I've been living in China for nearly 3 months now, and hands-down it is one of the most interesting countries in the world. With twists and turns round every corner. As a student studying abroad this world is completely new to me and here are some of the things I've learnt.
1. Foreign people are basically like celebrities. If you go to a tourist attraction you will for sure be asked for a photo with people. You will be pointed at as people shout '外国人‘ and chuckle. Children will stop and stare at you blankly. And to tell you the truth, it takes a lot of time to get used to!
2. Foreign food will never taste quite as nice as home. I've tried everything, burgers, burritos, sandwiches and more, but it's just not the same. Especially the cheese. God I miss cheese.
3. Tourist attractions are so much better on weekdays; an obvious one, but an important one.
4. Chinese food is not the same as it is in the uk. I don't think I've had any spring rolls or even 1 portion of chow mien since being here. But EVERYTHING is so much better in china, the authentic flavours and the variety means you never get bored. Although to be honest I don't even know what I'm eating half the time!
5. The weather is so unpredictable, in the time I've been here its gone from 35 degrees to -5, and right now i am freeeeezing (at least this gives me and excuse to go shopping!)
6. You're probably gunna get hit by a bike at least once. There are so many motorbikes in Beijing and they seem to never obey traffic lights, or any road laws in that case. So you have to be extra careful when crossing the road because they come round the corner at the speed of lightening. You don't want to pay for hospital bills so be careful!
7. Baozi will save your life, especially pork ones. Hungover? eat Baozi, Ill? Eat Baozi. Poor? Good job Baozi is cheap. It's cheap, tasty and fills your stomach, what else do you want?
8. Never trust the alcohol in clubs (especially if it's free!) Speaking from experience, it'll give you a hangover from hell and you won't want to eat for at least 4 days.
9. Although you'll look stupid; wear a mask! The pollution is so dangerous, especially if it's over 100, and although they're uncomfortable and other people don't wear them, a mask will help you so much. The amount of coughs and illnesses from the pollution is crazy, why would you risk getting ill when you can just wear a stupid piece of cloth for less than an hour?
10. TAOBAO IS LOVE TAOBAO IS LIFE. (Although the sizes are a bit off!)
Showing posts with label languages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label languages. Show all posts
Monday, 28 November 2016
Friday, 12 February 2016
Language Learning!
Heya,
As you may or may not know I studied 2 languages at A level, French and Chinese. I just about survived and ended up with quite good grades, and now I study Chinese at university, so I thought I'd share my tips about language learning, and how to survive what seems hell!
Firstly, flashcards will be your saviour, build up your collection throughout the year so that by the time revision comes around you can just get them out and practice. Without having to create hundreds in one go (although this is great procrastination). This is perfect for just lists of vocab, even if you think you know them it is worth making flash cards anyway as it is quite likely you'll forget by June! What I like to do is go through the flash cards and sort them into red, amber and green piles. The green are those which I already know off by heart, so I will not check them for a week or so. Amber, I kind of knew them, either I didn't quite get the right meaning or I knew half the word, in which case I will check them in one or two days. And the red pile are ones I do not know at all and I keep practicing these constantly until they reach the amber pile. However, if you're lazy like me and don't make flash cards throughout the year, there are many websites you can use which have preprepared flashcards. My favourite is a website called Memrise, which helps you learn words and keep them in your long term memory, so that you wont forget them in the exam. It is easy to use and free to sign up for, you can even get an app! But if memrise doesn't take your fancy there is always Quizlet, which is more game based and less structured. Or there is also an app called Skritter which is useful for Asian languages as you can practice the characters. Although it is quite expensive it is worth the money in my opinion!
Next, to practice grammar, I find that using text books are the best way to practice it. There are many textbooks all over amazon and ebay which just give you lots of exercises to do, like fill the blanks, and then you can check your answers after. My favourite one to use for french is a book called Action Grammaire. However, if you find this too tedious another thing to do is just to practice writing essays. Although this is time consuming, the results are insanely beneficial! And I'm sure your teachers will have enough time to mark one extra essay a week or something! They don't even have to be long, just as long as you're practicing writing, you'll pick up the language.
Finally, in order to practice speaking and listening the best thing to do is to watch films and listen to music. In my opinion it is most useful to watch a film you already know quite well in your native language in the language you study. However, you must pay full attention and try and make sense of it whilst trying not to look at the subtitles too much! Although it takes time, you pick up so many useful little phrases that look so good in your oral exam because they're up-to-date. Another useful thing is to talk to your friends in your study language outside the classroom. Although it sounds stupid it can actually be fun, even if you just jokingly offend each other in the language, it's still practice!
