HEyHEY
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Wed Sep-29-10 11:10 PM
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Free Chinese lessons inside! |
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I was getting one of the SO's signature Chinese lessons last night, I forgot my book at her place so she emailed me three of the things I wanted to know so I could go over them again. Here, I copy pasted them. Any questions?
当……的时候=when
dang1.....de shi2 hou4 当我从上海回来的时候=When I returned from Shanghai. dang1 wo3 cong2 shang4 hai3 hui2 lai2 de shi2 hou4
自从=ever since zi4 cong2 自从我离开加拿大=since I left Canada zi4 cong2 wo3 li2 kai1 jia1 na2 da4
从来不=never
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REP
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Wed Sep-29-10 11:19 PM
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Either that or my pinyin sucks even harder than I think it does.
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HEyHEY
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Wed Sep-29-10 11:21 PM
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REP
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Wed Sep-29-10 11:27 PM
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Edited on Wed Sep-29-10 11:27 PM by REP
I'm used to the wa/wada ta/tada ni/nida but then again, I almost always just hear it.
First Chinese I learned: Wai mai! (to go; I worked in a restaurant)
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HEyHEY
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Wed Sep-29-10 11:29 PM
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4. Wo is I, yup... I think you've studided Cantonese, not mandarin |
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Wai Mai sounds more Cantonese, as far as I know, in Mandarin "to go" would be "Wo Qu"... or it Wai Mai could also be a variation of "Ma Shan"
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REP
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Wed Sep-29-10 11:32 PM
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5. "Studied"? You're sweet! |
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Picked up working and from friends. Maybe a dialect of Mandarin, but definitely not Cantonese - it's beautiful, but my tongue is too clumsy.
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HEyHEY
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Wed Sep-29-10 11:38 PM
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6. Know where your friends are from? |
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Yeah, they could be from one of the places that speak Fuzhou or maybe it's Shanghainese.
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REP
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Wed Sep-29-10 11:51 PM
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7. All over, but mostly Shanghai and Sichuan province |
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Edited on Wed Sep-29-10 11:52 PM by REP
Both here and in KC, all Mandarin speakers understand me ... :shrug: I'd say they're being polite, but they understand what I'm saying!
Also HK, and I know they speak Cantonese there. At least I think I know that.
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HEyHEY
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Wed Sep-29-10 11:55 PM
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8. Must be Shanghainese you're learning |
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It is mandarin but a certain dialect of it. I actually speak Beijinghua, which becomes a pain in the ass when I go elsewhere.
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REP
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Thu Sep-30-10 12:02 AM
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9. Aha! I know Beijing has its own dialect but my brain isn't working tonight |
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Well, no surprise there!
Have you been there long enough to be completely over all the ancient stuff already? I know I'd be a typical tourist - museums, archeological sites and and all the shishi (can't do the accents on my phone - stone lions) I could stuff in my suitcase.
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HEyHEY
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Thu Sep-30-10 12:07 AM
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What I've found is, in genreal, you seen one temple you've seen em all/
But, I have been to a large cross-section yeah.
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tigereye
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Thu Sep-30-10 06:34 AM
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11. hmm, there are evening Mandarin classes at my son's school - tempting.. |
rug
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Thu Sep-30-10 07:24 AM
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12. I am confident that is one language I will never learn. |
REP
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Thu Sep-30-10 08:02 AM
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14. No conjugating verbs - big plus for Chinese |
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All verbs have one case: present. And even native speakers don't always get the tones right (sometimes on purpose, such as the Grass Mud Horse ... Said slightly differently, it becomes Your Mother's Cunt). I know a lot of native speakers, and they're always so encouraging, even if you're just saying 'Thanks.'
Reading it is a whole 'nother thing.
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HEyHEY
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Fri Oct-01-10 01:55 AM
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16. Yeah, the tones are a bitch |
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But I like how all I need to do is add "bu" or "Mei" to make a verb negative and "Guo" or "Le" to make it past tense. Pretty simple. Now if only I could convince them to not care about the tones.
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Richardo
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Thu Sep-30-10 07:34 AM
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13. "Ever since you left Canada you never ..." what? |
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Don't leave us hanging, man.
:hi:
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HEyHEY
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Fri Oct-01-10 01:53 AM
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15. "Speak french" is the end to that phrase! |
cwydro
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Fri Oct-01-10 02:00 AM
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17. I just want one of those Obama T-shirts |
jobycom
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Fri Oct-01-10 02:52 AM
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18. Is item 3 vegetarian? |
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Fri May 10th 2024, 08:22 PM
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