Denaz's News in Foreign Languages

New Language Source Found

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:31:00 +0000

Da jia hao!

I was looking for a website that teaches how to write chinese characters, (I was actually looking for something like writing workbooks, like what we have for learning to write abc's in elementary school), and I just found a new learning site for Chinese learners. You can learn everything from the chinese alphabet to reading to listening to writing to speaking. Did you get all that? ha ha.
The most important is the writing, ha ha. The oral part is understood through context, but one wrong dash could be disasterous when writing in chinese, :D. I am waiting on approval to post it here. :)

-Denaz

Lesson 3 Vocab

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:53:00 +0000

Lesson 3 Vocab.
1. 种 zhong1=sort, type; a common classifier
2. 件 jian4 = ite; classifier for clothing, event and thing.
3. 东西 dong1xi= thing, object (cl. 件 (jian4) 个 (ge).
4. 方法 fang1fa = method (cl. 个).
5. 朋友 peng2you = friend (cl. 个).
6. 同学 tong2xue2 = fellow-student (cl. 个).
7. 太 tai4 = too (excessive)
8. 很 hen3 = very
9. ...行不行 ...xing2buxing = Will...be all right?
10. 好 hao3 = good

Practice
1. 你好吗？Ni3 hao3 ma? = How are you? (Lit: you well?)
2. 这行不行？Zhe xing2buxing? = Will this be all right?
3. 你是一个很好朋友。Ni shi yi ge hen hao pengyou. = You are a very good friend.
4. 太好。Tai hao. = Too good.

All for now. More on the way.

-Denaz

Chinese Writing Lesson 2 Exercise 2

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:12:00 +0000

C. Translate into English:
1. 我没有那本书=Wo meiyou na ben shu=I don't have (not have) that book.
2. 他们有三枝笔=Tamen you san zhi bi=They have three writing instruments/writing tools/three things to write with (three pencils, pens, 3 pencils/pens, 2 pencils and 1 pen, etc).
3. 你们有报纸吗？=Nimen you baozhi ma? =(Do) you (all) have newspapers?
4. 他有一万零四张枝。=Ta you yi wan ling si zhang zhi=He has 10,004 papers.
5. 我们有两杯水。=Women you liang3bei1 shui3=We have 2 cups of water/We have a couple cups of water/We have a pair of cups full of water.
6. 这些是铅笔，那些是圆珠笔。= Zhexie shi qianbi, naxie shi yuanzhubi.=These are pencils, those are ballpoint pens.
7. 我没有这两份杂志。=Wo meiyou zheliang fen zazhi.=I don't have these two magazines.
8. 他有两千本书。Ta you liang qian ben shu.=He has two thousand books./He has a couple thousand books.
9. 那九个学生没有笔。Na jiuge xuesheng meiyou bi=Those nine students don't have writing instruments/Those nine students have nothing to write with.
10. 这两学生有杯子。Zhe liangge xuesheng you beizi. =These two students have cups/This pair of students have cups.

All for today.
-Denaz

Chinese Writing Lesson 2 Exercise 1

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:39:00 +0000

Learn to write Lesson 2: Exercises
A. 1. 38 = san1shi2ba1 三十八.
2. 87 = ba1shi2qi1八十七.
3. 106=yi1bai3ling2liu4一百零六.
4. 115=yi1bai3yi1shi2wu3一百一十五.
5. 1002=yi1qian1ling2ling2er4一千零零二.
6. 1,302=yi1qian1san1bai3ling2er4一千三百零二.
7. 20,040=er4wan4ling2lingsi4shi2二万零零四十.
8. 23,104=er4wan4yi1bai3ling2si4二万三千一百零四.
9. 20,307=er4wan4ling2san1bai3ling2qi1二万零三百零七.
B. Translate to Chinese:
1. You all don't have these two books=Nimen meiyouzhege er shu/你们没有这个二书。
2. I have five magazines=wo you wuge zhngzhi/我有五个张纸。
3. You have a pencil=Ni you yi zhi qianbi/你有一枝铅笔。
4. This is a magazine, that is a newspaper=Zhe4 shi za2zhi4, na4 shi bao4/这是杂志，那是抱。

