“Thanks,” you say (in Chinese). “Goodness me! Your ability to master the language is amazing!” comes the response. So now what do you say? “Yes, actually it’s all due to ChinesePod”? As much as we’d like to think you’d promo us, we’re quite sure a podcast with a Chinese lesson on “playing down” your Mandarin would be more appropriate.
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Some difficult words in the podcast: 半年左右 (bànnián zuǒyòu) about half a year 差不多半年 (chàbuduō bànnián) about half a year 差得远 (chà de yuǎn) not by a long shot 不敢当 (bùgǎndāng) I don't deserve it; you flatter me 流利 (liúlì) fluent; smooth 标准 (biāozhǔn) adj. standard 方法 (fāngfǎ) method; way 努力 (nǔlì) diligently 水平 (shuǐpíng) lever 向你请教 (xiàng nǐ qǐngjiào) seek advice from you ~Connie
I have been a loyal fan of your terrific website since the early days of Chinesepod. About 2 years ago, I met a Chinese girl on the internet (from Hunan province) by mere chance. She spoke no English and I didn't even know Mandarin was the name of a foreign language. Although we used translation software in our exchanges, I made a commitment to learn Mandarin. Since then, I have listened to all 400+ of your podcasts. I can't thank you enough for the accessibility and effort you have put into what I believe is one of the true gems out in the vast realm of cyberspace. Last year, Yan and I got married in China, and this year she has immigrated to Canada. We no longer use any translation software, and only occasionally use a dictionary. I still consider myself an elementary level student, but we can get through most situations with with my Mandarin ability - thanks to you.
Chand. Wow...really means a lot that you took the time to write that, thank you. If you could (and if you want to) drop your # to chinesepod@gmail.com - I'd like to call you on the Sat. Show at some point to hear the story in more detail. On behalf of all of us, congrats. Aric
Chand, Thanks a lot for that testimonial! I don't think Ken and Jenny ever realized that their teaching efforts would result in love, but hearing you tell it, it does make sense. We wish you both all the best! -John
Chand--That is wonderful. And inspiring. May you be happy together for 120 years more.
Why is 地方 used instead of 东西? As stated, doesn't that mean "many locations"? Great lesson!
Chand, I am going to deal with your praise the good old Chinese way. 哪里，哪里。And to throw some extra langauge, '别这么说/bie2 zhe4 me shuo1/don';t say that (this). ' I've become very convinced that our commitment to producing the best content is what keeps us going and makes us better. To borrow your idea a bit, I think if we've helped brought 2 loved ones closer along the way, then that's a very precious gem in the vastness of our job. 祝你们永远幸福！
I knew Chinesepod hooked teachers up with students but didn't know they were in the matching making business. I can see a slew of podcasts coming down the chute now with everything from "can I kiss you" to "you're taking all the blanket, give me some" and everything in between. And there was I thinking the red colour all over the site was for China but instead it is the colour of love and passion - and Ken and Jenny making animal noises there yesterday - and just today Ken is all modest when Jenny praises his abilities. I am glad I don't have premium content yet, I don't think I could handle it! :-) Congrats Chand, on finding real love through the virtual world and to Cpod for making their tongues work together!
Chand, I wish you and your wife the best of luck in your new marriage and I'm delighted if ChinesePod may be able to help in some small way. Ken Carroll
Hello! I'm brazilian, so I speak portuguese. The question is: in chinese I should say I speak 葡萄牙文 or I can say I speak 巴西文 ? By the way: congrats, Chand !
If you speak portuguese, you should say"我講葡萄牙語的". If you say I speak 巴西文，Chinese would ask you "What is 巴西文?" ^.^
Well done everyone, all these congrats to Chand, nice touch, congrats to Yan. Maybe a subscription to the Excellent English Pod for Yan would be a great Cpod present. I am one of a group of Westerners working in the Middle East with Chinese wives, we too find Chinese Pod a big help. The English Pod is highly praised by my collegues, though too advanced for my wife, are you thinking of comming down a level with English Pod, I think It would be wonderful if you could do that.
