Learning Mandarin with Phrases

So I did my drill yesterday with simple conversational phrases yesterday, though I missed out practicing during breakfast, had to skip it today, so I am going to do tomorrow. Anyway here are more phrases:

 

Phrase:

我 的 生日 也 来 这儿 庆祝 吧

Wǒ de shēngrì yě lái zhèr qìngzhù ba.

Let’s come here to celebrate my birthday.

 

 

庆祝

qìng zhù, celebrate

 

 

Phrase:

你 叫 什么 名字

Nǐ jiào shénme mínɡzi?

Whats your name?

 

叫

Jiào, to call, to be called

 

名字

míng zi, name

 

Phrase:

医生 怎么 说

Yīsheng zěnme shuō？

What did the doctor say?

 

医生

yī shēng, doctor

 

怎么

zěn me, how, what, why

 

 

Phrase:

有! 但是 只 有 双 人 间 了

Yǒu! Dànshì zhǐ yǒu shuāng rén jiān le

Yes! But we only have doubles

 

但是

dàn shì, but

 

双

Shuāng, double, two, pair

 

间

Jiān, between, among, space

 

Phrase:

在 我 家 吧。 两 点 半， 行 吗？

Zài wǒ jiā ba. Liáng diǎn bàn， Xíng ma?

At my home. Is 2.30pm ok?

 

 

两点半

Liáng diǎn bàn

Two, time/o’clock, half

 

行

Xíng, all right, ok, to go

I am Back Again?

I hope this time for real. I have slacked so long, more than a month since I wrote here. Time to  buck up! Half year check would show I should have learned 1500 characters! I am nowhere near it.

I have to start again to practice writing every morning at breakfast time, review at night and learn new characters, then practice in morning and the cycle continues. Wish me luck. To simplify and speed up learning, I will just gulp in 15 words (increased due to slacking) a day base on most used words or the daily chinese phrase that I receives from China-8. Really good site that keeps me in touch with my de-banananizing side. Cheers! Let’s get on with work:

 

Phrase:

谢谢， 拿 好 发票 和 随身 物品， 马路 对面 就 是。

Xièxiè, ná hǎo fāpiào hé suíshēn wùpǐn, mǎlù duìmiàn jiù shì.

Thanks, here’s the receipt and don’t forget your personal belongings, it’s just across the street.

 

拿

Ná, to take/to hold

 

马路

Mǎ lù, road/street

 

随身

Suí shēn, personal

 

物品

Wù pǐn, belongings/aticles/goods

 

对面

Duì miàn, across/opposite

 

Phrase:

看 你， 一直 不 停 地 表扬 她。 是 不 是 她 和 你 有 什么 关系 呀？

Kàn nǐ, yìzhí bù tíng de biǎoyáng tā. Shì bú shì tā hé nǐ yǒu shénme guānxì ya?

You keep praising her non-stop. What’s the relationship between you two?

 

一直

yì zhí, continuously

 

停

Ting, to stop

 

表扬

biǎo yang, to praise

 

关系

guān xì, relations

用歌学华语

Anyway, work has been piling up as I expect it would be, therefore effort to really work on memorizing and I meant really remembering Chinese characters seem to be riding on some delusion cloud for me. But, yes BUT still, I am firm on continuing on this. What do you think about daily practice writing during breakfast? I would say, yea, why not, just scribble while you down your egg/bread/any other messy food. Hmmm…I might try it.

As for the song, it must go on….

难堪

nán kān, embarassing

本

běn, root/foundation

分开

fēn kāi, to separate

微笑

wēi xiào, smile

带

dài, carry

这种

zhè zhǒng, this kind/sort of

 份

fèn, measure of

包容

bāo róng, forgive

接受

jiē shòu, to accept

担心

dān xīn, worry

一直

yì zhí, continously

The Music Continues

Seem like the song have not end yet. I hope after memorising all these words, I will be able to sing Karaoke of this Chinese songs with my friends. They used to laugh at me for noy knowing how to read and sing the Chinese songs. I am going to show them I can, even if it is one song!

 希望

xī wàng, to wish for

真

zhēn, real

比

bǐ, to compare

还

hái, also

才

cái, just/only

会

huì, able to

逼

bī, force

离开

lí kāi, to leave

 Next, coming up is the Chorus!

