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Speakers of Chinese's LiveJournal:
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| Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 | 10:35 pm
[je_suis_kristi]
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Translation help. Hi everyone,
I have a special request and I hope I am not being annoying. I am an American training in Australia in a Circus school. I've had a coach from Beijing, China teach me privatley over this past month and before I leave I really want to thank him for being special to me before I leave. He dosent speak any english and I any Chinese (although we manage to communicate somehow in lessons!)
Anyway, I really want to write him a thank you letter to leave with a gift and I dont want to write it in english where he would have to have someone translate..I want to take the time to write it in Chinese...I dont trust an online translator one hundred percent...so can anyone tell me if this is correct?
I want to say:
Thank you for taking the time to teach me. I learned very much and gained a lot of confidence. I will practice at home.If I perform diablo (the pronuncation on this is dee-ah-blo. Its a circus act) with my Circus at home in their show, I will send you a video of it next Spring. I appreciate everything. Thank you!
The translator gave me this:
谢谢需要时间教我。 我非常学会了并且获取了很多信心。 我在家将实践。如果我在家执行躲闪者与我的马戏在他们的展示，我将送您录影它下春天。 我赞赏一切。 谢谢!
THank you very very much to anyone in advance who can help me. I appreciate it a lot. Multiple opinions are great.
-Kristi | | Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 | 12:04 am
[queuebert]
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A friend of mine sent me this photo of a plate which a friend of his who passed away recently used to use. He knows I studied Japanese so he asked me if I could tell him what the characters meant. I'm pretty sure it's in Chinese though. I tried my best to read the stylized calligraphy, but the only character I could identify with any certainty was 花/flower at the bottom right, and I initially thought the one in the center as well as the top was 秋/autumn, but I wonder if it may be 秧/seedling instead. The one to the left I'm thinking may be 飲/drink. The one on the right I can't seem to decipher at all, and while I think I understand the components of the bottom-left one, I can't seem to find a matching kanji, which served to reinforce my belief that it's Chinese. In any event, if anyone can help me with the characters and meanings that I couldn't identify and/or confirm or dispute my other assessments, I would really appreciate it. the photo | | Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 | 12:56 pm
[valera_vs_china]
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Need help! I’m a student in linguistic university, & have been learning Chinese for 9 months. I’ve started live journal in order to improve my Chinese, but the point is I have nobody who could check the correctness of what I write... So, anyone who knows Chinese & have time & a little interest in it, please correct me!valera_vs_china.livejournal.com | | Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 | 3:08 pm
[yandel]
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谜语（同音词）
一、草原上来了一群羊。猜一种水果——…………。
二、草原上又来了一群狼。猜一种水果——。
三、草原上来了一只狼，没吃羊。猜一种海洋生物——…………。
四、草原上又来了一只狼，羊惊叫，狼还是没吃羊。猜一种海洋生物——…………。( 谜底 )
我就喜欢))) | | Monday, May 5th, 2008 | 6:30 pm
[kokoro]
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Short story. Could I ask someone to proofread a short story I wrote for my class? I tried to be a bit creative with it, so I'm afraid I might have messed stuff up!!! I just want to make sure it's decent. I'm only in my second semester, so beware - this story is very simple! The point was to use as many of the words from our new(est) lessons as possible. ( Click here to read it. )Thank you. <3 Current Mood:  curious | | Thursday, March 27th, 2008 | 10:24 pm
[paxgermanica]
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Can anyone tell me the meaning of the symbol on my t shirt? Please? Everywhere I go, people ask me what it means.
| | Sunday, March 9th, 2008 | 9:26 pm
[revrb]
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我会说普通话很好。。。没有！
Today's Chinese tutoring session was a useful one for me. It was also very humbling.
I know how to say certain words and phrases, but I think the difference between having a real live professional tutor and learning informally is great enough that I stumble over the simplest things. Now I'm not learning "phrasebook Chinese", I'm learning the language from the bare roots. Some of the initials and finals still throw me a bit. I know what I'm saying, but now I have to pay much closer attention to HOW I say it, and how it should sound. Even my tones are not as clear as they should be. I have to put a little more force into the sounds. This is why Asian tonal language speakers are loud: they HAVE to be loud, in order to pronounce everything clearly. That's just the way the languages developed.
