[Mandarin Archive] Learn Chinese!!

[jayx8318x]

OK we have a learn Korean, Japanese, and Cantonese thread.
So now teach us some Mandarin.

I want to learn the words and phrases you hear in songs alot.
Most ppl here probably already know the basics and most popular phrases. So anything that would help in understanding Jay's lyrics would be nice :)

[fantasiekisz]

phrases to help understand jay's lyrics..hmm kind of confused on that part..
as in translations?
or dialogue?
..i would help but i dunno what you want me to post..:oops:

do you want to post like maybe english words and i can translate them into mandarin..or break down a song?and if so which one?

[babyxv]

oh yay! something i can speak. uhhh so do we post random translations or the most common and basic words? but this is kinda hard because of the pinyin and the emphasis/stress (yi sheng, er sheng, san sheng, si sheng, qing sheng)

[lepencil]

babyxv, you forgot about "xu sheng", i.e. for differentiating between "lu" and "lü", or "nu" and "nü". :D

Karen, we're running some language classes in our Ke Ai Nü Ren group forum actually, so you might wish to check in and take a look? Lessons are conducted in Simplified Chinese, but we can customise them for our Traditional Chinese audience (I'm starting to sound like a businessman). :angel:

Maybe for a start, some of us could help to identify some of the words that are common in Jay's lyrics? I think Karen means, picking out those words and using them in another context in order to "learn" the meaning of the words.

For example, in 暗號 (Secret Signal), part of the lyrics are:

我害怕你心碎沒人幫你擦眼淚。。。
wo3 hai4 pa4 ni3 xin1 sui4 mei2 ren2 bang1 ni3 ca1 yan3 lei4


The breakdown of the words would be:

我 = I, me
害怕 = afraid of, to fear (怕 = fear)
你 = you
心碎 = heartbroken (心 = heart; 碎 = shatter)
沒人 = nobody (人 = person)
幫 = help
擦 = (to) wipe
眼淚 = tears (眼 = eye; 淚 = tears)


To use the words in other context, we might have:

你害怕嗎﹖
ni3 hai4 pa4 ma1
(meaning "are you fearful?")

~lepencil

[jayx8318x]

yeah just teach stuff like that!
We just needed something to get started, but
you might get aggravated with my questions from this point on. I know alot of simple words, but I have trouble putting together a sentence.
And I always wondered about multiple uses of terms like 'de'...I only know how to use it to signify possession, but how else do you use it?

And in the sentence ni hai pa ma, why do you have to put 'hai' there? Can you just say 'ni pa ma?'


Karen, we're running some language classes in our Ke Ai Nü Ren group forum actually, so you might wish to check in and take a look?


ah I wouldn't want to intrude, besides out here everyone can help.

[lepencil]

Yes, you could have used 你怕嗎﹖ instead, but most of the time, 害怕 is used collectively.

Which "de" are you referring to? We have 的 and 得。 I believe it's the former, i.e. 我的, 你的, 他的, which means "mine", "yours" and "his/hers" respectively.

的 may also be pronounced as di4, as in 目的 and 目的地。 The former means "objective" or "target", while the latter means "destination (place)".

~lepencil

[jayx8318x]

Yes I meant 的. I think I've seen it used at the end of sentences, and was wondering what that meant. But not sure, I have to find an example. Alot of my questions are going to be from lyrics, so I went to look at some and remembered another thing I had trouble translating, I see "Jiu shi" alot, as in

"Jiu shi ai yi zhi ge zhao wo ya"
就是愛一直跟著我呀
(This is from Amei Cheung's Katsu)
I tried translating it and came up with "It's like love is continuously with me" so I concluded "jiu shi" is something like "It's like" :?

[cystaltears]

woah...some ppl dunno how to read chinese here...i fink u should teach them the pin ying form~ im good @ dat~:D wellz...everyone probably knows what "wo ai ni" means...

"ni hao ma" how are you
"wo ai ni" i love you
"zhou jie lun wo ai ni" jay chou i love you

wellz thats it for 2dai folks~ tune in t/m for some NEW chinese~ ^___^

[aina]

i have a question tt even my dad probably don't know about this word "diao" ...jay's diao...how to write tt in han yu????
i wanna write tt on my banner if jay come here (jakarta) tt's gonna be "diao"
thanks

[Quiet Boy]

就是愛一直跟著我呀 means love keeps on following me

就是 has many meanings, but here i think it means "it is", depending on what was before that sentence.

diao is 屌, pronounced diao3

[hisashi]

Or u can write: Jay, Ni2 Hao3 Diao3!! ie Jay, u are diao! Feel free to post any qns abt Mandarin!

[yukiko]

actually...mandarin is more simple than japanese. i mean that the word in mandarin have not changes. u just need to know lot vocab. esp for indonesian n who understand english...the phrases just the same. i.e i love u= wo ai ni (S+V+O) just that. u just need more vocabz

[Miss_gun]

1) 杰伦, 你是我的英雄!
Jie lun, ni shi wo de ying xiong
Jay, you are my hero!

2) 杰伦,你是我的唯一!
jie lun, ni shi wo de wei yi
Jay, you are my one and only!

3) 我选着放弃你...是因为我太爱你...(安静)
wo xuan zhe fang qi ni,..shi yin wei wo tai ai ni..
I chose to let you go, because I love you too much..

[xiaoli]

An Jing's lyrics are 我会学着放弃你 (wo hui xue zhe fang qi ni = i will learn to let you go) , not 我选着放弃你 (wo xuan zhe fang qi ni = i chose to let you go) ^^;;

[lepencil]

An Jing's lyrics are 我会学着放弃你 (wo hui xue zhe fang qi ni = i will learn to let you go) , not 我选着放弃你 (wo xuan zhe fang qi ni = i chose to let you go) ^^;;
That makes a world of difference, doesn't it? :D

~lepencil

[evenstar_sc]

Yeahmm, I know that a lot of the Chinese words and phrases when translated becomes a whole other meaning...and that's pretty difficult to 'get' if you need to know translations like me and a lot of the words sound the same even the chinese copyrwriters sometimes have a problem...

I'd like to know what the lyrics to the Rap part in Square of Prague means. All i know is that
'fu shou'= moustache? :p

[linny]

And in the sentence ni hai pa ma, why do you have to put 'hai' there? Can you just say 'ni pa ma?'

Doesn't ni hai pa ma mean "are you still scared?"? Ni pa ma would be "Are you scared?" right? Vaguely remember learning this.

@_@ This would all be very helpful to me if I could actually read all the Chinese. Actually, it would be helpful if I could figure out all the accents... *sigh* It's kind of sad. I've only gotten as far as level 2 for Chinese words.

Question!

When you have the numbers next to the pinyin, which sound/accent are they for? I know there are four. One is to keep your voice the same. One is to make your voice go up. One is to go down then up, and one goes down (Er, refer to beginner Chinese books if anyone's confused?) So, which number is for which accent?

(Sorry if the question didn't make sense. It's kind of hard for me to ask since I don't rightly know what they're called)

Second question is what would be the difference between 的 and 得? I can never seem to get the two straight, like the usage of them and when. I know 的 is used to show possession, but I never can remember what the second is used for. Help?

[-dream-]

lol, well it's funny to know that a bunch of chinese people (well the majority of us anyways) started all the other language threads but managed to leave out mandarin, until now.. :D

and um, as for Ni hai pa ma? that means "are you scared" or it can mean "are you still scared?" (as linny as mentioned) it really depends on how you say it, again the slight sound difference, chinese can get really messy with those tones, one little sound difference can change the meaning. Hai pa would mean scared, i'm not sure why they don't just say "ni pa, ma?" But i guess, the proper way to say it is Hai pa..

and too bad i can't answer either of your two questions, linny, i'm not the best at pinyin and i couldn't even see your two words in chinese for the second question (since my computer can't display chinese characters) .... :oops:

[lepencil]

Doesn't ni hai pa ma mean "are you still scared?"? Ni pa ma would be "Are you scared?" right? Vaguely remember learning this.
Yes and no. Yes if the "hai" is actually 還 (second intonation), which means to remain as or still. No, since the "hai" that was being referred to is 害 (fourth intonation), which means "to cause something bad (to happen)".

P/S: Incidentally, 還 may also be pronounced as "huan2", which means to return. For example, 請把書本還給我 (please return my book).

When you have the numbers next to the pinyin, which sound/accent are they for? I know there are four. One is to keep your voice the same. One is to make your voice go up. One is to go down then up, and one goes down (Er, refer to beginner Chinese books if anyone's confused?) So, which number is for which accent?

(Sorry if the question didn't make sense. It's kind of hard for me to ask since I don't rightly know what they're called)
I don't know what you are trying to say, linny, but if you can pronounce Jay's Chinese name properly (周杰倫) properly, the 周 is pronounced as zhou1 (the first intonation) while both 杰 and 倫 are in the second intonation (jie2 and lun2) respectively.

Are there any other Chinese words you know (the pronunciation of)? If you know how to pronounce the Chinese translations for Vietnam and USA, then you'll be able to figure out all four tones.

Second question is what would be the difference between 的 and 得? I can never seem to get the two straight, like the usage of them and when. I know 的 is used to show possession, but I never can remember what the second is used for. Help?
The second one, 得, may be used in different ways. One of these might be when you wish to signify a desire to possess something; for example, 得到 (de2 dao4) means "to obtain". It might also be used in 覺得 (jue2 de2), which means to think about/seek an opinion, as in 你覺得杰倫帥嗎﹖ (ni3 jue2 de2 jie2 lun2 shuai4 ma1 -- do you think Jay is handsome?).

得 may also be pronounced as dei3, meaning having to (do something). For example, 時間不早了﹐我得上學了 (shi2 jian1 bu4 zao3 le4, wo3 dei3 shang4 xue2 le4 -- time is running short, I have to leave for school now).

Isn't Chinese interesting? :happy:

~lepencil

[xiaoli]

An Jing's lyrics are 我会学着放弃你 (wo hui xue zhe fang qi ni = i will learn to let you go) , not 我选着放弃你 (wo xuan zhe fang qi ni = i chose to let you go) ^^;;
That makes a world of difference, doesn't it? :D

~lepencil

Just me being nit-picky :D

As for Ni Hai Pa Ma,
"are you still scared" would be ni3 hai3 pa4 ma? 你还怕吗？
"are you scared" would be ni3 hai4 pa4 ma? 你害怕吗？

The tones are like this: 1. __ 2. / 3. \/ 4. \

And 得 has quite a few meanings, and it can be pronounced de, de2 or dei3. But most often it's used as de, and you use it after a verb or an adjective before the adverb. For example, 走得快 (zou3 de kuai4 = walk fast). 走 = zou3, 快 = kuai4. So it's like, walk 得 fast. Or you can use it to indicate possibility.

When it's de2, it means get/obtain, or something like finished/is ready.
我得了第一名 = wo3 de2 liao3 di4 yi1 ming2 = i got first place
第一 名 = di4 yi1 ming2 = first place

When it's dei3, it can mean must/have to, will surely, or need.

Err.. hope I can be understood. :D

Random>> 杰伦很害羞 = Jie2 Lun2 Hen3 Hai4 Xiu1 = Jay is very shy

EDIT: omg I just clicked "submit" and lepencil just beat me to it. :oops: Hehe

[Quiet Boy]

grrrr I hate po ying zi, its so confusing when words have more than one pronounciation. And I noticed that most of you here use simplified chinese too :-x

[lepencil]

grrrr I hate po ying zi, its so confusing when words have more than one pronounciation. And I noticed that most of you here use simplified chinese too :-x
Why that angry face? :?

Shouldn't Simplified Chinese be "easier" for those who are familiar with Traditional Chinese?

I would usually use Simplified Chinese, but for the purpose of this topic, I have been using Traditional Chinese here.

~lepencil

[xiaoli]

All the characters are displayed as either Traditional or Simplified depending on how you set your browser/program, isn't it?
Can't you just choose which one you want to view? :?

[-dream-]

well, for those(including me) that use traditional chinese, it's a bit harder to recognize the words in simplifed chinese, though most of the guesses are pretty accurate, we're just used to seeing traditional chinese, but it is faster and easier to write the simplified since there are less strokes, but i guess some people might think that traditional chinese is more...well...'traditional' or more proper, if you get what i mean. :oops:

[linny]

Thanks for the explanations! It's still a little confusing, but Chinese is probably one of those languages that I have to hear to really understand. My mommy promises to speak Mandarin with me more often so I can see how much I've forgotten or remembered. So, hopefully, I'll begin to relearn the Mandarin that I forgot when I was little.

I'm used to looking at traditional Chinese too... Simplified looks funny to me for some reason. ^^;

Oh! Oh! Question! How do you write/say "inside" in Mandarin? My mom was asking where I put her money, and I couldn't remember how to say "It's inside the car" I could never remember how to say 'inside'...Help?

:)

[Quiet Boy]

Inside is 里面 (Li3 mian4)

So inside the car would be: 在車里面 (Zai4 Che1 Li3 Mian4)

[lepencil]

Inside is 里面 (Li3 mian4)

So inside the car would be: 在車里面 (Zai4 Che1 Li3 Mian4)
Not entirely true.

