On continuity in an age of fragmentation — lessons from YU
Right-sizing through consolidation seems to be a global trend. GM, for example, after sucking at the government teat a little too hard, is being asked to go from, well, the Chevy Suburban to the Tata Nano of the American car industry.
The Beijing Sounds Studios cannot [...]
On talking like a 7-year-old
The trouble with informants is that they’re human. Just take the case of the ingenuous Margaret Mead, who documented what appeared to her to be an idyllic and nearly angst-free sexual development for Samoan girls only to have it shown, later, that her informants were playing with her mind (short NYT [...]
On how to give away T-shirts, a taxicab Tāngr-Tāng recap with a bit of Zhonglish, and the bonus: a groundbreaking announcement for the 2009 conference
Eterrrnally grrrateful to pinyin.info for bringing Talk Like a Pirate Day to the attention of the ever-unvigilant writing staff here at the Beijing Sounds studios, who apparently missed this well-known international holiday entirely. Having once been credited with (accused of?) promoting R-fulness in the speaking of Mandarin, the editor is happy to adopt the holiday [...]
On the ineffable act of naming, the Beijing-R dissected by the white coats, and the ultimate BeijingerSometimes convergence happens. Not the dream where you’re listening to God Save the Queen belted out by a punk cover band in your company’s cafeteria, talking to Grandma Gertrude about Suzie (who you liked in high school) who’s supposed [...]
Olympic sloganeering & ingenuousness, Mandarin acquisition & n-closing, the Catch-22 of tones
If you’re a return reader to this blog of questionable taste, obscure subject matter and infrequent update, you probably have an appetite for a good cynical rant. Not that you’d be able to feed the habit on this url, mind you: as a recovering [...]
Zhōu Yǒuguāng on a Beijing talk show; 4=2 in Beijing; Pinyin and topolects; schadenfreude
Everyone knows that literacy in Mandarin means hour after brutal hour of memorizing and practicing a script whose design clearly shows the influence of sadistic genius. Here are a couple of favorites from the torture rack: two pairs of characters that have [...]
More on the “sounds” front: a Beijing dialect vocalization.
Learning what animals say in languages other than your native one is always jolting. Consider, if you will, the utter silliness of Mandarin-speakers thinking dogs should say “wàng wàng” when everyone knows they say “woof woof”.
After a few illogical discussions of that sort, you eventually acknowledge that [...]
Director's selection
- Tāng v. Tāngr
- Silkworm husbandry
- Bay-Jing / Beizzhing
- Zhonglish
- Sand diapers
- Tip of the turd
- Zrrr, Zrrr!
- The humble-V says veng veng
Box office hits
- 2009 fiscal year
- 2008 fiscal year
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