Decompressing Subway Stations

This just in! According to this article on The Beijinger, Beijing Subway officials are planning on using limitation measures and tactics to relieve the congestion that plagues certain stations. While they are targeting a very small number of lines, I've been unfortunate enough to be using one of them! Personally, I don't see how such measures will make things any better. People here always find ways to bend the rules and do what they want, especially when their convenience and speed are compromised. But I can only hope that this might be a step in the right direction as I think it's just another one of those "we're doing something for the sake of doing something" tactics.

C'est la vie!

Ask the Greek: Mandarin vs. English - Battle for World Domination

Greek Man in Beijing proudly presents a new interactive column called "Ask the Greek". Here I'll be answering questions you might have about China and living here! Now, I haven't exactly fleshed this out entirely so I may be answering one question or multiple ones, depending on the topic. What I can say for sure is that it will be done on a weekly basis and you can e-mail me your questions at shinnkun@gmail.com. For the first post, I will just simply state my opinion regarding a certain belief that many people have about Mandarin Chinese. More specifically, there are many people and experts out there who believe that in a few years time, the Chinese language will overtake English as a global tongue. Personally, I feel there are many reasons to believe it is possible but I highly doubt it will happen. Not for a while, at least.

Mandarin Chinese is a language that has been developing for a very very long time. Much like the Greek language, it has influenced the mother tongues of other neighboring countries and has more than a dozen different dialects and forms that are spoken even nowadays. As a language it is very efficient, mainly because it doesn't rely on tenses (past, present and future). Furthermore, it is a highly contextual language, a fact which makes conversations in Chinese quite speedy at times. On many levels, Mandarin sounds like a pretty simple language to learn...on paper. The differences it has from the English language are great and herein lies the problem I, and probably most people, face when trying to learn it.