Mandarin Mashup April 22, 2012
- Dialects find a voice - Today Online Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) student Kenneth Leong remembers those first months when he began paying community service visits to the elderly in Ang Mo Kio: Awkward smiles, doubtful looks and translations between Mandarin and Hokkien of every sentence spoken.
"The only one in our group who could speak dialect translated; it was really a cumbersome process," he recalled.
Two years on, the 18-year-old is proud to say that he can do more than ask a senior, "ai lim zui mai" (do you want some water?). He rattles off in fluent Hokkien about his doings at school. The old folks, in turn, joke with the youngster about having a "zha bo peng you" (girlfriend) or urge him to study hard.
Of Cantonese and Teochew stock, Kenneth says neither dialect is really used at home. "For many of us, we learnt along the way with every visit (to the old folks) and tapped the knowledge of those more proficient among us," said the final-year student. "It was definitely not easy."
The impending closure of radio station Rediffusion was perhaps inevitable given the drastic decline of Chinese dialects among younger generations of Singaporeans ever since the start of the Government's big Speak Mandarin push more than 30 years ago. While the latter was seen as necessary, some older folk have worried about the loss of a part of Singapore's heritage, and that youth would grow up disconnected from their roots and alienated from their dialect-speaking elders.
But what Today found were pockets of young Singaporeans and community groups that are making the effort to learn - and even teach others - the patois.
PASSING IT ON
Much of this stems from the effort, by youths like Kenneth, to reach out to less fortunate senior citizens. His group mate Ng Chow Hui, for instance, picked up some basic Hokkien phrases from his parents for his community service. But he later also found himself digging deeper into his cultural heritage and the history of Hokkien people.
The decline of dialects, he laments, ! "is a lo ss for the younger generation as they will not know their heritage. How can the previous generation, which is only fluent in dialects, pass down the stories and traditions?"
His team is trying to get more students to befriend the elderly and, to that end, they have put together a handy booklet of Hokkien phrases that volunteers can use on their house visits. Said Kenneth: "The elderly appreciate that we use their mother tongue. When we were finally able to speak to them in Hokkien, there was that moment of joy for them."
At the National University of Singapore, the Students' Community Service Club has already held three workshops in Hokkien and is planning for similar sessions in Cantonese.
Organiser Maurice Ng, 23, said the response has been encouraging. The second-year life sciences student, who believes dialects are vital for connecting the older and younger generations, is hoping to hold at least one workshop each year.
More initiatives
At the grassroots level, the People's Association (PA) has rolled out dialect-related activities. Within the various community centres, there are dialect singing courses and a dialect initiative was piloted last year to reach out to younger people.
National Institute of Education student Chang Ai Jia, 24, took part in the "Learn Cantonese language through Forgotten Cantonese Cuisine" class to get in touch with her regional roots.
Inspired after an exchange programme to Hong Kong, Ms Chang was eager for opportunities to use the language. People around her generally don't. "People these days don't see the need to speak the language, hence learning it would be viewed as a waste of time. There is also a perception that dialect speakers are less educated," she said.
Now she is confident enough to use the patois at Cantonese eateries - and there is one other benefit that Ms Chang treasures: "I definitely feel closer to my grandmother as there is this shared mother tongue between us."
'KEEP IT REAL'
For older Chines! e Singap oreans, other avenues to indulge in the old patois can be found in the arts.
The Chinese Theatre Circle's members and supporters, most of whom are over 45, turn to opera for a whiff of nostalgia and the opportunity to speak dialect with one another.
Artistic director Joanna Wong says that she introduced English and Chinese subtitles in her performances three decades ago for the younger audience. The troupe is now hoping to raise awareness of the art form - and in turn dialects - by working with schools.
The Glowers Drama Group, whose members are mostly past their 50th birthday, use a mix of Cantonese, Mandarin and English in their plays. When members get together socially, founder Catherine Sng, 62, said the exchanges take everybody back to the old times, when people often spoke a hodge-podge of languages in the same conversation.
