MK at White House | Page 2 | Golden Skate

MK at White House

attyfan

Custom Title
Medalist
Joined
Mar 1, 2004
Mathman said:
I believe that Michelle's family speaks Cantonese. I think she understands that dialect pretty well. Reportedly, she has been studying Mandarin -- I don't know how seriously.

Michelle also might get to practice Mandarin since, IIRC, Pang & Tong have toured with COI for the past few years. Since Mandarin is replacing Cantonese as the Chinese dialect most used in business, a lot of Cantonese speakers are learning Mandarin. I wouldn't be surprised if MK was studying it quite seriously.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Mathman said:
Do you have this one? Here she is with Mia Hamm, Tiger Woods and Babe Ruth.

http://www.homestead.com/parkerart/files/74sports2.JPG

hehe...thanks, but I only collect pictures that are actually of her...lol. Although I might have one of that wax figure, and maybe another of her Simpsons character...but whatever, go figure...

P.S. I made a mistake, I actually need 8. I found some similar images using a dupe ID software program, so that brought my picture count down a little...
 

kyla2

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
Wonderful

Love those pictures!! Two of my favorite people-Presdient Bush and Michelle.
 

jesslily

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 4, 2004
Regardless Michelle's setback on ice recently, she always has the elegant oriental style off the ice.
 

Piel

On Edge
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
OK Mathman I fully expected to see Cheney in a shoot the duck position, LOL!

Let's hope Michelle wore her bulletproof bustier!
 

Piel

On Edge
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
IDLERACER said:
Talk about a picture that's begging to be captioned!

"it looks like Johnny's been in my dressing room again!"
 

heyang

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Cantonese and mandarin are totally different. My parents and elders speak their village dialect which closely resembles Cantonese. As an American born, I can understand much more than I can speak. However, I cannot understand any Mandarin except for the few phrases I learned in class.

Anyway, my point is that they are not easily interchangeable. To become fluent, Michelle would really have to immerse herself in it. I'm sure working with other skaters from China (ie. Lulu,etc) on COI has given her the opportunity to pick up non-textbook phrases, but I imiagine that Michelle still needs an interpreter to have an in depth conversation with the President of china.
 

attyfan

Custom Title
Medalist
Joined
Mar 1, 2004
heyang -- maybe you can satisy my curiosity. is it easier for a Cantonese-speaker to learn Mandarin than it is for someone who never spoke any of the Chinese languages/dialects, or, would learning Mandarin be equally difficult for both?
 

heyang

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Cantonese is the harder of the 2 dialects. It has 9 intonations, whereas Mandarin has 4. The words for fork vs tea (in Cantonese) are only the slightest bit different, for example.

I know more people who know Cantonese 1st and Mandarin 2nd as opposed to the opposite. However, I know more Cantonese speaking people because the earliest waves of immigrants from China were from the southern region, which equals Cantonese. I'm more familiar with the older generations of immigrants and my grandfather was a teacher - making sure all his children (male and female) were well educated. More recent immigrants will be more likely to know Mandarin, but not Cantonese, but they will have been raised post communist revolution when Mandarin became the standard.

I'm going to guess that it's easier for a Cantonese speaker to learn Mandarin vs someone who is learning to speak any chinese dialect as a 2nd language. The intonations can be very subtle.
 

fscric

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
attyfan said:
heyang -- maybe you can satisy my curiosity. is it easier for a Cantonese-speaker to learn Mandarin than it is for someone who never spoke any of the Chinese languages/dialects, or, would learning Mandarin be equally difficult for both?

I'm not heyang but I'll answer from my own perspective. I think it depends on individual person's ability to grasp the language - being a Cantonese speaker, our pronounciation of Mandarin tends to be affected by the cantonese pronounciation easily even if we have learned the Mandarin properly i.e. not from movies or songs but from real Mandarin speakers; unless you are able to practise Mandarin day in and day out. However, I have heard from foreigners who speak flawless Mandarin or at least much better than most Cantonese speakers, I would think it's because they do not have the burden of knowing Cantonese or some other Chinese dialets.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Many non Mandarin speaking Chinese staff members at the United Nations study Mandarin (the official Chinese language of the UN). They find it as difficult, I am told, as the non Chinese student.

Joe
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Try copyng and pasting the whole url into your address bar. Here it is.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/sports/2006-04/22/content_574246.htm

Be prepared for a huge "AWWWWWWW" moment, LOL.

Coincidentally, Kwan's parents currently are vacationing in China, the land of her ancestors. She called and woke them to tell her about her adventures at the White House.

"Your baby girl was sitting next to President Bush," she told them. Kwan's mother then asked her what she was wearing.

"I couldn't wait for them to turn on the TV in China and see the coverage, and when President Hu toasted all of us and I was right there," Kwan said. "I don't think I can ever top that."

:love: :laugh:
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Try copyng and pasting the whole url into your address bar. Here it is.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/sports/2006-04/22/content_574246.htm

Be prepared for a huge "AWWWWWWW" moment, LOL.

Coincidentally, Kwan's parents currently are vacationing in China, the land of her ancestors. She called and woke them to tell her about her adventures at the White House.

"Your baby girl was sitting next to President Bush," she told them. Kwan's mother then asked her what she was wearing.

"I couldn't wait for them to turn on the TV in China and see the coverage, and when President Hu toasted all of us and I was right there," Kwan said. "I don't think I can ever top that."

:love: :laugh:
 
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