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Lesson Introduction
Every once and a while, we like to give you options, and today is no exception. If you want to ask someone, “how can I say this in Chinese?” you can either:
1. Point to the object, at yourself, say the object and then point to the Chinese person with you and wait;
2. Hold object up, shrug shoulders and wait; or
3. Say, “How do you say this in Chinese? (in Chinese)”
Again, no pressure – what we like about you is the person inside. But if you want to know, listen to this podcast, you won’t be sorry.
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Mike In JubeiJuly 31, 2006
Jenny and Ken What a useful lesson. In spite of considering myself a solid elementary poddie. I only learned this expression last Friday night in my class with the two girls and there father. But now for something dear to Lantian's heart and I am sure others as well. ( me too at times as well) How do you ask : " How do you say............... AND its Measure/Classifier word in Chinese ? I think when you are in a language exchange its reasonable to ask. Then I can respond by saying "所以 我能不能說................ 對嗎? where I use the word and modifier in a sentence or two. Thanks Mike in Jubei
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jenny zhuAugust 1, 2006
Mike, We'll never get over the obsession with classifier. To answer your question: "怎么说......?它的/这个的数量词是什么？" You got the response right (needless to say.) classifier/数量词/shu4 liang4 ci2 or abbreviated into 量词/ liang4 ci2
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BazzaAugust 1, 2006
excellent lesson 中文怎么说？ ：）
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Connie ChengAugust 1, 2006
Supplementary expressions in this lesson: 用（汉语/英语/法语……）/yòng（Hànyǔ/Yīngyǔ/Fǎyǔ … …）/in (Chinese/English/French......) 翻译/fānyì/translate 意思/yìsi/meaning “水果”用英文怎么说？/ "Shuǐguǒ" yòng Yīngwén zěnme shuō?/How to say "shuǐguǒ" in English? “水果”的英文是什么？/ "Shuǐguǒ" de yìsi shì shénme?/How to say "shuǐguǒ" in English? “水果”的意思是什么？/ "shuǐguǒ" de yìsi shì shénme?/What's the meaning of "shuǐguǒ"? “水果”用英文怎么翻译？/ "Shuǐguǒ" yòng Yīngwén zěnme fānyì?/How to translate "shuǐguǒ" in English?
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Connie ChengAugust 1, 2006
excellent lesson /很棒的课, 很精彩的课/hěn bàng de kè, hěn jīngcǎi de kè
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Mike In JubeiAugust 1, 2006
Jenny (here) and John (many other places) Thank you 我必須小心. 我不要老師生氣. 我可能問很多問題. 老師!老師!老師! Mike in Jubei
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maxiewawaAugust 1, 2006
问题的结果是学问！
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maxiewawaAugust 1, 2006
Now that I read that again, it sounds like a pun... IF you want knowledge, you must learn to ask questions. "要学问的话，需要学问。“ - 马谢哇哇
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FlepsAugust 3, 2006
someone have problems with the PDF file from this lesson??
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AnneAugust 3, 2006
I don't understand how to transfer words from the lesson to the vocab builder. Can someone help me? When I go to help, it says to left click on the word, and first i will get a definition, and then have an opportunity to put it in vocab builder. However, nothing happens when I left click on a word, but when I RIGHT click, it takes me to an English (only) dictionary (how does that help??) and there is no link between that and the vocab builder. Help!
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Rian 'the Intern'August 3, 2006
We have not put any link to and English only dictonary on our site, so I'm not sure what's happening here. What should happen is when you go to the review materials, and left click on the word it will either automaticly add to your vocab builder or take you to the glossery (depending on what you've choses in your account preferences). If anyone else is having this strange problem, please let me know. Anne, I've reponded to you via email so we can try to sort out exactly what's going on in your case though email.
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marcili davidAugust 4, 2006
i am so happy to meet this net , and i would like to speak chinese very much but i count on you thanks
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LantianAugust 16, 2006
Gummy - It strikes me as important to learn the following newbie vocabulary, which I define as all words which a native Chinese 4-year-old knows. I btw unlike a lucky newbie that may be reading this, took over one year of living in China and an embarrassing situation 4-days ago when I was offered 'pao pao tang' but only managed to return a 'blank--huh?' expression. pāo pāo táng
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lantianAugust 16, 2006
pāo pāo táng
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LantianAugust 16, 2006
okay, the Chinese words for bubble gum are spam words? The s p a m filter is an enigma.