Action Verbs

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:35:00 +0000

Chi1fan4 (literally "eat food") = eat; have a (proper) meal
kan4 bao4 (look +at paper) = read the paper
xi3zao3 = bathe
zou3 = leave; go; walk
shang4 ke (literally "ascend class") = teach a class (of a teacher); attend a class (if student)
xia4 ke4 (literally "descend class") = finish teaching a class (teacher); be out of class (student)
shang4 ban1 (literally ascend job + shift) = go to work; start work
xia4ban1 (literally descend job +shift) = get out of work; quit (for the day)

Wo3 bu4 zou3 = I'm not leaving.
Ta1men bu4 xi3zao3. = They're not going to bathe.
Ta1 bu4 chi1 le=He won't eat anymore.
Ta1 bu4 yao4 chi1fan4. = She doesn't want to eat.
Ta1men bu4 xiang3 shang4 ke4.=They don't feel like going to class.

mei2=not (as in "have not").
Mei2 chi1fan4. = (We) didn't eat; (we) haven't eaten.
Mei2you xi3zao3. = (I) didn't bathe; (I) haven't bathed.
Mei2 shang4 ban1.=(She) didn't go to work; (She) hasn't started work.

All for now.
-Denaz

Lesson 1 Exercises

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:15:00 +0000

Exercise 1
1. Ask him if (he) was busy yesterday?
Zuo2tian1 mang2 ma?
2. Respond that (it's) quite cold today.
Hen3 leng3!
3. Remark that (it's) got cold today.
Jin1tian1 hen2 (shift tone) leng3 le.
4. Say (you) didn't fell well yesterday.
Zuo2tian1 bu4 shu1fu.
5. Respond that she is nervous.
Hen jin1zhang1.

-Denaz

Lesson 1 Part 2-Important Verbs :D

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:29:00 +0000

Lesson 1 Part 2
The ten celestial stems (tian1gan1)
jia3 甲 A
yi3 已 B
bing3 丙 C
ding1 丁 D
wu4 戊 E
ji3 己 F
geng1庚 G
xin1 辛 H
ren2 任 I
gui3 癸 J

Jia3 Mang2 ma? (Are you) busy?
Yi3 Hen3 mang2. (I am) busy (here "hen", which means "very" literally, is just a confirmation of the fact and is not used as emphasis to just how busy. it is like saying "yes, busy."

Verbs:
ma (neutral) at the end of a statement turns it into a question.
hao ma =Are (you) well? or more literally, "Okay?"{remember, h is a hard h, not an English h but like the spanish pronunciation of the letter j ("jota"/hhhhhota)}?
Mang2 ma? = (Is she) busy?
Lei4 ma?=Tired?
E4 ma? =Hungry? {sounds like "Uh ma?" :D}
Ke3 ma? = Thirsty?
Jin3zhang1 ma? =Nervous? {remember, the pronunciation of "zh" is a "j" with the tip of your tongue raised, making it sound like a j with a hint of an r...}
Shu1fu1 ma? = Comfortable? {remember, the pronunciation of "sh" is also with the tip of your tongue raised, giving it a hint of an r sound...)
Leng3 ma?= Cold?
Re4 ma? = Hot?
Gao1 ma? = (is she) tall?

Bu4=no, before other fourth tones, shifts to di'er tone (2nd tone).
tai4=too; very; soooooo ___ :D
bu tai=not very
Practice:
Hao3 ma? Bu2 tai4 hao3. (Well?/Okay?) (I am) Not very well.
Mang2 ma? Bu2 tai4 mang2. Not very busy.

