Hi Pan,
Sorry it took me so long to reply…Life’s been so hectic, as it had always been, but I have no regrets this far. Ever since I entered adulthood, I never craved for an easy and comfortable life, what I yearn for is a successful one fraught with recognizable achievements and self-gratification deriving from knowing that I’ve accomplished all my missions and fulfilled all my fiduciary obligations when sent to this world from the hereafter…;-) (And I don't mean to brag or anything.)
I have always been intrigued with “characters inputting” on computer. I learned how to input Chinese on a computer back in 1998 through self-taught. I heard of the “5 stroke” method but never had an opportunity or the tool to learn it. I only know PINYIN, and that wasn’t easy for me, as the overseas Chinese educational system never taught me Pinyin during my childhood. I had to resort to a Chinese dictionary my dad bought back from Beijing and took “many shots in the dark”. As they always said, a big shot is a small shot that keeps on shooting, eventually I recognized the pinyin pattern and got the hang out of it. Because I know how to type English fast, typing in pinyin just flow naturally from English typing. I now use the free Microsoft pinyin v.3 or the “Black Horse” typing software when writing correspondence in Chinese. I occasionally also use the “Intellectual crazy pinyin” in Chinese Star software in order to learn the few odd pinyin that I’m not quite familiar as yet. Overall it works out pretty good for me, and I can’t see the need to re-learn the awkward 5-stroke method from scratch. One drawback after learning how to input Chinese is the degenerate effect on my manual writing; nowadays almost nobody can recognize my chicken scratch anymore. And I also begin to forget some of the stroke-order of some complicated characters. I bet you Mr. Canuck can probably write better-looking Chinese characters than I now ;-)
Are you aware of any other pinyin software in the mainland that may help me increase my typing speed further? My current Chinese typing speed is about 35 characters per minute.
Although I have no idea how one would function and fare in a Chinese society, I do feel that knowing English can certainly give you an edge in your career. You admitted that you don’t think in economical terms and don’t associate your unique talent with the possibility of raising your living standards and generating more material enjoyment for you and your loved ones, I couldn’t help but have a few ideas popping up in my mind. To me, knowing English in Asia should open a few doors for employment in the areas of: 1)Free lance writer2)Free lance reporter3)Free lance translator4)Private English tutor5)English news broadcaster6)Interpreter7)Overseas embassy officers
I knew quite a few people through work and school who were from various Asian countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. They all were somewhat literate in English in the old countries and they had jobs working for British or American embassy or army over there…What I’m saying is, Pan, if you have this cutting edge caliber, put it into good use. Deliver a much-needed service to others while benefit yourself by raising your own living standards, there’s nothing immoral or wrong about this. If you like writing, one area I see that could have a potentially explosive growth in the future would be translating works. There are innumerous excellent American books that are waiting to be translated and introduced to the huge Chinese market. I personally would love to read some nicely translated American books that preserve the original flavors. Topics of interest to me would be in the personal growth category. What I dislike the most is love story type of novels. If you translate a non love story book from English into Chinese, I’ll volunteer to be your first book-critique ;-)
Ok, time to reply to the next topic of your previous post…Listening and comprehension. I don’t think this is too hard and worth putting too much emphasis on. Once you have a chance to soak yourself in the English ocean, it will come most naturally. There are a lot of wealthy Hong Kong immigrants in my city. I know one professional accountant who studies English in Hong Kong for years and when came over, had very limited colloquial ability, albeit he reads and writes fluently. After twelve short months of working and supervising half a dozen of Canadian staff, he can deliver speeches with a high level of proficiency and professionalism. The improvement was simply stunning! There are ways to improve your comprehension skills, you can listen to radio, listen to audio books, or simply watch English channel TV. In my humble opinion, new learners should devote their effort in the area of learning new words, pronunciation and some grammar, plus lots of reading, and practicing conversation. Listening comprehension should be the least concern here. I know, it’s always easier said than done, because in North America, I hear English all the time, on radio, on TV, at work, on the weekend…And I even speak and hear English in my dreams!
Year of the monkey is fast approaching, but regrettably I can’t sense any New Year spirit here. I promised to take my mom out for dinner on New Year’s Day evening and take my daughter to see the dancing lions in Chinatown this coming weekend, but that’s about it. I don’t get any days off from work for this occasion. I hope Pan, Jenny and Canuck all remember poor little Mr. Neil while you’re having your Chinese New Year spree across the Pacific Ocean! Have a sip of that Mao-Tai wine on my behalf, will you? ;-)
Happy new spring to all. Live long and prosper!Neil
