I'm trying to learn a little bit of Mandarin too, just for fun since I'm going to China for a couple of weeks in September. I'm not going to try to learn the written characters though - it'll just be spoken with a little bit of pinyin to help with memorization. Has anyone tried Chinesepod.com? I'm doing the free trial and so far the lessons seem pretty good.
― o. nate, Monday, 18 July 2011 20:04 (twelve years ago) link
this blog post saved my life today
http://robrohan.com/2007/02/03/typing-proper-pinyin-on-mac/
― dayo, Monday, 18 July 2011 20:14 (twelve years ago) link
Brilliant, just what I need.
o. nate, I've not spent a great deal of time with ChinesePod but it gets a huge rap from loads of learners.
― Gary Barlow syndrome (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 18 July 2011 22:42 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-19/news-corp-share-slump-murdoch/2799888
News Corp total value down 20%/US$9b since all this started. DELICIOUS.
― invite ← VERB (Schlafsack), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 01:26 (twelve years ago) link
(estimated)
― invite ← VERB (Schlafsack), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 01:27 (twelve years ago) link
shit, wrong thread
...or is it.
― Bloompsday (Trayce), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 03:03 (twelve years ago) link
I just LAPSED into Chinese because I couldn't remember the English for something. Didn't realise until after I'd done it. First time ever.
― Gary Barlow syndrome (Autumn Almanac), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 07:45 (twelve years ago) link
NEXT:
1. learn some other sinitic language, start telling everyone how 吴语 has as many native speakers as german, decry the chinese govt 汉办 confucian institutes' destruction of minority languges and commitment to simplified characters which cut us off from chinese history and the greater sinosphere2. get really into some weird obscure shit like 1950s land reform-era socialist realism sci-fi or bawdy errenzhuan from some specific neighborhood of a specific city in liaoning3. carry a copy of 西夏旅馆 or 荒人手记 on the bus, meet literate taiwanese girls4. smoke a blunt of tuna kush with david der-wei wang
― dylannn, Wednesday, 20 July 2011 08:54 (twelve years ago) link
I'm gonna have to start calling you Mal, Adam!
― Bloompsday (Trayce), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 08:55 (twelve years ago) link
idgi
― Gary Barlow syndrome (Autumn Almanac), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 10:07 (twelve years ago) link
Mal from Firefly, you kno. They lapse into Chinese swearing and such.
― Bloompsday (Trayce), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 10:21 (twelve years ago) link
nooo
― Gary Barlow syndrome (Autumn Almanac), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 10:41 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYTM5H2IDSg
― Bloompsday (Trayce), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 10:46 (twelve years ago) link
omg that's fantastic, I had no idea
― Gary Barlow syndrome (Autumn Almanac), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 11:15 (twelve years ago) link
Sir, you must watch all of Firefly forthwith! Its only one season. I can lend you my dvd if you like. Its bloody awesome.
― Bloompsday (Trayce), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 11:35 (twelve years ago) link
Thx for offer but I can get my hands on it pretty easily. Quite fascinated now, ha.
― Gary Barlow syndrome (Autumn Almanac), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 11:39 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah its not a pivotal thing in the show but it lends a great flavour to it. And Joss Whedon's stuff is great, so.
― Bloompsday (Trayce), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 11:40 (twelve years ago) link
They have a course in Chinese in our ELEMENTARY school. I mean ffs I had a hard time learning french. Granted, it's for the gifted kids.
