maxiewawa

HyunWoo was nice enough to help me out, and here’s take 2! I’ve taken out all the “um”s and “ahhh”s so it’s much shorter. Amazing how just a little bit of help can make such an improvement.
This is the video Hyunwoo made for me.

Two Korean videos in as many days!

My latest Korean video. You can so tell that I’m not really drinking anything out of that bottle, can’t you!

On my final day before leaving Tokyo the week before last, I stood in the corner of the office and took these photos of everyone that was in the office that day. Some of the people you can see are featured on-air, and if you listen to as many language learning podcasts as I do, you’d recognise most of them.

I won’t list everyone by name, since that would ruin the surprise if you actually get to meet anyone yourself. It’s much more fun when you meet them in real life.

It’s so strange hearing those voices “in the flesh”. I remember an Actor’s Workshop interview with the cast of the Simpsons; it was pretty crappy, basically the guy interviewing them just got everyone to do the voices, but I sat there enthralled. Hearing those voices which are attached so strongly to characters that I’m so familiar with come out of real peoples’ mouths was really strange. Meeting famous voices from Innovative Languages was a similar feeling.

By coincidence today I met another famous podcaster, Jenny Zhu from ChinesePod.com . I was quite flattered that she recognised me, and remembered my online name (maxiewawa) immediately! I was waiting in line at a foreign supermarket on 淮海路 and spotted Hank, also from Praxis Languages. I recognised him from a Youtube video. He smiled after I introduced myself, and after I made it clear that I was a listener, without saying anything, he pointed to Jenny. We had a nervous conversation (well I was nervous, she wasn’t) where I uncomfortably admitted that I worked for a ライバル会社 and kept saying 哇，两个名人，太紧张 but it was great to have a brush with celebrity.

In case you didn’t know, I have a podcast feed here: http://maxiewawa.libsyn.com/rss .

I started it with the idea of regularly uploading music there; in case you didn’t know in a former life I was a pianist, one of those people (usually asians!) who started playing when they were 5 and never ended up giving up like older people.

But for some reason, I’ve developed mild RSI in my wrists, and long hours playing piano isn’t possible… what to do with my podcast? I’ve paid for the space, so I might as well use it.

Today, probably inspired by meeting The One And Only Hyunwoo Sun yesterday, whose length and breadth of creative output far eclipses my own meagre efforts, I recorded this.

For me, language learning dialogues are always really boring. No conversation at a post office begins “Good Evening sir, I would like to post this letter”, but every language learning dialogue seems to begin in such stilted, wooden way. So I went to my local chemist with a hidden microphone and recorded this natural dialogue.

 

 Buying Throat Medicine in Mandarin Chinese: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The old guy has a really thick Shanghainese accent, and I use some Shanghai dialect greetings, but I hope you can pick up something that is said. If not, here is my transcript.

Me: 你好。(both) 好久不见！ Hey! Long time no see!

我嗓子有点干，有点痒。My throat is a bit dry, a bit itchy.

Him: 含片好吧？Do you want some throat lozenges?

Me: 恩。Yep.

Him: 你喜欢哪一个含片。(??) 这个好一点。Which lozenge do you like? (??) This ones are a bit better.

Me: 是不是甜的？Are they sweet?

Him: 不太甜。Not so sweet.

Me: 哦。哪一个不太甜？ Oh. Which one is not so sweet?

Him: 这个不太甜。要甜的么，吃这个。This one is not so sweet. If you want sweet, eat this one.

Me: 这个吧。新的，没试过。I’ll go with this one. It’s new, I haven’t tried it before.

Him: 这个效果好。他（看了贵）里面有32片。This has good effect (is effective). There are 32 in a box.

Me: 十块。是吗？10 yuan, right?

Other Chemist: 钱给我。Give me the money. (ie pay over here)

Him: 找你十块。10 yuan change.

Me: 谢谢。再见。Thanks. Bye.

The most important phrase that I’d take away would be 是不是甜的/shìbùshì tián de or “is this sweet?” If I have a choice between a drink/medicine/food that is sweet and one that isn’t, I always take the one that isn’t. The word for “sweet” (as in flavour) is the last one.

I’m not sure of the ethics of secretly recording people, but if Mr Chemist guy, if you’re reading this and take offence, just let me know and I’ll take it down. And if anyone else thinks I’m doing anything underhand or sneaky, please remember that it’s all in the name of education.

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I noticed something on Wordpress that I never have before. A feature called “incoming links” shows all the places that have linked to my blog. Most of them were written by me, but one wasn’t. Li’l Miss Sunshine has written a blog post all about this humble author. Well, I couldn’t be more happy! Li’ll Miss Sunshine, I tried to write a thank you on your blog, but I don’t have a membership there, so I’ll just let you know here how overwhelming it is to read what you read. That’s the first time that anyone has put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) to write about me, and I’m getting a bit emotional just thinking about it.

Have a look at Li’l MIss Sunshine’s very flattering post here.

Thanks again!

I took this photo when I was in Japan. Do you get it? For those of you who don’t get the joke immediately, I’ll give you a moment. Get it yet? Ok. I’ll wait. Get it?

Ok, let me explain 前田 is (apparently) a common Japanese surname. It literally means “in front of a field”. 前 is “in front” and 田 means “field”. If you look at the character, it even looks a little like a field.

