Prechiblog Two

Winterpokal

2011-10-31T07:41:00.002+01:00

Hey people with a Daum ergo_bike

it's time for the

Winterpokal

so come one sign in!

Bike flashmob

2010-12-07T16:46:00.000+01:00

This is the ultimative bike flashmob

Bob Marley works better than Ritalin

2010-11-24T18:40:00.001+01:00

See here:

Flight fares

2010-11-05T09:24:00.000+01:00

How the flight fares are made:

Winterpokal 2010/2011

2010-10-29T10:05:00.001+02:00

It's starting again. From 01.11.2010 to 27.03.2011 the WINTERPOKAL. You can follow me here

Safety first

2010-02-05T09:10:00.000+01:00

Sometimes safety first might be a little bit too much.

Swiss Air Force caught the A380

2010-01-21T18:42:00.003+01:00

(Source: 20Minuten)

Poor librarian

2010-01-15T10:08:00.001+01:00

We librarians dont have an easy life

iSlate

2010-01-12T13:35:00.004+01:00

The world was waiting eagerly for the announcement of the new iSlate or iTablet. Finally Steve Jobs gave a conference today but now cameras were allowed. Nevertheless I have the first picture here.

(source: BenM.at)

Air Force One

2009-11-25T12:14:00.002+01:00

What are these men laughing about?

Vodafone Symphonia

2009-10-24T08:58:00.001+02:00

I think this guy really loves mobile phones

Iphone 3GS

2009-10-05T15:32:00.003+02:00

The Iphone 3GS has....

NO built in radio
NO camera flash
NO zoom
ONLY 3.2mP camera

....that doesn't matter because it has

The Chinese characters handwriting!!!!

What else do you need!

No motivation

2009-09-23T08:54:00.000+02:00

More than three weeks without Chinese studies. That means, if I start again, at least one third of the characters are in a more hidden memory of the computer in my head named brain.
From time to time I have problems in motivating myself to learn the Chinese characters. For what? I will never be able to read the newspaper! Why? I will never be able to have a normal conversation with Chinese people! Should I learn just for fun? Well … I don’t know … this is not me. If I learn something I want to use it in the one or the other way.
Did anybody of the readers perhaps learn Latin or Ancient Greek? These are even death languages, so, how did you fill up the motivation holes? Chinese is a living language but nevertheless there can be a lack of motivation to learn it. Does somebody know how I could change this??

Have a nice trip! - Gute Reise!

2009-08-20T10:20:00.002+02:00

What do you say in Chinese to a person who is going on a journey, a trip, who is going to travel?
In German we say: “Gute Reise”
In English: “Have a nice journey (trip)"

In Chinese: 一路平安 yī lù píng ān

Is this correct????

For me it sounds logic and very nice:
"One street flat and quiet"!

Fear

2009-06-04T10:22:00.002+02:00

Huu, I am so afraid!! Nowadays these Rottweil(w)ers look very dangerous!

Twitter

2009-05-26T21:42:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I found out that Lance Armstrong is using Twitter. For a bike enthusiastic like me it is always very interesting to get news form inside the race bike circus. So I also opened a Twitter-account @PrechiCH but I have to say that I don’t yet understand all the possibilities of this kind of communication (am I too old for it?) and the real sense of Twitter. We will see - be patient Peter.

Always read very carefully!!!

2009-05-07T08:31:00.001+02:00

I think from time to time it is necessary to write about a personal success in my Chinese studies. Some weeks ago the character 照 zhào appeared in my book (by the way it is THIS book). I thought, why on earth should I learn “shine, illumine, reflect“. This is not important. Some lines later the next one showed up 相 xiàng “appearance, portrait, picture“. Important? NO!!
Both characters by themselves did not want to enter my head, I tried and tried. But yesterday I read the book again and saw that they should be used together

照相 zhào xiàng take a photograph

Well, this seems more important to me. And its memorized now!
And what did I learn … always read the schoolbooks very carefully!

Pu Yi - The last emperor of China

2009-04-30T10:16:00.002+02:00

Last night I saw a very interesting report about Pu Yi the last emperor of China. They showed original documents and films and naturally a lot of Chinese characters which I was not able to translate at that speed.

My conclusion of the report: I think Pu Yi is a very tragic figure. Sometimes he looked like being drifted in the big river of history in China.

The report can be seen HERE

The Obameter

2009-04-22T14:28:00.001+02:00

In the USA they are counting the promises president Obama made during election campaign against the ones he kept. The so called “Obameter”.

I think this is very mean! If we all would be measured by the promises we kept in our life we would end up in hell. Even without being president.
Give this young man a chance! I think he is a good guy!

I like to fly

2009-04-03T08:51:00.003+02:00

This guy is funny! A good start for a flight!

Hu Jintao

2009-04-01T15:42:00.001+02:00

Hu Jintao the president of China is actually in London. Couldn’t he make a short side step to St. Gallen to visit me and explain me some Chinese language problems? I would also show him our nice city.

