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問我anything with OneEye


oceancalligraphy

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We're continuing our 問我anything series with a new participant. I'll start with a few questions and then everyone can jump in. The questions do not have to be related to Chinese or China. The participant also reserves the right to skip questions s/he does not want to answer. If anyone is interested in participating in or has concerns about 問我anything, please PM me!

 

Now, some questions for OneEye:

 

What has been the most surprising part about learning Chinese?

 

Have you considered learning other Chinese dialects besides Mandarin?

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Ooh, good questions!

 

What has been the most surprising part about learning Chinese?
 
How vast it is, and how varied. I feel like I could study my whole life and there would still be things I can't read. Buddhist texts, for instance, terrify me. Even modern writing related to Buddhism. I translated some stuff for a Buddhist non-profit a while back and it was really difficult because I don't know the terminology. I can read pre-Qin stuff reasonably well (though really early stuff like 尚書 and 詩經 are tough), but forget about Tang poetry. I can read really technical stuff in my field, but Jin Yong is a slog. I'm working on that last one, though.
 
Have you considered learning other Chinese dialects besides Mandarin?
 
Sure. I can understand and speak some basic Taiwanese, and a few phrases of Cantonese. I'd love to study both to a decent functional level, but I don't have the time right now. I do have several textbooks on each, though. If I had to choose one, it would be Cantonese. I like it more as a language. I loved Taiwan and I learned what little Taiwanese I know while I was there, so I like it now more for sentimental reasons than anything else.
 
Why do you call yourself OneEye?

 

Apologies in advance for being insensitive if this is because you actually only have one eye.

 

It's from Erasmus: In regione caecorum rex est luscus (in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king). It's a reminder to surround myself with people better than me rather than to be a big fish in a little pond.

 

Had I realized people would think I was actually missing an eye, I might have chosen differently. I met Daan (who doesn't really post here anymore) a few years ago in Taipei, and a few times since then, and the first time we met he told me he had been looking for a guy with an eye patch. :)

 

What do you do to amuse yourself when not involved in something Chinese?

 

I'm learning Japanese, since I just moved to Tokyo. I also enjoy listening to music. I did my undergrad in music and still miss it sometimes, but I'm very much out of practice these days.

 

Oh, and food. I'm a really adventurous eater and love trying new things. I also love cooking and like to think I'm pretty good at it.

 

What do you like most about China/Chinese?

 

I've actually never been to China. Well, I stayed at a hostel in Shanghai overnight for a long layover once, but that doesn't really count. As far as what I like the most about Chinese (the language, right?), it's definitely the writing system. I first started learning Chinese in college after watching Hero (英雄). Two things caught my attention: the sound of the language (music school, you know), and the scene where they talk about how you could write 劍 20-something different ways. That was really fascinating to me. So I learned a few phrases and how to scratch out 10 characters or so while I was in college. For a few years after that, I spent way more time learning about Chinese than I spent actually learning the language. But now here I am, studying Chinese palaeography.

 

And what do you dislike most about China/Chinese?

 

Dictionaries arranged by Shuowen radical. Not something most people are likely to run into, but they're pretty common in palaeography and they're a pain to use. Also, I don't like how an academic book with an index is rarer than unicorn tears. Make your books usable!

 

If China and the Chinese language disappeared tomorrow, what would you fill your time with?

 

Japanese. :P

 

I'd have to find a new job, I guess. Probably something in music, if I could find it.

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Glad to hear you are in possession of the correct number of eyes, although i have to admit I didn't really think it was about your lack of the normal number of eyes.

 

It is not surprising then that your newest project/adventure is with the history and etymology of characters. I have to admit this is one of my favorite things of Chinese. I can still remember the first day I read a page of text in my text book the feeling of accomplishment and pleasure at being able to decipher "those little squiggles" as my partner calls them :)

 

What kind of music do you like, what is your favourite artist? Have you any songs you would recommend?

 

What instrument do you play? and what style of music do you play?

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What kind of music do you like, what is your favourite artist? Have you any songs you would recommend?

 

I like a huge range of music. I grew up listening to classic rock like the Stones and Aerosmith with my dad, and I've liked rock ever since. I played in a ska band in high school, but I was also in the marching band, the symphonic band, and the jazz band. I played and listened to a lot of jazz in high school and college. And classical. Anything from Gregorian chant to 20th century chamber music. I majored in film scoring, so I've got a lot of movie scores. Big fan of Márta Sebestyén. A harpist friend of mine in college got me into Gaelic music. 90s trip hop. I also really enjoy listening to Tuvan music, Tibetan chant, any sort of overtone singing. I've been really liking Japanese hip-hop recently, like MIICRONICA and Rip Slyme. So yeah, a big range of stuff.

 

If I had to choose, my favorite artist out there right now is probably Björk because she's so consistently good. I enjoy pretty much everything she puts out. I got to see her in Taipei last year, and she put on a hell of a show.

 

As for songs I would recommend, I'm going to take the opportunity to plug two of my friends: First, anything by Everything Everything, especially from their second album, Arc. They're a British indie-pop band, and they're absolutely brilliant. Their drummer was my roommate for a short while in college. The second is Marbin, a fusion band based in Chicago. The guitarist was my roommate first semester, and he's an absolute monster on the guitar. The whole band is incredible, really.

 

What instrument do you play? and what style of music do you play?

 

Trombone. I've probably played more pop, R&B, and jazz than anything else, but I really love playing experimental, art house type stuff. I played a few avant garde shows at various art galleries when I lived in Boston, and those were always the most rewarding. You're right there, feet from the audience and you get to see and feel their reactions to whatever you're doing. Stevie Wonder cover shows are fun, but those shows were much more visceral.

