Comments on: Praxis’s ChinesePod

By: Sok

Sok — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:19:53 +0000

Wo Bu Chur Dao….

(I Dont Know)

By: Kristen

Kristen — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 03:13:51 +0000

The Praxis is also a teaching exam by ETS (publishers of the SAT, GRE, TOEFL, etc.).

By: greenstrawberries

greenstrawberries — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 03:00:29 +0000

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”.)

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:41:48 +0000

I don’t know the correct pinyin for it, but my favorite phrase is wo boo sher lu sher: I am not a lawyer.

By: Ed Hands

Ed Hands — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:04:22 +0000

From Wikipedia…

Praxis (process), the process of putting theoretical knowledge into practice.

By: David

David — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 18:07:46 +0000

see-shay to all!

By: Sara

Sara — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:46:18 +0000

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 ;)

By: Ed Hands

Ed Hands — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:47:27 +0000

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…

By: Jason!

Jason! — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:55:14 +0000

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…

By: greenstrawberries

greenstrawberries — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:39:53 +0000

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).