Mandarin is Marvelous

How did you learn mandarin? I planning on starting this summer using pimsleur, could you suggest any other materials.

hi locke,
i am a chinese american...because my mom speaks mandarin to me, I understand it and tries to practice it...sometimes...

Anyways, to learn mandarin...i really don't know...but i can help you with mandarin if you like. It would be fun!

Locke,
we will start with the easiest words:

ni hao (hello)
ni hao ma (how are you?)
wo hen hao (i'm fine)
ni ne (how about you?)
zai jian (bye)
xie xie (thank you)

try that first...and see how you do...let me know...

Sure sounds great could you please pm me your email, and as soon as I start mandarin next week I will contact you, thanks.

-edit- I already learnt nihao, and nihao ma using tapes I just listened to them for about a minute just to check how the lessons were structured. Thanks for the quick reply, and help. I will work on those words. When I learn languages watching films, and so on are of great help unfortunately that isnt always true for all languages in your opinion would watching things in mandarin help once Ive advanced of course?

hey locke,

i mostly live on the internet, since i think they are the most wonderful tool EVERY. anyways, I will check back on this thread often so I can be of a help as much as i can :-).

Watching anything on TV can help you improve that language. What I found to be most helpful is that if you watch something like news or talk show, th best way is that everytime you hear the ppl in tv talk about something, you should repeat after them. THis way, you will practice both of your listening and speaking.

More helpful words for you:
dian shi (TV)
wo xi huan kan dian shi (I like to watch TV)
ping dao (TV channel)
xin wen (news)

Hope that helps and I will pm you. Good Luck!

at a silk market in taipei, I was trying to buy some silk for my wifes projects

Do sha qwan zzzzzz

when it should have been

do sha qwan zzhhshshsh (very close in sound)

In the second (correct) version , it is roughly how much is the silk?
BUT
what I said is
How much is a little boy?

My partner, who is Taiwanese , and every one laughed and laughed..

WoW! I have always admired those that have the ability to master other languages to the point of, at least understanding native practioners. I have devoted my life (partime) to trying to explore the subtlties of my native language of English. Then I discovered that there are nuances in "diplomatic" English not to mention those of our oriental friends and their diplomatic language that, when understood, seems to allow much wiggle room for both "sides". Please excuse my obvious ignorance on this subject but it really stems from my lack of exposure...but this is my cross to bare... my loss.

Thank you,

JM

wow, james, that post was hard to read...haha,
as long as anyone has a mind to learn, anything can come easily. IT is the nature of things. LOL, i learned mandarin because I kinda have to. I am learning spanish because it's a requirement for graduation. I am learning french because I want to. You see? As long as you want to, you can learn it. Besides, it's relatively easy.

xiang xue zhong wen hen jian dan. Ni zhi yao nu li jiou xing. (Wanting to learn chinese is very easy. You just have to work hard).

lol