What embarrassed and frustrated me, though, were those "sss" and "sh" sounds: the initials j, q, x, z, c, s, zh, ch, and sh are pronounced differently in Chinese. Here is part of the problem: when I was little, I had a terrible speech impediment, and the letter s was difficult for me to pronounce clearly, even with speech therapy for a few years. I finally got to the point where I could speak without too much of a lisp...and then I had a front tooth knocked out. I've had to deal with composites and a crown and finally a partial bridge ( and I'm wearing an acrylic temporary, not the porcelain and metal permanent, which is an expense I haven't been able to handle, even with insurance ), and my speech pattern has shifted accordingly. Now I'm learning this language that completely throws off everything. I chose a tutor because I wanted reinforcement. I wanted professional instruction. I wanted to learn the CORRECT way to speak. Not that I speak Chinese so badly, but that lisp--coupled with a tongue that is a little thicker than normal ( in fact, it's been called a "Mongolian tongue" ) impedes my progress just a little bit now, mostly because it's being called to my attention.
And when part of the exercise includes tone drills like "4 is 4, 10 is 10, 14 is 14, 40 is 40"--"10" and "is" are pronounced almost identically, except for the tone, and "4" is not too different from them--well, you can see what I have to contend with. "Si shi si, shi shi shi, shisi shi shisi, sishi shi sishi."
Yeah, just YOU try it.
So my tutor has assigned me to do the tone drills, which I think are pretty standard for all Chinese language instruction. But those tongue twisters...*sigh*. Damn, I wish I could meet with native Mandarin speakers every day. Not Malaysian, not from Singapore, not Cantonese or Taiwanese or Sichuanese or Shanghaiese who picked up Mandarin because it is the official language of mainland China. I mean hard core, fluent communicators of putonghua, born and bred in the "chicken neck" of China. Why do I keep running into Vietnamese and Koreans and Filipinos? It's not helping me with my Chinese... | | Friday, March 7th, 2008 | 3:15 pm
[kokoro]
|
Small question for a project. How does one say "I'm a second year college student?" Current Mood:  exhausted | | Monday, January 28th, 2008 | 7:06 pm
[partical_boi]
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Chinese Anime??
I know this is a sort of contradictory/controversial(?) request but I thought I would make it anyway seeing as everyone here seems to be limitless in terms of general knowledge.
Does anyone know of any Animes that are set in China?? Or perhaps any anime that might be dubbed in Chinese?? (with english subtitles preferably) I'm currently studying Chinese in University and in preparation for my year abroad in China next year, I thought it might be advantageous for me to have some material to watch that was in Mandarin. Especially because all the Japanese I'm hearing is starting to confuse me. :P
Any help would be much appreciated!!
x-posted | | Tuesday, December 18th, 2007 | 4:27 am
[errantmystic]
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reposting, as I screwed up the first time
Okay, ignore that last post. I've been translating various things all night and completely scrambled up what I was asking, gah. Here's what was *supposed* to be asked.
I am finding
that 银 means silver,
that 阴影 means shadow,
and that both are "yin" in pinyin.
Are my characters and translations correct?
Do both just become "yin" with different meanings?