A new Chinese problem

2009-03-03T13:23:00.001+01:00

There are at least 1.3 billion Chinese people on earth.
So at least one of them should read this blog and
be able to tell me the difference between

语 and 话

Nobody?????
I don’t believe it!!!

Fly First Class

2009-02-24T08:36:00.002+01:00

Sometimes it's worth to spend a little more

and you save it in your costs for new shoes.

Never give up!

2009-02-04T09:33:00.001+01:00

When I started with my Chinese studies, my aim was to know 3000 characters in 10 years. I wanted to be able to sit in a park and read a Chinese newspaper – after retirement. But…..I am working on it since two years and I know only about 400 characters (instead of 600). What is the problem?
Is time running too fast?
Is my brain too small?
Is my matter of learning wrong?
Is my plan too ambitious?
Is Chinese too difficult?
I don’t know.

But I don’t give up!!

我百折不挠

Hotel

2009-01-28T14:52:00.000+01:00

I just was consulting the dictionary for the word HOTEL in Chinese. What a surprise!

Is it
酒家 jiǔ jiā
饭店 fàn diàn
旅馆 lǚ guǎn
酒店 jiǔ diàn
or something else?

The only thing I know:
Chinese language – very very very difficult language!!!!!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T08:56:00.001+01:00

LIFE photo archive

2008-11-20T14:09:00.000+01:00

I read that LIFE magazine is opening its photo archive on the web. Well, I just tried it out. On http://images.google.com/hosted/life we can see some pictures of some decades. For the 1970s we see boxing pictures – my question…do I need to see this? For the 1960s we see a lot of space photos - interesting but…do I need to see this? For the 1950s we see Walt Disney – funny but…do I need to see this?
OK, I know, the photos are very good and they also are very important for it’s time but still my question remains….do I need to see this?
I think sometimes there is too much work for my eyes.

Writing Chinese with the nose

2008-11-12T14:13:00.000+01:00

I just read in the newspaper that the 26-year old Wu Xubin is writing Chinese with his nose.

What a crazy idea meanwhile I am not even able to write more than 400 characters BY HAND!
(Can you read any of these characters? Is it really Chinese? Perhaps I also should try it with my nose.)

Yes we can

2008-11-05T14:46:00.000+01:00

Please my dear Chinese friends, what is the exact translation of
YES WE CAN
into Chinese?? (I think we need it now)

我要一瓶青岛啤酒

2008-10-28T08:44:00.000+01:00

This is another very very important Chinese expression!! The described product is not only important but also very good, sometimes very funny and it may be even healthy. Parts of it are necessary for living, parts of it are dangerous. It always depends on the person who is using it and on the amount. It can be medicine, it can be poison. But, if you have the chance - try it! And if you send some of it to me, it would be very much appreciated.

By the way...it comes from here

Chinese traps

2008-10-14T10:26:00.000+02:00

Sometimes the Chinese language is full of traps. For example 士 (shì) means „gentleman” (and a lot more). As you can see in the character, the lower horizontal line is shorter than the upper one. Would it be vice versa, it would be 土 (tǔ) “earth” (and a lot more). Once you have learned the difference and you feel happy about it, you will be confronted with a new problem with the character 土 (tǔ) “earth”. Because for “earth” 地 (dì) can also be used. So, for „earth“ it is not 士 but 土 or 地

……what???

Flying around the USA

2008-10-03T09:46:00.000+02:00

Are you interested in flying, especially from the captain’s point of view? And are you interested in the USA, especially from the travelling point of view. And are you also a little bit interested in the US-economy, especially from the energy point of view? Then you should read THIS blog.

This airline captain writes mainly about his flights but also about his life. In his blog we can read that flying can make one happy, even after several years of doing it. We see that the flight deck is a place of complete team work. But we also see, that the rising fuel prices forces the airlines and with them the crews to touch sometimes the border of security by saving the loads of it. Less fuel, less weight, less costs – I don’t really like that and I am sure, the crews don’t like it either.

神舟 (shén zhōu – divine boat) has lift off

2008-09-26T09:26:00.000+02:00

What a beautiful name “divine boat”. This is the name of the Chinese spacecraft which started yesterday with three astronauts (太空人 - tài kōng rén…is his correct??) on board. I know, every nation has the right for its own prestige object. The

have been the first on the moon, Russia sent the first satellite to space, we here in Switzerland have the “Rösti” and now also

China

is on the map of great nations. But I ask myself - what for?? If my girlfriend wants to buy a new purse I ask her – do you need this? She usually has to say - NO! Ok, she makes the same with me if I want to buy a new, smaller, faster computer - do you need this? NO!

Therefore I’d like to ask mister 胡锦涛 (Hú Jǐntāo) – do you need the神舟 – NO!!!

