Audrey KIDS🏅HSK/AP
Chinese (Mandarin)
Feb 2, 2020
You have a good understanding about learning Chinese, keeping on
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Teacher reviews
🌺 Camelia 🌺
Romanian
Sep 24, 2019
Mulțumesc mult pentru cuvintele frumoase, ca de obicei! A fost o plăcere să lucrez cu dumneavoastră și să vă întâlnesc. Vă doresc mult succes în continuare cu limba chineză! :)
Activities
- Typing pinyin with tone marks (NOT typing pinyin to get Chinese characters) I want to type pinyin 'hao3' and have it automatically convert that to 'hǎo' in, for example, Skype. Please note that I am NOT asking to type pinyin and have it give Chinese characters, which is what most search results discuss. I prefer to use what's built in to Windows 10. I found instructions online to get that working and followed those, but I got to a point where I could not make the selections on my computer that they gave online, so I think that those instructions are for an older version of Windows. If I can't get it working using what's built in to Windows 10, I will consider free third-party downloads. Any ideas?February 1, 202020
- I'm still at a basic level in Mandarin. I have learned and taught various Indo-European and Semitic (including Ethiopian) languages, so I have a basis of comparison.- I think in most respects Mandarin grammar is easier than most other languages. For nouns, adjectives, definite and indefinite articles, demonstrative pronouns, participles, it does not have singular/plural and masculine/feminine/neuter, case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive forms). Regarding cases, Russian and Greek, for example, have different ending on nouns depending on whether it's the subject of the sentence, or the direct object, or the indirect object, or various other functions. For verbs, Mandarin does not have 1st/2nd/3rd person, singular/plural, present/past/future/perfect/progressive, indicative/subjunctive/imperative mood forms. Since you've studied Romance languages, you understand the complexities of the verbs.- Now, having said the above, since Mandarin does not have the information mentioned above, perhaps it expresses that same information, in different ways, additional words, etc., that make it much more difficult than I realize.- Even though it seems to me that Mandarin has simpler grammar than most other languages, I will say that MANDARIN IS VERY DIFFICULT. Because of:+ unfamiliar vocabulary. If you are an English speaker learning Greek or Latin, or French or German, there are many words that look familiar. Not so in Mandarin.+ tones. Difficult to hear when listening, difficult to say when speaking+ because of tones, I believe, Mandarin has shorter words, which are harder (for me, anyway) to remember. Each syllable (initial + final) can have multiple meanings because of tones. So, many short words with different meanings are possible. Contrast this with Spanish "biblioteca" ("library"), which is five syllables. Seems to me easier to remember.+ At this point, I'm only learning pinyin, not characters.Conclusion, Mandarin is really hard, but really wonderful!0 votedJanuary 31, 20200
- Thanks, Phil, this is really super! I was hoping for a thoughtful response that would help me sort this out. Although I have a lot of experience learning and teaching languages, I’m definitely still a beginner in Mandarin, in the first few months of study.I’ve known about the voiced/unvoiced and aspirated/unaspirated contrasts for a long time, but I just became aware of the fortis/lenis contrast in the last year. I’ll look into that; it maybe means I’ve oversimplified things in my post. But it seems to me that the following has happened.Three sounds1. b as in “book”, voiced, unaspirated (or lightly aspirated?)2. p as in “pin”, unvoiced, strongly aspirated3. p as in “spin”, unvoiced, unaspirated.And so what has happened (exaggerated a bit to make the point), teachers/instructional materials say, “well, pinyin b should really be 3 (unvoiced, unaspirated p), but it’s too hard to get English speakers to say it that way, so let’s just tell them to do 1 (voiced, unaspirated b). It’s not quite right, but we’ll ignore the voiced/unvoiced issue in order to get it right on the aspirated/unaspirated issue.” Again, I may be oversimplifying things. And I’ll add that I’m not on some nerdy quest (although I can be nerdy :-) ) to create the perfect chart, or prove that I’m right; I just want to get the best Mandarin pronunciation I can. And to that end, it seems unhelpful to not get it right with voiced/unvoiced. Of course, as you point out, maybe that’s not where I should invest the most effort.Please explain “layering prosodic intonation on top of the lexical tones”.And yes, please point me in the direction of that italki teacher. BTW, I love italki. I had a fantastic experience with a Romanian teacher on italki. For Mandarin, I’ve decided to take a local course in Portland, Oregon.0 votedOctober 5, 20191
- Correct Mandarin Chinese PronunciationIt seems to me that it is difficult to get information about pinyin pronunciation on the internet that is at the same time correct and complete. I will give what I’ve concluded, and give my evidence at the end.