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POCKET CHOMP posted:which is just a...what do you call the opposite of romanization?...version of my name in Chinese. Transliteration is the word you're looking for I believe.
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Jul 19, 2012 16:58
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SB35 posted:Transliteration is the word you're looking for I believe.
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Jul 19, 2012 17:07
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POCKET CHOMP posted:Don't you need to have a Chinese name to get an ARC and stuff? That's what my boss told me when I first got here, so I just had to pick something. Choosing a name gets weird because it will slowly "become" your legal name even though it didn't start out that way and shouldn't really count as such. I'm supposed to have a Chinese family name from my grandfather that my dad only kind of remembers, but too late, I'm using the name my friends cleverly gave me still.
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Jul 19, 2012 17:20
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I'll use my Chinese name wherever I'm dealing mostly in Chinese, but I still have a fondness for the first Chinese nickname I got given: 死鬼佬. Not really a name so much, although surprisingly 死 is actually a legitimate Chinese family name.
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Jul 19, 2012 17:42
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haha tetsuo! me and gf were talking just yesterday about the difference between laowei and guilo. I was told to listen out for si laowei as an insult. I'm assuming the two terms were synonyms - in your case obviously used affectionately. I will also point out the deep deep sense of satisfaction I got playing mah jong with a few locals fairly soon after arriving here. One of them made a dumb rear end rookie mistake (played the fourth East tile immediately after deal - meaning a re-rack), and i couldn't help myself but call her si laowei. I'm a man of simple pleasures. url fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Jul 20, 2012 |
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Jul 20, 2012 01:04
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TetsuoTW posted:I'll use my Chinese name wherever I'm dealing mostly in Chinese, but I still have a fondness for the first Chinese nickname I got given: 死鬼佬. Not really a name so much, although surprisingly 死 is actually a legitimate Chinese family name. That is a heck of a name.
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Jul 20, 2012 02:03
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What are the odds of me finding cheap lodging in the first half of August? Hostels? Does Taiwan have overnight saunas like in Korea?
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Jul 20, 2012 03:32
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If I was thinking abut teaching english in Taiwan how much money do y'all recommend bringing for the first time you arrive, assuming you already have a job lined up? Is it hard to get an english teaching job in Taiwan? Do they generally require TEFL/TESL or whatever? I've got my degree already, is that enough?
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Jul 20, 2012 06:24
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POCKET CHOMP posted:Weird. I dunno, all that stuff for me has both the English and the Chinese. Actually my bank account at the post office also has both. The only thing I can think of that has Chinese-only is my Health Insurance card. My first job made up my Chinese name for me, and it's been on my ARC and Health ID since I came here. It doesn't mean it's your official name, it's just a name you gave them for their systems. It's in no way official. I've had the same thing forever, and actually had to fill out specific forms to make it my official name when I was getting married.
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Jul 20, 2012 06:33
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Yazman posted:If I was thinking abut teaching english in Taiwan how much money do y'all recommend bringing for the first time you arrive, assuming you already have a job lined up? The more cash you bring the better. You could survive on a couple hundred, but the closer you get to a thousand, the better. You don't need a TEFL. Your degree is fine.
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Jul 20, 2012 06:33
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So my degree is fine? Excellent!  What's the best way to find positions in Taiwan? Also, unfortunately I am one of the aussies that chose to learn a different language than chinese. If I'm going to apply, would it be worth investing in some chinese language courses or just learning the basics?
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Jul 20, 2012 07:05
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Ravendas posted:My first job made up my Chinese name for me, and it's been on my ARC and Health ID since I came here. Ah, cool. That's good to know, I guess what I have isn't set in stone then, not that I think I would have anything to change it to.
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Jul 20, 2012 07:08
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POCKET CHOMP posted:Ah, cool. That's good to know, I guess what I have isn't set in stone then, not that I think I would have anything to change it to. We could run a name change thread. It'd be like a mod name change thing, just potentially more serious.
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Jul 20, 2012 09:13
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I was talking to a Taiwanese friend and he said usually Chinese names for foreigners are just "sinicizations" of our English names, which means my Chinese given name would be something like 機末 (ji1 mo4?) which sounds ugly as hell to me. Do you ever just, like, get a cool name given to you from a Chinese friend?
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Jul 20, 2012 09:18
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I have two Chinese names. One is what the guys at the local bar call me because they can't pronounce my English name. The other is one my girlfriend came up with that could conceivably be an actual Chinese name and is based more on how my English name is constructed rather than on how it is pronounced. The idea being that if you read my name in a document, you wouldn't instantly know I was a foreigner and then pass judgement on me. Yazman posted:Chinese If you are in Taipei, you don't really need to know Chinese. It won't hurt, obviously, but it won't affect your ability to be a trained monke... English teacher. If you are serious at all, though, go buy the Heisig writing books (Remembering Traditional Hanzi 1 and 2) and get to scribbling.
