Mandarin: ao, a

I never realised the difference between a, like 阿, and the a sound in ao, like 凹, in Mandarin. I mean, I always know this. I always know how to pronounce a and ao correctly. I just never broke the diphthong and compared the a- with a, until a few months ago.

Briefly, the pronunciations of the two sounds are as follows:

• a (ㄚ): [a]
  The a (ㄚ) in Mandarin is different from the a like ah in English. To make this [a], you have to break the diphthong [aɪ], like I and eye, into separate parts, and elongate the first part, [a], as long as you can, and drop the remaining part.
• ao (ㄠ): [ɑʊ] (the [ɑ] is longer than [ʊ] here)
  This ao sound is different from that ow sound in English, like out and cow. Ow in English is pronounced this way: [aʊ] (Actually, I don’t know if I am 100% correct, the [a] in [aʊ] is a bit palatalized nowadays.) But the pronunciation of ao in Mandarin is [ɑʊ]. I am sure you know how to make these two sounds: [ɑ] (ah) and [ʊ] (the ou in would). So, I think I can leave it to you here. Just make sure the [ɑ] is much longer than the [ʊ].

Started Learning Korean | 我學韓文的第一步

Language: English | 中文

When I was in junior high, I always wanted to learn Korean. And finally, last week, I bought a book and started learning Korean.

This is the book:

莎郎嘿喲！韓語 I Love Korean!

I like this book. Basically, every Korean sentence is accompanied by a Romanized transcript and the same sentence with Chinese characters. And most importantly, a CD is provided.

Thanks to that CD, I found more than ten mistakes in the pronunciation guide section. Here, I am going to list some of them:

Vowels:

1. ㅓ can be [ɔ] and [ʌ], rather than just [ɔ].
2. Similarly, ㅕ can be [jɔ] and [jʌ], rather than just [jɔ].
3. ㅡ sounds more like [ɨ]. Definitely not [ʌ]!
4. I know that nowadays most people pronounce ㅚ as [we], however, the speaker recorded pronounces it as [ø].
5. ㅢ sounds [ɨi] to me. Definitely not [ui]!

Consonants:

1. When ㅅ is followed by [j] or [i], it becomes [ɕ] (like x/ㄒ in Mandarin), rather than [ʃ].
2. ㅈ can be [tɕ] and [dʑ], rather than [tʃ] and [dʒ]!
3. ㅊ should be [tɕ^h]. Not [tʃ^h]!
4. ㅃ, ㅉ, ㄸ, ㄲ, and ㅆ represent consonants produced with more tense, rather than making them voiced.

But, anyway, it is a good book, for beginners like me. Perhaps I will take a Korean Beginner course at university, since I found Korean language quite fun and enjoyable.

其實從國中開始就想要學韓文了，但直到上週，買了一本書後，才算真正地開始起來。

這本書蠻不錯的：

莎郎嘿喲！韓語 I Love Korean!

我喜歡它的一點是，每句韓文，都會附上羅馬字母的表音，以及加上了漢字的原文。而且，很重要的一點是，還附上了一張 CD。

因為那張 CD，我在「發音簡介」那一部份裡，找出超過十個錯處……這裡先列一些出來好了……

母音：

1. ㅓ 的發音應該是 [ɔ] 或是 [ʌ]，而不單單是 [ɔ]；
2. 同樣地，ㅕ 應該是 [jɔ] 或是 [jʌ]，而不單單是 [jɔ]；
3. ㅡ 聽起來比較像是 [ɨ]；絕對不會是 [ʌ]！
4. 我知道現在大部份的人都會將 ㅚ 發成 [we]，可是錄音裡的人是將 ㅚ 發成 [ø] 的。
5. ㅢ 聽起來比較像是 [ɨi] 喔！怎麼會是 [ui] 呢？

子音：

1. 當 ㅅ 在 [j] 或是 [i] 前的時候，發音會變成 [ɕ] (就像國語裡的 x/ㄒ)，而不是 [ʃ]；
2. ㅈ 的發音是 [tɕ] 以及 [dʑ]，而不是 [tʃ] 以及 [dʒ]！
3. ㅊ 應該是 [tɕ^h]，而不是 [tʃ^h]！
4. ㅃ、ㅉ、ㄸ、ㄲ、ㅆ 是表示發音時比較強列、比較緊，而不是單單把清音變成濁音啊！

不過不管如何，這本書還是蠻不錯的，只是有點很入門就是了。現在想說，接下來的那個學期，是不是應該在大學上一上韓文課呢？呵呵，其實韓文並沒有想像中令人討厭嘛。

When I was in junior high, I always wanted to learn Korean. And finally, last week, I bought a book and started learning Korean.

