Transportation 交通

Sorry for the random post... this is just to help me study for the quiz and oral tomorrow! Feel to reference though ^^

Dialogue Sample
Q: 请问，怎么车 ______？ ALTERNATIVE: 从 A 到 B，怎么车？
A: 先向______坐几转，再向______坐几转。然后向______坐几转。

Directions:
东：east
西：west
南：south
北：north

Verbs:
去：to go
坐：to sit, to take
走：to walk
换：to change
开：to drive
骑：to ride

Methods of Transportation
火车：train
公共汽车：bus
地铁：subway

ノルウェイの森 + Updates

Hi everyone! Just a few new updates! I won't be continuing to blog about Startalk until the last class (which is this Friday). I am just to busy with my economics and sociology courses. After this week, expect some new content though! I'll definitely have time to actually study Korean! I have been studying minimally from my 연세 한국어 읽기 2... I also hope to self-study Chinese after my class ends – I'd hate to start my journey all over again ^^;; I really want to continue my studies in Japanese too... 

Speaking of which, I want to watch ノルウェイの森. It's a relatively new Japanese movie based a popular modern novel.

 1987年9月、講談社から書き下ろし作品として上下巻が刊行、1991年に講談社文庫として文庫化、2004年に文庫改訂版が出された（なお、単行本にはあとがきが付されているが、文庫版には掲載されていない）。執筆はギリシャ、シチリア、ローマで行われた。そのため、引き続いてロンドンで執筆した『ダンス・ダンス・ダンス』と共に「異国の影のようなものが宿命的にしみついている」「結果として書かれるべくして書かれた小説」「もし日本で書かれていたとしたら、（中略）これほど垂直的に「入って」いかなかったろう」と村上は『遠い太鼓』に書いている。1987年3月7日、早朝から17時間休みなしで第一稿を深夜に書き上げる。直後の日記に「すごく良い」とだけ書き記した。3月26日、第二稿完成。すべてボールペンで手書き。

How I study Korean Vocabulary

I currently have two notebooks:one for vocabulary, and the other for grammar, but this post will be covering the way I learn Korean vocabulary. While reading a textbook:

1. Underline unfamiliar words

2. Look up the definition of the unknown words on a dictionary. I prefer Naver Dictionary.

3. Record the word in a notebook in the format of

• Word (Chinese word if given): definition
• 에) example of word
• ->synonyms or related vocabulary if given in dictionary

4. And finally I go through  my textbook and look for underlined words that I didn't know before.

5. Repeat process until all word are known. I don't reccomend memorizing the words unless you don't have the textbook anymore.

I learned most of these techniques from Hangukdrama, be sure to check out her website! 

감사합니다! Let me know if you have any questions!

七天爱上你

Love At Seventh Sight (Chinese Movie)

★★★★½

Just finished watching this movie! Ahhh Chinese films are so unique! I am unable to describe the style that Chinese movies have... they are so artistic! ^^ For some reason, Chinese films always put me in a weird mood, neither good or bad... although this movie left me happy! If you want to watch this, head over to Dramacrazy.

I thought this film was very creative and certainly had a twist! If you do watch it, be sure to watch it until the end (even during the credits)!!

Startalk Chinese: Day 7-11

Sorry I wasn't blogging about class.... I have been way to busy with different classes as well =-=;;; Other than doing a Chinese leisure project, there really wasn't anything different worth mentioning!

On Monday, we had the opportunity to play Chinese chess. On Tuesday, we didn't do much except learn about how to read time. On Wednesday, the class had the opportunity to do calligraphy! It sort of turned out a mess for everybody ^0^

My new group got assigned the province Hong Kong for the traveling project! How exciting, right? Yesterday while surfing the internet for attractions in HK, I learned that people can get married at McDonalds! Interesting, huh? ^^

Other than that, now that it is Friday, I have able been studying Korean!! I miss studying Korean...

Gmarket Order 1

This isn't my first time ordering from Gmarket... but this is my first blog post on a package I received. I have been ordering from Gmarket since Summer 2010, and I have been satisfied ever since. My order shipped very fast, and I received in less than two week!

I received my items in a huge box! 

Everything I ordered came in one box, so I wouldn't have to recieve my items at different times. I order a two books, and a korean keyboard mat.

ISBN: 9788971419304

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=211438843

I heard about this book through Hangukdrama and decided to give it a try! So far, I really like the content. It is a little challenging since there are basically no English words included... but I think I'll be able to learn a lot ^^

ISBN:9788992647601

 http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=159027316

I also heard about this book through Hangukdrama. Since I don't have a normal Korean book, I decided to give this one a try... mostly becuase it is about Big Bang 빅뱅.

