Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby OldBoring » 2017-06-24, 15:20

Huh

księżycowy

Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby księżycowy » 2017-06-24, 17:58

What's confusing you?
Or are you thinking?

הענט

Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby הענט » 2017-07-20, 17:26

Damn. Why is Chinese so difficult? I went to buy a pack of cigarettes to this pawn shop and the guy was speaking Mandarin on the phone. So I asked him 你是中国人吗?, but I guess I pronounced ren as zn (Sichuanese way IIRC) and he didn't understand me. So I asked him again and then I asked him in Czech and he said yes. After that I asked him what city he's from (in Czech) and he said Peking (instead of the Mandarin word)

After that I asked him 你好吗? and he replied with 你好 which made me a bit confused. Not sure of that was a reply or not :)

I said 谢谢 and left, but come on that's basic stuff!! So what happened?

1. He didn't expect me to speak Chinese.
2. I mispronounced sth.
3. I was mumbling.
4. I was tipsy.

Or combination of all 4 reasons... :(

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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-09-16, 4:30

Dr. House wrote:Damn. Why is Chinese so difficult?

When there's less interest in learning a given language in a particular country, there are also fewer resources for learning it.
When there are fewer resources for learning it, it's harder.
I went to buy a pack of cigarettes to this pawn shop and the guy was speaking Mandarin on the phone. So I asked him 你是中国人吗?, but I guess I pronounced ren as zn (Sichuanese way IIRC) and he didn't understand me.

Most people aren't going to understand Sichuanese Mandarin.
After that I asked him 你好吗? and he replied with 你好 which made me a bit confused. Not sure of that was a reply or not :)

It is. As I understand it, there isn't a whole lot of difference between 你好吗? and 你好, and usually, to ask each other 'how are you', native speakers say 你怎么样?

księżycowy

Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby księżycowy » 2017-12-27, 19:42

Out of curiousity I'll ask, seeing as Vijay couldn't come up with much. anyone know of any textbook like things for any of the following Chinese languages/dialects?
Hakka, Teochow, Foochow.

I've found some stuff for Hakka, including some textbooks in pdf format that are written in Japanese, but I fear my comprehension of them at the moment is very limited. I'm curious about English resources, but I fear I'll need to look beyond that to actually get any where. Whatever the case, share em if you got em (in any language). :P

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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby vijayjohn » 2018-01-09, 0:28

księżycowy wrote:Out of curiousity I'll ask, seeing as Vijay couldn't come up with much.

Lol

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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby OldBoring » 2018-02-08, 6:37

Or rather 你最近怎么样? (how are you lately?) or 你都好吗? (is everything good for you?)
But those are questions asked to acquaintances you haven't seen for a long time. Chinese people don't ask strangers or people they see every day "how are you". So it's a cultural difference, not so much linguistic difference.

Traditionally, when Chinese people (who know each other) meet, they either ask 吃饭了吗? (have you eaten?) or do random small talk like 去哪儿?(where you going?), 走啦? (you went out?), 回来啦? (you came back?)
Where they don't actually expect a detailed answer, but it's more similar to a way of greeting, out of politeness.

And ksiec (or how the hell it's spelt), if you don't understand Japanese resources why don't you use Chinese resources? :twisted:

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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby księżycowy » 2018-02-08, 11:13

I hope to use both, once I'm at a place where i can read such materials. :P

I just need to actually start learning some Taiwanese Mandarin. :twisted:

P.S. You forgot the z.

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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby OldBoring » 2018-04-24, 10:53

księżycowy wrote:I just need to actually start learning some Taiwanese Mandarin. :twisted:

他妈的台湾腔!