This is off topic a bit, but I couldn't find the appropriate place to ask my question. When I review the lessons, I try to add new vocabulary to my list, and occasionally also look up new words in the Chinesepod glossary. I used to be able to click on the new words on the glossary and a new window would open up with the character and a sound button. It was awesome! Lately, it seems that that doesn't happen any more. I click on the character and only a blank page opens. Is is this a temporary problem, or had this fantastic feature been discontinued? (Or, maybe I'm doing something wrong?) Please advise. (By the way, I LOVE Chinesepod!)
Of course, as soon as I posted that last comment, I tried once more and the vocabulary feature is working again! Just a coincidence, or fabulous service?
Dear Israel Holby, In this sentence, "我还有很多地方需要学习" (Wǒ háiyǒu hěn duō dìfang xūyào xuéxí) you could use either "地方" (dìfang) or 东西 (dōngxi), but the meaning would be slightly different in each case. If you use the word "地方" (dìfang), the meaning is more to say there are many aspects or facets of the language you still need to learn. (i.e. listening ability, characters, etc.) If you use the word "东西" (dōngxi), the meaning is more specific. More like in English how we would use "things" (There are still a lot of things I need to learn). Hope that helps! amber :)
Hi Dottie, I have to be honest, it must be a coincidence as I spotted your question only minutes ago. :-) - Eileen
Connie, Thanks for the extra vocab.水平 = level or grade not lever
Is the site having technical difficulites, cant get this lesson to run. Tried opening it from main page and also from Elementary section--nothing! Help!
Hi Pam, I've been able to download and play this lesson on the website without any problems. Are you still experiencing some difficulties with it? -Eileen
[...] Yesterday I reviewed two of my favorite lessons: 初级61 Encouraging Words and 初级78 Dealing With Praise. There’s a lot to drill down on in these and I find that keep going back to them. If you’re not a premium subscriber to ChinesePod, I don’t know how you’d assimilate this. I’ve got access to the expansion area and the review exercises, but despite having done them both a half a dozen times each, there are certain phrases here that elude me. [...]
Incredibly useful lesson for those of us living in China. What are some other good phrases for deflecting praise? You can't know too many considering how often this comes up. I asked a Chinese friend and she taught me this: 谢谢你的夸奖。我只会不多的一点。 Xièxie nǐ de kuājiǎng. Wǒ zhǐ huì bù duō de yìdiǎn. Thanks for your praise. I can only speak a little. Also, a useful website for converting pinying with numbers into pinyin with tone marks: http://pinyin.info/unicode/marks3.html
Hey, Tried the "Ni guo jiang le" thing today in response to compliments paid (actually it was at the tailor, but I was just having some pants shortened rather than tailor-made clothing). Anyway, you guys were right, it worked a treat! They thought I was the best thing since sliced mianbao. Thanks Chinesepod! If you ever need someone as an endorsement on a cheesy infomercial let me know :)
Hi I'm a couple of months behind in going through the Elementary lessons. I have a question about zhīqián 之前 (as used in the text) and yiqian 以前. Is there a difference? Can you use them interchangeably? Thanks
Hi Eleanor, 之前 (zhīqián) and 以前 (yǐqián) can be used more or less interchangeably. 之前 (zhīqián) is a little more formal. ~amber :)
[...] Yesterday, Aggie and I took our first step into the Elementary lessons with 初级78 Dealing With Praise. I’d done this lesson before, actually. It’s one of my favorites. I thought this would make for a smoother transition. [...]
