Happy New Year My Friends

Sunday is a holiday, so my instructions at ELITE has come to an end by today. Tomorrow the Saturday I will be going to Taipei and enjoy the big celebration with my family near Taipei 101. I am hoping that everyone is having a wonderful holiday. And for the upcoming year 2012, all your dreams and plans will come true and get fulfilled. I am looking forward to seeing you again in class. Happy New Year.

Mandarin Issue

I responded to an British friend's question. He asked if using 注音/ Zhu Ying is better than 拼音/ Ping Ying. Here is my answer.
Mandarin speakers from China sound much purer than those from Taiwan. That's for sure. However, Mandarin speakers in Taiwan use Traditional Chinese and some ancient cultures have also been preserved by Taiwanese. Taiwanese didn't go through Cultural Revolution, so they sound "softer" and "less revolutionized" when they speak and write in Mandarin Chinese. But, the downside to their usage in Chinese is that they are not used to rolling their tongues when they make "Zhi" and "Zi" , "Shi" and "Si", or "-eng" and "-en" sounds. These sounds seem very much alike to Taiwanese. Nothing wrong with "Zhu Ying" phonetic system because it does tell you how to pronounce them right. The truth is that most dialects in Southern China don't require people to roll their tongues. Tongue-rolling consider useless and time-wasting.

Richard on one-day leave

Richard's class was canceled today, so some of his students turned to my class. That's why my class had better attendance than before. Richard, don't come back! ;)

Seediq Bale

If you haven't watched the movie "Seediq Bale" yet, this article may provide more of the information for you. If you have done so, you sure need to read this article to refresh your memory to the movie.


http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnngo.com%2Fhong-kong%2Fvisit%2Fseediq-bale-401232&h=-AQHrnbFPAQEMT9clM8ByVlgu8kRaC0l93Bb6oEZkHjWjQA

Obama pardons the two turkeys

Aruru, a friend of us and who used to be a diligent student at ELITE, posted this video clip for us. In this video clip, you'll see President Obama "pardons" two turkeys, one is call "Peace" and the other one "Liberty". The word "pardon" usually means forgiving someone or something. However, what it means here is not to kill these two turkeys for food on Thanksgiving so that both of their lives will be saved. These two birds should count their lucky stars.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/president-obama-pardons-thanksgiving-turkeys-15015505#.Ts064h_zrvM.facebook

Taiwan in the top ten best in travel

Remember that weeks ago an article posted on the website named "Lonely Planet" revealing the ten best places in the world, which are worth taking a trip to? Taiwan is in the ninth place. I finally found it online and finished reading it through. If you think it's too challenging for you, why not just focus on the Taiwan's part?
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/taiwan/travel-tips-and-articles/76856