Learning Mandarin with Music

Continuing my quest of learning mandarin, now with music, still with 安靜 (silence). This song is beginning to grow on me, I might say. On with the new words to gulp in:

 知道

zhī dao, know/aware of

沒有

méi yǒu, do not have

捨不得

shě bu de, hate to part with

說

shuō, say

难过

nán guò, grieve

相信

xiāng xìn, believe

只是

zhǐ shì, simply/only

曾经

céng jīng, at one time (in the past)

I am Back! 我回来了

我回来了！你们好吗？对不起， 我已经失踪了很久。

 It seems that I have so much catch up to do, it took me so long just to write my previous sentence, silly me. Anyway, recently I found a new site to enhance my mandarin learning, through songs! I have heard many times that a lot of ‘bananas’ learnt their mandarin through songs, where some even learn to read from the lyrics! Maybe I can pick up some too from this really cool website call “Learn Chinese through Music”. I actually stumbled upon it when I was searching for lyrics of this song:

 http://www.learn-chinese-through-music.com/jay-chou-an-jing.html 

So new words I learn today, by singing, he-he: 

安靜

ān jìng, quiet 

只

Zhī, only 

剩下

shèng xià, to be left 

钢琴

gāng qín, piano 

陪

Péi, accompany 

谈

Tán, to talk/discus 

睡着

shuì zhāo, sleep

旧

Jiù, old 

已

Yǐ, already 

表现

biǎo xiàn, expression/show/display 

非常

fēi cháng, very 

the learning quest will be continued…

Happy Chinese New Year 新年快樂

Ok, time has been crazy leading up to Chinese New Year (新年), so please forgive me. Here are greetings to learn to say to your family, relatives and friends. Also for you to be able to read those well-wishes eh?

 恭喜发财

gōng xǐ fā cái (happiness and prosperities)

– we usually say this right after th Happy Chinese New Year to wish others to always be happy and prosperous

歲歲平安

Suìsuì píng’ān (everlasting peace)

– seldom used here in Malaysia but then it would certainly be really nice thing to say especially to eldest

 年年有餘

Niánnián yǒuyú (abundant harvests every year)

– this would show how from generation ago this phrase was made as they wishes bountiful harvest where last time people harvests the fruits of their labor, unlike now it is all in money form, but still it would mean always bearing fruits from whatever you do 😉

红包拿来

hóngbāo nálái (hand over the red packets)

– this is the naughty phrases usually by the young ones to ask cheekily for their ang pows due to them

To all the Chineses of the world, 新年快樂!

No Time So (没有时间)

just 11 new words to gulp in today. I seriously hope so far I am not kidding myself, will do a review end of the month to see how much I have absorbed.Recently I discovered a superbly cool site to learn Mandarin, called China-8, which has dialogs and sounds to listen and learn. Here are one of the lessons:  

我 发现 了一个 问题。

Wǒ fāxiàn le yī gè wèntí. 

怎么了？

Zěnme le? 

最近 他 特别 高兴 每天 都 在 笑。

Zuìjìn ta tèbié gāoxìng, měi tiān dōu zài xiào. 

已经 不是 新闻 了。

Yǐjīng bú shì xīnwén le 

New expressions:

发现

fā xiàn (discover) 

问题

wèn tí (problem) 

怎

Zěn (how) 

最近

zuì jìn (recent) 

特别

tè bié (especially) 

已经

yǐ jīng （already） 

新闻

xīn wén (news)  New words: 

1. 发

2. 现

3. 题

4. 怎

5. 最

6. 近

7. 特

8. 别

9. 已

10. 经

11. 新

12. 闻

My Family（我的家）

So how many days have I missed out? Oh its not days, it’s a week! 一个星期！I had to really catch up now, imagine, 70 characters? What was my excuse? Well the internet was down mid week and I missed few days myself. I guess I need to inject some variation into my learning. Memorizing characters is not enough and I drilling on writing is crazy, yet still could be effective. I will continue with that along with this new way – learning through story.  I will attempt to write a short essay on my family members.  

我的家有四个人。 爸爸，妈妈，姐姐和我。我的爸爸和妈妈都有做工。我的父母会照顾家。 姐姐今年开始做工。我们是好幸福的家呀。

 Wo de jia you shi ge ren. Baba, mama, jiejie he wo. Wo de baba he mama dou you zhuo gong. Wo de fu mu hui zhao gu jia. Jiejie ching nian kai shi zhuo gong. Wo men shi hao xing fu de jia ya. 

My family has four people, father, mother, sister and me. Both my father and mother are working. My parents take care of family. This year, my sister started working. We are a happy family.  

New words: 

爸爸

bà ba

妈妈

mā ma

姐姐

jiě jie

都

Dōu

父母

fù mǔ

照顾

zhào gu

开始

kāi shǐ

幸福

xìng fú

呀

ya 

A Busy Weekend 忙的周末 (máng dì zhōu mò)

This weekend had been a busy one for me, shopping mostly and catching a movie. It was fun. So this was my excuse for yesterday’s missing day. Anyway, on to Mandarin lesson about shopping and watching movie:

去购物

qù gòu wù (shopping)

看电影

kàn diàn yǐng (watch movie)

买东西

mǎi dōng xi (buy things)

用 钱

yòng qián (spend money)

好玩儿

hǎo wán er (delightful, interesting)

New words:

1. 购

2. 物

3. 电

4. 影

5. 买

6. 东

7. 西

8. 用

9. 钱

10. 玩

11. 儿

12. 忙

13. 周

14. 末