什么是在生活中我们每个人都想要的，旅行，爱情，快乐。

《冲突》 “Conflict” 他们都说 They all say 我是个话很少的孩子 I’m a child of few words 对此我并不否认 This I don’t deny 实际上 But actually 我说与不说 Whether I speak or not 都会跟这个社会 With this society I’ll still 发生冲突 Conflict

许立志 (Xu Lizhi)

This comes from an article “The Poetry and Brief Life of a Foxconn Worker” which you should definitely look at the rest of, it’s really heartwrenching. Xu Lizhi was a 打工者 (dagongzhe), a factory worker who’d come in from his rural home in Guangdong to work in Shenzhen. He committed suicide when he was 24.

Shenzhen has a Special Economic Zone, so there is more or less a capitalist “bubble” where these huge factories are. Factories are supposed to mainly hire people in the same province because of China’s 户口 system of essentially population control, but in reality huge numbers of people come to try and get work since China has one of the largest rural/urban income divides. As you’ve probably heard, they work in terrible conditions—the whole system is a tangle of bringing in bodies and controlling them. If you’d like to learn more, Made in China: Women Factory Workers in a Global Workplace is a good book I’ve been reading for class (the vast majority of workers are women), or a crash course movie version Mardi Gras: Made in China (the narrator is clearly going for guilt but the actual footage is good). It’s easy to see these things and brush it off as sort of inevitable, but no, this shit wouldn’t fly in the states, how can we make that true everywhere. You can’t look at these individual stories and just decide that’s ok. 

(via tiantianxuexi)

慢速中文：星巴克在中国

vocab from this podcast episode

星巴克 xing1 ba1 ke4 Starbucks

作为「作為」zuo4 wei2 to act as

连锁店「連鎖店」lian2 suo3 dian4 chain store

偏远「偏遠」pian1 yuan3 remote, far from civilization

戏称「戲稱」xi4 cheng1 to jokingly call

抱怨 bao4 yuan4 to complain

否认「否認」fou3 ren4 to deny, to declare to be untrue

普及 pu3 ji2 popular, to spread extensively, widespread

融入 rong2 ru4 to blend into, to integrate, to assimilate

以往 yi3 wang3in the past, formerly

元素 yuan2 su4 element

装饰「裝飾」zhuang1 shi4 decorations

协调「協調」xie2 tiao2 to coordinate, to match (colors, etc.), harmonious

当地「當地」dang1 di4 local

独特「獨特」du2 te4 unique, distinct

纪念品「紀念品」ji4 nian4 pin3 souvenier

你的过错应该成为你的动力，而不是借口。

Your mistakes should be your motivation; Not your excuses.

真正的朋友愿意理解你的过去，相信你的未来，接受你的现在。

A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.

8 Body Language Tricks To Instantly Appear More Confident

If you’re not as confident as you’d like to be, some slight modifications to your body language can have a huge impact. 

Learn to fake it until you make it with these eight tricks:

Continue reading

the best language learning thing is when you learn a really simple grammar rule and it completely transforms your vocabulary

Chinese family tree!

Family

家庭 (jiātíng)-family/household

父母 (fùmǔ)-parents

妈妈 (mā ma)-mom

爸爸 (bà ba)-dad

儿子 (ér zi)-son

女儿 (nǚ ér)-daughter

哥哥 (gē ge)-older brother

姐姐 (jiě jie)-older sister

弟弟 (dì di)-younger brother

妹妹 (mèi mei)-younger sister

奶奶/祖母 (nǎi nai/zǔmǔ)-dad’s mom

爷爷/祖父 (yé ye/zǔfù)-dad’s dad

姥姥 (lǎo lao)-mom’s mom

姥爷 (lǎo ye)-mom’s dad

外婆 (wài pó)-mom’s mom(mostly used in southern China)

外公 (wài gōng)-mom’s dad(mostly used in southern China)

舅舅 (jiùjiu)-uncle(mother’s brother)

