URLLesson Introduction
It is said that the ability to speak and write is what separates us from the monkeys. Now, if you want to be the Monkey King, then try your hand at learning to speak and write Mandarin. In this podcast, a good start, where you will learn to talk about speaking and writing Chinese.
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bento says
October 12, 2007
funny joke, does it change when told by foreigners or Chinese? I guess Chinese people wouldn't state their writing system hàn zì in the question, they know what their language is. So, is it correct to ask a Chinese "ni3 hui4 xie3 ma?", or do I have to add the han4 zi4 before the ma?
Kyle says
October 12, 2007
They generally refer to individual words (that they can or can't write) as just 字 without the 汉.
destiny says
October 12, 2007
I try to translate it : 我猜中国人不会说他们写的汉字有问题的，他们知道他们的语言是什么。所以，问一个中文: "你会写吗？",或者 我可以添加“汉字”在"吗"之前吗? Is it right? ^-^
destiny says
October 12, 2007
add "是真确的" before the last " 吗"
changye says
October 13, 2007
“文(wen2)” also means characters in Chinese, for example, 甲骨文(jia3gu3wen2), 金文(jin1wen2), and 篆文(zhuan4wen2). These are all ancient Chinese characters, which are very cute and beautiful.
lee7777777 says
October 13, 2007
ohhhh~~ now i realize the Chinese learning is too hard!!!!!!!!!
oriol says
October 13, 2007
Ni jao
hariko says
October 13, 2007
This is my favourite lesson.
ocanainn says
October 13, 2007
I tend to agree with hariko. It's good to have very easy and cosy lessons now and then! Keep them coming.
bento says
October 13, 2007
@Kyle Suppose a boss wants to hire a new secretary, how does he ask the applicants if they are literate? Literacy rates in china reach 90%, it is not to difficult to find a Chinese who doesn't write, and therefore unfit for some job. @destiny you're scaring us newbies out! thank you for the translation, but lee7777777 got the wrong idea from this lesson, which was a relatively easy one. could you add pinyin to your next comments, please? "Wǒ cāi Zhōng rén bù huì shuō tā men xǐe de hàn zì yǒu wèn tí de, tā men zhī dào tā men de yǔ yán shì shén me. Sǔo yǐ, wèn yī ge Zhōng wén: "Nǐ huì xǐ ma?", hùo zhě wǒ kě yǐ tiān jiā "hàn zì" zài "ma?" zhī qián shì zhēn ma?" @ changye i like 篆 and 金, they're curvy and asymmetrical. they're cuter than 甲骨, but your dog prefers 骨, for sure.
pompatous says
October 13, 2007
Could someone explain the difference (if there is any) between: zhongwen hanyu putonghua
danjo says
October 13, 2007
My explanation: In Chinese, any language can be referred to using "wen" or "yu", for example "yingyu" and "yingwen" both being used for English. They are often interchangeable but "yu" is more often used for spoken language and "wen" is more commonly used for written language. So in this lesson "hànyǔ" could also have been used and I would say that is actually a more common question. "Putonghua" literally means "common language" and is the term for "standard" Mandarin that is taught country-wide, as opposed to regional dialects. So Chinese people sometimes say "my putonghua isn't very good" or "he can't speak putonghua" even though they obviously do speak Chinese.
wildyaks says
October 13, 2007
This lesson reminds me of a joke our teacher once told us: A mother is teaching her young child to write. She starts with yi, er, san. One after the other, showing him how to write them. Then she tells him to go to his room and practice. Two hours later the mother starts to worry. it's very quiet in the boy's room. Finally she goes to check. There he is, with sheets full of lines. And he says. "Mommy, how in the world am I ever going to be able to write our surname Wan (万 - 10'000). I have been writting for hours now and am only up to 3572!"
john says
October 14, 2007
wildyaks, Ha ha, nice joke! Absolute Newbies don't need to know this, but here's a lesser-known version of the Chinese character for "four": 亖. (Don't try to use it, though. Use 四.) Cool huh? More on this here.
