paisley Groupie United States Joined 5710 days ago 59 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin
| Message 225 of 740 21 February 2010 at 11:41pm | IP Logged |
this amazes me. You are picking this up so fast. Amazing. :). Thank you for the log.
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 226 of 740 22 February 2010 at 12:02am | IP Logged |
Thank you for the compliment.
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 227 of 740 22 February 2010 at 12:21am | IP Logged |
Several things going through my head...
After initially reading paisley's post, I wasn't sure how to respond which probably sounds funny. Some of that is because I worked with a friend this afternoon who took me back to basic greetings and saying thank you. I realized that she is trying to instill in me the typical responses that a mainlander, of my age, will have.
I'm doing a good amount of FSI drilling. In doing that, realized that it is time to get a grammar book. I'm searching the forum to see what other Mandarin learners have used.
I am somewhat taken aback at the number of people who are eager to improve their English. So many people, on the language exchange forum, keeping popping up. It's like what has been mentioned on other threads about people seeming to make a beeline for you when they realize English practice is afoot.
Edited by Snowflake on 22 February 2010 at 12:30am
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 228 of 740 23 February 2010 at 7:53pm | IP Logged |
Have been trying to confirm how my Chinese name is written. It seems that my given name is a variant of an extemely popular name. The first character is the same. The second character is written slightly different than the popular version. The two names in Mandarin are pronounced exactly the same, but apparently not so in Toishanese. The meaning of the two names can be the same, depending on whether a Confucian emphasis is used. To add to the confusion, it looks like the second character is written slightly different these days due to how it is displayed on a computer. I hope to lay this to rest today, once and for all.
Edited by Snowflake on 23 February 2010 at 7:55pm
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 229 of 740 25 February 2010 at 4:59am | IP Logged |
网路 wǎnglù (n) network
Finally confirmed the writing of my Chinese name.
OK, I've had my first encounter with a native Mandarin speaker who actually said my Chinese was bad. It was a nice change from being told I speak quite well. However I realize that if every Mandarin speaker stated the truth, I'd be totally depressed.
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Pyx Diglot Senior Member China Joined 5733 days ago 670 posts - 892 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Mandarin
| Message 230 of 740 25 February 2010 at 5:28am | IP Logged |
I don't know in how far you care about that, or which version you're learning, but that seems to be the Taiwan-Mandarin word. In the PRC we say 网络 wǎngluò
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 231 of 740 26 February 2010 at 8:00pm | IP Logged |
Pyx, thank you for that information. It matters to the extent that I try to switch my vocabulary to accomodate the person that I'm talking with.... like using 普通话 (pǔtōnghuà) with a mainlander and 国语 (guóyǔ) with people in/from Taiwan, when referring to Mandarin.
Edited by Snowflake on 26 February 2010 at 8:01pm
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 232 of 740 27 February 2010 at 11:26pm | IP Logged |
Haven't done any FSI this week. I'm also tired from the job plus changing my hours so as to talk with people overseas. One of the mainlanders, that I'm talking with, thinks my accent generally sounds foreign without Guangdong overtones. He also said that some of the phrases and words I use are particular to Taiwan and then mentions some mainland ones. He's trying to get me to put in r's. The funny thing is that I've never heard my friend from Beijing use r's, other than words where the r's are supposed to be there like 事 or 日. There was a good laugh with another person about how my face hurts when changing the tongue/mouth position for a proper accent. He said English does that to him too.
The grammar book arrived yesterday.
Edited by Snowflake on 27 February 2010 at 11:30pm
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