Wan An Taipei 晚安台北

I'm in New York!

2007-10-09T02:37:00.000+08:00

After some intensive traveling across the globe, I am currently settling in New York for a while. Later this year, I will continue on my journey across the country (by plane :P). Join me if you like for the first-hand news from the big apple, along with my thoughts in Chinese, too. (I somehow need to do more Chinese stuff)

Go to: wanannewyork.blogspot.com

Feel free to comment in Chinese if you like! I found when I try to write in a foreign language, that's REALLY when I start to learn, about grammar structures and more vocabulary. Give it a try!

Talk to all of you later! Wan An!

JT :)

MJN Podcast cross-over

2007-03-03T03:09:00.000+08:00

Well, in case you forgot, I have another (amongst others) blog MyJapaneseNote.blogspot.com regarding my Japanese learning practice. It's purely for fun. If you are interested, you may check it out. I've attached "cross-over" podcast for your interest. The original post is here.

Comments are always welcome. That's it!

Last but not least, I hope you all enjoyed your Chinese New Year if you have been celebrating it. I just bought a new Logitech USB Headset 250 today and it's working hand-in-hand with my (old) iMac. Now I have no excuse but to start writing for the next episode of WAT. Stay tuned.

Wan an, or should I say, "Sayonara!"

JT

Chinese Zodiac Signs

2007-02-16T21:09:00.000+08:00

As I was reading today's newspaper, it asked a few questions and some holiday solutions to this coming Chinese New Year. Here are few questions:

"Do you know why people celebrate the Chinese New Year? What are some of the traditions surrounding the holiday? Can you name the twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac? Do you even know what year this is in the lunar calendar? What are some of the poplar phrases and Chinese New Year salutations you'll hear?" (source: The China Post)

Well, in case you didn't know the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, here's the solution EXCLUSIVELY from Wan An Taipei .
(rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake)
(horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig)

I'm off home for the holidays! More reports coming!!

Wan An!

apple = peaceful

2007-02-13T02:49:00.000+08:00

During the Chinese New Year, there are some phrases that you should say in order to bring good luck and fortune. "Gōng xĭ fā cái(恭喜發財)" is the ultimate phrase you should say. I say it to EVERYBODY including the taxi driver or even the cashier at the convenience store.

Now, another symbol we use for the CNY is the apple(蘋果/ㄆ一ㄥ2 ㄍㄨㄛ3/píng guŏ). Because 蘋(píng) is pronounced same as 平(píng), which means peaceful. Therefore, people decorate their homes with apples and eat them in hopes to bring a peaceful and pleasant new year.

蘋果(ㄆ一ㄥ2 ㄍㄨㄛ3/píng guŏ) : apple
平安(ㄆ一ㄥ2 ㄢ1/píng ān) : peaceful; safe and sound

Lastly, wish you 情人節快樂(qíng rén jié kuài lè) Happy Valentine's Day!
"願天下有情人终成眷屬 (yuàn tiān xià yŏu qíng rén zhōng chéng juàn shŭ)" - May all the lovers in the world become married couples.

Wan an!

Chinese New Year is Coming

2007-02-10T17:51:00.000+08:00

In less than a week time comes the Chinese New Year!!

I can hardly wait! Lately I found that not just me, but most of my Taiwanese friends are not in the mood for work. We're all keen on the coming annual holiday. (of course, and the annual BONUS too.. but not me...sob!) Due to the extra month from last year, the CNY comes almost 1 month late compared to last year. It falls on 18 February this year but the holiday should begin by the 17th, 除夕(chu2 xi4, new year's eve), when families gather and have a big feast to greet the new year. (and lucky money put in red envelopes too!)

To celebrate this special occasion, I've made a little card for all of you.

恭喜(ㄍㄨㄥ1 ㄒㄧ3/gōng xĭ) : Congratulations!
發財(ㄈㄚ1 ㄘㄞ2/fā cái) : May you have prosperous fortune.
新年快樂(ㄒㄧㄣ1 ㄋㄧㄢ2 ㄍㄨㄞ4 ㄌㄜ4/xīn nián kuài lè) : (you should know this one)

Wan an!

Happy Anniversary & Happy New Year!

2006-12-31T02:22:00.000+08:00

Wow, I can't believe I've got spammed on my site about two weeks ago. It's so low. Just low...

Other than that, I want to celebrate the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of this fantastic (and slow!) homepage! I love telling stories and yet I haven't managed to write some interesting stuff (nor educational ones), so shame on me!! (ah~!) But according to BBC news the average update period of an "active" blog is within 3 months... so I'm pretty... um... somewhat... active! (haha)

Other than that, I took my Japanese Fluency Test (Level 3) and I think I did ok. Wait until next March and I'll know how I did. How are you guys' Chinese studyings by the way? Send me questions any time ok?