More detailed in another lesson is the negative questions with ma (neutral).
Ni3 bu2 lei4 ma?= Aren't you tired?

hai = neutraling adverb.
hai2 hao3=(I'm) Okay, so-so. "fine"

Jin1tian1=today
Zuo2tian1=yesterday
ming2tian1=tomorrow (must include a helping verb like "hui4".)
Jintian jiu3yue4 ba1 hao4. Today (is the) 8th of September.
Zuo2 tian1 qi1 hao4. Yesterday (was the) 7th. (literally "Yesterday 7 day")

Xian4zai4=now.
Zuo2tian1 bu4 shu1fu, jin1tian1 hao3 le. Yesterday, (I did) not feel well, (but) today good (okay).
Wo xian4 zai4 bu2 e4 le! (I now not hungry!)=I'm not hungry anymore!
Jin1tian1 re4 le!=Today (it's) hot!
NOTE: "le" is assotiated with the new situation, not the original state. :)

End of Lesson 1.
-Denaz

MIT Course Lesson 1

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:12:00 +0000

It starts off with pinyin, not characters because it is how we learned our native langauges first-listening and speaking/repeating.

Many new vocabulary words here: (#=tone)
Date is different than in English:year-month-day (in chinese)
Jin1tian1 shi4 er4-ling-ling-ba1 nian2 shi2-yi1-yue4 er4shi2si4 hao4 (hao3=good; hao4=day).
Today is 2008/11/24; Today is November 24th, 2008.

To make an ordinal number add the prefix "di4". Di4yi1=1st, etc.

End of Part 1 of Lesson 1

-Denaz

New Course Found!

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:02:00 +0000

Ninmen hao!
"Qian1 li3 zhi1 xing2 shi3 yu2 zu2 xia4." (1000 mile's journey begin with foot down)
A long journey begins with a single step.-Lao3zi3
Wo de xing2 shi3 jin1tian1. (My journey begins today)

I found a new source for Chinese learners. MIT has open online courses (free) for those people learning languages such as Mandarin Chinese on their own. I just learned this today, browsing the web. :D
MIT is on of the top schools in the US, known for its high standards. Therefore to offer mandarin for free online-from beginner to fluency, it makes the top ten in my book as well. ;P
Here is the URL for the link to its website:
http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/36828/21F-101Fall-2004/OcwWeb/Foreign-Languages-and-Literatures/21F-101Fall-2004/Readings/index.htm

-Denaz

Chapter 1

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:29:00 +0000

Wo mai le yi ben shu jiao "Learning Chinese Characters". Wo..."will post" shenme xue "here". :D
Chapter 1:
huo (fire) 火+ ding (nail)丁 = 灯 deng (lamp) :D
da 大(big) ren 人(person)=adult
nü(woman) + ye (also) 也 = ta (she) 她
kou (mouth) 口
ji ( originally meant "stool", now means "several") 几
bu (no, not) 不

All for now
-Denaz

Ni hao! Back from Sabbatical!

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:15:00 +0000

Da jia hao! Well, it has been a long time since I posted to this website even though I continue my language studies. So, first off Huanying nimen hui lai! (welcome back you all!) and in this year, 2008. My focus is on learning to write chinese characters. I recently bought a book called "Learning Chinese Characters", a book for "Level A" Chinese learners. I will post my lessons learned here. :)

Jintian wo xue le yi ge ci "tai yang", "sun" :D.
Also, I learned that the chinese characters "huo"(fire) and "ding" (nail) together make "deng" (lamp). My lesson for the day. :P

Well, wo qu gongzuo, soyi....zai jian!

-Denaz

Chinese/English News - New chinese phrase

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:54:00 +0000

Today I learned how to say the sentiment "wish you all the best". It is "Zhu ni bai shi shun li".

Jin tian wo xue hui zen yang shuo zhe , "Wish you all the best". Ta shi "Zhu ni bai shi shun li".

Zai jian! (Bye/see (you) later!)

-Denaz

Chinese/English Sentence Order

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:52:00 +0000

I learned something interesting yesterday.

In English, we say "subject do something in somewhere". In Chinese, they say "subject in somewhere do something". We would say, "We learn English in America." However, in Chinese, we would say, "We in America learn English."

