Showing posts with label Chinese Sentences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinese Sentences. Show all posts

13 July 2012

Classical Chinese Story in which each syllable is pronounced "shi"

A story in which each syllable is pronounced "shi"

施氏食狮史


石室诗士施氏,嗜狮,誓食十狮。
氏时时适市视狮。
十时,适十狮适市。
是时,适施氏适市。
氏视是十狮,恃矢势,使是十狮逝世。
氏拾是十狮尸,适石室。
石室湿,氏使侍拭石室。
石室拭,氏始试食是十狮。
食时,始识是十狮,实十石狮尸。
试释是事。

« Shī Shì shí shī shǐ »

Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.
Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.
Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì.
Shì shí, shì Shī Shì shì shì.
Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shìshì.
Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shíshì.
Shíshì shī, Shì shǐ shì shì shíshì.
Shíshì shì, Shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī.
Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī, shí shí shí shī shī.
Shì shì shì shì.


« Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den »

In a stone den was a poet Shi, who was a lion addict, and had resolved to eat ten.
He often went to the market to look for lions.
At ten o'clock, ten lions had just arrived at the market.
At that time, Shi had just arrived at the market.
He saw those ten lions, and using his trusty arrows, caused the ten lions to die.
He brought the corpses of the ten lions to the stone den.
The stone den was damp. He asked his servants to wipe it.
After the stone den was wiped, he tried to eat those ten lions.
When he ate, he realized that these ten lions were in fact ten stone lion corpses.
Try to explain this matter.

Listen to the story

26 June 2012

Using 有and 没有 in comparisons


Usingand 没有 in comparisons


and 没有 can be used to in comparison of one noun against another.
The basic pattern is  noun 1 + ((méi) )(yǒu) + noun2  (()(me)) + adjective + ((ma))

()()(ge)(yǒu)()()(me)(gāo)(ma)
Is his brother as tall as him?

()()(ge)(méi)(yǒu)()(zhè)(me)(gāo)
My brother is not as tall as him.

(zhè)(ge)(bāo)(guǒ)(yǒu)()()()(me)(zhòng)(ma)
Is this package as heavy as that package?

(zhè)(ge)(bāo)(guǒ)(zhēn)(de)(yǒu)()()()(me)(zhòng)
This package really is a heavy as that package.



()(tiáo)(gǒu)(yǒu)()(zhī)()(shǔ)()(yàng)(xiǎo)
That dog is as small as a big rat.
(

他有他姐姐那么聪明吗(tāyǒutājiějiěnàmecōngmíngma)
Is he as intelligent as his sister?

()(de)(wéi)(jīn)(méi)(yǒu)()(de)(zhè)(me)(hǎo)(kàn)
My scarf does not look as good as yours.

(zhè)(ge)(yǒu)()()便(pián)(yi)(ma)
Is this as cheap as that?

(shuō)()()(yǒu)(shuō)(hàn)()()(me)(róng)()(ma)
Is speaking Chinese as easy as speaking Japanese?

()(yǒu)()()(me)(gāo)
He is as tall as her.

(chá)(méi)(yǒu)()(fēi)(guì)
Tea is not as expensive as coffee.

()(fēi)(méi)(yǒu)()()()(me)(guì)
Coffee is not as expensive as cola.

(shuō)(huà)(méi)(yǒu)(xiě)()(nán)
Speaking is not as difficult as writing.

()(méi)(yǒu)()()(me)(cōng)(míng)
You are smarter than me.

()(xiě)(hàn)()(méi)(yǒu)()(xiě)(de)(hǎo)
She does not write characters as well as him.

(zhōng)(wén)()()(yǒu)(yīng)(wén)()()(nán)(ma)
Is Chinese grammar as difficult as English grammar?


25 June 2012

Multimedia Chinese Teaching System

Found another Chinese language learning resource. The Rutgers Multimedia Chinese Teaching System has four levels of lessons for first year to fourth year students. It has plenty of content in simplified hanzi, pinyin, audio and English. There is also content in traditional characters.The scripts for learning are quite detailed. Accompanying these pages of scripts are grammar explanations.  There is plenty of content in this site.


However, despite the content navigation for the site is very poor. It is difficult to navigate around the site as menus are not consistent. Sometimes links at the bottom and sometimes the left side navigation changes from English to Chinese Hanzi.   I do not know if this is intentional (perhaps it is an attempt at partial immersion in Chinese). Definitely makes moving around the site challenging. Some of the pages are not set out well. It is difficult to find related content quickly. 


 If the site were redesigned with a consistent navigation it would be better. This site may be useful to supplement your main study. It is a pity that it is difficult to find specific information as the materials and grammar are detailed.


"The Rutgers Multimedia Chinese Teaching System (RMCTS). This is a computer based multimedia curriculum to supplement First year, Second year, and Advanced Chinese (Third and Fourth year) language instruction at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey."



