Archive for the 'Learn Chinese' Category

Jan 17 2009

Celebrating Spring Festival in China

Published by admin under Learn Chinese

Zài zhōng guó guò chūn jié

Chūn jié shì zhong guó nóng lì xīn nián de kāi shǐ . Nóng lì

xin nián tōng cháng bǐ gōng lì xīn nián wǎn yí gè yuè . Chūn

jié duì zhōng guó rén lái shuō jiù rú tóng shèng dàn jié duì xī

西

fāng rén yí yàng zhòng yào . Àn zhào zhōng guó de chuán tǒng ,

chūn jié de zhǔn bèi hé qìng zhù huó dòng shǐ yú shàng yì nián

zuì hòu yí gè yuè de kāi shǐ , bìng qiě yì zhí yán xù

dào nóng lì zhēng yuè shí wǔ . Shì shí shàng , yóu yú shēng

huó jié zòu de jiā kuài , xiàn zài hěn shǎo yǒu rén bǎ yí

gè yuè de shí jiān dōu huā zài zhè shàng mian . Yīn cǐ zhèng

fŭ jué dìng nóng lì xīn nián de dì yī zhōu wéi gōng jià .

Qìng zhù chūn jié de chuán tǒng fāng shì yǒu hěn duō , jǐn guǎn

yǒu xiē yǐ jīng suí zhe shí jiān de tuī yí ér xiāo shī le .

Zhǔ yào de chuán tǒng huó dòng yǒu : qīng sǎo fáng jiān , gòu

:

zhì nián huò , tiē nián huà hé duì lián , fàng biān pào ,

guàng miào huì děng . Chú xī zhī yè , quán jiā rén jù zài

yì qǐ chī nián yè fàn . Zài zhōng guó běi fāng , rén men

tōng cháng chī jiǎo zi , ér zài zhōng guó nán fāng , rén men

tōng cháng chī nián gāo .         

                  

Zhōng guó de xǔ duō shǎo shù mín zú hé hàn zú rén yì qǐ

guò chūn jié , dàn yě yǒu yì xiē shǎo shù mín zú yǒu zì

jǐ de chuán tǒng xīn nián .        

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Nov 30 2008

Funny Chinese Expression: 不好意思

Published by Turner under Learn Chinese

Here today we would like to learn a funny Chinese Expression:不好意思

My girlfriend and I have been staying with my parents here in San Fransico since the 4th of July. My family has been very generous and hospitable to her during that time. Naturally, her response was, “我觉得不好意思(wǒ juéde bù hǎo yìsi).” Then she asked me how to say 不好意思(bù hǎo yìsi) in English. 

I usually find 不好意思(bù hǎo yìsi) pretty easy to translate, as it can often correspond to “sorry” or “excuse me” in English. When you’re a little late to a meeting, you can say 不好意思 (sorry). When you eat the last cookie and then somone else wants one, you can say 不好意思 (sorry). When you bump someone on the subway, you can say 不好意思 (sorry). 

 But in this case, my girlfriend’s usage was meant to express something like, “your kindness is too much,” or “you’re being so nice that it makes me feel too indebted.” And she wanted me to come up with one easy word or phrase to translate. When I couldn’t, and I asked for help from my sister, and she couldn’t either, my girlfriend just laughed: “you Americans never feel 不好意思(bù hǎo yìsi)!”

_______ 

Actually 意思 (yìsi) has many different meandings as following I have listed. All of them have something to do with what you think. Have you noticed that the bottom parts of the two Chinese characters are (xīn, heart)? Attention, the second character is a light tone. Read aloud after me “意思 yìsi” ,不好意思 (bù hǎo yìsi) !

>>> 意思 yìsi
1.〖meaning;i dea〗∶意义;道理

  例如:不要误会我的意思 Please don’t misunderstand what I mean.
2.〖intention; wish; desire〗∶意图;用意。
  例如:文章的中心意思 the key intention of this article
3.〖a token of affection, appreciation, etc.〗∶略表心意
  例如:这点东西送给您,小意思,别客气 This is a small token for you. I hope you like it.
4.〖suggestion; hint; trace〗∶某种趋势或迹象。
  例如:我发现她对你有的意思呢! I find she has something special feeling to you.
5. 〖interest; fun〗∶情趣;趣味。
  例如:打乒乓球很有意思 It is very interesting to play table tennis. 

6. 不好意思 (bù hǎo yìsi): excuse me; sorry; embarressed
  例如:不好意思,我的中文说得不好。 I am sorry, my Chinese is very bad.

________

When you meet Chinese friends, you can say like this to express how your Chinese is going.

Wǒ zhōngwén shuō de bù hǎo,

 我                      好,

Hěn bù hǎo  yìsi.

          意思。

Dànshì,  xué zhōngwén  hěn yǒu  yìshí.

  是,                               意思

>> I am sorry my Chinese is not good.

>> But, it is interesting to learn Chinese!