This is the book:

莎郎嘿喲！韓語 I Love Korean!

I like this book. Basically, every Korean sentence is accompanied by a Romanized transcript and the same sentence with Chinese characters. And most importantly, a CD is provided.

Thanks to that CD, I found more than ten mistakes in the pronunciation guide section. Here, I am going to list some of them:

Vowels:

1. ㅓ can be [ɔ] and [ʌ], rather than just [ɔ].
2. Similarly, ㅕ can be [jɔ] and [jʌ], rather than just [jɔ].
3. ㅡ sounds more like [ɨ]. Definitely not [ʌ]!
4. I know that nowadays most people pronounce ㅚ as [we], however, the speaker recorded pronounces it as [ø].
5. ㅢ sounds [ɨi] to me. Definitely not [ui]!

Consonants:

1. When ㅅ is followed by [j] or [i], it becomes [ɕ] (like x/ㄒ in Mandarin), rather than [ʃ].
2. ㅈ can be [tɕ] and [dʑ], rather than [tʃ] and [dʒ]!
3. ㅊ should be [tɕ^h]. Not [tʃ^h]!
4. ㅃ, ㅉ, ㄸ, ㄲ, and ㅆ represent consonants produced with more tense, rather than making them voiced.

But, anyway, it is a good book, for beginners like me. Perhaps I will take a Korean Beginner course at university, since I found Korean language quite fun and enjoyable.

Quanto? Quando? T or d?

Language: English | 中文

Few days ago, during the Italian class, a student (Italian: studentessa) from Mainland asked our teacher, Cecilia, "Excuse me, what's the meaning of Quan[t]o?"

I knew she wanted to ask quando. But the problem is, she couldn't produce the d sound. You know, in Mandarin, there is no d sound. Or, in other words, they don't know what d is. So, what they do is just substitute the d sound with the unaspirated t sound, or, more precisely, they think the unaspirated t sound is d.

Anyway, Ceci replied, "Quanto? Hom much. Or how many."

Then, the girl asked again. This time, she tried it harder, "No, quan[t]o! Quan[t]o!" (Ironic, though, that the harder she tried, the clearer that the sound was a t! Yes, yes, it was unaspirated, but, sadly, it was a t, no matter how hard you tried!)

"Quanto?"

"No. Q-U-A-N-[T]i-O."

"Oh, QUANDO! That means when!"

Well, I never had supposed this would happen. It's quite fun, though. It just shows that Italian has good ear to distinguish voiced and voiceless consonants, and that many Chinese don't know the difference. (Actually, I never really awared of the difference between voiced and voiceless consonants, until I was 19 or 20. Even so, I still think I am very lucky.)

前幾天，在上義大利文課的時候，一個大陸來的女學生問老師："Excuse me, what is quan[t]o?"

我知道她想問 quando，可是問題是，她不知道什麼是 d。我想這不能怪她，畢竟，普通話、廣東話等這些漢語裡，都沒有 d 這個音。所以，大部份以這些語言當母語的人，都會以為 d 代表的是一個不送氣的 t 音。

嗯，然後老師就說："Quanto? It means how much, or how many."

女學生說："No. Quan[t]o. Quan[t]o!"

嘿嘿，真的是太有趣了。她越是用力去那邊發那個不送氣的 t (國語裡的ㄉ)，就越是展現出她在發的是個 t，而不是 d。

所以，老師就疑慮地問："Quanto?"

這次，這位女學生就乾脆拼出來了："No. Q-U-A-N-[T]i-O."

老師這才了解："Oh, QUANDO! It means when!"

