ka yoot ness

there are times when cuteness can overwhelm an otherwise logical grown male


i am still finding it hard to grasp that this is not a doll

accents

very interesting. though i do claim that english is my first language quite commonly to avoid confusion and also for the same reason cenk stated, i don't actually speak english as a first language.

english is the language i speak and write most fluently in, but i speak a dialect of Wu chinese at home (Shanghainese) and was the first language i learnt to speak in. (though english was the first language i learnt how to write in)

i think accents and fluency is also something to be set a part, i have met many individuals with a strong accent but with extreme fluency. my parents on the other hand, have a strong accent AND poor fluency, which means they speak in an ..."odd" grammar?( i'm not sure what the proper terminology is, but that'll have to do). the way they arrange words orally and in written form sounds strange, though my parents have lived in Australia for more than 10 years, their fluency hasn't increased as much as i would expect, possibly due to the nature of their employment (not having the chance to interact with locals)

I agree, discrimination does exist, but i do think that at least in Australia, you are less credible not because your accent/lack of fluency reflects your heritage but more so that it is a requirement to have fluency in that particular role.

I had a chat with an international student and she said that it was extremely difficult to find a job in Australia as an international student, she assumed it was because of discrimination.
I don't think thats true, I think that even if you have an accent, when you show fluency and articulation in your language skills (along with all the other requirements for the job) there is no reason not to hire you.

take eg. Telemarketers
i'm a pretty open minded guy, a part from when i was in high school and sent a telemarkter on a wild goose chase by giving them a false address, i've been quite nice to them. but i think i am definitley more inclined and a lot more likely to hang up on a caller from india, not because i hate indians, but because its just takes that much more effort to understand them.


so if you're an employer, its natural that you hire someone you can understand more efficiently.

If discrimination was the issue here, Australians of ethnicities other than white, would have just as hard of a time finding a job, but i don't think thats the case.

get your engrish skills on yo!

pop culture

so watching the newest snsd video got me thinking (ironic).

When we say 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s styled theme party, what we really mean is USA themed party or maybe UK.

Why is that the case?

Might it have something to do with that most other countries were busy with revolutions, political turmoil etc?

Did people in the 60s have 30s themed parties? What did they dress like? I wonder how this will change in 50s years time, as Asian economies and influences rise, will we ever have an 2010s party based on how people dressed in China? Korea? Japan?

here we go again

now, true love dictates that i love taeyeon no matter what (lol so sad). but i cant help but think this is slightly "wondergirlish".

btw if anyone has a cure for this disease of snsd, please help me thanks

the one

i know this stuff is old but man, is it just me or is this stuff hilarious?

student internationale

decades ago, international students, exchange students from China were always the best and brightest the country had to offer. Without your proven academic success, there was no way for you to be accepted into a foreign university.

Sure, academic results are not definitive indicators for your intelligence as a whole, but even so...how times have changed.

I have met many international students who are very bright, very cosmopolitan and very open to new ideas. Unfortunately, these students are a very small minority.

The motivation for many Chinese international students do not come from within themselves, but came as an ill concieved contingency plan for failing academically in their own countries.
The irony of it all is that if they fail academically in an enviroment where academic results is everything, where you are forced to study...how would you succeed with no one to control you?

Given the situation in Australia, we love these international students, they come here, make up a large portion of intakes for most universities, often pay more than twice the fees local student do.

Is it ethical to be benefiting like this?

Universities often lower their english language skill requirements to increase international intake, again, is this ethical when even students who achieve 7 on their IELTS test sometimes have trouble linguistic problems at school and at work.