or a north american chinese food buffet chain if you prefer
Hey. I want to know how to say some things in Mandarin (anything from "Hey" to "What's up?" to taunts useful on the basketball court) and can't seem to find help anywhere else, so I came here. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, guys ;) Peace.
erhm..
well, here's what little i learned through my sister ^_^
Ni how ma -> Hello, how are you doing? Or something like that.
After that, i only have single words which i don't think would be very useful.
sorry cid!
I knew you'd be the first, if not only, person to respond :D Thanks, Sylv
lol...
i'm not the only asian in here cid ;)
Rakso, fe, must know some too!
I know that, but would he know Mandarin? :| JBay doesn't, and he's also fe. Not to say that that means Rakso couldn't...
Quote:Ni how ma
Better than asking someone from Zambia about Italian though.
I know how to say "thank you", but not how to spell it. I've seen many variations from "shay-shay" to "xie-xie".
does anyone know the names of the numbers in either Mandarin or Cantonese?
The proper spelling is "xie-xie" if you follow the official Pingyin spelling. Otherwise, "shay-shay" is a poor approximation of the pronunciation. ;)
non-official spelling for mandarin
ee
er
sun
si
wu
liu
chi
pa
chiu
si
good luck without knowing the tones.
I didn't even know Mandarin Oranges could talk.
Quote:good luck without knowing the tones
cantonese numbers are:
yet
nghay
som
say
mmm
loke
tit
bought
gue
set
Hi Everybody!
Thought it may be straying off the topic, the cantonese numbers are similar to the numbers I learned when I was 5 years old in Kung Fu:
Yut, Yee, Sum , Say, Ng, luck, chut, buck, gow, sup.
Not sure if those are accurate. My teacher wasn't Japanease.
Anyway, I just saw LOTR over here in Philippines. It was opening day yesterday. Stupid film festival. it rocked. That's another post.
Bye Everybody!
JBay
What is Mandarin?
Sounds like Sindarin the elven-language.
It is a form of Chinese, and iirc the language spoken by the most people on the planet.
Mandarin = chinese dialect
or a north american chinese food buffet chain if you prefer
What does iirc stand for?
...if I recall correctly.
Mandarin is the language most commonly spoken in mainland china, taiwan and singapore. It is also the official langauge of the chinese. It is NOT a dialect. There are hundreds of different dialects spoken in china though. And yes, I am a chinese.
I like oranges, especially the mandarin kind.
-Squirrel
Paranoid Android, maybe you can teach Cid some Mandarin, then? =)
A young woman should be addressed "Nu Shi"; something like Miss
A man is informally addressed as "Shih" very roughly = "Mister"
A group of men are formally addressed as "Ch'un Tzu" which is something like "Gentlemen"
A "ch'i" is a foot, and a "li" is a mile.
That's about all I know, that might conceivably be useful.
I'm sure that there are some books you can borrow from your local library that can help, or better yet, get the nearest chinese neighbour you can find.
Actually, I think you'll find that while mandarin may be the most common *native* language - ie the main langauge - of people in the world, english has it hands down beaten in terms of the number of people who speak it or are learning it. There are more people learning english in china than live in america. I'm not trying to be linguistically imperialist or anything, it's just my understanding.
Shadow: I've never heard those words before, you know, especially not in Beijing?
Quote:
There are more people learning english in china than live in america. I'm not trying to be linguistically imperialist or anything, it's just my understanding.
er... did anyone claim that mandarin is the most spoken? frankly speaking, i don't give a flying shit which language is the most spoken or used.
Well, they could be either incorrect, archaic, or seldom used, but I think it's probably one of the latter two.
Probably the first. I think li, for example, is a measurement that dates back to the Warring States period, something-something B.C.? Gong li is the modern adapatation, or the kilometer?
Actually, there's not much difference in "li" or "gong li" it's like saying I'll have some fries please and I'll have some french fries please.
True, though I think it always meant kilometer and not mile?
Sorry, but I never drove in Beijing.
But Shadow's pronouns are alien to me.
(delurk)
Shadow:
Nu3 Shi4 is leans towards "Lady" rather than "Miss"
Don't know about the rest.
li: mile
gong li: kilometre
The first is usually used in older text before the Metric system. Prefix with "gong" to mean the metric system ("gong1" = official). Colloquially, just "li3" these days just implies kilometre.
Disclaimer: Though I had roughly twelve years of Chinese Education (Mandarin), I suck at it (okay, okay, I flunked)
The numbers after the words denote the different tones to the vowels (5 different tones).
P.S. I've no idea what M:TG is called in Mandarin.
yau4 wan2 mah1 = wanna play?
ni3 sian1 = you first
ni3 sian1 kai1 zhi3 = you start first
ren4 su1 mah1? = concede?
ni3 su1 liao3 = you have lost
Bear in mind that ni3 = you, wo3 = me/I.
And I cracked my opponent some timg ago up by saying comically after he slapped down a game winning card:
Oh no, wo2 shi3 liao3. (Oh no, I'm dead now).
(drag the "oh" and "no", and speak English every other time)
Have fun, people.
(re-lurk)
I think you ping yin is a bit off (and the accent marks are a pain)... mind if I clarify?
Is "ni su liao" your say of saying "you're dead" meaning "you have lost"?
wow Rakso, you speak six languages? that's like 5.5 more than most people I know.
earlier in the thread, "xie-xie" was mentioned as "thank you" in Mandarin. is "domo arigato" correct for Japanese? how do you say "thank you" in Tagalog?
Little known fact: Rakso is actually infinite monkeys on typewriters with infinite time, with a Magically inclined editor.
Lessee, that's "Salamat" in tagalog.
Not trying to be totally ingnorant or anything, but where do ppl speak Tagalog?
In the Philipines (not sure about the spelling).
-Rico
Philippines sounds very logical...
BTW, yeah, Domo arigato would be like "Thank you very much"... Well, jap friend isn't around for me to ask, but iirc. You can also just borrow a book and check. It should one of the first things you'll see.
Although domo arigato is a bit too formal for everyday speech, isn't it?
I knew I spelled it wrong.
I suppose that we arrogant Americans are good at that.
You didn't spell it wrong.
It's just that the Japs have multiple levels of formality that what you're saying might technically mean the same but be completely out of context.
I didn't spell it wrong? I used one 'P' in Philippines and you used two.
rakso:well, i could see myself using it with my dad if we were a "Standard Asian family" (TM) ;)
But yeah, arigato (*got to elongate the last "o" a bit) is should be ok, methinks....
Plus, you're almost never _too_ polite, unless you're addressing your li'l nephew or something ^_^
does anyone know what numerical year and cyclical animal we are approaching in the Chinese calendar?
Horse (starting feb.11,2002)<- in "english" calendar
Min su'lef trtue conmo t'suen fen xie-syun ritt
which means
I also like bannanas coated in lucrative laxatives!
so what year is it? it's certainly not 2002.
...btw "english" is not really accurate since it's used all over Europe, too. "Gregorain" or "Christian" is probably what you're looking for.
Happy New Year!
does anyone know how to say it in Mandarin?