The Crew

The Crew
Christina, Matthew, Joshua and Katie Grace XiHua

Friday, January 8, 2010

LESSON IN CHINESE!

As I mentioned on an earlier post, I want to learn some Mandarin Chinese for our adoption. I know taking on the task of learning an Asian language will be very difficult without formal classes with a Chinese instructor to help me with accenting. (very different from the latin root languages) My husband got me the most wonderful gift for Christmas to help me get started- it's called, "Simple Language Chinese For Adoptive Families". It is a book and CD specializing in learning phrases that pertain to our situation in particular! The book has the phrases written out in English, and the official written chinese with the English alphabet, and also phonetically. Following along with the CD and the Chinese instructors accenting slowly. I am aware that I may not master it, but this will be a fun project and who knows, maybe I will learn a little! After all, we have a couple of years of waiting to do! Even my kids have learned several phrases as we drive in the car. Once I feel comfortable with more of it and since I work at Epcot (WDW), I will go and ask some friends from the China pavilion to help me out!
Here are some of the phrases I've memorized just in the past few weeks:

I am your mommy. Wo shi ni de ma ma. Waw shir nee duh mah mah.
I am your daddy. Wo shi ni de ba ba. Waw shir nee duh bah bah.
This is your sister. Zhe shi ni de jie jie. Juh shir nee duh jyeh jyeh.
This is your brother. Zhe shi ni de ge ge. Juh shir nee duh guh guh.
You are my daughter. Ni shi wo de nuu er. Nee shir waw duh new er.
You are my son. Ni shi wo de er zi. Nee shir waw duh er dzuh.
We love you so much! Wo men fei chang ai ni! Waw mun fay chahng eye nee.
You are so precious. Ni shi bao bei. Nee shir baow bay.
Don't be afraid. Bu yao hai pa. Boo yaow hi pah.
Don't worry. Bu yao dan xin. Boo yaow dahn sheen.
It's okay. Mei you guan xi. May yo gwan shee.
Can I hold you? Wo bao ni hao ma? Waw baow nee how mah?
Are you hungry? Ni e ma? Nee uh mah?
Are you thirsty? Ni ke ma? Nee kuh mah?
Yes. Shi. Shir.
No. Bu shi. Boo shir.
Hello. Ni hao. Nee how.
Goodbye. Zai jian. Tsai jyan.
How are you? Ni hao ma? Nee how mah?
Good. Hao. How.
Bad. Huai. Hwhy.
Please. Qing. Cheeng.
Thank you. Xie xie ni. Shyeh shyeh nee.

I'll add more phrases in a few weeks and we can all learn together!


3 comments:

  1. Some Americans say the sound of Mandarin is poetic.

    Japanese adopts a lot of Chinese characters, so, some Japanese know the advantages of the Chinese language. A learned Japanese states that Chinese language is very systematic and logic. He looks at Mandarin from a different angle.

    I’d say the writing of Chinese characters is beautiful.

    It’s also very interesting to note that every Chinese character and pronunciation has a reason or logic behind. That means we can learn Mandarin much easier if we understand the reasons or logic behind.

    Learning Mandarin can be entertaining and fun.

    I am a published author with 5 books on www.amazon.com.

    The book, Learn Chinese Through Song!: The Popular Chinese Nursery Rhyme (Baby's First Words in Chinese): Two Tigers ISBN: 1439265062 URL: http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Chinese-Through-Song-Popular/dp/1439265062/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260504677&sr=1-1, is about one of the most popular Chinese rhyme for parents and child. She will start to laugh when she hears this rhyme.

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  2. Sam, thanks so much for your commentary and the info on your books! I will try to highlight the web address you left on a new post. I am very interested!

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  3. Excellent Annie!

    Almost everyone knows the song Frère Jacques (Brother John) -- There are probably 50 versions of the song, in many languages. This song's Chinese version is "Two Tigers," which is very easy to learn. It's interesting to know that almost everyone in China and Taiwan sang "Two Tigers" when she/he was a child.

    By googling "two tigers Chinese song", you could find quite a few videos sung by some lovely children or even adults, though some have slightly different lyrics.

    Happy New Year of Tiger!

    ReplyDelete

Many hungry children near the boarder of Myanmar and Thailand-click on photo