― Nathalie (stevienixed), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 15:04 (twelve years ago) link
http://carlgene.com/blog/2011/07/110-diseases-disabilities-and-disorders-in-english-and-chinese/
― ½ Louise Mensch (Schlafsack), Tuesday, 26 July 2011 00:44 (twelve years ago) link
thank you forvo.com for allowing me to enjoy dyao's username:http://www.forvo.com/word/%E6%88%91%E7%88%B1%E4%BD%A0/#zh(things everyone who actually posts on this thread already knew)
Adam's link reminds me that I recently spent some time googling the Chinese for smallpox on account of the image linked and partially explained herein:http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1678
― the ascent of nyan (a passing spacecadet), Sunday, 31 July 2011 18:50 (twelve years ago) link
now feeling creepy for accidentally using dayo's old username and calling Schlafsack his real name when neither of you know who I am, sorry both
forvo is pretty handy though in my experience of learning languages which are not Chinese
the school I went to now makes the kids learn Mandarin, was kind of envious when I read this in the alumni newsletter, but also felt a frisson of shame and panic that I would not have been smart enough to learn something so radically different as Chinese, and now other kids are
(but the thought of doing a tonal language in school with all the mean kids listening is pretty horrifying to those of us who can't even sing or manage a convincing French accent)
― the ascent of nyan (a passing spacecadet), Sunday, 31 July 2011 19:08 (twelve years ago) link
and calling Schlafsack his real name when neither of you know who I am, sorry both
it's cool (i am he)
― Gary Barlow syndrome (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, 31 July 2011 19:10 (twelve years ago) link
imo Chinese is on the whole more useful than (a) languages like French and German as the native speakers can usually speak English anyway and (b) crap like Latin that my school stopped teaching the year before I started. LATIN.
― Gary Barlow syndrome (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, 31 July 2011 19:13 (twelve years ago) link
usually frequently
― Gary Barlow syndrome (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, 31 July 2011 19:14 (twelve years ago) link
Why do all the rooms have to end in 室 OR 房 OR 厅? Jesus.
― Autumn Almanac, Wednesday, 17 August 2011 10:11 (twelve years ago) link
庐墓[廬-] lúmù* 〈trad.〉 v.o. ①mourn for one's deceased parent by dwelling in a hut by the grave
― dylannn, Wednesday, 17 August 2011 10:58 (twelve years ago) link
O___O
― Autumn Almanac, Wednesday, 17 August 2011 11:01 (twelve years ago) link
宠擅专房[寵-專-] chǒngshànzhuānfáng f.e. be unusually favored by a husband (said of a concubine)蹿房越脊[躥---] cuānfángyuèjǐ f.e. operate as a second-story thief房中术[--術] fángzhōngshù n. the art of lovemaking跳房子 tiào fángzi v.o./n. hopscotch圆房[圓-] ¹yuánfáng v.o. solemnize/consummate a marriage (of a son with a girl raised in his family)毡房[氈-] zhānfáng p.w. yurt; ger M: zuò子房 zǐfáng n. 〈bio.〉 ovary
― dylannn, Wednesday, 17 August 2011 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
蹿房越脊[躥---] cuānfángyuèjǐ f.e. operate as a second-story thief
this is just
― Autumn Almanac, Wednesday, 17 August 2011 21:37 (twelve years ago) link
冰室 ³bīngshì n. ice-cream parlor M:¹jiān病室 ¹bìngshì n. ward (of a hospital); sick room M:¹jiān
蚕室[蠶-] ²cánshì n. ①silkworm nursery ②〈trad.〉 prison where the punishment of castration was inflicted热入血室[熱---] rèrùxuèshì f.e. 〈Ch. med.〉 invasion of the blood chamber by heat浊气盈室[濁氣--] zhuóqìyíngshì f.e. Foul smell fills the room.
love it
― dylannn, Thursday, 18 August 2011 04:09 (twelve years ago) link
I don't think those are that weird
― dayo, Thursday, 18 August 2011 04:38 (twelve years ago) link
nah it's mostly just languages randomly having words which are expressed in a more roundabout fashion elsewhere? I mean:
Tailgating (1) manoeuvering one's vehicle unreasonably close to the one in front of oneself; (2) attending, or organizing, an informal feast outside the site of a sporting or cultural event.
― anatol_merklich, Friday, 19 August 2011 18:04 (twelve years ago) link
ok strikeout "randomly" there
― anatol_merklich, Friday, 19 August 2011 18:05 (twelve years ago) link
Year 1 complete. They reckon I got a load of HDs and now I am officially owed a certificate. Highly useful if ever I want to book a holiday or talk about students.
― Autumn Almanac (Schlafsack), Wednesday, 26 October 2011 23:59 (twelve years ago) link
what kind of certificate? is it an hsk-focused type of deal or a university thing?