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Jul 20, 2012 10:01
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Yeah, I just can't imagine living in a country without at least making an effort to learn a local language. I lived in the Philippines (visayas region) and made sure I learnt visayan when I was there, I can actually still speak it although I'm kinda rusty. So yeah if I was in Taiwan obviously I would try to make an effort to learn it. Do they speak mandarin there? I heard they don't use simplified chinese either, is that true?
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Jul 20, 2012 10:04
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^^Almost everyone speaks Mandarin. Older people usually know some Japanese. A majority of the population also speaks Taiwanese (Hokkien?) and if you learn a few Taiwanese phrases you'll get a lot of love I've only lived here for a week and so far I feel like I've learned enough phrases to live a decent life in Taipei, even though I intend to learn the whole language. Pointing gets you far. Also there's like an informal sign language you can usually use to communicate with clerks and what not. Learning the Chinese number signs helps a lot.
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Jul 20, 2012 10:07
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Can you get around without a car? Like is there decent public transport? Just curious since I'm not currently licensed to drive right now, would that be an obstacle in getting a position?
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Jul 20, 2012 10:13
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quadrophrenic posted:I was talking to a Taiwanese friend and he said usually Chinese names for foreigners are just "sinicizations" of our English names, which means my Chinese given name would be something like 機末 (ji1 mo4?) which sounds ugly as hell to me. Do you ever just, like, get a cool name given to you from a Chinese friend? Yazman posted:So yeah if I was in Taiwan obviously I would try to make an effort to learn it. Do they speak mandarin there? I heard they don't use simplified chinese either, is that true? e: Yazman posted:Can you get around without a car? Like is there decent public transport? Just curious since I'm not currently licensed to drive right now, would that be an obstacle in getting a position? sub supau fucked around with this message at 10:42 on Jul 20, 2012 |
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Jul 20, 2012 10:40
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You can get pretty much anywhere in Taipei & New Taipei via the Metro. You currently can't get to Keelung or Taoyuan (neighboring cities) by Metro, but it's undergoing expansion and should be done sooner than later (Taiwanese are very good at completing public works projects obscenely fast, I've learned). Taxis are cheap, buses are cheap. Outside of Taipei, from what I've heard, having a scooter makes things much more convenient. There's always taxis and buses though, I guess, unless you live in the bumfuckiest of bumfuck east coast town. Drivers here are crazy, crazy, crazy folks, and I'm from Southern California, where crazy driving is pretty common even. ETA: oh, and the Taipei Metro is one of the most impressive pieces of public transit I've ever seen. Incredibly clean, efficient, cheap and quiet. Don't eat/drink/chew gum on them though, or you WILL get a big fine. quadrophrenic fucked around with this message at 10:48 on Jul 20, 2012 |
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Jul 20, 2012 10:43
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I feel pretty confident now, thanks a lot guys  I guess I just need to save up some more money and then find somewhere to apply to.
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Jul 20, 2012 10:56
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Yeah, it's Traditional writing here, which is why I recommended the Traditional books. I've finished memorizing the 3035 in them and have started to come across more characters I don't know, but the book did a good enough job of familiarizing me with the radicals that I can copy them down and look them up later. Now I'm trying to add a Chinese sound to every character. It's... slow.
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Jul 20, 2012 11:16
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Were you able to get the Heisig books in Taiwan? Maybe at an Eslite bookstore? Being a dumb, illiterate foreigner sucks.
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Jul 20, 2012 11:51
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I ordered them off Amazon. It was like $10 shipping.
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Jul 20, 2012 12:23
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You can also get them on Books.com.tw, and they'll deliver to a neighboring 7-Eleven for you to pick them up and pay. Of course, since the whole site's in Chinese that might be putting the cart slightly before the horse. e: Crap, looks like that book's out of stock anyway.
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Jul 20, 2012 12:57
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I bought the first volume from Amazon after the first time Haraksha suggested it in this thread, and I'm really enjoying it so far, even though I'm only about halfway through. I studied Japanese for 4 years and somehow had never heard of the original Kanji version, but man... if nothing else, those books really just give you an awesome system for breaking down characters. Even though there are still a lot of elements/radicals I don't really know, when I look at a really complicated character it doesn't really look like just a jumbled mess, I can see all the little bits and pieces. As a plus, stroke order also makes a lot more sense. Is there any suggested way to start learning the pronunciations of each one? I'm thinking of finishing the book first and then going back and creating a new deck of flashcards with the pinyin on one side and the character on the other, and working through it again. It's kind of frustrating to know the meaning of a character but not necessarily be able to say it, especially if you want to point something out to someone. I've had it come up a few times already. Anyway the point is, A+++ totally recommend Remembering the Traditional Hanzi and thanks to Haraksha for the suggestion in the first place.
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Jul 20, 2012 15:05
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quadrophrenic posted:You can get pretty much anywhere in Taipei & New Taipei via the Metro. You currently can't get to Keelung or Taoyuan (neighboring cities) by Metro, but it's undergoing expansion and should be done sooner than later (Taiwanese are very good at completing public works projects obscenely fast, I've learned). Taxis are cheap, buses are cheap. Scooters aren't bad if you need to go that option, and they look scarier than they really are(it's not scary when you're actually riding them and see traffic at speed). That said, you need to drive defensively. quadrophrenic posted:ETA: oh, and the Taipei Metro is one of the most impressive pieces of public transit I've ever seen. Incredibly clean, efficient, cheap and quiet. Don't eat/drink/chew gum on them though, or you WILL get a big fine.
