How did it feel when you finally realized you are now fluent in Chinese, what was the moment of realization like?
I mean the moment when you said to yourself “wow I can’t believe Chinese doesn’t sound like gibberish to me anymore.”
I work at a B2B company that thinks the marketing function is simply being active on social media, my only function is write content, post it on social media (on every possible platform just to look active).
How do I elevate our structure? What should be reported, and what is just noise?
The management isn't aware of the digital marketing jargon, impressions, reach. cac are all foreign concepts to them
So since I can't teach them how marketing works, how do I enlighten them and work towards something more strategy-based rather than "Oh look, we have 1000 more views, cool!"
Literally my only directive is "Keep social media alive"
(I'm doing it solo, but I have a designer)
What are possible justifications for discontinuing an incomplete novel? Was stopping ever worth it?
Is there a merit to this claim?
[deleted]
ابحث عن روايات وقصص من تأليف عربي، غير مترجم
وإذا ممكن إرفاق سبب التوصية
أكون لكم شاكر.
Just for some context, I I am a Japanese language translation graduate, class of 2017.
I would say I’m between B2 and C1 in Japanese
I started learning Chinese on my own after that and the reason is simply because I fell in love with Chinese characters and Japanese doesn’t have enough of that.
But I stopped for a while to pursue my MBA
And now that I got it, I want to go back to Chinese
To me, the tones and characters are pretty straightforward and most of what I know transfers pretty well, I just gotta learn new pronunciations to words I already know.
My question is, how do I bring my Chinese up to the level of my Japanese, without traveling or joining group classes, the way it was in university?
I want to improve my speaking, however my experience with talking to Chinese people on apps like hellotalk, is that a ton of people try to talk to you at the same time, you can’t keep up with everyone, and they all expect you to reply and then engage with them, and even when you do engage with them, it doesn’t go beyond pleasantries like hello, how are you? Where are you from? Your Chinese is really good.
Oh, and let’s not forget when you tell them where you’re from and they ask you is it true that in your country they do this and that
It’s cute the first few times, but it gets annoying really quick .
And often times they claim they want to learn English, but they barely speak it, so it’s not really an exchange. I’m the one benefiting here and I don’t like that imbalance..
So I deleted hellotalk and decided to focus on rehearsing scripts out loud
Recording myself reading a story and so on
But is that sustainable and does it actually improve my pronunciation? and ability to automate certain expressions?
I appreciate you all for taking the time to read my post.
I want to know how other people spend their day at work to get an idea on what I should be doing.
What do you do to be productive? What are you working on right now and how do prioritize tasks?
(I work at a startup and nothing feels urgent)
My boss asked me to bring my MBA certificate to work because they wanted to make a social media post celebrating my achievement.
I objected from the start. We’ve never celebrated anyone’s achievement before, and singling me out would look strange when there were others who got other certifications around the same time I did.
I told him if you’re gonna celebrate me, you should celebrate everyone else as well
He said: “He said sure, why not?”
I hadn’t even received my certificate yet, but a couple of days later my coworker made the post anyway, since we all heard my boss say to do it.
Not ten minutes after posting, a senior manager messages me asking who approved it. I told him, Mr. (boss’s name).
Two minutes later my boss messages me himself, telling me to remove the post because it’s personal and not company-related.
My coworker called him for an explanation. “Weren’t you the one insisting on a celebratory post for him?”
“I was? Aww, now I feel bad.”
(What is he, a goldfish?)
“Send me an official email so I can approve it and you can post it.”
When my coworker told me this, I said hell no, don’t post it and don’t bring it up again. I refuse to let anyone play office politics with my achievements.
هل تهتمون في اعلانات البرامج اللي ممكن تساعدكم في عملكم؟
أنا اشتغل تسويق الكتروني في جهة عندها برنامج سجل طبي إلكتروني
والجمهور المستهدف هم رجال الأعمال وأصحاب القرار في مجال الرعاية الصحية
ولكن أنا ما أعرف مثل هؤلاء الأشخاص وين يتواجدون رقمياً وعندي شكوك في انهم يتابعون السوشل ميديا للبحث عن مثل هذه الأشياء أصلاً
غالب اللي يجونا عرفونا بالاسم على ارض الواقع مو السوشل ميديا.
أنا ودي اعتمد على آراء حقيقية عشان اكتب محتوى يهتمون فيه فعلياً - مو أعتمد على الـ AI وبس
Context:
I applied jokingly to a big company looking to expand their operations near where I live and I got an interview, It's an entry level marketing job. in the job description, they said they wanted a genuine Swiss knife, someone who has a lot of different skills that would require multiple people.
and that's basically describing my current job.
We have no marketing department. I am the marketing department.
I do literally everything in marketing, digital or offline. not because I want to, but because they don't want to invest in more people. whenever I genuinely can't do something, they say just use AI.
At least I have a designer.
