Good ways to learn Chinese?

[Atlantean]

Get your girlfriend to teach you, or take chinese lessons at the local college/university.

 

[gopunk]

I agree. Leon sounds better in Cantonese but in general, I like Mandarin music better. You know of Jay Chow, Tension, etc, right?

not really... i don't listen to that much chinese music. i just liked that one leon lai song. do you know any chinese punk bands? i found one but they sang in broken english instead of chinese

 

[brtspears2]

<<

<<


the few bits of cantonese i know:

1 = yat
2 = ye
3 = san
4 = se >>



5= oom
6=look
7=tsut
8=baht
9=guow
10=sup
11=sup yut
12=sup yee
13=sup sam
14=sup se
15=sup oom
16=sup look
17=sup tsut
18=sup baht
19=sup guow

thats all i can VAGUELY remember.....correct me if i'm wrong >>



Correct. Easy formula for numbers in cantonese...

20 would be Ye Sup (aka Two Ten)
21 would be Ye Sup Yat (aka Two Ten One)
and so on....
30 would be San Sup
40 would be Se sup ....
and it goes on until 100

100 is = Yat Bak
200 is = Ye Bak
and so on....til 1000

Where it goes
1000 is = Yat TChing
2000 is = Ye Tching .. so on....


Or my Chinese stinks....

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

Yes, somehow asian singers singing english music just doesn't sound right or smooth, sounds very broken.

 

[RoninRXN]

<< not really... i don't listen to that much chinese music. i just liked that one leon lai song. do you know any chinese punk bands? i found one but they sang in broken english instead of chinese >>



Chinese punk bands? Nope...but you'll find quite a few in Japanese.

 

[gopunk]

yea, but i feel like a traitor if i listen to japanese bands

 

[virtuamike]

Hmmm, if you're not Chinese, speaking the language won't help too much in winning over the parental units. Just be humble and respectful. When they ask about school or career (it will come up) make sure you show a lot of ambition. Good career choices and a good head on your shoulder will do wonders. A crash course in Chinese won't. You want to show the parents that you can take care of their daughter. Besides, I'm Chinese and even I'm too scared to try to learn how to speak and write proper. I figure with my unique blend of Chinish and lots of hand signals, they're bound to understand me.

 

[RoninRXN]

<< yea, but i feel like a traitor if i listen to japanese bands >>



Why? I listen to all music.

 

[Degenerate]

Go to a chinese school... it takes ages man..

 

[d1abolic]

You should tell her you want to learn Chinese for her, she'll want to marry you

 

[amnesiac]

Aside from Xie Xie and Nihau all I know is "Ga Ne Mah"

<- Hoping there aren't any Chinese Mods.

 

[HappyFace]

I think that if you eat enough Chinese food, you begin to speak the language. An add-on feature! Similar to the Lifer status given to those with 10,000 posts or more.

 

[gopunk]

Why? I listen to all music.

hehe, didn't you get the whole "japanese people are evil" thing from your parents?

 

[QTPie]

Don't come to her house!
I used to have a Chinese gf b4 and she taught me Cantonese. It sucked big time since I had a tendency to learn foreign language from reading the words. And Chinese, hehe... reading those words is 100 times harder than learning to speak. For short, I gave it up. Just learn some easy, polite words (hello, how are you, eat rice, delicious, etc.)

 

[fow99]

<<
a.) cantonese sounds cooler (i only know how to speak mandarin, but cantonese just sounds cooler) >>


That might be a personal impression.



<< b.) plenty of people speak cantonese. southern china and hong kong for example. >>


Not true.
Only People in GuangDong province speak Cantonese ( and HongKong. But people in HongKong are from GuangDong origionally) And can't you seel Canton IS GuangDong in Cantonese?[/i] >>





<< c.) cantonese is the "original" chinese, just a bit of trivia for ya >>


So untrue. Chinese language embodies many a dialects from --- god know how many years ago. And Mandrain is only the offical dialect - i.e pronunciation!

 

[fow99]

<< Wait, if "Shea shea" is "Thank you," then what is "Tsai Jiyen"? >>



ByeBye.

 

[tamade]

lei lei hoe ma? kwai chai yee kuo lei ooi kau tong yan lei ng sai hok kong tong wah keh. lei chee you toi till loui hoe ciou tak loh. meng ng meng bak?

 

[lsman]

<< lei lei hoe ma? kwai chai yee kuo lei ooi kau tong yan lei ng sai hok kong tong wah keh. lei chee you toi till loui hoe ciou tak loh. meng ng meng bak? >>



^ Cantonese.


meng ng meng bak? --> "Do you understand?"
"meng bak" -> two chinese character : "understand"
"ng" -> a nose sound, generally for yes/no

 

[indd]

I agree with a lot of what virtuamike is saying. Just remember that most chinese parents just want the best for their kids and all that stuff (like most parents from any culture).

If you want to learn the language though, it's very difficult I think. I grew up speaking chinese when I was a little kid but forgot it since I went to school with americans. All I know now is "time to sleep" and "go to the bathroom".. stuff like that. It's an been an uphill battle to relearn the language for me.

Some tips:
1) learn mandarin since there are only 4 tones to remember instead of 7
2) don't worry about the written part. You don't need to be able to read (it takes SO MUCH TIME to learn how to write/read a word).
3) to sound ok you'll NEED to concentrate on the tones.. I've taught my girlfriend some limited phrases and it took a lot of practice to get right since in english tones aren't a big concern. If you don't it's ok though since I think most people will be able to figure out what you're trying to say.


Why Cantonese then?

for HONG KONG MOVIES!

To me, cantonese sounds better than mandarin. It's much more expressive. When I have a choice I always pick cantonese over mandarin. Of course, this is all purely subjective. Some people like how "refined" mandarin sounds. Thank goodness for subtitles.

anyways, good luck
indd

 

[Pepsei]

<< Aside from Xie Xie and Nihau all I know is "Ga Ne Mah"

<- Hoping there aren't any Chinese Mods. >>



hmmm that makes it sound like you're homosexual. seems like a 'request'

 

[krwell]

never knew so many people spoke chinese in the forums

 

[gopunk]

<< never knew so many people spoke chinese in the forums >>



nah, i just created a bunch of accounts to have chinese conversations with myself

 

[krwell]

<< nah, i just created a bunch of accounts to have chinese conversations with myself >>



lol

 

[RoninRXN]

<< never knew so many people spoke chinese in the forums >>



I know a lot of guys here are Chinese.

I'd say a good 20-30%.

 

[Nefrodite]

manderin if your gonna bother. first its closer to how you write in chinese, cantonese is not so close.. a bother to learn 2nd the usefulness of cantonese is limited since the vast majority of chinese use manderin, and even cantonese know manderin. 3rd.. well i think manderin sounds better, my parents agree. i just find some languages more elegant, other ones just have icky noises i'm cantonese i think you can judge languages by how they sound sorta bad example, but klingon sounds pretty bad eh? hehe gutteral i guess. anyways, hong kong movies are in both cantonese and manderin. i'm not sure if i'd suggest learning from them since about 90% of hong kong movies are garbage

oh yes, call your g/f a "bahk poh", she'll love it

also chinese isn't just something you should do to impress your g/f, it looks good on your resume heh