Thanks for your help and patience! ::sheepish look::
Current Mood: nerdy | 1:17 am
[errantmystic]
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"yin" confusion I'm finding that 银 means "silver" and that 杨柳 means "willow" and that both mean "yin" in pinyin. Are my characters and pinyin correct? How many characters are there than can be translated as "yin" in pinyin? Current Mood: confused | | Friday, December 7th, 2007 | 10:29 pm
[kiyouyou]
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互相学习语言吧！ 大家好！ 我想介绍这个网站，叫“lang-8“ 在这里大家可以互相教自己的母语，学习外语 http://lang-8.com/ lang-8是一个提供国际间语言交流及联系的社会关系网络服务（SNS）平台。 在这个平台上面，你可以用你所学习的语言书写日志等待将这一语言作为母语的朋友来修改 。 当然你也可以帮助其他正在学习并使用您的母语的人修改文章。 所以在这里你不仅仅是将学习语言，同时将帮助别人学习你自己的语言。 例如，如果有一个正在学习英语的中国人和一个正在学习中文的美国人，那么这个美国人就 可以帮助中国人修改英文，中国人也可以为美国人修改他所写的中文文。 把自己的母语教给其他人是很容易。 正在学习语言的人来说得到这种语言的本土使用者的教导与纠正也将受益颇丰。 这样一来，通过lang-8，每个使用者不仅可以很好的教授和学习语言更能够增进彼此的国际交流。 谢谢！ Hi,there. I'm a student in Kyoto University in Japan. Today, I want to let you know a new SNS for language studying . The SNS is "lang-8" http://lang-8.com/?l=enWhat is lang-8? →lang-8 is SNS(Social Networking Service) site for language exchange and international communication. In this site,you can write in the language you are studying , and the users (whose mother language is the lanugage you are studying ) will correct your diary. And you can correct their diary who are studying your mother language and write diaries in your mother language. You are able to not only learn a language, but help teach others your own language as well. For example, if there is a Japanese person studying English and an American person studying Japanese, the American can correct the English entries of the Japanese, and the Japanese in turn can correct the Japanese-written entries of the American. It helps to make teaching one's mother language simpler and takes less time than traditional teaching methods. It is also very beneficial to be taught and corrected by a native speaker of the language you are studying. In this way, with lang-8, users can teach and learn language as well as have international exchanges with each other. Of course it is free for using lang-8 ! I hope you will enjoy lang-8 ! Thank you ! JapanTimes Article http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ek20070918a1.html | | Saturday, December 1st, 2007 | 3:02 pm
[hanzhito]
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Classical Chinese Dictionary
I'm in the market for a good, general classical Chinese dictionary for reference at home - I'm sick of having to run to the library every time I want to look up a word! I am looking for something far more comprehensive than the 简明古汉语词典 and 古汉语常用字字典 already on my shelves - both in terms of number of characters/words and in the identification of meanings from different periods/texts. Does anybody have a favorite or know of some good ones, as well as where to pick them up or order them? | | Thursday, November 29th, 2007 | 8:08 pm
[kokoro]
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EEEEK! I have a question! I'll probably post again this weekend asking more in depth, but I need a quick answer now. XD It's about "le" - I'm confused over when to use it (when it comes to referring to events in the past). Our book has an example of le being used --> "Zuotian wanshang wo qu Xiao Gao jia wan le." But later on in the book they use the SAME sentence without the le! So do you have to use le or not?! Also, they say "Wang Peng he le yi bei kele" and "Wang Peng renshile Xiao Gao de jiejie" in the same narrative, but later say Wang Peng and Xiao Gao "kan dianshi, liaotian." Why no le in the latter sentence? Lastly, when saying you didn't do something in the past, our book says you use mei(you). So, "ni chi le ma?" --> "wo mei chi." It also has this sentence in it: "zuotian wanshang wo meiyou ting yinyue." So when do you use just mei, and when do you use the full meiyou? ARGH! So confused. Current Mood: crushed | | Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 | 4:45 am
[fullmetalkosmos]
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Heeelp ;_; Okay, ehm..I'm in some kind of dilemma right now. Well, it may not really seem lika a problem, but for me it is! I'm learning Japanese at the moment (and French, but this is not because I want to, but I have to, to not get kicked outta my school..well, okay, I love French too, but that's not the point here) and I've always been very, very interested in Asian cultures. So, of course I'm interested in China too. The culture and the language. I also think that Chinese sounds very beautiful. ANYWAY, the problem is that my brain just doesn't want to keep all those Chinese things in mind. Everytime I try to remember a han zi, I simply forget it again. Maybe that's because I don't really see a reason in learning Chinese. I don't want to become a translator, and I don't plan to move to China as well. So I just don't know why I should learn it anyway.. Don't get me wrong! I love this language, really. But I really wouldn't know what to do with it at all. So, the main thing is, I see no reason in learning it, but I really want to. Well..I guess the thing I'm asking here is a reason. Why are you all learning Chinese, what is your reason for learning it? I'm just interested. Maybe, if I would find a reason, it would be easier to remember everything. Whoa, all of this boring text for just a simple question. I really stayed up for too long again.. Current Mood:  blah | | Monday, November 26th, 2007 | 11:39 am
[dan_lian]
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I miss speaking Mandarin and writing. I have no one around and nowhere to take classes, so I'm constantly losing it. Does anyone have any podcasts, news feeds, or anything similar they can highly recommend so that I can try to not fall back into babyspeak? | | Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 | 11:54 pm
[errantmystic]
|
help with a phrase
Hello!