On how to revive interest in their dialect roots, Ms Sng advised: "Don't force people to support dialects, let those who are interested find the avenues themselves to sustain the passion ... keep it real."
Family ties important
Clan associations, meanwhile, are doing their part, but they feel that community groups are limited in what they can do. The Singapore Kwangtung Hui Kuan and the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan, for example, have language classes once or twice per week for about 20 participants. But the interest is mainly among China immigrants.
The Singapore Hainan Society, which regularly organises Hainanese drama performances for its 600-strong membership, also sees lacklustre response from the young.
Its secretary, Mr Teh Chai Kang, said: "We don't organise activities for youths as much now as turnout has not been very good.
"The young people are not keen any more and only come with their parents when there are special occasions or during festivals."
The Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan and Singapore Hakka Chong Association think the close-knit ties among family makes it more effective for youngsters to learn dialect f! rom thei r elders.
Madam Lim Wee, 62, who converses in Hokkien with her 11-year-old nephew, agrees. "My nephew picked it up because all of us speak the dialect at home, and we spoke it to him ... It is all about exposure to the language as children learn things really quickly.
"It's a win-win situation, because his father speaks English with him, while he is learning Mandarin at school, so he's quite well-exposed."
Sounds they grew up with
Right after she was robbed in Ipoh six years ago, Ms Tang Lin Ho's instinct was to call the radio station to warn fellow Rediffusion listeners to be careful. The 64-year-old part-time cleaner had lost S$1,000 to a snatch thief and was bruised in the face when he shoved her to the ground.
"Everyone, the deejays, the listeners, we are all like a big family and, of course, it is natural to want to help one another," Ms Tang, a native Cantonese speaker, told Today in Mandarin.
Rediffusion, popular among older listeners like her, was best known for its Cantonese, Teochew and Hokkien talk shows and music. It was the go-to station for keen dialect speakers here after the mainstream broadcast media was mandated to stop all dialect programmes by 1982.
Last week, the 63-year-old radio service announced it was going off the airwaves for good by the end of this month, due to losses of S$30,000 to S$40,000 every month. Its listener base had dipped from 100,000 in its heyday to barely more than 3,000 today, and advertisers were scarce.
Ms Tang has been tuning in faithfully to the three half-hour blocks of dialect programmes daily. "It becomes like a natural thing to turn on the radio once I get home and hear those familiar sounds (dialects) I grew up with," she said.
Over the years, she has formed strong friendships with other listeners through the events and trips organised by the radio station. "It pains me to think of its closure," she added with a sigh. Ardent Rediffusion fans like her are holding out hope that someone will step in with financial support to save the radio station in the nick of time.
Another long-time listener, Mr Raymond Fernando, 62, said he would miss drifting into his afternoon naps to the sound of oldies music in dialect playing on the Rediffusion transmitter.
Mr Fernando, a Eurasian, had picked up Teochew and Cantonese through the station's programmes. This had helped him to bond better with his wife whose family is Teochew, as well as with neighbou! rs who o nly spoke Cantonese, he said.
"If the radio station really closes down, I will just have to make do with CDs (for music) ... but the feeling will not be the same," he said. NG JING YNG - Chinese Memes: Thought my Chinese was decent… ~ watch OMG...
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Find more at http://china-memes.tumblr.com - The Future of Chinese Language Education - Huffington Post Every year since 2007, the College Board and Asia Society have joined forces to host the annual National Chinese Language Conference (NCLC). Today it has grown to become the largest conference of its kind in North America, and it has become one of the premier forums for sharing ideas and best practices related to Chinese language and culture education.
Each year the conference attracts its share of dignitaries, and last week's 2012 NCLC was no different. We were privileged to hear from Ambassador John D. Negroponte, former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel and some of the leading Chinese officials in charge of education, including Vice-Minister Madame Xu Lin, Director General of Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters, and Chinese Ambassador to the United States Zhang Yesui.
