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Post by Wolfgang on Jan 31, 2019 23:14:47 GMT -5
I hope that by end of the year 2019, I can speak competent Chinese with some 1st graders.
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Post by azvb on Feb 1, 2019 21:17:46 GMT -5
If you want to convert, then go on an LDS mission, you could learn a foreign language in about 8-9 weeks. My husband learned Korean, #1 son Russian, #2 son Ukrainian.
But there’s always the chance you’d be sent to Idaho 😐.
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Post by ironhammer on Feb 2, 2019 19:03:42 GMT -5
If you want to convert, then go on an LDS mission, you could learn a foreign language in about 8-9 weeks. My husband learned Korean, #1 son Russian, #2 son Ukrainian. But there’s always the chance you’d be sent to Idaho 😐. Ah yes, LDS. It is part of their duty as a mormon to spread their faith somewhere in the world at least once in their lives, correct? |
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Post by Wolfgang on Feb 2, 2019 20:11:21 GMT -5
If you want to convert, then go on an LDS mission, you could learn a foreign language in about 8-9 weeks. My husband learned Korean, #1 son Russian, #2 son Ukrainian. But there’s always the chance you’d be sent to Idaho 😐. Can I take a free language class without converting? |
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Post by Wolfgang on Feb 3, 2019 22:50:24 GMT -5
So, apparently, there's this thing called BoPoMoFo which is a Taiwan-based pronunciation guide. I was very confused about it then I talked to a couple of friends who happen to be Chinese. They informed me that it's only useful for reading. If you see a Chinese character and you don't know how to pronounce it, you can look it up in the dictionary which may have the BoPoMoFo pronunciation guides. So, now, I'm learning BoPoMoFo in addition to the standard Mandarin Chinese stuff.
The English dictionaries also have pronunciation guides but the thing with these is that I suspect 99.9999% of Americans don't know much about it or use it. There are symbols, for example, to show you how to pronounce the "a" in "spa" vs. "cat" vs. "Kate." I confess I don't really know the entire English pronunciation symbols because 99.99999% of us learn how to pronounce words by exposure and repetition. If we don't know how to pronounce a word, we generally don't look it up in the dictionary. We generally ask our friends, family, or, now, look it up on the Internet which contain audio files. But mostly, we hear someone pronounce a word like "segue" and instead of mispronouncing it "seeg," we hear it pronounced properly as "seg-way." Or, how do you learn to pronounce "Chopin"? You hear other people pronounce it "show-PAN." However, if you're talking about Kate Chopin, the well-known author, it's pronounced "CHO-pin," rhymes with "Blow-fin."
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Post by Wolfgang on Feb 5, 2019 3:04:45 GMT -5
So, I borrowed some Chinese children's picture books which contain BoPoMoFo info next to the Chinese characters. I'm reading without understanding what I'm reading, which is no different from my reading of things written in the English language, especially on VT. But the whole point is to get the pronunciation right.
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Post by mikegarrison on Feb 5, 2019 3:32:45 GMT -5
So, apparently, there's this thing called BoPoMoFo which is a Taiwan-based pronunciation guide. I was very confused about it then I talked to a couple of friends who happen to be Chinese. They informed me that it's only useful for reading. If you see a Chinese character and you don't know how to pronounce it, you can look it up in the dictionary which may have the BoPoMoFo pronunciation guides. So, now, I'm learning BoPoMoFo in addition to the standard Mandarin Chinese stuff. The English dictionaries also have pronunciation guides but the thing with these is that I suspect 99.9999% of Americans don't know much about it or use it. There are symbols, for example, to show you how to pronounce the "a" in "spa" vs. "cat" vs. "Kate." I confess I don't really know the entire English pronunciation symbols because 99.99999% of us learn how to pronounce words by exposure and repetition. If we don't know how to pronounce a word, we generally don't look it up in the dictionary. We generally ask our friends, family, or, now, look it up on the Internet which contain audio files. But mostly, we hear someone pronounce a word like "segue" and instead of mispronouncing it "seeg," we hear it pronounced properly as "seg-way." Or, how do you learn to pronounce "Chopin"? You hear other people pronounce it "show-PAN." However, if you're talking about Kate Chopin, the well-known author, it's pronounced "CHO-pin," rhymes with "Blow-fin." Most people can't tell from reading it that my name is actually pronounced "MIS-ter a-MAZ-ing". |
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Post by Wolfgang on Feb 5, 2019 22:33:07 GMT -5