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=204142607

I ordered the hangul keyboard mat to help improve my korean typing speed. So far, it has been helping a lot! I got yellow because I think black is boring =-=;;;

I can't wait to order from Gmarket again :D

Personal Taste 개인의 쥐향

Personal Taste (Korean Drama)
★★★★★

Ahhhh! I hate finishing dramas =-= I usually don't watch the last episode, but I sort lost track of what episode I was on ^^;;;

I realize that Personal Taste is not that new, but I forgot to finish watching it since I was really busy during the school year =-=;;

I wouldn't say that this this drama is much of tear-jerker, but even so, it is still worth watching! The instant I first started watching Personal Taste, I fell in love with the characters Park Gae In 박개인 and Jeon Jin Ho 전진호. They have such a close and sensual connection, it's hard to forget it is just a drama ^^;; I like how the story revolves around Sanggojae 상고재 (which is a special traditional Korean house in the drama).

Throughout Personal Taste, there was the overlaying conflict of perceptions on being gay. The drama gave a positive message in accepting others and defining what love really is.

By the way, Lee Minho is my new obsession ^0^

HD 潘辰 - 出發 short film -- Chen Pan - On My Way

HD 潘辰 - 出發 short film -- Chen Pan - On My Way from Grass Jelly on Vimeo.

Chinese Startalk: Day 10

Wow! I can't believe it has already been 10 days since Chinese class started ^^;;;

I'm posting this today, since I was so tired yesterday =-=;; Yesterday, we went to the local Chiense cultural/martial arts center. We took a bus right across the university and then walked a little (a lot for me), to the center.

At the martial arts center, we learned how to do basic stances and kicks. We also learned the differences between northern and southern style of martial arts. The north uses more legs, while the south uses more hands.

This is the back of the center where people train.

Returning back to the university was torture. We walked longer than we did in the morning, and the bus ride only took 2 minutes since we walked to a further bus stop. By the way, to say "I'm very tired" in Chinese, you say "我很累" (Wo hen lei).

Chinese Startalk: Day 8-9

I will be skipping the 8th day, since the class really didn't do much except review food vocabulary/restaraunt grammar.

Today, on the otherhand, proved to be an exciting yet tiring day. Today, the 4 different groups in the class were able to cook our chosen recipes. Ours – Mapo Doufu 麻婆豆腐. We also helped cook Baozi 包子, and Jiaozi 饺子. The Arabic student also cooked their own foods in the same kitchen, so they got to try some of our food ^^

Here is the tofu we cooked

Here are some of the vegetarian dumplings.

Everybody in both Chinese/Arabic classes were taking videos/pictures for our projects that are due tomorrow. All my group needs to is edit the video footage we took. So far, it looks really great :D

Chinese Startalk: Day 7

Today the class went to many places! It was also our first field trip ^^ After reviewing a little on vocabulary dealing with food, we went on the bus to our first location – Yummi House!

The food was very tasty, and we all shared (it was the one where the table turns so everyone can pick the food they want). The owner was kind enough to talk about the regional differences in Chinese cuisine. We learned that the South 南 prefers sweet food, whereas the North 北 enjoys salty food. We also learned other various facts about food in China, such as the KFC that serves rice. I didn't take any pictures because my phone was out of battery =-= But the teacher took a lot of pictures, so I'll be sure to get some Anyways, after spending a couple hours of chatting, laughing, and of course eating, we moved onto our next location, Talin Market!

Each group were hunting down the ingredients that our recipes required. After accumulating the various ingredianets (chili paste etc.) I picked up some some snacks ^0^ Most of the students and myself congregated in the Korean aisle to chat and watch movies via iPad, as we waited for the teachers and remaining students to finish their scavenging.

In the end, today was really fun and I can't wait for another field trip :D

Startalk Chinese: Day 6

Yay! This week in Chinese, we are focusing on food! That's right! :D So we're going to be doing projects/assingments that revolves around things like grocery shopping and cooking various Chinese foods.

Tomorrow, the class get's to go to a local market to buy ingredients for our dishes we'll be making in our groups! How fun is that? ^^ Before that, we'll be going to a restaraunt called "Yummi House".

Also here are some characters we got today for homework:

喜: –
欢: –
** 喜欢 means "want"
常: often
吃: eat
菜: dish
酸: sour
甜: sweet
苦: bitter
辣 spicy


I will be taking pictures of the dish we'll be making, so stay tuned!

마이블랙미니드레스

My Mini Black Dress (Korean Movie)

★★★★★

I'm pretty sure I love all the movies that Yoon Eun Hye 윤은혜 is in! Today I watched "My Mini Black Dress" – and let me just say, it's one of the great Korean movies I have seen (not that I have watched that many). 

I wouldn't say it's much of a exciting/cheerful movie (there is a death), but it's extremely enjoyable. The story is about four close friends that have met each other in college, and are connected by the black mini dresses they wear. They all experience different conflicts, but manage to pull through and save their relationship.

Dongho 동호 from U-Kiss is even in the movie! He yelled some profanity in the movie, and I couldn't help but blush. I couldn't tell if I was blushing from the sudden curse word, or from how different I perceived Dongho ^0^

You deffinitley need to watch this movie. You can watch it on Youtube, so it shouldn't be too much of a hassel.

