PC Translations

Writing about my ideal job wouldn’t probably be my first choice — I’ve been working too long to be too idealistic about it all anyway.  But, here’s what I came up with for the topic assigned.

找工作的时候，一般人认为最主要考虑的方面是能赚多少钱，其次是社会地位。其实，我觉得钱和地位不是最主要的问题。如果我要换工作，我会首先考虑工作的以下三个方面，然后决定我对他的满意度。

第一，我不愿意做很无聊的工作。适合我的是有创造性的工作。如果是天天都做重复性的工作，我就会觉得很没劲。有些人很喜欢朝九晚五的工作，可是他对我没有任何的吸引力。

第二，我理想的工作是对别人有价值的工作。我甚至愿意做义务的慈善性工作。我认为自己老了的时候，不会问自己，“我一生赚了多少钱”？可是一定会问，“我为别人创造了多少价值”？

第三，我喜欢做有一点空间的工作。这并不是说在办公室花的时间一定要很少。其实，我很愿意加班的，但是我不喜欢老板一直盯着我在做什么。自由一点的工作比较适合我。

因为我们要在工作上花很多时间，所以我觉得找到适合自己的工作很重要。我能接受薪水和地位不高的工作，可是我不愿意做枯燥无味的工作。如果做的是很无聊的，或不能为别人创造价值的，又或是很没空间的工作，我就很难从工作中获得满足感和乐趣。

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I’ve never quite been comfortable with the use of 创造价值  (and the other related phrases) in the passage, but can’t figure out anything better to use. That is actually my teacher’s suggestion, and I can’t remember what I had originally put.  Anyway, if anyone else has better ideas, I’m all ears!

One of the drawbacks to this sort of schedule is the distraction from the language studies in which I was engaged just two weeks ago.  I’ve tried to keep up, but it has not been to anywhere near the level it was when I was in Shanghai (naturally).

And I think I’ve lost ground.  Sigh.

I found myself, when reading a magazine article the other day, stumbling over words that should have been familiar.  At it seemed to take me forever to finish an article too.  Worst of all, reading it felt like work, unlike a couple of weeks ago when I was really beginning to enjoy it.

It is a pity that we can’t just spend our lives learning and soaking up new things.  There is a real joy to language learning, and the time to focus on it the past several months was a real blessing.  

I actually think a cycle of intensive learning followed by a break from intensive studies perfect for me.  In my head I believe that. But all the same, it feels a little frustrating right now.

My godson is half Chinese Singaporean, and half American.  His parents want him to learn Chinese, but it is hard for him to do so, not having the environment in the US.  Of course, the younger that he can learn it the better, so they try to find various methods to teach him.

His favorite so far is a cartoon about an American born Chinese boy.  He’s picked up a number of phrases from the show, and especially loves to tell me, “Tai bang le!”  (“That’s great/cool!”)  

A few weeks ago, he was pretty cute.  I was on skype chatting with him, and it started raining where he was.  He told me, “It’s raining,” and I asked if he knew how to say that in Chinese.  He couldn’t remember, so I told him, and he repeated it.  After a few seconds, he said, “Can you please ask me how to say ‘umbrella’ in Chinese now?”  When I did, he went about the house dancing and repeating “yu san,” quite pleased with himself for knowing the answer to my question.

My answer is below:

In this one, I was required to describe the school where I teach in Singapore. It didn’t turn out exactly the way I wanted, but I think it was an important one for me to write.  After I finished it, I recognized what I wanted to do differently in my subsequent writing for my class, and I think my work has generally improved since then.  I still have a long way to go, of course, but it is better now than before, and I think this particular “wenzhang” helped me turn a bit of a corner in my Chinese writing.

