall to be a doctor
When we arrived the next day, I was led through a maze of fake Chinese villages, ancient temple courtyards and 18th century mansions. When I got to the set I was greeted by two people from costume who looked me up and down in dismay before asking Xiao Wang why he had brought someone so tall (gao1)! I found out I was to play a doctor (yi1 sheng1) and was taken to a fitting room where I tried on various doctors outfits, all of which were too small (tai4 xiao3). I was told I'd have to play a French soldier instead. Luckily the French outfit fitted - just about - and was a colourful 19th century officer's uniform which actually looked quite good (ting3 hao3 kan4 de).
Two other foreigners filmed in the same episode. Zamen, from Sri Lanka and Kevin, a Frenchman. These guys spoke Chinese really well which was handy as hardly anyone on set spoke English!

Lost in accents
The film crew were from all over China, and I found it really difficult to understand all of their different accents. This was the first time I'd been exposed to so many different Mandarin accents at one time and for the first few hours I really struggled. Despite this I struck up a good relationship with the other Chinese extras who were playing the soldiers in my company. They were eager to know where I came from and why I was in China and if I thought Chinese women were beautiful (piao4 liang).

A speaking role
Having heard me speak Chinese to the extras the director decided to give me a line of dialogue! I was chuffed by this and more than a little nervous. My role was to play a racist French officer standing guard outside the French consulate. I was to interrogate and intimidate Chinese people wishing to enter and my lines were: Ni3 gan4 shen2 ma?, what are you doing?, and Ni3 shi4 shui2?, who are you?

Stage fright
When we shot my scene I was so nervous my hands were shaking. I played alongside an old Chinese actor (yan3 yuan2) who later told me he'd been acting for 30 years. I managed to stay calm enough to shoot the scene (pai1 xi4) and even got the director's (dao3 yan3) approval. I was given other scenes to do and told I was required to stay the night in a hotel for actors and crew members. I'm not sure I actually had the option of going home but I was happy to continue (ji4 xu4) filming. In total I stayed three days on set and filmed about five or six scenes. Before each scene I was given a couple of hours to try and remember the lines and there were times while shooting I messed up big time, but the director was forgiving and helped me simplify the lines. In fact the other Chinese actors and crew were extremely supportive and friendly and I had a wonderful time. I feel truly blessed to have had such an experience.