哈，這實在是太有趣了，一個能夠輕易辨別出 voiced 跟 voiceless 子音的義大利人，碰上一位不會發 d 的、以中文為母語的學生，竟然會發生這種事情！我應該早就想到了啦！我怎麼沒有想過這種事情呢？

Few days ago, during the Italian class, a student (Italian: studentessa) from Mainland asked our teacher, Cecilia, "Excuse me, what's the meaning of Quan[t]o?"

I knew she wanted to ask quando. But the problem is, she couldn't produce the d sound. You know, in Mandarin, there is no d sound. Or, in other words, they don't know what d is. So, what they do is just substitute the d sound with the unaspirated t sound, or, more precisely, they think the unaspirated t sound is d.

Anyway, Ceci replied, "Quanto? Hom much. Or how many."

Then, the girl asked again. This time, she tried it harder, "No, quan[t]o! Quan[t]o!" (Ironic, though, that the harder she tried, the clearer that the sound was a t! Yes, yes, it was unaspirated, but, sadly, it was a t, no matter how hard you tried!)

"Quanto?"

"No. Q-U-A-N-[T]i-O."

"Oh, QUANDO! That means when!"

Well, I never had supposed this would happen. It's quite fun, though. It just shows that Italian has good ear to distinguish voiced and voiceless consonants, and that many Chinese don't know the difference. (Actually, I never really awared of the difference between voiced and voiceless consonants, until I was 19 or 20. Even so, I still think I am very lucky.)

Open or Close? | 開口或閉口？

Language: English | 中文

Recently, I tried to find out the meaning of the song, Un'Emergenza D'Amore, an Italian song of Laura Pausini.

I found out that, everytime I heard the line: Dentro le mie tasche, ovunque andrai, I heard a lovely sound from the word dentro. I spent little time to figure which part, and finally, it was the e of the syllable den-.

Then, it became quite confused. Was it an open e? Or, was it a close e sound? I decided that, though not 100% sure, it was a close e becuase it didn't match it when I tried to make it an open e.

You know, Italians are genius. They are native Italian Phonology Masters. Italian word doesn't have any accent on the stressed syllable, except that if it is the last syllable, to tell whether the vowel is open or close. Even so, just pay attention next time, you will find that they pronouce each word correctly. Open or close vowel, single or geminated consonants, 100% correct, no mistakes.

Of course Laura is one of the native masters. But anyway, I searched the word dentro from the online dictionary De Mauro (link), to make sure if I was correct, and, yes, I got déntro.

Amazing. I was impressed by their genius, again, and also, by the lovely sound of the word dentro. Just heavenly. Divina!

前不久，我在研究 Laura Pausini 的歌── Un'Emergenza D'Amore ──的歌詞。

每當聽到這句：Dentro le mie tasche, ovunque andrai，的時候，都會聽到一個很動人的聲音……我很驚訝，到底是哪個音，那麼動聽呢？後來，找到了，是 dentro 的 e。

接著，問題來了。那個 e，到底是開口 e 呢 ([ɛ])，還是閉口 e 呢 ([e])？

後來，我覺得那是閉口的 e。因為，當我把它發成開口 e 的時候，跟我聽到的聲音，有點不一樣。

有一點必須提出的是，義大利人真的都是發音大師。雖然義大利文裡，除了最後一個音節是重音外，重音都不會標出開口還是閉口，可是，義大利人還是能夠標準地發出。

他們真的很厲害，不管是開口音、閉口音，亦或是長子音，都發得相當清楚。可以說是，比字典還好用。

當然，這次也不例外。我上網查了查 (De Mauro)，得到的是：déntro。義大利人準確的義大利文發音，再一次，使我深感佩服。然後，那個 dentro 真的是莫名其妙的好聽！實在是太美妙了！

Recently, I tried to find out the meaning of the song, Un'Emergenza D'Amore, an Italian song of Laura Pausini.

I found out that, everytime I heard the line: Dentro le mie tasche, ovunque andrai, I heard a lovely sound from the word dentro. I spent little time to figure which part, and finally, it was the e of the syllable den-.

Then, it became quite confused. Was it an open e? Or, was it a close e sound? I decided that, though not 100% sure, it was a close e becuase it didn't match it when I tried to make it an open e.

