First question, where are you from?
I am from China.
My hometown is in Yinchuan, Ning Xia.
A lot of people might not be familiar with where Ning Xia is.
It is an autonomous region in China.
You might have heard of Terracotta Warriors. Yinchuan is very close to Xian.
Oh, I see. My geography is terrible.
Crystal: It is ok. Amy: Where do you live?
I am currently residing in Guangzhou. I have been living here for 5-6 years.
Do you miss your hometown?
Of course. Hometown is always the best. So I do miss my hometown.
I see. What are your hobbies?
Music, movies, and of course languages.
Ooh really? Cool, for today I won't ask questions related to music.
Ok.
Ok, let's talk about your teaching experience. How long have you been working as a Chinese teacher?
About 5 years overall. My first job in Guangzhou was a Chinese teacher.
I worked as a Chinese teacher in an educational institution for two years.
Then I worked in a Japanese enterprise, for about two years as well.
While I worked in the Japanese enterprise, I still worked as a Chinese teacher on the weekends because I really enjoy teaching.
After a while, I came to a realization that I love teaching Chinese, so I am working as a Chinese teacher again.
I see. Is becoming a full-time Chinese teacher your current plan?
Yes, I am actually a full-time Chinese teacher.
Oh right, I forgot. Sorry.
Working as a Chinese teacher, what do you like the most?
Probably communicating with my students.
Being able to talk with students from all over the world makes me really happy.
I always tell my friends that being a Chinese teacher not only helps spread my Chinese language and cultural knowledge
but as well as learning about different cultures from students from all around the world.
I learn about their languages, cultures, and customs.
While I teach, I also gain new knowledge; it is truly enjoyable.
Nice, besides of your mother tongue, what other languages do you speak?
I also speak Japanese, because I was a Japanese major in college.
Really?!
English as well, but everyone knows English.
If that is the case, what is the biggest obstacle when it comes to learning Japanese or English?
putter in your colleague and audit of a clash is one ofs
putter in your colleague and audit of a clash is one ofs
After you get to a certain level, it becomes difficult to learn more efficiently and to measure that progress.
After we have learned the basic grammar concepts, we will face one of the most difficult obstacles – use natural expressions.
Same with students who are learning Chinese. A lot of students who reach HSK 3 and 4 will feel like they are not making any progress.
Yes
I will tell them that you are improving, it is just slower than before.
You have to realize that it takes a long time to become accustomed to a country's local culture and language usage.
It is not something that can be obtained with just grammar concepts alone.
Therefore, it might take a long time to get used to the language, and then you will see your progress.
As of learning languages, I am facing the same problem with my English. I feel like I am not making any progress.
So, I have to listen, speak, and read consistently to see a substantial change.
Just to double check, I heard you speaking English, I don't think you will have a problem teaching Chinese in English, right?
It should be no problem.
Ok, yea, I think so.
Ok, so you said you speak English and Chinese. I meant, of course, you know Chinese.
What is the biggest difference between English and Japanese?
The biggest difference is definitely the sentence structure, which most people are aware of.
What I'd like to add is that Japanese, Chinese, and English belong to different linguistic families.
For example, English is a fusional language,
Japanese is an agglutinative language, and Chinese is an isolating language.
Take Japanese for example, the feature of an agglutinative language is that you will have little words
that act like glues that we use to stick to certain words.
Hence, learning to use Japanese words correctly isn't an easy task.
Amy: Not easy? :(
Yes, as in, it is a bit difficult to master.
In Japanese, those little words determine whether it is a positive or negative sentence.
The key component is always at the end of the sentence.
So you save the best for the last.
Yes. So you have to make sure to listen to the entire sentence,
else you won't know whether the person is saying I like you or I dislike you,
I want to go, or I don't want to go. It is a big problem.
So, should an impatient person learn Japanese?
I think, if the learner likes Japanese culture, he/she will be patient enough to listen to the complete sentence.
What is the difference between Japanese and Chinese then?