Editor's note: Chris is writing Chinese words in 'Pinyin', Latin script, using numbers that indicate the tone of the word. Find out more with our course Real Chinese.]]> Wed, 14 Dec 2005 11:52:55 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200512/12474.shtml Opi nimmt kein Opium, denn Opium bringt Opi um which literally means that grandad doesn't take opium, because opium kills him.
Another one is about a cat, which damages the stairs: Die Katze tritt die Treppe krumm, krumm tritt die Katze die Treppe.]]> Mon, 12 Dec 2005 14:10:19 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200512/12374.shtml camisa and having been told the diminutive of a noun was to add -inha or -inho to the end, depending on the gender, I put the two together to get a 'little shirt', and said in my best Portuguese that I wanted uma camisinha grande com Ipanema. The lady in the shop smiled nicely and replied back in Portuguese that they didn't have any. Not too disappointed I returned home and proud of my achievement in speaking Portuguese I later recounted the story to my wife when she returned home. She sheepishly explained I had asked for an extra large condom with Ipanema written on it! No wonder they didn't have any in extra large sizes!]]> Sat, 10 Dec 2005 22:50:17 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200512/12335.shtml petits vers which means 'little worms' but later we found out he said petit, vert, small, green. After all he was describing gherkins!]]> Thu, 08 Dec 2005 17:00:20 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200512/12234.shtml un caffé carota. The waiter looked confused and amused so I rather hurridly explained that he wanted a un caffé corretto, a 'corrected' coffee which is an espresso with grappa, rather than a carrot coffee!]]> Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:00:29 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200512/12214.shtml Thu, 08 Dec 2005 00:10:11 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200512/12197.shtml bras, arm, poor guy ... so misunderstood. Though we had good reason to be suspicious because once the guys had realised that we understood very little and would say oui, oui to everything to cover up our ignorance they had had a great deal of fun at our expense and I still have no idea half the stuff we agreed to!]]> Wed, 07 Dec 2005 20:10:14 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200512/12195.shtml Je vous avoir savoir que je suis quelqu'un que vous ne triflez avec! Which does take a bit of the threat out of it!]]> Fri, 02 Dec 2005 16:10:16 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200512/12014.shtml Je suis excitée! or Je suis si excitée! It was only after four months that a kind soul pointed out the sexual connotations of this phrase, literally meaning 'I am sexually aroused'. So that's four months of being hit on by French men that I could possibly have avoided!]]> Wed, 30 Nov 2005 01:10:14 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11892.shtml
Ed. note: Indeed, the Spanish word el puro sounds a little bit like el burro, donkey. It literally means 'pure' as some kinds of cigars were called puro cigarro, pure cigar, or simply puro. But your husband could avoid any confusion by simply asking for un cigarro.]]> Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:30:15 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11872.shtml kip on the menu and promptly ordered two of them, thinking he was ordering 'kippers'. He was more than a bit shocked when two roast chickens were placed in front of him for breakfast. Kip is Dutch for 'chicken'.]]> Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:50:16 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11812.shtml deux chevaux. The Frenchman turned to his wife and said incredulously that I had bought two 19 year old horses! It was all in the pronunciation. I now tell them it's a deudeuche, the Normandie patois word for a 2CV. I had no problem since!]]> Sun, 27 Nov 2005 19:20:12 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11754.shtml musée with an excellent collection de Monet. Being an art friend, I went on for a minute or two about Monet's control of colour and control of subject, especially with water subjects, yadda yadda yadda. Everyone, girlfriend included, looked at me as if I was crazy. After several stunned moments, my hostess graciously informed that that they were referring to a collection de monnaie - a currency museum, not a Monet collection. My French is a lot better now, but the memory still haunts me.]]> Sun, 20 Nov 2005 05:50:09 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11531.shtml
Last week my third bike (zi4 xing2 che1) was stolen (bei4 tou1 le). As I was warned, bike theft is rampant in the university area. My first bike was nicked in broad daylight while I was eating at a restaurant and my second and third bikes were stolen at night outside my house! I've bought three bikes in less than three months now. The good thing is that second-hand (er4 shou3 de) bikes are very cheap here and I bought my first bike, a Mountain bike for 85Y (£6). If I do buy another bike, it's going to be the oldest looking piece of scrap metal I can find. Though I fear that would eventually get stolen too. There is a saying that you are not a real Beijinger unless you've had your bike stolen. I guess that makes me as real a Beijinger as you can find. I'm even learning some of the finer points of Eastern philosophy like not getting too attached to material possessions - especially to bikes.

Fair play football
Football (zu2 qiu2) is really popular here and a couple of months ago Manchester United came to Beijing to play a pre-season friendly against the local Beijing team. I was lucky enough to get given a ticket (yi1 zhang1 piao4) by my boss from the college I worked at last year. On the night of the game the atmosphere was electric, the Chinese supporters waved both Chinese and Manchester United flags and blew fog horns and whistles to cheer the teams. Beijing were outplayed on the night but their fans applauded all of the Manchester United's goals. I was impressed by such magnanimous behaviour from the crowd. Unfortunately the game itself wasn't played in the same spirit and there were plenty of late tackles and indeed elbows flying around!

15 new characters a day
I've started a new four month autumn (qiu1 tian1) Chinese programme at the university which means that I have been studying Chinese for seven months in total. I've certainly improved (ti2 gao1 le) from when I first started in March but there are still times when it's really frustrating not being able to express myself properly in Mandarin.
One of my biggest problems (zui4 da4 de wen4 ti2) is studying Chinese characters (Han4 zi). I have found myself on several occasions in 'no man's land' where I'm able to easily answer the teacher's oral questions but when it comes to a dictation exercise (ting1 xie3), I'm left weeping into my dictionary (ci2 dian3)! On average we are supposed to learn about 15 new characters a day, but I must admit I am finding this really difficult!

