New CBB

CBB有学中文的人吗？我的中文佷坏，我要说和某人。

我没有教室的课。我有从北京中国人的朋友，教中文。

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Native Decent Some

我不知中文！D:

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♀♥Ø

我要学中文。

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Dotjen
Kotanese

+1

Maybe it's time to actually give it ago. Unless it gets in the way of me learning Japanese.

At least I already recognize 我 and 中文. Yay!

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Proto-Hyảlim | Bjarmish

Ón gráti sem jett barn kvéner jag syggji jett lag um deiðan...
[oʊ̯n ˈgɾaːtɪ sɛmː jɛtː baɾn ˈkʰʋɛːnɛɾ jaː ˈsʏd͡ʑːɪ jɛtː laː ʊmː ˈdɛɪ̯an]

我学中文和日本话，不困难。

日本語と中国語を勉強している、障害じゃなかった。

I've been studying both Chinese and Japanese and had no problems.

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Native Decent Some

Then I guess I should give it a go sometime then .

(Sorry for not writing anything in Chinese .)

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Proto-Hyảlim | Bjarmish

Ón gráti sem jett barn kvéner jag syggji jett lag um deiðan...
[oʊ̯n ˈgɾaːtɪ sɛmː jɛtː baɾn ˈkʰʋɛːnɛɾ jaː ˈsʏd͡ʑːɪ jɛtː laː ʊmː ˈdɛɪ̯an]

Sorry for hijacking this thread once again, but could you recommend some good Japanese and Chinese resources? I'm always on the lookout for some new and good resources .

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Proto-Hyảlim | Bjarmish

Ón gráti sem jett barn kvéner jag syggji jett lag um deiðan...
[oʊ̯n ˈgɾaːtɪ sɛmː jɛtː baɾn ˈkʰʋɛːnɛɾ jaː ˈsʏd͡ʑːɪ jɛtː laː ʊmː ˈdɛɪ̯an]

Oh, umm...

Get a Dictionary. A pocket dictionary. Chinese grammar is really easy, and so most of your time will be spent on vocabulary
(or tones but that's a whole nother...thing). Next I would suggest getting a book dedicated to the characters. Reading & Writing Chinese is really good. I don't have it, but I want it. It's apparently based on the same system of the Reading & Writing Japanese book I have, which is excellent.

As for coursebooks, take your pick. A grammar might be helpful too, though to be honest, like I said, Chinese is so incredibly isolating that you don't need barely any grammar.

I don't know what sort of resources they have in Sweden though.

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Native Decent Some

I guess I'll just have to look around . I used to have a Chinese coursebook, but I have no idea where that went... Oh well. So, since grammar isn't really all too hard to memorise a good dictionary as well as learning to read and write the characters are the things to prioritise? Got ya. And as for tones, since I think I will only focus on reading and writing for now, I'll leave them be for a while

Any good online resources for Chinese grammar then? I'm in a studying mood .

EDIT

Nevermind, I found an online dictionary and a few online grammars to keep me busy .

我现在汉语语法学习.

(I have no idea how correct this is, but you've got to start somewhere)

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Proto-Hyảlim | Bjarmish

Ón gráti sem jett barn kvéner jag syggji jett lag um deiðan...
[oʊ̯n ˈgɾaːtɪ sɛmː jɛtː baɾn ˈkʰʋɛːnɛɾ jaː ˈsʏd͡ʑːɪ jɛtː laː ʊmː ˈdɛɪ̯an]

That's good, though I would have written 现在我汉语语法学习.

Yeah, the dictionary should be your foremost task.

Also, I know you said you wanted to focus on reading, but.......

http://www.shufawest.us/language/tonedrill.html

http://www.shufawest.us/language/dual-tonedrill.html

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Native Decent Some

Okay, thanks . Yes, I want to focus on reading and writing, but I might as well learn how to do the tones, it couldn't hurt to learn how to pronounce the words I'm learning correctly, so thanks.

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Proto-Hyảlim | Bjarmish

Ón gráti sem jett barn kvéner jag syggji jett lag um deiðan...
[oʊ̯n ˈgɾaːtɪ sɛmː jɛtː baɾn ˈkʰʋɛːnɛɾ jaː ˈsʏd͡ʑːɪ jɛtː laː ʊmː ˈdɛɪ̯an]

NP Watch out for the tone sandhi on the third tone though: it's a bitch.

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Native Decent Some

Thanks, I will . I think I'll replace Greek with Chinese for my TAC 2011 over at unilang. I have more interest in Chinese than Greek anyway.

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Proto-Hyảlim | Bjarmish

Ón gráti sem jett barn kvéner jag syggji jett lag um deiðan...
[oʊ̯n ˈgɾaːtɪ sɛmː jɛtː baɾn ˈkʰʋɛːnɛɾ jaː ˈsʏd͡ʑːɪ jɛtː laː ʊmː ˈdɛɪ̯an]

TAC?

I need to start posting on Unilang. It looks interesting, but I've either been too preoccupied with other think or too timid to just jump right in.

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Native Decent Some

Total Annihilation Challenge. Yeah, I know what you mean. It's a pretty good place, so once I get in to a good study rhythm I'll start posting there more.

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Proto-Hyảlim | Bjarmish

Ón gráti sem jett barn kvéner jag syggji jett lag um deiðan...
[oʊ̯n ˈgɾaːtɪ sɛmː jɛtː baɾn ˈkʰʋɛːnɛɾ jaː ˈsʏd͡ʑːɪ jɛtː laː ʊmː ˈdɛɪ̯an]

*looks it over*

This sounds fun, though I'm not sure I have the mental stamina to do it :S

I'll try it though. For my New Years resolution I promise to spend each day spending at least half an hour studying Chinese or Japanese, and to not go more than 4 days studying one without studying the other.

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Native Decent Some

Sounds good. I'll be focusing on Chinese, Japanese and Spanish. At first I was thinking about two hours of active study time per week for each language as well as one hour of passive study (music, TV, etc), but I might have to lower that if it doesn't work out.

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Proto-Hyảlim | Bjarmish

Ón gráti sem jett barn kvéner jag syggji jett lag um deiðan...
[oʊ̯n ˈgɾaːtɪ sɛmː jɛtː baɾn ˈkʰʋɛːnɛɾ jaː ˈsʏd͡ʑːɪ jɛtː laː ʊmː ˈdɛɪ̯an]

最后有一个人要学中国!
如果你要看电视，你可以去sohu.com看无聊的电视节目
I was raised bilingual but I can't write Chinese well. The Chinese language also has horribly hard pronunciation. The grammer is really easy though.

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◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯

Aw, it's not that bad. The aspiration and retroflex distinctions take a little time for English speakers to develop, and the initial /r/ is tricky, but that's pretty much it. I think people psych themselves out about the tones--I play Where Are Your Keys in Mandarin all the time with people who've never spoken a word of Chinese before, and 90% of people are nailing the tones after the first five minutes.

3rd-tone sandhi isn't that complicated, I think. The trick is that textbooks will tell you that 3rd tone is a low dipping tone, but that isn't true. It's a low falling tone, always and forever, with two exceptions:

When followed by a pause (including when pronounced in isolation), it's low dipping.

When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, it's high rising.

Have I forgotten anything?

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任何事物的发展都是物极必反，否极泰来。

presidential palace 總統府 : 3-3-3 > 2-2-3
old(former) president 老總統 : 3-3-3 > 3-2-3
And if there exist something like 老總統府, it will be 3-2-2-3.

Another example with every character except 的 in 3rd tone :
我擁有老總統給我的... 3-2-2/3-3-2-3-2-3-n