User Comments - sydcarten

Profile picture

sydcarten

Posted on: Giving up a Seat
July 18, 2007 at 9:53 AM

Hi Jenny, 你好 Those words will come in handy, 谢谢你 SC

Posted on: Giving up a Seat
July 18, 2007 at 1:45 AM

I have to correct myself above. Where I wrote about my wife: "Her father-in-law speaks good Mandarin" I actually meant "Her father (MY father-in-law) speaks good Mandarin"

Posted on: Giving up a Seat
July 18, 2007 at 1:24 AM

Hi Everybody, I'm new to ChinesePod and really enjoying it. I am a railway worker in Sydney, Australia. My wife is an Indonesian citizen and an ethnic Chinese. I already speak Indonesian, and now I am learning Mandarin. My wife's parents migrated to Indonesia from China as children before WW2 and their first language is Hakka. My wife's first language is Indonesian and she has a passive knowledge of Hakka, but her Mandarin is still weak. Her father-in-law speaks good Mandarin, but her mother speaks only Indo and Hakka. I have a smattering of Cantonese already because of friends I know. There is a large Chinese community here in Sydney and frequently situations arise at work where I have to help customers who speak Mandarin but not English. I'm hoping to learn more situational Mandarin to help me at work. I have found many lessons that deal with transportation from a customers point of view, buying tickets etc. but not from my point of view, saying such things as "Take the next train on platform four and change at X" or "Do you want a timetable?" or "This ticket is not valid" etc. regards SC