It would be better to use 內 (nei4), which means interior (of).

我把錢包留在車內﹐忘了拿。
wo3 ba3 qian2 bao1 liu2 zai4 che1 nei4, wang4 le4 na2

-- I left my wallet/purse in the car and forgot to bring it with me.

我 = wo3 = I/me/myself
把 = ba3 = to do something/action of doing something
錢包 = qian2 bao1 = wallet/purse (錢 = money; 包 = bag)
留在 = liu2 zai4 = to leave (something) in (somewhere) (留 = leave)
車 = che1 = car/vehicle
內 = nei4 = interior (of)
忘了 = wang4 le4 = to forget
拿 = na2 = to bring/take

~lepencil

[fantasiekisz]

Second question is what would be the difference between 的 and 得? I can never seem to get the two straight, like the usage of them and when. I know 的 is used to show possession, but I never can remember what the second is used for. Help?

the second "de" [sorry can't type chinese on this comp] is for like ACTION, like for adverbs, the first "de" you put like "wo de"[mine] or "ni de" for the second one you would use like "ai de hen sen"[love you so deepy] or like "chi de"[ate], stuff like that..

[babyxv]

i don't know.. i thought it was a bad idea to rewrite all those traditional chinese words into simplified.. everyone was reading and writing fine with traditional.. i can't adjust to it

i can visualize the expressions of the non-mandarin speakers right now haha

[cloUdsuRFer]

learn chinese :excited:

this is the thread for me....tho i'm starting to get a bit confuzzeled.......

[ashley]

linny - would ' put inside' be 'fang zai li mien'?

lepencil , babygirl and Quiet Boy can help correct me. i know probably 10 to 20 words of Malaysianised mandarin.

-dream- i am one of those who prefer the traditional characters to the simplified strokes. that's bcos when i tried to learn chinese many years ago, i was reading the traditional ones. i am really lost with the simplified ones.

[lepencil]

(For the sake of this topic, I'll use only Traditional Chinese.)

ashley, I believe you were asking about 放在裡面? That is one of the ways to put it, but I'd correct you on your pinyin. It should be fang4 zai4 li3 mian4.

To be precise, you would have something like 放在 (some place) 裡面. For example, if you wish to say something like "I'm keeping my skirt in the closet", you would have 我把裙子放在衣櫥裡面.

我 = wo3 = I/me/myself
把 = ba3 = (to) do something
裙子 = qun2 zi3 = skirt
放在 = fang4 zai4 = placed into
衣櫥 = yi1 chu2 = closet (衣 = clotheswear; 櫥 = cupboard/closet/cabinet)
裡面 = li3 mian4 = inside of (something)

Alternatively for this case, you could have used 放入 instead (fang4 ru4). Note that 入 (ru4) is not the same character as 人 (ren2). Usually, if you use 入, you may forgo the 面 at the end. For example, 我把裙子放入衣櫥裡.

~lepencil

[evenstar_sc]

I have some questions..
1) what's the difference between Fen lie and Fen Kai?
2) Does An Jing mean Silence or Peacefulness?

It's a great thread but I think my Chinese is WAY too bad. Confused with all the chinese characters. :glug:

[lepencil]

1) what's the difference between Fen lie and Fen Kai?
分裂 means "split/crack", while 分開 means "to separate (apart)".

2) Does An Jing mean Silence or Peacefulness?
安靜 means silence.

Peacefulness would be something like 寧靜 (ning2 jing4).

~lepencil

[cystaltears]

woah~ so confusing ne~! =P i thot ah jing means qiuet...but i dunno why they translated it to silence..*shrugz*

[linny]

Holiness. I know this should all be helpful to me, but I'm seriously confuzzled.

Another question!

When do you use xiang? And what are the different meanings of it? It seems to be the one word that Jay uses most often... (see Simple Love lyrics for example). Every time I see it used it means "I want", but I'm pretty sure it means something else...

[lepencil]

Holiness. I know this should all be helpful to me, but I'm seriously confuzzled.
Get the pinyin and the intonations correct first. Otherwise you'll never be able to figure out what has been going on. :D

When do you use xiang? And what are the different meanings of it? It seems to be the one word that Jay uses most often... (see Simple Love lyrics for example). Every time I see it used it means "I want", but I'm pretty sure it means something else...
You mean 想 (xiang3), don't you?

想 means to think of/about. So in 簡單愛 (Simple Love) where Jay has this line 我想就這樣牽著你的手不放開 (wo3 xiang3 jiu4 zhe4 yang4 qian1 zhe4 ni3 de shou3 bu2 fang4 kai1 -- I hope I got the lyrics correct x_x), it means "I'm thinking of holding onto your hand and never let go".

我 = wo3 = I/me/myself
想 = xiang3 = (to) think of/about
就這樣 = jiu4 zhe4 yang4 = (to) do (something) in (this) manner (這 = this)
牽著 = qian1 zhe4 = (to) hold onto (牽 = to hold; 著 = the action of doing something)
你的 = ni3 de = your's, belonging to you
手 = shou3 = hand/arm
不 = bu2 = negation; it's pronounced as bu2 in this case (instead of bu4) since the following character is in the FOURTH tone
放開 = fang4 kai1 = (to) release/let go

~lepencil

[linny]

Thanks, lepencil for clarifying what 想 means. ^^;

It's hard for me to get the intonations right because I'm never really sure exactly which ones they are. And I can't use the actual words (unless I copy and paste from other posts) since I don't know how to write them in myself...

[babyxv]

ooo and non-chinese speakers.. know that when there are two words with the third intonation, change the first word to second intonation.

[ashley]

不 = bu2 = negation; it's pronounced as bu2 in this case (instead of bu4) since the following character is in the FOURTH tone

ooo - now this is new to me! never knew the same character can be pronounced two ways in different context.

so bu2 is a verb then?

another thing that bugs me about mandarin, the first tone and the fourth, aren't they the same? the fourth tone is shorter - like a staccato?

[linny]

WAHAHA. Something I can kind of help you out with, ashley. ^^ I know the intonations, sort of.

There is a difference between the first and fourth inotation, and it's a rather big difference at that. For the first inotation, it's more like you keep your voice even. There is not emphasis on any one part of the word, so there is no change in your voice when you say the word. Just think of the first inotation as a straight line. As for the fourth inotation, it IS like a staccato, but more like your voice is moving down. In pin yin, when written out, the fourth inotation is written like a mark pointing down, which is how your voice should sound.

Erm, hope... that... helps? Hahaha. I'm horrible at explaining things. We'll leave it to lepencil, ne? He's better at it.

[lepencil]

I won't be able to answer, since I don't know what's a staccato. And don't bother explaining since I'm too lazy to think of an answer. :harhar:

~lepencil

[nino]

at least most of you know a little chinese to start with. it sounds so confusing with the different tones and pronunciations, not to mention the different definitions and uses of them. i was wondering if one of you cna go one on one with me becuase i've tried the books but they don't seem to help much. i am serius about this. hey i learned thai through the internet and i am pretty good with it so i think i can take on chinese too. i dont know the basics yet... only a few phrases from watching alot of chinese movies with subtitles. i really need help. :wave:

[linny]

lepencil, you don't know what's staccato? Don't have to write up an answer, but I'm going to define staccato anyway. (It's one of those words that I feel everyone should know... Like buttmunch) Staccato is more often used in music since it describes how one should play an instrument. In piano, when you see a dot on top of a note (which is the symbol for staccato), it means to press the key sharply and quickly. But since that isn't a really good definition, here's one that is found at http://dictionary.com:

staccato adj
1. Cut short crisply; detached: staccato octaves.
2. Marked by or composed of abrupt, disconnected parts or sounds

Er, hope that helps people who didn't know what staccato is. Anyway, nino, I'd offer to help you, but I don't know Mandarin very well either. You probably could learn Chinese on the Internet, but I suggest having someone who can help you at school/work/home/etc. I say this because you'll need someone to check your accent and the way you pronounce the words.

*sigh*

Maybe lepencil or Jo could help you out. :)

[babyxv]

ah yes.. memories of piano music theory >_<

gahh i think chinese is impossible to teach

[-dream-]

well..impossible to teach here anyways...so many people go to chinese school and stuff...but they don't know some of the most simple chinese..that's why i've always been convinced that chinese school doesn't work.

oh...piano music theory...gahhh!!!! I hate it...i'm still taking it, harmony 3 and history 3..if anyone knows what i'm talking about...and i take both at the same time...so on Sundays, i sit in that same place for 5 hours straight..and then it's off to the two exams... :oops:

[linny]

o_O;; One of the reasons why I'm glad my teacher is the type to teach theory, but doesn't require me to take the tests. I'll probably have to switch teachers soon...

Anyway, to bring the whole entire topic back to Chinese, when do you use the word 對? It's pronounced "dui4" I ~think~ (Is that right, lepencil?).

I know you can say 對不起 (translation: Sorry), but I don't know how else to use it... Can anyone give me examples of phrases you'd use with 對 in it?

[jayx8318x]

This reminds me of a point I wanted to make...but kept on forgetting. I wish my Chinese professor had taught us vocabulary by giving us the literal translation of each word. For example, isn't popcorn literally translated as "exploding rice flower" or something like that? Well I wish he would explain it like that instead of saying "blahBlahbLah" means "popcorn" and huo che=fire car not just "train"

Our text books were even worse. The conversations were always translated differently. "Ni Hao" meant "hello" here...then on another page it meant "how are you" ...on another convo it meant "How are things" I know it's similar...but still...makes it a bit confusing.

[Jo]

um...i'm going to pick a random line or two and define/teach it....it will probably make no sense...but i like these lines =P

i'm not sure if 的's pinyin is de0 or de5...since i never really took pinyin...although i'm sure about all the other ones

if 0 doesnt exist...its 5...if 5 doesn't exist...its 0 :p

Mandarin
天上人間　如果真值得歌頌

PinYin
tian1 shang4 ren2 jian1, ru2 guo3 zhen1 zhi2 de2 ge1 song4

天上 - tian1 shang4 = sky above (heave)
人間 - ren2 jian1 = human world (earth)
如果 - ru2 guo3 = if
真 - zhen1 = really
值得 - zhi2 de2 = worth
歌頌 - ge1 song4 = sing and harmonize

Meaning
the heavens and earth, if they are really praiseworthy

Mandarin
也是因為有你　才會變的鬧轟轟

PinYin
ye3 shi4 ying1 wei4 you3 ni3, cai2 hui4 bian4 de0 nao4 hong1 hong1

也是 - ye3 shi4 = also is
因為 - ying1 wei4 = because
有 - you3 = have
你 - ni3 = you
才會 - cai2 hui4 = so it will
變的 - bian4 de0 = change into
鬧 - nao4 = noisy, occupated
轟轟 - hong1 hong1 = just what it sounds like, its a sound description, much like bang and boom

Meaning
it is only because i have you that it is such a brimming world


-Jo

[ashley]

I know you can say 對不起 (translation: Sorry), but I don't know how else to use it... Can anyone give me examples of phrases you'd use with 對 in it?

Linny, I think 對 by itself means "correct".

[linny]

*nod* Oh, you're right. I keep forgetting these simple things that I should know.. Must be momentary lapse or something. :oops: But, is there any other way to use 對? I keep getting the feeling there are other phrases you can use it in...

Anyway, I really like the phrases you wrote out, Jo. I liked them mostly because I actually could read most of the words (Wow, amazing. I didn't forget all my Mandarin words after all...).

[Jo]

dui bu qi

對不起

is sorry because

dui (對) can also be "towards"

and bu qi (不起) means "not together"...but in this case it means "not well"

it briefly translates into "not well towards"

so...sorry...or apology

i think i confused people



-Jo

[OLive_aNN]

hummm...
i cannot speak chinese but both my parents can eheheheh...
so now i start to learn chinese from p1 (primary 1) and now im in p2 heehehe
humm its quite embarassing tt chinese ppl cannot speak their language (including me) hehehe bcoz how if someone say "how come u say tt you are chinese while ypu cannot speak ur language?"
hix hix hix hix thats why i want to finish my o level faster so tt i can go to china to learn d language. will it work or not??

[linny]

Going to China to learn the language? It probably would. I'd prefer to have someone with me who could translate sometimes though. I mean, if you don't have a hefty load of vocabulary, when people talk, wouldn't it just sound like "Blah blahblah blah blah blahblah"?

Haha, Ann, don't feel bad. The farthest I ever got when I bothered to go to Chinese school was level 2. I don't like the way we learn in Chinese schools (and I've been to quite a few). You go through the book at an uberly slow rate, the teachers aren't fluent enough in English that they could really just get down and explain aspects of grammar to you, and the schools always feel like they have to "reward" good students by having embarrassing ceremonies. Bah.

But then again, the other problem is that if you go to Chinese school in the US, you only go on Saturdays or Sundays. I don't think that's enough time...

*shrug*

[*SkyLark*]

Mandarin really isn't that hard at all. But if the government were to really decide to use English as a medium to teach Mandarin, then I think that's really inappropriate. The issue's been debated many times here in Singpaore, and I for one don't feel too good about it. I mean, it's a language, and trying to use English to teach Mandarin just zaps all the essence out of it.