These brilliant and worldly individuals came together because they are committed to building a cultural bridge between the United States and China -- two great nations that will find their fates more intertwined as the years pass.
There is no doubt that this is a key moment for Chinese language and culture education in the United States.
More than 1.3 billion people in the world speak Chinese. One fifth of the planet speaks Mandarin, making it the most spoken language on the planet. Chinese is ranked as the second most important business language in the world by Bloomberg Media. China is the second largest economy in the world. Over 300 million people study English in China. And it is estimated that by 2025, the number of English-speaking Chinese people will exceed the number of native English speakers.
At the same, the number of Chinese programs being offered across the United States has recently exploded. The College Board has seen it first-hand through the growth of AP Chinese -- the number of students taking AP Chinese has more than doubled since the program began, from 3,261 students in 2007 to 7,970 in 2011. In fact, this is the fastest growing AP program. Our challenge and our goal is to keep this progress going, while maintaining the highest level of academic rigor for all students.
Knowing how to speak Chinese and understanding China's rich history is now recognized as a great asset to any American student who seeks an audience with the world. It's a sign of enthusiasm, respect, curiosity, and hard work -- qualities that define successful people in every profession.
That's why we need more American schools, educators, students, and political leaders who are just as committed to teaching and learning Chinese at home, and are ready to put forth the hard work necessary to do so.
To help meet this pressing need, the College Board worked with Hanban (the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language) and others to develop the Chinese Guest Teacher program. And thanks to this collaboration, the program has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.
So far, the program has sent more than 600 Chinese teachers to schools in 38 states, touching the lives of tens of thousands of students across America.
One of my favorite Guest Teacher stories comes from Chen Jun, who taught in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Chen did not expect to be so deeply affected by the impact he had on his students' lives. He was especially touched by one student, a 7th grader, who he was sad to consider his worst student for most of their year together.
When the student was in class he did not do any work. He was disruptive and not well behaved. Mr. Chen tried everything to get through to him, but there was no sign of success. The student was, he thought, a lost cause.
Then one day after class, as Mr. Chen sat in the classroom by himself, the student burst into the room and dropped an envelope on his desk before running out. Shockingly enough, inside the envelope was a letter thanking Mr. Chen for all of the help and guidance he had given him. But what was even more surprising was that the letter was written in Chinese.
Other programs have been similarly successful at bringing our two nations together.
In 2008 the Chicago Public Schools district received a grant to take 20 high school students to China for six weeks to study at Shanghai's East China Normal University. The group was racially and economically diverse, and truly represented the student population of the district, which is 85% low income families.
It is programs like these that change lives forever. This is why President Obama's mission to send 100,000 US students to China is of critical important to both the educational and cultural success of the United States.
As we move further out onto the fulcrum of an uncertain world, where old alliances are fraying, a new economy is growing, and a new balance of power is emerging, it is more important than ever that our two countries maintain a healthy relationship.
In the words of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, "Our success will be based on how well we understand each other, respect each other, trust each other and are open to learning from each other."
But what does that mean? To me, it means we must understand each other's languages and customs. We must respect our differences and celebrate our common values. We need to trust one another as partners in an international ballroom dance -- taking different steps, but at the same pace, and towards the same goal.
Communication and dialogue will be the building blocks of this relationship. Language will be its foundation. And together, we will bring forth a more prosperous, safer world, where the strong are just and the weak secure.
In the words of former US President John F. Kennedy, "Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. [And] we all cherish our children's futures."
When he spoke these words, President Kennedy may have been channeling the wisdom of Confucius, who noted that "Men's natures are alike, it is their habits that carry them far apart."
So in the end, it must be our habits that bring us together.
I commend the students and teachers who are working hard to make Chinese language and culture a part of communities across the United States. Your hard work will blossom into unmovable bridges between the United States and China for generations to come.
