On Cheeky Monkey Theater’s 《铁哥们》 (Tiě Gēmen(r) = Iron Brothers), and Mandarin with French characteristics
Last week the unstoppable Elyse Ribbons (pic above bottom left), big enchilada at Beijing’s Cheeky Monkey Theater, approached the Beijing Sounds studios about spreading the word on her new play, written, as she puts it, “entirely in my version of Mandarin”.
BJS [...]
… easier for Zhonglish speakers to understand the accents of wàidìrén (外地人 = Chinese from outside the big city), that is. The hypothesis would be something like this:
Since the first thing to vary in non-Beijing Mandarin is often the tone on a word [unsubstantiated impression -- it would be cool to know of an actual [...]
On cultivating a lose-lose personality
With the exception of a few savants, Zhonglish speakers the world round find certain aspects of their non-native language to be exceedingly difficult, at least to the point of exasperation and sometimes to the point of bitter resentment that threatens to boil over into full Monty second-language rage. Maybe you ran [...]
On how English messes with even the kids’ Mandarin
After months of exile in Minneapolis, Siberia, the nominal proprietor of Beijing Sounds now has concrete plans to return to the main studio location in beautiful suburban Shàngdì in the northwest outskirts of the capital city. The mood surrounding this semi-permanent move, to take place around the [...]
On maintaining political correctness when other people’s languages still sound funny
New Mexico, USA — Christmas, 1978. In the wrapping paper-strewn living room of grandma’s house, after the midday dinner, the adults are engaged in the safe banter of nostalgia, the children, including nine-year-old syz, engrossed in the newly acquired toys, tools and trinkets.
There is no [...]
In this Beijing Sounds exclusive, we build on the story that Obama campaign computers had been compromised by “Russian or Chinese” hackers back in August.
We need to ask ourselves: might they have been invited in?
[ADVERTISEMENT: don't forget to consider the Zhonglish / Chinglish conference on Nov 17 -- still haven't heard from some of you three regular readers]
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Life is like a karaoke club — you always think you sound a bit better than you really do.
A karaoke club is like life — you can get away with a lot [...]
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