Mandarin Uncensored Class 2

Mandarin I Berkeley Extension: Class 2, Sept. 13, 2011, Virginia Mau, instructor. Notes and irritating commentary by Jennifer Ball.

Mandarin Uncensored © 9/9/2011: avail. at www.originofalphabet.com rev. 28 September 2011 9:40 AM Page 1

Mandarin I Berkeley Extension - Class 2 Sept. 13, 2011425 Market StreetSan Francisco, CA

Professor: Virginia Mau (pronounced “Mew”)Email: [email protected]

Notes taken and commentary (marked by“Note:”) by Jennifer Ball (because of the typeface which I must use to render the Chinese characters correctly, extra spaces are occasionally seen before and after apostrophes and quotes).

Ms. Mau’s birthday: June 18, 2011 (Changed to protect her privacy; she says, don’t ask age, it’s rude.)

二零一一年六月十八号 èr líng yī yī nián liù yuè shí bā hào er4 ling2 yi1 yi1 nian2 liu4 yue4 shi2 ba1 hao4 two zero one one year six month ten eight day

Hao4 号 is oral only; written it would be ri4 日.

How to ask the date:

今天几号 Jīn tīan jī hàoJin1 tian1 ji1 hao4Today is which date?

今天是几月几号 Jīn tīan shì jī yuè jī hàoJin1 tian1 shi4 ji1 yue4 ji1 hao4Today is which month which date?

今天是九月十四号 Jīn tīan shì jiǔ yuè shí sì hàoJin1 tian1 shi4 jiu3 yue4 shi2 si4 hao4Today is September, 14th.


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昨天是九月十三号Zuó tīan shì jiǔ yuè shí sān hàoZuo2 tian1 shi4 jiu3 yue4 shi2 san1 hao4YesterdaywasSeptember,13th.

明天是九月十五号Míng tīan shì jiǔ yuè shí wǔ hàoMing2tian1 shi4 jiu3 yue4 shi2 wu3 hao4Tomorrow will be September, 15th.

Aug. 19th, Chinese Lunar New Year. Look up birthday in Lunar New Year. http://www.chineseanimalsigns.com/years.htm (I’m the year of the dog: 狗.)The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. It is not exclusive to China, but followed by many other Asian cultures as well.[1] In most of East Asia today, the Gregorian calendar is used for day-to-day activities, but the Chinese calen-dar is still used for marking traditional East Asian holidays such as the Chinese New Year (the Spring Festival (春節)), the Duan Wu festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival, and in astrology, such as choos-ing the most auspicious date for a wedding or the opening of a building. Because each month follows one cycle of the moon, it is also used to determine the phases of the moon. The year 2011 in the Chinese calendaristheYearoftheRabbit.ItbeganonFebruary3,2011andwillendonJanuary22,2012.Ac-cordingtotraditionalbeliefs,someformofthecalendarhasbeeninuseforalmostfivemillennia.Basedon archaeological evidence some form of it has been in use for three and a half millennia. The year 2011 is reckoned in the seldom-used continuously numbered system as 4708 or 4648 (depending on the epoch used)...” (Wikipedia).

Ms. Mau says only tourists say 你好“Ni3Hao3.”Itisconsideredcoldanddistant,afor-mal expression

吃了吗Chi1 le ma? “What’s going on?” (literally “Have you eaten?”)

吃了吃Chi1 le. or Mei2 chi1Eaten. or Not eaten.

Youwouldsay,“Ni3hao3”toyourneighborthefirsttime,andthenafterthat,somethingelse. Say instead:

怎么样？ Zeng3meyang4?Evenmorecasualis:Ze3meyang4?What’s happening? What’s up? How have you been?

Answers:

好 Hao3 good

不好 Bu1hao3 notgood

很好 hen3hao3 verygood(hen3soundslike“hung”)

不很好 Buhen3hao3 notverygood

非常好 Fei1 chang2 hao “not ordinary good,” hence, very good

马马虎虎 ma3ma3hu1hu1 so-so(horse,horse,tigertiger)

馬/马 (traditional/simplifiedhorse,ma3)(Ms.Mausaysthisexpressionrelatestokid’scartoon,XiǎoMǎHǔ.Icouldnotfindanymention of this on the internet.)

你呢 Ni3ne Andyou?(literally“You”questionparticle)

我也很好 Wo3ye3hen3hao3 Ialsoverygood.

What’s the meat price today? That’s how cool people greet now.

Accordingtohttp://asianmajor.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/%E4%BD%A0%E5%90%83%E4%BA%86%E5%90%97%EF%BC%9Fni-chi-le-ma/other appropriate phrases include:





你离了吗？Ni li le ma?” using the ‘li’ from 离婚 lihun, which means to divorce! They’re not really asking “Have you divorced?” – it’s more a crack about how much the divorce rate in China has risen. It is still nowhere near the divorce rate in the US, but it is much higher than it used to be even 20 years ago!

