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I used to pay a Mandarin teacher from Beijing to read academic and technical journals about databases with me on weekly calls. I wanted to stay on top of developments in China. She said she was thankful for the easy money but it was an incredibly boring job.
Thinking of her today as I’m going to reach out to her and ask her to do this again with me on AI ethics and safety in China
(I can read well but academic and technical Mandarin just isn’t something you can easily pickup unless you studied those topics in Mandarin, I feel)
I always love how database is 数据库 (shu4 ju4 ku4) or, data pants
@skinnylatte okay, how do you pronounce shu4 ju4 ku4? i’ve transliterations like that and have no idea how they should sound.
@blogdiva (Possibly fun tip - you can plunk characters into either google translate or use iOS's Speak option to make it say things out loud too. This was cutting-edge amazing laptop tech when I was in school and I'm SO glad it was available by the time I was learning.)
@skinnylatte I once got hired for a fairly technical job in which it was known and expected that I along with other candidates had no technical background, but was deemed (correctly) able to learn that aspect of the job quickly - and asked to use my (passable, at the time) Mandarin as well, and just completely mentally shorted out. Never hit such a hard wall on any subject in my life.
I cannot remotely tell you how vindicating it is to see a heritage speaker say the above. Also DATA PANTS!
@skinnylatte according to my dad, getting a translator: not too difficult.
Getting one versed in some specific technology or industry: nigh impossible.
@skinnylatte@hachyderm.io From now on I'm going to write this as 数据裤 
@skinnylatte that perspective isn't unique.....