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Joined: Sep 2004
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journeyman
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Is there anybody who is an English speaker while learning Chinese, or who is interested in the translation between the two languages?

If yes, I would like to get to know.

Thanks very much.

I’m learning English. If u find anywhere I can improve my composition, Pls do let me know. Bow.


Do inform me if you see any corrections needed in my written English.
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I made a short attempt at learning mandarin a few years back, but I've put that on hold for a while. My favorite phrase is "Wo bu da hwei sho niminde hwa." My wife says I deliver it very well.

There are chinese student clubs at most major universities. These guys often like to practice their English. Also, I suspect there might be clubs at some very few american / brit high schools where students might be learning mandarin. You might check out the web for references.




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journeyman
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Hehe,you pronouced the sentence very well. And the phonetics is good and closer to its pronunciation than that we are using here.

Here we use "Wo bu da hui shuo ni men de hua", the same in fact considering the use of "u" in place "w" when in vowels.

Nice to talk with you in Chinese and Look forward to more of your talent in speaking Chinese.

Cheers,
Calli

I’m learning English. If u find anywhere I can improve my composition, Pls do let me know. Bow.


Do inform me if you see any corrections needed in my written English.
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enthusiast
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A question, callithump, if I may. The Fallible Friend called the language he started learning Mandarin, you call it Chinese. In lands outside the Middle Kingdom, we normally differentiate between the various Han languages, especially between Cantonese and Mandarin. Is it standard practice in China to translate "putonghua" as "Chinese", rather than "Mandarin"?


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[edited]
I would like to give all what I know about it for your reference only.

As a Chinese brought up in central China, we usually directly call our language as Chinese. However in southern China, for the local dialects are so diversified and different from the language used by officials, maybe the Chinese used by officials then is called madarin, so to differentiate it from the local languages.

For many people in southern China go abroad and many foreigners get to China first in the southern part,--maybe it's because the economics there is more flourishing than the north and the politics control is a little loose and far--, the terms such as mandarin and cantonese(one prevailing southern dialect) are gaining popularity, especially among the first group of foreigners.

Nowadays the term "Chinese" is gaining popularity over, especially, when referring to "putonghua". And you can use madarin if you are trying to differentiate from other local dialects such as cantonese for if you use Chinese here, it might be confusing because both cantonese and madarin are Chinese and in fact you are denoting "mandarin" Chinese,not "Cantonese" Chinsese.

Along with the spread of "Mandarin",--southerner may disagree--, the term madarin (used in Tsing Dynasty to refer to the language used by the court) is being considered as left from history and "Chinese" is more often used.

I hope this may not confuse you more. I admit that both my limited knowledge about Chinese language research and my broken English would contribute to the puzzlement.

Please feel free to raise further questions if you still believe I will not make things worse.

:)

I’m learning English. If u find anywhere I can improve my composition, Pls do let me know. Bow.


Do inform me if you see any corrections needed in my written English.
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Thank you, callithump. That was perfectly understandable, and answered my questions nicely.


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journeyman
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u r welcome! I'm grateful for your question to enable me to write so much. You know, it's not every thread that I can have this opportunity, though I want to.

I’m learning English. If u find anywhere I can improve my composition, Pls do let me know. Bow.


Do inform me if you see any corrections needed in my written English.
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stranger
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I think there must not be many Chinese here,born in Hebei Province,in the northern part of China and adjecent to Beijing,I am now enjoy learning English


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