― dylannn, Thursday, 27 October 2011 01:53 (twelve years ago) link
http://rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=C1064
The course is definitely geared in the direction of 新HSK – the Cert I content bears a conspicuous resemblance to the 新HSK 1 & 2 word lists. RMIT is Melbourne's only HSK testing centre (last I checked) and the same teaching staff run both, so the correlation is deliberate.
― Autumn Almanac (Schlafsack), Thursday, 27 October 2011 02:18 (twelve years ago) link
Bloke at the gym had 'upright' tattooed on his arm, upside down.
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 17 January 2012 09:00 (twelve years ago) link
I'm teaching myself at the moment. Got a little BBC Active guide for Chrimbo. It's bloody tough, but so far I can say 'hello', 'how are you?, 'i'm well, thanks', 'i'm not so good', 'I am Charlie', 'I am not Kevin', 'Good Evening', 'Good Morning' and a few other phrases. Even though it's Pinyin, it's still really tricky to know exactly how to pronounce words.
― I want your nose, your shoes and your unicycle (dog latin), Tuesday, 17 January 2012 11:09 (twelve years ago) link
Pronunciation is a killer. Even when you get the hang of the tones, the syllables in particular get nasty for a native English speaker (e.g. 'zh', 'sh', 'c'). It's so far from anything with which we're familiar that it takes some time to retrain the mouth, and even then it's probably not right.
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 17 January 2012 11:20 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, like never sure how to pronounce "q" or "x" and often words can be spelled completely different and yet sound almost exactly the same to my ears. It's fun though and I'm enjoying it - even if I only learn a tiny bit, I'll be happy :-)
― I want your nose, your shoes and your unicycle (dog latin), Tuesday, 17 January 2012 11:46 (twelve years ago) link
wish chinese characters appeared on this work computer. one thing i think i'm missing out on is the fact the bbc guide is entirely in pinyin with only token chinese characters.
i don't even know why i decided i wanted to learn. i don't have any burning reason other than i think it might be interesting and challenging.
― I want your nose, your shoes and your unicycle (dog latin), Tuesday, 17 January 2012 11:56 (twelve years ago) link
It's brilliant that you're doing it, and the benefits of Chinese in the 21st century can't be understated. Let us know if you want/need help with stuff; there's a fair range of Mandarin proficiency on ilx.
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 17 January 2012 12:10 (twelve years ago) link
hey thanks AA. I intend to practice a little bit every day - I'm in no rush to learn quickly. Indeed, I don't think with a language like this it's worth rushing, and even though I've been at it about three weeks, I'm happy just going over the first couple of pages in the book and learning them by rote. Because I'm fluent French and not awful at Spanish and German, I figured it would be good to go right out my comfort zone.
― I want your nose, your shoes and your unicycle (dog latin), Tuesday, 17 January 2012 12:17 (twelve years ago) link
xiexie
bu ke qi
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 17 January 2012 12:20 (twelve years ago) link
and i've already learnt something! i like how "bu ke qi" translates literally as "don't be polite" but means "you're welcome". I'm sure there must be an analogue in some European languages. I can imagine an old Scottish granny saying something like that after you've thanked her for a boiled sweet or something.
― I want your nose, your shoes and your unicycle (dog latin), Tuesday, 17 January 2012 12:25 (twelve years ago) link
There are loads of analogues! We take them for granted because we're used to them, but they're definitely there. I can't think of them right now (11.30 pm here) but I'll crack open the brain's language centre in the morning.
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 17 January 2012 12:27 (twelve years ago) link
Actually, no, wait, not analogues, just common English phrases that don't make any sense. I shouldn't sleep and post.
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 17 January 2012 12:29 (twelve years ago) link
I also like how the translation of "I'm doing so-so" in response to "How are you?" is "Mama-Huhu" which means "Horse Horse Tiger Tiger"
(I would add the accents/inflections but I'm still a bit rusty and I'm at work and don't have time to boot up character map)
― I want your nose, your shoes and your unicycle (dog latin), Tuesday, 17 January 2012 12:29 (twelve years ago) link