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blue_dream_iii

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Jun 19, 2006 17:50

Today, Monday the 19th, was the first day of classes. I have Sun Laoshi for Speaking and Listening Chinese 201 (whom I love dearly and am really going to enjoy as a teacher) and Ma Laoshi for Reading and Writing (who is also very helpful but speaks faster and will take a while to get used to her teaching style). Then, we have office hour in which ( Read more... )

Comments 6

ibeckye03 June 20 2006, 05:31:59 UTC

If you ever get some time can you tell us about the Laoshi's? Are they related or are they just your teachers? I know that's prob such a silly question, LOL. They sound like very interesting people.

blue_dream_iii June 20 2006, 21:06:07 UTC

LOL. Yeah, sure. Laoshi is the Chinese pinyin for the word "teacher", and you sort of call people by their profession or skill level over here. Like for a taxi driver or bus driver, the word is "master (of a skill)" or "shifu", so you just call him a "shifu". Remember that China is hierarchial historically. Or a service person (like a waiter or cleaning person) is called a "fuwuyan". You don't call them by name, just the title. It's the same with the teachers. Their surnames are the first part of that. For example, my teacher Yanfang Tang is called Tang Laoshi. It's sort of like how we call someone Mrs. Egan. And a lot of surnames here are the same, but that doesn't mean they are related. They are very interesting.

ibeckye03 June 21 2006, 05:38:27 UTC

I understand now! I was thinking the Laoshi's must be one big family and for some reason they were all teachers, LOL! I like how they do the titles though, that's cool. I'm gonna call my brother a "fuwuyan" when he gets home! Haha, can't wait to see what he says!

Love Ya Jen and thanks for all that info!

blue_dream_iii June 21 2006, 10:36:04 UTC

Welcome, I am glad you are interested. Most people are not, lol. If you call him a fuwuyan, make sure you use a Beijing accent...its pronounced "fu'yar" here. And you have to scream it, lol. (NO JOKE! You'd think people were arguing, but its totally normal!)

Love ya, Miss Becks. Hopefully we can have one complete converstaion at some point along this journey, but even the parts are great cause it means I get to speak "Yingwen" with my very dear "pengyou".

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