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Living and working in China

Ruben has been studying at Yunnan University in Kunming since August, as part of his studies sinology. First, to improve his Chinese, but he teaches much more than that. He learned some Chinese quote in this article. Ruben: "It is an incredibly enriching experience that I will carry with me for the rest of my life." I recommend it to everyone. ".

Ruben (21): "I follow some language courses with other foreign students (grammar, writing, reading, listening and speaking). However, studying is not the only thing that I do here. Last month I gave five weeks of English lessons at a primary school in the countryside. This was accompanied by Stepping Stones, a non-profit organization from Shanghai that sends volunteers to schools to teach English. The organization is committed to good and equal education for children from different backgrounds.

In the journal

It was the first time I stood in front of the classroom, and I learned masses of it. How to be creative for example. A class with 60 students buoys is not apparent. Game elements helped to make the lesson exciting and to make sure they got the learning material to master faster. Moreover, fixed routines with which I started the experience and ended as well. In the end, the children were very enthusiastic and motivated to learn English.

While I was there taught my colleague asked me if I saw it interview a friend of hers. I saw an interview for the local newspaper though, so said yes. Great was my surprise when a camera crew arrived a few days later. They followed me a whole afternoon, and the report came in the local journal. It was quite strange to see myself on television, but also a lovely reminder of my time as a teacher!

Large and diverse

China is a large and diverse country. When you are traveling, you notice that there are many differences between the north, east, south, and west. Not only regarding landscape-from mountain ranges across desert areas to idyllic beaches-but also regarding people and culture.

The food culture, for example, varies significantly from region to region. In Sichuan and Hunan provinces they eat a lot of hot dishes, while in the south they have a much more neutral kitchen. There are also 56 ethnic groups in China, each with their specific traditional costumes, rituals... Furthermore, the difference between the city and the countryside is enormous. In Shanghai, you are surrounded by skyscrapers, while the country is still quite primitive. This diversity is very fascinating.

Freedom and Responsibility

The first weeks were adjusting. You will find yourself in a new environment where you know no one and where everything, in the beginning, is still strange. That's getting used. However, I made friends quickly. Moreover, enjoyed stepping by step to discover my world. It helped Kunming to be a charming city to live. Just big enough. I live in a student house at the university. My room and bathroom are not very luxurious, but that doesn't bother me.

What I do if I do not study? I speak with friends, discover new places in the city and do chores: washing, shopping, arranging administrative things... I have much freedom, but also much responsibility. Here everything comes to my shoulders. Then you only realize how easy your life is in Belgium, where mum and dad take care of everything.

Snutten and spitting

By getting in touch with another culture, I am more consciously beginning to think about my own culture. In China, for example, you regularly see people spewing in public. We Belgians find this weird and dirty. On the other hand, we use fabric handkerchiefs that we put back in our pocket or handbag after use. This is what the Chinese look like, it teaches me not to judge too quickly about people and to bring their habits and respect for each other's differences.

Some things annoy me occasionally. It at times chaotic traffic for example. There is much to be said, but in contrast with Belgium, this rarely has an aggressive meaning. It's instead to let you know: "Beware, I'm there!". Moreover, I also don't like the exaggerated attention I sometimes get, just because I'm a foreigner.

Later

My year in China has so far been a great experience. Of course, there are times when I would have preferred to be at home with friends and family. With Christmas for example. However, all in all, I feel very well here. Moreover, what is the future? When I return to Belgium in July I have to study for one more year and then we see. "

There are so many reasons to learn a language

There are so many reasons to learn a language, so we have made it easy for you to merge our top 4 surprising reasons. You'll wonder why you haven't started learning a new language before! You can learn many language with watch some tv shows too.

One # Promote Your thinking ability

Research shows that learning another language can promote your thinking, according to Ellen Bialystok, a psychologist at York University in Toronto.

' ' bilingualism has certain cognitive advantages and promotes the performance of the brain, in particular, one of the most important areas known as the executive Control system ' '

Researchers at University College London studied the brains of 105 persons, of which 80 were bilingual. You can see in this post for more detail.

They found that learning other languages grey matter (the area in the brain where the information process takes place) changes in the same way that muscles are trained.

So you don't just create new opportunities by learning a new language, and you'll be smarter!

Two # Improve multitasking

If you've ever had problems running and talking at the same time or other everyday activities that you frequently conflict with, it might be time to learn a new language.