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Sep 14 2008

Chinese poem about the Mid-Autumn Festival

Published by Turner under Learn Chinese

[#3: Edit Options>MightyAdsense>Adsense Code]

明月几时有,      míngyuè jǐshí yǒu
把酒问青天。      bǎ jiǔ wèn qīngtiān
不知天上宫阙,   bùzhī tiānshàng gōngquè
今夕是何年?      jīnxī shì hé nián
我欲乘风归去,   wǒ yù chéngfēng guīqù
又恐琼楼玉宇,   yòu kǒng qiónglóu yùyǔ
高处不胜寒。      gāochù bú shēng hán
起舞弄清影,      qǐwǔ nòng qīng yǐng
何似在人间!      hé sì zài rénjiān

  

转朱阁,低绮户,照无眠。zhuǎn zhūgé, dī qǐ hù, zhào wúmián
不应有恨,             bù yīng yǒu hèn
何事长向别时圆?    héshì chángxiàng bié shí yuán
人有悲欢离合,       rén yǒu bēihuān líhé
月有阴晴圆缺,       yuè yǒu yīnqíng yuánquē
此事古难全。          cǐ shì gǔ nán quán
但愿人长久,          dànyuàn rén chángjiǔ
千里共婵娟。          qiānlǐ gòng chánjuān

-

Bright moon, when was your birth?
Winecup in hand, I ask the deep blue sky;
Not knowing what year it is tonight
In those celestial palaces on high. I long to fly back one the wind,
Yet dread those crystal towers, those courts of jade,
Freezing to death among those icy heights!
Instead I rise to dance with my pale shadow;
Better off, after all, in the world of men.

Rounding the red pavilion,
Stooping to look through gauze windows,
She shines on the sleepless.
The moon should know no sadness;
Why, then, is she always full when dear ones are parted?
For men the grief of parting, joy of reunion,
Just as the moon wanes and waxes, is bright or dim:
Always some flaw-and so it has been since of old.
My one wish for you, is long life
And a share in this loveliness far, far away!

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Jul 18 2008

Chinese Pinyin learning

Published by admin under Learn Chinese

If you want to learn the Chinese language, the first thing you have to know about is the Chinese Pinyin. Chinese Pinin is the romanization of the Chinese “written sound”. Romanizaiton approximate Mandrin pronuciation with Wesern spellings and includes a tone ot signify the pith of a word.

Just like alphabet A – Z to English, Pinyin provides a phonetic alphabet for Chinese and is taught from Grade 1 in Chinese elementary schools. It is a fundamental tool used for learning the spelling of Chinese characters throughout Chinese language study.

Pinyin is used by most modern Chinese dictionaries to denote pronunciation of characters. It is also an efficient input method in Chinese computer software, which is natively supported by Microsoft Windows OS.

After mastering Pinyin, you can easily read Chinese books with Pinyin marked, learn Chinese characters by looking in the dictionary, or input Chinese characters into your computer, it will take your Chinese study to a higher level.

25 out of 26 English alphabet letters are used in Pinyin. Letter ‘v’ is not used, while letter ‘ ü ‘ is added to represent the vowel sound of ‘yu’.

Pinyin includes consonants and vowel letters.

Consonant letters

There are 20 consonant letters use in Mandarin (three consonants are represented by combinations of two letters – ‘zh’, ‘ch’ and ’sh’), they are:

b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, h, j, q, x, z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, r, y, w

Vowel letters

There are 6 vowel letters used in Mandarin:

a, o, e, i, u, ü

Syllables

Syllables are composed by consonants, vowels and tone.

The consonant that begins a syllable is initial, they can be:

b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, h, j, q, x, z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, r, y, w

The rest parts after the initial are finals. Final can be a single vowel, a combination of vowels, or combination of vowels and nasals ‘n’ or ‘ng’:

  • There are 6 simple finals which are single vowels, they are : a, o, e, i, u, ü .
  • The others are compound finals, they are: ai, ao, ou, ei, ia, ie, iao, iou, ua, uo, uai, uei, üe,

    an, ang, ong, en, eng, in, ing, ian, iang, iong,

    uen, ueng, uan, uang, ün, üan 

The combination of 21 initials and 33 finals in Mandarin romanization (there are five more finals, but they share the same symbols as other finals) form about 420 different sounds. 

A word consists of initial + final + tone. In some cases, the initial can be omitted.

Although most of the sounds are generally close to how they are used and pronounced in English, some don’t follow English letters exactly and are pronounced differently.

Pay extra attention to the differences and listen closely to each Chinese sound, it takes practices to pronounce correctly.

