Comments on: Lesson #10 - Apologies

by: admin

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:58:42 +0000

不用谢! （Bu yòng xiè) You’re welcome!

Kevin - We’ll keep that in mind. But please remember that all of the characters are explained at the end of the pdfs. It’s only natural that you can’t remember them at first, but as your literacy improves you’ll find yourself looking at the dictionary less and less.

by: Axel

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:28:38 +0000

Wo hen gan xiè!!!

Now I’m runing in my chinese lessons… you rule!!!

by: Kevin B Smith

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:42:33 +0000

I was wondering if you all would not mind putting the exact ways of saying (and meaning) of whatever Chinese characters that you put from now on? I am reading these and a lot of the time have no idea what they mean or how to pronounce them.

谢谢 (Xiè xie - Thank You),
Kevin

by: maxiewawa

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:34:36 +0000

iHola Axel! 你好Axel先生！

http://survivalphrases.com/chinese/2007/06/25/welcome/
http://survivalphrases.com/chinese/2007/06/27/restaurant-1-how-many-people/

Good luck!

by: Axel

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:59:27 +0000

Hello Maxiewawa!!!

I’m from Mexico and I’m very interested in your easy way to teach chinese, my question is: Where can I download the pdf of lessons 11 and 12???

Gracias!!! y hasta pronto!!!

by: John B

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 06:37:05 +0000

Maxiewawa,

Hehe, one in the same. But I don’t actually use this one for Chinese, just the Japanese and Korean I don’t have anything to add to those yet, unfortunately, though, so I commented here!

Michael,

No subway in Jilin, but 借光 is pretty useful on the bus, too.

by: Michael

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:16:55 +0000

Yes! I love 让一下! 让一下is also really good for passing other riders on your bike. Though a good, loud 看车！is the most effective when making your way through a crowd of pedestrians. (Kan4che1)

There’s subway in Jilin?

by: maxiewawa

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:50:52 +0000

Wow, I haven’t heard that before. 借光, that is. Very poetic!

I don’t think that any of this vocabulary is very useful here in Shanghai though, I can’t imagine many everyday social situations where one would apologize! I guess it’s a cultural thing though. I find it funny that 老师 mentioned apologising when using bad table manners. I can’t possibly imagine what bad table manners are here in China!

You do hear 让一下 a lot on the metro, but more common is the ‘Hey!’ which comes just before, or during, a shove in the back.

You wouldn’t possibly be the same John B from another podcast website that teaches 中文? I am the same maxiewawa.

by: John B

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 05:52:43 +0000

Two ways to say “excuse me” that might be of use. In northeast China (I can confirm this for Jilin province, but I think it’s a pretty standard dongbei usage), you can say 借光 (jièguāng), which literally means “borrow light.” More common, perhaps, is 让一下 (ràng yíxià, note the tone change on yí), which literally means “allow briefly,” and can be translated as something like “let me through.” A more brusque version is 让我吧 (ràng wǒ ba), which is helpful on the subway