Tag Archives: English

KQED, the local NPR station in the San Francisco Bay Area, had a great discussion about the Californian accent. Listen to the discussion at “Do Californians Have an Accent?”

Link | Posted on 2012年12月20日 | 12/20/2012 by | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Michael Erard at Stanford Bookstore

Posted on 2012年10月24日 | 10/24/2012 by

I first learned about “Babel No More” by Michael Erard from an interview on The World in Words. The paperback version of the book has been published and I had the chance to attend a reading and signing event at … Continue reading →

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Foreign language exam results and ability

Posted on 2012年10月02日 | 10/02/2012 by

I’ve been curious lately about the meaning of the results from foreign language exams. I used the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) as the main rubric and found the equivalent levels given by the ACTFL (American Council … Continue reading →

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The word ketchup came from Min Nan?

Posted on 2012年06月06日 | 06/06/2012 by

I was very curious about the Chinese words mentioned in the article “The Cosmopolitan Condiment: An exploration of ketchup’s Chinese origins.” on Slate.com. It is a very thorough article about origin and evolution of ketchup. The condiment started out as … Continue reading →

Posted in language, Taiwanese, Taiwanese Mandarin | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

My preferred Chinese-English online dictionary

Posted on 2011年11月29日 | 11/29/2011 by

Since I learned Mandarin Chinese and American English separately, I do not have an Chinese-English/English-Chinese dictionary. I have one dictionary for each language. For my latest project involving “Word of the Week” (in which I am going through a list … Continue reading →

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How often do news sites publish articles on Taiwan?

Posted on 2011年11月18日 | 11/18/2011 by

After the appearance of Kane’s op-ed in the NY Times, I started wondering about Taiwan’s appearance in English news sites. I know from collecting articles on Taiwan (in the time of paper newspapers) that articles did not come up often … Continue reading →

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Book review: “The Story of Dai Ailian” by Richard Glasstone

Posted on 2011年09月28日 | 09/28/2011 by

I was interested in reading “The Story of Dai Ailian” by Richard Glasstone (Dance Books, 2007) to learn more about Chinese dance. It was also a chance to learn about the origins of the Beijing Dance Academy. The complete title … Continue reading →

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Word of the week #41: 漿

Posted on 2011年08月09日 | 08/09/2011 by

Awhile ago, I remember reading that the dairy industry was opposed to the use of the word “milk” in “soy milk.” The argument from the dairy industry isn’t really adequate. But it did make me wonder why the word milk … Continue reading →

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Little thoughts: Yao Ming, China, and cursive

Posted on 2011年07月28日 | 07/28/2011 by

“End of a Dynasty: Yao Ming Retires and China Wonders Who’s Next?” It is an end of an era for Yao Ming and the NBA. I’ll miss some great commercials. “On Party Anniversary, China Rewrites History” Apparently history gets rewritten … Continue reading →

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Little thoughts: serial commas, numbers, and transportation issues

Posted on 2011年07月02日 | 07/02/2011 by

I’ve noticed that there are often things that I read online that are interesting and worth mentioning. But sometimes I don’t feel that I could make an entire blog post out of these things. I’ve decided to collect these items … Continue reading →

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