舅妈 (jiù mā)-aunt(mother’s brother’s wife)

阿姨 (āyí)-a form of address for a woman of about one’s mother’s age; in southern China aunt(mother’s sister)

姨丈 (yí zhàng)-uncle(mother’s sister’s husband)

姑妈 (gū mā)-aunt(father’s sister)

姑丈 (gū zhàng)-uncle(father’s sister’s husband)

叔叔/叔父 (shūshu/shū fù)-uncle(father’s younger brother)

婶婶 (shěn shěn)-aunt(father’s younger brother’s wife)

伯父/伯伯 (bó fù/bóbo)-uncle(father’s older brother)

伯母 (bó mǔ)-aunt(father’s older brother’s wife)

姐夫 (jiě fu)-brother-in-law(older sister’s husband)

妹婿 (mèi xù)-brother-in-law(younger sister’s husband)

嫂嫂 (sǎosao)-sister-in-law(older brother’s wife)

弟媳 (dì xí)-sister-in-law(younger brother’s wife)

堂哥 (táng gē)-older male cousin(father’s side)

堂弟 (táng dì)-younger male cousin(father’s side)

堂姐 (táng jiě)-older female cousin(father’s side)

堂妹 (táng mèi)-younger female cousin(father’s side)

表哥 (biǎo gē)-older male cousin(mother’s side)

表弟 (biǎo dì)-younger male cousin(mother’s side)

表姐 (biǎo jiě)-older female cousin(mother’s side)

表妹 (biǎo mèi)-younger female cousin(mother’s side)

侄子 (zhí zi)-nephew(brother’s son)

侄女 (zhí nǚ)-niece(brother’s daughter)

外甥 (wài shēng)-nephew(sister’s son)

外甥女 (wài shēng nǚ)-niece(sister’s daughter)

Tips to learn a new language

The 75 most common words make up 40% of occurrences The 200 most common words make up 50% of occurrences The 524 most common words make up 60% of occurrences The 1257 most common words make up 70% of occurrences The 2925 most common words make up 80% of occurrences The 7444 most common words make up 90% of occurrences The 13374 most common words make up 95% of occurrences The 25508 most common words make up 99% of occurrences

(Sources: 5 Steps to Speak a New Language by Hung Quang Pham)

This article has an excellent summary on how to rapidly learn a new language within 90 days.

We can begin with studying the first 600 words. Of course chucking is an effective way to memorize words readily. Here’s a list to translate into the language you desire to learn that I grabbed from here! :)

EXPRESSIONS OF POLITENESS (about 50 expressions)      

‘Yes’ and ‘no’: yes, no, absolutely, no way, exactly.    

Question words: when? where? how? how much? how many? why? what? who? which? whose?    

Apologizing: excuse me, sorry to interrupt, well now, I’m afraid so, I’m afraid not.    

Meeting and parting: good morning, good afternoon, good evening, hello, goodbye, cheers, see you later, pleased to meet you, nice to have met.    

Interjections: please, thank you, don’t mention it, sorry, it’ll be done, I agree, congratulations, thank heavens, nonsense.    

NOUNS (about 120 words)

Time: morning, afternoon, evening, night; Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday; spring, summer, autumn, winter; time, occasion, minute, half-hour, hour, day, week, month, year.    

People: family, relative, mother, father, son, daughter, sister, brother, husband, wife; colleague, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend; people, person, human being, man, woman, lady, gentleman, boy, girl, child.    

Objects: address, bag, book, car, clothes, key, letter (=to post), light (=lamp), money, name, newspaper, pen, pencil, picture, suitcase, thing, ticket.    

Places: place, world, country, town, street, road, school, shop, house, apartment, room, ground; Britain, name of the foreign country, British town-names, foreign town-names.    

Abstract: accident, beginning, change, color, damage, fun, half, help, joke, journey, language, English, name of the foreign language, letter (of alphabet), life, love, mistake, news, page, pain, part, question, reason, sort, surprise, way (=method), weather, work.    

