Summer of Service (SOS) - San Antonio
  • Home
  • ABOUT
    • About US
    • Staff Information
    • Recognition
    • Testimonials
  • LEARN
  • SERVE
    • Make it Happen Initiative
    • Laylah's MIH - Deaf Ally
  • EXPLORE
    • Upcoming Trips >
      • Upcoming Trips - 2021
      • Italy and Greece 2021
    • Where We've Been >
      • England and France 2019
      • Germany 2019 Student Ambassador Program
      • Japan 2018 Student Ambassador Program
      • Peru 2018 Service Experience
      • Spain 2018 SA300 Ambassador Program
      • Aus/NZ 2017
      • Italy 2017
      • Belize 2017
      • England and France 2016
      • CHINA 2016
      • Costa Rica 2016
      • Greece and Italy 2015
      • Peru 2014
    • Dominican Republic 2019 Women's Conference
  • Join SOS
    • For Students
    • For Parents
    • For Educators
    • Donate
    • Need Volunteers?
  • SOS Gear
  • SOS From Home

友谊- Péngyou
The SOS China Student Ambassador Program Blog 

Beginning Chinese — Lesson 1: Culture, Phonetics, and Greetings

3/7/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
   Did you know that Horse-Horse-Tiger-Tiger, is translated into, Mǎ Mǎ Hǔ Hǔ? Of course, the literal translation would not help you speak about two horses and two tigers with someone who speaks Chinese, but instead literally means, "so-so," to tell someone how your day is going. Okay so it is obvious that English is totally different than Chinese both in written and verbal communication. The pronouncing "four" in English is the sound quantitative to mean four units of something. However, uttering "four" to a Chinese person will have them thinking you are referring to death and this is considered impolite. The difference between our two worlds is like the polar opposite charges of subatomic particles. Literally the difference is black and white. Americans use white to celebrate weddings, baby showers, and black to give condolences to the deceased, however in China, white is used for respecting the dead, and black reflects life itself.

In order to appreciate such a drastically different culture, Summer of Service is providing the student ambassadors Chinese Lessons written and facilitated by Elizabeth Whitney, the Chinese Adept coming along to guide us on our trip. The first lesson covered the following topics:
  • What is Culture?
  • How does different Culture look?
  • What are some ways our Culture looks to foreigners?
  • Beginning Language with Sounds, and Tones
  • Communicating Greetings and Introductions



  

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    友谊- Péngyou

    Péngyou means friend in Chinese. This a blog that follows the journey of our SOS China Student Ambassadors..

    Archives

    July 2017
    July 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Home
About
Contact
SOS Portal
​SOS Merchandise​​

Follow us at these locations below and
​ please contact us at anytime with questions.
Summer of Service (SOS)
​
PO Box 780674
San Antonio, Texas 78278
©2020. All Rights Reserved.

Summer of Service (SOS) is a registered 501(c)(3).
  • Home
  • ABOUT
    • About US
    • Staff Information
    • Recognition
    • Testimonials
  • LEARN
  • SERVE
    • Make it Happen Initiative
    • Laylah's MIH - Deaf Ally
  • EXPLORE
    • Upcoming Trips >
      • Upcoming Trips - 2021
      • Italy and Greece 2021
    • Where We've Been >
      • England and France 2019
      • Germany 2019 Student Ambassador Program
      • Japan 2018 Student Ambassador Program
      • Peru 2018 Service Experience
      • Spain 2018 SA300 Ambassador Program
      • Aus/NZ 2017
      • Italy 2017
      • Belize 2017
      • England and France 2016
      • CHINA 2016
      • Costa Rica 2016
      • Greece and Italy 2015
      • Peru 2014
    • Dominican Republic 2019 Women's Conference
  • Join SOS
    • For Students
    • For Parents
    • For Educators
    • Donate
    • Need Volunteers?
  • SOS Gear
  • SOS From Home