Blah. Too much blabbing.

Anyways My favourite Jay song would be Fen Lie, and my favourite term is "离开". It means to go away, to leave. A form of escapism, if you ask me, and I'm all ready to fled this transient palce.

[Mike]

i found this website and it teaches hanyu pinyin really well. People that don't know chinese but can read english should learn hanyu pinyin...

http://www.ncacls.org/materials/HanYuPinYin-8.pdf

[shouling]

i got a quesion! how do you say "like this" in chinese? as if to show someone how to do something.

thanx!

[aDrena]

i believe "like this" in mandarin is 這樣子, read zhe4 yang4 zi.

so, for example somebody asks you how to do something, eg kill a roach, you can give a demonstration, and say 就是這樣子! =jiu4 shi4 zhe4 yang4 zi, and it would roughly translate into "Just like this!"

[shouling]

thank you soo much for your help aDrena!!!
much appretiation.

[Mike]

i have the Global IME thing on my computer. I have Simplified and Traditional Chinese. When i type Jay Chou in Simplified it looks like this, "周杰伦" How do i make the "Lun" the way it really should? is 伦 the simplied version of 倫?... cause it's harder for me to type traditional words than it is to type simplified, but when i type in Microsoft Word, they are two different fonts...

[linny]

i have the Global IME thing on my computer. I have Simplified and Traditional Chinese. When i type Jay Chou in Simplified it looks like this, "周杰伦" How do i make the "Lun" the way it really should? is 伦 the simplied version of 倫?... cause it's harder for me to type traditional words than it is to type simplified, but when i type in Microsoft Word, they are two different fonts...

伦 is the simplified version of 倫. Yep.

Er, don't know how else to help you since I don't even know where I can find the font to write Chinese characters to begin with. Probably have to check on microsoft.com or something. *blink*

[Mike]

yea cause when i want to look up 周杰倫 i have to switch IME's and i'm better at typing hanyu pinyin, ... it's wierd.

[destined]

你好嗎﹖ - how are you?
你是誰﹖ - who are you?
謝謝你 - thankyou?
再見/拜拜 - Bye

[cinsin]

i have the Global IME thing on my computer. I have Simplified and Traditional Chinese. When i type Jay Chou in Simplified it looks like this, "周杰伦" How do i make the "Lun" the way it really should? is 伦 the simplied version of 倫?... cause it's harder for me to type traditional words than it is to type simplified, but when i type in Microsoft Word, they are two different fonts...

伦 is the simplified version of 倫. Yep.

Er, don't know how else to help you since I don't even know where I can find the font to write Chinese characters to begin with. Probably have to check on microsoft.com or something. *blink*

huh? isn't 伦 and 倫 the same? i can't tell the difference, they both still have the strokes don't they?

i find simplified chinese confusing, considering i taught myself to read in traditional chinese. simplified chinese is so much uglier the way it's presented

[destined]

i have the Global IME thing on my computer. I have Simplified and Traditional Chinese. When i type Jay Chou in Simplified it looks like this, "周杰伦" How do i make the "Lun" the way it really should? is 伦 the simplied version of 倫?... cause it's harder for me to type traditional words than it is to type simplified, but when i type in Microsoft Word, they are two different fonts...

伦 is the simplified version of 倫. Yep.

Er, don't know how else to help you since I don't even know where I can find the font to write Chinese characters to begin with. Probably have to check on microsoft.com or something. *blink*

huh? isn't 伦 and 倫 the same? i can't tell the difference, they both still have the strokes don't they?

i find simplified chinese confusing, considering i taught myself to read in traditional chinese. simplified chinese is so much uglier the way it's presented
Yeh 伦 and 倫 is the same

[Jam]

are these chinese? ---> (ㄖㄨㄟ ㄙㄡ ㄒ一 ㄌㄚ)
so far i know only taiwanese use that. Anyone willing to teach? :wink2:

[retrobaby]

are these chinese? ---> (ㄖㄨㄟ ㄙㄡ ㄒ一 ㄌㄚ)
so far i know only taiwanese use that. Anyone willing to teach? :wink2:

no, it is not chinese. they are pin yin. only ppl in taiwan use them. it is the same as eg. zhou jie lun is jay's chinese pin yin, but it can also be written in the taiwanese pinyin. looks different but sounds the same.

[Quiet Boy]

Here are the zhuyin/pinyin equivalents:

ㄅ -b
ㄆ -p
ㄇ -m
ㄈ -f
ㄉ -d
ㄊ -t
ㄋ n
ㄌ -l
ㄍ -g
ㄎ -k
ㄏ -h
ㄐ -j
ㄑ -q
ㄒ -x
ㄓ -zh
ㄔ -ch
ㄕ -sh
ㄗ - z
ㄘ -c
ㄙ -s
一 -i
ㄨ -u
ㄩ -uu
ㄚ -a
ㄛ -o
ㄜ -e
ㄝ -e
ㄞ -ai
ㄟ -ei
ㄠ -ao
ㄡ -ou
ㄢ -an
ㄣ -n
ㄤ -ang
ㄥ -eng
ㄦ -er


Just use this two switch them around, for example, zhou jie lun would be: ㄓㄡ ㄐ一ㄝ ㄌㄨㄣ.

[Ziwei]

wow, the zhuyin thing is something new to me. You mean only taiwanese use them? and they dont use the chinese pin yin, but use the zhu yin that QB stated above? or do they use both? is it not tough for them to learn the zhu yin? its like so weird looking..

[retrobaby]

i don't think they use pinyin in taiwan...if you see taiwanese story books, you'll see the zhu yin beside the words.

thanks quiet boy for the zhu yin equivalents!

[wackycashew]

like retrobaby stated above, they usually use zhuyin in taiwan as far as i know. actually learning the zhuyin isn't that difficult. it's like learning the alphabet. once you learn all the letters, you can proceed to learn to spell words. similarly, once you know all the zhuyin, you can learn how to combine them to sound out chinese words phonetically. it's actually easier and more accurate in my opinion b/c each "character" represents a sound. when you do pinyin, sometimes i find it difficult b/c it's romanized and you have to signify the different pronunciations. e.g., to differentiate u (ㄨ) and ü (ㄩ), you need the two dots on top. then there's eng and ong for ㄥ. and from what i know, the pinyin and zhuyin can be different when romanized. e.g., ㄒㄧㄣ is xin in pinyin, but probably hsin in zhuyin; ㄖㄨ is ru in pinyin, but ju in zhuyin; ㄓㄡ is zhou in pinyin, but chou in zhuyin. this is just from my observation of people and place names, so pls correct me if i've made a mistake. anyway, i think that's why you can tell whether someone is from china or taiwan by the english form of his/her chinese name.

also, the "lun"'s that have been posted up above look exactly the same b/c i think it's a decoder thing. if the setting is to "traditional", then all the characters will appear as that. the same goes for "simplified". that's why they look the same. but the simplified character for 倫 is actually different from the traditional. the left side is the same, but on the right side, it's got 匕 under the 人 instead of all that stuff underneath the traditional form. hope that's been clarified. :happy:

[Jam]

these zhuyin thing looks like japanese characters. need some time to learn.. :oops:

Thanks alot Quietboy for providing the list of zhuyin. :wink2:

[Elisya]

I am looking for someone who does not mind translating chincese character to hanyu pin yin. If anyone of you don't mind...please PM me. Thank you!

[JianDan[Ai]]

I am looking for someone who does not mind translating chincese character to hanyu pin yin. If anyone of you don't mind...please PM me. Thank you!

u can ask Phyxius, as she posted here http://www.jay-chou.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5982 she is willing 2 help with that kinda stuff :D

also curious..does anyone use zhi yin anymore? i thought han yu pin yin completely took over now since it is so much easier to type

[dazzlette]

ok i know chinese so i wonder why i wondered into this thread.. anyhow i must say that lepencil's explanations are especially good cos it's very accurate and detailed.. well done!!

i think zhu yin used to be taught to teach chinese and even in some dictionaries i've seen it written at the side..my aunt told me that they were taught that in schools last time but in the last 30 or so years they stopped using it when they began teaching simplified chinese..(at least in singapore this is the case... i'm not sure in other countries cos i've always had the opinion it was still being used in countries where traditional chinese is taught)

for me i was taught simplified chinese in school.. i think only china and singapore use simplified chinese.. countries such as HK and taiwan still used traditional ( or fan ti) words.. traditional chinese has a lot more meaning than the simplified form... you can make out its meaning and even the pronounciation from looking at the character.. ok i can't type chinese on my com.. but an example would be the word 'ting' as in hear in 'ni ting de dao'
if you had no idea wad the word means if you look at left side of the word.. you will see that the left side that looks like the word 'er' as in 'er duo' which means ear.. so you can guess that the word has somethiing to do with the ears (in this case hearing).. but when you write it in simplified chinese you wouldn't be able to guess the meaning from the word cos it looks totally different.. of cos there are still many words which still retain their meaning in simplified chinese but i feel some essence is lost though you save the trouble of writing so many strokes
ok did i confuse you all? i think i probably did... cos there are no characters at all.. people with chinese software and know wad i'm talking about.. please help! but my point is that in chinese it is possible half the time to guess the meaning of the word and even its sound by looking at the characters.. i think we should provide some common examples to help people guess meanings.. i think that would be useful..

anyhow is there any kind of program online that i can download or use to type chinese?? cos my dad doesn't see the need to buy chinese software cos he thinks we don't need it

[wackycashew]

JianDan[Ai]: i still use zhu yin. i prefer it actually cuz i find it more accurate and easier to write. i think i learned pinyin when i was really young in HK. then i learned the zhu yin when i came to canada and was instructed by taiwanese teachers. since then i've been using zhu yin to type chinese words cuz i don't know how to operate the programs other people use, such as chang jie, Q9, whatever... i find pinyin kinda westernized. you know how for japanese, there's the japanese writing for hiragana, katakana, and kangi. but then you can romanized it to give it an "english" spelling. i dunno. makes it less unique, i think.

dazzlette: you can try www.njstar.com to download softward for typing chinese. that's what i use. there's a chinese decoder as well as input thing (well, it's actually chinese, korean, japanese). that's the NJStar Communicator 2.30. then there's also a word processor you can download. that's the NJStar Chinese Word Processor 4.35.

[dazzlette]

thanks wackewcashew!! actually lepencil already kindly recommended me the exact same program.. i'm so excited to try it out i decided to quickly log on again to explain my previous post

ok if you look at the word 聽 from 妳 聽得到 it is possible to guess the meaning from the word cos the left side of the word looks like the word 耳 from the word 耳朵 which means ear.. you would probably guess the word has something to do with the ears.. however in the simplified form the word looks like this 听... you would likely conclude that the word has something to do with the mouth which would be a wrong conclusion

chinese characters can usually be split up into 2 main different parts.. which would help you to guess the meaning an sometimes even the pronounciation..there are broadly 2 versions.. one is the left-right version ( an example would be the word 聽 ) and one is the up-down version (an example would be 熱 )

i'll give you all some more common left-right parts ( called 邊旁) .. there are of course many exceptions but this is good as a general guide

心字旁 (心 means heart so words with the same left part usally have to do with feelings or emotions)
examples: 怕 afraid 懦 scared 感情 feelings

言字邊 ( 言means words so this usually has to do with language.. either talking or wirtten)
examples: 講 say 語 language 說 talk

水 字旁 ( 水 means water.. the 3 strokes could be thought of as 3 drops of water)
examples: 淋 wet 濕 wet 清潔 clean

肉字 旁 ( this one usually has to do with body parts even though the part looks like the character moon 月)
examples: 腿 leg 腳 foot 臉 face

足 字邊 ( 足means foot)
examples: 踢 kick 跳 jump

日 字旁 ( 日 means day so words with this are usually used for dates or the describing the weather )
examples: 昨天 yesterday 晴天 sunny day



ok these are some i can think of now.. if you all find this useful i can come back with more.. i can try to clarify some of my explanations too.. to those who know chinese feel free to correct any errors i think i'm a bit out of touch.. especially with thinking of good examples..

[wackycashew]

dazzlette: you're most welcome! glad to see you're typing chinese now. :thumbsup:

and your explanation is very clear. i knew what you were talking about already from your previous post. that's actually one reason why i like the traditional chinese characters better than the simplified. it's so hard to guess at times when it's simplified. for example, the traditional word 後 (last/after/behind) as in 最後 / 之後 / 後面 becomes the word 后 in simplified. but that same 后 in traditional means queen as in 皇后. i think that can get kinda confusing.

[ashley]

Simplified strokes are even worse for someone like me to recognise, since I can barely recognise the traditional ones. That simplified form of 'hear' that dazzlete showed us up there... it's something that I would never have guessed .

I'd like to ask the Singaporeans something. Why is 'yi' (one) now pronounced as 'yao' ? :?

[hisashi]

I'd like to ask the Singaporeans something. Why is 'yi' (one) now pronounced as 'yao' ? :?

