URLLesson Introduction
The familiar screech of tires on pavement. The last minute, albeit futile, 'wei, wei, wei!' In a place where safety rarely comes first, a little verbal warning exercise can go a long way. In this podcast, learn how to holler at someone in Mandarin Chinese... for their own good, of course. You may get more practice on this lesson than you bargained for.
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ardillachina says
June 23, 2008
Hello,
I am from Mexico
do you have the yellow light on in certain seconds? how long does it last?
Does the Chinese people have to cross the streat in certain points?
xie xie
ancalagon says
June 23, 2008
Rather than 等一等，could you say 等一下 and achieve the same effect?
ardillachina says
June 23, 2008
help!!
how can i get the chinese characters in my laptop? xie xie
pulosm says
June 23, 2008
The most important phrase to know is:
chuang3hong2deng1 (to run a red light)
badge says
June 23, 2008
To ask if something is dangerous, e.g., "is that dangerous?" can I say the following?
那个危险吗 ?
or somthing like this?
那个是危险吗 ?
caughtin says
June 23, 2008
hi ancalagon, yes, 等一下 is also ok.
hi ardillachina, we have yellow light,&it will last 2-3seconds, which just tell us to prepare to go or stop.
hi architpol, if there is a comma exist(or in oral, if we have a short stop after 宝宝）：宝宝，一个人很危险 then it can be translated as "Dear, it is dangerous to go alone."
If no comma then it should be "(leaving) A baby alone is very dangerous." :)
backfromcancun says
June 23, 2008
Is it not the case that 危险 is sometimes pronounced wéi xiǎn? Is this a Taiwanese phenomenon? I know that John and Jenny address these mainland/Taiwan issues at the intermediate level, but I would also like to see them at the Newbie/Elly. Expecially since Ken spent some time (?) living in Taiwan.
johns says
June 23, 2008
caughtin,
In my translator, 等一下 means "and so on". Are you sure it has the same meaning as 等一等?
user6836 says
June 23, 2008
Seems like the character dialogue doesn’t quite mach the spoke dialogue dui bu dui?
cagster says
June 23, 2008
There's a scene in "The Painted Veil" where Naomi Watts bends and reaches to touch what she knows to be certain death. Her Chinese companion emphatically repeats something several times, something I couldn't figure out even after rewinding maybe 10 times. I seem to remember it as "bu4 yao4," but until now, "not want" didn't make sense. Hmm, makes sense, if I remember that scene correctly ... doh, now I'm not sure it was "bu4 yao4."
Can 别 (bie2) be used too as a stand-alone exclamation to say "don't" with the same attention getting impact?
caughtin says
June 23, 2008
hi Johns, I'm sure about that.
等一下 & 等一等，both mean '(pls) wait a moment', and if you want to express 'and so on',it should be '等等'.
等等has two meanings: 'and so on/ ect.' & 'wait', just depends on the sistuation.
johns says
June 23, 2008
caughtin, I just know that Babel Fish translates 等一下 as "and so on" therefore, I am a bit confused. Also, 等一等 means "wait a moment" as well as 等等?
Thank you for your explanation but I am more confused. Maybe I should invent a level below Newbie?
alexco says
June 23, 2008
注意安全！Zhu4yi4an1quan2! Pay attention to safety! You may hear and/or say this a few hundred times in China.
caughtin says
June 23, 2008
.......hmmmm, johns, I'm confused too....
'and so on' doesn't means 'wait a minute', right?
siderney99 says
June 23, 2008
Hello everyone. I am an absolute newbie and would appreciate some help. When listening to dialogue, the teachers appear to give the accents used in Chinese pronunciation a number to differerentiate the sounds. Is there anywhere in this program where I can find a list of these? Also I would be interested to know how long it has taken students to reach their current level and how many hours per day they study to make constant and reasonably fast progress. Thank you.
cocodrilo says
June 23, 2008
Hi, siderney 99,
I think this is the place for you to go: http://chinesepod.com/resources/overview
siderney99 says
June 23, 2008
Thank you cocodrilo
cocodrilo says
June 23, 2008
Hi, johns
cocodrilo says
June 23, 2008
To cauhtin and johnns:
等等 (deng3deng)，。。。 = Wait a minute, ...
。。。等等 (deng3deng3)。 = ... and so on.
clay says
June 23, 2008
user6836,
Seems like the character dialogue doesn’t quite mach the spoke dialogue dui bu dui?
děng yi děng, hóngdēng!
is this what you are referring to? I can see how the first three words seemed to get mushed together, but the speaker does say this. let me know if this is not the right part
pulosm says
June 23, 2008
backfromcancun,
It is a Taiwan distinction. Look it up on zhongwen.com. There they have both pronunciations for words, and use the characters "guo2" (for guo2yu3) for Taiwan pronunciations and "pu3" (for pu3tong3hua4) for Mainland pronunciations.