You know, Italians are genius. They are native Italian Phonology Masters. Italian word doesn't have any accent on the stressed syllable, except that if it is the last syllable, to tell whether the vowel is open or close. Even so, just pay attention next time, you will find that they pronouce each word correctly. Open or close vowel, single or geminated consonants, 100% correct, no mistakes.

Of course Laura is one of the native masters. But anyway, I searched the word dentro from the online dictionary De Mauro (link), to make sure if I was correct, and, yes, I got déntro.

Amazing. I was impressed by their genius, again, and also, by the lovely sound of the word dentro. Just heavenly. Divina!

“Je suis allé en Taiwan.”

Language: English | 中文

During the french class this afternoon, our professor, François, asked us what we had done the last big big vacation.

"Je suis allé en Taiwan," I began. Then, as what I expected, he said helpfully, "À Taiwan."

I didn't repeat it. I kept moving on. In my opinion, à Taiwan is not correct.

• Using en implies Taiwan is a country, and à implies that it is a city, district, etc.

今天上法文課的時候，老師 François 問我們，上一個長假期，做了些什麼。

我回答說：Je suis allé en Taiwan. (我去了台灣；使用 en 意味著台灣是一個……咳咳)

然後，毫不意外，François 更正我說：À Taiwan. (à 用在地區、城市的前面)

我並沒有跟著說 à Taiwan。我繼續我的故事。畢竟，你知道的，對我來說，用 en 才是正確的，嘿嘿。

During the french class this afternoon, our professor, François, asked us what we had done the last big big vacation.

"Je suis allé en Taiwan," I began. Then, as what I expected, he said helpfully, "À Taiwan."

I didn't repeat it. I kept moving on. In my opinion, à Taiwan is not correct.

• Using en implies Taiwan is a country, and à implies that it is a city, district, etc.

Differences between Mandarin and Putonghua | 大陸人會怎麼說

Language: English | 中文

Last week, I went to Beijing with my family, for the Chinese new year holidays.

We joined a group. I'm sure you know what this means, so I won't spend time explaining the dulliness of the frequent visits to some local companies, lisitening to staffs promoting their products, blah-blah-blah.

What made the trip wonderful is, despite some products prmoting routines, we travelled to Beijing by train, through Jingguang railway (Jing: Beijing; Guang: GuangZhou). Indeed it was wonderful, the journey on train, but I will go through this part later in another post.

---

Here, I'll begin with the topic, language.

I lived in Taipei for eight years. I grew up there. As a result, I can speak Mandarin. Even so, I never learnt that Mandarin and Putonghua are actually two different languages until I took a Putonghua course in college (In my opinion, Mandarin is a Chinese language spoken by Taiwanese and foreigners, since they both call the language "Mandarin." Putonghua is more restricted to Mainlanders and some foreigners. As you can see, usually someone from the US wouldn't say "I speak Putonghua" but "I speak Mandarin" instead).

So, how different are they?

First, their sound. There are many words that are supposed to sound the same in both languages but actually not. For example, in Putonghua, Che (車, car) is pronouced this way (IPA): [tʂɤ], but you'll find Taiwanese or most of the foreigners pronounce the word this way: [tʃə]. Another example is that for the word He (河, river), Mainlanders pronounce it like this: [xɤ], while Mandarin speakers do it this way: [hə]. One more example. The word 和, in Putonghua, it is pronounced this way: [xɤ], but the pronunciation is totally different for Taiwanese: [han], when the word implies "and" as in "A and B."

Besides the sound, sometimes, they use different words to call the same things. But this does not matter at all. Usually you can easily grab the meaning even if you speak only one of them.

So, what surprises me is the way they say it. As you know, I grew up in Taiwan, so, when I ask someone "what are you lookiong for," like in a store, I would say "你在找些什麼呢" (ni zai zhao xie shen me ne? / Literally: you are looking for what?), or "有什麼可以幫忙的嗎" (yao shen me ke yi bang mang de ma? / Literally: Is there anything that I can help?).

Then, in this situation, in Beijing, my mother told me, you may find people saying "看什麼看" (kan shen me kan?). Well, for me, this sounds rude and this is just like saying "what the X are you looking at" in English, and I would snort or crack myself up right away I hear it.