Is it? How come I dun know? :glug: Yi is Yi which means one...eg. Number One. Di Yi Ming. Yao meaning...shake? waist? bite? wanting? ^^;

[Jingle]

I'd like to ask the Singaporeans something. Why is 'yi' (one) now pronounced as 'yao' ? :?

Is it? How come I dun know? :glug: Yi is Yi which means one...eg. Number One. Di Yi Ming. Yao meaning...shake? waist? bite? wanting? ^^;

yes, Yao means ONE too........but usually they say that in mainland China more. not so much in Taiwan.

[hisashi]

Haha! Thanks, jingle for reminding me.. we only say it when there's a few numbers to recite..like in reciting the numbers in a lottery..or lucky draw.. ^^;

[Mike]

Haha! Thanks, jingle for reminding me.. we only say it when there's a few numbers to recite..like in reciting the numbers in a lottery..or lucky draw.. ^^;

yea they say that because i guess it's more easy to distinguish between numbers. because yi sounds like a lot of other stuff. like when saying telephone numbers.

[wackycashew]

yeah, i think "yao" is used for "one" because "yi" sounds like the chinese number seven "qi" when you're talking on the telephone. it's just to make things easier so that there's no confusion. :happy:

[jaydoll]

me too!!! i wanna learn chinese.. i've been studying japanese and italian for quite a while but ive heard that chinese is a lot more difficult than japanese.. is that true?

[Jo]

other than using "yao" for one though...they also use "gao" for nine

which is interesting, because "gao" is nine in cantonese

[Mike]

other than using "yao" for one though...they also use "gao" for nine

which is interesting, because "gao" is nine in cantonese

really? i've never heard that before. yao er san shi wo liao qi ba gao

gao as in ㄍㄠ?

[ashley]

gao is also '9' for Hokkien.

Thanks for the insights about using yao for '1'. Come to think of it, yes... it's only when used in rattling off phone numbers.

[Mike]

gao is also '9' for Hokkien.

Thanks for the insights about using yao for '1'. Come to think of it, yes... it's only when used in rattling off phone numbers.

still, sometimes people don't always use it.

i recorded my voice and listened to myself speak chinese... OMG... i have an ABC accent... shoot...

[dazzlette]

i don't think they ever use gao for '9' in singapore..
yep yao is only used when they have to recite the digit '1' like when they report phone numbers etc.. in most cases 'yi' is still used but i never realised it's just used in singapore and china.. maybe it's because singapore adopted simplified chinese to follow china.. so they adopt the usage of 'yao'

[c.y.]

hi, i'm c.y. and i'm new here, but i'd love to learn chinese... but i need to start from the very basics... i know a very very very little pinyin but no characters... where do i begin??? can anone help me???

[~niteangel]

ooi better keep an eye on this thread~ might help me with my POOR madarin...:)

[dazzlette]

hi, i'm c.y. and i'm new here, but i'd love to learn chinese... but i need to start from the very basics... i know a very very very little pinyin but no characters... where do i begin??? can anone help me???

i would love to help you and share some of my chinese knowledge with you!! but since you know so little.. i don't really know where to begin either...maybe you can start by reading through this thread and see if you understand what is written.. the explanations offered by some of the members over commonly misunderstood phrases in chinese are quite good.. or if you want you can ask me how to say certain things in chinese that would be useful.. of cos learning jay's songs is a nice start!! though some of jay's lyrics are pretty difficult to understand even to those who understand a basic level of chinese...

[Mike]

since you're here, you probably want to learn Traditional Chinese. Try learning ㄅㄆㄇㄈ stuff first. alphabet like stuff...

[kanetix]

hi, i'm c.y. and i'm new here, but i'd love to learn chinese... but i need to start from the very basics... i know a very very very little pinyin but no characters... where do i begin??? can anone help me???

The best way to learn a language is to make use of it. Take some lessons(like in chinese school) where u can communicate to ppl in the language. Go to China town and just listen 2 people speak. and very importantly u have to think as if u know the language, not like carry a dictionary around, which makes u feel u dont know every word ppl are saying.

[kahel]

i'm curious what's chinese for orange?? it's my username...hehe. how about moon?

xiexie.Ü

[catseyes]

i'm curious what's chinese for orange?? it's my username...hehe. how about moon?

xiexie.Ü

橙 (chen or cheng, second intonation) means orange in Chinese.

月亮 (yue, fourth intonation)(liang, fourth intonation) or 月 alone (can be used alone too) will means moon~ :wink2:

Hope i answer your question~ :wink2:

[kahel]

thanks! so i'm chen or cheng in chinese. hmm...yue alone can be moon right? i hope i'll get accepted in that job where I get trained to learn mandarin... *crosses fingers*

[QS]

my advice is just to go around locally and see if there's any chinese schools around and take classes from them. I don't really think it matters whether u're learning traditional or simplistic and I think pinyin is better to start off with cus it's just alphabets. I'm learning the simplistic way of reading chinese but I can basically read traditional cus they look almost alike. If u want me to write it that's a different story...

[secret_admirer]

I know very little of mandarin. But i love mandarin. And i don't have any time to take a course. So what should i do. Should i learn the basic mandarin. I don't know how you said that. the pe be me fe.... Haiyo what's that? My mom told me that is the basic mandarin. But i don't know how to use it. My comp can't write in English. I only can read. BUt i can't read strange word. And my family also can't read or write mandarin. Maybe my grandmother can, my mom ever go to manadarin scholl. BUt she forgot everything.

[lj4]

I have been taught to learn how to write in simplified chinese like all my life. Well, have been wanting to learn how to write chinese in thr tradtional way. Is there anyway in which I can learn? Well, I can sort of know how to read tradional chinese but writing it is sort of way out. lol. But I have not been in contact with chinese for a long while long. And I realised that though I may still know how to read, I have forgotten a little on how to write! oh man, that's a rather sad case. =[ lol

[wackycashew]

i have a request for people who are from Taiwan. :happy:

ok, i was just reading a thread over in the jay questions and requests forum about what jay's name is on his passport. we know what his chinese name is of course, but for the romanized version of his name, it's apparently Chou Chieh-Lun.

this has probed my curiosity and i was wondering how the taiwanese romanized system compares with the chinese han yu pin yin system. if someone can do up a comparison chart b/w the chinese han yu pin yin, the taiwanese zhu yin, and the taiwanese romanization, that'd be awesome. :D

from jay's name, i can see that the "j" gets translated to "ch", the "ie" becomes "ieh", and of course, the "zh" becomes "ch". from personal experiences, the "r" gets translated to "j" and the "xi" gets translated to "hsi". so yeah... i'm just really curious what are the taiwanese romanized equivalents for the han yu pin yin. if anyone can help, that'll be great! :)

[cowboy]

Hey Lisa, I ain't from Taiwan, but I know this one. :)

Taiwan still uses the older Wade-Giles system of Romanization.

Just like with the whole simplified and traditional chinese thing, Taiwan refused to adopt anything that China was doing. So the older Wade-Giles system is still used on the island, and China has long since converted to pin yin.

[wackycashew]

Taiwan still uses the older Wade-Giles system of Romanization.
hey jason, thanks for the tip! :) where can i get more info on this Wade-Giles system of Romanization? can it be easily found on google or something? :?

[cowboy]

NO prob, baby. Yeah, should be easy to find some easy conversion tables. Here's one....

http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/eastasian/ctable2.htm

there are others though.

Enjoy

[wackycashew]

NO prob, baby. Yeah, should be easy to find some easy conversion tables. Here's one....

http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/eastasian/ctable2.htm

jason!! thank you thank you thank you! :D *bookmarks page* i'm gonna look at it in more detail later. heehee...

[Quiet Boy]

wow cowboy, thats for that! That chart is cool, has every single pronounciation there is :)

I never knew it was called "wade-giles" (anybody know here that name came from?) I always just called it "taiwan pinyin" lol. However, I think taiwan is slowly adopting the hanyu pinyin as well, cos last time I was in taiwain, a couple of people knew the hanyu pinyin romanization

and I also want to say that I think generally, hanyu pinyin is more accurate in terms of pronounciation. of course, some words in hanyu pinyin are also quite off the real pronounciation, but there is not "perfect" way of romanisation

[wackycashew]

yeah, i think romanization is tricky. there's always something that's slightly off. that's why i prefer the taiwanese zhu yin with the actual "characters". to me those are the most accurate. :happy:

[kahel]

question: What's the chinese term for "music", "dramas" and "movies". I'm doing research for my site. Xiexie.

[wackycashew]

question: What's the chinese term for "music", "dramas" and "movies". I'm doing research for my site. Xiexie.
these are the terms i would use...

"music": 音樂 (yin yue)
"dramas": 連續劇 (lian xu ju) OR 劇集 (ju ji) - as in a TV drama series
"movies": 電影 (dian ying) OR 戲 (xi)

[vunsin]

and I also want to say that I think generally, hanyu pinyin is more accurate in terms of pronounciation. of course, some words in hanyu pinyin are also quite off the real pronounciation, but there is not "perfect" way of romanisation

To Chinese speakers, or should I saw, for those who've actually learned the hanyu pinyin, it'd seem more accurate in terms of pronunciation. But for foreigners trying to learn Chinese, or even my parents' generation ( as they'd never learned hanyu pinyin in school), it could be a nightmare. They can't pronounce all those words that start with "Q" and "X" or maybe also "Z" and they can't figure out those tone markers either. And then there are words like "ci," "chi," and "qi" or "si," "shi," or "xi" that they just can't differenciate. I think the old pronunciation system, when romanized like the one in Taiwan, should be easier for foreigners to learn. I can't imagine what would happen if an American tries to pronounce my name according to the hanyu pinyin romanization: Qiu1 Wen2 Xin1 :? It should be easier to do it the Taiwanese way: Chiu Wen Hsin

[dazzlette]

i think it's fortunate that there is at least a standard way of pronouncing mandarin words using hanyu pinyin.. i agree that it is difficult and confusing at first to a new beginner.. (like my mum doesn't know mandarin and finds difficult to differentiate the words accurately) but it is useful once you remember how a certain pinyin sounds like.. i think english is actually worse... words with the same spelling at times can be pronounced very differently!! i think the trickier part to learning chinese is really the intonation.. not the pronounciation of the word.. cos if the pinyin is the same your meaning is totally distorted if your intonation is off..

anyhow speaking of romantising chinese.. don't you guys feel there should be a similar system for dialects too?? in singapore.. many people still use their surnames in dialect and i realiase that there are many discreapancies in pronoucing them.. like for example.. i think a surname such as 'Ng' makes no sense to foreigners cos there's no vowel... or like 'Khaw' and 'Koh' to some people are pronounced the same...

[vunsin]

anyhow speaking of romantising chinese.. don't you guys feel there should be a similar system for dialects too?? in singapore.. many people still use their surnames in dialect and i realiase that there are many discreapancies in pronoucing them.. like for example.. i think a surname such as 'Ng' makes no sense to foreigners cos there's no vowel... or like 'Khaw' and 'Koh' to some people are pronounced the same...

"Romanizing" or "romanticising" Chinese?

Anyways... go to this website: www.chinalanguage.com
There are some pretty cool information. There ARE standardized romanized systems for pronouncing other dialects such as Cantonese, Hakka, Taiwanese, etc. But the thing is, they don't teach you that in school. Like in Hong Kong, they don't teach any pinyin for Cantonese! They just tell you how to read each character and you're supposed to memorize them. That's it! They don't tell you about tones either. I mean of course you know to pronounce certain words with certain tones, but they never explain it and never say that there are nine tones in Cantonese (which is the case).

About the ways Singaporeans write their surnames/last names, I think in Malaysia it is even worse. A couple who's illiterate but have nine kids might end up with nine kids with differently-spelt surnames.
For example, take Jay's last name.
#1 Child: Chiu (in Hakka, the dialect the parents speak)
#2 Child: Chew (still in Hakka, just spelt differently)
#3 Child: Jiu (another variation)
#4 Child: Chow (inspired by TVB series, the parents speak in Cantonese, not realising the MALAY guy who writes the birth certificate couldn't tell the difference!)
#5 Child: Chiao (TVB series still a hit)
#6 Child: Chao (another variation)
#7 Child: Jew (another attempt at Hakka, with similarly disastrous result)
#8 Child: Chou (parents realize Mandarin is "cooler" but still don't realize the person who does the birth certificate couldn't care less)
#9 Child: Zhou (finally, an educated person takes pity on them and writes down this hanyu pinyin for them to take to the birth certificate guy)

Gosh... Btw, although I said "for example," I didn't make that up. It was a real story!

[Quiet Boy]

man, as if thats actually a true story :laughing:
As if parents would give each of their kids a different surname. And they had nine kids as well??? :? That's quite an exaggerated example of how bad the romanization system is :bleh:

btw, vunsin the website doesnt work

[vunsin]

Quiet Boy, I just checked, the website works.