This is a common pattern. I.e., where first tone words in Mainland are pronounced second tone in Taiwan.
pilotg2 says
June 23, 2008
hi cpoddies,
I am a newbie and plans to buy an MP3 or Mp4 player (coz i don't have enough monies to buy an Ipod). I have downloaded the transcripts in PDF and converted them into Jpeg files, question: Can I view the PDF or Jpeg file in an Mp3 or Mp4? Please help!
caughtin says
June 23, 2008
thank you cocodrilo.
johns..sometimes the 'Babel Fish' will make mistakes I think.:)
And '等一等 means "wait a moment" as well as 等等'.
dududu says
June 23, 2008
hi guys !
can i use 不要 to mean '' i don't want it'' too?
amber says
June 23, 2008
Hi anacalagon, johns, etc.
等一下 (děng yīxià)
等等 (děngdeng)
等一等 (děngyīděng)
all mean 'wait a moment'.
In some contexts, 等等 (děngdeng) can mean 'etc.' or 'and so on'. But it will be clear from the context which usage it is.
amber says
June 23, 2008
hi dammoon2008,
不要 (bùyào) can also mean 'don't want', yes.
dududu says
June 23, 2008
hi amber
thank u!
southpatt says
June 23, 2008
Hi all. especially Johns
Yes Chinese has many ways to say the same thing, just like English, I am just learning them all and picking one to get me out of trouble :)
First I came across in lessons was deng3yi1deng3 then deng3yi1xia4 and lastly shao1deng3
As Ken says, don't try and translate word for word, basically they all mean the same thing, wait a moment, tick, while,
I use deng3yi1xia4 'cause I like the way it sounds when I say it and people responded to it positively when I was there last month, so i must be saying it right :)
changye says
June 23, 2008
小心 (xiao3 xin1) be careful, be cautious, Watch out!
注意 (zhu4 yi4) pay attention to, notice
user6836 says
June 24, 2008
It sounds like they are sayind something other than "deng yi deng," though it might just be they are saying it so fast i can't make it out clearly. I'm not sure which is true
siciliazhang says
June 24, 2008
ardillachina
if you use the computer,
first you have to set the computer.
this one for windows XP.
open :Control Panel/Regional and Language Option/Language
Supplemental Language support, thick Install files for asian language (sometimes you need the windows XP CD installer)
text services and input language, click details
choose settings, click add
In Add Input Language/Input language choose
Chinese PRC. For Keyboard layout/IME choose Chinese(Simplified) - US keyboard (depend on your keyboard)
you can find the button on the task bar, bottom right, you can see "EN" for english and "CH" for chinese, you can swicth.
you can use this language in most of the program (the compatible one for this option )
for example in this discussion, for the chinese you click "CH" 你好！ , "EN" Hello !
The input for this is hanyu pinyin, you know this, right? the chinese romanization, type and then you can choose the character.
I hope this can help you.
good luck
chiongzibide says
June 24, 2008
Re: 小心 (xiao3 xin1) - In China people say this when saying goodbye, before travel. Yet, at least in my country, we never say, "Be careful!" when leaving friends, unless there is some anticipated danger.
Just last weekend, while dropping some Chinese students off at their homestay, they said to me, "Be careful!" when leaving, translating directly 小心.
However, we do say sometimes, "take care", when saying goodbye. Just an interesting cultural difference. Or maybe, travel is considered a dangerous deed in China?
changye says
June 24, 2008
Hi chiongzibide,
I remember hearing "路上小心" (lu4 shang xiao3 xin1) before when I left a friend's house.
user23050 says
June 24, 2008
I live in Chongqing...where traffic lights are scarce, and very seldom do drivers pay any attention to them.
Chongqing is often referred to as the 'wild west'. When crossing the street you, indeed, risk your life.
I think this is because the average car owner today, has had little practice driving. It has only been ten years or so that the common person has had access to autos.
Ron
ardillachina says
June 24, 2008
than you very much for your help i am newbies in this i love it!
bazza says
June 24, 2008
Is 'amber light' 黄灯 [huáng dēng]?
architpol says
June 24, 2008
In the expansion it has the following sentence:
宝宝一个人很危险。
(It's very dangerous to go alone, dear.)
I read this as (Leaving a baby alone is dangerous).
pulosm says
June 24, 2008
architpol:
I think 宝宝 is meant to be read as "you." You do this in Chinese a lot (and we do it in English sometimes when talking to children). For example, you might say "Davie, Mom doesn't want to have to tell you again." Mom here means "I." It's the same idea.
Sorry if that wasn't helpful.
ardillachina says
June 24, 2008
您好!
我 能 写 汉字.
谢谢.
architpol says
June 24, 2008
pulosm,
谢谢。I understand your point. Perhaps the sentence is out of context. Literally I read the sentence as
"baby alone very dangerous"
If the sentence was directed at another adult, then I think it could mean something like, "It is dangerous to leave the baby alone."
