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Any sinophiles in the blog? If so, you’re going to love these free ChinesePod podcasts put out by a new language teaching company called Praxis. I know what you’re thinking, it sounds like one of those made-up evil company names usually reserved for action movies starring Tom Cruise or Matt Damon: “There’s a mole working for Praxis and we’ve got to figure out who, and quick!”
But trust me when I tell you that over 250,000 people around the world are tuning in regularly to get their fill of practical, high frequency Mandarin dialogs. A good chunk of those people are also paying for the premium service, which allows you to Skype chat with teachers.
Pretty cool to think that all you need is a broadband connection to bone up on your Chinese. And Praxis isn’t content with just Chinese, they’ve also got a second service running now called SpanishSense and will soon expand into other languages, as well.
Meanwhile, the only thing I know how to say in Chinese is ni hao. If you know others, feel free to drop some other important phrases in the comments for the sino-curious.
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She-shea – (see-shay), means “thank you” in Mandarin. It’s quite useful and confuses the staff at the local Chinese buffet.
Also, “gung how fat choy” is a traditional greeting at New Years’.
That wipes out my Chinese vocabulary. I’m better at Latin and Greek…
Doc
posted by Doc on 6-21-2007 at 8:03 am
Actually, in pinying (the way to write Chinese using an alphabet) thank you is xie xie (which equivocates to something like shee-ay shee-ay, except said fairly rapidly.)
Let’s see, other phrases… zaijian (tzi jee-en) is goodbye.
Duoshao-qian (dwoh she-ow chee-en) is how much does it cost.
And 1-10 is: yi(ee), er(are), san(sahn), si(suh), wu(woo), liu(lee-oh), qi(chee), ba(bah), jiu(jee-oh), shi(sure).
There’s also the tones that go with the words, but it’s kind of complicated, so even though you should learn the tones when you learn the words, I’ll leave that learning up to someone else.
Well, that’s all the wisdom I feel like imparting right now, as it’s bedtime in China (where I live).
posted by greenstrawberries on 6-21-2007 at 8:39 am
A slight deviation of subject here…
A company called Rosetta Stone has a cool program called Endangered Languages. If your community happens to speak an endagered or disappearing language and/or you want to find some way to pass on your culture’s language to your children, the company will help develop learning software for you. The end product is owned by the community to use as they wish. A number of Native American communities have already taken advantage of the program…
Just thought it was interesting…
posted by Jason! on 6-21-2007 at 8:55 am
Praxis was the Klingon moon that exploded in Star Trek that brought the Klingon Empire to the negotiation table with the Federation.
What that has to do with this company, I have no idea, but leads to some interesting thoughts.
oops…my geek is showing…
posted by Ed Hands on 6-21-2007 at 9:47 am
Aside from what’s already been posted, the only useful things I can say in Chinese are yes (”boo”) no (”boo shu”). Excuse my phonetics, I don’t know the pinyin but that’s how it sounds to me.
Surprisingly, on a recent trip to China I got along just fine with hello, thank you, yes, and no. I knew “how much does it cost” but I never had to use it because my point came across when I showed interest… that and a lot of people in Beijing speak decent English ;)
posted by Sara on 6-21-2007 at 11:46 am
see-shay to all!
posted by David on 6-21-2007 at 12:07 pm
From Wikipedia…
Praxis (process), the process of putting theoretical knowledge into practice.
posted by Ed Hands on 6-21-2007 at 2:04 pm
I don’t know the correct pinyin for it, but my favorite phrase is wo boo sher lu sher: I am not a lawyer.
posted by Rachel on 6-21-2007 at 2:41 pm
I hate to point this out (I’m really sorry Sara, but I’m a teacher and I can’t leave well enough alone.) but there isn’t a straight word for no in Chinese (Mandarin- no idea about Cantonese). Bu shi (what Sara said was no) is actually I’m not. And Bu(boo) is not yes, it’s just what they use for negation. Yes is hao(how), or duai(doo-way) usually. There are other ways to say yes that are regional. The way that you say no in Chinese is you take the main verb in your sentence and put ‘bu’ before it. So, I am an American is: Wo shi Meiguoren(woh sure may-gwoh-ren). The same word order as English, so shi is the verb. I am not an American is: Wo bu shi Meiguoren.
I wish on a near daily basis that were a word for no. It plays into the culture too though, which can be annoying at times. (from my western perspective, there are times when you are just supposed to say “No”.)
posted by greenstrawberries on 6-21-2007 at 9:00 pm
The Praxis is also a teaching exam by ETS (publishers of the SAT, GRE, TOEFL, etc.).
posted by Kristen on 6-21-2007 at 9:13 pm
Wo Bu Chur Dao….
(I Dont Know)
posted by Sok on 6-26-2007 at 12:19 pm