Just thought I'd throw one out:
"Baba, you know I like to kid, so when I say something that is silly, you know I am kidding."
Saturday, May 21, 2011
My Chinese is better than yours, and yours, and yours
I had a bit of an epiphany the other day to do with language competency. I had been of the opinion that most of my Chinese colleagues' English is better than my Chinese, because their English vocabularies are larger than my Chinese vocabulary. (This is because they learned thousands of English words by rote in middle school, high school, and college.) But I went to lunch with a colleague of mine who is very reluctant to speak English unless he has to, and I realized that vocabulary size is not the primary determiner of language competency. Instead, competency is a combination of vocabulary, grammar, accent, and perhaps most importantly, ability to communicate in real life. And "ability to communicate", in turn, means a determination to speak, an ability to say things even if you don't know the "right" words, and a willingness to say "I don't understand what you just said".
By these criteria, my Chinese is actually better than many of my colleagues' English. Sure, their foreign language vocabulary is larger than mine, but they do things like not understand what I say to them (in English), not admit it, and then reply in a way that reveals that they didn't understand. This is an example of poor communication ability. Other colleagues never speak to me in English because they know I speak Chinese. I'm not complaining, because this is great for my Chinese. But it indicates, on some level, a lack of determination to speak English. I, on the other hand, am quite determined to speak Chinese. The point is that even though their knowledge of English may be better than my knowledge of Chinese, their use of English is not as good as my use of Chinese.
From the point of view of actually communicating, it actually doesn't matter who speaks what language better than someone else, as long as everyone speaks the language being spoken well enough. But the realization that my Chinese is better than many of my colleagues' English is a big confidence booster, and makes me even more determined to keep speaking it.
By these criteria, my Chinese is actually better than many of my colleagues' English. Sure, their foreign language vocabulary is larger than mine, but they do things like not understand what I say to them (in English), not admit it, and then reply in a way that reveals that they didn't understand. This is an example of poor communication ability. Other colleagues never speak to me in English because they know I speak Chinese. I'm not complaining, because this is great for my Chinese. But it indicates, on some level, a lack of determination to speak English. I, on the other hand, am quite determined to speak Chinese. The point is that even though their knowledge of English may be better than my knowledge of Chinese, their use of English is not as good as my use of Chinese.
From the point of view of actually communicating, it actually doesn't matter who speaks what language better than someone else, as long as everyone speaks the language being spoken well enough. But the realization that my Chinese is better than many of my colleagues' English is a big confidence booster, and makes me even more determined to keep speaking it.
Just shut up about the heat already
Summer appears to be almost here, with temperatures starting to get into the 30's (high 80's/low 90's Fahrenheit) most days. What is surprising me is how many people are already complaining about how hot it is. Most of these people are Taiwanese people who have been living here their whole lives. Haven't they lived through 20 or 40 or 60 Taiwan summers already? Shouldn't they be used to, or at least resigned to, ridiculously hot and humid weather by now? And don't they know that the weather is going to get five degrees hotter by the end of June? If they're complaining now, what are they going to do then, scream in pain?
Next, midnight laser shows
Anja wanted me to look up the weather forecast on my iPod Touch, but we somehow managed to start playing Pink Floyd's Meddle at the same time. Anja really liked the first track, One of These Days, and insisted on spending several minutes dancing to the song before allowing me to finish looking up the weather. (By the way: 32 degrees Celsius with a 30 percent chance of rain).
Sunday, May 15, 2011
The Royal Wedding
Anja drew a picture of the Royal Wedding on Friday:
She drew it entirely from memory two weeks after seeing it on TV. This picture is of Kate and William at the ball after the ceremony. A bridesmaid is still holding the bride's train, and many people in the background are watching the newly married couple. The castellations at the top of the drawing show that the ball is taking place in a castle.
She drew it entirely from memory two weeks after seeing it on TV. This picture is of Kate and William at the ball after the ceremony. A bridesmaid is still holding the bride's train, and many people in the background are watching the newly married couple. The castellations at the top of the drawing show that the ball is taking place in a castle.
Tornado!
On Thursday a tornado touched down in Xindian during a thunderstorm, three or four kilometers from our house and less than a kilometer from Anja's school:
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Live-blogging Anja and Reiya playing
Welcome to the Webster-McCullough household on a Sunday afternoon; I am live-blogging Anja and Reiya playing together.
Reiya is currently sitting in her Pack and Play playing with Chieni's cellphone. She especially likes the decorative purple doodad attached to it. Her nose is running because she has a cold so I just helped her with that.
Meanwhile, Anja has been pushing the entire Pack and Play, with Reiya in it, around the house. Anja and Reiya both this this is hilarious. A couple of times Anja stopped suddenly and Reiya fell over onto her back and continued to play with the phone as if nothing happened.
Anja is now playing peekaboo with Reiya. Reiya thinks this is fun, but it's not clear that it is as fun as the phone. Ah, now Reiya has put her hands on the side of the Pack and Play to look for Anja.
Occasionally Anja starts shaking the Pack and Play or doing something else that she definitely knows better than to do, so she has to be told off.
Now Anja says she wants to go downstairs to the playground, so she is pushing Reiya back into the study where the Pack and Play normally goes. And now we're off.
Reiya is currently sitting in her Pack and Play playing with Chieni's cellphone. She especially likes the decorative purple doodad attached to it. Her nose is running because she has a cold so I just helped her with that.
Meanwhile, Anja has been pushing the entire Pack and Play, with Reiya in it, around the house. Anja and Reiya both this this is hilarious. A couple of times Anja stopped suddenly and Reiya fell over onto her back and continued to play with the phone as if nothing happened.
Anja is now playing peekaboo with Reiya. Reiya thinks this is fun, but it's not clear that it is as fun as the phone. Ah, now Reiya has put her hands on the side of the Pack and Play to look for Anja.
Occasionally Anja starts shaking the Pack and Play or doing something else that she definitely knows better than to do, so she has to be told off.
Now Anja says she wants to go downstairs to the playground, so she is pushing Reiya back into the study where the Pack and Play normally goes. And now we're off.
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