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- Mandarin masters: Starr King's 1st class grows up - San Francisco Gate In the fall of 2006, 23 kindergartners walked into their classroom for the first time at Starr King Elementary in San Francisco where their teacher only spoke Mandarin, a language most of the children had never seen nor heard.
They were the first batch of students to enroll in the district's new Mandarin immersion program, one of only a handful across the country offering immersion in this particular language.
It was a leap of faith for parents. The program, one of a handful of Mandarin programs in the country, lacked materials and teachers, and nationwide there wasn't a lot of professional experience in teaching one of the most difficult languages to learn.
Fast-forward nearly six years.
The first class of Starr King Mandarin students is heading to middle school - all of them capable in reading, writing and arithmetic in both English and Chinese. Of the original 23 students, 16 remain. Nine other students joined the program in later years.
By and large, the program has been a success, but not without growing pains every step of the way, said parent Ijnanya Foster, whose son Durrell Laury is among the fifth-graders moving up to middle school.
"When each school year was over, you could wipe the sweat off your brow and say we made it," she said. "We were the guinea pigs."
Seeking a solution
District officials hoped the program would revive Starr King, a persistently under-enrolled and struggling school, by attracting diverse families who wanted their children to learn an increasingly important world language.
But the early days were hard. Few native Chinese speakers signed up, although the program was billed as being dual immersion with a promise of having a split of English and Mandarin speakers in the classroom.
In addition, qualified teachers were hard to find, and those hired were stuck with a limited selection of textbooks or assessment materials.
Starr King Principal Greg John, who arrived at the school two years ago, described it as the "Wild West days" of the program.
Still, with a classroom of predominantly English speakers, it took only a few days before those first 5-year-old students started to understand individual words within the sounds coming out of their teacher's mouth. Sit. Backpack. Listen.
Soon they could count to 10. Recite colors. Write simple characters.
Like sponges, they learned a new language while learning to read, write and do arithmetic.
Jack Gaughan, now 11, can remember those first strange and confusing days six years ago. "Jacket" was the first word he learned in Mandarin.
"It sounded a lot like Jack in Chinese," he said smiling.
He doesn't know how many Mandarin words he knows now. There are a lot. And he can speak, write and read them.
On a recent day, fifth-grade teacher May Feng used only Mandarin as she reviewed fractions, basic algebra and some geometry for her students.
"I think their listening skills are really good," Feng said. "I speak very fast."
At grade level
She noted that the fifth-graders are writing at grade level in Mandarin and English. Their Chinese-speaking skills are a bit below par, perhaps in part because few of their classmates are Mandarin native speakers.
The school has tried to address that problem with more recruitment and outreach. Only about 20 percent of the 220 students in all the dual immersion classes from kindergarten through fifth grade this year are Chinese native speakers.
Despite the program's growing pains, the students have stuck with it.
More than once, Foster tried to persuade her son Durrell to leave it.
"He has always shown me that this is what he wants to do," she said. "He's happy. He loves it."
The shock effect
Durrell loves being different, loves the shock on people's faces when they see an African American boy with long, thin braids speaking Mandarin.
"I'm not a kid you would normally see speaking Chinese," he said.
Durrell plans to attend Aptos Middle School next year where the district for the first time will offer Mandarin. Durrell's sister is now a first-grader in the Starr King program.
"I have two children who both speak (Mandarin), and it's the funniest thing when other people hear them at grocery stores," Foster said. "It's the payoff and relieves some of the anxiety that I was worried about so many years ago."
District officials are relieved, too.
Total enrollment at Starr King this year has jumped to 360, nearly double what it was in 2006. Test scores are up, and the school is more ethnically and economically diverse.
"While starting this program (at Starr King) was a big undertaking," said district spokeswoman Gentle Blythe, "the investment seems to be paying off."
This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle - Luxury Stores Pull Out Mandarin Phrase Books to Make the Sale - New York Times Over five days in January, a group of visitors to New York was treated to a private concert with the pianist Lang Lang at the Montblanc store, cocktails and a fashion show attended by the designers Oscar de la Renta and Diane Von Furstenberg, and a tour of Estée Lauder's original office.They were not celebrities. They were not government officials. They were Chinese tourists with a lot of money.