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Mike in JubeiAugust 17, 2006
Lantian Its summertimem Its hot ! I prefer 冰棒 bīngbàng n. popsicle. Its fun to say and good to eat. Try one with your shirt rolled up and your belly cooling off. Mike in Jubei
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LantianAugust 17, 2006
跑跑糖 pao1 pao1 tang2 bubble gum
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LantianAugust 17, 2006
Hi Mike, okay...as a friend, the rolled up t-shirt belly look, not a good look. 不好看！
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Learn Mandarin ChineseAugust 17, 2006
[...] Newbie lessons are generally understood to be lessons appropriate to an absolute beginner. However, we sometimes make exceptions to what is written regarding Function and Application in the chart. For example, the Baby Talk series is classified as Newbie, even though its application doesn’t really match the standard. The same goes for some of the recent lessons with regards to function; asking “How do you say…?” for example, requires some substitution and thus very basic grammar, but we still classify it as Newbie for an obvious reason: it equips a Newbie to acquire new vocabulary on his own. [...]
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YvSeptember 22, 2006
Actually, I don't think it's 跑跑糖 pao1 pao1 tang2 but 泡泡糖 pao4 pao4 pao1 pao1 tang2 (different 'pao' tone and character)
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YvSeptember 22, 2006
oops, should have read pao4pao4 tang2
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YvSeptember 22, 2006
actually, I don't think bubble gum is 跑跑糖 pao1 pao1 tang2, but rather 泡泡糖 pao4 pao4 tang2 (pao 2nd tone, different 汉字, 泡 meaning 'bubble'。
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meiguorenOctober 28, 2006
Today I showed my Chinese teacher (native speaker from Beijing) my printed transcript of the lesson on, "How You Say...?" and after she read it she said it was bad chinese. She said that although I would be understood if I said, "Fruit Zhongwen zenme shuo?" it was still incorrect. She said the correct way to ask how to say something is "Yong zhong wen zen me shuo Fruit?" I am confused - could someone please give me their take on this? And sorry, obviously I don't know how to type in the tones... xie xie!
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MarwaDecember 18, 2006
Well Well Well It's really usefull lesson thank you verry much
Lantian says
" 'Hello' How do you say that in French?"April 15, 2007
Lantian says
Rightie'O - It's an answer to an old posted question above by Meiguoren, an English analogy would be your teacher saying it's correct to say, "May I ask you how one would say that in French, hello?" versus "How do say that in French?" She's of course not wrong, but let's keep you sounding like a normal person and not the Queen. Language teachers - don't let'em mess up your speaking! IMOApril 15, 2007
thanhnga says
what do you mean>?May 10, 2007
kimi says
in french we say "salut"June 27, 2007
brozar says
hey what is up im not very good at chinese just yet but im getting betterSeptember 19, 2007
superstrongstevo says
this lesson really helped me prepare to go to china!September 20, 2007
trustymutsi says
Do these mean the same thing, or are there different situations for each? y¯ıngw´en Y¯ıngyˇu Thanks!January 23, 2008
connie says
Hi, trustymutsi "yīngwén" = "yīngyǔ", they both mean english language.January 24, 2008
jayajy says
The Excercises are crap. Look over it again and correct the mistakes!February 9, 2008
calkins says
The exercises looked good to me. Maybe describing your problem with more than the word "crap" would help a bit.February 9, 2008
billgloveruk says
Just looked over the excercised and they work fine. Other than being shorter than average I couldn't see a problem with them. This is a great starter lesson; short, simple, invaluable and easy to practice in daily conversation. Thanks guys.March 13, 2008
marc__d says
May 28, 2008
Has this lesson been deleted? I can't access any of the content.
shagrat says
June 9, 2008
I can't download the PDF file - it just downloads as html gobbledegook. I tried "save-as" and changing the extension to .pdf, still no good.
Can anyone help please?
Cheers
hander says
August 6, 2008
Hi Chinesepod
Is there any difference in the use of
xxchopstix says
November 26, 2008
such a practical lesson!
pearltowerpete says
November 26, 2008
Hi hander
Sorry for the late reply, but here you go. 讲 is generally used for more formal speeches, ex: 领导说话，老师讲课 ，etc.
mastiche says
December 6, 2008
Can someone help me?
If you want to "mark as studied" a specific lesson, you see the botton only when the lessons are listed on "lesson" tab. What I usually do is that I listen to the podcast, go to voc tab, then check the expansion, do the exercises and finally I want to mark the lesson as studied. When I reach the exercises tab, "mark as studied" botton would disappear and I have to go back to Me tab and filter "assiged" to find the lesson again. I wonder if I am doing wrong or this is the way it is...