Another Language Student...

用中文第一次 POST..!

sleeplessjosh — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 12:58:18 +0000

今晚我感覺要用中文寫 post, 最近生活越來越好又越來越高興..! 我要學中文的哪方面也越來越清楚. 我這幾天做很多研究讓我暸解我們這個世界,通常我做研究越學越感覺到笨蛋,可是現在我沒有這種感覺… 下次去KTV我要唱這首歌,不難昌又很好聽呐~..!

Acting Results…

sleeplessjosh — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 11:14:09 +0000

So I spent a whole day acting well… actually half a day acting and half a day waiting. The pay was good and I good free food, and in the evening I was even payed to drink Beer..! Anyways I took some pictures.

Acting…

sleeplessjosh — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 02:57:15 +0000

Wow, being a foreigner sometimes is good today I got a job acting, I am not sure how it will go but I think it will be a good experience, I hope. Anyways life in Kao is alright it could be better but at least its better than before. Lately I am more certain about what I should be doing and not having as much trouble doing it but trust me there is still plenty of trouble… and I can never seem to just let it go. Lately I have been working on the “habits goal” I am developing a couple its going pretty well too..! Here is a video of 浜崎あゆみ “Hamasaki Ayumi” I think the first part of the video is a close depiction of what life in a foreign country is like when you have no “Connections”

So stressed out…

sleeplessjosh — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 21:15:31 +0000

How is it that our perception of life can make us grow, become stronger or shrink and become weaker. Its really a powerful tool just like Habbits. The other day I went to臺北 it was pretty fun and I got a nice Levis sweater. Among so books about Interpreting,”This is becoming a habbit.”
Lately, my motorcylce was towed and I had to pay 1oooNT which really sucks thats enough for a nice sushi dinner in臺北. Study is going according to schedual, and relationships are strange…

周傑倫 New Album

sleeplessjosh — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 07:33:52 +0000

These music videos are great Jay keeps getting better and better..! This song “A thousand miles afar” is very popular right now in Taiwan infact I hear it everyday so I dont really need to try hard to remember the lyrics, well I dont remember them I just sing with the song and then I soon forget lol..! Anyways its definately good if you can sing this with your freinds in KTV…

あまり分からヘン

sleeplessjosh — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 06:13:32 +0000

Lately I feel confused and tired… I should seriously take a rest but for those who might be reading this rarely update blog just think of my login name… I think that can explain everything. I have taking a couple pictures of my motorcycle, it looks cool but it doesn’t drive as cool as it looks so that is frustrating. Since I have decided to stay in Taiwan longer I might also decide to rebuild the engine or just by a new one I am not sure. I would rather spend the money on travel or nice clothes. I am going to consider this longer. I had another weblog “The Curious Formosan Wanderer” but I cannot update this personal weblog much less that “Academic” weblog so I have decided to merge the two. I am to busy to live two lives anyways. Well this is what my motorcycle looks like. I am thinking about naming it too but haha I am not satisfied yet with my possiblities. Anyways everybody keep up the good work, whatever ever you are working on 頑張ってね…

“Just Becuase…”

sleeplessjosh — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 17:21:04 +0000

Okay, so anyways as you people who try to read this blog now know that I never update, I have decided to give another shot at developing this habbit, “updating”. Anyways my blog for today is, “Just Because…” or maybe I should say something like I have no better title…

Anyways I spent the last couple of weeks on Vacation traveling around Taiwan, it was nice..! Next time I will definately do it better though. I hope I cant get a chance to go to Shanghai, HK, Korea, or Thailand soon. More experiences the better. Anyways everybody keep up the good work. I am out.

Habbits…

sleeplessjosh — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 16:19:52 +0000

I have to admitt its not easy to develop habbits I guess I can use this as a excuse for not updating my blog lately…　御免　(ゴメン, Sorry) 笑う. Well lately I have been tutoring English (英文家教) This is pretty decent pay and I dont have to work so much, also since I am teacher its much happier lol… I can tell others what to do… 笑. I actually learn alot myself by teaching others English… sometimes I even think to myself I wish I was taking my own advice…其實我覺得自己不能聼自己的話那就真可惜喇. 頑張る、頑張る俺が… Anyways I am taking notes, maybe not reading them enough…lol So later I might add a review of some learning strategies and associate results.

Okay So I have decided on the second video to practice. Everyone is Taiwan loves Jay Chou, this is one of his recent songs. I hope you enjoy..!