Last but not least... HAPPY 2007 !!

I'm spending time home with my folks. STILL planning on Episode 7. Keep those mail/comments/critics coming!! Your support is my drive :o)

Wan An!

JT

Review: Wah-Wah (Richard E. Grant, 2006)

2006-11-20T16:47:00.000+08:00

Wah-Wah (Richard E. Grant, 2006)

This was the first film that I watched during the Golden Horse Film Festival.

Swaziland, a former-Brit-Colony was being handed over its autonomy for independence at the end of 60s. This is the era when a lot of British government officials or representatives were facing a big change of their lives, and so for their offspring. Based on the true story of Richard E. Grant, a brilliant English actor, raised and educated in South Africa (is he considered South African then? Who can tell me?), created this truthful and yet agonizing story about social, family values and the adolescence growing pains experienced himself. The feeling of being out casted although coming from one of the most respected family in Swaziland, he had to deal with his parents' divorce and developed a talent for puppeteering which, btw, could be considered as an escape in his real life, and a window for us to peek on the realistic side of British aristocrats in Swaziland before. I won't go on by re-telling the whole story but just to tell you how affected I felt while watching this film.

The cast was wonderful, including Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Julie Walters and Emily Watson who even played an American!! Her American accent was brilliant and humorous (probably too smart for Americans). She really fits brought the character alive. Kudos go to the talented ( and face-twisted) Nicholas Hoult and Zax Fox who both played the alter-ego of the write/director himself.

Having been to South Africa in 2001, it was not strange for me seeing the beautiful mountainous terrains and landscape of southern Africa. Nor was I strange to the loyal and innocent domestic helpers. It was almost like a re-visit to the continent which has a special place in my heart. By the way, I was watching with one of my South African friend as well. The very intriguing and vivid African-English and their words-of-wisdom really amused me throughout the entire evening. The "hush-hush" and the "wah-wah" lingua were lively and spoke for themselves. (laugh)

Perhaps it's has a more personal touch in me but to be really honest, it's one of the few movies about Africa-Britain that I've seen which has a great literal touch of it. I really enjoyed and was deeply touched by the film. I should give it 4 stars.

I am starting to think about going back to Africa again...

Herzlich Willkommen bei Wan An Taipei

2006-10-29T04:26:00.000+08:00

With my buddy's help, a new promo is completed! It goes something like this:

"...Wie Sie vielleicht schon wissen, bedeutet ,,Wan An" soviel wie guten Abend oder gute Nacht...."

Download the new promo here (available now!!)

Vielen Danke, Jan!

2006 Golden Horse Film Festival (Nov 10-24)

2006-10-29T03:07:00.000+08:00

At last, the long awaited Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival(2006台北金馬影展) will begin from November 10th to 24th, a full two-week film carnival. This year it's going to be held in Taipei Shing Kong Cineplex. It's somewhat the equivalent to Cannes or Berlin film fest in Taiwan showcasing some of the best (if not all) films in the world ranging from Krzysztof Zanussi, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Peter Greenway, Francois Ozon, Asian, Russian, Hungarian, French, German, animation, short films, experimental films, anything you can think of. And it's ALWAYS very popular. Tickets get sold out immediately nearly within hours! They invented this "package" which includes 14 vouchers for advance purchasing. And people would wait in line for hours to get these special pre-sale tickets.

Unfortunately I didn't join the crazy film-mania even though I consider myself a pretty die-hard movie buff. But no worries, Public sales will begin on November 4th (at all Era Ticket outlets islandwide, for $230 per ticket). I think I will need to line up for a couple of hours, and, hopefully will be able to get the tickets for the movies I wanna see. Get your copies of the program while you can!

This year's openings are Ming Lian Tsai's I Don't Want to Sleep Alone(or Hei yan quan 黑眼圈, as in IMDB.com), and the most anticipated Paris, Je T'aime by 22 directors. I don't think I can get Paris, Je T'aime so I'll just wait for the DVD (sigh). And there are about more than 100 films from all over the world. It's a paradise for movie buffs or films students.

I haven't decided what to see thinking there are still 5 days to decide.

The Golden Horse Blog: ( http://blog.sina.com.tw/goldenhorse/ ) all in Chinese with loads of info.

Venue:
台北新光影城 Taipei Shin Kong Cineplex( http://www.skcineplex.com.tw/Mov/index.asp )
Address: No. 36 4F., No.36, Xining S. Rd., Taipei City (insdie Shi Ze Lin Building, MRT Blue-line Ximen station)
住址: 台北市西門町西寧南路36號4樓、5樓 (獅子林商業大樓內、請搭乘手扶梯至4樓)

See you there! Wan An!