Zuo tian wo xue hui mou shi juan yong.

En Ying Yu, wo men shuo "subject do something in somewhere". Dan shi, yong zhong wen shi "subject in somewhere do something". Li ru, wo men shuo "We learn English in America". Dan shi, yong zhong wen wo men shuo, "Wo men zai meiguo xue hui Ying Yu".

Permission Granted! New resource added!

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Fri, 11 May 2007 12:49:00 +0000

Huanying! My new phrase 'Welcome' :D
Huan1ying ni3 dao4 "Di Nei Guo" lai, ha ha ha. Welcome to "Denaz land", ha ha ha.
You are probably wondering where it is on your map. To save you the trouble of searching for it, I will tell you it is near Never-Neverland, nan2 (south) of the State of Confusion, which is all a State of Mind, hee hee. Duibuqi (sorry), a moment of humor there. Mei wenti (no problem). I'm over it now. :D

Anyway, back to the news of today. :)
I learned three new words today: Bei3 = North, Nan2 = South, and Jing1=capital.
Soooo, with that knowledge I now know that the city Beijing is to the North and that the city Nanjing is to the South...and that they are fairly large (in regards to population) . Since "jing" is "capital", it stands to reason that it has a lot of "traffic" :D.

OH!! And the site where I learned all this is called www.CriEnglish.com.

An excellent resource for any beginner ;-P.
-Denaz

New Resource Afoot!

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Fri, 04 May 2007 19:27:00 +0000

Hi everybody!
Da jia hao!
Today I learned some new words "huo" (fire), "che" (vehicle), and "shan" (mountain)
Together they make up new words...For example a "huoche" (fire vehicle) is a "train", and "huoshan"(fire mountain) = "volcano".
I also learned that they say "tou" (head of) cattle like we do...except they omit the "of" :D.
Now..."ge" is a number counter, like tou "head of cattle" for most nouns. So "yi ge ren" = one person, er ge ren = two people. However, they have many more "noun counters", for example, "tiao" is used instead of "ge" when the noun is something long and thin ....like a river. san tiao he chuan = 3 rivers.

I found this on a website, but still waiting on permission to add the link to this site. :)

All for now.

-Denaz

Chinese News/Zhongwen Xinwen Dang Tian

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 13:28:00 +0000

Today I learned how to say "I learned how to say" in Chinese; and yesterday I learned how to say "wait".
Jin tian wo xue hui zen yang shuo " I learned how to say" yong zhong wen; he zuo tian wo xue hui zen yang shuo "wait" (deng3).
今天我学会怎样说 "I learned how to say" 用中文；和昨天我学会怎样说 "wait" 等).

How do you say "Content"? Let me count the ways... :D

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:11:00 +0000

Estaba hablando con un amigo y estabamos discutiendo la palabra inglesa "content".
Como sabes, o quizás no sabes :D, la palabra inglesa "content" podría tener dos diferentes sentidos.
Cuando tiene el estrés en la "o", significa "contenido" en español...como el contenido de una caja o el contenido de una papel. ;)
Cuando tiene el estrés en la "e", significa "contento/a" en español...estar feliz, satisfecho, etc.
Un gatito contento se ronronea. :D

I was speaking with a friend and we were discussing the English word "content".
As you know, or maybe you don't, the English word "content" could have two different meanings.
When the stress is on the "o" (cOntent), it means "contenido" in Spanish...like the contents of a box or the content in a paper. ;)
When the stress is on the "e" (c'ntEnt), it means "contento/a" in Spanish...to be happy, satisfied, etc.
A content kitten purrs. :D

Chinese News: A new resource for Chinese Learners

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 13:49:00 +0000

There aren't many Chinese resources here in my hometown and so the search was on. :D While searching the net for chinese children's books, I came across a site that looked like a very useful site indeed. As you all know, I love to learn languages. "Asia for Kids" is an excellent resource for things like learning Chinese, or any Asian language, for that matter. I was surprised to find that it even has Japanese resources. :P