Multilingual people, especially children, are better at switching about systems of speech, writing, and structure. According to a study by the Pennsylvania State University, this "juggle" skill makes them good multitask, because they can quickly switch between different architectures.

 In an investigation, participants were placed in a driving simulator while they had to perform all kinds of distracting tasks. This study shows that people who control more than one language make fewer mistakes than monolinguals.

Three # Help Prevent Alzheimer's and dementia

There is no treatment against Alzheimer's disease, but recent studies show that bilingual individuals do not suffer the same way in the illness as monolinguals do.

In the case of bilingual individuals, the disease develops much later, and although they show the same physical symptoms, their mental condition remains better.

Learning a foreign language can contribute significantly to the preservation of brain activity. How exactly?

As your brain works to incorporate the new vocabulary and conversational skills, new neural pathways are created, which improve the mind and your memory.

Just as sports keep the heart healthy, it helps train the brain with language lessons in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.

 

Four # Travel As much as you can

While it is possible to travel to other countries without speaking the language, your experience is largely shaped by your ability to enjoy the culture in depth or not.

When you are unable to communicate in the native language, you cannot fully participate in everyday life, understand the culture, or interact with the people. The language barrier can vary between very flustered or even life-threatening.
If you learn Chinese in China, you have the advantage of being able to find your way in all sorts of situations, such as ordering meals in a restaurant, asking and understanding the route, finding accommodation, negotiating prices and meeting and Speak to the local people.

Most countries, people will appreciate it if you try to speak their language. You will be able to communicate with them in a better way and experience a more beautiful time.

It is true that in tourist areas English is spoken, but even if the locals speak English, many of them often do not feel at ease, especially when you go beyond the typical tourist chats.

Also, these beaten paths are often not the places where you want to get to know the country. These play on the tourists and offer a weakened, often stereotyped and commercialized version of the culture, to take advantage of and respond to the expectations of the tourists.
If you are planning to wander off the tourist spots and want to explore the country, then you need to know the language. Your language skills give you the opportunity to do things and see which other visitors often don't understand.

21 Tips on How to Succeed in Social Media

Social media can be challenging to understand. The social meets algorithms. Emotions meet the digital. Often you do not know how to think, and it is difficult to find the most solid tips. Here are 21 concrete suggestions on how to remember when you're working with social media in your business.

1. Touches people. "Hearts and minds" begins with the heart. 

2. Assume who you or your company is and bottom of the values. This will be a security to go back to when it comes to everything from content to tonality. VA yourselves, VA authentic. 

3. Bottom of the communication and marketing plan. What does your communication say about you and how it is linked to your values. What is your "why"?

4. Laughter and humor are viral and of man's six deep emotions are the emotions of being surprised and happy what you would instead target.

5. Can't you be funny? Were then instead read. Were experts. You will not get as many interactions, but it may appeal to your target group more. A mixture can be the best. Both fun and interesting. Think about what the recipient likes and his problem. Solving problems is good.

6. Invite yourselves. Take a step away from how you communicate in your press releases and become more personal and honest.

7. Timeliness. Timing is fun. Hook up on trends in the industry and connect your social media strategy with your media coverage and with the communication strategy to be able to reach out with information about customers, partners, and events that can be linked to you. In media coverage, you can also see when people mention you in digital and social media.

8. People like lists and percentages. "E-commerce is a well-established way of buying goods for close to 90% of Swedes. "

9th, please. A company with a good heart and warmth is more comfortable to like.

10. Communicating. If someone asks you questions, please reply. There should be a structure among you that creates the conditions for dialogue and someone/some who are appointed to answer questions.

11. Raise heroes and be personal. Internal everyday heroes, new employees, and partners. All people like when someone says they are right.

12. Dare to create good drama. Talk about threats to you, the industry and problematize these. Awareness about problems builds credibility that leads to business and positions you as someone who can and wants to look ahead.

13. Be consistent. Post on social media when your recipients have the most chance to see your posts and do so at least twice a week.

14. Be Visual. Yes, the video is the future of most content creators in social media. If you do not manage to produce viable videos, images are a must. It is 60 000 times easier for a brain to take on a picture than a text. Attract the eye.

15. Adapt to the social media channel you are in. It is usually not optimal to use the same copy everywhere. Partly because of the limitations of the various social media.

