Newbie - A Ghost Outside

中国有句俗话是这么说的：“不做亏心事，不怕鬼敲门。”That means a quiet conscience sleeps in thunder.

In the northwest of China it seems some people are vaguely aware of Halloween but no one celebrates it or knows much of anything about it. But me and some other American teachers will introduce some students to the fun of a Halloween (万圣节 wànshèngjié) party tonight; I'm a devil (魔鬼 móguǐ), my friend is a witch (女巫 nǚwū) and another friend is a vampire (吸血鬼 xīxiěguǐ). I like the word vampire in Chinese; "suck-blood-ghost".

Same up here in the NE. Some people know about it, but it's not celebrated like it is back home. What about those of you in the big cities? Any kids trick-or-treating? Is CPod having a dress-up day today? If so, who's dressed as what?

In Shanghai Halloween is just another excuse for a party... but a costume party, of course!

In Cologne Halloween is a rather new import; I saw it here the first times just a couple years ago. But it is embraced tightly by the Kölsch population because it is an awsome excuse to celebrate yet another carnival party with cologne beer, singing and dressing up (next to the actual carnival weeks, Sylvester, Christopher street day, marathon, Christmas,...). Always amazing to watch for someone who is not a 100% native.

Dutch people are a bit too "nuchter" to share in those US party's. Basic schools promote the habits, but parents are not too enthusiatic yet, and kids are easily scared. With Santa and X-mas and St Maarten(nov 11th) there are feasts enough. Good lesson anyway. You'r getting better. Keep up the high standard. I promote CP everywhere !

nice lesson:)

i like the poster you put for the lesson:)

nice picture of ghost

I had joined a Halloween party when i was a freshman. Our foreign teacher had show us how to celebrate it and he gave us some kinds of ghost masks and we did some games.

ha, im doing laundry for halloween. Thousand Saints day I should say. 万圣节。(wan4sheng4jie2)

What would happen if you messed up when saying nin2 gui4 xing4 and instead said nin2 gui3 xing4? Would it mean "what is your ghost name?" Or would it just not make sense?

您贵姓it means "what's your family name"

diegolo wrote: "nice picture of ghost" Is it Jenny when she was in America? ha ha. 中文播克，万圣节快乐！Boo!

good occasion to go outside with your hold clothes...If you don't have a good fasion in the same time, nobody coul'd see you like that.OOOUUU...Bon Hallowen

In the US it is mostly an opportunity for the kids to dress up in some fun costume. My one year old god daughter was dressed up as a pink poodle...she'll punish us for that when she is older.

萬聖節前夕is this really a Halloween translation? wan4sheng4jie2cian2xi IMO, Halloween is good for only one thing; the smiles that can be seen on the faces of children.

So if a ghost appears wearing name-brand designer clothes and lots of jewelry, can we call it a 贵鬼？ :)

Hi Shanyisheng, goedemorgen/-middag/avond (depending on where you are), I want to explain "nuchter" to those who don't know Dutch. I think in the sense you mean the closest English translation would be "level-headed". Like English "sober", it means in addition the opposite of "drunk", but you could not use it to translate "a sober dress", etc. On the other hand, "een nuchtere maag" is in English an empty stomach. The connotations of "nuchter" are mostly negative: "not given to flights of fancy or excessive enthusiasms, "not high-strung", etc. These characteristics plus the fact that due to geographical position and lack of natural resources we are a trading nation explain why we are (or used to be?) called "the Chinese of the West".

In the expansion sentences, you have: 你不要过去。 Could you also say 你不要去那儿。 Is one construction favored over the other, or are they interchangeable?

Sorry for double-posting, but I was also having some trouble getting the pronunciation of 出去 just right. It sounds to me like the first "ch" sound is pretty hard, and almost has a little "j" sprinkled in. The second one is harder to describe - maybe "ch" with a smidgen of "t" added? Would it be possible give some pronunciation tips the next time it's used in a lesson?

The ch/q, sh/x, zh/j distinctions are among the most confusing for new learners. The ch/sh/zh sounds should be pronounced with the tongue curled back, almost touching the middle of the roof of your mouth. For the q/x/j sounds are pronounced like ch/sh/zh, but with the tongue placed just behind the top front teeth. All three q/x/j have a sort of tinny/hissing quality to them.

Thank you. I think these sound pairings are extra challenging when they occur in sequence, but your explanation help a lot.

Scotty, just listen extra hard to today's lesson. I think that Ken老师 overdoes 出去 a little today though. He accentuates it a lot, almost unnaturally... useful for beginners having trouble with the sounds though.

It was Hallowen days ago. I saw a "ghost" in uni library~ Scary~~~

Speaking of Halloween, do they still have that little red dictionary that you can only find in China. It was the best thing out there when I studied in China (circa 2000). Once I looked up "Halloween" and the dictionary said "十一月三十一号”. I found that irresponsible. What if I didn't know any chinese and then went around asking people if they celebrated 十一月三十一号?!?!??!

scottyb, I actually don't think the difference between sh/zh/ch and x/j/q has anything at all to do with the consonents themselves. I think it has more to do with the vowels that follow. Indeed, none of them EVER have the same vowel following them. I.e., you have "cha" but never "qa". You do have "chi" and "qi", but that's the funkiness of the "i" in the "chi" that is making that something different, not the "ch" itself. Simply put, they are the same mouth placement for the most part, but with q/j/x you have to prepare the mouth to produce sounds with "i" colorations, basically either "i" itself or "u" (with too dots, which is really an "i" sound made with lips rounded).

pulosm, yes, those little red dictionaries are still around. Just looked up halloween and it is as you said... That aside, I think it is still one of the best for quick look-up of words. For those of us old-fashioned enough to like good old book dictionaries

I once went to an all night ghost hunt at this place: I didn't actually see anything, but came back with a pretty weird photo (look at the reflection in the morror):

wildyaks, what are those dictionaries called? I miss mine. :-( I wonder if I can find them on Amazon or something. They simply do not sell them in the States!!!

what happened to the lesson? The page loads properly but there's no picture, pdf or audio files available...

Hi mdtubio, Actually, we can see the picture pretty clearly on our end. You might want to clear your internet cache just in case. :-)

thanks, it's working now! the lesson and text is all at the very bottom of the screen. one minor correction/clarification: at 9:30 Ken says "words do not inflect in Chinese". Given the context of the discussion I believe he means verbs do not conjugate and change tense (eat, eats, ate, etc). otherwise great lesson!

你好

魔鬼的化身 the devil incarnate is this Good ?

ameenalkasim77, Yes that is correct.

i have really liked chinesepod it is very wonderful!