Real life Chinese lessons
My best lessons in spoken Chinese (kou3 yu3) have been learnt outside the classroom and 'textbook' Mandarin is very different to the heavily accented Mandarin spoken on the streets, for example the word for 'gate' or 'door' is men2, but in Beijing its pronounced 'merrr' (menr2). The difference between standard Mandarin and Beijing hua4 is as big as the difference between Cockney and Geordie accents in the UK. I often take cabs (chu1 zu1 qi4 che1) here, and the driver's usually speak with thick Beijing accents. Understanding these guys is a real challenge and some can be quite irritable if you can't understand what they're saying!

Active in autumn
Many Beijingers say that autumn is the best season of the year because after the stifling summer the temperature is neither too hot (tai4 re4) nor too cold (tai4 leng3). For me it reminds me a bit of early spring in London, where the mornings and evenings are cold but the daytime is pretty warm (nuan3). It's certainly appears to be a season where people are at their most active. I see more people travelling to parks (gong1 yuan3) and playing sports at weekends now than I did at any earlier time of the year.]]> Sat, 19 Nov 2005 16:25:07 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11511.shtml Speaking Gaelic (and especially Welsh or Cornish) is likely to be largely useless to most people in the UK. I have certainly not suffered from living in the UK for 30 years and not knowing a word of any of them, whereas knowing a little French and German has been beneficial on occasions both when travelling and working.
It is important not to belittle the importance of native UK languages to those who speak them, and their continuation among communities where they are traditionally spoken should be encouraged. But lets have some common sense - what is the points in teaching Gaelic to children in Surrey? I would think teaching people Mandarin, Hindi or Urdu would be far more valuable than Gaelic, Welsh or Cornish, as they are globally widely spoken languages. In todays global economy knowledge of one of these languages could make a real difference to employment prospects.]]> Fri, 18 Nov 2005 14:20:18 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11451.shtml Tra il dire ed il fare c'è di mezzo il mare. It literally translates to 'between saying and doing there is half a sea' and means 'easier said than done'.]]> Thu, 17 Nov 2005 17:30:11 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11411.shtml heeft iemand mijn borsten gezien?, thinking she asked, if they've seen her borstel, hairbrush. No one corrected her at the time, because they thought it was way too amusing, this girl asking if anyone had seen her breasts...]]> Thu, 17 Nov 2005 11:31:43 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11351.shtml Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin. Probably the most famous of all Irish proverbs, literally meaning 'there's no hearth like your own hearth', i.e. There's no place like home.]]> Thu, 17 Nov 2005 10:10:14 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11332.shtml mantequilla) so I asked for toast and margarine (putting on a terrible Spanish accent) and got some dry bread and a magazine.]]> Thu, 17 Nov 2005 10:00:52 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11331.shtml Cojones is the standard term for that part of the male anatomy!]]> Tue, 15 Nov 2005 14:30:18 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11272.shtml oveja, the Spanish word for 'sheep', it sounded like abeja, the Spanish word for 'bee'. So what I ended up saying was, 'I am the good shepherd; I know my bees and my bees know me' Oops!]]> Tue, 15 Nov 2005 03:10:11 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11270.shtml ein Schafschütze when he grew up. My colleague then asked me with a puzzled look, why my son wanted to kill sheep? What I'd meant to say was that he wanted to be a 'sniper', ein Scharfschütze!]]> Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:10:18 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11150.shtml Ich habe meinen Zeh erbrochen. My teacher (originally from Germany) must have been rather amused to see that I had 'vomited' my toe instead of breaking it. I should have written: Ich habe mir den Zeh gebrochen.]]> Thu, 10 Nov 2005 06:10:15 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11110.shtml brinca, brinca! Pepe and his group stood there puzzled. Again, brinca, brinca! Pepe and his friends started jumping up and down, according to the police instructions, as brincar in Spanish means 'to skip'. The police burst out laughing and they continued jumping, a little worried. After some time they finally put the message across. Brinca in Portuguese means, go, play! Always a good story in the pub!]]> Tue, 08 Nov 2005 12:50:14 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/11030.shtml cotorro and catarro in Mexico. Cotorro refers to a type of parrot, while catarro refers to a cold or the runny nose symptoms of one. I once confounded a pharmacy employee in a futile attempt to describe to him that I had serious 'parrot symptoms.' He recommended that I consult a veterinarinan until I made it clear that it was me that was sick.]]