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Snowflake’s Mandarin Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5951 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes  Studies: Mandarin | Message 705 of 740 25 April 2014 at 8:42pm | IP Logged |
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Unsure where this came from but lately been thinking it would be great to have a mainland accent with strong sh and r sounds and speak with Taiwanese 說法. My husband laughed and mentioned confusing people. In actual practice, I'm not focusing on a particular accent nor on any particular usage.
Make sure you expand the text to see the 444 expressions in Chinese.... www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151840509680999&set=a.1927 42155998.129504.192686190998&type=1&theater 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5951 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 706 of 740 29 April 2014 at 3:07am | IP Logged |
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Given what I'm seeing, decided that if at the end of Neutrino I can do a variation on this particular goal,
"Listening/Speaking: Can listen to a randomly selected 60~90-second audio clip from prime-time television and repeat the dialogue." then I'll be extremely happy. The variation is to repeat the dialog in the more difficult movies that I have. I accidentally ordered 2 copies of Disney's The Little Mermaid. If anyone is interested in one, will send it off for $5 USD plus the cost of postage. It's a region 6 DVD, not DVD9. Edited by Snowflake on 29 April 2014 at 6:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5951 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 707 of 740 11 May 2014 at 12:45am | IP Logged |
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Am less facetious about logging my activity in Neutrino these days.... that basically means I log less than what is actually done.
Went to the airport today to confirm some arrangements for the trip to Taiwan. Listened to some Mandarin there. It seemed so much clearer compared to my friends' though that probably was due to not being involved in the conversation...I have a lot more difficulties with listening comprehension when eye to eye. Going through my latest batch of movies which includes titles that my kids grew up with such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, to more recent ones like Wreck-It Ralph, and the last two Star Trek movies. I think all the dubbing in this batch of movies uses mainland voice over actors/actresses. I LOVE the accent of the main female character in Wreck-It Ralph (破壞王/破坏王). Have been trying to work the FSI material though doing it on the go seems to be a bad idea ....often unable to hear because of the background noise of where ever I am. Talked to my overseas Taiwanese chat partner about how to refer to Taiwan and mainland China when in Taiwan this summer so as not to offend people. It seems that the terms I use here are what they currently use over there. Realized that given the reactions of native Mandarin speakers here, by saying the mainland and Taiwan, I've inadvertently identified myself as being Taiwanese or of Taiwanese descent. Sort of working with the Mandarin versions of the Let It Go song....in terms of vocabulary, the easiest seems to be the pop version. The Taiwanese movie version has the hardest vocabulary. The mainland movie version is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjhr8qwPgfc Edited by Snowflake on 11 May 2014 at 12:49am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5951 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 708 of 740 17 May 2014 at 7:39pm | IP Logged |
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Was talking to my overseas Taiwanese chat partner. He considers himself Taiwanese and not Chinese, which evidently is a prevalent view now in Taiwan. It reminds me of the situation in Hong Kong. I told him that many people would be puzzled by him saying he is not Chinese. He wondered if that would hold true for the younger generation (I’m old enough to be his mother). I think that is generally true for younger people since they’re often unfamiliar with the history. I told him about the 鹊 TAC group using the PRC flag (doubt this subject was in the minds of the 鹊 poster when the PRC and Hong Kong flags were chosen). I was a bit taken aback when initially seeing those flags in the group thread and I do not have the strong feelings that someone born in mainland China or Taiwan might have. The flip side of his younger generation comment would probably be illustrated by my mother. She most definitely says she is Chinese though she does not identify with the PRC.
I ripped the 破壞王 subtitles (simplified characters) which seems to accurately reflect the dialog... been reading those the last few days during my commute time. Mentioned its' mainland 說法 to my overseas Taiwanese chat partner as well as the movie having a good amount of 兒話 which interestingly is actually reflected in the subtitles. He did not know what 兒話 is so I gave a number of examples. His comment was that it is a lot of tongue curling. Since I mentioned also using a dictionary, he expressed surprise that I couldn't figure out words from the context... had to remind him about the limits of my Mandarin skills. I'd watch a lot more of this Malaysian kids series if I didn't find their English really annoying. Maybe others will like it better than me. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhUi25d0cdU Update; since am looking at sociocultural aspects, probably should mention this www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152082483742479&set=a.1978 03792478.129788.188311137478&type=1&theater Edited by Snowflake on 17 May 2014 at 8:53pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5951 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 709 of 740 25 May 2014 at 8:37pm | IP Logged |
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Not in the best mood lately...combo of seasonal allergies and what’s happening at the job.
Finished a first reading of the 破壞王 subtitles. Need to also rip that audio. Was reading a Far Eastern Studies graded reader for a bit. While I know the reader is great for reinforcing characters, the language seems unnatural. Got a few Chinese (Mandarin) movies out of the local library. My Beijingnese friend at work has been encouraging me to look at more movies and TV shows which are originally made in Mandarin. It brings to mind some conversations, a while back, with some friends from Taiwan. They like me had difficulties finding movies and TV programs which they liked that were originally done in Mandarin. They ended up paying attention to Mandarin dubbed Korean TV series. Between that and knowing that recommended book titles from a Taiwanese native speaker included translated Japanese and English novels, I don’t feel the need to use media which was originally created in Chinese. My Beijingnese friend is concerned that I better understand the culture... she thinks materials originally created in Chinese will help. This is one of those areas where I feel the tension between Taiwanese and mainland Chinese culture. Watching the Hobbit again and am frustrated thinking about how much vocabulary I don’t know. I often forget memorized lists due to lack of use. And being tied to SRS to maintain vocabulary is not my idea of a sustainable long term approach. Do I need to go to always reading aloud and always doing shadowing/chorusing? I realized a while back that the way to sustain my Mandarin is to continually work with it until the day I die. That was sobering. Anyhow continually shadowing/chorusing is something I should look at...remember a post from professor Arguelles mentioning he maintained his languages by shadowing audio books. These are links to the recent Monkey King movie with Donnie Yen. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oyvs-BDVuc www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP1NfPdl4Ho (English and Chinese subtitles) Edited by Snowflake on 25 May 2014 at 8:44pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5951 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 710 of 740 06 June 2014 at 2:09am | IP Logged |
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A sentence from Wreck-It Ralph, 从天以后我会享受每一关. I couldn't figure out what 关 meant here and in other places in the dialog.... dictionaries were no help. In the original English, the idea was one game at a time. So asked my Beijingnese friend at work...initially she thought it should have been 天 until looking at other places where 关 is used. It's level. This definition doesn't appear in the dictionaries.
