Mandarin Weekly #54

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) Welcome to the latest Mandarin Weekly, with yet more links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

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Tone myths

You’ve heard that tones are important. But not everything you hear about tones is true:

http://themandarincornerblog.com/2016/01/09/5-myths-about-chinese-tones/

Living-room vocabulary

This posting shows a living room full of objects… and they’re all labeled In Chinese, along witih sample sentences that can give you a better idea of how to use each term:

http://ilovelearningchinese.com/free/study/chinese-vocabulary-with-pictures-5-living-room/

Picking up

The term “pick up” means different things in English. In this article, we learn about the differnet ways to use “pick up” in Chinese:

http://www.digmandarin.com/a-how-to-for-picking-up-in-chinese.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Cannot

Can’t do something? ChinesePod will tell you how to describe that in Chinese, asking for permission to do it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q8Mx5DgiEY

Twitter: @ChinesePod

The winner is…

Want to improve your Chinese? Want to watch more television? You can do both at the same time, by watching the Chinese game shows:

http://www.writtenchinese.com/watch-chinese-game-show-improve-mandarin/

Twitter: @WrittenChinese

Farm vocabulary

Even if you only spend time in Chinese cities, you’ll likely need or want to use some agricultural terms. In this article from DigMandarin, we get a list of useful farm-related vocabulary:

http://www.digmandarin.com/chinese-characters-about-farming-and-nature.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Speaking with grandparents

Want to improve your Chinese, and appreciation of Chinese culture? Consider speaking with, watching, or participating with Chinese grandparents, who take part in a variety of activities. This article introduces some useful vocabulary, and describes some of the activities you can expect to see:

http://speakupchinese.tumblr.com/post/137705132596/learning-mandarin-with-chinese-grandparents

Twitter: @SpeakUpChinese

More character bites

Chris is back with “Chinese character bites” — this time, with 之 (zhī) and 过 (guò):

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-41/

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-42/

Twitter: @Fluent_Mandarin

Poetry lesson

LearnChineseNow teaches a classical Chinese poem, Ascending Stork Tower:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0mttUpW1OM

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

Breakfast food

What sorts of foods do people eat in China? This blog post describes some of them, with appropriate vocabulary (and even a quiz):

http://www.echineselearning.com/blog/tasty-chinese-breakfast-stuffed-steamed-buns-and-porridge-part2

Twitter: @ECLSchool

Waiter!

Want to order food in a Chinese restaurant? Here are some sentences and vocabulary you’ll need in order to succeed, ensuring that your food will contain the appropriate level of spiciciness:

http://www.duchinese.net/blog/14-ordering-food-in-chinese

Twitter: @DuChinese

Yes, yes

One of the first things you learn when studying Chinese is that there isn’t a single word for “yes.” Why is this the case? And when do you use each version of “yes”?

www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/why-is-there-no-one-word-for-yes-in-chinese/

Song

Listen to this song, presented along with the words, Pinyin, and English translation:

http://studymorechinese.com/profiles/blogs/a-beautiful-chinese-song-translation

Animals

What are some common animals in Chinese? DigMandarin has provided us with a list:

http://www.digmandarin.com/chinese-characters-for-animals.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Making a long-term plan

You can’t learn Chinese quickly; you’ll need a long-term plan. In this posting from FluentU,we learn what you can and should do to create such a plan, and what aspects are less likely to be useful:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2016/01/18/tips-for-learning-chinese/

Twitter: @FluentU

It’s late out

What’s the difference between the characters 夜(yè) and 晚 (wǎn)? Both mean “night,” more or less, but can they be used interchangeably?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16988/what-is-the-difference-between-%E5%A4%9Cy%C3%A8-and-%E6%99%9A-w%C7%8En

Using and pronouncing 着

What does the 着 character sound like, and what is its function?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17020/how-is-%E7%9D%80-pronounced-here

Measure word for a pizza

Does pizza use 个 or 张? An interesting debate and discussion about measure words:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/4210m5/is_pizza_a_%E4%B8%AA_or_a_%E5%BC%A0_word/

I’m so sorry

How do you indicate you’re sorry in Chinese?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/42amne/how_do_you_express_the_other_versions_of_im_sorry/

Chinese continents

How do you say the names of the continents in Chinese? And are they classified the same in Chinese and in English?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16983/what-are-the-continents-according-to-chinese-schemes

Oops!

If you make a mistake in Chinese, what do you say? “Oops” is a good term in English, but does it translate?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16991/how-to-say-oops-or-other-exclamation-interjection-you-might-say-if-you-make-a

Online

How can you describe being online, or watching an online video?

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E7%BA%BF%E4%B8%8A%E7%9C%8B.3127134/

The strangest character

What’s the strangest Chinese character? It’s not a competition, but there are a lot of options to choose from:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/424r83/what_is_the_strangest_chinese_character_you_can/