Author Archive for newbabel

A very strange experiment…

Published by Frank March 22nd, 2008 in ChinesePod and Alternate learning methods. 9 Comments

I’ve stopped learning Chinese.
Or, more accurately, I have stopped learning any NEW Chinese. I’m spending a month or so on the Karate Kid method of language learning. I’m going to focus on the few things that I know, and I’m going to drill down on them until I know them with a nearly native fluency. […]

Part of the plan

Published by Frank March 16th, 2008 in ChinesePod and The Shanghai Show. 3 Comments

One of the great things I got to do while I was in Shanghai was hang out with my old friend, Aric Queen. For those of you who are new to the ChinesePod universe, Aric was the producer of the shows for a nice stretch and hosted the now-famous Saturday Show (of which I was […]

Chinese Challenge!

Published by Frank March 14th, 2008 in movies. 2 Comments

Okay, folks. Time to throw down a bit and strut your stuff. Now and then I’ll take a movie line, or a piece of dialogue and try to figure out how I’d say the same thing in Mandarin and have it mean the same thing (my grammar knowledge being what it is, I can’t say […]

Surrounded!

Published by Frank March 10th, 2008 in RL Practice. 2 Comments

Do you ever get the feeling like it’s all… pointless?
Blasphemy, I know. How could I even suggest it? But there it is. I’m surrounded—SURROUNDED, I tell you—by non-Chinese-speaking people! All these years of practice… well, both of them… and for what? So I can order a Diet Coke one week a year when I go […]

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About

Archive for Frank.

Here it is, by the numbers: 1) I'm an American of Sicilian ancestry (100% full-blooded on both sides of the family). I currently live in South Florida, but I was born and raised in New York. I lived there for 25 years before the mob ran me out of town with pitchforks and flaming torches. 2) I'm a published author and artist, but I make my day-to-day living as a graphic artist. 3) I was born in 1967 and I still haven't forgiven the 70s for those orange plaid bellbottoms. 4) I'm single, never married, and have no kids. 5) I have an awesome dog named Max. He doesn't speak any Mandarin, but he is willing to listen. 6) I'm learning Mandarin for the same reason any of us does anything. To impress Alex Trebek.

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