A Big Hello to HC Friends

2006-08-07T12:52:00.000+08:00

I'm a member of such group called Hospitality Club where people from all over the world can meet up and reach out a hand to those who also enjoy traveling and learning about different cultures. Thanks a lot, guys and gals!!

I just wanna say a big Hi to my new friends at HC who are generously reaching out their hands to help the poor me (literaly!) :-P

Starting from Wednesday, I'll be off to Greece and then Germany to visit my good friends and meeting up with my long-tern pen pal since 1998. It's going to be cool. I'll sure give it a cover-up story when I return.

Until next time, WAN AN!

6th Night: Learning a Foreign Language / Pronunciation Drill

2006-07-27T01:05:00.000+08:00

Night 6: I'm back! I've finally got the chance to sit down and gather my thoughts for this episode. It might not be as what you expected but I think I deserve to express my own opinions regarding language learning. After all, I am a teacher of foreign language and also learning a third (or fourth? fifth?) foreign language myself.

第六晚: 我回來了! 我終於有機會坐下來好好想一想這一集要說什麼。不過可能會跟你想的有點出入, 原因也只不過是我想要稍微表達一下我的意見,因為畢竟我除了在從事外語教學之外,還仍然在學習第三(還是第四? 第五?)外語的同時,所得到的一些想法, 希望和大家一起分享。

Dì liù wǎn: Wǒ huí lái le! Wǒ zhōng yú yǒu jī cuì zuò xià lái hǎo hǎo xiǎng yī xiǎng zhě yī jí yào shuō shí me. Bù guò kě néng huì gēn nǐ ziǎng de yǒu diǎn chū rù, yuán yīn yě zhǐ bú guò shì wǒ ziǎng yào shāo wéi biǎo dá yī xià wǒ de yì jiàn, yīn wéi bì jiàn wǒ chú le zài cóng shì wài yǔ jiào zué zhī wài, hái réng rán zài wué xí dì sān ( hái shì dì sì ? dì wǔ ?) wài yǔ de tóng shí, suǒ dé dào de yī xiē xiǎng fǎ, xī wàng hé hàn dà jiā yì qǐ fēn xiǎng.

In this episode, I also included some basic phonetic practices -- the initials and the finals. Please refer to the chart here:
再這一集裡, 我附上了拼音(注音)的練習--聲符和韻符。請參照這裡的表格:
Zài zhè yī jí lǐ , wǒ fù shàng le pīn yīn ( zhù yīn ) de liàn xí -- shēng fú hé yùn fú. Qǐng cān zhào zhè lǐ de biǎo gé:

Click here (right-click the mouse and choose SAVE LINK AS... I use FireFox) to download or go to MY PICKLE PAGE to stream it.
按這裡 (按滑鼠右鍵"儲存目標") 或到 MY PICKLE PAGE 以網路串流收聽.
àn zhè lǐ ( àn huáshŭ yòu jiàn "chú cún mùbiāo" ) huò dào MY PICKLE PAGE yĭ wănglù chuàn liú shōu tīng.

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Questions and comments please send to me or leave a message here. Your suggestions and support are my strength!

Enjoy the podcast and 晚安(wǎn ān)!

My Other New Blog Added ~ My Japanese Note ~

2006-07-18T00:41:00.000+08:00

Hi there!

I'm BACK!! And I've got a new site added to enhence my Japanese learning. It's nothing to do with Chinese but just for your curiosity, please take a short moment to have a look if you'd like to. The blog will be purely made for my Japanese learning. It's actually a personal learning note, but, hey, since you're here, why not let you guys take a look and maybe you'll get something out of it!

URL: http://myjapanesenote.blogspot.com/

And to let you know, a new episode is coming on its way! I don't intend to do any big lessons yet so that I feel more relaxed to do it. It's a long story but I hope to explain more along the way.

Have a great summer! Wan An!

JT

Desperate Quake Victims Await Aid in Indonesia

2006-05-30T04:35:00.000+08:00

Heavy rain and damaged roads were hindering efforts to help survivors of a major earthquake in Indonesia, as officials put the death toll at more than 5,100 dead, 6,500 seriously injured and thousands more left homeless.
(statics were just released a while ago)

This is really a devestating news. A co-worker of mine's girl friend is from there. Her village is no more than 15 minutes away from the worst destructive earthquake. Taiwan has already sent a First Aid Group on Saturday to the area. God bless them.

The Indonesian Red Cross site is here. You may show your support if you wish.

JT

A 50-Word Essay on a Sunday Afternoon

2006-03-26T22:09:00.000+08:00

This afternoon, I battled with my private student on persuading him to write an essay for the China Post Writing Contest. He's a 6th grader in elementary school and, in this category, he is required to write within 50 words on the topic "The Future of the Internet".

