admin123 | Enhancing Learning

36 stratagems 三十六计 sān shí liù jì

The 36 stratagems are, together with the rules of the art of war, one of the most read book among managers. The 36 stratagems explain how to beat the enemy using witness and audacity. Click here for more explanations.

Expo and changing Chinese habits

The Chinese government has been working hard during the last months to destroy old district of the city and replacing them with skyscrapers and modern living centre. To be in line with the living conditions of other countries the Chinese government is also instructing thousands of police men to the modern traffic conditions, e.g. avoid…

Chinese pijiamas

There are many things I will miss when back in Europe (I have created a list in a previous postings). One of the thing I will miss most are people walking in pijiama. There have been a lot of advertisment in national and English-speaking newspapers in China asking the population not to leave their houses…

Chinese craftiness

When in Shanghai do not miss the opportunity of ordering some handmade knitting ware. Chinese women are exceptional in knitting and they use wool from all over the world. You can leave the address and they will dispatch the products to your country. They are good and honest (one hour work is 1,5 Euro). Please…

Machine translation: Which tool to use?

To quickly translate Chinese texts (e.g. baidu/wikipedia articles) I use following tools: Babylon; rule-based translation engine Google translate; statistical engine Systran. In the following an example of the translation quality of each of the tools. Texttype: popular science article Subject field: philosophy Source: http://baike.baidu.com/view/50208.htm, 22/11/2009 性格(character)是一种与社会相关最密切的人格特征，在性格中包含有许多社会道德含义。性格表现了人们对现实和周围世界的态度，并表现在他的行为举止中。 Here the translation of each of the character: 与…

How to choose a language course: Vademecum for expatriates

Dear Reader, during my first year in Shanghai I attended Chinese language courses in different private schools. As it often happens, I had good and bad experiences. So, I thought to summarize some advices that could help you to more easily identify the language school that will support your progresses in the learning of the…

Oriental Pearl Tower

The Oriental Pearl Tower (Dōngfāngmíngzhūtǎ 东方明珠塔) is surely one of the Shanghai’s attractions. The tower has been built between 1991 and 1995, it is 468 mt. high and it is one of the three tallest tower in the globe (at 2009). It’s English translation is „Oriental Pearl“, where 明珠 also means precious. The tower is opened…

Chinese bank names

中国建设银行 zhōngguó jiànshè yínháng, Chinese Construction Bank, 建设 jiànshè =construction 国家开发银行 guójiā kāifā yínháng Chinese Development Bank, it is the only bank in China whose governor is a full minister. 开发 kāifā = exploitation (it doesn’t sound that good…) 中国农业银行 zhōngguó nóngyè yínháng, China Agricultural Bank, one of the „four banks“ in China. 农业 nóngyè = agricultural 中国民生银行 zhōngguó mínshēng yínháng, China Minsheng Bank (otherwise it would be…

Chinese lucky characters

Due to the good connotation of the above Chinese characters, these will be used in names or on the festivals decorations. 德 dé good 德国安德曦 déguó (Germany), āndéxī (Andrich, my name) 和 hé armony 我和你 you and me 喜 xǐ happiness 喜欢 xǐ huān 福 fú fortune 財 cái wealth 美 měi beautiful 美国 měi guó (America)…

Mid-Autumn festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is, together with the New Year’s and Dragon Boat Festival, the most important festival in China. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese calender. Moon cakes are the festival’s special pastries.