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Jul 20, 2012 16:42
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quadrophrenic posted:
Don't be a dumb foreigner and break those rules. I've never seen a Taiwanese person, in 6 years here, break it. Let's keep the awesome MRT the way it is. Though I often want to yell 現下後上!!!(First off, then on!) as some grandma or kids of bad parents tries to bustle their way onto the train.
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Jul 20, 2012 17:18
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Ravendas posted:Don't be a dumb foreigner and break those rules. I've never seen a Taiwanese person, in 6 years here, break it. Let's keep the awesome MRT the way it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FkLB1tARr0 There was a moderate kerfuffle about this on the Internet a couple of months back. It happens occasionally. I've seen people eating 雞排 too. But yeah, it's not so bad. As for the 先下後上 thing, I usually just drop the shoulder and go for it. gently caress 'em. They know better, they just think no-one's going to call them on it.
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Jul 20, 2012 17:23
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POCKET CHOMP posted:I bought the first volume from Amazon after the first time Haraksha suggested it in this thread, and I'm really enjoying it so far, even though I'm only about halfway through. I studied Japanese for 4 years and somehow had never heard of the original Kanji version, but man... if nothing else, those books really just give you an awesome system for breaking down characters. Even though there are still a lot of elements/radicals I don't really know, when I look at a really complicated character it doesn't really look like just a jumbled mess, I can see all the little bits and pieces. As a plus, stroke order also makes a lot more sense. Exactly this. After going through the 3035 characters in the books that matter, I still run into things I can't read. However, because I'm so familiar with the radicals, I can jot down what I see and look it up later (Pleco with stroke input on my tablet is a magic thing).
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Jul 21, 2012 05:11
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Pleco is pretty cool. I just downloaded the add-on that will read Chinese for you. Because it's the demo it'll only do one character at a time, and it just gives the pronunciation, but honestly my spoken Chinese is getting to the point where that's good enough for me, I just can't read the poo poo.
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Jul 21, 2012 05:22
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Speaking of Chinese names for foreigners, would 麦湃河 work officially as a Chinese name? It's the name I used for my Chinese language classes during college and would prefer to keep the continuity. [EDIT]: vvv Haha, that's awesome. Go Taiwan! Teriyaki Koinku fucked around with this message at 06:57 on Jul 21, 2012 |
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Jul 21, 2012 06:08
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I don't see why not. But then again, you can pretty much get away with anything - a friend of mine worked with a guy who called himself 發克育.
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Jul 21, 2012 06:19
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TetsuoTW posted:I don't see why not. But then again, you can pretty much get away with anything - a friend of mine worked with a guy who called himself 發克育. hhaha
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Jul 21, 2012 09:04
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TetsuoTW posted:I don't see why not. But then again, you can pretty much get away with anything - a friend of mine worked with a guy who called himself 發克育. Ha ha. No one ever called him on that? I'm sure Taiwanese people must know that phrase. Even my middle school students in Japan all knew it, probably from movies and TV.
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Jul 21, 2012 13:51
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I think everyone knew almost immediately he was taking the piss. I mean, in all honesty, unless you've got a difficult name to pronounce, there's not a hell of a lot of call for even having a Chinese name unless you want to. It's definitely a considerate thing to do, but not really necessary.
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Jul 21, 2012 17:28
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I had to get one for school, and they just gave me one that sounded close to my name. I generally think that is the most common way to do things. I have to agree though I think it is a good thing to have one. If it makes things easier for Taiwanese people, and doesn't matter for you then just do it.
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Jul 22, 2012 02:43
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And just in case anyone decides to get on my rear end about it, I think the same thing about Taiwanese people taking English names.
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Jul 22, 2012 09:08
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TetsuoTW posted:That's really just the case for the expats that are too lazy to get a real name or who don't speak Chinese. It's basically Default Name. I know plenty of expats who get names from friends. My Chinese given name was originally - briefly - just the default for my English name, 傑夫, which I can't say I've ever seen used by an actual Chinese person. A friend in Hong Kong helped me change it up, partly because that name sucks and partly because the English-Chinese sound match doesn't work in Cantonese for that particular name, so ever since I've been 哲夫 (which I have seen used by a local. Once.) I still use the name 利瑪竇 gave the dude in the Bible whose name I share. Too many people knew me by that name before I became self conscious of it, and I just lazied it up and stuck with it. It is slightly better than most Sinifications, though.
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Jul 22, 2012 15:42
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annual: "English test scores show inadequacy of teaching" article. Personally, i'd say the level of English I've experienced has been stellar. Considering the flip side of the coin as in how much Chinese is spoken in the US & EU. Admittedly, there hasn't been a great call for it the past 20 odd years, but the need for it was obvious since the mid-late 80's imo.
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Jul 23, 2012 02:36
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