Comments on: China-friendly New Year’s Resolutions for Laowais

By: Joel

Joel — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 12:58:38 +0000

Haha, “Project Nihao.” Let me know how it goes for your friend!

By: Baoru

Baoru — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 00:29:48 +0000

Hi Joel!

The one about talking to the people (because they’re not just named nihao and xiexie) is so funny! My friend is super friendly that she has this project aptly titled “Project Nihao!”

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[...] China-friendly New Year’s Resolutions for Laowais [...]

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By: Lawrence

Lawrence — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:28:23 +0000

Point 5 is just spot on.

I’m totally guilty of that, even though my chinese is plenty good enough to talk to the locals.

By: Ben Ross

Ben Ross — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:03:25 +0000

Great list. I love your attitude! These suggestions are definitely great ways for people to get the most out of their China experiences.

By: chat ekle

chat ekle — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:40:56 +0000

thank you for sharing the information

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:00:05 +0000

@Mary Ann
I can’t believe I forgot to put karaoke in the list! You’re totally right – it’s a fun way to learn, and a karaoke repertoire is a basic necessity in China. “Happy Niú Year” to you, too!

@Josh
Yeah, I should have mentioned more games. In our area, the old guys play Chinese chess, the middle aged guys play cards. In Taipei the old guys played 围棋 all day long. The students here play cards a lot.

@Chris
I agree about the news, it’s just too bad that newspapers aren’t very accessible for language students. It takes a while to build up a big enough vocab. I wish Tianjin had local English news. Ha, that’s funny about the security guard. I bet he loved you!

By: mary ann

mary ann — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 04:00:42 +0000

hi joel and jessica,
happy western new year! great list. as a variation on the read the local newspaper theme, i would add, listen to the radio. popular music is a great way of learning chinese and having something to talk about. it also answers the eternally pressing question: what songs should i add to my karaoke repertoire?

By: chriswaugh_bj

chriswaugh_bj — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:54:30 +0000

It may be a Tianjin-specific list, but the principles apply everywhere.

When I was in Tianjin I’d slip my security guard a small bottle of baijiu on Friday evenings and before holidays and festivals. The results, of course were beyond good. But mostly the guard was just a friendly guy doing a job, and I just wanted to show him a little appreciation. He’s one of the people I really miss from Tianjin.

As for taxi drivers, depends where you are. They certainly can become people you see every day or at least regularly. Out in Taiyuan the motorcycle taxi drivers (not strictly legal, of course…) outside my school gate and the nearest bus terminus at 下元 got to know me very well. And on occasion would race inside the school gate to pick me up… only for me to say, sorry mate, I’m just going to the supermarket across the road. And some regular taxi drivers got to have a fair idea of where I’d likely be heading after seeing me a few times.

I can’t think of anything to add except to suggest that the whole read the local news thing needs to be very strongly emphasised. Sure, it takes a fair bit of effort to get your Chinese reading up to a level where you can cope with newspapers, but the earlier you start trying, the better. And the result, of course, is knowing your city that much better and not being limited to your local branch of expatria.