Comments for How To Learn Chinese Online http://howtolearnchineseonline.com General Advice and Tips on Mandarin Chinese Learning Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:54:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Comment on Chinese Asking Personal Questions by Melen http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/chinese-asking-personal-questions/comment-page-1#comment-316 Melen Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:54:53 +0000 http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/?p=232#comment-316 What I found interesting was that when asked these kinds of personal questions at first I was a little caught off guard and so ended up answering them. Then I said, "And you?" Only to have my new friend answer, "Oh, that is personal!" And give me some vague answer. So I learned how to respond. When I am asked about my salary I just say, "It is enough". My rent? "The going rate it seems". Or "Affordable". Just have a bunch of these generic vague phrases ready for those personal questions. That is how my Chinese friends seem to answer them. What I found interesting was that when asked these kinds of personal questions at first I was a little caught off guard and so ended up answering them. Then I said, “And you?” Only to have my new friend answer, “Oh, that is personal!” And give me some vague answer. So I learned how to respond. When I am asked about my salary I just say, “It is enough”. My rent? “The going rate it seems”. Or “Affordable”. Just have a bunch of these generic vague phrases ready for those personal questions. That is how my Chinese friends seem to answer them.

]]> Comment on Chinese Mandarin Past Tense by Tim http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/chinese-mandarin-past-tense/comment-page-1#comment-315 Tim Sun, 22 Aug 2010 06:12:34 +0000 http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/?p=76#comment-315 Hi, great explanation but I just wanted to "tweak" something you said. The examples you gave "have played before, have you ever eaten fish, etc" are all examples of present perfect. The auxiliary "have" gives the tense and so "have/has" is the present perfect, while "had" as in had eaten= past perfect. Hi, great explanation but I just wanted to “tweak” something you said. The examples you gave “have played before, have you ever eaten fish, etc” are all examples of present perfect. The auxiliary “have” gives the tense and so “have/has” is the present perfect, while “had” as in had eaten= past perfect.

]]> Comment on How Do I Say “something” in Chinese ? – Post Your Questions Here by 苏 菲 http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/how-do-i-say-something-in-chinese-post-your-questions-here/comment-page-1#comment-249 苏 菲 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:59:09 +0000 http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/?p=238#comment-249 Thank You! 谢 谢！ Thank You! 谢 谢！

]]> Comment on How Do I Say “something” in Chinese ? – Post Your Questions Here by admin http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/how-do-i-say-something-in-chinese-post-your-questions-here/comment-page-1#comment-247 admin Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:19:53 +0000 http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/?p=238#comment-247 Well of course there are many different types of flower， but the basic word for flower is "hua1" 花 Well of course there are many different types of flower， but the basic word for flower is “hua1″ 花

]]> Comment on How Do I Say “something” in Chinese ? – Post Your Questions Here by 苏 菲 http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/how-do-i-say-something-in-chinese-post-your-questions-here/comment-page-1#comment-245 苏 菲 Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:53:50 +0000 http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/?p=238#comment-245 你 好！How do u say flower? 你 好！How do u say flower?

]]> Comment on 掩耳盗铃 – yanerdaoling by kiki http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/%e6%8e%a9%e8%80%b3%e7%9b%97%e9%93%83-yanerdaoling/comment-page-1#comment-203 kiki Fri, 02 Jul 2010 04:41:09 +0000 http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/?p=255#comment-203 The word "淹"is wrong.It should be"掩“ The word “淹”is wrong.It should be”掩“

]]> Comment on Mandarin Chinese Passive and Active Voice using Ba and Bei by admin http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/mandarin-chinese-passive-and-active-voice-using-ba-and-bei/comment-page-1#comment-183 admin Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:05:09 +0000 http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/?p=86#comment-183 Hi Sonia Yes the characters are " 把 " and " 被 " Thanks Hi Sonia

Yes the characters are ” 把 ” and ” 被 ”

Thanks

]]> Comment on Mandarin Chinese Passive and Active Voice using Ba and Bei by Sonia http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/mandarin-chinese-passive-and-active-voice-using-ba-and-bei/comment-page-1#comment-182 Sonia Tue, 29 Jun 2010 03:46:15 +0000 http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/?p=86#comment-182 This explanation is very clear and helpful but I do not know to which bei you refer to. It would be perfect if it had the Chinese character at least for the main characters "把" and "?". Thank you any how. Sonia This explanation is very clear and helpful but I do not know to which bei you refer to. It would be perfect if it had the Chinese character at least for the main characters “把” and “?”.
Thank you any how.
Sonia

]]> Comment on Best & Fastest Way to Learn How To Read Chinese Characters by admin http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/best-fastest-way-to-learn-how-to-read-chinese-characters/comment-page-1#comment-160 admin Wed, 23 Jun 2010 01:30:00 +0000 http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/test#comment-160 Thanks for your input and experience Mark. When I said "read" I meant recognize. Of course it IS possible for someone to read an entire newspaper 100% and still not understand it because knowing the meaning of 1 character individually doesn't mean you understand the meanings of the combinations of characters, especially 4 character idioms. You say you know 2500+ characters? I am curious can you recognize over 90% of newspaper characters ? You should be able to. If you can't then you obviously haven't learned the characters in order of frequency. That is crucial to my estimate. It's possible to know 10,000 characters and only recognize 10% of what you read if you happened to learn the most infrequent characters. I have noticed in the Universities Chinese teachers don't teach based on frequency. I'm not sure of the method they use, but in my opinion it's not as effective or economical with time. Thanks for your input and experience Mark.

When I said “read” I meant recognize. Of course it IS possible for someone to read an entire newspaper 100% and still not understand it because knowing the meaning of 1 character individually doesn’t mean you understand the meanings of the combinations of characters, especially 4 character idioms.

You say you know 2500+ characters? I am curious can you recognize over 90% of newspaper characters ? You should be able to.

If you can’t then you obviously haven’t learned the characters in order of frequency. That is crucial to my estimate. It’s possible to know 10,000 characters and only recognize 10% of what you read if you happened to learn the most infrequent characters.

I have noticed in the Universities Chinese teachers don’t teach based on frequency. I’m not sure of the method they use, but in my opinion it’s not as effective or economical with time.

]]> Comment on Best & Fastest Way to Learn How To Read Chinese Characters by Mark http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/best-fastest-way-to-learn-how-to-read-chinese-characters/comment-page-1#comment-159 Mark Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:20:49 +0000 http://howtolearnchineseonline.com/test#comment-159 I think your statement re: knowing 1000 characters allows you to read 90% of a newspaper is very misleading. Yes, you may grasp the major ideas but it's really not enough to 'comprehend'. I know 2500+ characters and still struggle a lot with reading comprehension at the newspaper level. I think your statement re: knowing 1000 characters allows you to read 90% of a newspaper is very misleading. Yes, you may grasp the major ideas but it’s really not enough to ‘comprehend’.

I know 2500+ characters and still struggle a lot with reading comprehension at the newspaper level.

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