my secret santa gift (@langblrsecretsanta) for @apenguinstudy !! i wanted to organise it better, make it look prettier and add a few more language resources but sadly having exams literally on christmas meant i’ve had to leave it at this, but hope something there is useful! you said you were interested in reading materials and especially maths and the universe so i focused on those
reading
naver webtoons (korean)
how to buy korean ebooks online (korean)
project gutenberg italian books (italian)
project gutenberg portugese books (portugese)
project gutenberg german books (german)
duolingo discussion with lots of reading recs (italian)
librivox audiobooks (all)
weird selection of italian ebooks (italian)
random portugese articles (portugese)
maths + the universe
how to read math problems (korean)
middle school math vocabulary (korean)
memrise astronomy and astrology course (korean)
a story teaching about the history of space travel (for kids maybe? but still lots of info) (korean)
hey! from an old post you made, i think you go to the same uk university as me. my year abroad to bnu is next year and im kind of stressed haha, would you mind writing a bit about what it was like getting there and getting settled in, and what your day to day life is like? and like, things you wish you knew before you arrived? thank you so much!!
this is so late and i feel really bad lol but ofc we probably do and we keep joking here about how we can teach the years below how to be ready for it so im glad i can actually do that!!
so i’ll say nothing really prepared me for how intense the first week would be, but everyone i’ve talked to has agreed that we all kind of just separated ourselves from the stress, and from that point on nothing really bothered us too much out of all the random china things that happen. basically things will go wrong, and they’ll be stressful, but they definitely will be things to laugh about later (though actually getting to china was super easy it feels like i just walked from manchester airport and out into beijing)
i think we all adapted to the life here really easily, and it’s only now because im missing christmas that missing home is really catching me (also stress because CNY is coming up and i have way too much solo travelling planned)
as for daily life, one class here is basically two 45 minute slots with a few minutes break in between, and i usually have 2 classes a day (1 day with 3, 1 day with 1). i have a pretty solid friend group made up of 2 people from the home uni (that i never really talked to before coming here) and 2 people from cardiff uni. almost all of us joined the gym and we go to zumba class which is always a weekly highlight. other things to fill the time include going to see english language films in the cinema (johnny english 3 was a highlight), going out to restaurants sometimes with friends sometimes with classmates, nights out (or at least getting to the bar) and cultural day trips.
if you don’t get out and about (which is easy to do being on campus) it can start to feel really suffocating, but you’ll know when that’s happening and it’s easy to just drop into a group chat and suggest a day trip, people will be up for it!
there are. so many things i wish i knew but at the same time i know every situation that resulted from that forced me to speak chinese? negotiating with taxi drivers, getting lost, not knowing how to get a bank account. but at the same time i get that those are probably really scary things atm to think about and speaking chinese is less of the issue so if you’d like me to go really in depth and answer any little questions you have i can give you my facebook? or if you want to stay on here that’s fine you can just instant message me! i’d love to just tell everything but have no idea where to start
all flights booked, booked my first train on ctrip as part of the ‘how am i gonna book all these damn trains’ experiment and just have to wait for friday to try to actually book the train myself, booked the changsha hostel, figured out that i basically have to book the bus in person (tho will keep checking websites for updates)
so i think its bubble tea time fuck my actual uni work i guess
i have nearly 1000 followers so decided to force my weird music taste on you guys!! i haven’t managed to get into actual popular chinese music yet so here’s a little weird collection of artists that i found accidentally over time. (all on spotify unless specified)
also heres some better places on tumblr to get more in depth and wider ranging music recs: chinese lyrics, chinese indie, liu-anhuaming’s tag, love those languages post
waa wei
taiwanese singer, i saw her live at glastonbury and have been in love with her music since. her album 末路狂花 is so lovely and peaceful to listen to.
queen sea big shark (后海大鲨鱼)
probably my favourite chinese music. every album is so different they have chill indie, intense pop, electronic, just screaming, and more. quite a few songs in english too but think majority mandarin? the english ones are bops too so who cares.
faye wong
a real classic! has performed in both cantonese and mandarin over the years. covers a lot of genres so would recommend just checking out a mix of stuff and seeing what appeals to you.
aristophanes
another great taiwanese artist whose music is super different. if you can handle the betrayal of going back to grimes content the music video for SCREAM has chinese and english subtitles, if thats too much as you want’s mv has been reuploaded and that was how i was introduced to her.
hedgehog
these are a pretty classic well known indie band. i’ve definitely heard them playing around china, and i find their songs very chill, esp blue daydreaming.
jolin tsai
very famous taiwanese pop artist. i usually listen to her very dancy upbeat pop, but also she fucking killed me with this song so just. have a look and see.
陈粒
folk singer who covers tons of genres. has slower stuff, upbeat stuff, just lovely to listen to her voice. her album 玩 was released this year and is a good place to start to see her range.
dabozz
female rapper who does chilled out rnb and hip hop. i think her stuff appeals to a lot of people since she’s so relaxed and her background music isn’t too intense. she sings as well on some of her songs which is also v good.
honourary mentions and extras:
south acid mimi - nunudugu (they sing in the lisu language in this song, but their other stuff is in mandarin. only 3 songs on spotify though if that’s where youre looking for music)
frande (i only know like 1 song but have checked out bits of others. if you prefer more ballad type pop i think you’ll enjoy her)
soft lipa (i only know the song 绑架我 but listen to it a lot, i don’t know anything about him and think i found the song through spotify discover weekly, but still counts)
second hand rose (i have 2 songs by them on one of my chinese music playlists and again know nothing about them, but their music is a mix of indie and traditional chinese instruments which i think is pretty cool)
carsick cars (like hedgehog theyre pretty famous indie, don’t know much else about them tho)
goal for the day is to get a haircut… don’t know why this is the one thing that i’ve been most stressed about but i guess i find them stressful in england too so it’s not too different, just this time i’m walking into a random shop in china and realistically will just be pointing at my hair and saying single words
goal for the day is to get a haircut... don’t know why this is the one thing that i’ve been most stressed about but i guess i find them stressful in england too so it’s not too different, just this time i’m walking into a random shop in china and realistically will just be pointing at my hair and saying single words
It’s not difficult to learn a foreign language; it’s just like making friends. These friends become more and more familiar after meeting each day, and then nothing can come between them.
The federal government is providing $344,292 over the next two years for Native Montreal to continue its Indigenous language classes.
Native Montreal has been offering Indigenous language courses since 2015.
It started with three classes and expanded to two levels of Innu and Mohawk, as well as introductory classes to James Bay Cree, Inuktitut, Atikamekw, Abénakis, Anishinaabe and Huron-Wendat.
“They’re not going to be speakers after those classes because it’s not immersion but they’ll be able to connect with somebody, have a basic level of speaking and be proud of their language,” said Carole Bérubé-Therrien, Indigenous language program co-ordinator.
This past semester, they received more than 450 applications for the 150 spots available.
Patricia Johnson-Castle was one of the people originally wait-listed for the Inuktitut class when she returned to Montreal in January. Her family is from Nunatsiavut, but she only knows a few words in their dialect of Inuktitut.
“Nunatsiavut has the lowest statistics on speaking Inuktitut, probably because we’ve had the longest period of contact with settlers and the amount of racism faced by Inuit in Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Johnson-Castle.
“I feel very privileged to be able to learn any dialect of our language. My grandmother was made to feel ashamed of being Inuit when she left her community so it’s really important for me to make an effort to learn our language and culture.”
“Almost three quarters of the nearly 90 different living Indigenous languages in Canada are classified by UNESCO as endangered, including Huron-Wendat, Abenaki and Kanien'kéha.“