Other: hand, foot, head, eye, mouth, voice; the left, the right; the top, the bottom, the side; air, water, sun, bread, food, paper, noise.    

PREPOSITIONS (about 40 words)    

General: of, to, at, for, from, in, on.    

Logical: about, according-to, except, like, against, with, without, by, despite, instead of.    

Space: into, out of, outside, towards, away from, behind, in front of, beside, next to, between, above, on top of, below, under, underneath, near to, a long way from, through.    

Time: after, ago, before, during, since, until.    

DETERMINERS (about 80 words)  

Articles and numbers: a, the; nos. 0–20; nos. 30–100; nos. 200–1000; last, next, 1st–12th.    

Demonstrative: this, that.    

Possessive: my, your, his, her, its, our, their.    

Quantifiers: all, some, no, any, many, much, more, less, a few, several, whole, a little, a lot of.    

Comparators: both, neither, each, every, other, another, same, different, such.    

ADJECTIVES (about 80 words)    

Color: black, blue, green, red, white, yellow.    

Evaluative: bad, good, terrible; important, urgent, necessary; possible, impossible; right, wrong, true.    

General: big, little, small, heavy; high, low; hot, cold, warm; easy, difficult; cheap, expensive; clean, dirty; beautiful, funny (=comical), funny (=odd), usual, common (=shared), nice, pretty, wonderful; boring, interesting, dangerous, safe; short, tall, long; new, old; calm, clear, dry; fast, slow; finished, free, full, light (=not dark), open, quiet, ready, strong.    

Personal: afraid, alone, angry, certain, cheerful, dead, famous, glad, happy, ill, kind, married, pleased, sorry, stupid, surprised, tired, well, worried, young.    

VERBS (about 100 words)    

arrive, ask, be, be able to, become, begin, believe, borrow, bring, buy, can, change, check, collect, come, continue, cry, do, drop, eat, fall, feel, find, finish, forget, give, going to, have, have to, hear, help, hold, hope, hurt (oneself), hurt (someone else), keep, know, laugh, learn, leave, lend, let (=allow), lie down, like, listen, live (=be alive), live (=reside), look (at), look for, lose, love, make, may (=permission), may (=possibility), mean, meet, must, need, obtain, open, ought to, pay, play, put, read, remember, say, see, sell, send, should, show, shut, sing, sleep, speak, stand, stay, stop, suggest, take, talk, teach, think, travel, try, understand, use, used to, wait for, walk, want, watch, will, work (=operate), work (=toil), worry, would, write.    

PRONOUNS (about 40 words)

Personal: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, one; myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.    

Possessive: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs.    

Demonstrative: this, that.    

Universal: everyone, everybody, everything, each, both, all, one, another.    

Indefinite: someone, somebody, something, some, a few, a little, more, less; anyone, anybody, anything, any, either, much, many.    

Negative: no-one, nobody, nothing, none, neither.    

ADVERBS (about 60 words)

Place: here, there, above, over, below, in front, behind, nearby, a long way away, inside, outside, to the right, to the left, somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere, home, upstairs, downstairs.    

Time: now, soon, immediately, quickly, finally, again, once, for a long time, today, generally, sometimes, always, often, before, after, early, late, never, not yet, still, already, then (=at that time), then (=next), yesterday, tomorrow, tonight.    

Quantifiers: a little, about (=approximately), almost, at least, completely, very, enough, exactly, just, not, too much, more, less.    

Manner: also, especially, gradually, of course, only, otherwise, perhaps, probably, quite, so, then (=therefore), too (=also), unfortunately, very much, well.    

CONJUNCTIONS (about 30 words)

Coordinating: and, but, or; as, than, like.    

Time & Place: when, while, before, after, since (=time), until; where.    

Manner & Logic: how, why, because, since (=because), although, if; what, who, whom, whose, which, that.