User Comments - jen_not_jenny

Posted on: Upcoming lessons, lots of Chinese and a "jia you!"

I saw this article in the NYTimes...it may be of encouragement to you zhongnian-ers out there! Interesting stuff.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/the-talents-of-a-middle-aged-brain/?src=me&ref=general

Posted on: Monopoly, Uno, or Twister?

On the contrary, Bababardwan, I think you're right about Chinese pinyin being more vowel-dependent than English. Pinyin is a relatively small set of ways to transcribe one-syllable words. Just think of how many different meanings the three-letter combination "hua" can have.

If you listen to a native Chinese speaker who is learning English as a second language, you'll notice that one of the most difficult aspects of pronunciation is consonant blends. I think this is because Chinese has such a limited array of consonant+consonant patterns (sh-, -ng, ch- are some of the more common ones.) Blending "harder," or plosive sounds (/b/, /p/, /k/, etc) with a second consonant sound is extremely difficult for many. This is especially notable when you look at Chinese transliterations of foreign words. There's usually a syllable or two added in to accommodate all the consonant blends.

Brief example: the Uighur name for the city Urumqi becomes Wu1lu3mu3qi1 乌鲁木齐. An extra syllable (i.e. extra vowel sound) must be added because the transition between m and q is too tricky for most Mandarin tongues.

And "strewth??" ask any non-native English speaker to say that three times fast. Great Scrabble word, btw!

Posted on: How do you say...?

Yeah, xiaophil, I think 要 is used more when you expect to receive the thing you want and 想 can be used more often if you're not sure it will be possible.

You know, I noticed that when I came to mainland China I started both using and hearing 想 a lot less. Especially 想 as in "want," the word seems to be a little too...soft for common use here. I thought I'd be using 想 to order food as in restaurants, for example. (Maybe this comes from my experience in the early stages of Spanish language-learning : "Quisiera pedir...") I think 想 sounds excessively polite here, talking about wants, given how direct the Chinese language is.

我想一份虾饺...nah.

我要一分虾饺...better!

Oh, another example might be using 想 or 要 to express planned actions.

For example, 我想去香港 I think of as "I'd like to go to Hong Kong, or I'm thinking about going to Hong Kong." 我要去香港 sounds to me more like "I have to go to Hong Kong." I think you could change the meaning to "I want to go to Hong Kong" by adding an exclamation point and a tone of excitement, and emphasizing the 我.

Posted on: Beyond Or: Another Use of 还是 (háishi)

Jason, 不要激动他们啊! ;-)

Posted on: That's Not Your Food

Helen...did you add a little MSG? ;) I think that's the magic ingredient many restaurants use, although I certainly don't recommend it!

Posted on: That's Not Your Food

When I first came to China I had a terrible time distinguishing between 1st and 4th tones. I knew there was a distinct difference, my ears just had a hard time picking up on it, especially when listening to native speakers converse at a natural speed, or when the speaker is excited. It still gives me grief occasionally. Paying more attention to context definitely helped me!

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

Yeah, the sounds are totally different, aren't they? It's kind of a fun language to speak, though, I think! I tried out a phrase or two from this lesson on a Shanghainese couple operating a button shop and think I've made two new friends! They taught me how to count to ten and say 谢谢 with real Shanghai flair, which requires some squawking. Great fun.

Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 1: A Fated Meeting

加油加油！You'll feel so accomplished when it's all finished!

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

Wow, such linguists, all of you!

When I started learning Chinese it got all confused with the Spanish in my head. People said I spoke Chinese with a Spanish accent. With time, the two languages seem to have found their respective corners in the recesses of my brain, although I do occasionally get tripped up if I'm having a conversation with someone on the SpanishPod team and then am asked a question in Chinese.

The bits and pieces of other Chinese languages (or dialects; I refuse to take a side in that issue) don't seem to get confused with Mandarin, though...although perhaps that's just because I speak so little of those languages/dialects! ;)

Posted on: Shanghai Expo: Haibao

I think I've heard 听起来 for "sounds like"....?