Registration 2013

[Mark McLeod]

China is trying again this year at the Spokane Regional

Team Number: 4813
Team Name: shen zhen da da le le
Team Location: Shen zhen, GD China (shares a border with Hong Kong)
Rookie Season: 2013
Team Nickname: R2
Year - Event : 2013 Spokane Regional

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

China is trying again this year at the Spokane Regional

Team Number: 4813
Team Name: shen zhen da da le le
Team Location: Shen zhen, GD China
Rookie Season: 2013
Team Nickname: R2
Year - Event : 2013 Spokane Regional

Does this team have mentor support from a veteran team?

[mwmac]

Huānyíng guānglín 4813!

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by mwmac

Huānyíng guānglín 4813!

I think Cantonese is spoken there rather than Mandarin.

zhe yan
這

Do any of the Spokane Regional teams have members fluent in Cantonese?
That would be a nice veteran team contact to make.

[mwmac]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

I think Cantonese is spoken there rather than Mandarin.

zhe yan
這

Do any of the Spokane Regional teams have members fluent in Cantonese?
That would be a nice veteran team contact to make.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen#Languages Sounds likely that Mandarin is the lingua franca of the younger demographic of Shenzhen...

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

I think Cantonese is spoken there rather than Mandarin.

zhe yan
這

Do any of the Spokane Regional teams have members fluent in Cantonese?
That would be a nice veteran team contact to make.

I will check and see if I have any students thats can help.
We will be at Spokane. I will see if I have any students that know also...

R

[Ed Law]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

I think Cantonese is spoken there rather than Mandarin.

zhe yan
這

Do any of the Spokane Regional teams have members fluent in Cantonese?
That would be a nice veteran team contact to make.

They speak both Mandarin and Cantonese. I would say almost all people in Shenzhen can speak Mandarin and most people can speak Cantonese. My guess is they learn English also in school. By the way, Shenzhen is not practically in Hong Kong. I am very glad to see a team coming from there. Hopefully they will expand to other cities.

[EOC]

During my recent visit to China, I found that almost all the teenagers spoke English quite well. Probably much better than Americans trained in Mandarin or Cantonese speak those languages. My point is that the language barrier will not be a major problem.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by EOC

I found that almost all the teenagers spoke English quite well.

Do we need an American teenager to translate for us older folks?

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by EOC

... the language barrier will not be a major problem.

I've made a few trips to Guangdong province recently, on business for Whirlpool. We have both engineering labs and motor suppliers in that part of China. Shenzhen is among the easiest parts of China for foreign travelers to reach -- I like going by ferry from HK. I will very likely be there again for a few days during the upcoming build season.

I agree with Eric's comment above re: language. There are more than 100 million people in Guangdong province today, and a significant fraction of them either speak or are learning to speak English. Of course many of those are young people, with better than average education and a keen interest in science and technology.

Back to my question: does anyone know if FRC 4813 has mentor support from a veteran team?

[EOC]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

Back to my question: does anyone know if FRC 4813 has mentor support from a veteran team?

Team 1208 would love to mentor and support them, but we are not going to the Spokane Regional. If no one from that regional steps up, we will be glad to fill that role.

[Mark McLeod]

Put Singapore on the list to mentor, too.
This one needs a Toronto West mentoring team.
No language barrier here, unless the mentoring team is French-Canadian I suppose...

Team Number: 4817
Team Name: Singapore American School
Team Location: Singapore
Team Nickname: Singapore Eagles
Event: 2013 Greater Toronto West Regional

P.S.
Singapore has the furthest to travel to their event at 9300 miles (great circle distance).
Beating out the two Girls/Boys of Blacktown, Australia teams (7700 miles) and the Los Angeles team attending Israel (7500 miles).

[OZ_341]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

P.S.
Singapore has the furthest to travel to their event at 9300 miles (great circle distance).

Our Singapore FTC sister team will be visiting the US in January for a competition. They have made this trip many times since 2005, when they participated in their first FVC event at Champs. Team 341 also did a trip to Singapore, with our FRC robot in tow, back in 2006. The trip took 36 hours door to door. (and nothing went wrong with the flights or transfers) That was a very tough commute, but well worth the visit. Very glad to see a team from Singapore making the move towards FRC.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

I've made a few trips to Guangdong province recently, on business for Whirlpool. We have both engineering labs and motor suppliers in that part of China. Shenzhen is among the easiest parts of China for foreign travelers to reach -- I like going by ferry from HK. I will very likely be there again for a few days during the upcoming build season.

I agree with Eric's comment above re: language. There are more than 100 million people in Guangdong province today, and a significant fraction of them either speak or are learning to speak English. Of course many of those are young people, with better than average education and a keen interest in science and technology.

Back to my question: does anyone know if FRC 4813 has mentor support from a veteran team?

We will certainly be available to mentor them ...How do we get contact information? We will be at the Spokane Regional

thanks

[Mark McLeod]

No contact info. is listed in TIMS for them.
I'd try contacting FIRST HQ, maybe Carla Proulx, FRC International Coordinator.