How I got the interview:
In their description they said they wanted someone who believes he can turn 0 to 1.
and so in one of the screening questions they asked why I wanted to join.
I simply answered that I wasn't going to, until I saw that line about turning 0 to 1. this is a concept I learned about when I watched Blue Lock, a football anime that advocates for the same philosophy in the context of scoring goals, that a one goal difference might seem small, but it can mean the difference between winning and losing a world cup final.
But the idea extends to work as well. we may want to have a great impact by participating in big projects, but greatness often comes by doing small seemingly insignificant, boring, tasks on a consistent basis. even dust when piled up becomes a mountain.
Now what?
At work I don't use tools besides Ai, how can I convey my impact if I don't have KPIs or percentages, things I did include, writing brochures, editing videos, using my own voice as voice over. posting on social media, copywriting, translating the website. dealing with influencers and managing booth logistics with vendors, negotiating prices for events. I even shot ads with with my iphone. and did HR stuff too, like screening CVs and coordinating interviews
My only problem is that I didn't know i had to quantify these actions and relate them to my impact on the organization.
The interview is tomorrow, Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I just got my MBA, I was at work. Two of my colleagues were present at the office, when my boss asked me: You’re studying to get your MBA right? I said: Actually, I already finished. I’m just waiting for the certificate to printed.
He said oh that’s great. This is a cause to celebrate. We should make a social media post as an announcement for your achievement.
I said no that’s off brand and it’s unusual. If you’re gonna celebrate my achievement, you should celebrate everyone else’s (different colleagues got different certifications around the same time I did)
What I was saying is that if you’re celebrating one of us you should celebrate all of us.
He said, of course, why not let’s do that too
So one of the people in the room started working on the design for the announcement
When he finished, he posted it on social media
Not 10 minutes after posting it, I get a message from a senior manager asking who approved post? I said (boss’s name.)
He read the message
Two minutes later, my boss himself told me to remove the post because it’s not company-related.
I said OK and deleted it immediately
My colleague who had worked on the post found it strange saying: wasn’t he the one pushing to get it posted?
What am I to make of this?
(I’m burned out)
صار لي ٨ سنين خبرة في سوق العمل
ولكن الجهات اللي عملت فيها قدراتها محدودة من حيث التدريب
نظام من أول يوم أنت دبر نفسك حنا ما نعلمك شي
فأنا صارت عندي رغبة إني أعمل عمل تطوعي بس عشان اثبت إن لي قيمة في السوق
واسجلها
سويت 1,000,000 شي حقق أثر في حياتي بس ما سجلت شيء بالأرقام
والجهات ما تصدق إذا ما في إثبات
هم يبون اثبت أشياء جهة العمل اللي اشتغل فيها ما علمتني أنها مهمة أصلاً
أو عشان اثبتها أحتاج ميزانية
وهذا ما يتوفر عند الشركة اللي أنا أشتغل فيها
فصرت أقول يا رجال سو لأي أحد أي شغلة و سجلها في السيفي
بس تجربتي في العمل التطوعي أيام المدرسة نظام سجل اسمك بقائمة بدون ما تسوي شي فعلياً
فكيف الوضع؟ أبغى عمل تطوعي يخدمني مهنياً
للعلم أنا أشتغل في الترجمة و التسوي
صار لي ٨ سنين خبرة في سوق العمل
ولكن الجهات اللي عملت فيها قدراتها محدودة من حيث التدريب
نظام من أول يوم أنت دبر نفسك حنا ما نعلمك شي
فأنا صارت عندي رغبة إني أعمل عمل تطوعي بس عشان اثبت إن لي قيمة في السوق
واسجلها
سويت 1,000,000 شي حقق أثر في حياتي بس ما سجلت شيء بالأرقام
والجهات ما تصدق إذا ما في إثبات
هم يبون اثبت أشياء جهة العمل اللي اشتغل فيها ما علمتني أنها مهمة أصلاً
أو عشان اثبتها أحتاج ميزانية
وهذا ما يتوفر عند الشركة اللي أنا أشتغل فيها
فصرت أقول يا رجال سو لأي أحد أي شغلة و سجلها في السيفي
بس تجربتي في العمل التطوعي أيام المدرسة نظام سجل اسمك بقائمة بدون ما تسوي شي فعلياً
فكيف الوضع؟ أبغى عمل تطوعي يخدمني مهنياً
للعلم أنا أشتغل في الترجمة و التسويق
Things I can do:
1- translating between three languages (Arabic, English, and Japanese)
2- Transcribing videos
3- subtitling
4- video editing
5- copywriting (though I hate doing it)
6- Voiceover narration
I have done plenty of work in each of those areas, but I never kept track of anything because at the time I was younger and I didn’t know I needed to build a portfolio
So if I had to start from scratch to prove I’m a good hire
What should I do?
I’m willing to do any of the above for free just to get a portfolio.
I would appreciate any advice.