Another case. During our journey in Beijing, one day we went to a restaurant to have 涮羊肉火鍋 (Shuan Yang Rou Huo Guo) as our dinner. This is a type of Hot Pot but containing a lot of goat meat (Yang Rou means meat of goat, and Huo Guo is Hot Pot).

So, after we had found a table, we ordered some tea. Then a waitress said, "喝什麼茶啊" (he shen me cha a? / Literally: what tea are you drinking?). I was expecting to hear something like "請問要喝些什麼茶呢" (qing wen yao he xie shen me cha ne? / Literally: then what tea would you like to have?), but what I heard was just like "why are you drinking tea", or even "what on earth you think you can drink tea here". This sounded rude and hilarious and I tried my best not to but laughed, with my face turning to the other side, pretending to talk with my brother.

See, if you think Mandarin and Putonghua are the same, as my professor says frequently in class: think about it.

上個禮拜，跟家人去了趟北京。

嗯，我們是參加旅行團的……所以，就是，很多什麼購物行程，一會兒去去這家藥場，一會兒去去那邊看看玉 (還有貔貅、同仁堂、景泰藍、蠶絲背)；這些我就不花時間敘說了。

縱使是如此，這趟旅途還是很值得回味的，因為我們是搭火車過去的……搭京港直通車，延著京廣鐵路行駛。像是去北京的那一趟，路經湖南的時候是沒水沒電的；最後到達北京，已經晚點八個多小時了……不過，這麼精彩的東西，還是留到下次再跟大家分享吧。

---

還是回到正題好了：說說這次旅途，聽到大陸人們，用普通話表達一些問題的方式。

之前聽我媽說，他去大陸的時候，逛了逛家電鋪，店員看到了，就會丟一句：「看什麼看」。我媽覺得很奇怪。後來有問一問當地朋友，才了解到，原來這是「您有需要看些什麼東西嗎」的意思。

嗯，這我本來還不大相信的，不過這次在北京，有一天晚上，我們去吃了涮羊肉火鍋 (東來順)。坐下來後，要點茶；服務員就有點凶凶地說：「喝什麼茶啊？」……媽呀，我當下真的噗嗤笑出來了……嗯，根據那位當地朋友的公式換算，我想她是在問：「請問您是要喝哪一種茶呢？」……

有夠好笑的，就好像，想要點壺茶喝，卻被罵個臭頭一樣……

Last week, I went to Beijing with my family, for the Chinese new year holidays.

We joined a group. I'm sure you know what this means, so I won't spend time explaining the dulliness of the frequent visits to some local companies, lisitening to staffs promoting their products, blah-blah-blah.

What made the trip wonderful is, despite some products prmoting routines, we travelled to Beijing by train, through Jingguang railway (Jing: Beijing; Guang: GuangZhou). Indeed it was wonderful, the journey on train, but I will go through this part later in another post.

---

Here, I'll begin with the topic, language.

I lived in Taipei for eight years. I grew up there. As a result, I can speak Mandarin. Even so, I never learnt that Mandarin and Putonghua are actually two different languages until I took a Putonghua course in college (In my opinion, Mandarin is a Chinese language spoken by Taiwanese and foreigners, since they both call the language "Mandarin." Putonghua is more restricted to Mainlanders and some foreigners. As you can see, usually someone from the US wouldn't say "I speak Putonghua" but "I speak Mandarin" instead).

So, how different are they?

First, their sound. There are many words that are supposed to sound the same in both languages but actually not. For example, in Putonghua, Che (車, car) is pronouced this way (IPA): [tʂɤ], but you'll find Taiwanese or most of the foreigners pronounce the word this way: [tʃə]. Another example is that for the word He (河, river), Mainlanders pronounce it like this: [xɤ], while Mandarin speakers do it this way: [hə]. One more example. The word 和, in Putonghua, it is pronounced this way: [xɤ], but the pronunciation is totally different for Taiwanese: [han], when the word implies "and" as in "A and B."

Besides the sound, sometimes, they use different words to call the same things. But this does not matter at all. Usually you can easily grab the meaning even if you speak only one of them.

So, what surprises me is the way they say it. As you know, I grew up in Taiwan, so, when I ask someone "what are you lookiong for," like in a store, I would say "你在找些什麼呢" (ni zai zhao xie shen me ne? / Literally: you are looking for what?), or "有什麼可以幫忙的嗎" (yao shen me ke yi bang mang de ma? / Literally: Is there anything that I can help?).

