You too can learn Chinese in just a few minutes (if you are 2 years old that is)
rich
June 15, 2008, 04:59 PM posted in General DiscussionHi all, Another post after I keep being absent from Cpod weeks at a time... and so much miss all of you and the community... but been busy moving back to China. Maybe more time soon. Also been busy in my one week between my school where I'm getting a masters in Chinese and coming to China by visiting America and seeing my 2 year old nephew in Idaho. Now that he finally speaks short English sentences, I decided to see how well he could pick up Chinese... and it is so amazing how quickly and accurately he could repeat the words I taught him!! It goes to show that when you learn Chinese from an age where you don't give a damn about tones, but are a good immitator already, that you can learn Chinese fast. So, in my last day in the States before going to China (and before making a mad rush to get a flat within 12 hours of being here, and attending a wedding in less than 24 hours) I managed to come up with the idea of filming what Isaac (以撒，我的外甥）had learned. Thought you'd all like to see the video, and encourage you all to learn Chinese as early as possible!! :) 
urbandweller
November 08, 2008, 02:06 AMwow, kids seem to make things seem so easy...we complicate things so much as we get older...
think like a child and learn chinese!! ha ha!
auntie68
June 15, 2008, 11:00 PMHello rich. Thanks for sharing the video. Isaac is a true stunt toddler, the genuine product! And it's nice to see how close he is to his Uncle Rich. I also enjoyed the "Isaac Takes a Phone Call" video immensely. Again, thanks!
All the best for your big move!
changye
June 15, 2008, 11:10 PMGood morning, guys. And thank you, rich, this video is really a good starter of the day. In the video, your nephew tried to say "mammy" at first, and then correctly said "妈妈 (ma1 ma)". How cute he is!
cassielin
June 15, 2008, 11:57 PMOh, thank you Rich, your nephew is really cute.他真是太可爱了especially when he corrected "mammy" to "妈妈" in chinese!
I agree with changye, this is a good starter of the day. Hope other poddies can show their experiences of learning Mandarin too.
All the best for you!
Cassie
wei1xiao4
June 16, 2008, 12:58 AMThat was precious and I even learned a new word bi2ti4! Thanks Rich and good luck with your move. Where will you be in China?
cassielin
June 16, 2008, 02:56 AMoh, weixiao, me too!
I learned how to say 鼻涕bi2ti4 in English. It is booger.^_^
changye
June 16, 2008, 03:17 AMHi cassie,
I don't recommend you, a young lady, use the word "booger", which was new to me too. Let us just use that famous textbook expression "I've got a runny nose". It's a safe way to mention to 鼻涕.
changye
June 16, 2008, 04:50 AMHi cassie,
According to my dictionaries,
eye boogers 眼屎，眵目糊
booger 鼻屎，鼻嘎巴儿
cassielin
June 16, 2008, 05:00 AMoh, 鼻涕and 鼻屎that's difference.
thank you changye for telling me this.
rich
June 19, 2008, 06:21 AMHi all. Sorry didn't track this conversation until now. The whole thing with boogers was what my brother-in-law (Isaac's dad) did right in front of the camera, and so i decided to leave it in. I was actually wondering what booger should be, as 鼻涕 actually is what flows from your nose, not dried up in it. Okay, I know, a little disgusting. The child word for 鼻涕 w ould probably best be "snot"... and that is what my mom would call me when I was bad... a littles snot. Thanks Changye for reminding me booger would be 鼻屎.
Glad I could share those videos with you of my nephew. Hope to see some from you guys as well!
-R
rich
June 19, 2008, 06:22 AMcan someone tell me why I was unable to successfully embed the video? I put the object embed code in the "embed" tool when editing, but even though it has a big blank space where it should be, there is no video.
rich
June 19, 2008, 06:28 AMChangye, for 眼屎 we actually don't say eye booger, at least not the people I know. I grew up callinjg it simply "sleep" as a noun, as that is when we get them. So I'd wake up and my mom would say "Wash the sleep out of your eyes." But then being around friends, we would call them "eye goobers" or just "goobers" which i think has no meaning... a nonsense word... just very childish.
changye
June 19, 2008, 07:25 AMhi rich,
Thanks for your advice. I've just found that "sleep" also means "眼屎" in one of my dictionaries. I think it is a very sophisticated way (at least, it is not direct) to mention 眼屎. It's very interesting.
dujundu
November 07, 2008, 08:24 AM很好，有朋友要学汉语吗？
Vevry good,Who want study Chinese,call me
QQ:29494037,13583228025,
I am Chinese ,I am in china
cassielin
June 16, 2008, 03:38 AMoh, hi changye,
so maybe the word "booger" sounds like childish?
anyway, thank you changye, I will take your advice and use "runny nose", it is more safe.
rich
June 15, 2008, 05:01 PMHmm...this is my first new post on this system, and can't even tell if the insert ebedded object option is working... give me an error?? How do I use this? Will try just copying the code into here, but here is also the Youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVn9rcDIjsw