Context:
I applied jokingly to a big company looking to expand their operations near where I live and I got an interview, It's an entry level marketing job. in the job description, they said they wanted a genuine Swiss knife, someone who has a lot of different skills that would require multiple people.
and that's basically describing my current job.
We have no marketing department. I am the marketing department.
I do literally everything in marketing, digital or offline. not because I want to, but because they don't want to invest in more people. whenever I genuinely can't do something, they say just use AI.
At least I have a designer.
How I got the interview:
In their description they said they wanted someone who believes he can turn 0 to 1.
and so in one of the screening questions they asked why I wanted to join.
I simply answered that I wasn't going to, until I saw that line about turning 0 to 1. this is a concept I learned about when I watched Blue Lock, a football anime that advocates for the same philosophy in the context of scoring goals, that a one goal difference might seem small, but it can mean the difference between winning and losing a world cup final.
But the idea extends to work as well. we may want to have a great impact by participating in big projects, but greatness often comes by doing small seemingly insignificant, boring, tasks on a consistent basis. even dust when piled up becomes a mountain.
Now what?
At work I don't use tools besides Ai, how can I convey my impact if I don't have KPIs or percentages, things I did include, writing brochures, editing videos, using my own voice as voice over. posting on social media, copywriting, translating the website. dealing with influencers and managing booth logistics with vendors, negotiating prices for events. I even shot ads with with my iphone. and did HR stuff too, like screening CVs and coordinating interviews
My only problem is that I didn't know i had to quantify these actions and relate them to my impact on the organization.
The interview is this coming Friday, Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I work in a messy environment, with no dedicated marketing department, and no budget, but I am expected to keep social media alive somehow. At least I have a designer.
I write brochures, handle website SEO, social media posting, and event marketing logistics
My main bottleneck is, lack of personal expertise with industry-related problems, meaning I can't talk extensively about industry-related tech issues. beyond general AI generated talking points, I am supposed to present the company as a thought leader, yet I feel like I have no idea what I'm talking about, every post has to go through an agonizingly long approval process, every time i tell my boss I can't write, he just says use AI
To circumvent this issue, every once in a while, I ask the designer to redesign the same 15 posts which were already pre-approved to make things look fresh, Nobody tells me what to measure and why, they just tell me keep posting and as long as things look like they're moving, their happy. I only get reprimanded when they see a post they don't like. otherwise, nobody says anything.
I have been stuck at this job for almost 5 years, no growth, no training, no feedback. no tools besides AI, I want to do proper marketing I just simply don't know how, and AI can only do so much
How do I understand my target audience? what should I keep track of, and why? How do you do a marketing plan if anything worth saying (stats and figures, social proof) goes under a microscope, all they accept is generic sales posts with no evidence to support their claims? the management got angry at me once for attempting go out and talk to potential customers myself. they told nobody would say anything good about us!
How do I research for content ideas? How do I determine if a piece of information is a worthwhile post and not just meaningless noise? How do I keep talking about the same products year-round?
More importantly, how do I find a better job that prioritizes marketing as an essential part of its business strategy rather than just something performative? I feel stuck here trying to prove I'm a worthwhile hire to future employers, but they demand metrics, KPIs, they ask how much the budget was, meanwhile I'm just trying to make it through the day wondering if my life has any meaning at all.
I’m trying to practice tone pairs but I’m afraid to solidify bad pronunciation habits. Which is why I’m wondering if the text to speech feature on Quizlet has accurate pronunciation or not.
If not, I’m open to any suggestions regarding how to practice pronunciation.
I keep going back and forth on this. Interview advice always pushes you to frame things strategically: highlight strengths, spin weaknesses, structure your answers for maximum impact. But that always feels like it’s in tension with just telling the truth.
So I’m curious: has anyone actually gotten hired by just answering honestly, without trying to “sell” themselves or manage the narrative? Not lying by omission, not exaggerating, just answering plainly, including admitting when you don’t know something, or when a past decision didn’t go well?
Or does that approach just get you filtered out in favor of people who play the game better, even if what they’re saying is technically true?
Curious to hear from both sides: people who’ve been hired this way, and recruiters/hiring managers who can speak to how “raw honesty” actually reads in an interview.
I’m learning Chinese for fun.
I majored in Japanese for my bachelor’s degree, so I’m comfortable reading Chinese characters since a lot of the character recognition carries over from kanji. Tone recall is also solid for me. But actually handwriting the characters from memory is a real weak spot.
I found this out the hard way during a hand-written Japanese translation assessment. I had to translate an article by hand, and when I couldn’t recall how to write a kanji, I ended up falling back on hiragana (Japanese’s phonetic script) instead. I could read and understand everything fine, but producing characters by hand under pressure was where it fell apart.
It’s always bothered me that I couldn’t write hanzi on command.
For those of you who dealt with something similar, where reading/comprehension and tone recall are solid but handwriting production is weak, did you actually invest in fixing it, or decide it wasn’t worth the time given how rarely people handwrite characters anymore? Curious how others approached this tradeoff.