Chinese Startalk: Day 5

大家好！！

Today, I took a second quiz and presented my family project! I did really good on the quiz...I got a 97%. As for the presentation I got a 95% =-=;;; I was so nervous during the presentation, so I missed up on the tones – which is why some points were taken off ^^;;  The teacher wrote that she was shocked on how much I learned in just this one week! My whole presentation was in characters, so it took a lot of studying to be able to do so.


Recently, I have been trying to find things that interest me in Chinese culture (music, movies, celebrities, etc). I believe it is important to stay interested/motivated in learning a language. That way learning the language soon provides a purpose.

So far, I haven't really found anything else that interest me besides artists such as Elva Hsiao 蕭亞軒, Show Luo 小豬 or my shainese hubby Jing Boran 井柏然. 

I feel so bad that I don't have enough time to study 한국어!! Being so, I ordered a few books from Gmarket that I will be doing a review on when I receive the shipment ^^ I couldn't help from ordering a cardigan and Korean keyboard stickers :D 

Anyways sorry for the long post!

감사합니다 ^^

PS. I will be working on the Chinese resources page, so check it out soon ;)

Startalk Chinese: Day 2-4

Sorry for the lack of posting, the Chinese class, Economics, and Sociology have been keeping me super busy =-=;;

Anyways, I want to give a brief post on what I have been doing in my past few classes.Our homework as mostly been dealing with character practices and various workbook exercises.The class has been focusing greatly on Pinyin 拼音. This is useful since it makes reading new vocabulary simple, not to mention it helps in typing Chinese.

Tomorrow, my presentation on my family is due. Sentence structures like: 《他叫…》or 《我的妈妈师…》are supposed to be present in the presentation.

So far, the class has taken 1 quiz, and there will be another one tomorrow =-=;; I didn't do so will on the first one because of silly mistakes! But hey, learned right?

Anyways, sorry for the long post, I'm to tired and busy to go on the internet these days!

再见～

Startalk Chinese: Day 1

Wow! I can't believe I finally started my Chinese class!

Today, the clasroom time was mostly spend introducing ourselves in Chinese with various introduction vocabulary, along with typical classroom nouns. The teachers briefly went over fixed expressions such as 'I don't understand', or 'May I use the restroom'.

For some reason, I find the sentence structure in Chinese a little confusing since I have been studying SOV languages =-=;;

We got our textbook and workbooks as well. Afterwards we went to the computer lab to do some assignments that were uploaded the school's online class system.

The homework we get on a daily basis includes:

These are the books we're using for class

• Homework: Regular homework will be assigned by everyday.
• Character assignment: Coping characters 5 times
• Daily can-do statement and Linguafolio: Self-evaluation.

I just finished my workbook homework... so I'm almost done ^^

PS. Sorry for the brief post =-=;; I'm just so tired from all the classes I had toay ^^;;;

Mei Wei Qing Ge 美味情歌 (BOBO组合) MOVIE TRAILER

Definitely gonna watch this movie! It has BOBO组合 in it!!
 I love Jing Boran ^===^

Lang-8 Review

This post will be covering the amazing website, Lang-8 :D

I have been a member with Lang-8 since December 2010. I haven't participated much because of school exams, but I'm starting to log back on.

In Lang-8, you create a post without any prompts (so it's like a journal), in any languages you are currently studying. Because Lang-8 has such a great community, your posts will get corrected by native/fluent speakers with correction tools provided on the site. In return, you correct other journals from users writing in your native/fluent language. The system extremely simple, yet efficient.

Believe it or not, I learn a lot from the corrections I get from people on the website. I'm not afraid to make grammatical mistakes because I'll end up learning learning the correct form or even an alternative usage. I even ask questions in some of my entries, and get answers immediately!

Here's my journal ;)

The Downside
I see to Lang-8 is that somewhat fluency is required in order to write entries  – but that isn't their fault of course ;)

In short
I definitely reccomend checking Lang-8 out. They offer many languages and a great community as well! I learned a lot through this website, so it might be of some benefit to you as well. Luckily if your not content with the service, you can always delete your account ^^;;;

Startalk Program: Orientation

Today I attended the orientation for the Startalk Chinese Program! It was a bit boring and extraneous, as it covered topics and guidelines for the University itself. Both Arabic and Chinese instructors introduced themselves and the class schedule ^^

Here are some of the things that the program entails:

- classes held 9:20 to 12:30 (sometimes ends at 3:00, twice a week at least)
- Field trips and community spotlights are included
-Grade distribution as follows:
• daily class performance 20%
• homework 20%
• projects 20%
• written exams 20%
• oral exams 20%

The teacher emphasized that the class is heavily based on projects, along with participation.

On the schedule, I also noticed that we will be visiting a local chinese/middle eastern super market, along with a Chineserestaurant, "Yummi" :D

Anyways, sorry for the quick/brief post. I'll be posting what I learned/experienced after every other class ;)