We already brainstormed last week regarding what can Internet do right now. And we covered from games, news, chatting, shopping etc due to my haggle skills. (So he can play with my Sony PSP for 30 minutes) I asked him to write down the ideas instead of "thinking" as his homework. To my disappointment (but expected), he didn't bring in anything. Since he's a smart kid, we discussed very quickly and moved on the "future" perspective.

He seemed rather surprised when I told him about a GE (or LG? Samsung?) fridge can go online to get the latest shopping info, weather, recipe, nutrition facts etc. I told him, that this is technology. And we started weaving the dream for the future world.

Internet is also about CONNECTING PEOPLE (sounds like a slogan for a cell phone) and making our lives easier, I asked him,
"What do you want the Internet to do for you?" I asked.
"I want the Internet to make me happy." he said with a big smile.
"But... do you know what HAPPY means?" I said.
"Yes, I am a happy boy."

Indeed, as lucky as thousands of other children here in Taipei, he is a happy boy. I'm glad for him. But I felt the urge to discover more regarding happiness with him. I had to ask him,
"What makes you happy? How can you be happy?"
"Play games. Chat with my friends."
"Really!?" I rose my eyebrows.
"Really."
"Well, I think the best way is being with happy people. And naturally you'll be happy. It's the same logic if you are with unhappy people, you'll be unhappy too." I tried to give him this statement so he can pander on later on.
" Yeah! I think so too." he replied excitedly.

Gosh, I have such a smart student! Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that, it rarely happens that teachers in their daily lives talk about these kind of things with them. And the kids have no way of finding what life is all about through different point of views. Well, he certainly is learning. I'm glad.

Anyway, we finally managed to complete the article. He went from frowning to screaming with joy the moment we finished the essay. We actually edited loads of words out to its 50-word limit. And God forbid me to put words in his mouth or even write for him. Not that I didn't help, we talked and talked then he I gave him a hint so he just went with it. It was a great relay. We got the essay EXACTLY 50 words. No more, no less.

This is the part I love for being a teacher.

My Day at the Exam

2006-03-25T16:38:00.000+08:00

In case you didn't know (of course not, I didn't tell anyone!) about my taking the entrance exam for Shida Uni's Dept. of Translation, here's a big view of what happened today.

After some serious nightmare and sort of paranoia, I made it through the days before the exam by filling up my time with reading both Chinese and English newspapers and trying to translate one another once in a while. The whole sequence comes down to today's result.

Yes, you know I couldn't really sleep well and I've been toss and turn in bed worrying that I might make it, and also scared by the thought of making it through because that means I will have to give up my work and my source of income immediately becomes another concern. "It's a breakthrough," I told myself. Life cannot be always the same and I know that somehow and someway I will have to make a progress by doing something that's going to pull me out of what I'm comfortable with, if not always with joy.

Ok, back to the subject, I woke up shortly before 7AM and was able to snooze for a few more minutes before my other alarm went off. I got up, thinking I will NEVER make it to do another practice before leaving for the exam venue, I quickly dress myself (without any actual DRESSES, thank you!) and got on my way.

U-huh, I got there in time! I swear I will never ride my scooter when something important comes along! The parking took me about 5 minutes and I really regretted. But I found a parking spot anyway. Parked, dashed into the Shida Senior High campus, walking while having a bite of my sandwich I bought along the way, I just reached there before the bell rang for preparation.

The time table is as follows:
08:10 - 09:40 --> Translations
10:00 - 11:40 --> Mandarin Chinese
13:10 - 14:40 --> English

I just realized last night that all the tests are only held for 90 minutes, 30 minutes shorter of how I practiced during the previous week. Oh, hell! I need to speed up! And it turned out that the translation exam only contained two articles. One Chinese-to-English, and vice versa. Both written from the same author, Anthony C. Yu (余國藩), who is an acclaimed scholar and an important translator who introduced the Chinese literature into the Western world. So I got everything right, and wrote the Chinese translation. That took me a long time but somehow I was quite happy with. Later, the Chinese-to-English part, got my pulse running because I only have 20 minutes left!! And it's about 200 to 300 words of Chinese! I rushed and rushed. When the ending bell rang, as the inspectors called out, "Please put down your pens!" I was still writing my final sentences right until he (or was it a she!?) arrived my desk to take away my test paper. I swear I might have a heart attack if I do it again!