I also learned that Taiwan and China both use the same characters even though the pronunciation (like all languages/dialects) differ slightly. This is very important to me because it means that when I learn to read Mandarin and write, I will be able to comprehend any chinese newspaper no matter the country! ...I won't have to "learn to write" twice, hee hee. The characters are the same!! :-P

Today's English/Chinese News: My Name

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 11:17:00 +0000

My real name is Denaz, pronounced Di nei in Chinese. Today I learned what my name means in Chinese...and have discovered that I cannot go visit China until I get married, ha ha.
Just kidding.
你好吗？我的真名是DENAZ，中文发音DI NEI。今天我知晓了怎么我的名意义。。。和已经发现不能上中国直到我结婚了。哈哈！只是开玩笑。

A Chinese friend of mine informed me that my name, "Di Nei", is an oldfashioned term for "wife". So if I go on vacation to China and I say "Wo jiao Suits Di Nei" (my name is Denaz Suits), they might think I said "My name is Mrs. Suits" ("Suits's wife")! ha ha!

我一个中国朋友告诉了我的名＂DI NEI＂是古条文为某人的太太。如果我放假去中国，
我说＂我叫Suits的内＂，他们可能认为我说了＂我是Suits的太太”! 哈哈！

So be careful! :D

-Denaz

Today's English/Spanish News: "Nick and I"

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 19:38:00 +0000

Today, a friend told me an interesting monologue that I wanted to share. :)
Hoy, me dijo un amigo un monólogo de que querría compartir. :)
Nick and I - a tale by Spanish Ave
I'd use the computer for everything, if it were always on and always with me, but it's not. Books are so fast and convenient. I'm a book junkie. The library near me sells used books for a pittance, so it's deadly for me to go in there. That's where "Nick" and I met up. "Nick" was a dictionary from Nickel Press. I thought he was cute with his cool green cover. Sure his pages were a bit yellow, he'd been around the block, but I preferred to think of him as worldly, so I brought him home.
I thought we were getting along great and yet there was no "llama del amor," I guess because there simply is no "llama" in him. Not only that, but I was looking for "llaneza" (straightforwardness) and he didn't have that either. My dream that he could be my key to Spanish was dashed when I realized there was no "llave." I am "llorosa" (tearful) when I remember ayer "llovió" yet he could not share the sound with me. With him no one can ever say "llegamos," and no doubt that's why he was alone at the library. I should have known when I said, "me llamo Ave" and he didn't answer. Silly me, I just thought he was shy. Of course he heard the "llorona" (wailing, howling) when I realized he was not the dictionary for me, but he didn't "lloró". He couldn't. It just wasn't in his vocabulary. Nickel Press had left out every word that started with "ll". Sad, isn't?

Nick y Yo - Traducción por Denaz
Usaría yo la computadora para todo, si siempre se estuviera prendida y siempre conmigo, pero no lo está. Los libros son más rápidos y convenientes. Soy adicta a los libros. La biblioteca cercana vende libros usados a un precio baratísimo, así que es peligroso entrar ahí. Allí es donde "Nick" y yo nos conocimos. Nick era un diccionario de Nickel Press. Pensé que era mono con su chévere cubierta verde. Sí que sus páginas estaban un poco amarillas, él ha estado a la vuelta de la esquina, pero preferí pensar en él como "mundano" , así lo llevé a casa.
Creí que nos llevaríamos muy bien y aún así no había "llama del amor", supongo que porque simplemente no hay "llama" en él. No es sólo eso, pero buscaba "llaneza" - ni tuvo eso tampoco. Mi sueño que podría haber sido mi llave al español se estrelló cuando me dí cuenta no había "llave".
Estoy "llorosa" cuando me recuerdo que ayer "llovió", aunque no podría él compartir el sonido conmigo. Con él nadie puede decir "llegamos", y no tengo dudas que fue esa la razón por la cuál estaba sólo en la biblioteca. Debería yo haber sabido cuando dije, "Me llamo Ave." y no respondió. Tonta de mí, creí que era solo tímido. Claro escuchó la "llorona" cuando me dí cuenta que él no era el diccionario para mí, pero no lloró él. No podría. No estaba en su vocabulario. Nickel Press omitió toda y cada palabra que comenzó con "ll". Triste, ¿no?

