Speaking »
Retroactive Interference in Action
February 18th, 2009 | 3 Comments
I’ve been volunteering at the Children’s Museum of Houston where maybe half of the visitors speak Spanish. I’d like to get to the point where I’m confident enough in my Spanish to at least mix it in with English in teaching these kids, especially since some of them don’t speak English yet.
My brain is not cooperating. I can switch off easily between English and Chinese as I’ve been doing that my whole life. However, my brain has grouped Spanish and Japanese together in a category apparently named “Languages I Speak Brokenly.”
Place and Manner (of Articulation)
February 5th, 2009 | 5 Comments
In the teachers’ lounge the other day, a kindergarten teacher was sharing stories about her students. One child had proudly gone to the teacher and said, “Ms. ____, Guess what? I can say ‘Hello’ in Chinese!” She expected the child to say: 你好, ni3 hao3. Imagine her surprise when the child utter the phrase, “Herro!”
Ma1, Ma2, Ma3, Ma4!
January 28th, 2009 | 5 Comments
what do the numbers mean after the words in italics? “ri4″ and “dien4″ for example.
Glad you asked! Chinese is a tonal language, which means that the way you say the word is integral to the meaning.
If an English speaker asks, “…ma?” or yells, “MA!”, the “ma” in both cases is the speaker’s mother.
But in Chinese, a word that sounds like “…ma?” means “numbness/pins and needles” while “MA!” means “to scold or yell at”.
American-born Taiwanese girl who married a Japanese guy. And who forgot about six years' of Spanish grammar and most of the vocab.
E-mail Yvonne
nerissa
celiviel
yvonnekao
Korean-American girl who blogs under a Spanish pseudonym because being culturally confusing is fun. Native speakers say that she has outstanding Spanish (which is a definite compliment) and outstanding German (which is most assuredly not).
Elenita
American-born, Taiwanese guy who took five semesters worth of German and ended up with a major in Linguistics.
Subscribe