Language learning, Oh joy!

[Neil]

That is really a great idea Willy.  I've heard of other people doing that and I would imagine it is a great way to keep the learning fresh and constant. 

[ttwjr32]

its a great way to keep it fresh and constant but also practing speaking also helps to i think
chinese is a hard one to learn because of the tones and learning single words even makes the
process take longer because you know the words but cant string them together in a sentence

someone told me to learn bits and peices of sentences that you could eventually put together
and it does seem to help better but my problem is i do it for a week then i lay off it for a week or so
thats not helping to lay off it for so long

[Paul Todd]

I came across this in my never ending search to improve my woeful Mandarin. It's free and gives you a list of useful Chinese sentences provided with dialogues and with pinyin pronunciation as well. It's all divided up into sections that are useful in everyday situations. Here's the link:-

http://www.chineselearner.com/speaking/

It's the most down to earth site I've found just check out the Anger & Displeasure or the Negative Expressions sections and you'll see what I mean!
There's even a section for us married guy's...............All with pronunciation so we can speak it correctly!
 都是我不好。
 dōu shì wǒ bù hǎo 。
 It's all my fault
.
 是我不对。
 shì wǒ bù duì 。
 I am to blame.

 这事我没有做好。
 zhè shì wǒ méi yǒu zuò hǎo 。
  I didn't do it right.

  对不起，是我的错
 duì bù qǐ ， shì wǒ de cuò 。
  Sorry. I am wrong.

  我错了。
  wǒ cuò le 。
  It's my fault.

 

[ttwjr32]

wow paul looked at it good site for us

[Vince G]

Seems good but I see it's a certain pattern? I'm I wrong? 

[temur72]

I came across this in my never ending search to improve my woeful Mandarin. It's free and gives you a list of useful Chinese sentences provided with dialogues and with pinyin pronunciation as well. It's all divided up into sections that are useful in everyday situations. Here's the link:-

http://www.chineselearner.com/speaking/

It's the most down to earth site I've found just check out the Anger & Displeasure or the Negative Expressions sections and you'll see what I mean!
There's even a section for us married guy's...............All with pronunciation so we can speak it correctly!
 都是我不好。
 dōu shì wǒ bù hǎo 。
 It's all my fault
.
 是我不对。
 shì wǒ bù duì 。
 I am to blame.

 这事我没有做好。
 zhè shì wǒ méi yǒu zuò hǎo 。
  I didn't do it right.

  对不起，是我的错
 duì bù qǐ ， shì wǒ de cuò 。
  Sorry. I am wrong.

  我错了。
  wǒ cuò le 。
  It's my fault.

 

Words to learn for a long and happy marriage

[Paul Todd]

Absolutely 

[ttwjr32]

fully agree  i really think my wife needs to memorize these phrases

[bugeye]

Sunny told me of a man from America she met in work the other day. He apparently spoke quite good Chinese so she asked him how he learned. He said he used Rosetta Stone.
I downloaded it and am using it now and am finding it very good. I did use the Pimsleur before too but it gets a bit dull after a while. The Rosetta stone also has speech recognition built in so if you have a microphone on your computer you have to speak in at various points and it evaluates your pronunciation which is a good feature.

I just finished lesson one in the "speech" specialised section. It was difficult and I only got about 86%, but it seems way easier than Pimsleur. I use a usb headset and it picked up my pronunciation and errors well. (strange how the lessons where I had errors mostly contained my poor pronunciation    )

I will continue to use Rosetta Stone for a while and see how I go.

[Jimmy]

I'm sure everybody does this. I found the book, New concept English. It is what they use at the local school that teaches English. I also found a PDF version on line. So my wife uses that to study and practice her English when I am not helping her.
But as far as Chinese I am her teacher, I teach her the English and then she teaches me the same lesson in Chinese.
She learns the English a lot faster than I do the Chinese that's for sure. But as she told me , I don't need to know Chinese for her to get a visa.
And any of you guys that bought the Ectaco Partner 900 translator. As far as a straight translator it is rotten. But has turned out to be a learning tool for her and is well with the money in that aspect. And I say that after 9 months of use.
We both use it and it is great for learning. But rotten at walmart.

[Vince G]

Yesterday I was taking the bus. While waiting for it a asian man looking homeless walked past the bus stop mumbling something, maybe chinese? It made me realize I have to get off my butt and start learning some soon.

[Scottish_Rob]

My chinese is not too good...
Lots of people here in barrow know about me trying to learn the language and about going back there.

What I have noticed these last few weeks, a lot of the Chinese people here always try to talk with me in English and chinese.  So it's sort of helping ma, that and of course talking with Sophie everyday

[Jimmy]

I think I will go with Willies lesson. If they don't understand speak a little louder. If you are asked a question the answer is always no. I was thinking maybe throw in a little Spanish, or pig latin would they notice?

[Jan]

I have just started the journey as well. I only know a few sentences like "Hello, how are you, im fine, my name is, good morning, miss"... But I have enrolled for a Chinese course at my job (I work in a school for adults...). So I get it for 8 euros, employee discount haha.

It is 24 hours all together. And has a continuation course next year. But I believe I will learn the basics. And thats what I need. I am somewhat good at learning languages or at least I like to think so.
So after I get the basics. Things will probably become easier. But I do know that learning Chinese will be hard. Especially the intonation parts. Finnish is the worlds most boring language. We speak with a monotonic boring voice always. So that is something really hard for me.

I learnt Japanese basics by myself just watching Japanese drama series for a few years. Now I can understand the "every day language" on Japanese.
I can't find any Chinese series. I would have tried to same otherwise. I've looked for Chinese movies but those don't really feel so helpful. Only Chinese series I found was "Gondor Hero". That was an awesome series anyway. But the language used in it is nothing close to everyday Chinese...

Seems like learning the hard way is the only way  . But I have bought and gotten quite a few Chinese movies. So I can watch those again every now and then. And it will be worth it even if I learn one new word. Or notice something new related to the culture, customs etc.

[Scottish_Rob]

.... 都是我不好。
 dōu shì wǒ bù hǎo 。
 It's all my fault
.
 是我不对。
 shì wǒ bù duì 。
 I am to blame.

 这事我没有做好。
 zhè shì wǒ méi yǒu zuò hǎo 。
  I didn't do it right.

  对不起，是我的错
 duì bù qǐ ， shì wǒ de cuò 。
  Sorry. I am wrong.

  我错了。
  wǒ cuò le 。
  It's my fault.

 

I just been given extra kisses for sayinmg these to her...hehehe...And was told I am a GOOD HUSBAND... Thanks Paul..