Though luxury brands started opening stores in Beijing and Shanghai years ago, Chinese shoppers still spend more on luxury products abroad than they do at home, according to the consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. Price is the major reason: Because of China's taxes, luxury products are about a third cheaper in the United States and elsewhere.
European luxury stores have been catering to Chinese tourists for years. Now high-end retailers in the United States are pulling out their Mandarin phrase books and trying to convince Chinese visitors that Americans can do luxury, too.
"What started as a trickle has now become a flow," said the vice president of the antiques store Macklowe Gallery, Ben Macklowe, who recently sold a Tiffany lamp that cost in the low six figures to a Shanghai visitor. "There's been prosperity across so much of Asia that you're starting to see it much more in the profile of the tourist on Madison Avenue."
A record number of Chinese visited the United States last year — nearly 1.1 million — and the country accounts for one of the top-growing tourist groups here, according to the Commerce Department. The number of visitors is expected to almost double by 2014, according to the U.S. Travel Association. Chinese visitors spend about $6,000 each on every visit here, versus the $4,000 that visitors from other countries spend on average, the association says, and their top activity is shopping.
Although some tourists spend money on Disney trinkets and at the outlet malls they have traditionally frequented, luxury brand purchases are surging in part because American stores carry a broader range of products than their counterparts in China, said Julia Zhu, consulting director for Frost & Sullivan.
Tiffany, which made almost a quarter of its United States revenue last year from foreign tourists, has added Mandarin-speaking sales staff to its major stores, as has Burberry, where more than half of sales at its flagship stores are to tourists. Representatives from Tourneau's Manhattan office recently accompanied New York City officials on a visit to China to encourage more tourism in the city.
At its United States stores, Montblanc sells Year of the Dragon pens and has staff members who speak Mandarin and Cantonese. It is also printing Chinese-language brochures about its products and selling wallets sized for Chinese currency.
Despite having more than 100 stores in China, Montblanc is going after Chinese shoppers on vacation abroad. "Yes, we are in the major cities, but when you travel, you're in the mood to enjoy and experience the moment," said Jan-Patrick Schmitz, chief executive of Montblanc North America. "We certainly will do more and more marketing toward them."
Retailers in the United States lag behind other countries. Part of that is because of visa issues; it is easier for Chinese residents to get visas to Europe. High-end American retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale's are urging the government to speed up the process here. President Obama said in January that he planned to increase visa-processing capacity from emerging markets like China and Brazil by 40 percent this year.
The American stores also have to overcome an idea that luxury can come only from the old world.
"The European brands, they see prestige, history, heritage," said Sunny Wong, group managing director of Trinity, a company that owns and operates high-end European retail brands in China. American brands, by contrast, are seen as "contemporary, lifestyle" rather than pure luxury, he said.
American retailers are racing to prove Mr. Wong wrong.
Bergdorf Goodman in January held a private runway show at its Fifth Avenue store for a group of Chinese tourists, followed by a meet-and-mingle with designers like Mr. De la Renta, Peter Som and Zac Posen. Then, with Bergdorf's fashion director looking on, Mandarin-speaking assistants helped the Chinese customers shop throughout the store.
"There are lots of brands that are already very well-known in China, but Bergdorf's strongest footprint is in New York, so getting them to know that brand when they come here is a very important goal for us," said Chris Noble, president of Affinity China, a luxury travel operator that organized the event.
Affinity China also arranged a meeting with Aerin Lauder, a granddaughter of Estée, and a tour of J. Mendel, the fur brand, with a designer and one of the Mendels. "They took them backstage, and showed how materials are selected and how the pieces come together, and showed them the craft," Mr. Noble said. "We've got a lot of interest in the craftsmanship behind the luxury pieces. People like to be able to say, 'I saw how this was made, I met the designer.' "
Mr. Macklowe, the gallery executive, recently held a seminar with Champagne and chocolate for Chinese tour operators.
