User Comments - jen_not_jenny
jen_not_jenny
Posted on: Where's the bathroom?
May 10, 2010 at 5:01 AM对我来说，“哪里”更好听。 我不太喜欢中国北边的“儿话。”
Dui4wo3lai2shuo1, na3li3 geng4hao3ting1. wo3bu4tai4xi3huan zhong1guo2 bei3bian1de er3hua4.
In my opinion, "nali" sounds better. I'm not crazy about northern China's "erhua."
Posted on: Learning English in China
May 8, 2010 at 5:32 AMHaha! So much for my theory then!! How old were these kids?
Posted on: Learning English in China
May 8, 2010 at 5:28 AMYep. Perfectly clear.
Posted on: Learning English in China
May 7, 2010 at 8:57 AMWell, I'm not "anyone else," but I do have a lot of opinions and something else occurred to me last night...
Another thing that I find really useful is speaking as often as possible with children. There are several advantages to this:
Their language is naturally simple and direct, therefore easier to understand.
Since they haven't developed the deductive reasoning of an adult, when you say something incorrectly they'll call you on it and ask you to explain, rather than working out your meaning and letting your error slide.
When most people speak with children, they try to come up with simple explanations for complex or abstract objects that children don't understand. Being in this mindset, if you forget a specific word or phrase, you'll be more likely to have success finding a different way to describe what you mean, instead of just giving up and asking for a translation.
We were discussing this on another thread: http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/8739#comment-175841
Posted on: Learning English in China
May 6, 2010 at 3:32 AMWhat kujuliet2 said. Exactly.
Another issue that I think is important for language acquisition is to find things that keep you genuinely interested in the language you're studying. I'm a firm believer that you've really got to LIKE the language if you're ever going to get any good at it, so finding aspects of the language and culture that excite you is really important. Of course, these things change over time, and are different for each individual.
For me personally, understanding music and Mexican-isms were what kept me motivated to fine-tune my Spanish skills. Like kujuliet, Chinese music doesn't inspire me as much, so I am currently focusing on how much I love the composition of Chinese characters (a current favorite is the traditional character 龜 gui1...doesn't it look just like a turtle?)
Learning a few phrases of other dialects has helped keep my interest high, too. Even though I can't speak much 上海话at all, just a few phrases have led to some really interesting (Mandarin) conversations with locals.
Posted on: A Tour of the Office
May 6, 2010 at 1:32 AMI always misplace the 个 in that phrase!
Posted on: Upcoming lessons, lots of Chinese and a "jia you!"
May 5, 2010 at 10:37 AMI know...I don't know how I'll be able to wait that long!
Posted on: How do you say...?
May 5, 2010 at 2:34 AMHey darkstar,
sorry, throwing in the Spanish reference was probably confusing. I just meant to emphasize that using 想 + object (as in, I want that DVD or this dish) is hyper-polite and not very commonly used, in my experience. I didn't mean to draw a correlation between 想 and the entire subjunctive mood in any language! ;)
Like clairez says, 想要 is a nice compromise.
Posted on: Haggling Like a Local
May 5, 2010 at 2:21 AMMissed this comment over the weekend, sorry...the SpanishPod team is only a swivel of my chair away...
Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Yunnan
May 11, 2010 at 2:02 AMOh my goodness this all sounds amazing...WHY haven't I been to Yunnan yet??