foreign languages in foreign lands
Jinhan and I had a one-hour conversation over MSN, cracking our heads to find the difference between ‘in spite of’ and ‘despite’. Being the geeks that we were, we began to permutate positive and negative clauses after reading a suggestion on the web that they have different connotations. In the end, I checked with John Doe and confirmed that the British Council still wins.
The only difference between in spite of and despite is the ‘of’. – Learn English, British Council
Mark’s learning Chinese and was really pleased to learn the phrase mei ban fa which means I can’t do anything or tough luck. It’s a very common phrase in China handy in many situations, especially to shrug responsibility. I decided to ask my Satoyo-sensei what the Japanese equivalent is and she was quick to explain that the Japanese would never use mei ban fa on a day-to-day basis because it would be “too rude”.
Meanwhile, although my Japanese grammar is improving with the lessons, my listening and speaking are still bollocks. Mei ban fa…
I got a very strong reaction from a student the other day when I said I hope to work in Japan in the future. He told me that he hates the Japanese and Korean. “Don’t you know what they did?” he exclaimed. I was surprised to see how events that happened generations ago would be so deeply rooted in a 20-year old.
After some research on the internet and visiting a few schools personally, I finally settled for private tuition with a native Japanese teacher from Peace Bridge. The classroom is very small and the school is located near Dawanglu station, if you want to attend the group classes. I’m paying 236rmb for a 2-hour lesson at my apartment, inclusive of a 10-minute break in between. Satoyo-sensei seems experienced from the way she seamlessly ended the class on the dot; new teachers usually run over.
Newpower has many branches all over in Beijing, including one right next to the school I’m teaching at in Xizhimen. Looks legit but the receptionist didn’t seem too keen to enrol me and introduced herself as ‘张老师’ (teacher). Very low school fees but I find studying from 09:00 to 12:30 on Saturdays and Sundays before working till 19:00 not appealing at all.
ちび丸子ちゃん
Another school I shortlisted was Sakura Nihongo at Xizhimen. Very posh and centrally located. Got a nice DVD and other promotional materials when I went to inquire. The exorbitant school fees of 20,000rmb for three months says it all.
My ex-Japanese teacher from the Hougang Japanese Language School in Singapore very kindly sent me some notes for the next level so I could self-study. Meanwhile, Satoyo-sensei is helping me revise using my old Minna no Nihongo 1 before proceeding to book 2 in the same series. I’m currently keeping a simple Japanese blog and watching Chibi Maruko-chan; gives you a feel of how (very) low level my Japanese is at.