"You have to tailor your message for the crowd, and for this crowd it was, 'These are very exclusive things, these are very authentic things, these are very high-end things that you can recommend to your clients without reservation,' " he said. "We tried to give them a sense that what we do only exists in one place on earth." - Shallow Depth of Field
- Radio ministry for Mandarin Chinese - OneNewsNow Radio ministry for Mandarin ChineseThe programs -- the first of which was broadcast on March 26 -- consist of Pritchard's teachings and sermons delivered throughout the United States and translated into Mandarin Chinese.
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 4/8/2012 3:30:00 AM
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TWR transmits the programs from the Pacific island of Guam, reaching a potential Mandarin-speaking audience of 845 million people. TWR spokesman Chris Johnson says the program will be helpful to pastors and teachers of the Word, especially in rural area.
Â"We wanted to equip pastors because giving them resources through this kind of teaching prepares them to teach, prepares them to preach, disciples them in their own lives, encourages them in their own lives," says Johnson. "But more than that, it gives them the ability to invest in those people who they're representing."
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The program can also help the people in congregations to better understand the gospel, he explains.
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"They're starting out with the fundamentals of the faith, with salvation, but then we'll begin training people and taking them through the foundational parts of the faith and hopefully to the point where they will not only be disciples, but they will in turn want to reinvest that knowledge and that teaching that they have received into other people," says the spokesman. "It might start out by replicating their faith in one other person."
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In addition to the radio broadcast, the same programs are being made available on a website that will go to Mandarin-speaking people.
- New Online Resource Launched Online to Teach How To Learn Mandarin at LearningMandarin.Net - Emailwire (EMAILWIRE.COM, April 06, 2012 ) San Francisco, CA - The number of people who are interested about how to learn Mandarin is huge, but only a few of those people are really able to learn this language. Learning Chinese is not that easy, and 95% of people that begin to study this language renounce it after a few days. However, considering the growing number of European and American companies having business connections with Chinese companies, and the incredible culture and civilization of this country, learning Mandarin is surely useful.
People who know how to learn Mandarin say that this language is poetic and fascinating, even if it seems pretty difficult at the beginning. A language, before anything else, represents a culture. This is why, if people have Chinese business partners, they will have to learn their language if they want to gain their respect. The Chinese people are usually proud of their origin, and they have the ultimate respect for their culture and country. If one is able to speak their language, they will gain their admiration, especially because they know how hard it is for an English native speaker to read and write in this language.
The average person will need about one year to learn the Mandarin language passively (to listen without speaking), and another year to speak Mandarin at a conversational level. Fortunately, the people that want to know how to speak Mandarin benefit from the large number of resources available on the Internet. In fact, the majority of people who are able to speak Mandarin at "tourist level" used the online resources without a teacher. Learning foreign languages without a teacher is now a common method even for complicated languages s! uch as M andarin, and the e-learning methods make this process even easier.
While the Europeans and Americans need a lot of time to learn the Chinese language, it is about the same with Chinese people who want to speak in European languages. This proves that those languages are completely different, and this is where the difference is made. Even if French and English have different origins, at least they have the same alphabet, and the phonetic and grammatical rules are about the same. On the other hand, there is a major difference between the European and Asian languages, including Chinese, from all the points of view, including the alphabet, the rules of constructing the words and the speaking methods.
If people want to know how to learn Mandarin, they need to start by speaking. The complicated Chinese alphabet is only learned after one or two years of speaking the language. While it is difficult, it is also fascinating. If people are wondering how it is possible for a language to have an alphabet composed of 500 characters, they will have to know that those characters are not practical letters. They are groups of letters, complete words, and sometimes phrases. For example, some characters mean "tree", "forest", and there is even a character that means "house near the forest". This is why learning this language is so complicated, but as soon as they are able to understand those techniques, they will be able to learn the language a lot easier.
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