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Cool, really like Everything Everything's track not so keen on the fusion side of things, interesting how things go their album is Arc our company name is ARC (ARC Electronics)

 

So I am sat here in ARC listening to Arc.

 

The old bone eh, well its certainly got punch, i always have liked brass.

 

My whole life is live music its what we do, P.A. hire and associated stuff.

 

That and Chinese is what takes up most, not all, but most of my time.

 

So have you got any recordings of yourself you would like to share with us?

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So have you got any recordings of yourself you would like to share with us?

 

Hmm...I guess I could, but I don't really have any that feature me. I played a lot of recording sessions in college, but I wasn't much of a soloist. I've attached a recording of one of my first-ever recording sessions way back in 2003, a few weeks before I started college. I think pretty much everyone in this band was 17 or 18 at the time, so it was certainly not at my peak but I think it's pretty good for a bunch of teenagers. Interesting fact: the 1st trombonist was Nick Noonan, the male half of the pop duo Karmin, both of whom were good friends of mine in college. I'll try to stop plugging my friends now. :)

 

We kind of fizzle out at the end, but the other takes were too large to attach.

 

 

 

Which book would you take with you to a desert island?

 

Hopefully some sort of survival manual. Barring that, probably the single-volume edition of either the Lord of the Rings trilogy or Shakespeare's complete works.

05 Track 05.mp3

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Any thoughts about Taipei vs Tokyo? Do you miss the smell of stinky doufu? :D

 

Believe it or not, I do! I couldn't stand it at first, but after about a year it started to smell good to me. Not my favorite thing to eat, but it usually signals that other tasty things are nearby.

 

Let's see. I've only been in Tokyo just over a month and haven't had a lot of time to get out of my part of town, but so far:

 

Tokyo is much cleaner. It's really amazing. It's also incredibly efficient. Things here just work the way they're supposed to. If the train is more than one minute late, there will be someone standing on the platform with a note from the train company for you to give your boss. It's crazy. The quality of the food here is also outstanding. Taipei has awesome food, don't get me wrong, and I miss it a lot, but there's a real focus on quality ingredients here.

 

However, the people here aren't nearly as friendly as Taiwanese people. I really miss that. Partly I just miss being able to chat with people, which I can't do in Japanese yet. But there's just a lot more distance between people here. I also miss how small Taipei is. I lived "way out" in Nangang and could get from my front door to the Guting area in about 25 minutes. Here, I can hardly get out of central Tokyo in 25 minutes. The city is just overwhelmingly huge. Taipei is also really laid-back, which I like. Tokyo can be, depending on where you are, but generally it isn't known for being easygoing. Oh, and Taipei is cheap! Everything in Tokyo is so expensive! A bento lunch, for example, is US$5-6 (¥500-600) and tends to be just above room temperature, while in Taipei a 便當 would have been US$3 (100 NT) or less, and either made fresh or still hot when you get it.

 

Tokyoites tend to be very formal, snappy, sophisticated dressers, whereas Taipei is very casual. People in Taipei always told me I was dressed really 正式, when I was just wearing a pair of chinos and a button-up shirt. Here, I'm definitely on the casual end of the spectrum no matter what I wear. It's really easy to feel under-dressed here, while I don't know if it's even possible in Taiwan.

 

Anyway, both places have their own charm. Ask me again once I've been here a while.

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"Tokyo is much cleaner. It's really amazing. It's also incredibly efficient."

Which is what anyone going mainland to Taipei would likely think...Actually a lot of what you say about the transition could be me talking about when I traveled Beijing to Hong Kong: Wow, great subway! Hang on, how much do these noodles cost!?

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Can you read 司马迁 Sima Qian? I've recently been reading some of 史记 (in translation) for a course and wondered how hard it would be in the original for someone with training like yourself.

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Which is what anyone going mainland to Taipei would likely think...Actually a lot of what you say about the transition could be me talking about when I traveled Beijing to Hong Kong: Wow, great subway! Hang on, how much do these noodles cost!?

 

Yeah, Hong Kong for me was different. More expensive, but yet not as clean as Taipei. The air, at least. I really liked it though, would definitely live there.

 

Can you read 司马迁 Sima Qian? I've recently been reading some of 史记 for a course and wondered how hard it would be in the original.

 

I do fairly well with the 史記, though I haven't read much of it. I have  You could see how you do with this passage before you decide. It was pretty tough for me at first, but I hadn't read much 文言文 at the time.

 

Wow, rapid transit must have really improved life in Taipei, when I took a bus from 師大 to visit my friend at the Academia Sinica it must have taken more than an hour--it felt really far away.

 

Oh, the MRT system is fantastic. Clean, fast, cheap, and really easy to use with the 悠遊卡. Academia Sinica is still a little out of the way because it's a ~15-20 minute walk from the MRT stop (though I'm sure there's a bus from the station too), but it's nice to ride the MRT most of the way instead of a bus.

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I think I've seen from your blog posts and such, that you occasionally mention your undergraduate self was much less hard-working than you are now... When and what made you change?

 

I have no idea. When I first got started at the MTC and started looking at how long it would take me to reach point X in their curriculum, I started studying extra on the side in an attempt to shorten that time as much as possible. During that time, I discovered something about myself: normal goals bore me, so I become lazy. But if I set slightly higher goals than I could possibly reach (as far as how much to get done within a given amount of time) and, for language learning at least, set my standard for "good enough" very high (near-native level), I'm motivated by it and work hard. The negative side of setting the bar high is that I can get really down on myself sometimes when I make mistakes. It's really unreasonable given the amount of time I've been learning seriously, but I do it anyway. My interpretation teacher used to shut me down when I'd get like that. "You don't get any sympathy from me. I wasn't anywhere near your level after three years in Taiwan."

 

I'm still naturally inclined to laziness, though. It's a constant struggle. But keeping the goal in mind helps.

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