Old China Hand Foot and Mouth Disease
Last weekend again saw me in my beloved Shenzhen to shoot some of the last scenes for the upcoming Cantonese teaching DVD called DWD 2. Yes, the ultimate in the latest teaching technology, in colour. →
Russia and Canton – The Twain Shall Never Meet?
This week was my third week of Russian lessons, and although the teacher insists stubbornly on talking about Anna who is a ballerina and Anna and Maria being ballerini, I’ve decided to practise what I →
搶!
I learnt a new verb today. A taxi driver asked me “有冇 搶香蕉呀？" Yau mou cheung heung chiu ah? (something like that) – Have you CHEUNG bananas? I thought it meant ‘hoard’ but arriving at →
A Pox on Sunny Vision and all their Descendants
I was hoping I’d never have to write this (again) but here it is: My blog www.chinadroll.com has disappeared from view, and it’s SO not my fault. I was a customer of theirs for 3 →
Canto Frustrato Grandissimo
To give or not to give up? Last week one of my students was almost … not close to tears exactly but … what’s the word? Oh yeah, ready to use a blunt weapon. She →
How (not) To Learn Cantonese 2
How to learn Cantonese: By doing the above. Carefully sliding down, into the water, then swimming. In my first post about this topic a couple of weeks ago I used the swimming analogy – how →
Are All Whitey Total Morons? (Or is it just me?)
I think one of my biggest weaknesses is my temper, or rather that I sometimes can’t control it. I specifically blow my top at government officials and other puffed-up people in uniform, telling me what →
How (not) To Learn Cantonese
I’ve realised for many years now that learning a language, especially a language like Cantonese where the locals’ resistance to foreigners (Caucasians) acquiring their language can take on epic proportions sometimes, is about personality, not →
Autumn in Tokyo
Wei, language enthusiasts everywhere, or should I say: Konichiwa! Or Bunka kakumei! (Cultural revolution) Yes, I’ve been to Tokyo （東京）and what a lovely trip it was. The air was so fresh, the train stations so →
Cantonese Forever Part II: Big Brother Knows Best
Some people say – well, so what if Mandarin became the official language (or as the South China Morning Post in its endless contortions to please everybody twists it into, the “official dialect”) of Hong →