> Tue, 08 Nov 2005 05:00:25 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/10991.shtml cenotes. The word is strikingly similar to the word cerote, which is a vulgar term for a bowel movement in Mexico. I'd sometimes exchange the terms, causing for mighty embarassing and certainly funny situations!]]> Tue, 08 Nov 2005 05:00:25 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/10990.shtml Ich muss meine Beine mähen. She burst into fits of laughter and told me that I had said that I needed to mow my legs! I should have said: Ich muss meine Beine rasieren.]]> Mon, 07 Nov 2005 00:50:12 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/10969.shtml los batidos, milk shakes, by the pool. We decided to have a snack and my son wanted a tuna sandwich. Obviously the sun and all those milk shakes have gone to his head because instead of ordering un bocadillo de atún, he ordered un batido de atún and got a very strange look.]]> Sun, 06 Nov 2005 19:00:14 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/10951.shtml Sat, 05 Nov 2005 18:00:18 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/10927.shtml dans ma famille je suis la poubelle, in my family I'm the dustbin. Unfortunately I said plus bel - the most handsome! Strange looks ensued ...]]> Thu, 03 Nov 2005 22:00:14 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/10850.shtml Thu, 03 Nov 2005 17:10:13 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/10846.shtml una pocilga, a pig sty, in my eye. Oh the shame...]]> Wed, 02 Nov 2005 19:00:19 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/10806.shtml zapatistas) rather than on my shoes (zapatos).
Another time I was slightly confused why my hosts were not more impressed by my raptourous tales of my lovely afternoon horse-riding. Perhaps it would have helped if I had told them we were riding horses (caballos) rather than gentlemen (caballeros).]]> Wed, 02 Nov 2005 14:40:18 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/10786.shtml Wed, 02 Nov 2005 14:20:14 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200511/10766.shtml Things then started to piece together - I had wondered why they had asked me if I could 'rollerskate' on my accommodation application form! I had confused sind Sie Rollstuhlfahrer?, are you a wheelchair user?, and sind Sie Rollschuhläufer?, are you a roller-skater?]]> Fri, 28 Oct 2005 12:30:11 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200510/10526.shtml un bel cazzone in her best Italian. The waiter started laughing and couldn't stop for a good minute. He finally explained, in his best English, that what she had asked for was a nice ... male private part. What my friend really wanted was, of course, un bel calzone, the well known 'stuffed' pizza. We never went back to that place, but still laugh about this story 10 years after.]]> Thu, 27 Oct 2005 13:50:14 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200510/10508.shtml un rongeur. The man looked at me strangely and didn't reply. I turned around and walked out when I realized that I'd asked for a 'rodent'. I meant une rallonge.]]> Fri, 21 Oct 2005 19:40:15 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200510/8332.shtml Thu, 20 Oct 2005 18:50:14 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200510/8287.shtml Schau mal, Apotheke, das muss eine Kette sein! Look, Apotheke, this must be a chain of shops! In fact, Apotheke is the Geman word for 'chemist's' and there certainly are several shops of this 'chain' in every town of Germany.]]> Fri, 14 Oct 2005 16:20:18 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200510/8068.shtml Del plato a la boca, se cae la sopa, literally 'from the plate to the mouth the soup sometimes spills'. There are English equivalents such as 'there's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip' or 'don't count your chickens before they're hatched'.]]> Fri, 14 Oct 2005 15:10:09 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200510/8046.shtml Leberkäse, literally 'liver cheese'. Unfortunately, when I ordered it, I asked for Lederkäse, literally 'leather cheese'. I wonder what that would taste like? The next day, I tried to order a black pudding called Blutwurst, literally 'blood sausage', but in fact asked for Blödwurst, 'silly' sausage! I chuckled to myself for about 10 minutes after my friend explained my mistake...]]> Wed, 12 Oct 2005 19:10:14 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200510/7905.shtml Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches? Elles sont sèches, archi-sèches.
Are the socks of the archduchess dry? They are extra dry.
Try to pronounce it as fast as possible.]]> Wed, 12 Oct 2005 15:20:16 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200510/7885.shtml Wed, 12 Oct 2005 15:00:15 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200510/7866.shtml
After passing the channel by train we arrive in England on Sunday evening. On the way to the youth hostel in Canterbury we enjoy the wonderful landscape of Kent at sunset. In the evening we all go together to a typical British pub to round off the day.