Artist: 周傑倫 (Jay Chou)

Song: 夜曲 (Nocturne)

Note: Obviously Jay is not Stinky becuase many people like him, however the Romanization of his name sounds like that, if you cannot distinguish "Tonal Difference" well like me…

通用拼音:Tōngyòng Pīnyīn Chou
漢語拼音:Hànyǔ Pīnyīn Zhōu (Zhou1)
注音符號:Zhùyīn Fúhào: ㄓㄡ

Thus it sounds like this to me… [TPS: Chou 周 HPS: 臭 Chòu Note 4th Tone]
I think its a Tongyong Pinyin System (mmm Universal… really..?) effect…

I recomend since L1 to L2 transfer is prevalent for "Foreign Langauge Learners" and especially for those individuals that langauge uses "Roman Characters" to transcribe sounds that to avoid confusion its best to learn 注音符號 Zhùyīn Fúhào is its certian you must learn the "correct" pronounciation from a qualified instructor, and it cannot be confused with the sounds in your mother tongue. In addition you might chose to learn IPA as it also works the same way, however this is my oppinion, infact maybe mine only. 加油加油..!

Communicative Context… (Dialogue)

sleeplessjosh — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 20:25:10 +0000

Okay so lately I have been consider this idea of a "Communicative Context" between two or more people mmm less than five. When I studied in Tokyo at 早稻田 Waseda University everyone spoke Japanese even if there English was great… However, in Taiwan at 中山大學 National Sun Yat-sen University the story is quite the opposite, if Taiwanese students are brave enough to speak to you, they will definitely speak to you in English actually even the clerks at Family will speak to you in English (Its like I am in America…) so my big problem here is how can I practice Chinese when everyone is speaking to me in English… its so~ frustrating.
I have ask Taiwanese directly why do you only speak English usually they will say, something totally disturbing like, "Its weird to speak Chinese with a Foreigner." My Taiwanese friends however, assure me its because English is needed to get a job since Taiwan is a small island and relys heavily trade with other country. My answer to this question is however, it is damn strange to speak English in a foreign country "Obviously I am the foreigner here" with people who have never even been outside of Taiwan. So I have came to the conclusion when people ask me in "English" what country are you from I have two options.

Option 1: Pretend that I am from France, and my English is terrible to scare those away who will just want to speak English to a "Foreigner".

Option 2: Just forget at all that they are speaking to me in English and begin to speak to them in Mandarin or better yet talk to them in Taiwanese the language that their parents and grand parents most likely scold them with when they are not behaving. (This is however, difficult because if I am spoken to in English I am automatically triggered to think with my "English Brain".)

What ever the solution turns out to be, its obvious that I have to be stronger with my ability to think separately from verbal stimulus as well as the able to "Thought Switch" dont confuse thought switch with code switch as they are not the same. Whatever it is I will do it or I should say I wont return to the US until I have accomplished it. Anyways I will post some pictures of my Campus and the Vicinity.

This is my Backyard, I am serious…

This is a view of 旗津 (Qijin) from the 文學大樓 Lit Building

Habbits habbits habbits…

sleeplessjosh — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 16:39:14 +0000

Well obviously this time I will post about habbits. I have trouble developing them… atleast the good, or productive ones… I am not saying that I have bad habbits or infact I am also not denying that either…

So this is what I am thinking. How to develope them… must I really do something everyday… (What if I lack the time..?) Well this is my main thing that I have been considering lately. I guess you can do anything but to be good you must do it more than once of course and you must do it effortlessly.

Actually this is one thing that I have been considering about my study of Chinese… Its been about 8yrs (Oh man..!) I studied Japanese for 4yrs and my Japanese is 超ウマイ so, I am starting to lack confidence in the "Chinese language education system" or infact lack of "System". I have already decided to use my "Japanese language study habbits/methods" to study Chinese so I am hoping for the best.

Today I had advanced Chinese conversation class… I would'nt say this is advanced especially in comparision to the Japanese conversation classes that I took in the US however, I did enjoy it and the teacher just allowed us to chat all the time, and actually guided us which I think was great, some teachers will just practice 句型 (Sentence Patterns) mmm it sucks and basically seems like a easy way out for the teachers, be aware of this… I also had a class for 臺語 (Taiwanese) that class was damn fun… The teach also was like a comedian, I guess this may be one of Taiwanese peoples specialties. I am confident that I will enjoy this class for sure, however I will probally wind up speaking 臺灣國語 (Ha… Unstandard Chinese) Its okay language should be fun… not 煩 (Upsetting). Okay I am done for now.