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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby schnaz » 2018-05-31, 11:47

Thank you OldBoring for your succinct explanation of why 你 最近 怎么样 is preferable to 你 怎么样。
I had to check out the word “succinct ” to see if it was appropriate. At the risk of telling the readers something they already know, I found that “succinct” has the sense of “close fitting” like in clothes. Also in an archaic sense it is related to girding up one's loins in preparation for battle.
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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby Bubulus » 2018-12-07, 14:53

Yesterday I had an interesting discussion with a native speaker about the syntax of 容易 rong2yi4, 好 hao3 and 難 nan2 when followed by a verb. What I remember taking away from the discussion:

- Although 容易 rong2yi4 can perfectly take a verb after (monosyllabic or not), the long-form disyllabic 困難 kun4nan2 cannot. If you want to say "difficult to look for", *困難找 *kun4nan2 zhao3 is not valid, it has to be 難找 nan2 zhao3 instead. An example with a disyllabic verb would be 難找到 nan2 zhao3dao4 'difficult to (successfully) find'.
- In idiomatic expressions, 難 nan2 and 好 hao3 are antonym morphemes indeed: 好吃 hao3chi1 'delicious', 難吃 nan2chi1 'bad-tasting'.
- The idiomatic expressions have those idiomatic meanings strongly attached to them. 難吃 nan2chi1 does not ambiguously mean 'bad-tasting' and 'difficult to eat', it only means 'bad-tasting'. To express "difficult to eat", 容易 rong2yi4 may be negated (不容易吃 bu4 rong2yi4 chi1, or 不易吃 bu4 yi4 chi1 using the short-form), or quite simply a different construction can be used (吃[某物]很難 chi1 [mou3wu4] hen3 nan2, lit. "eating [sth] is difficult").
- Using 難尋 nan2xun2 to express "difficult to find" is basically only acceptable in written language. In spoken language, "nan2xun2" would be more readily understood as 南巡 nan2xun2 'to go to the South', an expression heard in dramas when an Emperor goes to the southern parts of the realm with his court.

Just wanted to share this.

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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby schnaz » 2020-01-21, 10:25

Meera wrote:I think some schools use this book for teaching Mandarin so it can't be to communist :P lol jk.

Hi Meera, forgive me if my didacticness is overwhelming me here but I believe it should be "too communist."
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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby schnaz » 2020-01-21, 11:41

So there I was right in the center of Philly's, Chinatown and hungry, but which restaurant 餐厅
can1ting1 to choose? Finally I just went into one. I still can't hold a conversation in 普通话 pu3tong1hua4. But I certainly can ask for chopsticks and the term 筷子 kuai4 zi has always served me well, but not this time. So maybe I need a back up word in lets say Cantonese 广东话 Guang3dong1hua4. Now I am preparing 准备 zhun3bei4 and this is what I am finding out:

http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictio ... cters/239/

https://youtu.be/UN5vIVPkrls
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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby Antea » 2020-03-01, 15:58

Do you know if there’s a “Person under me” game in this forum? I cannot find it :roll:

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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby OldBoring » 2020-03-02, 23:31

Antea wrote:Do you know if there’s a “Person under me” game in this forum? I cannot find it :roll:

Of course! But the title of the thread is written in Chinese!

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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby księżycowy » 2020-03-06, 10:38

OldBoring wrote:
Antea wrote:Do you know if there’s a “Person under me” game in this forum? I cannot find it :roll:

Of course! But the title of the thread is written in Chinese!

And found here: https://forum.unilang.org/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=18713

Sorry for the late reply Antea.

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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby schnaz » 2020-03-06, 13:11

你知道我吗? 扫 https://youtu.be/-q71jOXfw3o

Do you know me? 扫
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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby Antea » 2020-03-07, 9:55

księżycowy wrote:Sorry for the late reply Antea.


Thanks ! :D

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Re: Discussion group / 杂谈 / 雜談

Postby vijayjohn » 2022-02-11, 2:22

schnaz wrote:你知道我吗? 扫 https://youtu.be/-q71jOXfw3o

Do you know me? 扫

My understanding is that 'know' in the sense of knowing a person in Chinese would be 认识, not 知道.


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