About the example, yes, it was true. Of course the parents didn't do that on purpose. They were illiterate. They didn't even realize their kids had different last names until they started going to school. :dry:

[dazzlette]

thanks vunsin!! i totally didn't know that there is a standard way.. and i think many people don't know that either.. i think there must actually be quite a number of chinese in malaysia and singapore that may actually have had their surnames 'distorted' (sorry can't think of a better word) when their forefathers first came over from china because it's difficult to actually put a sound to some of the dialect sound.. it's just like what happened in America right? when people first migrated from Europe..

haha i actually i dunno if i man romanizing or romantising.. but i think you know what i mean right?

and what vunsin said is really true.. and i think such things are quite common.. my granduncle from malaysia has a different surname from my grandma.. as in it's spelt differently in official documents...

[kecokele]

true.. my grandfather spoke in teochew and the (i supposed) malay guy wrote YON. It was supposed to be Yeo or Yong. Chinese is YANG.(杨 or楊) so now, my family have a different surname from the rest of my cousins. haha. Looks like I'm the only YON in the school. My friends just call me YON (Pronouced "Yawn") in school . but it's ok. turns out that my surname is Unique. hiaks~

[kahel]

Lisa, thanks for the translations. :happy:

nice info about chinese names, vunsin. for a non-chinese speaker, i have to say it took me a long time to learn to pronounce chinese words using the hanyu pinyin system. but i think it's more convenient than the others.

[vunsin]

haha i actually i dunno if i man romanizing or romantising.. but i think you know what i mean right?

dazzlette dear, it's romanizing. There's no such word as romantising, I think. There is the word romanticising though, which means making something romantic. :wink2:

and what vunsin said is really true.. and i think such things are quite common.. my granduncle from malaysia has a different surname from my grandma.. as in it's spelt differently in official documents...

Yes, I forgot to mention that (one's own name spelt differently in different documents). They spelt my mom's name wrongly in my birth certificate! :oops: So on paper she's not really my mom? :?

[wackycashew]

Quiet Boy, the page might take some time to load. it didn't load up right away for me. so, you can try again another time. :)

vunsin, i've booked the site and i will explore it at another time. thanks for the info! :D it'd be interesting to see how the "pinyin" works for cantonese. heehee...

kahel, np. my pleasure. :happy:

[destined]

I found this website which u can learn cantonese, and it has sounds to hear people speaking in chinese.

http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/

[Evenstar]

Um, excuse me, fellow forumers, but may I know what's the Mandarin version of the phrase "Mess with my friends and Die you stupid idiot"? Haha...I'm not trying to be violent okei??? I'm just trying to scare those noobs in our forums away (thought they may not understand it, I'll take it as they're as stupidity for quarelling with my best buds)...

[lil~jo]

Haha, did you not post that in the learn Japanese thread?
I'm sorry I couldn't find anything that was the slightest bit as you asked.
But as for Chinese, I can write it in pin yin for you...
not in the exact words but here goes.

"Ru guo ni zuo wo peng you sheng qi, wo xia ni, ni ben dan bai chi."

Translation: If you make my friends angry, I'll kill you, you stupid idiot!

[vunsin]

Aw... Jenen... That sounds, so, formal... :rolleyes: (And there are some pinyin mistakes too...)

You should just say this (not direct translation, but more effective):

"Ru guo ni gan re wo peng you, wo jiu sha le ni zhe ge wang ba dan!"

Translation: If you dare to provoke (mess with) my friend, I'll kill you bastard!

[lil~jo]

Haha, I'm usually formal cause I'm taught a a school just for Chinese alone.
So they really don't teach much rude things to say to us....
how sad TT^TT

yes, your one does sound a little bit cunning.

Did you learn your Chinese from a Chinese school?
Or is it just talking with your famliy and friends?

[vunsin]

I speak Chinese at home (Hakka), in school (Cantonese), and with my friends (Cantonese, Mandarin, and some Hakka). Well, I should say "spoke" since after I came to the States more than 4 years ago I haven't really had the chance to speak Chinese to that many people. Most of the Chinese I know over here are Mainlanders or Taiwanese so I tend to speak more Mandarin right now.

Although I'm now Chinese-literate, I've never been educated formally in Chinese. I learned my Chinese through songs (singing karaokes and memorizing lyrics) and Chinese entertainment magazines and newspapers. I also play around with Chinese word processing softwares a lot and I actually love reading dictionaries and language books. :laughing:

[lil~jo]

Cool, Hakka...
My friends speak that.
Vun Jie, what other Dilect do you think it is most alike to?

Looks like you are very talented in all languages and dilects.
I only know bits and pieces of cantonese, manderin, Foo Zhou, Foo Qian (hokkien)....
I can only say confidently that I can speak English....but then again my command of English isn't great.
:blush:
Do you know how to write traditional Chinese or Simplified?

[vunsin]

Er... I'm not sure what other dialect Hakka is similar to. Chinese has thousands of dialects (I believe, but some might be extinct now or rarely used anymore) and I only know 3, so I can't really say. I think the 3 that I know are already so different. My brother's childhood best friend spoke Teochew and he was always hanging out at our place. He taught us some Teochew (mostly naughty stuffs). When I started learning bits of Hokkien in West Malaysia, I found similarities between those two dialects.

Back to Hakka. It depends on where you're from. Like Hokkien, there are variations and regional differences. West Malaysians speak Hakka differently from Sabahans. And I'm sure people from different states in West Malaysia would speak Hakka differently too. Basically, we could still understand each other of course. People from HK (like my grandparents) speak Hakka differently too. So do Taiwanese.

[lil~jo]

Yes, I know about that.
My Taiwanese friends can not really fully understand my China accent ( you see, I was taught by a Bei Jing teacher)
My Taiwanese friends can't understand my Malaysian Hokkien, The Sibu (Malaysia) Foo Zhou and KL (Malaysia) Foo Zhou are different!
As for Cantonese, there are so many different types!
(Si yup being one of them, which I can't really understand.)
So yeah, I totally understand all the differences!

I learnt bits and pieces from everybody! hehe

[GEeChou]

chinese rocks, its a really good language to know! im glad i know it :happy: so i can help out for anyone else who wants to know something in chinese... i can do ANOTHER version of Evenstar's request:
Jie Guo Ni Hai Wo de Peng You, Wo Huai Sha Shi Ni, Ni Zi Zang!

[vunsin]

:hmm: GEeChou... No offense... but... Doesn't "jie guo" mean "results" or do you mean something else? And do you mean "wo HUI sha shi ni" (as in "I Will") or something else? I think maybe providing the Chinese characters would help because there are variations even between the standard Chinese pinyin and Taiwanese romanization. :wink2:

[angel_numberone]

Ummm...... is this thread still open for discussion?

i have a question? i'm now in china and i heard a lot ppl saying "bu hao yi si"
i wanna know what it means? and how to use it?
my friend said it means courteous. another friend said it mean sorry. i'm confused. :wacko:

[jakinni]

It's both. It literally means "to be embarrassed or ill at ease" It's basically equivalent to someone saying "excuse me" or "sorry" to someone before interrupting and asking a question, basic courtesy. Or if you were mistaken about something you can express your embarrassment or say sorry by saying "bu hao yi si".

[angel_numberone]

Thank you very much for your explanation, jakinni. :flowers:

I'm curious of how to use "but" in chinese.
i serach in online dictionary for "but" and there're many words in chinese for "but"

ke3, ke3shi4, nai3shi4, zhi3, que4, dan4, dan4shi4, wei2

I watched movies ( 10%understood, the rest just look at the scene :oops: ) i heard in some movies use "ke3shi4" and "dan4shi4"

is this two having the same meaning and can be used interchangeably?
what about the other words in the list of dictionary above?

[ocy]

I'm not really good at chinese but I ll try to explain here :tongue:

"ke3shi4" and "dan4shi4" or "bu guo"<- is this the right pinyin? can be used to say "but".
I'd always use either one of the three to say "but", is there any other word that can be used to say "but"?

However, there're not 100% the same, in language usage, not really sure the right usage of them thou....had to ask a chinese expert.

[raerei]

I'm not really good at chinese but I ll try to explain here :tongue:

"ke3shi4" and "dan4shi4" or "bu guo"<- is this the right pinyin? can be used to say "but".
I'd always use either one of the three to say "but", is there any other word that can be used to say "but"?

However, there're not 100% the same, in language usage, not really sure the right usage of them thou....had to ask a chinese expert.

Actually, I think ke3shi4 and dan4shi4 are the same thing.

But bu2 guo4 is like used a bit differently...

[bee]

i agree with rae. i mean, i understand the pinyin by guessing because i dont know what the numbers mean, other than that its a different character/pronunciation.
keshi and danshi are basically the same O_o my family uses them interchangably atleast. =/
i dont get all technical with my chinese. i dont have to translate it in my mind to understand O_o its just a natural sort of thing, so i confuse myself when i try to translate -_-()

[wonnage]

可是 （ke3shi4) is less assertive than 但是(dan4shi4). Meaning is totally interchangeable but when I hear 可是 it sounds more feminine. Perhaps it isn't this way but I sure interpret it like so. 不过 (bu2guo4) is often used after a statement, I think its meaning is more like "however". i.e "I like you very much, however I don't think we're right for each other." "我很喜欢你，不过，我觉得我和你不适合。“ I'm not a chinese expert, I'm actually an ABC but that's my take.

[raerei]

i agree with rae. i mean, i understand the pinyin by guessing because i dont know what the numbers mean, other than that its a different character/pronunciation.
keshi and danshi are basically the same O_o my family uses them interchangably atleast. =/
i dont get all technical with my chinese. i dont have to translate it in my mind to understand O_o its just a natural sort of thing, so i confuse myself when i try to translate -_-()

LOL. I definetely understand what you mean Bee. I get confused sometimes too... :wacko:
My chinese isn't really that great. I'm still going to Chinese school on weekends.

The numbers are the four tones.
The Yi Sheng, Er Sheng, San Sheng, Si Sheng and Ching Sheng thing. :happy:

[ohm]

I would like to learn chinese . I think it necessary for everyone Now I looking the place for learn . I know some words .For example , bu (no) ,shi (yes) ,peng you (friend),shuo (speak) ,lai (come) ,etc ...... And I understand the pinyin and to be able to translate from Jay's song . I feel so proud . I think chinese so difficult. but i must to do it........

[wonnage]

like with any language unless you're proficient enough to think in it then you'll always sound weird. When you start off it's okay to keep translating into english but once you gain a foothold then lose the crutch. And make sure whoever you're teaching from doesn't have a weird voice either. There's 国语 mandarin, and then there's 台湾国语, “taiwanese mandarin" that a lot of people speak. Some think it sounds cute. I think it's a poor way to communicate when 四 and 十 （4 and 10) sound the same, they just refuse to curl their tongues.. Wouldn't it really screw up businesses? "I want four giant multimillion dollar widgets." "ten? okay, bill's in the mail." "NOOOO"

So yeah, make sure your teacher speaks clearly, mumbly is good for jay singing but not for learning proper chinese.

[raerei]

^ Wonnage...
you are from mainland China aren't you?
I could tell from you using Jian Ti Tzu and also from the way you are saying this.
And I've never heard anyone who thinks Taiwanese Mandarin sounds cute.
I don't think anyone says 4 and 10 the same way either.... in Taiwan.
You don't have to curl your tongue that much to tell the difference.

[newg]

I have a question here.. is the real acsent of chinese should be like the people from China are talking? because our chinese teacher is from China and its her first time teaching here and its just so weird when ever she said "ke pur" but we are reading it as "ke pun" (book) and also "shey" (who) she is reading it as "shuey" ( read like the word "water" )

[angel_numberone]

thank you everyone for answering my question. :bow:

here's what i get. "ke shi" and "dan shi" are the same. "bu guo" is bit different as it refers "However".


wonnage, i understand what u trying to say but i got attracted to chinese by jay's song. i can't deny i have learned some new vocabs. from his songs. learn new vocab from jay's song doesn't mean i will pronouce like jay. :worry:

[ocy]

Newg, I dont think there's any real accent of Mandarin, is there any? As long as you pronounce the pinyin correctly, I think it's fine. Even ppl in China pronounce some word wrongly....and if all ppl of China start to pronounce that word wrongly, would we had to change our pronunciation to suit thiers?

[FullMetal-Girl]

uhh ill just keep reading until i learn or understand domething so keep posting and ill learn....

[HarmonyCloud]

aw I really want to Learn Chinese but I have no way to since my school doesn't offer it or anything but are there any pages in this thread you guys recommend to find some useful phrases?

[Ling]

HarmonyCloud:I glanced at a few posts and it looks like useful phrases really depends on the context & situation you're in. Yea, I don't really want to dig through the pages either, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask & I'll try to answer it (ie you can ask for phrases that you find useful :-) )

[maihuong]

how do you say .. Let go of me
fang kai de wo ?? o.O :D
wo de fang kai ? :D

and whne you say friend - peng you . is it pronounced like peng and then YOU as in you and i ? dont tell me chinese pronunciation plz im not chinese i have no clue :cry:
and speak = shuo .. how do you pronounce that ?