If I put in a comma "baby, alone is very dangerous". Here it is closer to the provided translation, and I suppose that the "to go" part is implied.
I'm just curious to hear from CPOD if the provided translation was intended.
rjberki says
June 25, 2008
chiongzibide,
"be careful" is a common expression in the states, especially for family members or someone close to you. For example, my wife says this to me every morning when I leave for work. Maybe she just thinks I am a bad driver?
sanp says
June 25, 2008
红灯停
绿灯行
changye says
June 25, 2008
中国交通规则 (zhong1 guo2 jiao1 tong1 gui1 ze2)
Chinese Traffic Rules
绿灯.....前进 (qian2 jin4) move forward
黄灯.....奋进 (fen4 jin4) bravely move forward
红灯.....猛进 (meng3 jin4) dash forward
badge says
June 25, 2008
Hi rjberki
I guess my wife thinks my driving is pretty bad too. Every morning she says "plenty of room." Shorthand for "keep a safe distance from the car in front of you."
Along with "be careful" there is "take care." I was thinking of this phrase the other day... pretty typical farewell, but I have heard it used in a menacing way as well.
dbucher says
June 30, 2008
Hello !
I see that now there are improvements with environemental sounds, but I am sorry to say that I really don't like them, when you hear a lesson on speakers it's far less discrete and with earspeakers it's not very confortable...
But your lessons are the best in the world, (and always funny) thank you very much !
siciliazhang says
July 3, 2008
dear ardillachina,
wow, great ! congratulation !!!!
enjoy your learning !
:))
hajaralkhaled says
July 14, 2008
Could anyone explain the difference between 没问题 and 没关系, please? Somehow I just can't wrap my head around their usage. (And how do I say "What's the difference between A and B?"in Chinese? "怎么A跟B不一样"?)
感谢你们的说明
wolson says
July 14, 2008
没问题 mei2 wen4ti2 means "no questions" or "no problems". You would use this as response tot he question "Do you still have any questions?"
没关系 mei2 guan1xi4 means literally "no relationships" but usually means "ignore it: it is not important". You would use this as a response to an incident that you don't care about or that you want to dismiss.
wolson says
July 14, 2008
Regarding
I would say "A 跟B 怎么一样?”,
"A 跟B 什么不同?”
or “A跟B 一样不一样?”
zhanglihua says
July 14, 2008
Hmm, wolson, have you forgotten a 不? And the last sentence only refers to *whether* they are different.
changye says
July 14, 2008
Hi wolson,
Besides “A跟B，怎么不一样?” version, you have other options, but don’t ask me about “their slight differences in nuance”. I have no way to answer them. I can only say that the lower, the less commonly used (or more formal), .....perhaps.
A跟B (gen1)
A和B (he2)
A同B (tong2)
A与B (yu3)
有什么不一样？you3 shen2 me bu4 yi2 yang4
有什么区别？qu1 bie2
有什么不同？bu4 tong2
有什么差别？cha1 bie2
有什么差异？cha1 yi4
hajaralkhaled says
July 14, 2008
So regarding the 没什么-thing, if someone did something embarassing and apologized for it, I would use 没关系.
And apart from the meaning "I have no further questions", if someone asked whether I could help him, 没问题 would be appropriate indicating that I don't mind helping him, 对不对?
-Hajar-
wolson says
July 14, 2008
zhanglihua says
5 hours ago
Thank you: I missed it! And for the last sentence: I think you are right: but I assume that given that question and that they are different, I would be told how they are different.
changye says
2 hours ago
Uncle Changye, Thank you. I continue to learn from your wisdom and knowledge. I did not know "区别" or "差异".
amber says
July 15, 2008
hi hajar,
What's the difference between A and B?
A和B有什么区别？ (A hé B yǒu shénme qūbié?)
and your speculations on 没关系 (méi guānxi) and
没问题 (méi wèntí) are correct!
darrencook says
July 15, 2008
Chengye-sensei wrote: "I can only say that the lower, the less commonly used".
I just read that list in my grammar book last night; here is how it defined the difference:
A跟B (gen1) [northern dialect colloq.]
A和B (he2) [neutral]
A同B (tong2) [southern dialect colloq.]
A与B (yu3) [formal and classical]
changye says
July 15, 2008
Hi darrencook,
＞ A跟B (gen1) [northern dialect colloq.]
＞ A和B (he2) [neutral]
＞ A同B (tong2) [southern dialect colloq.]
＞ A与B (yu3) [formal and classical]
As far as I know, 跟 and 和 are commonly used in conversation, and 同 and 与 mainly in writings. 与 is the most formal among them as you mentioned. Of course, there is no clear-cut distinction among them.
As for 同, I guess there might be some misunderstandings in your grammar book. In Cantonese, 同 is actually used as a dialect, but in this case its meaning is “instead, for” (替, 给). So I don’t think A同B is a southern dialect usage.