User Comments - WillBuckingham
WillBuckingham
Posted on: Rise and Shine!
April 16, 2009 at 8:32 AMThat poor kid sounds exactly the way I felt when the cat walked across my face at 5.30am this morning. Anyway, at least it got me up and learning Chinese early...
Posted on: Language Power Struggle
April 16, 2009 at 8:21 AMYou beat me to it, Pete!
Posted on: Language Power Struggle
April 16, 2009 at 8:20 AM@brandonw1981yo
I'm not so sure... I would say that if you are a person living anywhere, and are serious about communicating with other people, in whatever language, then it helps to be friendly. But if you are having a hard time finding people to talk to in Chinese, track down some old folks who are less likely to speak English (and may have time on their hands). A couple of years back when I was trying (and, largely, failing) to learn Bulgarian, I learned during a single night of being plied plum brandy by pensioners out in a village, than I had learned spending days in the city.
For writing 汉字, you'll need something like Google Pinyin IME (Windows) or SCIM (Linux) - or else, if you use firefox, then Fireinput does an OK job: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5420
Posted on: Guilin Mifen
April 16, 2009 at 8:11 AMIf only I wasn't veggie, I'd be tucking into some Carbon Burns Black Bowel for breakfast this very morning...
This is great. Entertaining, nicely produced and useful. The expansion stuff is excellent as well. Thanks, all.
Will
Posted on: Which Finger?
April 9, 2009 at 8:43 AMIs that Axolotl from David Attenborough's Life on Earth? Did you know that infant Axolotls are called Axolittles?
Posted on: Two Poems about Music -- 弹琴 and 听筝
April 7, 2009 at 9:04 AMHi, Pete,
I really enjoyed these two: a great way to start a Tuesday morning, and a good balance of linguistic, historical and cultural stuff.
There are a few more clips of the guqin and the guzheng here, which are worth listening to (although the orchestration is a bit dodgy at times...)
@bendidelaowai: beauty may not save the world, but it's worth a try.
Will
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Festival -- 清明
April 2, 2009 at 3:40 PMWho knows what was going on in the TV series of monkey? The Buddha was also a woman in the series. The reasons for this are somewhat obscure, but then the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (aka 观音 / guan1 yin1) underwent a sex change on his/her way to China as well. What is it that they used to put in the water on the Silk Road?
There are some nice images of the Oxherding pictures - taken from Paul Reps's Zen Flesh, Zen Bones and designed by a 20th century Japanese artist - here.
Posted on: Gone Fishing
March 27, 2009 at 11:23 AMA fishing tip for those with time on their hands... Jiang Zhiya apparently fished with "a barbless hook or even no hook at all, on the theory that the fish would come to him of their own volition when they were ready."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiang_Ziya
Posted on: Grass 草
March 25, 2009 at 3:52 PMYup. Another CS devotee here as well (in the exotic East Midlands of the UK!) The visit of a Chinese CS friend and her mum was one of the things that got me kick-started in learning Chinese.
I will indeed hang in there for the arrival of the PDFs. Another great poem, by the way.
Will :)
Posted on: Language Power Struggle
April 16, 2009 at 8:37 AMHi, Pete,
I was researching a novel about Bulgarian guitar-playing bandit-saints... Currently I'm in the thick of the seemingly never-ending task of rewriting it.