As I mentioned briefly earlier, Chinese is an isolating language, it does not have inflectional morphology.
Chinese doesn't have very distinguish markers like in Japanese.
When you are learning Chinese, you will realize that Chinese grammar is not as strict.
Though there are some a lot of exceptions. A lot of students will ask me, "Why is there another expectation!"
Exactly! I totally agree.
As we meet exceptions, we will learn them as we go.
It is not a problem at all.
We just need to build the basic framework first.
As of Chinese, the grammar part isn't as strict; it is more like placing different blocks in the right order.
Hence, Chinese grammar generally places a higher emphasis on structure order.
As of Japanese, it is not a problem. As long as I have my particles in the right place,
then even though the word order is different, the meaning remains the same.
For example, if you want to say "Cat eats fish," you can say "nekowa sakanao tabemasu"
or you can also say
sakanao nekowa tabemasu
It doesn't matter whether I say "cat" or "fish" first.
As long as I have the particle in the right place, then the sentence is OK.
Thankfully you said that else I would've thought the fish ate the cat.
Yes, it is actually very interesting.
So, what study tip would you give to a Chinese beginner?
I think the most important part is to learn Chinese characters.
Learn Chinese characters?
Yes, I actually thought about this question for a long time.
Based on my experience, a lot of my students didn't study Chinese characters.
I have one student who I have been teaching for four years.
After he learned all the basic grammar points,
He lives in China for almost 5 years now. He is also my oldest student.
After he learned all the basic grammar points, it has become difficult for me to improve afterward.
Because he lives in China, he encounters Chinese characters all the time.
You have to keep in mind, all the signs and what not are in Chinese characters in China.
When we teach Pinyin initially, it is like a walking cane; you have to get rid of it eventually.
When you come to China, everything is going to be in characters. You won't see pinyin labeled on top of the characters.
As I studied the problems this student is encountering, I have realized the importance of teaching characters.
Characters aren't as difficult as you might think.
If you have learned a few basic characters, then you will know that after learning 3000 common characters,
you probably won't have any problem living in China. There are about 950 most commonly used characters.
Amy: 950?! Crystal: Just 950. Amy: Just?!
If you study 10 characters a day, you will quickly learn 950 characters.
I think Crystal is very positive, just 950 characters.
Exactly, so learning 950 characters isn't that difficult.
Once you have learned 950 characters, you can read the newspaper, articles without any big problem.
I also recommend the pictographic method when learning characters.
The pictographic method allows students to form an easier association with the character and
as well as learning about the root of that character. I am using the pictographic method to teach my students Chinese characters.
They quite like it, and feel like learning Chinese character isn't as difficult as they thought.
Amy: Yes, it is definitely a good method. Crystal: Yes, it definitely helps with learning Chinese characters.
Okay, what about learning Japanese?
As of learning Japanese, I think it needs to be learned in an orderly step-by-step manner.
Amy, you told me you are learning Japanese, right?
Yes! We will have our first Japanese class today :D
Yes. A lot of people use romaji when it comes to learning Japanese. Amy, you too, right?
Just like what I mentioned earlier, romaji is the walking cane in Japanese.
Aw, that is sad :(
Yes, but no worries. We have to get rid of it one day. It is important to know Hiragana and Katakana.
In Japanese, knowing Hiragana and Katakana will help you a lot.
Then you can slowly add Kanji to it.
Once you have mastered the basics, learning Japanese or Chinese wouldn't be as difficult.
Even learning Chinese?
Yes, assuming you know characters.
If you have mastered the basics, then you won't encounter big obstacles.
But if you have been learning for a while with romaji, then stop and pick up Hiragana and Katakana might be more difficult.
Yes, so although the start is difficult, it is really to make the learning later on easier.
As the old saying goes, "Grasp with both hands with equal importance",
it means, tackles both problems with the same importance.
This way you will achieve a better result.
interviewed as much as I'd be making the CD of this is alive really appreciate if only because or simply be interested in are maybe it's s
I see. Very good.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét