Thoughts on the First Week
Classes still haven’t started. They start tomorrow, and it’ll have been right around three months since I’ve had to drag my sorry self out of bed in the morning. Nah, I’m fussing, but I’m actually very much looking forward to starting classes. I’m here to learn Chinese, but English remains the most often spoken language amongst the international students, so I’m excited to immerse myself more.
I guess I should probably back up a little bit and explain how this all works. I’m attending classes as a part of the international college of Zhejiang University. The international college consists of just a few buildings as a part of one of Zhejiang University’s five (or is it six?) Hangzhou campuses. Last week, all of the students in the Chinese language program took an oral and written exam so that we might be placed into the proper level. Of the seven levels, I placed into level three.
Monday through Friday I have two 90-minute classes per day. The classes are divided up amongst “intensive Chinese”, speaking, listening, and reading. I’ll letcha know how they go.
I’m here for a few reasons. Primarily, I want to better my Chinese and expand my worldview. But for reals, I’m also here to have fun! I want to enjoy my time in China and see the sites and meet the people. I figured most everyone was here for similar reasons. True, most people are here for reasons like mine, but some are here for reasons much deeper. Take a new friend from Syria, for example. She and I were chatting and she asked me how I came to find this program. I explained that it was approved by Michigan State for my degree, blah, blah, blah. I asked her the same question.
Well, as you might know my country is not very safe. I found this program myself so that I might learn Chinese and perhaps live and work here.
And she’s just one of the people I’ve met. Paul, Monica, and I are the only Americans I know of that are a part of this program. I’ve also met students from Germany, Sudan, Italy, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, South Korea and Canada. We’re all still in the fairly superficial “So… umm… what are you studying at your university?” and “How was your day?” stage, but it is great fun to start to know new people from ‘round the world.
See ya later alligator.
Radicals
This is a doozy of a topic.
Ok. Radicals. Did you ever wonder how characters are “alphabetized” in Chinese dictionaries? Answer — by radical. A radical is a graphical component of a Chinese character. It is usually semantic (related to meaning), but it can be phonetic as well (related to sound). Sometimes a radical doesn’t really seem to match meaning or sound.
The exact number of radicals is somewhat in flux, arguable, whatnot, especially given that there are now two systems of writing Chinese — traditional and simplified. However, the 214 Kangxi radicals are usually considered the standard set.
Here are a few common radicals:
- 人 (rén) = person: It kind of looks like a person, yeah? This radical is used in, well, person words. In radical form, sometimes it looks like “亻”. Some examples — 你 (nǐ) = you, 他 (tā) = he/him, 位 (wèi) = position/place,做 (zuò) = do/make.
- 口 (kǒu) = mouth: This radical is often used in words either relating to mouth, or to signify open or entrance. Some examples — 可 (kě) = can/may, 名 (míng) = name, 周 (zhōu) = week, 味 (wèi) = flavor.
- 山 (shān) = mountain: It’s a mountain! Generally, this radical is used in characters relating to mountains, hills, cliffs, height, etc. Some examples — 岁 (suì) = years, 峡 (xiá) = gorge, 幽 (yōu) = secluded/quiet. This bunch is fun because 山 is in a different position for each character.
Just to prove that not all the radicals are as broad as “person” or “mouth”, we also have:
- 戈 (gē) = halberd
- 牙 (yá) = fang
- 癶 (bō) = dotted tent
- 隹 (zhuī) = short-tailed bird
- 韋 (wéi) = tanned leather
- 鼎 (dǐng) = tripod
At first glance, each Chinese character appears like an individual teensy piece of art. However, upon close examination, it’s much clearer that the characters are all comprised of the same relatively small set of character components. This doesn’t make learning Chinese easier, per se, but it does make it more manageable.
There ya go!