I have been working on translating a phrase, and am having quite a bit of trouble.
Context: this will be for an online username.
The phrase is basically "snow shadow" or "shadow in the snow".
As far as the pinyin, I believe snow is "xue", but I am unsure about shadow, and am not sure how to put this phrase together. I would also love to know the characters. Any help would be VERY appreciated! Thank you in advance! | | Sunday, November 18th, 2007 | 6:37 pm
[coup_fatal]
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Chinese Music Industry Hey friends and fellow bloggers, I am doing a small project on Chinese music and hoping if some of you could help me? I’m new to the Chinese music scene and was wanting a bit of an introduction and/or quick rundown of it all... What I’m trying to do is make key points about the beginnings of music in China, the different styles and how it has changed throughout the ages. If anybody is a bit of a music fan or knows/remembers any key points within your life where you realized that a significant change had happened in the music scene or culturally in China, that would be really appreciated. Basically feel free to reply if find/remember/know anything you would think to be appropriate to put into a project concerning the music industry/culture would be awesome. Being able to give first-hand accounts would really boost my project along. I know that the Chinese music-scene used to be a bit limited because of the laws and that so I’m very interested to make points about the attitude and philosophy of the government and people, restrictions and the gradual relaxation of the industry as well. I’m trying to make a kind of timeline... of course I am also searching every internet site I can to find articles or interesting facts as well. If you know of any, please help. If I can’t get enough information soon I might have to switch to a different topic... What would be even better was if the people who answered could tell me either in the reply or in private their: name, location and age; so I could say ‘This is (insert name) from (insert location) and is (insert age) she/he (said/thinks/believes)” etc... So that way my audience can get a chance to form some sort of identity from the people I’m talking about. If there is certain information you don’t want to divulge, that’s fine... even anonymous replies are cool with me. I know it is a big ask (especially the personal information) but it would really be awesome. I don’t expect anything and I probably anticipate a few getting angry or asking me “who do you think you are?!” Remember... I don’t want your address or phone number, or anything - just anything you feel comfortable divulging. Edit – Someone wanted me to be more specific with the region I’m talking about and although I’m ok with history from Taiwan and Hong Kong I guess to make it ‘easier’ I’ll try to concentrate more on mainland China. Anyways, if it is an annoying/inappropriate question feel free to ignore it or delete it. Sorry if there is any inconvenience. This has been cross posted to several other communities so you’ll all probably get sick of my face before long ;-) *haha* | | Friday, October 26th, 2007 | 10:18 am
[bearblood] |
software for learning chinese
Hi everyone! I wonder if anyone here uses any chinese software that functions like a word document. You can type in chinese and it provides definition/pinyin/phrases for the words in the document so I don't have to scramble for a dictionary every time I see an unknown word.
Before, I used njstar but the 90 day trial passed. Can anyone recommend anything similar to it or can upload it for me? If you have the full version of njstar, that would be even better. Thanks!
x-posted to linguaphiles, zhongwen, chineselanguage, learn_mandarin | | Friday, October 19th, 2007 | 1:15 pm
[natebiehl]
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First time in China Hello, I am new to this community and new to LJ in general. I am traveling to China for the first time next week, and I have some questions: I will be playing American folk music at the Nanning International Folk Song festival, and a friend who's attended the festival before suggested I learn some common Chinese phrases we could articulate from the stage. Does anyone here have any suggestions? I appreciate your help. Thanks you. Nate Current Mood:  anxiousCurrent Music: Cooke Duet |
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