I know many of these tips are ones your teachers tell you to do anyway, but they're right, they are the most useful! Once you advance you can also try and read books in the language you're studying. I currently read young adult fiction books in french as they are about the same level as me. However, you can start from children's books and work your way up! Have you guys got any tips? I'm still learning myself, so any advice is welcome!
Speak soon,
Lois Mae
As you may or may not know I studied 2 languages at A level, French and Chinese. I just about survived and ended up with quite good grades, and now I study Chinese at university, so I thought I'd share my tips about language learning, and how to survive what seems hell!
Firstly, flashcards will be your saviour, build up your collection throughout the year so that by the time revision comes around you can just get them out and practice. Without having to create hundreds in one go (although this is great procrastination). This is perfect for just lists of vocab, even if you think you know them it is worth making flash cards anyway as it is quite likely you'll forget by June! What I like to do is go through the flash cards and sort them into red, amber and green piles. The green are those which I already know off by heart, so I will not check them for a week or so. Amber, I kind of knew them, either I didn't quite get the right meaning or I knew half the word, in which case I will check them in one or two days. And the red pile are ones I do not know at all and I keep practicing these constantly until they reach the amber pile. However, if you're lazy like me and don't make flash cards throughout the year, there are many websites you can use which have preprepared flashcards. My favourite is a website called Memrise, which helps you learn words and keep them in your long term memory, so that you wont forget them in the exam. It is easy to use and free to sign up for, you can even get an app! But if memrise doesn't take your fancy there is always Quizlet, which is more game based and less structured. Or there is also an app called Skritter which is useful for Asian languages as you can practice the characters. Although it is quite expensive it is worth the money in my opinion!
Next, to practice grammar, I find that using text books are the best way to practice it. There are many textbooks all over amazon and ebay which just give you lots of exercises to do, like fill the blanks, and then you can check your answers after. My favourite one to use for french is a book called Action Grammaire. However, if you find this too tedious another thing to do is just to practice writing essays. Although this is time consuming, the results are insanely beneficial! And I'm sure your teachers will have enough time to mark one extra essay a week or something! They don't even have to be long, just as long as you're practicing writing, you'll pick up the language.
Finally, in order to practice speaking and listening the best thing to do is to watch films and listen to music. In my opinion it is most useful to watch a film you already know quite well in your native language in the language you study. However, you must pay full attention and try and make sense of it whilst trying not to look at the subtitles too much! Although it takes time, you pick up so many useful little phrases that look so good in your oral exam because they're up-to-date. Another useful thing is to talk to your friends in your study language outside the classroom. Although it sounds stupid it can actually be fun, even if you just jokingly offend each other in the language, it's still practice!
I know many of these tips are ones your teachers tell you to do anyway, but they're right, they are the most useful! Once you advance you can also try and read books in the language you're studying. I currently read young adult fiction books in french as they are about the same level as me. However, you can start from children's books and work your way up! Have you guys got any tips? I'm still learning myself, so any advice is welcome!
Speak soon,
Lois Mae
Tuesday, 30 September 2014
C'est Moi!
So this is my first blog post and it's all very exciting! (although I'm still not sure what I'm doing!!) But I thought I'd give it a go with a little intro into who I am.
Yeah, I'm Lois, I'm 17 from England. At the moment I am studying for my A levels, which are; Chinese, French, maths and psychology, and even though it's a lot of work doing 4 subjects as A2 I love them all so much! As is obvious, I love languages! I'd love to do a degree in Chinese and Linguistics but whether I'll get the grades or not is another story. I also love reading, mainly YA novels, however recently I have got into psychological thrillers and books on Chinese society. My favourite books are 'Where Rainbows End' by Cecelia Ahern, 'Before I Fall' by Lauren Oliver and 'The Storyteller' by Jodi Picoult. All of which are very different, but they all hold a special place in my heart!
At the moment I am playing for a Women's football team. I have played at the same club since under 10's and it's unbelievable how far we've come. We've definitely had our ups and downs!I don't want to bore you too much, so here's my final paragraph (exhale). My other major passion is music. My favourite bands are punk/rock/punk, but I also have guilty pleasures for Taylor Swift and 5SOS (haters gunna hate). Reading Festival is my favourite and always brings good memories, I love it sooo much!
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| Festival season! |
So that's it! A brief intro into my life.
Lois Mae
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