The second period came quickly as 15 minutes went pass by. Chinese, in spite of being my native language, is considered the hardest one to master, and also is my least confident category. Not that I can't write for a penny, but the fact that lacking of serious and in-depth researching of those confusing ancient lexicon. I don't hate it but wished that I had worked harder while in high school. And luckily, the exam didn't come about testing my knowledge on Confucionism nor the philosophy of Tao, it simply asked me to re-write (many times) of articles or abstract the essence of a certain article to two versions. It also includes re-writing an article to a recipe kind of format. I smile when I saw it, I guess. Mm, perhaps I will cook some sweet taro soon.

The real tragedy was (or remains) to be running out of my correction tape while completing my first few sentences! I was petrified and afraid that if I make any mistakes I will be as dead as the taro (okay, maybe the lard) that I was writing about. But somehow I managed through it and gave a not-so-pretty-looking essay. Time was running out, but I completed with a big relief. Gotta pack up with white-out (correction pen) later.

During lunch break, I tried to grab a seat at the nearby Dante Cafe, but lining up with 15 something people in a tiny restaurant wasn't being considered. I stopped by the 7-11 next door and was shocked by the 30-something shoppers waiting to pay. But with their super skill at the cash register, the clerks quickly got rid of them and I was able to buy twice of what I needed, including the correction pen. I went back to the high school and found a place to sit down and drink my latte. After that I read some newspaper then before I knew it, the bell rang again and the afternoon exam began.

You know what? I think I'm pretty much of a genius because I was able to guessed (really! I predicted it!!) that what the test would be about. "disposition" (which I come across quite often, yet still a new word to me) and "daunting"(I looked it up in the dictionary yesterday from reading the Hugo Weaving interview featured in the newspaper yesterday.) And guess what what? BINGO!!! They both appeared on my test papers.

The English test was all about writing skills. First you had to give remarks and complete the articles by reading a few lines of them. Then you were asked to re-write two articles into 90 to 120 words of abstracts, without using the same phrases or copying the sentences within the original ones. I think I managed through it and got some good ideas about writing thanks to my daily practice of teaching and reading numerous blogs(not true) and occasional writings(very seldom). One was about how to write a successful resume, and the other was about the new country separated from Indonesia called East Timor where people are suffering from hunger despite the fact the government makes huge money out of gas and oil fields. It's really all about writing skills and the potency. (Gosh I sound like a better writer already or what!?) As I finished writing, there were still 5 minutes for me to double-check. Oh, the guy next me is still sleeping...

The bell rang. I walked out of the campus, feeling like screaming and letting the pressure out of myself. But I didn't. I was afraid that this misbehave would scared the thousands of participants. Screw them!! Ok, I just screamed while writing heehee.

I can't imagine how the days will go by as I wait for the secondary result comes out on the 6th of April. That's only two weeks away! There are more preparations that I need to do including writing my autobiography from 800 to 1,000 words. But I'm just glad that I didn't do half bad, considering this is going to be a mere 2% chance of success. We'll see and more news will come soon.

Stayed tuned!

The Wait is Over!

2006-02-26T19:51:00.000+08:00

I've finally got the latest episode is up and running. After several trials and errors. But I'm glad that the baby is fine :)

Let me know if you find any errors in the posts or suggestions for the episode. I'd be your humble servant to satisfy your needs (If they don't collide with mine!).

You may wanna ask the question: What's the Japanese thingie got to do with this?
>>Well, I've got some Japanese friends who listen to this show, too. So if you want me to put up other languages/versions, please let me know. But you need to help me! This is an international podcast I'm telling you.

Enjoy! Wan an!

5th Night: Ordering Food, Numbers, Chinese Holidays

2006-02-26T16:57:00.000+08:00

5th Night: Ordering Food, Numbers, Chinese Holiday. This is the longest show ever! I finally get to talk about numbers and how to order food upon desperate requests. I covered some current news in Taiwan and talked about the traditional Chinese holdaiys. Music in this episode is provided by Micheal Margio from Florida, USA. Thanks! a lot!

第5晚: 如何點菜, 數字的說法, 中國人的節日. 本集實在有夠長! 花了我不少時間才完成. 在應許多人的要求下, 我終於將數字的說法以及如何在餐廳點菜在本集中加以說明. 我還提到了傳統的節日和最近的新聞. 本集中的音樂是由美國佛州的Miachal Margio所提供. 謝謝!

Dì wŭ uăn: Rú hé diăn cài, shù zì de shuō fă, zhūng guó rén de jié rì. Bĕn jí sh zài iŭ gòu cháng! Huā le uŏ bù shăo shí jiān cái wán chéng. Zài ìng xǚ duō rén de iāo qóu xià, uŏ zhōng yú jiāng shù zì de shuō fă yĭ jí rú hé zài cān tīng diăn cài zài bĕn jí zhōng jiā yĭ shuō míng. Uŏ hái tí dào le chuán tŏng de jié rì hàn zuì jìn de shīn ún. Bĕn jí zhōng de yīn üè shì iú mĕi guó fó zhōu de Michael Margio suŏ tí gòng. Xiè xiè!

