im so behind. *sobs*


S.H.E have had a new album released for at least a month now and i only accidentally found out about it today, whilst downloading lots of new music!!!

you all know who S.H.E is, whether you knew it or not. They're the happy chinese-pop band responsible for that 'you are my Superstar' song which i think everyone (excluding Vicki perhaps) absolutely hates.

i dont know why i like them so much, but to me there's something cool in their happy songs, or pretty love ballads. don't worry friends, im sure more than half of china cant stand them and their music by now. they have been around for a long time, and yeah, their music probably isnt quite as deep and meaningful, or musically miraculous as many other artists. but i love them nonetheless.

omg i still cant believe i missed going to their concert last year. they were in Shenyang!!! and i even could have got a free ticket, if i just recharged my phone $40aus, instead of the usual $20 (would've been a crap ticket, i know), but damn fate had it that my brother shane arrived to visit me for the weekend, so i couldnt go. regret!!!!!


i've always found it really funny that their band name is S.H.E (derived from their english names' initials Selina, Hebe + Ella), but their production company is HIM. SHE and HIM. i dont know how many other people in the english speaking have noticed that. haha, i doubt any one else is really quite as amused by it as i am, but yes, i am, so there. :-p



before i kill you all with my endless ramblings about a happy pop group you care nothing about, i will briefly mention in passing the main song 中国话 (Zhong Guo Hua (chinese language)) from the new album 'Play'. basically it's all happy as usual, and the basic gist of the lyrics is saying how great the chinese language is, and how people all over the world are studying chinese. nice and patriotic. lol.

but it's quite fun, cos half the lyrics are made up of tongue-twisters!!! i love chinese tongue twisters. haha, i dont know many, and im not really good at them, and my tones must be horrendous im sure, but they're fun! i was so excited to recognise the first tongue twister in the song... though the version i know is different to the one in the song. thanks to Lizhen, my first chinese sister for teaching it to me ;-)

扁担长,板凳宽,板凳没有扁担长,扁担没有板凳宽
bian dan chang, ban deng kuan, ban deng mei you bian dan chang, bian dan mei you ban deng kuan

means: the shoulder-pole is long, the bench is wide, the bench is not as long as the shoulder pole, the shoulder pole is not as wide as the bench.

cute, right? haha it's fun.

everyone always thinks that chinese is the most difficult language to learn, but i generally disagree. once you're familiar with it, its not bad at all. grammar is very simple. no verb conjugations or adjective conjugations! ^_^ in fact conjugations dont exist at all as far as i know. the sounds of a word will never change, except for perhaps if u flavour it with a 'wanna be beijing' accent which is what they teach to us foreigners, and the occasional natural change in tones, for ease of pronunciation. yes, characters can be hard to remember, but just because there are lots of them, not because they're hard to write.

but you all know chinese is a tonal lanuage, and for most foreigners tones are the main cause of worry. everyone stresses over "omg, what if my tone's wrong?" but after studying for a while i think a lot of people like me tend to ignore the fact that tones exist, and just speak, ... apparently sometimes they occur naturally. then again other times they dont. which means u can say some interesting mistakes....

i read somewhere (might've been one of my chinese textbooks) that because there are so many different dialects and accents from all the different parts of china that half the chinese people probably dont say all the tones right either. everyone manages to understand you most of the time, so it seems to be okay i guess.

but back to tones and tongue twisters. some people who studied chinese at high school might remember mr. chen's tongue twister:

4是4，10是10,14是14, 40是40.
si shi si, shi shi shi, shi si shi shi si, si shi shi si shi.

means: 4 is 4, 10 is 10, 14 is 14, 40 is 40.


(looking at the meaning, non-chinese-speaking people think it's simple right? just some numbers and the word 'is'). haha, for foreigners the problem is in the mouth positions needed to change between si for 4, and shi for 10, and as with any tongue twister, the repetitive sounds. however if you live in an area like shenyang, where i did last year then they actually pronounce 4 and 10 the same way - quite frustrating. hence u must rely on the tones alone (or logic, in some cases!) to know the price of something when bargaining in the market.

so if you imagine a shenyang person saying the tongue twister, it's quite crazy!!

sounds like: si si si, si si si, si si si si si, si si si si si.

perhaps makes the tongue twister easier, cos then u just have to concentrate on the different tones, not the mouth changing positions as well. haha

i remembered hearing about a tongue twister where it was all the same sound, just with different tones, so i decided to hunt for it online. i think it's actually written in old style chinese, so maybe now some of the words aren't in use, or their pronunciation has changed, but this is basically it in it's tongue twister form.

i copied it off the internet, rather than retyping it, so you can see the tones in it.

haha, and im not going to go trhough and translate it, cos im not that bored today, but im imagining it will have something to do with stones and lions and judging from the title a certain mr. Shi. haha. enjoy.

施氏食狮史 (Historical record of Mr Shi eating lions).


石室诗士施氏, 嗜狮, 誓食十狮。
Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí 10 shī.
氏时时适市视狮。
Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.
十时, 适十狮适市。
10 shí, shì 10 shī shì shì.
是时, 适施氏适市。
Shì shí, shì Shī Shì shì shì.
氏视是十狮, 恃矢势, 使是十狮逝世。
Shì shì shì 10 shī, shì shì shì, shī shì 10 shī shìshì.
氏拾是十狮尸, 适石室。
Shì shí shì 10 shī shī, shì shíshì.
石室湿, 氏使侍拭石室。
Shíshì shī, Shì shǐ shì shì shíshì.
石室拭, 氏始试食是十狮。
Shíshì shì, Shì shí shì shí shì 10 shī.
食时, 始识是十狮, 实十石狮尸。
Shí shí, shǐ shì shì 10 shī, shí 10 shī shī.
试释是事。
Shì shì shì shì.

mwhaha. i have just thought of an interesting plan. one day i will walk around the streets of china and any one who approaches me to shout "HELLO!!" in my face will be given a copy of the above and asked to read it to me. haha.


speaking of which, i am wearing i top i bought in china today, but was always too scared to wear while i was there!! perhaps u can see why.




for now at least i have made peace with my new fringe.

so far i seem to have discovered it looks better when my hair is up, which after several years of wearing my hair down all the time is quite extreme. so i am wearing fluffy pink or blue scrunchies and tying at least half my hair up, like today. ^_^


and now its time to at least start on some jap revision....


oh, and the odd song you hear playing now is the Zhong Guo Hua one with the tongue twisters in it. don't worry, i'll change it again soon i imagine.