Jan. 27th, 2006 03:14 pm
The lamp of the world
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muckefuckSpring World was Xiao Fei's idea. We'd all agreed that we wanted to meet to discuss our translation assignment before class resumes next month, but I'd been dragging my feet. Every time I was start on it, I'd get distracted by something else--Welsh, Thai, Armenian, Osage--really, whatever was lying about the house.
We all agreed, however, that it was a fantastic session and we should try to keep meeting like this even during the term. I'm not sure why this felt so much more productive than our typical post-class dinners. More time? More energy? More conducive surroundings?
The reactions we got can best be summarised as "bemused but friendly". One of our waitresses recognised me (from the infamous thigh-seizing episode) and spoke to us in Chinese. We managed to do all the ordering and settling up in it, which is a first for a gathering without Liu laoshi.
At least three or four people stopped by to ask what we were doing. Only one of them was a prick: A young man who asked us all "Why do you want to learn Chinese?" only so he could sandbag us with "You're learning the wrong language." He was referring to the traditional characters that our Taiwanese-American teacher prefers and was deaf to any arguments as to their utility or the relative ease of going between systems. "I think in fifty years, nobody write this way any more." Thanks for your opinion, dickhead; I'll file it there right next to the contention of countless commentators that the Japanese will abandon kanji in our lifetimes. (His companion, on the other hand, was sweetness personified.)
Unfortunately, the translation rather defeated us. We'd all spent a lot of time researching vocabulary and none of us could agree on the best way to phrase our sentences. Liu laoshi always complains that mine are too Englishy, so in trying to correct for that I might've gone too far the other way.
Mozhu still thought the idea of the exercise was sound and we simply required more suitable texts. Any suggestions, people? Any genre, but we're thoroughly sick of going-to-the-market type stories thanks to our unimaginative textbook. The important thing is that they be interesting enough to hold our attention (keeping in mind that we'll be spending hours on each one), yet clear and uncomplicated enough that a clutch of first-year students can render them into Chinese with a bit of confidence.
We all agreed, however, that it was a fantastic session and we should try to keep meeting like this even during the term. I'm not sure why this felt so much more productive than our typical post-class dinners. More time? More energy? More conducive surroundings?
The reactions we got can best be summarised as "bemused but friendly". One of our waitresses recognised me (from the infamous thigh-seizing episode) and spoke to us in Chinese. We managed to do all the ordering and settling up in it, which is a first for a gathering without Liu laoshi.
At least three or four people stopped by to ask what we were doing. Only one of them was a prick: A young man who asked us all "Why do you want to learn Chinese?" only so he could sandbag us with "You're learning the wrong language." He was referring to the traditional characters that our Taiwanese-American teacher prefers and was deaf to any arguments as to their utility or the relative ease of going between systems. "I think in fifty years, nobody write this way any more." Thanks for your opinion, dickhead; I'll file it there right next to the contention of countless commentators that the Japanese will abandon kanji in our lifetimes. (His companion, on the other hand, was sweetness personified.)
Unfortunately, the translation rather defeated us. We'd all spent a lot of time researching vocabulary and none of us could agree on the best way to phrase our sentences. Liu laoshi always complains that mine are too Englishy, so in trying to correct for that I might've gone too far the other way.
Mozhu still thought the idea of the exercise was sound and we simply required more suitable texts. Any suggestions, people? Any genre, but we're thoroughly sick of going-to-the-market type stories thanks to our unimaginative textbook. The important thing is that they be interesting enough to hold our attention (keeping in mind that we'll be spending hours on each one), yet clear and uncomplicated enough that a clutch of first-year students can render them into Chinese with a bit of confidence.
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