(The following uses technical linguistic terms voiced, unvoiced, aspirated, unaspirated. Note that unvoiced is sometimes referred to as voiceless.)I believe that the only initials that are voiced are l, m, n, r. All others are unvoiced. Therefore:1. It is wrong to say that pinyin d is pronounced as d in “duck”. It is wrong because English d is voiced, and pinyin d is unvoiced. Correct pronunciation is unvoiced, unaspirated, as t in “stop”. (Note that t as in “top” is aspirated, while t as in “stop” is unaspirated.)2. It is wrong to say that pinyin b is pronounced as b in “book”. It is wrong because English b is voiced, and pinyin b is unvoiced. Correct pronunciation is unvoiced, unaspirated, as p in “spin”. (Note that p as in “pin” is aspirated, while p as in “spin” is unaspirated.)3. It is wrong to say that pinyin g is pronounced as g in “get”. It is wrong because English g is voiced, and pinyin g is unvoiced. Correct pronunciation is unvoiced, unaspirated, as k in “skin”. (Note that k as in “kin” is aspirated, while k as in “skin” is unaspirated.)4. It is wrong to say that pinyin zh is pronounced as j in “jerk” or “judge” or as g in “George”. It is wrong because j in “jerk” is voiced, and pinyin zh is unvoiced. (Note that pinyin zh is unvoiced, unaspirated, while pinyin ch is unvoiced, aspirated.)5. It is wrong to say that pinyin j is pronounced as j in “jam”. It is wrong because j in “jam” is voiced, and pinyin j is unvoiced. (Note that pinyin j is unvoiced, unaspirated, while pinyin q is unvoiced, aspirated.)6. It is wrong to say that pinyin z is pronounced as ds in “kids”. It is wrong because ds in “kids” is voiced, and pinyin z is unvoiced. (Note that pinyin z is unvoiced, unaspirated, while pinyin c is unvoiced, aspirated.)I was first made aware that all pinyin consonants except for l, m, n, r, are unvoiced in an email exchange with Olle Linge of Hacking Chinese fame (hackingchinese.com). This is confirmed in the following chart. SORRY but the following chart is confusing, because it also includes Yale Romanization of Mandarin and bopomofo.Each cell has four components:[upper left] Yale Romanization – [upper right] IPA phonetic symbol[lower left] Bopomofo – [lower left] PinyinFor the purpose of this post, please ignore the upper left and lower left. SORRY, but I have not found such a chart that only includes Pinyin and IPA. (For myself, I copied and pasted it into a Word doc and deleted the Yale and bopomofo).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_romanization_of_Mandarin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_romanization_of_Mandarin</a>;The chart supports what I say above. Note that voiceless and unvoiced mean the same thing:1. Pinyin d has IPA t, which is unvoiced.2. Pinyin b has IPA p, which is unvoiced.3. Pinyin g has IPA k, which is unvoiced.4. Pinyin zh has IPA ʈʂ, the important point being that it is unvoiced.5. Pinyin j has IPA tɕ, the important point being that it is unvoiced.6. Pinyin z has IPA ts, the important point being that it is unvoiced.Any thoughts or comments?October 5, 201972
Routines
I usually wake up early at 5 am . tThen I make my bed and eat a big breackfast. It is impotent important for me Bbeacause I want to have a great day. I pray and thanks of gGod that he gives me a new day . Next I always give water to my plants. After that I read a book for about 30 minutes. I check my emails .llLater, Mmost of the time I help my mother for cooking . I do my homework. Fainally I read a book in the bed and then seelpsleep .I usually wake up early at 5 am. Then I make my bed and eat a big breakfast. It is important for me because I want to have a great day. I pray and thank God that he gives me a new day. Next I always give water to my plants. After that I read a book for about 30 minutes. I check my email. Later, most of the time I help my mother cook. I do my homework. Finally I read a book in bed and then sleep.
0 votedMay 12, 20192- Actually, a good question. To me, the "but" on that sign seems perfectly natural, but when I stop and think about it. It is a bit odd, because it doesn't really connect the two parts of the sentence. To answer your question, I think that there is something implied that is not made explicit. Perhaps: We apologize for the inconvenience. (We would really like everything to be in perfect working order), BUT the elevator is currently out of order. I will be curious to see other answers to this.0 votedApril 2, 20190
- A related discussion. Some people think that a language with a different script (Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, etc.) is very intimidating. But my thought is that 1) the foreign script can be learned in a few weeks or a few months, 2) the grammar can be learned in a year, and 3) the vocabulary takes the rest of your life! :-) What do you think?
I should add that "a language with a different script" is from the point of view of an English speaker! For speakers of those languages, it is of course not "a different script." :-)0 votedJanuary 19, 20190 - Case of nouns or pronouns following Romanian prepositions
In response to a question by James Breeze, I mentioned that the case of the noun or pronoun following a preposition depends on which preposition it is. Since then, I found the following list:
Prepositions followed by noun or pronoun in accusative case:
pe on; la at, to; lângă near; sub under; cu with; fără without; după after; spre towards; în in, din from; până until; despre about; către to; prin through; de of since, for
Prepositions followed by noun or pronoun in dative-genitive case:
datorită due to; mulţumită thanks to; graţie thanks to; conform according to; contrar contrary to; asemenea similarly to, aspura on, about; contra against; deasupra above; dedesubtul under, împotriva against; înaintea before.
Notes:
1. The source is Ramona Gönczöl-Davies, Romanian: An Essential Grammar, London and New York, Routledge, 2008. I downloaded the pdf from the web. FYI this seems to me to be to be a good book, with a clear presentation of the basics of Romanian grammar. I invite suggestions for other grammars.
2. The above book uses the five case system, which presents as two distinct cases dative and genitive. Since these two cases have the same form, I think that they should be regarded as a single case, and so I have presented them as such.
3. In addition to the above simple propositions, the book also presents compound prepositions, and prepositional phrases (which seem to me to be compound prepositions).
<o:p></o:p>January 19, 201911
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