The Aodaliya Conversations

Aodaliya is the pinyin for Australia - 澳大利亚 ào dà lì yà. It’s odd to say since every character in the four-syllable phrase is fourth tone. When said as a single “word”, Continue reading →

Snippets of Chinese conversations

Yesterday I had a few fun little conversations (in Chinese) I thought you might enjoy, so here goes! In the afternoon I went to the Silk Market with a lovely Continue reading →

Spring fling in Beijing

After 9 years the weather in China still surprises me. At least I’m no longer surprised about being taken by surprise. For my first few years I was constantly shocked Continue reading →

How I learned Chinese – Part 3: Office Girl

In 2008 I took a job in Langfang, a small city in Hebei province between Beijing and Tianjin. It’s only an hour or so from Beijing by car so I Continue reading →

How I learned Chinese – Part 2: Passenger and Patron

I studied Chinese in school for over ten years, the final year being at a Chinese university in Beijing. In my last post I wrote about my experiences studying Chinese Continue reading →

How I learned Chinese – Part 1: Classrooms

I am often asked how I learned to speak/read/write Mandarin Chinese. The short answer, in my case, was a combination of good fortune and hard work. Part of the good Continue reading →

ANZAC Day in Beijing

April 25th is ANZAC Day, a memorial day observed by both Australia and New Zealand. Today is the 2nd time in 10 years I have not attended the Dawn Service Continue reading →

Bird flu pamphlet – full translation

Wow, lots of people were interested in the bird flu pamphlet I translated! If you’re one of those people, here is the full translation. Please bear in mind that this Continue reading →

Fun with bird flu

You may have heard that a case of bird flu was confirmed in Beijing. In fact, it was an 8 year old girl in the very suburb in which I Continue reading →

Seatbelts in China

These days I am pretty particular about wearing a seatbelt when I sit in the front of a car. I got completely out of the habit in my first year Continue reading →

Chinese names, part 2 – extended family

While writing my previous post on Chinese names, I found myself veering off into the topic of terms of address – so I moved it over to a new post. While Continue reading →

Chinese names, part 1

Last week I heard something I couldn’t help but laugh at – an American guy told me of two teenage boys he’d taught in an English class at a Chinese Continue reading →