changye says
October 14, 2007
Hi marcosbento, You guessed very right, my chubby dog loves bones. Btw, 骨 is very interesting to me. In Japanese, the small 口 in the big 口 is located on the right side, but on the left side in Chinese. This character looks same in both languages, but not completely. You can find a lot of those looks-same-but-a-little-different Chinese characters, which sometimes confuse Chinese-learners in Japan, me included. The chronological change of the position of small 口 in “骨” is as follows. Looks like some stupid guys moved it from right to left after 5th century. 甲骨 very different from modern 骨. 金文 perhaps similar to 甲骨文 大篆 similar to 小篆, no small 口 in the hanzi. 小篆 right side (the same as Japanese 骨) 隶书 right side 楷书 mainly left side 简体 left side
Kyle says
October 14, 2007
@ marcosbento Perhaps asking for the applicants CV would weed out mostf illiterates not sharp enough to ask a friend to do it for them. Other than that, some type of on-the-spot written statement of intent.
southeast14 says
October 14, 2007
hello sir/madam I dont know how to use it. anwar
Kyle says
October 14, 2007
How to use what? If you're referring to the downloads, just right click and "save as" desired. For the .pdf transcripts you'll need to have adobe acrobat installed.
reinierdeman says
October 15, 2007
I am new to Chinesepod, but I am enjoying it tremendously after only three lessons. One question: how many lessons per week can I expect? From the lesson IDs, I get the impression that I do not get all lessons: last lessons = 667, 663, 661. No 666, 665, 664, etc. Thanks for an explanation. Reinier
eileen says
October 15, 2007
Hi Reinierdeman, Depending on when you signed up and if you have already adjusted your personal RSS feed to receive only certain levels of lessons, the Homep page should be displaying correct amount of lessons. All the previous/older lessons can be found in the Lessons archive and can be bookmarked any time.
reinierdeman says
October 17, 2007
Thanks Eileen. It is now October 17 and my last feed was October 13. So my question is still: how many newbie lessons can I expect per week/month to become available if I sign up for newbies only? I could use a new one now ...
eileen says
October 17, 2007
Hi Reinierdeman, I dropped you a personal IM, please check it out. :-)
Kyle says
October 17, 2007
Reinierdeman, Also keep in mind that those are just newly published lessons. The archive has a wealth of lessons for you to choose from and study.
bona says
October 17, 2007
我会写汉字，可是还差点儿。 is it right?
Kyle says
October 17, 2007
对. 你写的对. =)
azerdocmom says
October 17, 2007
user42865 i'm not sure what you are trying to say with the phrase 可是还差点儿.
bona says
October 18, 2007
AZERDocMom it means, 我会写汉字，可是写得不太好，水平不高。 anyway, nice to meet you :-)
Kyle says
October 18, 2007
"我还差的远呢." is a common phrase used to "deflect praise", as John put it some time ago.
chinesesstudy says
October 28, 2007
有个故事，说一个人学到一，二，三以后，就说“我都知道了！”，于是不再继续学习。有一天，有人让他帮忙写个“一百”，于是他就开始不停的画横线，他以为一百条横线就是一百的正确写法。
cassiopeia1122 says
November 3, 2007
呵呵。看这些留言真可爱。
weaa says
November 21, 2007
To:mshimohi Hi,菜谱 means the cook book,菜单 means the menu. one means of 谱 pu3 is a guide book to do something,such as 棋谱 qi2 pu3(chess manual) ,乐谱 yue4 pu3（music book,score). mean while 谱(compose) can be used as verb,谱写乐曲 pu3 xie3 yue4 qu3（compose music）
kaori says
December 22, 2007
Hi, im new here. I always wanted to learn chinese, now it seems to be possible. This website is great and the lessons very useful
tajram says
February 29, 2008
I was disappointed after upgrading to Premium to find that the "Expansion" did not include the use of the Supplementary Vocabulary. I am anxious to hear and see how this vocabulary may differ, or be the same as, the Key Vocabulary.