Anyone interested in learning Chinese?

I'll see what I can post up here everyday or so. For now, to start us off:


Hello!
Formally (to an elder, teacher, etc) Nin hao!
Informally (to a friend or sibling, etc) Ni hao!

What is your name?
Ni (or Nin) jiao shenme mingxi?

My name is
Wo jiao _______.

How are you?
Ni (or Nin) hao ma?

I am fine
Wo hen hao.

And you?
Ni (or Nin) ne?




A sample conversation between Bob and Jim:

Jim: Ni hao!
Bob: Ni hao!
Jim: Ni jiao shenme mingxi?
Bob: Wo jiao Bob. Ni ne? Ni jiao shenme mingxi?
Jim: Wo jiao Jim. Ni hao ma?
Bob: Wo hen hao. Ni ne?
Jim: Wo ye hen hao.



I will try later to see if I can put the Chinese characters into the posts as well. I know I can see them on my computer because I have a language pack installed for it, but I dont know if it will show up properly on the forum. We will see!

pronunciation rules?
if it's not too much troubl

Sure.


Ill post up how to pronounce them in equivalent english sounds.

Ni Hao ma
Knee How Mah

Ni Jiao shenme mingxi
Know Gee-ow shun-muh ming-zih

Wo hen hao
Whoa hen how

ne
nuh


I think that covers all of the words that i used above.

Could you gives us a run down of basic mandarin: enough for say a tourist to go to a chinese city and be able to ask and reply to the more common questions - the bare essentials as it were.

Sure, Ill throw out a few right now.



Asking where something is:

______ zai nar?

for example, Where is the University?

Xueyuan zai nar?
(shu-ay-you-an)

_______ is there.

_____ zai nar.
(same word, nar, but a different meaning. It can mean both where, as in the first sentence, and here, as in the answer)



Do you speak *language*?

Ni (or Nin) shuo ________?

English - yingyu
Chinese (in general) - Hanyu
Mandarin - Putonghua (Pu-tong-hwa)
Arabic - Alaboyu (Ah-la-bow-you)
Urdu - wu'erduyu (woo-air-do-you)


I speak *language*

Wo shou ______.


Thank you
Xiexie
(shee-ay shee-ay)



Example Conversation:

Ni hao, ni shuo Putonghua?
Wo shuo Putongua.
Hen hao. Xueyuan zai nar?
Zai nar. *points*
Xiexie!

Oops, a mistake in my above post.

Where I wrote the word shuo, i meant to write jiang. (Gee-ah-ng)


Shuo means to say, Jiang means to speak (as in a language)

Thank you!
really it's interesting...for the Chinese charachters I think that the majority do not have Chines language installed in their computers...if you could find a picture containg explanation with English Characters, it would be a good idea
Many thanks indeed

format_quote Originally Posted by Mustapha@

Thank you!
really it's interesting...for the Chinese charachters I think that the majority do not have Chines language installed in their computers...if you could find a picture containg explanation with English Characters, it would be a good idea
Many thanks indeed

Good Idea. I will try to attach an image of the Chinese numbers.

format_quote Originally Posted by nazapat

What is your name?
Ni (or Nin) jiao shenme mingzi?

Another typo on my part! Good job correcting it.

Very helpful post. I'm tho confused about the exact meanings of "Ni" and "Wo", could you please explain?

"Ni" means "you" and "Wo" means "I" or "me."

That's great, would you attach one of the Chinese alphabet?

Unfortunately there is not an alphabet persay, each word is represented by a different character. There is something like 500,000 characters total in the language, but with around 5,000 you can cover about 90% of the frequently spoken words.

format_quote Originally Posted by Mi Le Xing

Good Idea. I will try to attach an image of the Chinese numbers.

Thank your for this thsi image. it's really helpful

Good thread,I will also benefit as much as I can,
Mi Le xing,ni hao,wo ye xue xi han yu,ru guo wo xue xi zai Shanghai,ni ne?wo jue de ni xue xi zai mei gou,wo de han yu bu tai hao in wei wo xue han yu cha bu duo ban nian le,so yi wo zhi hao xue xi nu li,ni xue le han yu duo chang shi jian?
zai jian