Help us learn

[Blind Oracle]

Please don't judge me too harshly. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who can't speak chinese, but like the ones who don't, I want to learn! I just recently bought a book and I plan to study it inside out. I know it won't make me fluent, but I'll at least get familiar. Get ready to really critique me, I USED to be able to speak mandarin a little. I was a little kid who hung out with his father a lot and grew attached enough to learn it as well as another language, but that's another story. Anyways, I was just a little kid whose parents immigrated to America and got married and had me here. Growing up at home as a kid was fun even though we were pretty poor. But when I got to school, I realized I couldn't speak to anyone, at all. From my relatives who already lived here and some cartoons and such, I could understand the other kids very well, but I couldn't talk to them. I could just nod or shake my head. Eventually, I learned english and loved it! Outside my asian home was America and I loved it! ...So much, I strayed from my own language. It haunts me to this very day and I'm always terribly and painfully guilt-ridden when I hear people speak it around me. I also have two younger sisters who I love. Alyssa and Nicole. They don't speak chinese either, but they are learning a little from some kiddy show. It's so sad to me, because Nicole, the littlest one always hangs out with our dad. She's his little princess. She even has a Chinese accent from being with him so much. Out of all of us, she looks the most chinese too(we're a little khmer). I've been telling them to learn chinese but they're starting to do what I'm doing at a much faster pace. My parents and I decided to enroll them in a Saturday Chinese Class starting this September. They're so young, but growing up fast. I want to be able to help them and if I can, help myself. Please, if any of you know, what's a good source to learn? Is there a good school you reccommend? Some sort of Learning DVD? Please let me know if you guys know a good way to learn. Btw, we're going with Mandarin first(of course). If you read it down to here, thank you very much for your consideration. I appreciate all your help!  

[Nalutao]

Hi,
If you don't mind, I want help you about your Chinese learning, and I want to say to you that :"世上无难事，只怕有心人" . That is a story of China, means "there is nothing that we cant do successly with a hard work". That's my translation.
fighting! And you get it!

Nalutao  

[Escargot]

I am not a native speaker of Chinese, but I majored in it in college (along with heavy coursework in linguistics), and I have a very decent grasp of the language. While a native speaker would be able to offer you certain perspectives that I could not, there are also perspectives I might be able to offer to you in terms of language learning, and relating it to English, that a native speaker might not be able to explain unless they have also studied grammar or linguistics. If you come across and specific language problems when studying the book you bought, if you post them, I might be able to help.

For other learning materials, you might want to try getting hooked on a tv series in Mandarin. TV dramas/teen soap operas are really popular both among Chinese-Americans who speak Chinese, and among Chinese people living in China (I'm living in Hong Kong right now, and I just got back from the mainland, and that's what seems to be the most popular!). There's been quite a few threads about drama series in the guild forums, so you could look there for suggestions.

For reading practice, you could read comic strips in Chinese - it's a bit more exciting than reading newspapers...

This is the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (a very famous piece of Chinese literature, not really about romance) in a webcomic form: http://san.pengguo.com/chi.php?mode=view&view=1

Or you could try reading manga in chinese. I read Ranma 1/2 (亂馬 1/2), haha. You can find a ton of manga translated into Chinese on this website: http://www.manmankan.com/

You may need to change the text encoding to simplified Chinese. The manga is listed in alphabetical order according to the Chinese title.

For your sisters, you might want to try Chinese language cartoons. I think Crayon Shin Chan is really cute (in Chinese, 蠟筆小新). It's a Japanese cartoon, but you can watch it dubbed in Chinese. Here's a sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNVgZV4vKeo

Or there's Ne Zha Conquers the Dragon Kings - a very famous Chinese story, and it was actually made in China. Another sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i03QgfIAt-M&feature=related

Hope that's a bit helpful.  

[Blind Oracle]

Nalutao

Hi,
If you don't mind, I want help you about your Chinese learning, and I want to say to you that :"世上无难事，只怕有心人" . That is a story of China, means "there is nothing that we cant do successly with a hard work". That's my translation.
fighting! And you get it!

Nalutao

thank you! i cherish any learning i can get. hmm, if you don't mind me asking, how do you pronounce it?  

[Blind Oracle]

Escargot

I am not a native speaker of Chinese, but I majored in it in college (along with heavy coursework in linguistics), and I have a very decent grasp of the language. While a native speaker would be able to offer you certain perspectives that I could not, there are also perspectives I might be able to offer to you in terms of language learning, and relating it to English, that a native speaker might not be able to explain unless they have also studied grammar or linguistics. If you come across and specific language problems when studying the book you bought, if you post them, I might be able to help.

For other learning materials, you might want to try getting hooked on a tv series in Mandarin. TV dramas/teen soap operas are really popular both among Chinese-Americans who speak Chinese, and among Chinese people living in China (I'm living in Hong Kong right now, and I just got back from the mainland, and that's what seems to be the most popular!). There's been quite a few threads about drama series in the guild forums, so you could look there for suggestions.

For reading practice, you could read comic strips in Chinese - it's a bit more exciting than reading newspapers...