26 May 2012

泥娃娃 ní​wá​wa​ Clay Doll


泥娃娃 
ní​wá​wa​
Clay Doll



泥 娃 娃 , 泥 娃 娃
ní wá wá , ní wá wá
Doll of Clay, Doll of Clay

一 个 泥 娃 娃
yī gè ní wá wá
A Doll of Clay

也 有 那 眉 毛
yě yǒu nà méi máo
She has eyebrows

也 有 那 眼 睛
yě yǒu nà yǎn jīng
She has eyes

眼 睛 不 会 眨
yǎn jīng bú huì zhǎ
but eyes that cant wink

泥 娃 娃 , 泥 娃 娃
ní wá wá , ní wá wá
Doll of Clay, Doll of Clay

一 个 泥 娃 娃
yī gè ní wá wá
A Doll of Clay

也 有 那 鼻 子
yě yǒu nà bí zǐ
She has a nose

也 有 那 嘴 巴
yě yǒu nà zuǐ bā
She has a mouth

嘴 巴 不 说 话
zuǐ bā bú shuō huà
But mouth cannot speak

她 是 个 假 娃 娃
tā shì gè jiǎ wá wá
She's a fake baby

不 是 个 真 娃 娃
bú shì gè zhēn wá wá
Is not a real baby

她 没 有 亲 爱 的 爸 爸
tā méi yǒu qīn ài de bà ba
She doesn't have a dear dad

也 没 有 妈 妈
yě méi yǒu mā ma
There is no mum

泥 娃 娃 , 泥 娃 娃
ní wá wá , ní wá wá
Doll of Clay, Doll of Clay

一 个 泥 娃 娃
yī gè ní wá wá
A Doll of Clay

我 做 她 爸 爸
wǒ zuò tā bà ba
I'm her dad

我 做 她 妈 妈
wǒ zuò tā mā ma
i'm her mum

永 远 爱 着 她
yǒng yuǎn ài zhe tā
love her forever

| Repeat from start|

06 May 2012

Chinese Songs for Learning Mandarin

Chinese Songs for Learning Mandarin

For learning Chinese vocabulary singing songs is an excellent method. It is not really my prefered method for learning language. However, some of my fellow students really enjoy doing this. These sites will have a variety of popular and traditional songs.




Sing Chinese Songs - Listen to Chinese music and learn Chinese with famous Chinese songs

Chinese Songs - Chinese Tools.com

04 December 2011

Open University Beginners' Chinese


Quite often on the Chinese learning forums I read there are people seeking a place to begin learning Chinese. I Found this free course yesterday. Aimed at absolute beginners this course has excellent explanations of the basics. Very thorough texts on a variety of must know beginner information. The modules of work include;

  • The Chinese Language
  • Introducing Yourself
  • Describing Activities
  • Names of Languages
  • Food and Drinks

Each of these main catagories has many sub sections. This is a Moodle course and has many quizes and tests that you can reinforce your learning. The quizes are corrected and you can get instant feedback. Redo these as many times as you need to get a better score. Overall this course is an academic yet practical course in basic Chinese. If you are a serious about learning Chinese this is an excellent place to begin Open University Beginners' Chinese

Beginners' Chinese

20 November 2011

Thoughts and Reflections


I finished my first year of Chinese learning at University last week. The final exam was not what I expected, however I will know how and what to learn for the next ones. I did not do as well as I had done on my assignments. I think I was quite anxious before the exam. I knew the vocabulary and grammar quite well. Yet I did not feel that I did my best. Despite the final exam I have had a really productive and enjoyable year of study.

As mentioned in my last post I am fortunate as I am able to go to Xian for three weeks of intensive study. Out of all the macro skills speaking is my poorest ability. Sometimes I feel I am learning in isolation. This is the downside of the distance education language learning course. I am able to teach myself to read, write and listen, but speaking is not possible. I can of coure listen and repeat to course texts and materials. However, in reality I do not feel able to hold a very simple conversation. I have no opportunity to speak with a native speaker. I live in what is a rural and remote area so my choices are very limited. Though I am not proficient in speaking, I am still looking forward to the three weeks of language classes and opportnities to speak.

Right now I am very relaxed about my language learning. I am listening to my Pimsleur Chinese course materials fairly regularly. I occasionally have a look at other resources. I am not pushing myself and I think I am getting better results than I did pre exam. I have an chance now to make some progress in a more relaxed learning environment. Shall keep this up for a few more weeks and see how it works out.  

03 October 2011

Tatoeba Project


I found this site by accident. It is an interesting site where the aim is to collect sentences translated into several languages. Tatoeba in Japanese means “for example”. According to the Stats page there are now 94 languages. There are 1097953 sentences in total. English has over 200000 sentences and Chinese Mandarin has 32000. The search engine for the site is excellent. For my learning I am able to search in Chinese and English simultaneously. I can filter, add to favourites, add to lists and find random sentences. There is an excellent forum and discussion in many languages. It is possible to join the site, contribute and stay informed on the translations. The sentences seem to moderated by native speakers so there is validity and authenticity for the project. You can even adopt “orphan” sentences. I found this very useful to supplement my course textbook. So I think the Tatoeba Project is an excellent learning / teaching community.  

Tatoeba Project Example

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