The Monday morning starts early because we forgot to change the time on our alarm. On this day I had for the first time a feeling of homesickness - I do like my warm breakfast but beans and sausages in the morning taste quite strange to me!

Up until lunchtime we answer a questionnaire about the cathedral of Canterbury. Compared to our challenges in the other countries this seems much easier to us because we all speak English. In the afternoon we go to the Canterbury Christ Church University to work on our projects - a video or a rap song. I learn a lot about cutting and recording videos and we have a lot of fun during the workshops. The day ends in a fish'n'chips restaurant where the six winners of the questionnaire about Canterbury get their prizes.

On Tuesday we work the whole morning on our videos and rap songs and in the evening we take the bus to London. When we arrive it is already dark and we enjoy the view over London by night from the London Eye. We finish the day in a Thai restaurant with some spicy meals. The whole of Wednesday we did some sightseeing in London before going Gatwick to take our plane to Cork.

Editor's note: Find out more about the project L-train.]]> Wed, 12 Oct 2005 11:46:26 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200510/7846.shtml
I've been looking forward to our visit to Cork which is the European Capital of Culture in 2005 My first impression of the city on the evening of our arrival left me looking for culture. This might have been caused by some swearing and drunken youths near some pubs. Fortunately the next day proves that a handful of drunken citizens are not a true reflection of Cork's soul. The list of cultural events that have already taken place or are coming up is really impressive such as sport events, artwork exhibitions, classic Irish music and theatre performances.

People were sincerely warm-hearted and helpful when we asked them about the nearest internet café or the shortest way to the youth hostel. There is a certain medieval atmosphere in Cork with its cobbled streets, ancient houses, castles and churches. There are no skyscrapers near the centre of town. From all this I can confirm that Cork is indeed an impressive European Capital of Culture.

Cork is for our L-train team the final point of our thrilling journey. We have an opportunity to meet students and have a guided tour of the fascinating St. Fin Barre's cathedral built in the Neo-Gothic architectural style. We spent the afternoon at the City Hall where the Lord Mayor Councillor Deirdre Clune and John Mac Mahon, an editor of educational programs for RTÉ, watch our video and listen to the rap songs.

After that we enjoy our last evening together. Many of us stay awake all night to talk about the events of the last two weeks and to prolong the time spent together. The next day we are sitting on separate planes on our way back to our home countries continuing our daily lives after this breathtaking and magic trip across Europe. But we all hope to meet again one day.

Editor's note: Find out more about the project L-train.]]> Wed, 12 Oct 2005 11:42:57 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200510/7845.shtml poussez meant "push", I assumed that poulet meant "pull". Wrong again. I had very helpfully just told the man wanting to leave our apartment building to "chicken the door, Sir".]]> Mon, 10 Oct 2005 14:50:34 BST http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/200510/7785.shtml
In the Belgian city of Liège we are greeted at the station by an elderly man who introduces himself as Michel. After a quick snack at the hotel we have a look around the city. The buildings are dirty and grey and everything appears very sad. However, the city has an amazing nightlife. At night people are dancing in the narrow streets, drinking and enjoying the evening. The pubs are completely overcrowded. So we don't want to stay behind and get some drinks ourselves.

The next day we meet our guide who show us the sights of Liège. I particularly enjoy the gothic cathedral of St. Paul's. After our tour of the city we visit the department of city planning.

The following day we visit Maastricht. It is a very beautiful city situated in the south of the Netherlands, only a few kilometers away from Liège. There we do a language quiz and the winners receive free online language courses as prizes - congratulations to the winners! After the competition we go on a tour of the city. It's very nice with lots of shops and busy streets.

Back in Liège we go to see La Nocturne des Coteaux de la Citadelle, a yearly celebrated event where the hill on which the citadel is situated is lit by candles. The highlight of this event are fantastic fireworks which are held over the citadel.

Editor's note: Find out more ab