Welcome to Denaz's News in Foreign Languages!

noreply@blogger.com (Denaz's News in Foreign Languages) — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 15:40:00 +0000

Hello and welcome! I'm Denaz and I am interested in learning foreign languages. This blog will inform people who are interested of my progress as I master foreign languages. I will note what resources I have tried and my opinions of them.

No one can ever really master a language completely, even in English we are continuing to learn new words as we grow and gain in experience, and hopefully, wisdom. However, I will give it my best shot. :D

A bit about me:
I have spoken English ever since I was born, as I was born in Indiana, USA. in 1981. In high school, I took two years of German (Deutsch) and two years of Spanish (Español) and have continued these languages on my own ever since then. I can speak, read, and write these languages, though I continue to learn something new each day. I am not as fluent as I want to be yet in either foreign language, but with each day I get closer still. :)

This year I have decided to add another foreign language to my list. I started to focus on learning Chinese, Mandarin to be exact. I will give updates on my progress in my foreign languages here. The Asian languages are the most difficult to an American because there is no "relation" between the character (written word) and its pronunciation. However, it is said that even though a person cannot say the word, they can understand it, which to me is fascinating. :D

I love to read, and this has helped me in my journey of learning languages because it makes me "well-versed". I was taught from the King James Version of the Bible, which is considered "old English" nowadays and my peers consider it "hard English", meaning that to them it is difficult to understand. Since I was raised on this style of English, it is understandable to me.

I have learned that every foreign language has their archaic versions and their modern versions of their language. Knowing the archaic style of English helps me understand the archaic style of the foreign languages better.

Chinese, as you may or may not know, has two main styles of writing: Simplified and traditional characters. The Traditional form is what most people used originally and it is akin to American's Old English in comprehension. A bit hard to chew at times. So the Simplified was created with the hope of increasing the literacy rate in the People Republic of China. This year's goal is to learn to read and understand Traditional Chinese Mandarin.

I know what you're thinking....why didn't I start with the Simplified characters. Well, I have researched different websites on the subject and talked to various chinese natives and have deduced the following:
The chinese characters are, in essence, pictures...they are like the Egyptian hieroglyphs, where a picture doesn't mean a specific word per se, but rather an idea or a concept. There are base roots to the characters they call radicals. and depending on where these radicals are placed in the character, it can mean different things.
Now, simplified characters were created so that it is easier to write. They are a version of the traditional characters but specifically designed for writing less strokes. It is like "shorthand" English. For example, when you take notes and you abbreviate your words so that you can keep up with the teacher in writing down the things she is saying, otherwise you would have to ask the person to repeat themselves so that you don't "miss" anything. :D
Another thing I have learned is that a simplified character can mean more than one traditional character, which can often lead to confusion for me if either traditional character will work in the sentence I am trying to read. :)
Also, the simplified form is not accepted in all countries where chinese is spoken, which is important to know.

Now, to me this tells me several things. The first and most important is that though the Simplified version is easier to write, it can be a bit confusing.
The second is that it is not accepted in some countries. This means that not all chinese-speaking countries will understand a person who uses Simplified characters. However, all countries used to use the traditional characters, and so understand them when used.
The traditional form requires more strokes on the written form, but is more easily understood than the simplified. The reason it is more easily understood is that those extra strokes give a deeper understanding. This reason alone makes me believe that a foreigner should learn the traditional first. For that deeper understanding is a key ingredient in learning what makes the language "tick". Then, after learning the traditional, one can learn to write its, err, "shorthand" version. :D

All for now,
-Denaz