[Mandarin] Discussion and Questions???

[kwonsang26]

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Official Mandarin Discussion & Questions Thread

This thread was solely made for all the discussion & questions about the mandarin language as mentioned in the previous introduction thread.So all questions,translation requests,contributions & discussion not related to the lessons about the mandarin language should be posted in this thread as not to cause anymore confusion.

If there is any concern,comments,suggestions,or feedback of any kind relating to the language section as a whole.Please pm me or post here. (http://www.jay-chou.net/forums/showthread.php?t=25810&page=5)Thank you(xie xie) & I hope everyone has a fun learning experience!!!^^

Are there any fluent mandarin speakers who are willing to provide basic lesson plans and/or exams for the mandarin lessons thread???

[FSUTan]

i'd be glad to help and share my knowledge of the mandarin language. as far as helping out with lesson plans, exams, i doubt i'll be very good at it, but i'll do my best. because i am a fluent speaker and i am a teacher (though english).

[kwonsang26]

Hey FSUTan,you can call xiao & thanks for volunteering to help with translations of the mandarin langauge.

I agree with you,because I was tutor for many,however,I mainly taught english,math,& literature.So I'll try my best to give out basic lesson plans & you're more than welcome to suggest anything.

You're probably more fluent in mandarin than I am.So I'll refer to you if I need additional help with lessons & translations.You can start making basic lessons as well,but again thanks for offering your help.It's compassionate people like you who make the world a better place.^^:bleh:

Edit:I've already made the first lesson exam in the mandarin lessons thread on counting,so anyone who's interested can take it & post in the same thread they took the test.

[Pao-Pao]

Hi dear!!! Ok I read the first part and I LIKE YOUR THREAD SO MUCH!!! we can practice together now!! yeee!!!...but I do have some things for you..

1* Ok you should put the tones in the Family Translations you know...like baba4 mama1 and so on and you should put the family tree too...cuz it's so different from ours...if you don't know it yet I can tell you.

2* The color green is not QING1...it's Lu4 se4...of course se4 cuz of color...also brown is zhong1 se4...and dark/deep is sheng1.

3* Good bye is Zai Jian not Zhai Chien...in fact Chien doesn't exist dear...Zai Jian!! and bye bye is just bai bai!.

4* One of the most important thing in chinese numbers is that when you're going to say 2000 for example you don't say er qian...you say liang qian and so on...and there's a rule for the numbers...in fact 3 rules...the first one: 200/2000/2000 liang3...the second one is that you have to add ling2 when you have zeros in the number like 406 = si bai ling liu...2007 = liang qian ling qi...and the last one is you have to define the amount of 10-19 when you have a number for example...210 = liang bai yi shi...it measn that you have only one 10!...2015 = liang bai ling yi shi wu...and when you have big numbers like 175275 you have to divide the number as 17 5275 and then named it = shi qi wan wu qian liang bai qi shi wu....it's easy that way.

So I have to take the test where???

[kwonsang26]

Oh hey paola,wow you learned more mandarin than I did lol.However,thanks for your support paola because I felt like I was the only one in the mandarin thread talking to myself.

When the lessons start getting more advanced,then I'll just ask for your help.Oh yeah,but the lessons were at the other mandarin thread where you saw the tones & numbers.

I put the lessons in bolded blue all the way at the bottom.I decided to create basic mandarin lessons myself because nobody else would help me,so thanks again paola.^^

[Pao-Pao]

Don't worry dearie!!! I'll help you and support you all the way!!!...you're not alone!!..I'm here with you hihihihi.

Yup I saw the lessons but do I have to take them in that thread or in this one??

Xie xie lao shi!!!... wo ai du shu zhong wen!!

[kwonsang26]

Oh I would prefer you to take the lessons in the lessons thread only,since this thread is only for questions & discussions.I think that's how it should be anyways.But thanks for your support paola.^^:bleh:

[laruku]

Xie xie lao shi!!!... wo ai du shu zhong wen!!

Sorry I have to correct.. the part in bold should be wo ai du zhong wen that is 我愛讀中文

du shu --> is the "full" term for studying, literally meaning 'study books'. du (讀) is a verb signifying the act itself and shu (書) is the noun i.e. books.

so when you say you love studying chinese, it should be just the verb that is in use. so only du (讀) is necessary.

[Pao-Pao]

O yeah Reene!! you're right...thanks dear!!!...it's the same thing with Chi fa, Zhu fan, xie zi and shuo hua...I forgot about it.

[koala--bear]

ok, i want to know how to recognize cuss words. i don't wanna learn it to say it, but i wanna be able to point out the words when somebody says it (i don't normally cuss anywayz...)

so what are these words in mandarin?
- sh*t
- f*ck and mofo
- shut up (this isn't really a cuss word but i still wanna know how to say it.)
- whore
- b*tch

is "wo de kao" really how you say sh*t? i read it in twi~light's fanfic. i'm sorry if this request is mean and kinda bad, but i wanna know just in case someone calls me that or something i'll at least know what they're saying.

thanks, y'all!!!

