Chinese Blog Updates

Few quick updates on my Chinese blog for those of you who are interested. You will recall that I officially started the è¦?学就说 Blog back in July in an effort to learn more characters. My goal is to get my reading / typing up to the same level as my spoken. We’ll see after that. :)

I’ve been really pleased with the response – so big, big thanks to everyone who has responded with either corrections or chit-chat. All of the dicussion happens on buzz and facebook, which was to be expected given that the site is blocked in China.

Anyway, few quick updates…

  1. I’ve changed the template, so if you can access the blog itself then it looks a bit nicer, I decided that emperor yellow everywhere was too much.
  2. You can now access the blog at yaoxuejiushuo.triviality.net – I’d rather hoped this was going to allow China based people to access the blog directly. For technical (Posterous) reasons this isn’t currently the case but I’ve high hopes for the future (the old Posterous link still works, so no need to update bookmarks / rss).
  3. Finally, expectations. I’d originally set myelf the ambitious target of posting twice a week. Neither my time nor my supply of interesting things to talk about seems to support this. So, officially from now on, I’m aiming for one post a week.

�学就说 | 我的中文�客

My Chinese Blog | 我的中文�客

There are, dotted through the archives of this blog, a number of posts in Chinese. Though they probably never belonged on this blog and the idea never took off.

But the idea has some merit, I think, as a language learning device. I no longer live in China so have precious few opportunities to practice spoken Chinese. Most of my contact with Chinese speaking friends is online and therefore typed. This presents me with a problem as my reading / writing lags behind my less than fantastic speaking ability.

To this end, I have created a little blog over at Posterous and I’ll post about twice a week.

Now advance warning is given, these posts aren’t going to be edge of your seat stuff, my life isn’t that interesting and my ability with the Chinese language is a limiting factor.

What I’m really hoping for is for some good discussion with my Chinese speaking readers and maybe a few corrections / pointers.

As posterous (like every other site I could think to use) is blocked in China it’s also feeding into Google Buzz and I expect the discussion, if there is any, will happen there.

So if you speak a little Chinese and fancy a chat, to help me learn or to just have a laugh (we all do) then come on down to Posterous or Buzz.

è¦?学就说 – 我的中文å?šå®¢

Essential 20 – Chinese

As I said in my previous post, Essential 20 – Czech, I was taken with the notion, in a twist on the Pareto Principle, that when acquiring a new language or moving to / visiting a new country the greatest value comes from having 20 key survival phrases.

Here again is my list, this time with translations to Mandarin Chinese (characters and pinyin).

Hello.
你好。
NÇ? hÇŽo.

Good bye.
��。
Zài jiàn.

Yes.
是。
Shì.
Consider 对 duì ‘correct’ for agreement.

No.
�是。
Bùshì.
Consider ä¸?对 bùduì ‘not correct’ for disagreement.

I want this…
我è¦?这个…
WÇ’ yÄ?o zhè ge…

One glass of (beer / tea / water) please.
请给我一� (啤酒 � 茶 � 水)。
QÇ?ng gÄ›i wÇ’ yÄ« bÄ“i píjiÇ” / chá / shuÇ?.

The bill, please.
请买�。
QÇ?ng mÇŽidÄ?n.

How much?
多�钱?
DuÅ?xiÇŽo qián?

Where is … ? (person / place)
… 在哪里?
… zài nÇŽ lÇ??

Where is the bathroom?
洗手间在哪里?
XÇ?shÇ’ujiÄ?n zài nÇŽ lÇ??

I don’t speak Mandarin.
我�会说普通�。
WÇ’ bù huì shuÅ? pÇ”tÅ?nghuà.

Do you speak English?
你会说英语�?
NÇ? huí shuÅ? YÄ«ngyÇ” ma?

I don’t understand.
我�懂。
Wǒ bù dǒng.

Can you repeat that please?
�说一边。
Zài shuÅ? yÄ« biÄ?n.

Can you help me?
你能帮我�?
NÇ? néng bÄ?ng wÇ’ ma?

I’m sorry.
对�起。
DuìbuqÇ?.

No problem / It’s ok.
没关系。
MéiguÄ?nxi.
Used following an apology.

Please.
请。
QÇ?ng.
Place at the beginning of a request.

Thank you.
谢谢。
Xiè xie.

You’re welcome.
�用谢。
Bù yòng xiè.

Excuse me.
请问。
QÇ?ng wèn.
Used to intrude, lit. may I ask.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
一, 二,三, 四,五,六,七, 八, ä¹?, å??。
YÄ«, èr, sÄ?n, sì, wÇ”, liù, qÄ«, bÄ?, jiÇ”, shí.