I was so pleased with myself after this lesson as I took the advice to heart and deconstructed the whole of ' Ni zhongwen shuo de ' I had an Eureka moment as I thought it means ' The Chinese that you speak ' with the possessive particle ' de ' that would normally come straight after the ' Ni3 ' in Ni3de going to the end to give us this meaning. HOWEVER , Im dismayed to find that the character for this ' de ' is different to the ' de ' in Ni3de ' If you tell me this was a human typo error I will be so happy- and if someone came on and explained that it wasnt an error but explained what the devil is going on in that sentence I would be equally happy. :) I know it was a while ago but a big Slainte to the happy couple :)
Hi Rosa, Yes, the "de" structures in Chinese are a bit confusing at first, but over time become easier. The "de' in the sentence you mention: 你中文说得这么好! (Nǐ Zhōngwén shuō de zhème hǎo!) is the following "de": 得 (de): comes after verbs and is followed by a complement (V + de + Adj) So in this case this "de" 得 structure is used to describe how someone does something. Hope that helps! ~amber :)
Hi Rosa, The 'de' is fun! The following info is available on the Cpod site although almost impossible to find~! V + de + Adj V + 得 + Adj "V + 得 + Adj" is simple kind of descriptive complement. The adjective modifies the verb, acting like an adverb in function. Simple examples of this include 说得好 ("to speak well"), 吃得快 ("to eat quickly"), and 学得很认真 ("to study seriously"). http://www.chinesepod.com/podcast/index.php?tag=V_%2B_de_%2B_Adj&tagcat=3 http://www.chinesepod.com/podcast/2006/06/13/%e4%b8%ad%e7%ba%a746-calligraphy/
BEFORE - Hi Amber, （about your comment four posts back) I think there's another important difference between 之前 (zhīqián) and 以前 (yǐqián) besides that 之前 is a little more formal. If I want to mention the 'time' at the beginning of my phrase I would use yiqian. If I want to mention it at the end of my phrase then I can't use yiqian and should use zhiqian. Zhiqian also being able to go at the beginning (and becoming more formal), but more often found at the end, and yiqian never at the end. Right? OK: (以前)我在北京住了一段时间。 OK: 我在北京住了一段时间(之前)。 OK: (之前) 我在北京住了一段时间。 NO: 我在北京住了一段时间(以前)。 I also have gathered that 之 is used at the end of phrases a lot, as in 之后. There's probably some proper linguistic/grammer reason for this, but in my mind I began to realize that it's just a way to opt out of the typical: (time)(place)(subject)(verb)(object) sequence of Chinese, (place)(subject)(verb)(object)( 之) (time...). 对吗？有哪里错啊?
Hi Lantian, Before posting any answers to questions on this discussion, I always check with one of our native Chinese speaking colleagues. So, the opinion one of our Chinese teachers was, as I mentioned above, that 以前 (yǐqián) and 之前 (zhīqián) are used interchangeably, but that 之前 (zhīqián) is more formal. As for your sentences, actually, in Chinese grammar, the time comes at the beginning of the sentence, not at the end. So your second sentence is also incorrect, along with the fourth one: incorrect: (我在北京住了一段时间(之前)。 & 我在北京住了一段时间(以前)。 There is no distinction that only 之前 (zhīqián) can go at the end of a sentence and 以前 (yǐqián) never at the end, as you mentioned. Actually, they will never come at the end of a sentence. They will only come at the beginning of a sentence, or else at the end of a structure within the sentence, as in the sentences in the example structures below, when you are talking about [a period of time + before] i.e. (两年以前) liǎng nián yǐqián or (两年之前) liǎng nián zhīqián. Here are some more examples to help you see the proper usage: 以前我喜欢喝茶。(Yǐqián wǒ xǐhuan hēchá.) 之前我喜欢喝茶。(Zhīqián wǒ xǐhuan hēchá.) 我在来中国以前不喜欢喝茶。(Wǒ zài lái Zhōngguó yǐqián bù xǐhuan hēchá.) 我在来中国之前不喜欢喝茶。(Wǒ zài lái Zhōngguó zhīqián bù xǐhuan hēchá.) I hope that helps to clarify it for you. ~amber
How funny that I want to praise your podcasts under the lesson on dealing with praise. I often use other expressions when I deal with praise and so these lessons give me much needed variation. Thank you so much. I find it useful to try to copy down the pinyin as you play the dialog. It really helps my poor listening skills and then gives me something to study when I am not on-line. You repeat the dialog enough times for me to piece the diaog together without getting overloaded. The lessons are well rounded and not compacted with too much with one thing. Things stick when I listen to your podcasts in ways that just don't stick when I do other things. Plus, Jenny has a great voice (Ta de shen(?) yin(?) hao(3) ting(1)) best regards, 大伟
I learned how to say a few things in Chinese, and always received great compliments. Little did I know that this is a big cultural difference between Americans and Chinese, and I took them literally (translate: I may have gotten a little overly impressed with myself ;-)...)
