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Category Archives: Yuèmǔ U.

Cheap AND delicious

The YU cafeteria is one of the best audio links to Old Beijing. Over the clink of dishes and the munching of radish tucked inside your bǐng (饼 = pan bread) you can listen idly to the deals that the city used to offer.
[Transcript linked to audio available on this page -- click on the [...]

Posted 23 December 2009 † syz § Beijinger Checklist / BJSLBC™ ‡ Comments (12) °

Tip of the turd

In case you’re thinking about snagging the first bite of the first moon cake (yuèbǐng = 月饼, the sometimes-tasty-sometimes-nasty traditional food of the holiday) after cracking the seal on the ungodly expensive package, just keep in mind some words of wisdom from YU:
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Chī shǐ yě děi chī ge jiār.
吃屎也得吃个尖儿。
“Has to eat the [...]

Posted 28 September 2009 † syz § useful but hard to find Beijing dialect vocabulary ‡ Comments (5) °

Sand Diapers

On the dispensability of disposable paper products

Beijing Sounds management comes from a strong anti-paper tradition, having grown up with cloth napkins (non-matching, mostly) rolled into individually labeled napkin rings. There was also the spasm of late 70s anti-paper-product activism that accompanied the arrival of First American Uncle Beijing Sounds, when Grandmother Beijing Sounds threw in [...]

Posted 02 July 2009 † syz § Beijinger Checklist / BJSLBC™ § EXMARaLDA transcriptions ‡ Comments (11) °

Put back in place

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 [...]

Posted 05 April 2009 † syz § beijing-r § érhuàyīn ‡ Comments (2) °

Saturday sounds like this

On proper vocabulary, rethinking the third tone, and the Hànzì thought police

It was still before 8 a.m. when the staccato cacophony of metal on tile shocked Mr. Zhao out of bed.
Mere mortal sleepers might have been awakened long ago on this Shangdi Saturday morning, what with the constant pattering of feet, the grinding drone of [...]

Posted 14 December 2008 † syz § běijīnghuà § tones ‡ Comments (6) °

Mandarin Study Programs?

On YU Alternatives — anyone have recommendations?

Here’s a bit of the guest lecture today at YU:

Posted 14 October 2008 † syz § tones § zhonglish ‡ Comments (34) °

Fat Bosses

On metaphors living and fossilized; YR Chao’s syllable-final M

If you’re a real-estate-free Minnesotan you might be feeling kind of self-righteous right now.
“That house I sold in June. Yeah, I sold it at a loss, but I took the blow and look at me now! Sitting in my rental, calling the manager the second the faucet [...]

Posted 04 October 2008 † syz § Chao Yuen Ren 赵元任 Zhào Yuánrèn § běijīnghuà ‡ Comments (16) °

A Pirate’s Deal

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 [...]

Posted 18 September 2008 † syz § Talk Like a Pirate Day § beijing-r § běijīnghuà § érhuàyīn ‡ Comments (0) °