[streat]

well, chinese cuss words generally don't correspond to a certain english cuss word, most of them takes on a different meaning and offends ppl in a different way, and no, im not going to put the words on here because its a little inappropriate. sorry!

[Pao-Pao]

O.o koala--bear I know what you mean...I asked my teacher for those words too at the second or third class hahahaha ok I know three of them:

biao(3) zi = wh***
qu(4) si(3) ba = f***
bi(3) zui(3) = shut up

streat is right....chinese cuss words can be very offensive if you use them in the wrong way...chinese also has a lot of cuss words.

[catseyes]

Eh, Pao Pao, i think qu si ba, is "go and die" (translated literally) but yeah, please cut down on the curse words, i don't want the young ones to learn these from here and using them in real life to offend people. -_-""

[Pao-Pao]

O.o Cats my mando teacher told me the meaning so I'm not sure...venezuelan cuss words and amaricans are very different sometimes so...yup you're right we don't need to talk about these kinda stuff in here...Mandarin language is cooler than that...koala--bear knows she won't ask that again hehehe right sweetie?? cuz if you do our lao shi is going to take away points from you lol...just kidding!

[FSUTan]

Ok Ok! I'm back! Sorry I know I said I'd help and contribute to this thead, but I went missing as soon as I said it! But no worries!!! I am back! To make up for my lack of help, I've created some more useful phrases to add to the Mandarin Lessons section! I will add more phrases and vocabulary if they're not too hard! And I promise I'll be more active and answer any questions and help out! In the mean time, here is the phrases section...more phrases to come later!

Part I: Useful Phrases (http://www.jay-chou.net/forums/showpost.php?p=760579&postcount=5)

[kwonsang26]

Hello koala--bear,I know what you mean because I was actually curious about learning the curse words in mandarin too lol.However,cats is right.This isn't the proper place,but thanks for your interest & more less graphic questions is very welcomed lol.^^

Lol there you go FSUTan,I was wondering where you were.However,it's great to have you back in the mandarin thread.I'll take you up on your promise & trust you kay lol.However,thanks for your contributions & involvement in the mandarin language threads.^^:bleh:

[FSUTan]

I just added more useful phrases to the Part I section. Head over to the Mandarin Lessons and you can find it =)

[Pao-Pao]

FSUTan thanks!!!! those are very useful words hehehe....I'm getting better now...thanks to my lao shi!!!...ok but I do have a question...well it isn't a question actually...my mando teacher told me that the right way to say HI was NI(3) HAO(3) not NI(2) HAO(3) I mean the right way to spell it but when you're talking and you find two words with third tone you can say the first one like it was second tone and the last one like third tone...is that right???

[FSUTan]

Yes Pao-Pao, I had to do some research to really give you an answer, and this is what I found:

In spoken Mandarin, third tone characters are actually seldom pronounced in the third tone. Unless they occur alone, or come at the very end of a sentence, they're subject to a tone shift rule.

The first "shift" occurs when two or more third tone characters occur consecutively. What happens is this:

When two or more third tone characters occur in a row, the last of these remains a third tone, while the one(s) before it are pronounced in, or shift to, the second tone. In this illustration, the characters that experience tone shifts are colored red to help you pick them out. Notice that the final third tone in each series remains a third tone.

Also, just to add, there are MORE than one kinds of shifts:

The character (bù), which means no or not, is normally a fourth tone character, but when it comes before another fourth tone character, it shifts to the second tone.

Therefore, instead of saying bù shì and bù yaò, you would say bú shì and bú yaò.

[Unique]

Hi,
I've been learning Mandarin lately and is confused on the following word and sentence...
Could someone please tell me when should the word Hai shi (还是) and Huo Zhe (或者) be used in a sentence? both words means 'or' in Mandarin.
Also the following sentence: 我想买茶或者啤酒 - does this mean "I would like to order tea or beer" or "I would like to buy tea or beer"?

[jocsim]

^ I dont think so... the word for '還是' means 'or'. For the second word '或者' means 'either'. Wait, i think these are the same.

Anyway, for the following sentence that your asking.. Goes like this..

If you goes like this --> '我想買茶或者啤酒' means 'i would like the buy either tea or beer. But if you would like to 'order', it's not going to be '買' but '點'. Got it??

I hope this answers your questions.

[Unique]

I see. Thank you jocsim for explaining it.

I was learning Mandarin from the youtube site. I'm still a beginner at the language. Can you give me the pinyin for the 2 words you had put up? "買" and "點".

[hobielover]

I see. Thank you jocsim for explaining it.

I was learning Mandarin from the youtube site. I'm still a beginner at the language. Can you give me the pinyin for the 2 words you had put up? "買" and "點".
買 = 买/mai3
點 = 点/dian3

I included the Simplified, since some of us have an easier time recognizing that than Traditional.

[Unique]

Thank you hobielover for the pinyin and putting them into Simplified.