Today we’re checking in with Chinese tutor Deltas, a native speaker from Tianjin, China! Deltas has been tutoring me in Chinese this year, and I can say from personal experience that he is very knowledgeable, even when I throw a weird grammar question at him. We chatted about Tianjin dumplings, Zhang Ailing, and traditional Chinese roof tiles!
Leilani: First, could you tell me a little bit about your background? How long have you been speaking Chinese and what do you do at Reed?
Deltas: I’m an international student from Tianjin (天津), China. I’ve been speaking Chinese since I was born, it’s my native language. I study Math-Stats at Reed. I used to study literature, but I kind of found it wasn’t my thing. Too much English reading. So I switched to Math-Stats, and math is pretty fun, completely different taste. And I also do Chinese drop-in tutoring and individual tutoring. I also play for the Frisbee team.
L: What is your hometown Tianjin like?
D: My hometown is famous for steamed buns. There’s a very famous restaurant called Goubuli (狗不理), which means “the dog does not even care.”
L: So what has your experience been as a Chinese tutor?
D: It’s pretty fun. I get a lot of moments that I panic a little bit, that I feel so small in front of this language. And often my tutees ask me a lot of questions that’s like “I’ve never thought of this” kind of questions, so I feel surprised. And then, personally, I do a lot of writing in Chinese. So tutoring brings me completely different aspects to understand the language. Especially about grammar and how and why this language is composed this way. Because as a native speaker, you don’t think in that way, “why is this sentence structured like this?” So, it’s interesting to me. It’s a lot of new perspectives, and I think it’s fun.
L: I guess you already touched on it, but do you think as a native speaker, do you learn new things about the language by being a tutor when you answer questions? I imagine things just come naturally to you, and then you don’t think about it. Then a tutee asks you a question, and you’re just like, “I didn’t think about that before.”
D: Yeah, I definitely learn new things. It’s like things come to me naturally because I’m a native speaker, but when the question comes, this natural, reactive behavior becomes a process that I have to think about. Then I have to think about why I speak in this manner. It’s a completely different perspective from writing in Chinese or speaking day-to-day. It’s really different. I learned a lot of stuff. For example, my tutee—I think maybe it was you?—asked me about the ba (把) question…
L: Probably!
D: And then I talked to my Chinese friends about the question. I never realized that 把 in this grammar context is described in the way that the textbook describes. Because it has the T-stroke radical. I always thought it as a verb, and then, uh, OK, maybe it’s not. It’s just pretty new.
L: What are some resources or recommendations for tutees to learn Chinese?
D: Ooh, good question. First of all, talk to your professors. I think they’re wonderful. I’ve taken Chinese courses at Reed, the professors are extremely knowledgeable. You ask them any question, they can answer. Because I’ve been taking literature classes, I had class with a Korean professor, Hyong. At first I was pretty surprised about how he can understand Chinese literature that deep. And then it’s actually even deep beyond my imagination. And of course, I’ve taken courses with other professors who themselves are Chinese, and they’re extremely rich about literature, language, whatever questions you have. And then resources, wow. Drop-in tutoring and individual tutoring are definitely resources.
L: What’s your favorite type of Chinese media? So like books, movies, music, things like that?
D: I would say books. Yeah, I don’t watch movies that often. Chinese music is so-so.
L: Do you have a favorite book?
D: The one that pops up in my mind is a book by Márquez after he wrote 100 Years of Solitude. It’s Love in the Time of Cholera. That one is really good, but it’s not Chinese. I don’t know what my favorite Chinese book would be, so I’ll just say something I’ve read recently. I don’t know the English name, but if you translate it directly it’s “the submarine during the night.” It’s by a very young Chinese author. It’s pretty cool. He writes in a style that really looks like Borges.
Labbie Note: The book is The Submarine at Night (夜晚的潜水艇) by Chen Chuncheng!
D: Also I like a lot of Chinese writers that are born around 1900, for example Zhang Ailing, she’s pretty cool. She wrote her main novels in her 20s. Really cool author. She’s very well-trained in traditional Chinese. And especially she read Dream of the Red Chamber, which is considered to be the masterpiece of Chinese ancient literature. I feel like if she continued writing, she would be one of the greatest authors in Chinese history.
L: Last question, what’s your favorite word or expression in Chinese?
D: I would say liúli (琉璃). It’s used to describe the rooftop. There’s a word called liúlíwǎ (琉璃瓦), which means the rooftop bricks made of liúli. So liúli is like a texture that is transparent and luminous. I really like the sound and the pronunciation of the character, it invokes a lot of good imagery.