Then, in this situation, in Beijing, my mother told me, you may find people saying "看什麼看" (kan shen me kan?). Well, for me, this sounds rude and this is just like saying "what the X are you looking at" in English, and I would snort or crack myself up right away I hear it.

Another case. During our journey in Beijing, one day we went to a restaurant to have 涮羊肉火鍋 (Shuan Yang Rou Huo Guo) as our dinner. This is a type of Hot Pot but containing a lot of goat meat (Yang Rou means meat of goat, and Huo Guo is Hot Pot).

So, after we had found a table, we ordered some tea. Then a waitress said, "喝什麼茶啊" (he shen me cha a? / Literally: what tea are you drinking?). I was expecting to hear something like "請問要喝些什麼茶呢" (qing wen yao he xie shen me cha ne? / Literally: then what tea would you like to have?), but what I heard was just like "why are you drinking tea", or even "what on earth you think you can drink tea here". This sounded rude and hilarious and I tried my best not to but laughed, with my face turning to the other side, pretending to talk with my brother.

See, if you think Mandarin and Putonghua are the same, as my professor says frequently in class: think about it.

You have to articulate.

Language: English | 中文

Today is the beginning of the new term of our french classes.

When I was checking which room I should go to, I saw the professor teaching me the last term - Karine Barbier - teaching in her classroom. Luckily, she didn't see me. She was introducing herself to the class at that moment ...

« Moi, je m’appelle Karine Barbier. Karine, c’est mon prénom. Barbier, c’est mon nom. »

She really is a good teacher. The best French teacher I've ever met, I have to say. Unlike the other French teachers (French, of course), she is surprisingly patient with students. I couldn't believe that she'd spent maybe two or three weeks just to explain things that we all should have learnt well in Level 1, like how to make a negative sentence, or not to pronounce the last -s or -t of French words.

I feel sympathy for her as most of my classmates in the Level 2 class actually even shouldn't be here, to be honest, as what she suggested, while they kept making mistakes that Karine had explained many times. I felt so especially when she expressed her exhaustion and deep disappointment through some non-verbal ways, such as putting, or throwing, her books on the desk a little bit harder than usual.

---

Fortunately, this time, it's not Karine. I don't want to see her being tourtured by the class anymore.

So, who's it to be? Well, his name is Bédoucha. He looks a bit like Arabic origin, though I'm not sure, but très french at the same time. He teaches very fast and much more straight forward. He gave me five or six copies in the first class, more than what I'd got from the last two terms.

Before we started the text, he first acquainted us with the vocabulary related to the texts, then some adjectives, and finally the texts.

He is very optimistic and positive. When he asked us question and he got no response from us, then after one or two seconds, he would say « Oui! » or « Bien sûr! », loudly, with passion, sounded much more like answering to himself, as if someone had just answered his question, and then gave us the correct answers, as if he was repeating the answers just given by someone among us. This is good, actually, in some cases, making the whole process smooth and faster.

And one thing I have to mention is, he told us that we have to articulate when speaking French. Then he added, with his lips, teeth, and tongue moving vigorously, that it is like you are chewing something. Yes, yes! This is exactly what I felt when I was getting myself a French tongue! You have to make every sound clear, especially the vowels. Yes, yes. It is like chewing something in your mouth. Really fun!

Anyway, I really believe Bédoucha is just as nice as Karine. He must be a very good teacher. Great!

今天，是新一期法協法文課的開始。

在看要去哪間教室上課的時候，瞄到上一期的老師 Karine ... 嗯，還好她沒看到我。她那時正在跟學生自我介紹 ...

« Moi, je m’appelle Karine Barbier. Karine, c’est mon prénom. Barbier, c’est mon nom. »

Karine 真的是一個好老師。以一個法國來的法文老師來說，她是我看過最有耐心的了。她可以用上整堂課，講解一些學生在上一期就應該學會的東西，像是一些基本的發音，譬如結尾的 -s 跟 -t 不用發音，或者怎樣造否定句 ...

