Week Three

and things are ridiculously good here.

Fun facts:

- You know how Chinese is a tonal language? So if you can say 'ma' in four different ways and, because of the joys of homophones, get plenty of different meanings out of it?

Well here's a practical application of that.

Take the name, 'Yao Ming'. Most Americans pronounce this with two fourth tones (or in other words, they way you say 'hey', you know how the pitch of the word goes down? you don't say, 'hey?'

Well Yao Ming's real name has two second tones, so it should be pronounced Yao? Ming?

Here's how I'll break down the meaning for the first pronunciation:

Fourth tone 'Yao': To want
Fourth tone 'Ming': To die

So you're calling this dude, 'Want to die'

The Chinese aren't thrilled.

- I asked my one-on-one teacher today how strong my American accent was. I was really happy with what she said at first, and then I was really confused.

Cheng Cheng, your American accent isn't strong at all. You generally have a Chinese accent. But sometimes... you sound Japanese.

- Ping Pong class was way better this week. I was able to return most of the stuff and understood what our laoshi was saying. I love the way she says "hao qiu" (good ball) after every single ball that does what she wants it to. I also love the way she says "ni da bu dui le" (you hit it wrong) after every bad ball. Really!

- I've found a good study groove, and my grades have reflected it. Finally.

- I'm speaking more quickly lately, and I've also noticed that my English grammar has gotten funky sometimes. Today I was able to successfully make the cafeteria staff feel bad that they've been mislabeling the meat dishes as vegetarian.

Hope this isn't coming off as braggy. Things've just been good lately.