Getting a bit nervous about the upcoming trip to Taiwan. Talked to a Taiwanese co-worker about that... she gave some traveling tips and encouragement. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5951 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 711 of 740 01 July 2014 at 4:52am | IP Logged |
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Feeling out of sorts due to the job and seasonal allergies. Will not be posting for a while as the trip to Taiwan is just around the corner. Still doing a lot of reading during my commute. Conversations with native speakers varies....sometimes it's mostly in Mandarin, sometimes there's a lot of flipping back and forth into English. Should do more writing.
Am a meditating butterfly in Neutrino though unsure I feel like one ...am somewhat unconcerned since there's a lot that I can do now which previously was impossible. Am using Neutrino at this point more as reminders of what I should be doing. Working in Mandarin is pretty much a habit, or addiction depending on the perspective, which is one of the Neutrino goals. Not finished with Heisig (traditional characters) but am less concerned since I’ve started reading simplified characters...eg it will come later. Toying with the idea of, in say 3 years, traveling by myself in mainland China. Several friends have said they think my Mandarin is/will be good enough for that. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4436 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 712 of 740 01 July 2014 at 7:14am | IP Logged |
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Seemed like you made a lot of progress since you started tracking yourself 6 years ago.
Growing up in HK, I considered myself a native Cantonese speaker. Over the years English have taken over as the main language of communication. However, our family kept up with Cantonese as the language of communication at home. Since Cantonese TV dramas & movies have always been easily accessible, we were able to keep a fluency level very close to native level although over the years many characters were forgotten. -------------------------- I have taken Mandarin in school mostly by memorization before but had not reached a conversation level until later in 1989 when I took the summer off for a trip to Taiwan. Up here we have a local radio station (Fairchild Radio) broadcasting in both Cantonese & Mandarin throughout the day so getting exposure to either language isn't a problem. In your first post you mentioned your cousins saying it would be better to learn Mandarin than Cantonese. What I am finding is that for speakers of English and other European languages, learning proper Mandarin pronunciation is easier. However, to the HK Chinese there is a lot of politics regarding Mandarin in everyday use. Like Quebec in Canada where French is official, HK is considered a "Special Administrative Region". Many are not fluent in Mandarin and they would not speak to each other in Mandarin unless absolutely necessary. There is a lot of stereotype that the Mainland Chinese are "uncultured" & "uneducated". A lot of times it is better to speak English to the locals and to present yourself as an American expat upfront than to be mistaken for a Mainlander. The other thing to be careful when travelling to Taiwan or Mainland China is that you never tell someone in Taiwan you visited Shanghai or Beijing recently. And the same the other way around that you would not tell someone in China you have been to Taipei recently. If you've been following the news lately, even a visit by a government minister on Mainland to Taipei can cause tension and spark local protests since Taiwan enjoys autonomy from the Mainland for over 60 years and some think it is time to declare independent as well. Mandarin is widely spoken and taught in school in Taiwan but the locals prefer to speak in the Minnan dialect (a variation of Fukianese). -------------------------- In Taiwan I was taught Bopomofo (Zhuyin 注音) phonetics. When the Internet came along I found it awkward to use Zhuyin symbols for entering Chinese characters and learned to do it with Pinyin. To maintain a high level of fluency, I have to be online exchanging messages on online blogs. Compared to Yale or Wade-Giles Romanization, it takes a few weeks to get use to certain letter substitutions such as: "Teng Hsiao Ping" for 邓小平 with "Deng Xiao Ping". Some Pinyin basics: Q=CH sound. When used before “i”, Qi has a long “e” sound. The “i” in Chi has a short “i” sound. Q is always used in front of an “in” or “ing” but not Ch. With the old Romanization you would see "Ching" Dynasty 清朝. With Pinyin you'd use "Qing" X=S sound S is always used before "a", "e" and "h" X is always used with "ia", "ie", "iu", "in", "ing". When used in front of "i", Si has a short "i" sound while Xi has a long "e" sound. When used in front of "u", Su has a long "u" sound while Xu has a short "u" sound. Z=J sound but J is always used before "ia", "ie", "iu". When used in front of "i", the "i" in Ji has a long "e" sound while the "i" in Zi has a short "i" sound. When used in front of "u", Ju has a short "u" sound, Zu has a long "u" sound. -------------------------- I recently got into watching music videos of a singer from Nigeria in W. Africa with the adopted Chinese name 好弟. He went to China in his early 20s with no knowledge of Chinese. In 8 months he managed to learn half-dozen Chinese folk songs and melodies from Beijing operas while learning to speak along the way. Although his Chinese isn't perfect and would occasionally make a grammatical mistake, but based on his singing alone, he can often disguise himself as a native-speaker. Listening to his experiences in TV shows you realized how much hard work he put in... the number of hours he spent watching videos of local singers to imitate their gestures. Many of his interpretation of traditional folk songs has an added of Rock n' Roll feel to it. Edited by shk00design on 01 July 2014 at 2:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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