The 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。

我不知中文！D:

我要学中文。

Thakowsaizmu wrote:我要学中文。

+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!

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.

Then I guess I should give it a go sometime then :-).

(Sorry for not writing anything in Chinese :oops:.)

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 :-D.

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.

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 :-D.

我现在汉语语法学习.

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

我现在汉语语法学习.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

*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.

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.

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.

dh3537 wrote:The Chinese language also has horribly hard pronunciation.

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?

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

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