[jay_is_cute]

maihuong: let go of me would be "fang kai wo." no "de" since "de" is only used in possessive/modifying situations. "let go" does not modify "me" and "let go" is not of "me" therefore the "de" is not needed. examples where you need "de": my book - "wo de book" or the pink skirt - "pink de skirt".

peng you is not pronounced as in "you and i" but rather YOW, with a long O sound. i dont know how to describe "shuo" but its sounds like the awe in awesome with a british accent...:sweat:

[maihuong]

maihuong: let go of me would be "fang kai wo." no "de" since "de" is only used in possessive/modifying situations. "let go" does not modify "me" and "let go" is not of "me" therefore the "de" is not needed. examples where you need "de": my book - "wo de book" or the pink skirt - "pink de skirt".

peng you is not pronounced as in "you and i" but rather YOW, with a long O sound. i dont know how to describe "shuo" but its sounds like the awe in awesome with a british accent...:sweat:

so de is like a possessive article type ish ?? :happy: i cc .. ahahah .. wow i'm learning ^^ ..thnxx

peng you ==> "yo" like hoe - yoe ? :? sorry i forgot all that long o short o thing i dunno which one is whihc :D

ohh i noo wat you mean!! .. shuo as in "shuo ai ni" ?

ying wei ni wo xiang xin
xiang xin = believe?
because of you , i believe ?
--
another question :D
gu du bu ku
gu du = loneliness
bu ku = no cry ?
"bu tsai [?] ku...." << wat does that mean?

[Ling]

so de is like a possessive article type ish ?? :happy: i cc .. ahahah .. wow i'm learning ^^ ..thnxx

peng you ==> "yo" like hoe - yoe ? :? sorry i forgot all that long o short o thing i dunno which one is whihc :D

ohh i noo wat you mean!! .. shuo as in "shuo ai ni" ?

ying wei ni wo xiang xin
xiang xin = believe?
because of you , i believe ?
--
another question :D
gu du bu ku
gu du = loneliness
bu ku = no cry ?
"bu tsai [?] ku...." << wat does that mean?
"because of you , i believe" is correct
"gu du bu ku" - lonliness isn't bitter
"bu tsai [?] ku...." tsai in this context probably means is no longer bitter.

[b^la]

"because of you , i believe" is correct
"gu du bu ku" - lonliness isn't bitter
"bu tsai [?] ku...." tsai in this context probably means is no longer bitter.

actually 'ku' could also mean cry so

'gu du bu ku' could mean 'don't cry alone'
and
'bu tsai (actually the correct pinyin would be 'zai') ku' could mean 'don't cry any longer'

correct me if i'm wront ><''

[Ling]

I assumed it was ku as in bitter because it sounded reminded me of Dicky Chang's song "gu du bu ku (孤獨不苦)". But I could be wrong.
Maihuong: It's probably best to post the Chinese words for an accurate translation/explanation :happy:

[maihuong]

your right Ling .. it is Dicky's Gu Du Bu Ku :D
haha .. i'd love to do that but i'm not chinese o.O
--
thank you for the explanations ^^
--

wat does yi ge ren mean? .. i hear it in songs all the time

[HarmonyCloud]

HarmonyCloud:I glanced at a few posts and it looks like useful phrases really depends on the context & situation you're in. Yea, I don't really want to dig through the pages either, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask & I'll try to answer it (ie you can ask for phrases that you find useful :-) )

heh thanks well I guess starting with
Thank you
Excuse me
Sorry
um other introductions
I know "Nihao" and "Mingzhi ____" <--thats my name is right?

[Ling]

maihong:np! guess you could try including some name (people, songs or something) to avoid confusions since lots of words sound alike :happy:
yi ge ren -- alone or lonely (literally means one person)
HarmonyCloud:
thank you -- xie(4) xie(4)
excuse me -- bu(4) hao(3) yi(4) shi(4)
*excuse me kind of depends on the context, for example, you could say "jie guo" when you're trying to say excuse me to walk through a crowd
"bu hao yi shi" would be excuse me when you're trying to interrupt, or ask for directions, etc
sorry -- dui(4) bu(4) qi(3)
introductions. hmmm....well hello always works
da(4) jia hao(3) -- hello everybody
wo(3) de(5) ming(2) zi(4) shi(4)... -- my name is...
i'll add on if I think of anything else
bingo! ming zi is name :-)

The numbers are just the different sounds/tones for those that know about it (yi(4) sheng(1), er(4) sheng(1), etc)
You guys can tell me if you want the intonnation or not

[wackycashew]

wat does yi ge ren mean? .. i hear it in songs all the time
i saw this thread pop up as the most recent posted thread in Small Talk, so i decided to venture in here. :happy:

maihuong: "yi ge ren" literally means "one person". so, in songs, most likely it's referring to the person being by himself/herself, or in other words, left alone. =) it's good that you're picking up vocab from songs. :D

Ling: i think it's great to have the intonation since it plays such an important role in the pronunciation. :-)

maybe i'll stop by some more to see what's going on in this thread. ^0^

[cheryl_jay]

may i ask what does "rang wo ai ni shi shui" means? it's a line from the song wu ding by jay n landy.. i dun understand the word "rang" there.. please translate? thanx.. ^^

[b^la]

may i ask what does "rang wo ai ni shi shui" means? it's a line from the song wu ding by jay n landy.. i dun understand the word "rang" there.. please translate? thanx.. ^^

rang wo ai ni shi shui (correct pinyin should be 'shei') = who let me love you

the word 'rang' means to allow or let ^^

[Ling]

may i ask what does "rang wo ai ni shi shui" means? it's a line from the song wu ding by jay n landy.. i dun understand the word "rang" there.. please translate? thanx.. ^^

"rang" means "let"
In the song it means something along the lines of:
(女)让我爱你是谁(男)是我
who let me fall in love with you, it's me
(女)让你爱我是谁(男)是你
who let you fall in love with me, it's you

edit: looks like b^la beat me to answering the question :happy:
rang wo ai ni shi shui (correct pinyin should be 'shei') =

actually, the pinyin can be considered correct. It depends on the program. I use the XP romanizer and I have to type in shui for the word who. Btw, I totally think that pinyin is wrong too tho :wink2:

[cheryl_jay]

rang wo ai ni shi shui (correct pinyin should be 'shei') = who let me love you

the word 'rang' means to allow or let ^^

thanx alot!! :D im not quite good in mandarin.. i speak more of cantonese.. thanx for helping!! ^^

"rang" means "let"
In the song it means something along the lines of:
(女)让我爱你是谁(男)是我
who let me fall in love with you, it's me
(女)让你爱我是谁(男)是你
who let you fall in love with me, it's you

edit: looks like b^la beat me to answering the question :happy:

actually, the pinyin can be considered correct. It depends on the program. I use the XP romanizer and I have to type in shui for the word who. Btw, I totally think that pinyin is wrong too tho :wink2:

thanx ling!! yup, i saw that translation at the lyrics part too..
but i din quite understand what it meant, cos it said that "who let me fall in love with you, it's me.." felt that it sound kinda weird.. hehe.. but now i get it.. ^^ thanx!!

[Ling]

yea, the lyrics are a little weird there. Great to know that you understand it!

[HarmonyCloud]

Thank you Ling for the translations just the number thing is a little confusing is xie making the Shi sound or Yi sound? maybe I just dont get what u mean by Tones ><

[Ling]

HarmonyCloud actually, the intonation has to do with how it sounds. They're like varying accents. For example, for xie
Yi seng [一聲] - xie(1) 些 (a little)
er seng [二聲] - xie(2) 鞋 (shoe)
san seng [三聲] - xie(3) 寫 (write)
si seng [四聲] - xie(4) 謝 (thank)
Hope that helps, I'm not that great at explaining intonnation, so if anyone can help out, that'd be great :happy: But feel free to ask if you still don't get it. I'll try my best to explain

[Cai_Niao]

"Wo bi ni men dou diao!" I am more 'diao' then all of u! (I'm errr.... i er, think Jay Chou should say this not me :bleh:[btw don't say this to older ppl cos they'd get really offended...lol])
oh and BTW u can't always rely on Jay's songs as an example on how to speak Mando... See the thing is he has REALLY bad pronociation especially when it comes to ssss and shhh. And some of his lyrics don't even make sens ie. "Zhen bu gai, Zhen bu Kai" thats from Nuo fu and it makes absoultuely no sense cos it means "Really should'nt, Can't open up..." WTF?!!

[hisashiluv14]

Yeah I agree, Jielun's Mandarin pronounciation isn't a hundred percent accurate. For example, he said his own name as "Zhou Jie Ren" in "Wan Mei Zhu Yi", when he was incorporating his own name into the melody towards the end. Maybe it's part of his vocal stylistics though, but don't take his pronounciation as the absolutely correct one.

Cai niao: I personally don't see what's wrong with "zhen bu gai, zhen bu kai"? If you take it out of context of course it doesn't make sense, but when the song is taken as a whole it DOES make sense. It goes on to say, "bie rang wo de di qiu bian an" (don't let my world turn dark or something similar along those lines). Zhen bu gai hence conveys a sense of regret, zhen bu kai directly addresses the idea of the speaker's world turning dark (can't open my eyes and hence it's all dark around me), and the sense of regret conveyed by "zhen bu gai" also collocates with the idea of darkness.

Okay I can't believe I just pseudo-analysed Chinese lyrics in English but yes, I don't think it didn't make sense. That's my point. :-)

[jayx8318x]

I have a question about mandarin and cantonese.
Take for example Jay's songs, they are in mandarin, but say you want the lyrics in cantonese, do you just read the characters as canto (as oppose to mando) and it will make sense, or do you need to actually translate mando into canto.

I hope what I'm asking makes sense...>.<

[dazzlette]

You can just read the characters in Cantonese. The meaning would be the same, it's just the pronounciation would be different. But sometimes, certain mandarin phrases would sound weird in cantonese, usually because it doedsn't really exist in cantonese and people don't speak like that.

[Ling]

What dazzlette said is quite correct. To add to it, there are some words that are unique to Cantonese (as in they don't occur in Mandarin).

[snowflake]

What dazzlette and Ling said is true.

But when you read Mandarin as Cantonese, the meaning is pretty much lost.
Normally, the lyrics will be rewrite as Cantonese or vice verse for a song.
And the difference is big even if the meaning is still the same.

At least that is what I have observed from all the Cantonese translated to Mandarin songs.

[tappiocaa]

oo yayy a threadd to learn chinese...exactlyy wat i need cuz i am really badd at chinesee...still very confuseed at all the different characters and pronunciations :glug: this is gonna takee me a longg timee to learnn :?

[dazzlette]

Actually, I've been doing volunteer work at a language school where I teach mandarin to beginners. One of the websites which I think is pretty good is: http://www.mandarintools.com

Feel free to browse around there.

[wackycashew]

for a song, i don't think the meaning is necessary lost when you read the lyrics in cantonese as opposed to mandarin. it might not sound as good, but it still means the same pretty much unless it was something very specific to taiwan because it's still the chinese language. speaking in one or the other won't change the meaning a whole lot. the only thing that changes is the way the words are used. for example, if i wanna say suntan lotion, i would say "fang shai you" in mando, but "tai yeung yau" in canto. but it's just a difference in what people normally use. in general, the words won't change meaning because it's spoken in mando/canto. =)

usually, when there's a mandarin song and subsequently a cantonese version, or vice versa, the lyrics will be rewritten so that it still sounds good. after all, the pronunciation can be quite different. because cantonese sounds more "rough", the mandarin lyrics tend to sound more soothing (unless maybe in cases where the cantonese lyrics were written first). if you take the same mando lyrics and try to sing along in canto, it doesn't quite work. but if it's a canto song and you try to sing the same words in mando, it actually sounds ok most of the time. :happy:

thanks for the link, dazzy. i love collecting resources. :tongue:

[u154801]

IF? u know a fair amount of chinese and can do chinese typing on computer
this site : http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/
is a good FULL dictionary to chinese words, and it has english translation and pinyin, cantonese pinyin too, and how it is encoded in computer and how to type it in HK/TAIWAN chongkit.....
why i say this website as so special well if ur a beginner to learn HK/TAIWAN chongkit this site is for u and it shows the encoding to the entire chinese dictionary words.......well what happens if u dont know how to type the word in chongkit in 1st place....... well i just use the computer pen to write it then i search the word and i learn how to encode the words in chong kit

PS: also the dictionary as well as the stuff i said already , it also lets the user allow to play an audio of people saying the words..... and this function is on every SINGLE chinese words ....so its mega mega good the best thing i know on web

[leejt]

whoa, this is gonna be hard to learn just be going into this thread all the time, but i guess it'll heap some who wanst to learn, thanks for posting some languages.