This is the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (a very famous piece of Chinese literature, not really about romance) in a webcomic form: http://san.pengguo.com/chi.php?mode=view&view=1

Or you could try reading manga in chinese. I read Ranma 1/2 (亂馬 1/2), haha. You can find a ton of manga translated into Chinese on this website: http://www.manmankan.com/

You may need to change the text encoding to simplified Chinese. The manga is listed in alphabetical order according to the Chinese title.

For your sisters, you might want to try Chinese language cartoons. I think Crayon Shin Chan is really cute (in Chinese, 蠟筆小新). It's a Japanese cartoon, but you can watch it dubbed in Chinese. Here's a sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNVgZV4vKeo

Or there's Ne Zha Conquers the Dragon Kings - a very famous Chinese story, and it was actually made in China. Another sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i03QgfIAt-M&feature=related

Hope that's a bit helpful.

thanks, you're very imformative! i'll definitely look into this. oh, and how's hong kong? i've always wanted to go there... well, i've been there briefly on a flight to go somewhere else. i wish i stayed longer. it was so beautiful.  

[Nalutao]

Blind Oracle

Nalutao

Hi,
If you don't mind, I want help you about your Chinese learning, and I want to say to you that :"世上无难事，只怕有心人" . That is a story of China, means "there is nothing that we cant do successly with a hard work". That's my translation.
fighting! And you get it!

Nalutao

thank you! i cherish any learning i can get. hmm, if you don't mind me asking, how do you pronounce it?

Do you mean that how pronounce "世上无难事，只怕有心人" with pinyin?
If you do, here is the pinyin:
"shi shang wu nan shi , zhi pa you xin ren."

means:"There is nothing unachievable if you try and do it by heart"
it seems more properly.

And I have a interest about your name, there is a "Oracle" in your name.
That must be IBM's database software, isn't it?
And do you know the RTC (Rational Team Concert) also IBM's software?
I just diagnoses about that software.

as Escargot said, I know I must made something wrong with my English word spelling. Thanks her. It appears that I must need hard study with my English. And Blind if you find anything wrong with my word spelling, please tell me directness, I will accept with thanks.  

[Blind Oracle]

Nalutao

Blind Oracle

Nalutao

Hi,
If you don't mind, I want help you about your Chinese learning, and I want to say to you that :"世上无难事，只怕有心人" . That is a story of China, means "there is nothing that we cant do successly with a hard work". That's my translation.
fighting! And you get it!

Nalutao

thank you! i cherish any learning i can get. hmm, if you don't mind me asking, how do you pronounce it?

Do you mean that how pronounce "世上无难事，只怕有心人" with pinyin?
If you do, here is the pinyin:
"shi shang wu nan shi , zhi pa you xin ren."

means:"There is nothing unachievable if you try and do it by heart"
it seems more properly.

And I have a interest about your name, there is a "Oracle" in your name.
That must be IBM's database software, isn't it?
And do you know the RTC (Rational Team Concert) also IBM's software?
I just diagnoses about that software.

as Escargot said, I know I must made something wrong with my English word spelling. Thanks her. It appears that I must need hard study with my English. And Blind if you find anything wrong with my word spelling, please tell me directness, I will accept with thanks.

oh, thanks. yeah, that's what i meant by pronounce. romanization. and what about the oracle in my name?  

[Nalutao]

I'm Lack, and I search about it and I know it must means wise、prophetic.


oracle
n.（名词）
A shrine consecrated to the worship and consultation of a prophetic deity, as that of Apollo at Delphi.
神龛：表示崇敬并以求指引的奉给先知神灵的场所，如特尔斐的阿波罗殿
A person, such as a priestess, through whom a deity is held to respond when consulted.
神使：在有人向神求指引时传达神的旨意的人，如女牧师
The response given through such a medium, often in the form of an enigmatic statement or allegory.
神谕：通过这样的中介所传达的神秘的启示或言语
A person considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic opinions.
先知：被认为具有明智意见或先知见解的人
An authoritative or wise statement or prediction.
圣言或睿智的话：权威的或明智的话或预言
Theology A command or revelation from God.
【神学】 圣谕：神的命令或启示
In the Old Testament, the sanctuary of the Temple.
在《旧约》中，寺庙的神殿


n.
(古希腊的)神谕宣示所
神谕
神使; 传神谕者
绝对可靠的指导
[有时贬]大智者; 哲人
All the tickets for the concert had been sold.Fortunately, I knew one of the actors, and by working the oracle we were able to see it.
音乐会票已全部售完。幸亏, 我认识一个演员, 通过关系才入了场。  

[PrincessReg_29]

I'm a native Mandarin speaker (well I hope English is good enough to become my 2nd language) and I hope you'll be able to continue to strive, because Chinese is definitely not an easy language!

Sorry I can't offer you any resources (because I learnt Chinese since young and it is rather different from learning it when you get older), but if you need any help you can just approach me and i'll try my best to assist you (:

And yes, I do agree with what Escargot has said, the information is indeed quite useful. 3nodding

Start with tv shows/comics, and one way to suggest is to watch Chinese dramas (not Hong Kong produced, because the actors speak Cantonese, not Mandarin) - probably the Taiwan or Mainland ones. In a way they're more... authentic.

Good luck and 加油! (: