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Monday 31 May 2010

English vs Mandarin

Which language do you think is more important in our society?

English or Mandarin?

Before moving further, I would like to say that I'm not insulting any of these languages in any way, I'm just justifying their importance in my opinion. =)

Back to the main topic,
Did you know that Mandarin is actually the world's most spoken language?
This is due to the fact that population of Chinese makes up of 1/6 of the total world population.


Mandarin is said to have the most native speakers of 873 million
(meaning : the first language a person learns first) while
English have only have 341 native speakers.
However, 1.5 billion or 1 out of every 5 people knows English.

Now, the reason why I am writing this post is because I don't really know how to speak in Mandarin (I do know how to listen and speak basic Mandarin though) so I do get frustrated when I see people don't know English.

For example, this :
Okay, until now, I still don't know what did that guy said. Haha.
Can somebody translate that to me?

I know I sounded like a hypocrite because I'm not very good in Mandarin and other people don't know English but I get frustrated when they don't.
This is because I think English is a really easy language to learn and it is also very important as a language worldwide.
Besides that, it is also one of Malaysia's most spoken language so I find it a bit embarrassing for Malaysians who do not know BASIC English.

Some of the funny signboards regarding poor English usage mostly in China :

Whatt??

I didn't realize moles need rests too!

After "dying"... Haha!

Notice that the vegetable dish on bottom right is written "Black Mushroom RAPE".

Which "come" you are talking about? Haha!
Come on, so many people there but they didn't know it's wrong?

Although Mandarin has the most native speakers, it only has official status in the People's Republic of China, Taiwan and Singapore.
Meanwhile, English has official status in AT LEAST 30 countries.
Btw, having official status does not mean that it is the sole language in the country.

Furthermore, more than 80% of the pages on the Web are in English.
With the Internet era where Internet is the source of most FREE information,
not knowing English would be a pity.


That being said, I did learnt Mandarin in kindergarten and took extra classes in Standard 1 and 2.
However, I don't know what happened to the extra classes after that and I forgot how to use it. Haha!
I think schools should actually continue giving these extra classes because knowing an extra language is beneficial.


To be honest, I find our government's move to change Mathematics and Science from English back to Bahasa Malaysia is also questionable.
All subjects (except languages subjects) are taught in English when the students move up to college and university levels.
I studied Accounting in Bahasa Malaysia in secondary school and when I reached college, it was obviously taught in English and I had a bit of a difficulty learning it.

How about Science? Wouldn't it be worst with all those scientific terms?
Excelling in secondary schools does not mean a thing because you can't be a doctor by completing SPM or STPM.


I think there are many other alternatives to popularize Bahasa Malaysia besides this.

Okay, back to the original question,
which language do you think is more important?


A somewhat funny and irritating video for you guys to watch. =)


Enjoy!

Have a great day! =)


Sources :
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Tumblr


When I first heard about Tumblr, I thought it is a bottle tumblEr.


Seriously.

Haha!

Tumblr is actually a blogging platform, just like Blogspot, Wordpress etc.

However, I actually preferred using Tumblr more than Blogspot.
(Opps, I really shouldn't write this since I'm using Blogspot here? Haha.)

The reasons :

1. Tumblr is more user-friendly.

As you can see in the picture,
I can choose how I want to blog.

Different format gives you different layouts.
However, that also depends on how you customised your blog. =)

2. License to copy.

While all of us bloggers hate copycats,
In Tumblr, you are FREE to copy anyone's post by "REBLOG".
With this function, you can copy and acknowledge the original blogger.
People actually love it when you reblogged them because it is like free publicity.

For people who loves pictures like me, Tumblr is perfect.
My Tumblr is full of the pictures I reblogged from others.


By clicking on the circled button in blue, I can view the history of this picture until back to who originally posted it.


3. Convenient.


Similar to Blogspot, you can "Follow" people and receives their updates at the dashboard.
The best part is, at the dashboard itself, you can "Like", "Reblog" or "Reply" ("Reply" only works for "Text" posts I think) there and then.

4. Plenty of pages.


In Tumblr, I can follow the pages full of pictures of the celebrities I love such as Chace Crawford, Taylor Momsen, Britney Spears, Gossip Girls, Victoria's Secret Angels, blah blah blah... you name it.

There are also pages devoted to fashion (with all the nice clothings), architecture, animals etc.


All I have to do it search for Tumblr + ___ (Whatever you want) in Google.

5. Connected.


I am actually more connected around the world with Tumblr, not Facebook, not Blogspot.
This is because, Tumblr actually records the activities of a post such as who "Liked" it, who "Reblogged" it and so forth.
Then I can click on their pages and "Follow" them. =)

6. Themes

There are plenty of themes to be chose from.
When I just started Tumblr, I can spent hours on choosing the themes because I was spoilt with choices!!!

Each theme have different customization - Some allowed more, some allowed less.
But mainly it was on colours.


HOWEVER,
Tumblr has its disadvantages too :

1. I'm not sure if ads could be placed in Tumblr. =(

2. You can't really comment on other people's posts except their "Text".
Furthermore, the person who posted the "Text" can't reply you.
(It doesn't really work like Facebook)

3. Not all themes look good with a Chatbox in it.

Anyhow, I still love Tumblr. =)

Check mine out :

Have a nice day!

=)

Saturday 1 May 2010

Funny Scenes in Ugly Betty

As you know, I'm pretty addicted to "Ugly Betty" now. HAHA!


Anyway, here's some of the funny things that I like about this show :

1. The guy singing in this video is called Jesse.
He was in a date with Betty (Betty actually likes him a lot) but he just kept talking about himself, so here's the song "Me".



The lyrics :
Yeah, it's me me me me, me me me me,
me me me, me me,
Not you, just me,
Yes me, not you,
What rhymes with me?
I know!
It's ME!
Yours truly, me, myself and I.

2. "Gene Simmons is my daddy" by Amanda again.

There was special guest star appearance by Gene Simmons also.




I know her singing is really bad but that's why it's so funny.
HAHA.

3. The cheerleading song that I've mentioned last week.


Marc and Amanda at time 1:15 until 1:30.
The lines for the cheer :

I think they are both my favorite characters in the movie although they are not the main characters.


In the same video, Naomi Campbell also appeared.


It was especially funny when she took out her phone and everyone was so scared.
You did heard about the news on her throwing her cell phone on her assistant or something right?
If you didn't, here it is :

That scene starts at 4:49 until 5:28.


Enjoy!

=)
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