I believe another common phrase that deflects praise is nali, nali. At least, it always delighted my Chinese hosts when I used it. Now I'm dying to know... what exactly was I saying?
jill348:
nali nali 哪里， 哪里。
Literally means where, where....as in "where's the Chinese expert. You can't be talking about me."
Ken Caroll has a funny joke on one of the lessons about "nali nali".
"nali nali" is something I've only seen in text books. I've never heard a Chinese person use it.
I think something like "bu yong shou le" 不用说了..."you don't need to say that" is probably more common.
billm
"说"的拼音就是shuo,不是shou
gorkembinnur,
Agree. You are correct. It should read "bu yong shuo le".
Billm, Thank you for the response and providing another way to deflect praise. Very helpful.
jill348.
Also try:
你过奖了. ni3guo4jiang3le: you are flattering me.
Another one is bu4gan3dan1 不敢当: I don't deserve this or you flatter me.
You can copy the characters in the search section to get examples.
In the expansion section, for "你去北京多久了？" it gives as translation "How long did you go to Beijing for?" (preterite, a/k/a "simple past tense"). The English meaning of "did you go" is that the action is completed and the person is therefore no longer in Beijing. However, it seems the above Chinese sentence means the person is still in Beijing, i.e., present perfect: lit. "You have gone to Beijing for how long", meaning "How long have you been in Beijing?"
For the equivalent of English preterite which was given in the Expansion section ("How long did you go to Beijing for?"), I believe the Chinese should be "你去北京去了多久?"
I would appreciate comments by a native speaker or advanced student.
hokuro
right ,there.
if "I“ ask "你去北京多久了？" means : you're in Beijing while i'm not in beijing ( this explains why it's "去” instead of "来“）and "I" want to know how long have you been in Beijing .
the dialog is so long
^
You should go for "newbie" then.
I get the fact that saying you do something well is "bragging" in Chinese culture, and acknowledging one's strengths in a Western (only North American?) way would be considered arrogant, but I'm wondering two things:
(1) Do friends and family "brag" for you? In Korea, it's similar to China, but any gap in tooting your own horn is filled right in by the people who know you. Is it similar in China?
(2) How do you respond in that case? How could you say something like "He's exaggerating" or "You know that's not true"? What would sound natural in Chinese?
Hi maktubhelou
It is not just 'bragging' that it is unacceptable; it is a whole range of behaviours. For example, a particularly able student of mine is actively disliked by fellow students because he asks questions in class. I asked why he isn't liked and was told 'because he talks too much in class'.
To answer your questions, I think parents speak proudly of how brilliant their children are; if the child hears this they are likely to be terribly embarrassed. I guess that is not too different to the West.
A person receiving extravagant praise may say 哪里哪里(where? where?).. where is this person you are talking about? ;-)
Show 19 older replies »
hehe,I don't believe that mate.I'm sure it's about the man and not the accessories.The two girls that come with the car may have proved a problem though ;)
Still,some of us 难看人have to accessorise to get the monkey off our backs [well that explains the hump...where is tal?]
This avatar change is supremely confusing :p
that better?
It was good to review this lesson after being here for a while... but it leads to another question. (I would not be popular in bodawei's class...)
It seems to me that deflecting is actually the proper way to accept a compliment in China. Which is fantastic, I think this is an important skill and shows respect to the person who is being very nice. But what if I actually feel the need to truely deflect a compliment? What would I say differently to indicate that I am not just being polite, but that I genuinely do not have the quality/ability that I am being praised for?
Thanks maktubhelou for putting this lesson back in the limelight!
I have a phrasebook that suggests, "Pi(2)mao(2) er(2)yi(3)." (Only fluff, just scratched the surface.) I've used it quite a lot to deflect compliments. Sometimes I get a laugh, other times a funny look. What's the deal with that? Bad pronunciation?
So the sentence in this dialogue:
我自学了两年
seems to mean that I studied on my own for two years (ie. a finished action and am no longer studying on my own)
If I wanted to say "I have been studying on my own for two years" (i.e. and am still studying on my own) would the grammar change?
谢谢！
You would add another 了 at the end of the sentence.
There is a Qingwen Lesson on this.
I tried to post a link to the lesson here, but again this new system has let me down.
It is Qingwen Lesson 17.
oh I do remember that qingwen lesson now that you mention it, i´ll have to listen to it again, thanks!