10 messages over 2 pages: 1 2
tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4642 days ago
5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish
| Message 9 of 10 17 March 2015 at 8:54am | IP Logged |
CelticBasque wrote:
Kc2012 wrote:
Hey there, I'm also living in China right now so
I'll try give you some advice as well :)
Where will you be going? If it's a big international city like Beijing or Shanghai try
to stay away
from the touristy places as many people speak English there. Stick to the smaller,
more local
places outside the city centre. A great way to practice Chinese is to bargain with
them at the
markets. It often results in a lot of dialogue and a lot of laughing. Bargain with a
smile always
and you'll have a great time (but remember they are pros at it) oh and of course learn
the vocab
for this, like 'tai gui le' - 'too expensive' and learn numbers so you can put forward
prices.
All the things that Tarvos listed are the essentials to learn really as you can always
use it.
Chinese people often will praise your mandarin after just hearing you say 'ni hao' but
don't let
the conversation stop so early, try to learn some questions like 'are you from this
city?' 'where's
your hometown?' 'Have you been overseas?' etc, and even if you don't understand the
response just
nod and smile. Definitely learn and rehearse a self introduction and make sure you can
answer these
three questions:
Where are you from?
Why did you come to China?
How long have you been in China?
Good luck and have fun!! |
|
|
I'm going to Chongqing and Shanghai, so two massive mandarin speaking cities. I know
Shanghai is famous for its
dialect, but some of the people in my group I'm going with speak Mandarin, so at the
very worst, I could try and talk
with them a little bit. |
|
|
The Shanghai "dialect" is another language entirely called Shanghainese. People will
understand your Mandarin, especially if they are also immigrants to the city - but
residents may simply speak Shanghainese among themselves and there is no way in hell
you can understand that without prior training.
Chongqing I don't know anything about.
I live in Chengde (and before that in Beijing), so if you need advice about the
northeast (where Mandarin is spoken natively) here's where I can hook you up with some
ideas.
Edited by tarvos on 17 March 2015 at 8:55am
2 persons have voted this message useful
| CelticBasque
Newbie
United States
Joined 4529 days ago
18 posts - 20 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian, French
| Message 10 of 10 18 March 2015 at 5:46am | IP Logged |
tarvos wrote:
CelticBasque wrote:
Kc2012 wrote:
Hey there, I'm also living in China right now so
I'll try give you some advice as well :)
Where will you be going? If it's a big international city like Beijing or Shanghai try
to stay away
from the touristy places as many people speak English there. Stick to the smaller,
more local
places outside the city centre. A great way to practice Chinese is to bargain with
them at the
markets. It often results in a lot of dialogue and a lot of laughing. Bargain with a
smile always
and you'll have a great time (but remember they are pros at it) oh and of course learn
the vocab
for this, like 'tai gui le' - 'too expensive' and learn numbers so you can put forward
prices.
All the things that Tarvos listed are the essentials to learn really as you can always
use it.
Chinese people often will praise your mandarin after just hearing you say 'ni hao' but
don't let
the conversation stop so early, try to learn some questions like 'are you from this
city?' 'where's
your hometown?' 'Have you been overseas?' etc, and even if you don't understand the
response just
nod and smile. Definitely learn and rehearse a self introduction and make sure you can
answer these
three questions:
Where are you from?
Why did you come to China?
How long have you been in China?
Good luck and have fun!! |
|
|
I'm going to Chongqing and Shanghai, so two massive mandarin speaking cities. I know
Shanghai is famous for its
dialect, but some of the people in my group I'm going with speak Mandarin, so at the
very worst, I could try and talk
with them a little bit. |
|
|
The Shanghai "dialect" is another language entirely called Shanghainese. People will
understand your Mandarin, especially if they are also immigrants to the city - but
residents may simply speak Shanghainese among themselves and there is no way in hell
you can understand that without prior training.
Chongqing I don't know anything about.
I live in Chengde (and before that in Beijing), so if you need advice about the
northeast (where Mandarin is spoken natively) here's where I can hook you up with some
ideas. |
|
|
I hope to go to Beijing or Northeastern China at some point in the next five years if possible. I'll be in Siberia for a
few months next year, so its possible that I could get to Beijing from their by train.
Edited by CelticBasque on 18 March 2015 at 7:31am
1 person has voted this message useful
|
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