Click here (right-click the mouse and choose SAVE LINK AS... I use FireFox) to download or go to MY PICKLE PAGE to stream it.

按這裡 (按滑鼠右鍵"儲存目標") 或到 MY PICKLE PAGE 以網路串流收聽.

àn zhè-lĭ ( àn huáshŭ yòu jiàn "chú cún mùbiāo" ) huò dào MY PICKLE PAGE yĭ wănglù chuàn liú shōu tīng.

*Links mentioned in this episode are:
My pal Mark : toshuo.com
Check out the Amazing Hunt in Vancouver: www.theamazinghunt.com
Michael Margio from mamargio.blogspot.com
News comes from www.taipeitimes.com
About the Yanmingshan Flower Festival visit here english.taipei.gov.tw/dot/index.jsp

Valentine in Taipei & Lantern Festival

2006-02-17T13:49:00.000+08:00

Congratulations and wish you full of richness! 恭喜發財! Gōng xĭ fā cái!

Happy Valentine's Day! 情人節快樂! Qíngrén jié kuài lè!

Upon returning from the sunny Philippines for my vacation, I cannot help but saying farewell to the sunshine. Although there are some shiny days, the weather has put me to a very cold mood.

However, nothing should stop the heat of romantic love/friendship/affections from one to another/otheres. So here you go I've created a new header for Valentine's Day. (Yes, I took the picture on a chilling night, just minutes before the lights went out at 10P.M. sharp.)

Here are some photos that I took for Lantern Festival 元宵節 (Yuán xiāo jié), or as known as "Little Lunar New Year小過年(Xiăo guò nián)".

Have a good one and a new episode should be ready by this weekend :) (I'm excited, too!)

Announcement: Apologize for the Pinyin Problems

2006-01-20T13:24:00.000+08:00

Dear all,

I'm truly sorry about the Pinyin problems. In fact, I am also at my first steps learning Hanyu Pinyin myself. And please don't hesitate to point out the mistakes if you see them. I know how important it is to keep the information correct to the people who need them. I will definitely be more careful with it in the future.

A big THANK YOU to Mark (from toshuo.com), who has suggested and provided corrections generously as soon as he spotted them. You're the best! 非常感謝您!(Fēi cháng găn xiè nín.) Mark also offered this source as well as the entire paragraph regarding my mistakes.

http://www.pinyin.info/romanization/hanyu/basic.html

Once again, thank you all for your feedbacks. They are the strength to push me forward.

Sincerely yours,
JT

Night 4: Blackman Toothpaste & Where's the Bathrom?

2006-01-18T03:43:00.000+08:00

Happy 2006!! 新年快樂!! xīn nián kuài lè!!

Night 4: Updates since last Christmas and hear an audio commercial clip from the famous . Tell people that you are looking for a bathroom and ask where it is. Keep listening! Wan An!

第4晚: 今晚來聽一聽中文的廣告吧! 第一次的廣告我們聽的是<黑人茶倍健牙膏>. 本集的內容還有許多自聖誕節以來的更新, 以及告訴你如果想上廁所怎麼說, 希望大家多多捧場指教, 可以留言或email 給我, 並請繼續收聽! 晚安!

Jīn wăn lái tīng yì tīng zhongwén de guănggào ba! Dì yī cì de guănggào wŏmén tīng de shì . Bĕnjí de nèiróng hái yŏu xúduō zì shèngdànjié yĭlái de gèngxīn, yĭjí gào sù nĭ rúguŏ xiăng shàng cèsuŏ zĕn mē shuō. Xī wàng dàjia duō duō pĕng chăng zhĭ jiào. Kĕ-yĭ liú yán huò email gĕi wŏ. Bìng qĭng jìxù shōu tīng! Wăn ān!

Click here (right-click the mouse and choose SAVE LINK AS... I use FireFox) to download or go to MY PICKLE PAGE to stream it.

按這裡 (按滑鼠右鍵"儲存目標") 或到 MY PICKLE PAGE 以網路串流收聽.

àn zhè-lĭ ( àn huáshŭ yòu jiàn "chú cún mùbiāo" ) huò dào MY PICKLE PAGE yĭ wănglù chuàn liú shōu tīng.

*Say "Zài jiàn(Good-bye)" to the Season's Greetings Header...

A New Look!

2005-12-15T02:24:00.000+08:00

The web page has a new look! I collected some pics I took in Taipei and created this banner and hope you folks will enjoy it. BTW, Episode 4 is coming soon! Keep listening and let me know how you like the new banner.

Wan An!

Taipei? Taibei?