[soybeast]

this is a little offtopic but I use powerword 2005 for my chinese<--->english dictionary purposes. I was wondering if anyone had the newest version? It's a great dictionary and works with han wang pen tablet =)

[o_0xrandomnessx0_o]

i have a question. (not sure if this is offtopic)

does anyone know any sites where you can learn taiwanese? i really want to learn how to speak it because even though i can understand it, it sounds a lot cooler than mandarin xD

thank you

[soybeast]

No taiwanese for you! be a good island and submit to china! muahaha

[o_0xrandomnessx0_o]

LOL soybeast i still want to learn taiwanese, mainly because when my relatives gossip, they speak that! lol so pointless :rolleyes: but still :)

[soybeast]

what's taiwanese sound like anyways? Is it hokkien? Sound like canto? I thought taiwanese just speak perfect mandarin =o

[Ling]

what's taiwanese sound like anyways? Is it hokkien? Sound like canto? I thought taiwanese just speak perfect mandarin =o
Taiwanese sounds very much like Hokkien. It doesn't really sound much like Cantonese.

o_0xrandomnessx0_o: You can visit the site below to learn/listen Taiwanese. It doesn't teach you everything, but it's a good way to start
http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/lang/taiwanese/l_c.htm

[jason20xx]

I'm learning mandarin in college right now, the professor told me that taiwanese are not that different except for sentence structure maybe like people in beijing who say words with r (like wan(r)) or it could be like shanghaiese, i don't know.

[o_0xrandomnessx0_o]

haha thanks ling for the link.

i agree, taiwanese sounds a bit like hokkien (or so i've heard). i think it's like canto in the way that the words are kind of connected?

//edit//
learning this by myself is so hard, it's fustrating -__-''

[soybeast]

haha that starting page for that taiwanese site is funny. Man the pinyin for taiwanese is so weird, I can't imagine having to learn that. How many tones does taiwanese have? Actually how many does cantonese have too? Mandarin is nice and easy w/ 4 tones....

[KendoTiger]

Yeah ~ things like "yi dian" would be pronounced "yi diar" in Taiwanese. *shrugs* you can still get along if you know mando in Taiwan, they'll understand. But if you go to mainland with Taiwanese accent, they'll try to "iron it out" from you. Kinda scary when you think about it...

Best thing to do if you really want to learn Mando/Canto, and you haven't grown up speaking it ~ is to:
1) Take college classes (they're more intense - you learn more)
1) Go to the country, and take classes there - so you're surrounded by the language
2) Get a fluent speaker to help instruct you (along with source material)
3) Go to Chinese school with the little kids, and learn BoPoMoFo, keke
4) Learn it on your own with tapes/cds/and books
5) Claim you can speak it when you know you can't. Learn a few words, and get by easily XD

[u154801]

CONTINUING FROM ABOVE ^^^^^

option 6) court a chinese girl (mandaring/taiwan)

[elisabeth143]

Awesome thread! I'm in the long process of learning Chinese. I shall be taking class at my university either in the summer or fall. It helps to have close friends who speak it. This site is also pretty good for a quickie lesson.
http://chinesepod.com/ I've found it very helpful and fun. Now to find a chinese b/f... hehe ;) That would speed up my learning process.

[dannyo]

well, i found this link here... its pretty interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_Chinese_surnames

[lil~jo]

Just going back to Taiwanese...
It depends....

if you're talking about the Taiwanese native language, it is Hokkien, only different in a couple of words but it is exactly the same.

But some taiwanese do say their speaking taiwanese when their speaking manderin, ofcourse that means their not speaking their native language...but
just ordinary manderin with a slight different accent, as do all different countrys and cities do which speak manderin.

oh and practise makes perfect, for those who are at present learning Chinese, do practise with friends or relatives....as elisabeth143 did say...it does help tonnes.

Jia You!~
hao hao xue xi ya!~

[midori]

My surname is in the top ten for most common names XD don't know if that's good or not :P

chou is pretty common too haha.

[sam_ho]

I'm originally from Taiwan, so I'd love to teach you guys some mandarin!!!! Well first of all, I just want to start with the basic ones. :D
Ni hou- Hello
Shie Shie- Thank you
Bu yao ke chi- You're welcome
Zhai Chien- Good Bye
Bai Tuo- Please

Any questions, ask me! :D

[w33zerish]

"zhou jie lun wo ai ni" jay chou i love you
wellz thats it for 2dai folks~ tune in t/m for some NEW chinese~ ^___^


i freaking love this phrase. i know it by heart

[hellokitty]

My surname is the 21st on that list. It's not that common. I've seen those kind of lists before. Ok, so this is a chinese teaching thread. Well you guys can ask me for translations etc ^_^

I think the most effective way of learning mandarin is just to practise lots. I personally think going to chinese school is a good way of learning chinese (although most of the kids there don't try). Start with the basics first and don't give up!

[Irina]

Hi guys,

Its my first year in uni and my major is chinese language,actually I am russian speaking originally from Lithuania,but for studies came to Belarus.

Teachers are chinese and sure their russian is not perfect,but they are teaching us quite fast and I already feel lost,too much we have learned:-(

[Darkshrimp]

Irina, hey! it's so awesome that you are learning chinese, don't know why, but everytime i see a white person speaking chiense, i just get so damn impressed. hehe, so good on ya! and since your doing a major chinese, you prob can teach me a few :P haha even tho i'm from china >.<

[Irina]

Ni hao Darkshrimp,yes everyone is suprised that I am going to be chinese interpreter and a teacher.Its already 2 years since I was dreaming to learn chinese and sure its because of Jay Chou.Yes,no problems.I am still in the beginner level,so dont know that much,but u can ask me and I will try to translate,hehe So you know only english language,or just cant write and read chinese?

[crazygiggles13]

haha..my mum's number one and dad and i are number two on the list :D lol
ok with chinese..im what you call social learning..(i made that term up!keke)
anyways, it means that my friends are teaching me little phrases here and there..
now i can say "where's the toilet?" and i guess its pretty handy to know whenyou gota go..lol
oh! i can also say "sorry i cant speak mandarin. can you speak english?" keke..
and some other stuff too!

[li shan]

i think the best way to learn chinese is to focus on one thing at a time, like first just speaking in mandarin, practising and conversing with others, and if you think you're already very good at it, you can move on to other things like writing or learning another dialect.

learning mandarin in a school setting just didn't do it for me. i think i never really "learned" because all the effort i put into it was primarily to get high marks. i pretty much crammed everything into my head before a test and i forget everything afterwards. i think it was also hard because there is no real focus. we studied both hokkien and mandarin, and then we had reading, writing, spelling, composition and many other stuff all at once.

[coolmle]

here is some cantonese

gnow oi ley-i love u
ley joe mut-wat r u doing?
hoe mm hoe-yes or no(something like that)
yut-1
yee-2
sey-die or 4
fai de-hurry up
sou seng-be quiet or shut up
yun wei-because
ye ga-right now

[kathy_ta]

haha Im vietnamese but whenlistening to Jay's songs I can hardly understand some phrases
for example:
-tofu
-hei se mao yi(black wollenm sweater)-is this rite?
-wu ai ni(I love u)-It can be heard very often
So I want to ask what kinda things of Chinese phrases in Jay's songs would u like me to post?
i will try my best to contribute

[IsaBonita]

I have a very veeeeeeeeeery important question
so anybody could translate these simple words, I hear ALOT in Jolin tsais songs:

WO DE AI (-> i guess its written this way)

and Bu ke se yi (-> or something like that....its in Leehoms NI BU ZAI)

thanx ^^

[NeVerEveR]

If you separate them up, WO means me but since DE come after WO, WO DE means mine .
AI means love
WO DE AI = my love
BU KE means can’t ,
BU KE SI YI means unbelievable , it’s a Chinese idiom , that’s why it consists of four characters :happy:
-------------------
I searched for the lyric of You’re Not Here but I don’t see bu ke si yi in it, so I try my luck at his other songs
and
Here it is, part of the lyric of Forever Love
Qiao Miao de Rong Hua Wo De Bu An Ding
You magically melt my uneasiness

Bu Ke Si Yi Zheng Ming Wo Ai Ni De Li You
Unbelivable, this proves the reason why I love you

[rainbowballoon]

haha Im vietnamese but whenlistening to Jay's songs I can hardly understand some phrases
for example:
-tofu
-hei se mao yi(black wollenm sweater)-is this rite?
-wu ai ni(I love u)-It can be heard very often


what a fun thread!

i don't know what tofu you're referring to.. is it 豆腐? it's pronounced dou4 fu3. and it means tofu or beancurd.
黑色毛衣 means black woolen sweater. 黑 (hei1)=black. 色(se4)=colour, 毛(mao2)=fur/hair 衣(yi1)=shirt. 毛衣=woolen sweater
我爱你 (wo3 ai4 ni3).. im sure majority knows this is 'i love you'

all right, some common colours you might want to learn!
红(hong2)=red
黄(huang2)=yellow
蓝(lan2)=blue
青(qing1) or 绿(lv4) = green
紫(zi3)=purple
白(bai2)=white
橙(cheng2)=orange
褐(he4)=brown (is this the correct way to write it?)
灰(hui1)=grey
彩虹(cai3 hong2)=rainbow

浅(qian3)=light (as in light-coloured)
深(shen1)=deep/dark (as in dark coloured)

so if u wanna say u like the colour deep red, you can write:
我喜欢深红色。(喜欢=like)
wo3 xi3 huan1 shen1 hong2 se4.

[c_c_]

长恨歌 chang hen ge Chang = long Hen = hate Ge = song this is directly translated as “long song of hate” but it’s actually a poem that refers to love and the hatre d of the lovers (in this case the last T’ang emperor Li long ji and his empress Yang Gui Fei) at not being able to be together. These are the last f our lines of the poem, which are very famous and very pretty: 在天愿做比翼鸟 zai tian yuan zuo bi yi niao in the sky, let us be birds that fly wingtip to wingtip 在地愿为连理支 zai di yuan wei l ian li zhi on the earth, let us be branches that exist intertwined 天长地久有时尽 tian cha ng di jiu you shi jin even the sky and earth have a time of death 此恨绵绵无绝期 ci hen mian mian wu jue qi yet this hatred [at being unable t o be together] winds on without end. zai = at/in tian = sky yuan = would like to zuo = be/do
bi = compare yi = wings niao = bird bi yi niao = birds that fly wing to wing di = earth/ground we i = to be lian = connect li = understand zhi = branches lian li zhi = branches that come from the same larger branch/connected branches chang = long jiu = long (always in terms of years) you = has shi = time jin = end tian chang di jiu = a common Chinese idiom meaning a very very long time ci = this mian = unwinding wu = none jue = ending qi = period �w

[IsaBonita]

NeVerEveR
THANK YOU THANK YOU!! YOU HELPED ME ALOT!!
and yeah man u were right...there is no BU KE SE YI in NI BU ZAI...
it was on FOREVER LOVE like you noticed it so right!
i meant that song...i dunno why NI BU ZAI stuck in my head...
so at the end you were totally right with FOREVER LOVE, i meant that song, you could read my mincd....that deserves a reputation ;-)

[kwonsang26]

woah...some ppl dunno how to read chinese here...i fink u should teach them the pin ying form~ im good @ dat~:D wellz...everyone probably knows what "wo ai ni" means...
"ni hao ma" how are you
"wo ai ni" i love you
"zhou jie lun wo ai ni" jay chou i love you
wellz thats it for 2dai folks~ tune in t/m for some NEW chinese~ ^___^

Thank you cystaltears,now I can say "zhou jie lun wo ai ni" to Jay if I do meet him one lifetime.Wow but I can't believe this thread is already dead when there's still some people here that wants to learn mandarin.

I just want to learn simple phrases like above.I'm still checking out the rest of the posts so I don't repost the same questions.However,I must bring life back to this thread muhahahaha!!!^^:bleh:

你害怕嗎﹖
ni3 hai4 pa4 ma1
(meaning "are you fearful?")

"ni hao ma" how are you
"wo ai ni" i love you
"zhou jie lun wo ai ni" jay chou i love you

diao is 屌, pronounced diao3

Or u can write: Jay, Ni2 Hao3 Diao3!! ie Jay, u are diao!

1) 杰伦, 你是我的英雄!
Jie lun, ni shi wo de ying xiong
Jay, you are my hero!

2) 杰伦,你是我的唯一!
jie lun, ni shi wo de wei yi
Jay, you are my one and only!

3) 我选着放弃你...是因为我太爱你...(安静)
wo xuan zhe fang qi ni,..shi yin wei wo tai ai ni..
I chose to let you go, because I love you too much..
__________________
An Jing's lyrics are 我会学着放弃你 (wo hui xue zhe fang qi ni = i will learn to let you go) , not 我选着放弃你 (wo xuan zhe fang qi ni = i chose to let you go) ^^;;

as for Ni hai pa ma? that means "are you scared" or it can mean "are you still scared?" (as linny as mentioned) it really depends on how you say it, again the slight sound difference

Yes if the "hai" is actually 還 (second intonation), which means to remain as or still. No, since the "hai" that was being referred to is 害 (fourth intonation), which means "to cause something bad (to happen)".

The second one, 得, may be used in different ways. One of these might be when you wish to signify a desire to possess something; for example, 得到 (de2 dao4) means "to obtain". It might also be used in 覺得 (jue2 de2), which means to think about/seek an opinion, as in 你覺得杰倫帥嗎﹖ (ni3 jue2 de2 jie2 lun2 shuai4 ma1 -- do you think Jay is handsome?).

得 may also be pronounced as dei3, meaning having to (do something). For example, 時間不早了﹐我得上學了 (shi2 jian1 bu4 zao3 le4, wo3 dei3 shang4 xue2 le4 -- time is running short, I have to leave for school now).

