Bloggen

Lesson 004 Revision of Basic Knowledge of Chinese

 M: 大家好!Is everybody ok? Dajia hao. Huanying, Welcome to LCN. Wo shi ML, I’m ML, wo shi ML.
S: Wo shi Stuart. OK, today’s revision time.
M: We’ll go over what we learned in the past week
S: Standard Chinese, or Putonghua. Has four tones, different tone, different meaning. They are…
M: 1,2,3,4.
S: Flat, up, down and up, down.
M: And lots of compound words, like electric shadow 电影, meaning movie, or electric vehicle 电车, meaning tramcar or trolleybus.
S: We write the sounds in pinyin. XIAO, for example, is how we write the sound xiao. The X is pronounced 西. And don’t forget, repeat EVERYTHING we say in Chinese. Try to say it with us.
M: And use active listening and speaking – imagine what’s happening. For example, Angry! 生气, be angry when you say it. I’m very angry 我很生气!
S: Or 我很累。Wo hen lei. I’m very tired.
M: Ok, that’s a quick recovery, Stuart. What else did we learn?
S: 你好! How are you? 欢迎你到中国来, welcome to China. And 谢谢. Thanks.
M: Huanying HUANYING,is welcome. Huanying ni,welcome you. Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai. DAO Dào , to arrive, or reach.
S: And 中国, zhong ZHONG zhong is middle. guó GUO Guó,  is country, or kingdom, so zhongguo, Middle Kingdom, China.
M: And lái LAI lái, to come. Welcome to China 欢迎你到中国来. Say it everybody. Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai. Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai.
S: And 谢谢。xiexie XIEXIE, which means thanks. Say xiexie, everybody. Xiexie.
M: 很好。Very good. Hen hao.
M: 欢迎,welcome, back to LCN.
S: Now ML will welcome me to some different cities. Try to pick out the city, and repeat everything.
M: 欢迎你到 (pause) 北京 来. Huanying ni dao Beijing lai.
S: Got it? Right. Northern capital, Beijing. Another.
M: 欢迎你到 南京 来, huanying ni dao nanjing lai.
S: Good. Nanjing, southern capital. Nanjing.
M: One more. 欢迎你到 西安 来. Huanying ni dao xi’an lai.
S: Welcome to Xian, where the terracotta army is.
M: Still one more. 欢迎你到 广州 来. Hear it? Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, once known as Canton.
S: And time’s almost up, so let’s finish with a little tone practice. You guys at home, mimic us out loud. Louder the better. Let’s try ai AI AI ai. ML?
M: āi ái ǎi ài. Again, āi ái ǎi ài. 很好,very good. 很好。
S: Now for hao, HAO, hāo, háo, hǎo, hào.
M: Everyone. hāo, háo, hǎo, hào.
S: hen hao. And remember, distinguishing between similar sounds in a language is important. So try to hear the difference between JIN and JING. ML, over to you.
M: Ok. JIN, jin, and JING, jing. First JIN, then JING. Jin, jing. Again. Jin, jing. Hear it? The ING is nasal, not ‘in’ but ‘ing’. Everyone try it. jin, jing.
S: jin, jing. Ah, that’s the difference between Tianjin and Beijing.
M: 非常好。Very very good. Just the way to end our lesson. So, until next time, zaijian.
S: Zai jian.

Continue Reading →

Lesson 003 Welcome to China

 M: Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai. Welcome to China. Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai.
Huanying HUAN YING. huan, HUAN 1st tone. Yíng YING yíng, 2nd tone. Huanying means Welcome. Huanying ni, huanying ni, welcome you, or simply welcome.
S: Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai. Dao4 DAO dào here means to arrive, or reach. Dào, 4th tone, dào to arrive or reach.
M: And zhong ZHONG zhong, 1st tone means middle. Guó GUO guó, second tone, is country, or kingdom, so zhongguo, Middle Kingdom, or China.
S: And lái LAI lái is to come. 欢迎你到中国来 welcome to China. Say it everybody.
M: Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai, huanying ni dao zhongguo lai.
S: And xiè XIE XIE, xiè, meaning thanks, and always said twice. Xiexie, thanks.
(break)
M: Now for the short dialogue again, at natural speed. Stuart, 你好!
S: ni hao!
M: 欢迎你到中国来
S: 谢谢
M: 很好,very good. Now listen to and try to mimic this:. 欢迎你到 (pause) 北京 来. Huanying ni dao Beijing lai. No prizes for guessing what Beijing means. Běi BEI běi, 3rd tone, is north. Jīng JING jīng, hear the tone? 1st tone. Jīng. Remind our listeners of the tones again, Stuart.
S: 没问题,mei wenti, no problem! Mei wenti. Ready? Flat, rising, down and up, down!
M: So, jing1, right. 1st tone. And here jing means capital. Beijing – northern capital, referring to the capital of China, and where Stuart and I am right now. Now, let’s pretend we’re in another city. 欢迎你到 南京 来, huanying ni dao nanjing lai.
S: Nanjing. Nán NAN nán means south. Jing is capital. So, southern capital. Nanjing, another famous city in China.
M: But we don’t have time for all the cities in China. Time’s up.
S: We’ll finish by welcoming you all to China.
S/M: Huanying dao zhongguo lai! Zai jian.

Continue Reading →
1 1,380 1,381 1,382 1,383 1,384 1,697