2005-12-08T00:46:00.001+08:00

Recently there's a question that really intrigues me. Why is Taipei not "Taibei"? It's actually the first time that came across my mind. I've never used the spelling of "Taibei" as far as I can remember, not that it's not correct(the sounds are definitely correct), because in the pin-yin system this is how you spell it in order to spell for the character "臺北 / 台北(táibĕi)". But the thing is, I just don't think I live in Taibei at the moment. After all, the word isn't just a sound, it's a city with some history behind it.

Let's see how people in the world pronounce this city's name:

Tā'īpa'e	تائی پئے	Urdu
Taibei		English
Taibei	ტაიბეი	Georgian
Taibei	臺北 / 台北	Chinese
Taibėjus		Lithuanian
Taipé Taipei		Portuguese French* (thanks to Ronan's correction)
Taipeh		German
Taipei		Dutch, English
Taïpéi	Ταϊπέι	Greek
Taipei	台北 / タイペイ	Japanese
Taipei	타이페이	Korean
Taipeja		Latvian
Tajbèj	Тайбэй	Belarussian, Russian
Tajpe	Тайпе	Bulgarian
Tajpej		Hungarian, Polish
Tajpeo		Esperanto
Tāybāy	تايباي / تايباى	Arabic
Tāybay	تايبي / تايبى	Arabic
Täybey	ﺗﻪﻳﺒﯧﻲ	Uyghur
Ṭaype	טייפה	Hebrew
Tāype	تايپې	Pashtu
Tāype	تایپه	Persian
Taypey		Turkish
Thaipē	ไทเป	Thai

(Source: http://www.archinform.net/ort/5192.htm?ID=C76BsqVEWQx9qX4T)

Or you can try Google "taibei" and see what turns out. It actually asks me "Did you mean to search for: taipei "

Wan An!

Night 3: Are You Looking 4 Ur Friend?

2005-12-03T23:33:00.000+08:00

**Episode 3 is available now!! Click the icon to download or stream it online by visiting my PodcastPickle or Odeo pages.** (and gimme a quick vote!)

After several struggles of gathering ideas and sorting information, I am finally putting together all the pieces to make a good show for you. I’ve been extremely busy and handling so many projects altogether. All I know is that a man can only do what a man can do… that is: STOP GIVING ME ALL THE EXTRA WORK!!! Don’t expect me to show up on a free-service at 8 o’clock on Saturday morning while I only got home half-dead every Friday night at 11p.m.! And yes, I will try to do something to my jammed-packed schedule. There’s just too much to handle at the moment. I need more time and space. Ok, enough for the bitching.

For the couple of weeks, I successfully (I don’t know if I should say that) got some more emails and comments. Some people suggest me to put out the printable material for reviewing which I agree. So if you out there who need this, please let me know, ok? But considering this is the similar approach that I pick up some basic German and French, I would strongly recommend you to listen to it tons of times. Preferablely 3 times in a row daily! This will deepen your impression and train your ears to get used to the Chinese sound. And in the near future, I will put up a special session focusing on the Chinese tones with its Pin-Yin systems. So stay tuned!

I’ve updated my website and added more banners which enable you to Auto-Subscribe if you have newsreaders like NewsBurst, Rojo, Newsgator or Bloglines. But most importantly, you should definitely check out my Podcast Pickles page as well as my Odeo and Yahoo Podcast pages. The links are right on the side bars. If you happen to be on those pages, don’t forget to vote for me if you think my Podcast is cool. Thanks in advance!

Aside from that, you can now leave a message without needing to sign up for Blogger because I’ve disabled the function after realizing that I can actually save my audience’s time. So just leave a comment. This would really put a smile on my face :-) And one should never under-estimate the power of word-of-mouth.

Take the poll and tell me what you think is the most important quality that you look for in this site? Click here or use the link below:
http://www.forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?t=40492

Enjoy and Wan An!

Headline Animator Up&Running!

2005-12-03T01:14:00.000+08:00

I've launched the Headline Animator. It's a cool tool and can make my Podcast look more interesting (and professional). I decided to give it a try and please tell me what you think. PLEASE!! Your opinions really are valuable to me!! This is the best way to help improve my site and show your support!

The long-awaited Episode 3 is coming up soon. I've been quite busy but always I take time to think about how to teach better and easier. Hopefully everything you learn will come to use someday :) Stay tuned!

You can now subscribe to my Podcast,too. Do it now! :)

Leave Comments Without Signing In

2005-11-19T22:14:00.000+08:00

I just changed the settings for "Comments". You can now leave your comments as a guest without signing up for Blogger. But it still requires Word Verification in case of spams. Hope to hear you soon! Xie xie!