As for Ni Hai Pa Ma,
"are you still scared" would be ni3 hai3 pa4 ma? 你还怕吗？
"are you scared" would be ni3 hai4 pa4 ma? 你害怕吗？

The tones are like this: 1. __ 2. / 3. \/ 4. \

And 得 has quite a few meanings, and it can be pronounced de, de2 or dei3. But most often it's used as de, and you use it after a verb or an adjective before the adverb. For example, 走得快 (zou3 de kuai4 = walk fast). 走 = zou3, 快 = kuai4. So it's like, walk 得 fast. Or you can use it to indicate possibility.

When it's de2, it means get/obtain, or something like finished/is ready.
我得了第一名 = wo3 de2 liao3 di4 yi1 ming2 = i got first place
第一 名 = di4 yi1 ming2 = first place

When it's dei3, it can mean must/have to, will surely, or need.

杰伦很害羞 = Jie2 Lun2 Hen3 Hai4 Xiu1 = Jay is very shy

It would be better to use 內 (nei4), which means interior (of).

我把錢包留在車內﹐忘了拿。
wo3 ba3 qian2 bao1 liu2 zai4 che1 nei4, wang4 le4 na2

-- I left my wallet/purse in the car and forgot to bring it with me.

我 = wo3 = I/me/myself
把 = ba3 = to do something/action of doing something
錢包 = qian2 bao1 = wallet/purse (錢 = money; 包 = bag)
留在 = liu2 zai4 = to leave (something) in (somewhere) (留 = leave)
車 = che1 = car/vehicle
內 = nei4 = interior (of)
忘了 = wang4 le4 = to forget
拿 = na2 = to bring/take

the second "de" [sorry can't type chinese on this comp] is for like ACTION, like for adverbs, the first "de" you put like "wo de"[mine] or "ni de" for the second one you would use like "ai de hen sen"[love you so deepy] or like "chi de"[ate], stuff like that..
__________________


[don't lose hope, because one day serendipity will bring us back together]

我 = wo3 = I/me/myself
把 = ba3 = (to) do something
裙子 = qun2 zi3 = skirt
放在 = fang4 zai4 = placed into
衣櫥 = yi1 chu2 = closet (衣 = clotheswear; 櫥 = cupboard/closet/cabinet)
裡面 = li3 mian4 = inside of (something)

You mean 想 (xiang3), don't you?

想 means to think of/about. So in 簡單愛 (Simple Love) where Jay has this line 我想就這樣牽著你的手不放開 (wo3 xiang3 jiu4 zhe4 yang4 qian1 zhe4 ni3 de shou3 bu2 fang4 kai1 -- I hope I got the lyrics correct x_x), it means "I'm thinking of holding onto your hand and never let go".

我 = wo3 = I/me/myself
想 = xiang3 = (to) think of/about
就這樣 = jiu4 zhe4 yang4 = (to) do (something) in (this) manner (這 = this)
牽著 = qian1 zhe4 = (to) hold onto (牽 = to hold; 著 = the action of doing something)
你的 = ni3 de = your's, belonging to you
手 = shou3 = hand/arm
不 = bu2 = negation; it's pronounced as bu2 in this case (instead of bu4) since the following character is in the FOURTH tone
放開 = fang4 kai1 = (to) release/let go

Mandarin
天上人間　如果真值得歌頌

PinYin
tian1 shang4 ren2 jian1, ru2 guo3 zhen1 zhi2 de2 ge1 song4

天上 - tian1 shang4 = sky above (heave)
人間 - ren2 jian1 = human world (earth)
如果 - ru2 guo3 = if
真 - zhen1 = really
值得 - zhi2 de2 = worth
歌頌 - ge1 song4 = sing and harmonize

Meaning
the heavens and earth, if they are really praiseworthy

Mandarin
也是因為有你　才會變的鬧轟轟

PinYin
ye3 shi4 ying1 wei4 you3 ni3, cai2 hui4 bian4 de0 nao4 hong1 hong1

也是 - ye3 shi4 = also is
因為 - ying1 wei4 = because
有 - you3 = have
你 - ni3 = you
才會 - cai2 hui4 = so it will
變的 - bian4 de0 = change into
鬧 - nao4 = noisy, occupated
轟轟 - hong1 hong1 = just what it sounds like, its a sound description, much like bang and boom

Meaning
it is only because i have you that it is such a brimming world
__________________________________________________ ____________

dui bu qi

對不起

is sorry because

dui (對) can also be "towards"

and bu qi (不起) means "not together"...but in this case it means "not well"

it briefly translates into "not well towards"


demonstration, and say 就是這樣子! =jiu4 shi4 zhe4 yang4 zi, and it would roughly translate into "Just like this!"


Here are the zhuyin/pinyin equivalents:

ㄅ -b
ㄆ -p
ㄇ -m
ㄈ -f
ㄉ -d
ㄊ -t
ㄋ n
ㄌ -l
ㄍ -g
ㄎ -k
ㄏ -h
ㄐ -j
ㄑ -q
ㄒ -x
ㄓ -zh
ㄔ -ch
ㄕ -sh
ㄗ - z
ㄘ -c
ㄙ -s
一 -i
ㄨ -u
ㄩ -uu
ㄚ -a
ㄛ -o
ㄜ -e
ㄝ -e
ㄞ -ai
ㄟ -ei
ㄠ -ao
ㄡ -ou
ㄢ -an
ㄣ -n
ㄤ -ang
ㄥ -eng
ㄦ -er


Just use this two switch them around, for example, zhou jie lun would be: ㄓㄡ ㄐ一ㄝ ㄌㄨㄣ.


橙 (chen or cheng, second intonation) means orange in Chinese.

月亮 (yue, fourth intonation)(liang, fourth intonation) or 月 alone (can be used alone too) will means moon~


"music": 音樂 (yin yue)
"dramas": 連續劇 (lian xu ju) OR 劇集 (ju ji) - as in a TV drama series
"movies": 電影 (dian ying) OR 戲 (xi)


"Ru guo ni zuo wo peng you sheng qi, wo xia ni, ni ben dan bai chi."

Translation: If you make my friends angry, I'll kill you, you stupid idiot!
__________________


"Ru guo ni gan re wo peng you, wo jiu sha le ni zhe ge wang ba dan!"

Translation: If you dare to provoke (mess with) my friend, I'll kill you bastard!
__________________


here's what i get. "ke shi" and "dan shi" are the same. "bu guo" is bit different as it refers "However".


yi ge ren -- alone or lonely (literally means one person)
HarmonyCloud:
thank you -- xie(4) xie(4)
excuse me -- bu(4) hao(3) yi(4) shi(4)
*excuse me kind of depends on the context, for example, you could say "jie guo" when you're trying to say excuse me to walk through a crowd
"bu hao yi shi" would be excuse me when you're trying to interrupt, or ask for directions, etc
sorry -- dui(4) bu(4) qi(3)
introductions. hmmm....well hello always works
da(4) jia hao(3) -- hello everybody
wo(3) de(5) ming(2) zi(4) shi(4)... -- my name is...
i'll add on if I think of anything else
bingo! ming zi is name


rang wo ai ni shi shui (correct pinyin should be 'shei') = who let me love you

the word 'rang' means to allow or let ^^


Ni hou- Hello
Shie Shie- Thank you
Bu yao ke chi- You're welcome
Zhai Chien- Good Bye
Bai Tuo- Please


If you separate them up, WO means me but since DE come after WO, WO DE means mine .
AI means love
WO DE AI = my love
BU KE means can’t ,
BU KE SI YI means unbelievable , it’s a Chinese idiom , that’s why it consists of four characters


黑色毛衣 means black woolen sweater. 黑 (hei1)=black. 色(se4)=colour, 毛(mao2)=fur/hair 衣(yi1)=shirt. 毛衣=woolen sweater
我爱你 (wo3 ai4 ni3).. im sure majority knows this is 'i love you'

all right, some common colours you might want to learn!
红(hong2)=red
黄(huang2)=yellow
蓝(lan2)=blue
青(qing1) or 绿(lv4) = green
紫(zi3)=purple
白(bai2)=white
橙(cheng2)=orange
褐(he4)=brown (is this the correct way to write it?)
灰(hui1)=grey
彩虹(cai3 hong2)=rainbow

浅(qian3)=light (as in light-coloured)
深(shen1)=deep/dark (as in dark coloured)


Well ok,after going through all 21 pages of this huge thread.Everything above is what I understand about mandarin so far.It's also something that we all can have a reference to,instead of scanning the 21 pages again.

There is also a great link to a nice site to help learn mandarin.Link & some translations provided by [B]dazzlette.Mandarin Tools Link (http://www.mandarintools.com/)


Though many users played a part in translating some of the above material.The main users I would like to credit are lepencil , babygirl and Quiet Boy.Have fun everyone!^^:bleh:

[Alvinz]

Wow that is very useful to anyone who wants to learn mandarin. Nice post!

The pinying for Goodbye is Zai Jian, instead of Zhai Chien as above, but I'm sure if you said either pronunciation people will still easily understand you!

Once again, nice post!

[kwonsang26]

Wow that is very useful to anyone who wants to learn mandarin. Nice post!

The pinying for Goodbye is Zai Jian, instead of Zhai Chien as above, but I'm sure if you said either pronunciation people will still easily understand you!

Once again, nice post!

Thanks alvinz,for the compliment,even though I only tried to organized the translations from other diao members from previous posts in this thread.

But you seem to understand some mandarin,so would you or anyone else mind translating these common phrases below please?I would really appreciate it even if only one phrase was translated.Thank you!^^

Untranslated Lines Into Mandarin:

1. What are some of your inspirations?

2. What are some of the things that turn you off?

3. How much English do you know?

4. What advice would you give to your fans?

5. Would you like something to eat or drink?

6. Good morning,good afternoon,good evening,& good night?

7. When is your birthday?

8. Which holiday is your favorite?

9. New Years,Valentine's Day,Easter,Halloween,Thanksgiving,& Christmas.

10. My favorite holiday is...

11. How much is this item?

12. Where is the restroom?

13. What time is it?

14. Do you speak English?

[ziai]

1. What are some of your inspirations?
你有哪些启发？
Ni3 you3 na2 xie2 qi3 fa1?

启发 stands for inspirations.

2. What are some of the things that turn you off?
你对什么东西反感？
ni3 dui4 shen3 me4 dong1 xi1 fan2 gan3?

3. How much English do you know?
你对英文的了解有多少/ 你会讲多少英文？
Ni3 dui4 ying1 wen2 de4 liao3 jie3 you3 duo1 shao3?/ Ni3 hui4 jiang3 duo1 shao3 ying1 wen2?

了解 means understanding

4. What advice would you give to your fans?
你会给你歌迷们什么忠告？
Ni3 Hui4 Gei3 Ni3 Ge1 Mi2 Shen3 Me4 Zhong1 Gao4?

5. Would you like something to eat or drink?
你想要点东西来吃或喝吗？
Ni3 xiang3 yao4 dian1 dong1 xi1 lai2 chi1 huo4 he1 ma2?

或 means something like or.

6. Good morning,good afternoon,good evening,& good night?
早安，午安，晚安 (I am not too sure for good evening, think it is also wan an)
Zao3 an1, Wu3 an1, Wan3 an1

7. When is your birthday?
你生日几时？/ 你几时生日？
Ni3 sheng1 ri4 ji3 shi2?/ Ni3 ji3 shi2 sheng1 ri4

8. Which holiday is your favorite?
你最喜欢什么假日？
Ni3 zui4 xi3 huan1 shen3 me4 jia4 ri4?

假日 means Holiday. Sometimes 假期 is also used.

9. New Years,Valentine's Day,Easter,Halloween,Thanksgiving,& Christmas.
New year- 新年，(Xin1 Nian2)
Valentines- 情人节，(Qing2 Ren2 Jie2)
Christmas- 圣诞节 (Sheng4 Dan4 Jie2)

10. My favorite holiday is...
我最喜欢的假期是。。。
Wo3 zui4 xi2 huan1 de4 jia4 qi1 shi4...

11. How much is this item?
请问这个多少钱？
Qing3 wen4 zhe4 ge4 duo1 shao3 qian2?

钱 means money.

12. Where is the restroom?
请问厕所/ 洗手间 在哪里？
Qing3 wen4 ce4 suo3/ xi3 shou3 jian1 zai4 na2 li3?

Restroom can either be 厕所 or 洗手间...

13. What time is it?
现在几点了？
Xian4 zai4 ji3 dian3 le4?

现在 means now..

14. Do you speak English?
你会说英文吗？
Ni3 hui4 shuo1 ying1 wen2 ma1?

Hope this helps :)

[Cai_Niao]

time to for me to contribute a little ^^

很爽
Hen shuang
Very Cool!

哎哟不错！
Ai yo bu cuo!
Hey! Not Bad! (common, now trademark, Jay phrase)

[ziai]

^ Pardon me if I'm wrong, but I don't think 很爽 means very cool.

爽 as a word means something like refreshing, but usually, it is used as an expression for how nice/ enjoyable something is; or how nice you feel. (In local context it would be 'shiok')

Yep..