Beijing Sounds — 北京的声儿

Getting Started

New to Beijing Sounds? Try this top-10 list from the 2007 Fiscal Year report for thorough confusion.

1. Tāng v. Tāngr — because it’s a minimal pair straight from the street. The PBS/YU classic

2. Chinese facts, such as “characters are hard” (as explained by both foreigners and taxi drivers) — because almost everything you hear about the language is a myth.

3. Zhonglish — because so many struggling speakers needed a word to call their own, and this one we’ve managed to backdate to 1963. (More Zhonglish here and here)

4. Bay-Jing / Beizzhing — because it’s evidence that a little knowledge can generate a LOT of righteous smuggery. Get over it, folks! (The followups are here and here.)

5. Mandarin learning videos — because no Beijing sound compares to “Tone 1 as foghorn”.

6. Guest posts here and here — because all this weird linguistic obsession has led not only to Echoes of Manchu, but to friendships as well.

7. CCTV — because it’s just priceless.

8. A chance encounter with a bird trainer — because it was this walk with my friend, and the trainer’s patient persistence, that inspired me to buckle down and become semi-literate.

9. A no-nonsense teacher — because I’m amused by the difference in tenor between what she says and what an American teacher would say.

10. Honest taxi drivers — because there are plenty out there. Sure, it’s a big city with bad eggs. But get your nose out of the stench! The only freedom you have is what you choose to focus on.

Archive for the ‘teacher’ Category

Mary Poppins

November 24th, 2007

My daughter adores her art class. What’s not to love? Crayons, paints, bits of colored paper, bows and ribbons, stickers, playdough, glue – everything a five-year-old could love as long as you’re not a five-year-old like I was, who thought art class was like a bow tie for your birthday: not just a phenomenal waste of time but a lost opportunity.Playdough, for example

It’s not just the materials — her instructor is an inspiring character too. Teacher Jing 竟老师 [Jǐng lǎoshī] is strict but forgiving, granting freedom with boundaries and direction. There’s no whole language-like let’s-learn-art-naturally philosophy here. 竟老师 teaches technique and you’re here to learn technique, not to run amok.

Here she is, giving some end-of-class instructions. Beijing-R (儿化音 érhuàyīn) fans can hear a full R on display in her speech: wénr and huàr and ménr instead of wén and huà and mén.

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File under: beijing-r, education, teacher, érhuàyīn