JT

Night 2: Introduce Yourself in Chinese

2005-11-17T00:53:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone,

The 2nd episode is now ready to download. Click here to listen!!

Finally I've uploaded the second episode AGAIN! Due to several technical problems, the previously uploaded file was lost. However, after I listened to it again myself, I thought it would be better if I could implement more materials in the podcast to make it more informative and yet educational. Therefore, I made this second "Official Version" (or you can say Alternative Version) episode.

In this episode, I try to focus on just teaching Chinese, about how to introduce yourself in basic Chinese Mandarin, your name, job and nationality. If you need me to tell you how to say your job or country in Chinese, please let me know. I will definitely put them in the follow-up episodes. I hope to bring more news and updates about Taipei. Next time, I promise.

Last but not least, thank you for your support. I try to reply to all of your messages and emails as I can. Questions and comments to wanantaipei@gmail.com or leave a message here!

Until next time, Wan An!

JT

Snapshots in Taipei

2005-11-10T01:51:00.000+08:00

Hey folks,

Due to many of your requests, I finally got some photos and got them uploaded for you. No Kidding!! The real thing!! Enjoy.

Pic #1 : I just happen to tour a friend come from France last Saturday. We went to the Hwa Shi Tourist Night Market(note: even though it says tourist, the locals still enjoy going there a lot), which is also known as Snake Alley. What? Snakes? Let's see...

Pic #2: The food at the night market are very cheap and, to be honest, very GOOD!! About one portion of everything for 30NT, equivalent to about 99 cents US. A must taste once you come to this area.

Pic#3: This oone was taken by my house. I saw this guy on a motorbike on my way to work. Gee, you can just imagine how acrobat the Taiwanese people are here. They can load anything on to their motorbikes... all in one single ride!!

Pic#4: This is the kid I mentioned in Episode 1. Don't ring a bell? Listen to it again!! :D

Pic#5: This is what happens in my kiddy class. I draw and explain. Or they can ask me to draw whatever in their mind. I use this "drawing technique" as my teaching approach. It makes kids interested and they also get a better idea what you are talking about. I sometimes put their names on the character so they can get more involved haahaa. (In this case, I thin I told them the mummy was me!)

I hope you like them! Tell me what you think by leaving a message or email me to wanantaipei@gmail.com Xie xie!! (Thanks!)

JT

Got your feedbacks!

2005-11-05T06:00:00.000+08:00

Hi boys and girls,

It's soooooooooo nice to hear from you and I've got some suggestions from my listeners already. And questions too! I've replied to your emails and thanks again for tuning in. Now I am giving you the Chinese characters for my first Chinese lesson:

All characters displayed here are in Traditional Chinese format. The numbers indicates the tones of each word. You can practice often while listening to the Podcast!! It's very important to speak up loud!

Good luck with your practice and I'm still planning on the 2nd episode so please send your comments and suggestions FAST!! I need them!!

Wan An!

Night 1 : Welcome to the Night of Taipei!

2005-11-03T13:54:00.000+08:00

Yehey!! This is the 1st episode of the Podcast.

Download here

My Odeo Channel (odeo/2e55c63b38b6d293)

I don't really know how to begin but just do it anyway. I talked little of my work with kids and introduced the first Chinese lesson of the week. Curious?! Subscribe now!

Questions, comments and requests are all welcome. If you are interested in the life in Taipei and anything you want to know in Chinese, please send to wanantaipei@gmail.com or leave a message right here in the blog.

Until next time, Wan An! (am heading to my bed now.....zzzzzzZZZZZ.......)

JT

P.S. I just joined PodcastPickle.com so hopefully there will be more people who will listen to my show. Feeling excited! And I joined Podcasting to add my site. Really cool! You never know what you'll find :)

MP3 Now Ready to Launch!

2005-11-01T13:57:00.000+08:00

Hey!

Finally got the promo mp3 ready. Been planning it for ever. Test if this will work out.

Click here to download the file.

This is my feed site:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/WanAnTaipei
click on Listen Now! or Subscribe with your iTunes. Simple as that! :D

Questions? Comments? Please send me an email or leave a comment! Thanks guys!

JT

Test! Test!

2005-10-26T13:26:00.000+08:00

Congrates!

Finally I've got my Blogger up and running. This will be the base station where my upcoming Podcast will be hosting. Hopefully I will magically be able to pull out some interesting, intellegent and informative stuff. I will be also giving some Chinese phrases (Yes, I can teach you Chinese!) from the regular programs in addition to tips on lifestyle of in the city of Taipei, or Taiwan generally speaking.

Questions? Comments? Send me an email to wanantaipei@gmail.com

Until next time, Wan An! ( Good night in Chinese... your first phrase in Chinese!)

Wan An Taipei 晚 安 台 北