Mr 前田 has a parking spot in this area, and has his name on it. But his parking spot happens to be right in front of a rice field. This sign literally says “In Front Of A Rice Field” and it stands in front of a rice field.

Ok, I admit that it’s kind of an obscure linguist’s joke, that you have to realise that that dark patch in the distance is a field, that 前田’s parking spot is in front of it, and that 前田 literally means “in front of a field”, but I’m sure someone gets it.

This post is dedicated to that vanishingly small demographic who is, at this moment, rolling around on the floor laughing.

Thanks to WoAi for his editorial help.

Aika found the hotel that I have been staying at in Tokyo on the internet. On the site it says that foreigners are not welcome, but residents are. I have heard bad things about Japanese hoteliers so I was a bit nervous about staying there (I remembered Ben Ross’ post at his blog about crabby Japanese hoteliers). I asked her to make sure that it was ok for me to stay there when we checked in.

As we walked in, there was a sign on the door. “We welcome guests who speak Japanese or have a Japanese speaking contact. Thank you for your understanding.” Ah, so that was it. As it turned out, it was the kind of hotel where they don’t let you take your key out the door. The front desk closed at midnight, so this meant that you had to be home before 12 or you’d get locked out. I am guessing that some 外国人 had misunderstood the instructions given to him and raised a stink about it. For this reason, anyone without a Japanese speaking contact (or who couldn’t speak Japanese themselves) was barred.

I speak Japanese quite well. If someone asks me a question, I can answer 90 percent of the time. But when japanese people talk to other Japanese people I can’t catch very much. I wasn’t sure if this counted as speaking for the purposes of checking in to this “only Japanese speakers” hotel, but as it turned out since I had Aika it wasn’t a problem.

I haven’t had to speak to the guy at the front desk very often. He has welcomed me back every night, let me know when Aika called if I wasn’t in the room, greeted me in the morning, and was kind enough to lend me an umbrella this morning. I have asked him about leaving luggage in the lobby, about what time to check out, and asked him for another business card once.

These efforts at conversation haven’t been major, I feel like it’s been quite an achievement. This elderly guy that mans the desk at this modest hotel was the first person that I have spoken Japanese to that a) didn’t know me and b) wasn’t a teacher or a friend. I have of course spoken to waitstaff/asked people for directions but this was the first time that I had to do something that couldn’t be explained with body language and pointing.

Next is Korean: I hope to have more than a 2 second conversation with a Korean person (every Korean conversation I have at the moment ends in me going “뫄/huh?”)

I wrote the following post last Thursday, on the 10th. We weren’t able to find an internet connection in Shikoku, so I’m only able to post it today.

I write this on the bus to Shikoku, for those not familiar with Japan’s geography, Shikoku is one of the main islands of Japan. It’s about 13 hours from Tokyo, where we are setting out from. I have a long journey ahead!

Today was a lot of fun, we were up early and visited the Chinese Embassy. Aika handed over the relevant documents, and we left. It was easier than we thought. But her visa hasn’t been approved yet, let’s cross our fingers and hope that we don’t have any further complications!

After that we went to the Innovative Languages International Headquarters in Akihabara. I was really excited to go there, and rapt that everyone seemed to know who I was (from my youtube exploits I think!). I met such on air personalities as Peter先生、マーキー先生、ひろこ先生, 桜先生、ゆき先生 키스선셍님 and のり先生.  桜先生s reaction to meeting me was 「あの有名なの？？！」(The famous maxiewawa?) and after realising who I was seemed as nervous to meet me as I was to met her! Something that I will always keep with me.

I’ve been working for Innovative Languages from a lonely desk in Shanghai for so long, and it was great to finally put faces to all those names.

I’m in Japan! Aika is here to apply for a work visa, and I’m coming along. We went for a look around tonight at 渋谷, which was a very interesting area. I, being the silly sod that I am, forgot my camera, so I’ll have to rely on my memory.

Can’t write much now though. Tomorrow I’m off to the global headquarters of Innovative Language Learning. I’ve listened to their programs for about 3 years now, and been working for them for about 8 months now. I’m excited to meet everyone whose voice I’m so familiar with. I feel a bit like when Bart Simpson visits the headquarters of MAD magazine.

Stay tuned for more!

And am I showing my age by making an obscure reference to a cartoon show that has (maybe) passed its prime?

I told almost the exact same story on another blog years ago when I first started learning Japanese. If you read that story, this one is almost the same, but it’s 100% true!

The first thing that hits you when you walk down Shanghai’s picturesque Nanjing East Rd (南京东路) is the people trying to sell you stuff. “Watch? Bag? Dvd?” They are really annoying. Even if you say “no” they just keep pushing their business cards at you.

Since I started learning Korean, I was sure that I’d be able to confuse them. If I obviously didn’t understand what they were talking about, they’d ignore me, right?

I replied the first person who started hassling me the other day thus:

“아니,아니. 이미 있어.” (No, no, no. I already have one.)

Without missing a beat, the guy continued pushing his business card on me.

“시게? 가방? 여기와!” (Watch? Bag? Come here!)

The bugger spoke Korean too!

You have to give these annoying salesman credit when they are due. When I tried to be a Japanese tourist, they let me know in stilted Japanese that their fake bags and watches were the best in all Shanghai. When I spoke in Korean, they replied in Korean! There’s no getting rid of those crafty bastards.