工商管理大学是在新加坡排名第四个大学；是第一个完全私利的学校。现在大约有8000个学生。自从2005年以来，已经有6000左右学生从那里毕业。

新加坡工商管理大学有大概40个学位课程；有四个系：理工系，工商系，人文社科系和心理教育系。工商系是最大的，几乎百分之四十的学生是读工商的。

工商管理大学跟新加坡其它的大学有一点不同。别的大学的学生都20岁左右；可是我们的学生都是已经工作了很多年的。我的每个学生几乎都比我大几年；有的甚至和我父母亲差不多大。他们可能以前没有机会读书，因为在他们学龄时，新加坡只有两所大学。那时侯，有机会在国内读大学很难得；只有百分之五的新加坡人能进自己国家的大学。现在，因为有了新加坡工商管理大学，能够继续读书的机会就比较多了。

虽然新加坡工商管理大学不是新加坡最大的，最著名的学校，可是我依然很喜欢在那里教书。我也为越来越多的新加坡人能够有机会去大学读书而感到高兴！

What I don’t quite like about this “wenzhang” is the more personal tone that it takes.  While I had to continue with this tone/voice for the subsequent assignment (which I won’t be posting here), I did learn from this one that it is something I wanted to work on.  I’ve managed to approach most of the other assignments since then from a slightly more distant perspective — including one that I actually needed to “revert back” to the personal tone.  I’m still working on being able to make the switch more smoothly, as and when it is needed, but I think this has helped me get some practice on an area that I’ve been weak in in the past.  Since it is an area that shows up more in formal situations (like writing), I think the exercises have helped me sort of stretch the boundaries on my use of the language.

An adult can’t approach language learning in the same way.  An adult already has his/her thinking more developed than a child does, and so works in the opposite direction, so to speak.  For a child, the thinking and the language grow together.  For an adult, his or her ideas are already somewhat developed, and s/he needs only learn how to best express those.  

Adult language learners should not take a childish approach to language learning.  As a friend of mine who teaches English to adult learners says all the time, to do so is to waste the benefits of being an adult.  And, even worse, it puts the adult working in an area of weakness for the adult brain.

It makes more sense, then, to capitalize on the strengths of the adult mind, and work at language learning with a whole different approach from that which children need.

我现在去旅行的时候，从不喜欢带很多东西。以前我带的东西不少，可是最近几年有所改变。可能是因为我要常常出国，觉得带很多东西太麻烦了。行李很难装又很沉。而且现在不管去哪儿，日用品都买得着，除此之外其它的东西都不那么重要了。

可是两三年前，我去湖南的时候，发生了一件很好笑的事情。我和两个朋友一起去。一个像我一样，不喜欢带太多东西；一个什么都带。我们两个怕麻烦的就笑话那位带很多东西的朋友。我们觉得最好笑的是她竟然带了一个电吹风。我们问她：“你带电吹风来干什么？你知道吗？我们去爬山，哪里有时间打扮？这个电吹风是用不着的。”

但是我们第一天去爬山就遇到了大雨。到山上的时候，我们三个人的鞋子都湿透了。吃了晚饭以后，我们去房间用那位朋友的电吹风把鞋子吹干了。虽然我们两个一整天都在笑话她，但是她还愿意给我们用她的电吹风。辛好她不是那种很小器的人！

经过了这件事情，可能我应该再考虑一下。。。或许那位不怕麻烦的朋友的做法比较好。去旅行的时候，带足东西其实也是很好的习惯。

I always seem to forget that translation is a whole different thing, as far as language learning goes, than simply being fluent in two languages.  Learning to navigate between the two, and to effectively convey the same idea in two different mediums, is quite tough.  I admire a translation company that can do work well and quickly.  It is really no joke, going about this work.

For the composition, I think I made it harder on myself than it had to be.  I was a bit “psyched up” for it, because I know that writing is my weak point.  But once I got going, it wasn’t as bad as I thought.  There were still plenty of words that I had to look up in order to be able to write them in Chinese, but that’s not as bad as it could have been.  At any rate, I do think it will get easier as I go along, both for compositions and translation.

The material we are using is very good.  It is the Contemporary Chinese series, using the advanced book.  I like the way the book is laid out, with the lesson text first in simplified characters, then in complex characters, and only at the end in Hanyu Pinyin.  Most other books I have used have the pinyin incorporated into the text, which makes it too easy to rely on the phonetics rather than learning to read the characters.

The course looks like it will move along rather quickly.  We worked a lot on reading and writing today, and took some time for extended conversation too.  I have lots of homework to finish over the next several days.  I think the work will certainly be challenging enough.

I so wish I had learned a second language as a kid.  Parents, if you have the choice, teach your kids a second language.  It really is a pity to grow up with only one language to rely on.