So, apparently, there's this thing called BoPoMoFo which is a Taiwan-based pronunciation guide. I was very confused about it then I talked to a couple of friends who happen to be Chinese. They informed me that it's only useful for reading. If you see a Chinese character and you don't know how to pronounce it, you can look it up in the dictionary which may have the BoPoMoFo pronunciation guides. So, now, I'm learning BoPoMoFo in addition to the standard Mandarin Chinese stuff. The English dictionaries also have pronunciation guides but the thing with these is that I suspect 99.9999% of Americans don't know much about it or use it. There are symbols, for example, to show you how to pronounce the "a" in "spa" vs. "cat" vs. "Kate." I confess I don't really know the entire English pronunciation symbols because 99.99999% of us learn how to pronounce words by exposure and repetition. If we don't know how to pronounce a word, we generally don't look it up in the dictionary. We generally ask our friends, family, or, now, look it up on the Internet which contain audio files. But mostly, we hear someone pronounce a word like "segue" and instead of mispronouncing it "seeg," we hear it pronounced properly as "seg-way." Or, how do you learn to pronounce "Chopin"? You hear other people pronounce it "show-PAN." However, if you're talking about Kate Chopin, the well-known author, it's pronounced "CHO-pin," rhymes with "Blow-fin." Most people can't tell from reading it that my name is actually pronounced "MIS-ter a-MAZ-ing". If only we Americans weren't too lazy to learn the English pronunciation guide. |
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Post by Wolfgang on Feb 5, 2019 22:35:50 GMT -5
I'm doing okay with my Chinese learning. I'm very patient even while struggling. I have difficulties with the pronunciation of words due to the weird tonal system. But I know lots of words and phrases and I can even translate some stuff like:
I have a dog.
She loves her father.
My older sister has a cat.
We love her younger brother.
His dog loves my mother.
and, of course:
Hello
Goodbye
Thank you
I'm now learning to count.
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Post by Phaedrus on Feb 6, 2019 17:10:48 GMT -5
BoPoMoFo is how I learned to read. There was a newspaper in Taiwan that printed a daily paper with every characterannotated with the BoPoMofo. Brings back memories, they also published books.
It definitely helps you with the pronunciation.
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Post by Phaedrus on Feb 6, 2019 17:11:57 GMT -5
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Post by Wolfgang on Feb 6, 2019 18:32:46 GMT -5
BoPoMoFo is how I learned to read. There was a newspaper in Taiwan that printed a daily paper with every characterannotated with the BoPoMofo. Brings back memories, they also published books. It definitely helps you with the pronunciation. Too funny! At this point, I can't do BoPoMoFo while dancing. It's not unlike walking and chewing gum at the same time. |
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Post by Wolfgang on Feb 6, 2019 18:59:03 GMT -5
I can translate English-to-Mandarin (and reverse) any sentence containing the following components:
1. I, he, she, it, they, we
2. possessives (my, his, her, their)
3. dog, cat
4. have, has, love
5. negatives (not)
6. family unit name (father, mother, older brother, younger brother, older sister, younger sister)
It can be a very complex sentence, but I can do it so long as any of the above components are included. No cheat sheets. I'm really proud of myself. Of course, it will take me some time to do the translation because I have to think about it. But still...
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Post by ironhammer on Feb 6, 2019 22:23:25 GMT -5
I can translate English-to-Mandarin (and reverse) any sentence containing the following components: 1. I, he, she, it, they, we 2. possessives (my, his, her, their) 3. dog, cat 4. have, has, love 5. negatives (not) 6. family unit name (father, mother, older brother, younger brother, older sister, younger sister) It can be a very complex sentence, but I can do it so long as any of the above components are included. No cheat sheets. I'm really proud of myself. Of course, it will take me some time to do the translation because I have to think about it. But still... Any progress is progress.  |
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Post by Wolfgang on Feb 7, 2019 0:27:05 GMT -5
So, here's an example of why a real live teacher is necessary.
Just from my knowledge of individual words, I self-crafted the following:
"Where is his younger brother?"
and doing a one-to-one correspondence of words, I translated it as:
"Nar shi ta de didi ma?" (I left out tones in this post.)
I tried to do a literal translation. When I asked a Chinese friend of mine, she said she had no idea what the hell I was saying. Like all languages, you can't always do a literal translation. One-to-one correspondence doesn't always work. There's a way to ask that question but you can't do it the way I did.
In Spanish, if you want to ask someone what his name is, you don't ask, "What is your name?" Instead, you say, "How are you called?" or "How do you call yourself?"
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