Comments by "Ian Montgomery" (@ianmontgomery7534) on "Oriental Pearl" channel.

I am not a teacher but occasionally I helped a Chinese friend teach English at his school in China. I found two things that I found to be important that are likely overlooked by people. the first is to teach them how to position the tongue when pronouncing letters that are pronounced differently in their native language. the classic is Chinese saying "Sank you" rather than "thank you". I taught our house keeper how to position her tongue and she pronounced it perfectly straight away. The other is acknowledge that in reading we use a different part of the brain to read words than they use to read symbols. Even just saying the first letter of a word can often jog your memory of what the word is as they treat the whole word as a symbol. Once it is explained to them they improve remarkably. I like the fun in your classes.
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I know very little Cantonese even though I lived in Shenzhen for four years but I had to deal with Chinese Customs on an import of a machine. It took three days of negotiation to get duty free entrance and it would have taken longer if I hadn't said a simple thank you in Cantonese as I left on the third day. He rang my colleague Harry half an hour later giving approval and said to harry that he "was impressed that the foreigner thanked me in my language rather than Mandarin" Harry had a good chuckle over that
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@pabloa_e An interesting fact is that during the japanese invasion the city of Nanking (known as the rape of Nanking) had a German businessman John Rabe who was a Nazi Party member who was responsible for saving thousands of Chinese form being slaughtered. When I lived in China I did find that the older people resented the Japanese but the younger ones not so much. There is still sites that remember the Japanese invasion - in Xi'an there is still an air raid siren on the city wall.
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What a coincidence. You mentioned Haidiliao Hot Pot in Japan. I have a referesher towel from Haidiliao Hot Pot in Box Hill melbourne Australia in front of me next to the computer!
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I remember being put on the spot by being asked to teach the kids a Christmas carol. As I am an atheist this was not easy as I hadn't sung one since I was a child (I was 50 at the time). Luckily I could remember most of the "I wish you a merry christmas"
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i still remember hearing my American boss in China having an argument with his six year old daughter. He would only speak in Chinese and she would only reply in English (He spoke four different Chinese languages) My secretary used to listen to them in awe!
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I often had photos taken with locals, mainly children, when i was in China but mainly in tourist spots rather than just on the street. It eighteen years since I left China so i thought things may have changed but perhaps there are less foreigners there since covid.
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@PatSaku yes it is but only if you either see someone make the sound or you are told how to. I taught quite a few Chinese how to do it properly and none had a problem learning it.
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@PatSaku I would have suggested pronouncing whirled as it is very close.
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You can even buy mangosteens in Melbourne Australia now - that makes me happy.
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@Truly_Madly If it was before the Japanese invasion then it is anyones guess. China doesn't have a big history of invading countries and the Communist didn't even fight battles with the nationalists except by mistake!.
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I don't speak Chinese but I know some from when i lived there. Some years later back in Australia I went to order some food in a food court and all the Chinese girls were chatting in Mandarin and not paying attention, When one of them turned around i asked her for curry chicken in Mandarin. She just served me and as i went to pay for it she suddenly looked shocked and asked me whether i had really ordered it in mandarin. I said to her that I had as it seemed that she was in "Chinese mode" and it made sense to me to not have her change back to English. She thanked me and we had a chat for about five minutes about food.
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When I worked in China my boss was an American who was fluent in four Chinese languages (he was a classmate of DaShan) as well as English (well American English!Lol). His daughter refused to talk in English when she was in China (she was five years old) and it was always fun hearing them have an argument/discussion where he spoke English and she spoke Mandarin. the people we had as translators were the most amused.
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When I lived in Pingsha there were more Russians than any other foreign nationality so perhaps they are more used to seeing Russians and after all we all look alike (LOL)
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@OrientalPearl I haven't been there yet but I will try it soon. It was recommended by the Chinese man who runs my local fish and chip shop. he is a very nice man and came from Shanghai.
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Well Jewish people still hate Nazi's and you can't really blame them so why not Chinese not liking Japanese because of the Eight Year war
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I have (or perhaps had as I only have half of what i once had!) blonde hair and blue eyes and I went with Mei my secretary in China to get a hair cut the guy looked at my hair and did nothing. I asked Mei what was wrong and he told her he had never cut any hair that wasn't black or that reddish tint they use. I got Mei to tell him it was no problem if it wasn't perfect as it will soon grow back and he can fix it. We all had a good laugh.
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When I lived in China my boss was an American who spoke four Chinese languages. It used to be fun to watch him argue with his daughter who refused to speak English to him. She alternated between GuangdongHua and Putonghua but he stuck to Engish. Our Chinese staff (especially my scretary who spoke the three languages) used to chuckle while listening to them
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@PatSaku I agree. with Mandarin it important to understand implosive and explosive sound making too. Unfortunately I lost the best book that explained it (or someone lost it for me!!!)
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@PatSaku When I lived in China Anna my girlfriend had no problem with them after she had been living with me for a while. We had a humourous situation in Shenzhen when she gave a Canadian friend of mine a hard time. he said "only here would you get a diminutive Chinese woman give you a hard time in perfect Australian with a slight American accent" We had a good laugh at that.
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@PatSaku yes in the early 2000s when I was in China the Chinese people I knew who spoke the best English had taken the time to go to the docks and talk with sailors (and act as interpreters for them). they wouldn't have to do that now.
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A tourist attraction - litter-ally.
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part of the reason is your blonde hair. I am Australian and my hair was white when i was young but is now a light brown - fair is how i describe it. A lot of people would look at my hair when I lived in China and some would point at it. I remember going to get a haircut with my secretary. The young guy looked so nervous so i asked Mei what was wrong. She aksed him and he said it was the first time he had cut hair that wasn't black. I got her to tell him not to worry as any mistake would grow out quickly.
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I lived in China (Zhuhai and Shenzhen) between 2004 and 2009 and I don't remember experience any avoidance. I was 50 at the time and I had no problems with standing on bus trips but nearly always I was offered a seat by a young Chinese person and on the odd occasion i accepted no one moved or looked put off by it. Even when i traveled on business either by bus or plane people seemed very friendly and some were very happy to practice their English (one of the reason i never learned much putonghua.)
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@moo8698 So tell Afro-Americans they aren't American because they don't look like the first inhabitants!
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i hope you had no earthquake problems.
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@OrientalPearl I love them and Dragon fruit which is now grown here in both red and white varieties.
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I think he looks more Japanese when he is wearing his mask.
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