见天在中文教室看中国的有意思的电影（我拟在一起）。很有意思拉了！这个电影有很多的生词和语法很难。我的中文不好。别笑我。
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Monday, October 17, 2005
Chinese Taking Over
In some schools in the USA, when all the little school kids are saying "I pledge allegiance to the flag", there is a Chinese flag hanging there. And right now as I type this, Chinese astronauts are orbiting the earth overhead. Indeed, the Chinese are taking over.
It's not surprised that there's a surge of interest in studying Mandarin. In my class, there are 6 students and half of them (including me) studied Japanese in the 90's. I guess its a certain type who is brave enough to study a language like that, so not surprising that they would now turn their interest towards Chinese. But the fact that Chinese is entering the public school curriculum is awesome.
It's also fascinating to think back to just a few years ago when news coverage about China was generally about "negative" issues like Tibet and human rights. Now, the mainstream press is filled with positives like China's booming economy, recent Chinese tech company IPOs and progress towards the Beijing Olympics. The mental image for China has changed from the lone protester blocking a line of tanks to that of a booming downtown city scene, men rushing to meetings, fashionable women on cell phones, bicycles riding along side of BMWs, old men pulling carts of coal...
It's not surprised that there's a surge of interest in studying Mandarin. In my class, there are 6 students and half of them (including me) studied Japanese in the 90's. I guess its a certain type who is brave enough to study a language like that, so not surprising that they would now turn their interest towards Chinese. But the fact that Chinese is entering the public school curriculum is awesome.
"Chinese is our new baby," said David J. Domovic, the principal of one of the 20 New York City school schools offering instruction in Mandarin. "Everybody just wants in."
It's also fascinating to think back to just a few years ago when news coverage about China was generally about "negative" issues like Tibet and human rights. Now, the mainstream press is filled with positives like China's booming economy, recent Chinese tech company IPOs and progress towards the Beijing Olympics. The mental image for China has changed from the lone protester blocking a line of tanks to that of a booming downtown city scene, men rushing to meetings, fashionable women on cell phones, bicycles riding along side of BMWs, old men pulling carts of coal...
Things we all hate about IVRs
IVR = Interactive Voice Response (see full definitions)
Here's a set of things I believe many IVRs do that annoy most people.
1) Long lists of menus "press 1 for this, press 2 for that", cascading into many levels.
2) Cliches such as "please listen as our menu items have changed" and "please hold for a representative".
3) Getting hung up on instead of transferring to a human. "I'm sorry, we couldn't recognize your account. Please try your call again later. Good bye."
4) Hearing a mix of multiple different human voices (or mix of human + text to speech). If you've ever paid a parking ticket in California, then you know what I'm talking about. There are at least 5 diferent voices (different ages, male/female, various accents) just to ask for your ticket number, credit card info and other details.
5) Forcing the user to wait with their key presses until the IVR is ready to listen.
6) Monotone & dull overly-official sounding voices (also, its evil twin: "reefer-smoking surfer dude will handle your banking inquiry today")
7) Being treated like a first time caller every time you call. Why can't the traffic line learn that when I'm calling at 8AM I would like to know the traffic conditions for eastbound 520? "welcome to the puget sound department of transportation line. This automated system is available to let you, the caller, get automated up to date information....blah blah blah... press 1 for highways, 2 for ferries and 3 for airport information..."
8) Getting transferred to another IVR (or human) who then asks you to enter some information again.
Agent: "Hi. What is your account number".
You: "I just entered it 10 seconds ago...."
9) Being placed on hold "until the next representative is available", and holding for a really long time. Even worse, being placed on hold when in fact it is after hours and the next available representative is a 12 hour wait.
Here's a set of things I believe many IVRs do that annoy most people.
1) Long lists of menus "press 1 for this, press 2 for that", cascading into many levels.
2) Cliches such as "please listen as our menu items have changed" and "please hold for a representative".
3) Getting hung up on instead of transferring to a human. "I'm sorry, we couldn't recognize your account. Please try your call again later. Good bye."
4) Hearing a mix of multiple different human voices (or mix of human + text to speech). If you've ever paid a parking ticket in California, then you know what I'm talking about. There are at least 5 diferent voices (different ages, male/female, various accents) just to ask for your ticket number, credit card info and other details.
5) Forcing the user to wait with their key presses until the IVR is ready to listen.
6) Monotone & dull overly-official sounding voices (also, its evil twin: "reefer-smoking surfer dude will handle your banking inquiry today")
7) Being treated like a first time caller every time you call. Why can't the traffic line learn that when I'm calling at 8AM I would like to know the traffic conditions for eastbound 520? "welcome to the puget sound department of transportation line. This automated system is available to let you, the caller, get automated up to date information....blah blah blah... press 1 for highways, 2 for ferries and 3 for airport information..."
8) Getting transferred to another IVR (or human) who then asks you to enter some information again.
Agent: "Hi. What is your account number".
You: "I just entered it 10 seconds ago...."
9) Being placed on hold "until the next representative is available", and holding for a really long time. Even worse, being placed on hold when in fact it is after hours and the next available representative is a 12 hour wait.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Recent Leaps
I'm blogging now and this my first post! My recent leaps (no particular order). Its scary and thrilling to take leaps.
1) Learning Chinese. I enrolled 2 weeks ago and will see it through. I have been putting this off for over 5 years! Time flies....Thinking back on all the reasons I kept it low on list of priorities since wanting to start learning mandarin seriously 5 years ago! On one hand, its a bad feeling to think how excellent my mandarin would already be had I actually started 5 years ago. On the other hand, the Beijing Olympics are 3 years away and that's plenty of time to become conversant.
2) Starting a Company. Two weeks ago together with two friends, I left my full time job to start a company of our own. I'm giving up a nice paycheck and devoting myself full time to something that is unproven and speculative. As one of my professors said, "starting a company is an irrational decision, and you may fall flat on your face, but you must take the leap of faith".
3) Podcasting and Blogging. 20 years from now my kids will be able to Google me and listen in on my thoughts circa 2005. Think about if you could listen to your parent's thoughts before you were born? My podcast is "my experiences learning Chinese".
1) Learning Chinese. I enrolled 2 weeks ago and will see it through. I have been putting this off for over 5 years! Time flies....Thinking back on all the reasons I kept it low on list of priorities since wanting to start learning mandarin seriously 5 years ago! On one hand, its a bad feeling to think how excellent my mandarin would already be had I actually started 5 years ago. On the other hand, the Beijing Olympics are 3 years away and that's plenty of time to become conversant.
2) Starting a Company. Two weeks ago together with two friends, I left my full time job to start a company of our own. I'm giving up a nice paycheck and devoting myself full time to something that is unproven and speculative. As one of my professors said, "starting a company is an irrational decision, and you may fall flat on your face, but you must take the leap of faith".
3) Podcasting and Blogging. 20 years from now my kids will be able to Google me and listen in on my thoughts circa 2005. Think about if you could listen to your parent's thoughts before you were born? My podcast is "my experiences learning Chinese".
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