These days some city dwellers instead of asking “Have you eaten yet?” ask “Where are you in traffic?”! (堵车 duche = to be stuck in traffic)

生日 Sheng1 ri4 = Birth day: day you were born

我生日是五月十九号Wo3sheng1ri4shi4wu3yue3shi2jiu3hao4.My birthday is May 19.

谢谢 xie4xie (shay she-ay)Thank you

再見 Zai4jian4Good-bye (literally “again to see”)

早 Zao3=morning(Ms. Mao says, “Tao is rude, so make sure to get the ‘Z’ sound in the beginning.”)

There are 25 meanings of “tao” in all four tones. Possibly Ms. Mao means 檮 táo,which translates as “blockhead, piece of wood.” Or could she mean 饕 tāo:glut-tonous? Or perhaps 討/讨 tǎo:askfor;sendpunitiveexpedition;todemand;tomarry? A punitive expedition that ends in marriage is always rude.)

上 Shang4 = up. 下 Xia4 = down

早上好 Zao3shang4hao3=Goodmorning(early)上午好 Shang4wu3hao3=Goodday(10-noon,or11-1saysMandarinTools)

下午好 Xia4wu3hao3=Goodafternoon.晚上好 Wan3shang4hao3=Goodevening.

安 An1 = peace

晚安 Wan3an1=Goodnight

請/请 qing3=to ask; to invite; please to treat (to a meal, etc); to request

When the check come, 你请 ni3qing3means“youpayforit.”我请 wo3qing3means“Ipayforit.”

第 di4designatesanordinalnumber:first,second,third,etc.

課/课 ke4=lesson,class,subjectAccording to MandarinTools.com, ke4 also means “to woof.” 緙/缂.Thequestionbeing does “to woof” mean “throw up” or “bark”?

第课 di4wu3ke4=5thlesson,wuke=5lessons

文 Wen2=literature,arts,gentle,quiet





Pronounce these like you have a cold:

g k h j q xguah kuah hua gee chee shee

雞/鸡 ji1ischickencurl tongue:

zh ch sh rztzer chure sur er

flattongue:z c sztz ts s

Ugoeswitheverythingexceptforwhatügoeswith,whichis:j,q,andx,butwhenümixeswithj,q,orx,theumlautdisappears.j q xju qu xu

知道 zhīdào(zhi1dao4)=Iknow(thisdao4isthesameasTao,meaning“theway,” of Taoism, and you can see that there is a path in this character)

好滋味 hǎo zī wèi (hao3zi1wei4)=tastegood

(Notsurewhatthesewordsconnectto;willfindout.)

zha4 shi2che1 ze3

y like i, w like u, ee like i, but e is a fake smile.

明晚天 Ming2wan3tian1=seeyoutomorrow

下个星期二见 xiàgexīngqīèrjiàn(xia4gesing1qier1jian4)=See you next Tuesday (er4 = second day of week)Literally “next ge week day two, see.”

Geisageneralclassifierforthings.Likewesay“twosheetsofpaper”ratherthan“twopapers.”

I found this at urbandictionary.com when I was searching the above term:

見/见 jiàn(jian4)=tosee/tomeet/toappear

上 shàng(shang4)=before(andon;up;ontop;upon;first(oftwoparts);previousorlast (week, etc.); upper; higher; above; previous; to climb; to go into; above; to go up)

上星期 shang4xing1qi1=lastweekLeft/right:

左右zuǒ(zuo3)pronounced“tsuo” yòu(you4)pronounced“yo”left right





Front/back:

前後/后qián(qian2)pronounced“chi-en” hòu(hou4)pronounced“hofront back

Ms. Mau says, “Map of China looks like a chicken.” (I think the head is upper right.)

東/东 dōng (dong1) = east

南 nán (nan2) = south

西 xī (xi1) = west (pronounced “sshe”)

北 běi (bei3)=north

Between points are referred to as “eastnorth” or 东北 dong1bei3;“eastsouth”or北南 dong1nan2; westnorth or 西北 “xi1bei3”;andwestsouthor西南 “xi1nan2.”

The directions go east, south, west, north in Chinese, but the character of west makes one wonder at this order. There are four compass points, and the character for “west” looks very similar to the character for “four” and the pronunciation is very similar. They also share a similarity to the “wine” character, and as the sun sets in the west, this implies that happy hour is a very old concept.

京 jīng(jing1)=capitalBeijing=northcapital

Thoughts on eyes:

晚 wan3 = night (you need sharp eyes to see at night)

色 se4 = color, look, appearance (you need

sharp eyes to see color)

靶 ba4 = target, bull’s eyeNote the similarity of the above three characters. All include a form of two rectangles which stand in for

eyes.The“r”lookingcharacteronthefirsttwomeans“horn”角 or some kind of sharpness. It takes sharp eyes to see both color and at night. In the third example, the radical on the left is a bull, therefore thecharacterontherightinthisinstanceresembleeyes,forthedefinition:bull’seye.Notealsothatthesecond one, meaning color, is “se” in Pinyin, not far from the English word, “see.”

Chinesecharactersanddefinitionsfrom:http://ctext.org/dictionary http://www.mandarintools.com/

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Mandarin Uncensored Class 2