有時候，我真的很替她感到同情 ... 明明是在上 Level 2，可是學生卻連 Level 1 的東西也不會 ... 有時候，真的是很痛苦，看到老師透過她的肢體動作，像是有點大力地將課本放到書桌上，表達她的失望，表達她的無力 ...

所以，看到這次的老師不是 Karine 後，我鬆了一口氣，因為實在不想看到老師在課堂上受苦的樣子。

---

新一期，Level 3 的老師，叫做 Bédoucha。看起來有點像是中東血統的。

剛進教室的時候，有點懷疑自己是不是走錯教室了，不過看看大家的課本後，嗯，沒走錯。Bédoucha 教的速度快很多，也直接很多。首先，一開始，他給了大家好幾張講義，七張吧，比我過去兩期所拿到的還要多。然後，他會先從字彙開始，一些跟課文相關的字彙，然後熟悉過後，才會進入到課文。

此外，老師他是個相當主動、樂觀、積極的人。他說話的聲音非常清楚，很堅決。常常，他丟了問題給我們，然後教室裡都沒人回答的時候，過了幾秒，就會很樂觀地、充滿熱情地說：« Oui! » 或者是 « Bien sûr! »，就好像剛剛有人答了他的問題一樣，然後，他就會快樂地講出那問題的答案 ...

這聽起來雖然好像有點怪，但實際上這加快了課堂的步調，大大提高了效率 ...

此外，值得一提的是，Bédoucha 在糾正一位同學的發音時，說："You have to articulate." 也說到，你必須將每個音都發得很準確；然後，他的嘴巴就開始在那邊，很誇張地動著，嘴脣、舌頭、口腔 ... 他說，這就像是你在嚼東西一樣 ...

那時，我就在想，這不正是我開始掌握法文發音時，所體會到的一點嗎？是啊，就像在嚼東西一樣 ... 不是在嚼，而是當你要發好每個音、音節的時候，你的嘴脣、口腔、舌頭就會在那邊頻繁地、帶有力道地運動著 ... 真的很像在嚼東西一樣，非常有趣！

Today is the beginning of the new term of our french classes.

When I was checking which room I should go to, I saw the professor teaching me the last term - Karine Barbier - teaching in her classroom. Luckily, she didn't see me. She was introducing herself to the class at that moment ...

« Moi, je m’appelle Karine Barbier. Karine, c’est mon prénom. Barbier, c’est mon nom. »

She really is a good teacher. The best French teacher I've ever met, I have to say. Unlike the other French teachers (French, of course), she is surprisingly patient with students. I couldn't believe that she'd spent maybe two or three weeks just to explain things that we all should have learnt well in Level 1, like how to make a negative sentence, or not to pronounce the last -s or -t of French words.

I feel sympathy for her as most of my classmates in the Level 2 class actually even shouldn't be here, to be honest, as what she suggested, while they kept making mistakes that Karine had explained many times. I felt so especially when she expressed her exhaustion and deep disappointment through some non-verbal ways, such as putting, or throwing, her books on the desk a little bit harder than usual.

---

Fortunately, this time, it's not Karine. I don't want to see her being tourtured by the class anymore.

So, who's it to be? Well, his name is Bédoucha. He looks a bit like Arabic origin, though I'm not sure, but très french at the same time. He teaches very fast and much more straight forward. He gave me five or six copies in the first class, more than what I'd got from the last two terms.

Before we started the text, he first acquainted us with the vocabulary related to the texts, then some adjectives, and finally the texts.

He is very optimistic and positive. When he asked us question and he got no response from us, then after one or two seconds, he would say « Oui! » or « Bien sûr! », loudly, with passion, sounded much more like answering to himself, as if someone had just answered his question, and then gave us the correct answers, as if he was repeating the answers just given by someone among us. This is good, actually, in some cases, making the whole process smooth and faster.

And one thing I have to mention is, he told us that we have to articulate when speaking French. Then he added, with his lips, teeth, and tongue moving vigorously, that it is like you are chewing something. Yes, yes! This is exactly what I felt when I was getting myself a French tongue! You have to make every sound clear, especially the vowels. Yes, yes. It is like chewing something in your mouth. Really fun!

Anyway, I really believe Bédoucha is just as nice as Karine. He must be a very good teacher. Great!