16. Measure and do more of what seems to work well. There are media analytics tools available to you if you are an administrator, and there are Marketing Automation tools and analytics tools that you can connect to gain access to the more significant amount of data.

17. Use #hashtags. This is more important in some cases. For example, if you are at an event and post a picture on Instagram.

18. Follow others in the industry. Then you keep track of your industry colleagues and what they do well. "Steal with pride."

19. Pay tribute to others who do it well. Aim to engage in dialogue with the ones you admire and those who do good things. Make sure this does not become hypocritical. Also, pay tribute to yourselves. Did you win a contest? Have you done an extra good job? It's fun, and you should tell us about it.

20. Scale internally. If you are two people who work with social media, it's twice as good as if it's just you. If you are a 1000 person, who is active in writing articles, engaging in dialogue externally, interacting with colleagues ' content, sharing company news and producing custom content in different Format. Then you may not even need a marketing department.

21. Ads. If you have money, you can advertise. Keep track of algorithms, target groups, followers, and budgets. It may seem scary, but it is not. Start with what you measured. Start by reinforcing what works well and starting from the statistics you get from the tools. For example, in addition to the built-in tools, scheduling, analysis, and advertising tools are available.

An Expat Taxonomy

While hanging out with some of Lianyungang's expats last week, it dawned on me that the foreign population in any Chinese city is relatively easy to pigeonhole. I'm sure that everyone here decided to come to China for highly personal reasons, but I'm finding it exceptionally easy these days to recognize the "type" of the foreigner a certain person is. Here, then, are a few of the major species of the "China expat" genus:

The China Snob- This type of foreigner has been living in China for quite a while and keeps a wide berth from the fresh arrivals. They tend to cultivate only Chinese friends, eat in "authentic" Chinese restaurants, and devote countless hours perfecting their tones and grasp of excellent grammatical points. They usually react in horror and indignation of a guest wears shoes in their house or if a Chinese person attempts to reply to them in English.

The Dirty Old Man- These guys are everywhere. Having burned through a couple of marriages or having struck merely out with love in life, these men tend to be moderately affluent middle-aged gentlemen who seek nothing more than nubile, submissive Oriental female(s). Most are pretty harmless, and aside from a lucky few most end up resorting to China's vast network of brothels for satisfaction.

The Barfly- These expats know only three things- their work, their home, and their bar. The bar is their sanctuary from the madness of China, but unlike most of the others who keep their visits occasional, the barflies cannot survive unless aided by an alcoholic fog. Their knowledge of the Chinese language is limited to vocabulary associated with beer, waitresses, and cigarettes. They have mastered a wide variety of Chinese drinking games, and have a massive backlog of drinking-related anecdotes that they share whether anyone is listening or not. When a bar shuts down or relocates, the barfly endures severe withdrawal symptoms until a suitable replacement can be found.

The Misanthrope- This species of the foreigner has, for whatever reason, turned sour on China. Their speech is littered with complaints about every little aspect of Chinese life, from the apparent annoyances like spitting to obscure ones like the lack of indoor carpeting. Most retreat into a bit of cocoon, limiting their public appearances to trips to McDonalds and KFC or one of the expat bars. Their only Chinese friends, if any, are fluent in English because the misanthrope will make no effort to learn the local language.

The Vagabonds- Vagabonds have an endless thirst for travel and view their host city as merely a base from which to explore China. They tend to keep a rather low profile during the "off hours," working hard and saving their money for the next big trip. Vagabonds tend only to stay a year or two in China before moving on to their next adventure, having accumulated little bit good memories and many photographs.

The Lost Generationalists- These characters are usually in their early to mid-20s and have found themselves stuck in limbo between college and a "real job." Unlike the misanthropes, lost generation a lists tend to travel a lot, but unlike the vagabonds, they cultivate roots into their particular home base. The lost generation alists tend to be quite social and keep regular touch with a group of like-minded expats. Nearly all are teaching English, though few see themselves doing this for the rest of their lives. Most lost generation a lists come to China planning to stay a year but usually, end up staying longer.

I'm a lost generation a list, as are most of my friends here. I do know, however, at least one person in Fuzhou that fits neatly into one of the groups above. Nearly all of them are good people, despite my caustic commentary, and it's been exciting meeting foreigners whose perspective, to say the least, differs widely from mine. I suspect foreigners in other Chinese cities will recognize these types and could perhaps add a few of their own.