Find the Chinese word for exit

Look for the Chinese word for exit on a plane,


in China


Flag of China

or an underground train in Singapore,










Flag of Singapore.

a supermarket
or department store
or restaurant.

Here is a quick review of Chineasy in a TED talk by the creator of Chineasy. She says that radicals or roots build up to make new words, nouns, verbs, ideas.

Useful Website
https://www.facebook.com/TED/videos/10159560621410652/UzpfSTI5MDkyOTUwNjUxOlZLOjEwMTU5NTYwNjIxNDEwNjUy/?multi_permalinks=2434611223424302&notif_id= 

Need a Holiday? Isolation is the dream-killer, not your attitude | Barbara Sher | TEDxPr...

1 I like the story of the accountant in the USA who wanted to to be a cowboy, and ended up doing accounts in exchange for unpaid work experience. Another story concerns a woman who wants to take a cruise which she cannot afford but also has to look after a daughter. Both her problems are solved.

2 Another possiblility is a home swap.

3 Work on a kibbutz in Israel.

4 If you can't afford to travel, offer a room for free to foreigners and learn about their lives.

5 A member of my family went to work on a vineyard at harvest time. He worked in their office and learned all about the business and got the same free dinner with wine as the harvest workers.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Updates on Comedy Courses + Watching Improv On Line

Clown laughing. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problems
1 Where can I attend a comedy or compere course?
1 What if I am not eligible, not near the venue, don't have time and just want to watch on line?

Answer
1 Amused Moose course update.

2
Watch comedy TED talk on line. The lady demonstrates to the audience
1 Make yourself memorable by telling a joke about your current or previous profession.
She tells a story about pastors. She was a pastor or pastor's wife. I can tell a story about a speaker.
2 Get the audience to act in pairs.
3 Mislead the audience about when to start.
4 Do a short audience game.
5 Have an action and a silent part alternating. (That way the noise doesn't build to such a crescendo that you can't get back their attention.
6 Keep switching so both members get a chance to act or speak.
7 Get feedback from the audience.
8 Repeat what was said by the audience. (I listened to the video and either the sound on it goes quiet at the end or my playback isn't up to it. Unless you have subtitles and tell the watchers how to find them, repeat the audience shouts and comments, for the benefit of people n the audience at the time and anybody watching later. Give feedback and summarise at the end.
9 End with follow up action, how people can contact you, see you again.
10 Interestingly she does this to develop team work and customer service.

Does it always work for everybody? That depends on whether the exercise is short enough and has a purpose and does not eat into time needed for more vital activities.

On one occasion I went to a Toastmaster's conference where we had a game which involved a scrummage and passing balls and tying people up with string and knocking items off an overhead line.

Everybody else seemed to think it was hilarious. Except for three people. One left immediately. One left half way through. I stayed to the end, watching a very frustrated photographer who could not get any photos of the event because it was a melee.

Riotous Games
Why did I not join in?
a) It seemed pointless.
b) It was wasting time.
c) It was not related to the promised programme (learning to speak).
d) I was tired and not sufficiently quick thinking to do an active game.
e) I was smaller than several large men and thought I would be trodden on or knocked over in the scrum.
f) The clearing of chairs and putting unguarded property in piles on a far table or under it and scattered around the room, some of which was moved, did not strike me as safe. I was afraid of losing my shoes, smart shoulder bag, clipboard, notebook and pen, and spectacles, mobile phone, and damaging my clothes and property.

When does it work for everybody? At one conference we were missing the speaker leading a workshop. Nobody noticed because in the ten to twenty minute wait the Area Governor got us to stand in a circle and do an introduce yourself event.

We formed in pairs, of people who did not already know each other. If one person was left over, they paired with the leader.

We said our name, how to pronounce it, where we lived and worked, what our job or hobby was. We stopped after two minutes to repeat to the person what they had told us.

Then we swapped who did the talking and who did the listening. For the last five minutes we went around the circle saying what we had learned about the person on our right.

If the person due to speak had not arrived, we could have continued with: "My name is .... What (other person's name) didn't tell you was that I ...."

If we had needed to wait another five minutes we could have played, "What I would like you to help me with ..." . We could have ended with, "What I can help you with ..."

If we had needed to fill another five minutes we could have gone around the circle with feedback on what we thought of the game, when we could use it for networking in a club or organization.

Each of these games is a successful way of filling time when the meeting is running late - or the speaker doesn't turn up at all!

If you are running a conference where many people are there to make friends or network, include an exchange of business cards so the audience feel they have met you and somebody in the audience.

You Tube On Ted Talk And Demo On Improv With Audience Workshop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMxS27bvM0s
https://www.amusedmoose.com/media/
http://speakersandtoastmasters.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/what-i-learned-about-improv-at-brighton

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Chinese, Chineasy, easy Chinese

Problem
How do you learn Chinese characters? What do the signs on the bus or train mean - and how do you remember them?

Answer
1 My first effort was a placemat for children which had the letters of the numbers. Easy peasy. Like Roman numeral on their side. One horizontal line was one. Two horizontal lines, one above th other, was two. Three horizontal lines was four.

2 Use Chineasy.

Story
A long time ago I cut out of the Sunday Times an article on this, the entrepreneur ShaoLan Hsueh, but I never followed up. A grand tidy up of my house resurrected the article. I looked for links. I found one to a Ted talk.

I type in her name and C h i n e a s y and Youtube and up comes the link. There's the lovely lady showing half a dozen Chinese characters as black strokes with coloured additions to make pictures.

She demonstrates eight characters, including: mouth, person, woman, tree, mountain.

The magic part is the way two words you already know are combined to make a third word. This means it is easy to learn the third word. Learning the third word reminds you and reinforces your recollection of the first two words.

This combination of two visual characters is rather like the way many English words combine Latin and Greek root words. (English combinations include Telephone which is tele and phone meaning sound.)

At the end she she shows the sign for exit, combining mountain symbol on the left (three uprights, like a bed frame with a pole in the middle for the mountain peak), plus person, a curved two stroke figure running. So now when I sit on a train and see the Chinese word for exit, I shall recognize it instantly.

On May 17 2017 I saw that you can buy:
a Kindle book from about £7.19
a paperback book, used from £2.95, new from £6.72,
or a set of 60 flashcards cards at £12.95
or a set of 100 postcards £14.91.
(Add postage unless you have an Amazon membership deal for free delivery - and check that if so the item you choose comes from Amazon and is included - not from a separate delivery address not including postage).

On Ebay I found some more, but not at prices which undercut Amazon. However, offers can vary since new people put products up every hour of every day, so don't take my word for it. Check the latest deals.

Tips
Here's the link to the lovely lady giving the Ted talk.
https://www.ted.com/talks/shaolan_learn_to_read_chinese_with_ease

Here's a look inside the book on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chineasy-New-Way-Read-Chinese/dp/0500650284

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and learner and teacher of other languages.
Please share my posts.