Big trouble with little character

2008-09-24T19:25:00.000+02:00

It cannot be. I don’t believe it. This little Chinese character 从 (cóng – to obey) does not remain in my head. I think I wrote it at least 30 times, together with its Pinyin translation but no chance. My brain seems “not to obey” - bù cóng 不从. What could I do??

Please, please stay with me!!!

The half-value period of my brain

2008-09-20T18:28:00.001+02:00

I just made a very important discovery in my brain. Within one day about 2 percent of the Chinese Characters I learned until now went from an active memory to a less active one. During the last two weeks of holidays I forgot about one third of all the words. Well, I did not forget them but they were not active any more. I needed about one week of repetition to get them back. Certainly this is not scientifically proven but it sounds good.

One of the most important chinese characters

2008-09-15T18:20:00.000+02:00

Ok, I think today I made a very big step forward in my Chinese studies. From now on I can survive in China. Some time ago I already learned some characters for food, for example 饺子(jiǎo zi – dumpling) very important, very good or 啤酒 (pí jiǔ – beer) also important and even better. But today I learned one of the most important expressions 洗手间 (xǐ shǒu jiān – lavatory) because somewhere all the 饺子 and the 啤酒 has to go.

Calling Lord Norman Foster

2008-09-09T09:38:00.000+02:00

Dear Mr. Foster

The next time you are in Switzerland, couldn’t you make a little side step to the beautiful city of St. Gallen? We have a problem here. Within the next 10 years we need a new library. It contains the state library of St. Gallen and the city library called “Freihandbibliothek”. This means something has to be built and this as soon as possible. As I know the responsible people here, they will plan ether something too short – four or five floors only or they will convert some old building. This is not what I want. I think in St. Gallen we need some real big, representative, modern building. I know you could design such a library. So, please come here, make a little plan and send it to me. Unfortunately St. Gallen is not a rich city and your effort would not be paid very well, but it would cast a positive light on you (and on the city).

Mr. Foster, I am waiting for you, please hurry up. They are already starting to plan here and you are my last hope for avoiding a disgrace.

Olympic games

2008-08-26T08:38:00.000+02:00

谢谢
THANK YOU
DANKE

to the Chinese People for having organized perfect Olympic games!

Squirrel and Large Hadron Collider

2008-08-25T12:24:00.000+02:00

versus

A squirrel which was killed in a Swiss power plant caused a blackout at Swiss TV for about one and a half hour. Exactly during the closing ceremony of the Olympics and the Formula 1 in Valencia all Swiss TV channels and most of the radio were out. Ok, this might happen, but isn’t there any emergency generator at Swiss TV? How are we informed during a real catastrophe? Switzerland is said to be one of the most sophisticated countries regarding technology…and now this.
I really hope, that there will be no squirrel near the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva when the new Large Hadron Collider LHC will be tested within the next weeks.

Real mobility

2008-08-19T09:35:00.000+02:00

A lot of people are very proud by carrying around their notebook and being able to work everywhere. They think they are mobile. Are they? I say they are only mobile as long as the power of their notebook lasts. After two or three hours (some a little bit more) every notebook has to be plugged to a power socket. Is this real mobility? Why on earth isn’t it possible to add some solar cells to the cover of the computer to load the batteries all the time? The solar cells of today have not enough power??? Please….be flexible, investigate, invent, construct powerful solar cells. There are enough smart brains in the world and there is also enough money – why don’t we use it?
Therefore my proclamation to all the smart people – I want a real mobile notebook WITHOUT any cable!! Please find it!!

Fabian Cancellara - Gold medal!!

2008-08-13T19:41:00.000+02:00

Congratulations to Fabian Cancellara!!

Beijing 2008 北京2008 奥运会

2008-08-08T12:53:00.000+02:00

I whish all the participants of the

Beijing 2008 北京2008 奥运会

good luck and success!

Chinese language help needed!

2008-08-06T19:12:00.000+02:00

Hello...is there any Chinese person reading this blog? If yes, please answer my following questing:
What is the difference between 做 and 作 ??? Is it only to confuse us learners of your wonderful but very difficult language? There are about 1,4 billion people in China, at least one of you should be able to answer this question. Thank you very muchh!!

Olympic Games

2008-08-04T19:13:00.000+02:00

My dear friends from the media, if you are informing us about Beijing 2008 please, please, please also inform us about the OLYMPICS or about China and the Chinese people and not only about the human rights situation and the doping. (At least in the german language media one might think that they do not have anything else do deal with - its boring)!!!

What a character!!!

2008-08-02T00:49:00.000+02:00

Does anybody know the correct writing of this great chinese character??

What a character

2008-08-02T00:46:00.000+02:00

Does anybody know the correct writing of this great chinese caracter??

Hello everybody

2008-08-01T11:02:00.000+02:00

This is my new blog in english. As english is not my mothertongue please be patient with me. In here I try to write from time to time about my CHINESE studies (ok, I know, I would also need more english studies, but....) I will also write about Switzerland and what ever else will come to my head. Of course your comments wold be highly appreciated.