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Jun 18 2008

Earthquake Relief Poem

Published by admin under Learn Chinese

想着生活继续,天空失去了美丽,
你却等待梦在明天站起。
你的呼喊刻在我的血液里
Always together, dead or alive
Where did your dream go
As life continues, the sky becomes gloomy
You look for the dreams of tomorrow
Your cries will forever in my blood flow

生死不离,我数秒等你的消息。
相信生命不息,与你祈祷一起呼吸
我看不到你却牵挂在心里,
你的目光是我全部的意义!
Always together, dead or alive
I wait for word of you every second
I pray with you that we breathe together
Believing life will never end
My heart is with you, where can you be?
And your eyes are the whole world to me

无论你在哪里,我都要找到你。
血脉能创造奇迹,生命是意义
无论你在哪里,我都要找到你。
手拉着手,生死不离
Wherever you are, I will find you
The bond (of blood) makes miracles, and for life we strive
Wherever you are, I will find you
Hand in hand, together always, dead or alive

生死不离,全世界都被沉寂
痛苦也不哭泣,爱是你的传奇,
彩虹在风雨后渐渐升起。
我的努力看到爱的力气!
无论你在哪里,我都要找到你!
血脉能创造奇迹,大山毅然举起
无论你在哪里,我都要找到你。
天裂了,去缝起
你一丝希望是我全部的动力
搭起我的手筑成你回家的路基!!!
Always together, dead or alive
When the world is silenced
We shed no tears though in pain
For of love you are legend
And rainbows are rising after wind and rain
I see love’s strength in search of you
Wherever you are, I will find you
The bond (of blood) makes miracles, and mountains rise again
Wherever you are, I will find you
If the sky breaks, we will sew it
Your glimmer of hope is all power of me
Your road home is what my hands will be

无论你在哪里,我都要找到你。
血脉能创造奇迹,生命是命题
无论你在哪里,我都要找到你。
手拉着手,生死不离
Wherever you are, I will find you
The bond (of blood) makes miracles, and on life we thrive
Wherever you are, I will find you
Hand in hand, together always, dead or alive

无论你在哪里,我都要找到你!
血脉能创造奇迹,大山毅然举起
无论你在哪里,我都要找到你。
无论你在哪里,我都要找到你。
天裂了,去缝起
手拉着手,生死不离!!!

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Feb 25 2008

Useful Chinese Mandarin Phrases for Foreigners

Published by admin under Learn Chinese

To most foreigners, the Chinese language is overwhelming; there is no doubt about it.  “The Chinese language is impossible!” “Every word sounds the same!” “How can anyone understand it?”  Through traveling with students from the US, I have found phrases like this to be quite common.

Even if you have given up on learning how to speak such a drastically different language, it can be extremely helpful, and even considerate to learn some of the basics.  Here are ten of the most helpful Chinese phrases:

1.        Ni hao: pronounced, “nee how.”  This is the most common way to say Hello in China, and is typically understood regardless of your pronunciation.  This is also a good phrase to begin more complex Chinese conversation, as it preps the listener to hear Chinese rather than the expected English, etc.

2.        Xie xie: pronounced, “shay shay.”  Thank you.  In my opinion, this is the number one phrase to know.  You cannot be thankful enough for the many waiters/waitresses, cab drivers, and citizens for helping you get the things you want without knowing the language they speak.  This phrase typically raises a smile, as it is greatly appreciated, and often unexpected.

3.        Bu yao: pronounced, “boo yow” Literally translates to “no want.”  This phrase is especially useful in the major tourist areas in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where countless vendors are continuously trying to make a sale.

4.        Wo yao yi ping shui: pronounced, “whoa yow ee peeng shway” Translates into “I would like a bottle of water.”  A little lengthier, but just as useful, as water taken directly from the tap is not drinkable in China.  I have never been to a restaurant or hotel that did not provide bottled water.

5.        Cesuo zai nar: pronounced, “tsuh-swhoh zi (rhyming with eye) nahr” “Where is the restroom?” This phrase is rather self-explanatory.  Even if the person being asked responds in more Chinese than you can handle, they will at least point you in the right direction.

6.        Wo e le: pronounced, “whoa uh luh” This phrase translates into “I am hungry” and is probably the most basic way to get someone to help you find food.

7.        Zai jian: pronounced, “zi jee-ann” The most common way to say “good bye.”

8.        Duo shao qian: pronounced, “dwoh shaow chee-ann.” Here you are asking how much something costs, a phrase especially helpful in the many markets around town.

9.        Wo bu shuo zhongwen: pronounced, “woh boo shwoh jong-wun,” and meaning “I don’t speak Chinese.”

10. The last thing to know are the numbers, one through ten, broken down as follows:
a.        Yi (ee) – 1
b.        Er (ar)        – 2
c.        San (sahn) – 3
d.        Si (suh) – 4
e.        Wu (woo) – 5
f.        Liu (lee-oh) – 6
g.        Qi (chee) – 7
h.        Ba (bah) – 8
i.        Jiu (jee-oh) – 9
j.        Shi (shr) – 10

Although these ten phrases may seem tough to master, it is a good idea to at least try.  From my experience, most Chinese truly appreciate your effort, even if your pronunciation is nearly unintelligible, and often will help you to improve!

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