Learning Chinese in the USA - 希望大家可以互相帮助!!

你好，maysing!
太好了！ I am delighted to spend some time helping you to learn English. You need to understand that I speak "美国文." American is different than 英文. I view American as a dialect of English.

再见，

Bill

非常感谢,好,那以后我经常来这里,我们可以说一半美国文,说一半汉语,呵呵 有什么错误的地方大家可以互相改正哦. 2009年,我想去美国读M.A,学TESOL(My major is Teaching English as second language)专业.Since I was a young student,we were taught British English.Now i still cannot distinguish it with American English.Recently,i'm watching The Simpsons to correct my mistakes.Haha!It's so interesting! 以前我们学校有瑞士人,有同学和他们互相学习.一个小时中文,一个小时英文.虽然瑞士英语在全世界不那么流行,不过我们承认这是一种好方法.

你们那是凌晨(EARLY MORNING)?

Hi maysing,
So, I understand most of what you've written in 汉字 but not all. Gives me something to 学习. I'll get back to you tomorrow on that.

But, with respect to the difference between British English and American English, it is for the most part in the meaning and use of expressions. My wife and I've been to England about 10 times in the past 3 years and even putting the accent aside, there are words that don't match at all. One does understand them in context, e. g: "Way Out" is used rather than "Exit"; "WC" or "lou" is used for "rest room" or "toilet"; one might say, "Wow, that's brilliant！" meaning really good, 很好！" and brilliant here can mean "intelligent," or "stupid," depending on the context; and there's also "shagging," which here means "to fetch," and well, in England, means “作爱," -- you get my drift, 等等 ... These are just some minor differences.

I guess "The Simpsons" is fun for getting a handle on spoken American. TV is definitely a good source. But, in the end, there's nothing like being here.
再见，
Bill

This is a test.

Line2

Line3

maysing,

I do like the idea of working together with a mutual goal to help each other learn our respective maternal languages.

每礼拜一个小时中文, 一个美国文行！

To begin we need a format. I'd suggest you first ask me some questions followed by my responses, and vice-versa.

Bill

Bill

Hello!Bill! I'm glad to see that you like the idea of learning language this way.Okay,I will try to find something to study with the culture as background. I got some inspiration from some language text.It is all about the same as you mentioned "To begin we need a format. I'd suggest you first ask me some questions followed by my responses, and vice-versa."It's a good idea!;)

哦,我看不见Bill | February 17, 2008 @ 20:12 那两个TEXT. 另外,英国人也用WC表示厕所吗?中国人也用WC表示厕所的. 那我今天就谈谈一些很小的文化细节的差异吧! 曾经认为欧美人比中国人开放很多(OPEN),中国人性格保守,所以理所当然(TAKE IT FOR GRANTED)认为中国人与人的距离应该比欧美人之间隔得远,没想到,答案确是反的.曾经美国老师对我们说,美国人都喜欢保持距离,每个人都有自己的私人空间,如果说话靠得过近,大家会觉得很不自在.我们很惊讶,平时在中国,尤其是在OPEN POLICY之前,女孩子都爱手拉手,朋友之间喜欢挽着胳膊.在中国的美国人看到了觉得很不舒服.在中文里,用"亲密"两个字可以用来形容朋友,恋人,亲人之间的关系.但翻译成英文的时候会出现很多问题,如很多人会翻译成INTIMATE OR CLOSET,前面那个词用在友情中往往会产生误会.所以当外国人在中国待久了的时候,也就不会觉得被一些误用的词弄得一惊一诈了.呵呵

P.S 有人说外国人不喜欢被称作"foreigner"? Today is the last day of spring festival in China,it is called "Lantern Festival"(we made traditional Chineses food and the streets are decorated with different types of lantern).Lantern Festival is the first day with full moon in the new year according to Chinese calendar. Today people enjoy their family reunion.Now we observe that some of them gather on the street,watching the colorful lantern to which a piece of paper with riddles on attaching.Some people stay at home to eat the tradtional Chineses food,which is a rice ball with some peas or peanuts inside. Here is one of the riddles: Q:夫人去 (the answer is a digit)

A:二(is the Chineses digit,means 2.)(去means reduce.By observation of the appearance of character夫,it is made up of二 and 人 ,so if we erased 人,there is 二 left )

Is it interesting?hahaha

My Question is "For the sake of producing houses for people,Do you agree to destroy the old buildings?" Please write something in Chinese as much as you can.

你好，maysing!

我就要去网球比赛了。所以我快要更正你的英文：

Today is the last day of the spring festival in China. It is called the "Lantern Festival" (we mad traditional Chinese food and the streets are decorated with different types of lanterns. The Lantern Festival is the first day with a full moon in the new year according to the Chinese calendar. Today people enjoy their family reunions. Now we observe some of them gathering on the street watching the colorful lanterns to which a piece of paper with riddles are attached. (did you mean watching the colorful lanterns to which they are attaching a piece of paper with riddles?). Some people stay at home to eat the traditional Chinese food which is a rice ball with some peas or peanuts inside.

好的。我马上就要去！

再见，

Bill

PS> ... we made traditional ...

Bill

非常感谢!我经常不注意语言的细节,容易犯基本的错误,呵呵. did you mean watching the colorful lanterns to which they are attaching a piece of paper with riddles?是的,每盏灯会粘上写有谜语纸条,叫做"灯谜". 呵呵 Proofreading:我就要去网球比赛了。所以我快要更正你的英文.我们习惯说:我就要去参加网球比赛了.或者在没有modifiers的情况下，“我就要比赛了”。“所以我快要更正你的英文”TO“所以我得/要赶快/赶紧更正你的英文。”