One of my skype buddy asks me to teach him Chinese. Need some opinions, pls.

One of my skype buddy asks me to teach him Chinese. Need some opinions, pls.
Mar 29, 2007 22:43
SMILINGFISH Points: Join Date: Mar 29, 2007 Status: offline	Hi! I'm a Chinese girl and now this skype buddy who's a Canadian and planning on coming to China in 2009, asks me to teach him some Chinese. There's gonna be a total sun eclipse here and he's a big fan of astronomy stuff. Besides, he wants to stay in China for sevral months, so sounds like he really needs to know a little bit Chinese. That's great for me too cus I want to practice my English. But still, I'm a little bit nervous about that cus my English is not good enough to explain everything to him if I'm voice chatting. ( Good at writing poor at speaking, and when u r teaching Chinese u have to speak) So I guess I need to do some preparation in advance, so that I can tell him everything fluently, and really help. I googled "learn Chinese" and found this website. Great! Guess most of you have already been to China before, so I was wondering maybe you know what are the most important things in Chinese language that a traveller need to learn first(he'll be staying here for months, but I don't think he wants to be a Chinese language expert. lol so just skip those useless stuff and simply teach him the most useful ones) Ok let me put it this way: When u r in China, what do( did) you need to ask Chinese people very often? And what Chinese characters do you think are the most important? like "excuse me where can I find the men's room" and the sign of men's room(most of such places do have English signs but just in case some may not have). Well that's what I can come up with. lol And what else? BTW, don't you think we Chinese from different area speak totally different "Chinese". Even when we all are speaking Madarine, the official way of pronunciation, still, people pronounce in different ways. Till now I still can't understand my mother-in-law's "Madarine". How do you cope with that? lol rofl Oh, oh, and here's a little tip when u r traveling in China and you can speak and understand a little bit Chinese, if you want to ask some Chinese for help, go to those young people. Many seniors can't speak standard madarine, they usually speak in a very heavy local accent, sometimes I get puzzled too, let alone u r a foreigner(not all of them, but young people are much better). Ok, I'm looking forward to your great opinions. We'll start our "Chinese course" this weekend so it's kinda urgent. Thanks a lot in advance.

Mar 29, 2007 22:43

SMILINGFISH
Points:
Join Date: Mar 29, 2007
Status: offline

Hi! I'm a Chinese girl and now this skype buddy who's a Canadian and planning on coming to China in 2009, asks me to teach him some Chinese. There's gonna be a total sun eclipse here and he's a big fan of astronomy stuff. Besides, he wants to stay in China for sevral months, so sounds like he really needs to know a little bit Chinese.

That's great for me too cus I want to practice my English. But still, I'm a little bit nervous about that cus my English is not good enough to explain everything to him if I'm voice chatting. ( Good at writing poor at speaking, and when u r teaching Chinese u have to speak) So I guess I need to do some preparation in advance, so that I can tell him everything fluently, and really help.

I googled "learn Chinese" and found this website. Great!

Guess most of you have already been to China before, so I was wondering maybe you know what are the most important things in Chinese language that a traveller need to learn first(he'll be staying here for months, but I don't think he wants to be a Chinese language expert. lol so just skip those useless stuff and simply teach him the most useful ones)

Ok let me put it this way:

When u r in China, what do( did) you need to ask Chinese people very often? And what Chinese characters do you think are the most important?
like "excuse me where can I find the men's room" and the sign of men's room(most of such places do have English signs but just in case some may not have). Well that's what I can come up with. lol And what else?

BTW, don't you think we Chinese from different area speak totally different "Chinese". Even when we all are speaking Madarine, the official way of pronunciation, still, people pronounce in different ways. Till now I still can't understand my mother-in-law's "Madarine". How do you cope with that? lol rofl

Oh, oh, and here's a little tip when u r traveling in China and you can speak and understand a little bit Chinese, if you want to ask some Chinese for help, go to those young people. Many seniors can't speak standard madarine, they usually speak in a very heavy local accent, sometimes I get puzzled too, let alone u r a foreigner(not all of them, but young people are much better).

Ok, I'm looking forward to your great opinions. We'll start our "Chinese course" this weekend so it's kinda urgent. Thanks a lot in advance.

Mar 30, 2007 01:56	#1
ROSEKNIGHT Points: Join Date: Mar 21, 2007 Status: Offline	there have been some posts telling some simple chinses greetings in this forum. suggest you take as references!

Mar 30, 2007 09:49

SMILINGFISH
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Join Date: Mar 29, 2007
Status: Offline

Thank you roseknight. Yep I see the posts about greetings. Now I know why every foreigner I meet on Internet knows "Ni hao " "Chi le ma" lol Of course he already knows that.

Yep we say "Ni hao" almost everyday. And I prefer to say"Zao!" (早 meaning: morning) every morning when I see my colleagues. Or "Zao shang hao"

But we don't say "chi le ma" anymore. Yes I remember when I was a kid, I saw my neighbors greeting each other like that. But I don't do this now, neither do my friends. I say this only when I come back from the dinning room at noon and find one of my colleagues is still working there on her/his seat, and I want to remind her/him to go get lunch. I don't know since when, we talk about weather too, or some other stuff.

Mar 30, 2007 12:27

TRAVELLERMIKE
Points:
Join Date: Mar 15, 2007
Status: Offline

On of the big problems that your Canadian friend is likely to have is how to stay cool in the track of the 2009 eclipse - this will be 22nd July in a track from Shanghai through Hangzhou and Chongqing and right out to south western China. I think many overses visitors will be making plans to come to China for this experience. The eclipse is to be the biggest and best for over 100yrs past or future!

So... your friend will need to know how to order plenty of (non-alcoholic) drinks, how to select air-conditioned bus for travel, how to buy train tickets, how to ask for things not too spicy in restaurants (and how to ask for the bill when ready to leave), and finally, if planning to spend time in Shanghai, how to politely but firmly send away street peddlers trying to sell counterfeit watches to tourists :-)

Mar 30, 2007 18:43

APAULT
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Join Date: Mar 11, 2006
Status: Offline

Try to keep it simple. Teach words and short phrases, write the pinyin. REPEAT, use the phrases in each session until they are known, rather than trying to do too many. use words that have connections, eg today, tomorrow, yesterday. pig meat, chicken meat, etc. Also verbs and REPEAT

As an English teacher in China (OK overseas at the moment), I can tell you that your written English is excelent and I do not believe there can be much wrong with yr spoken English. You just need a little practice, DON'T BE SHY ...he also needs to learn to understand Chinglish! We can get used to the slightly different way you express things and some of the consistently 'wrong' words that Chinese use. Good luck :)

Mar 31, 2007 02:02	#5
CANDYQ Points: Join Date: Feb 8, 2007 Status: Offline	Yes, just as Apault said, Smilfish, you are excellent in written English, and I see that they are much oral than writtern, LOL, Just be condident, ecerything gonna be OK. BTW, It is the first time I heard the 2009 eclipse! It sounds great, thank you, Smilefish. :)

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