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1on1 Mandarin — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:23:21 +0000

NEW! Learn Chinese Language Fast Guide (85)

How to Study Chinese Guide (433)
Free Chinese language study guide available for download in pdf format. This useful guide covers topics such as learning strategies, learning styles, maintaining motivation, overcoming barriers, memorizing vocabulary, and other issues in the study of Mandarin. Now freely available online with hard copies available at our Chinese language school in Beijing. Tell all your friends!

Wubi and Pinyin – Which Chinese Character Input Method?

Duncan — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:21:42 +0000

Writing Chinese characters by hand is a confusing task of memorizing strokes and characters, but the use of computers has made it slightly easier- perhaps an unfortunate blessing since I’ve heard time and time again from local coworkers how their grasp of writing out Chinese characters has regressed because they only now need to recognize characters due to their constant use of Chinese input methods. There are many types of input methods available; some which are based on pronunciation, while others on character structure, character set or a combination of pronunciation and character structure. I’d like to talk about two of the popular Chinese character input method editors (IME): Pinyin and Wubi.

Pinyin (拼音输入法)

The Pinyin IME (拼音输入法 pin1yin1 shu1ru4fa3) allows users to input Chinese characters by typing in the pinyin of a Chinese character, and the Pinyin IME then presents the user with a list of characters with that pinyin pronunciation. The advantage of the pinyin input method is that it’s very easy to learn for Mandarin speakers, since those who are familiar with pinyin will already be able to input Chinese characters with almost no training, which is not the case with other input methods. The Pinyin IME is very popular in mainland China, since children are already required to learn pinyin in school. However the Pinyin IME was created based on the pronunciation of standard-Mandarin so native Mandarin speakers who speak with accents will have a hard time distinguishing a number of similar sounding syllables, such as c and ch, s and sh, z and zh, n and ng, h or hu and f, or n and l. Moreover, Chinese dialect speakers who don’t know pinyin, or speak Mandarin, will not be able to use this input method at all.

Wubizixing (五笔字型输入法)

The Wubi IME, short for The Wubizixing (五笔字型输入法 wu3bi3zi4xing2shu1ru4fa3) allows users to input Chinese characters based on the structure of characters rather than their pronunciation, making it possible to enter Chinese characters even when the user doesn’t know the pronunciation, or if the user speaks a dialect of Chinese. As the name suggets, the Wubi 五笔 (wu3bi3) IME divides the keyboard into five regions, which is assigned a certain type of character stroke, which allows for the user to efficiently write characters with at most 4 keystrokes. Another efficiency in using Wubi over phonetic character input methods, is that users don’t have to select characters from a list of similar homo-phonic choices, and so there’s a greater ability for a Wubi typist to ‘touch’ type without having to look at the computer screen. However, a major drawback to learning Wubi is that it has a high learning curve, and requires memorization and practice for a user to use it proficiently.

Which Input Method?

My recommendation for choosing between these two Chinese character input methods would be to consider your goal for typing Chinese. If you aim to be a professional Chinese typist, and need to input Chinese characters at a high rate, then it may be well worth your time to learn the Wubi IME system. However, if you are a standard-Mandarin speaker, and only need to input Chinese for casual computer use such as online chatting and surfing, then the Pinyin IME system will be more than sufficient for your needs.

Are you a well versed Chinese typist? Share your views on these two Chinese character input methods, or any other input method that you may be using already, in the comments below.

How to Deal With Traveler’s Diarrhea in Beijing

Duncan — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:32:57 +0000

Hopefully this subject won’t be too uncomfortable of a read, but traveler’s diarrhea (拉肚子la1du4zi0) is a real issue that many of our students at 1on1Mandarin have experienced on arrival to China, and it even affects permanent expat residents in China every now and then- though perhaps you might want to save this read for a time when you’re not eating or snacking on something.

Traveler’s diarrhea is usually caused by eating unclean food or water, though normal diarrhea can also be caused by anxiety, stress, allergies, fatigue, and changes in diet- all of which are things that a new visitor to Beijing will encounter as they adjust to this densely populated city, and experience the culture shock of adjusting.

Symptoms:

The symptoms of traveler’s diarrhea are four to five loose or watery stools per day, though vomiting can also be a symptom. Traveler’s diarrhea usually lasts 3 or 4 days, and only a few cases does it last longer; in some rare cases, it can last more than 3 months.

Treatment:

Two of the popular drugs that many travelers take are bismuth subsalicylate (which is found in Pepto-Bismol), and Imodium. Taking Pepto-Bismol tablets before travel, and during travel, can help to prevent many cases of diarrhea, though some travelers like to carry the liquid form with them and take a dose before a meal (I would recommend that you read the CDC site for Traveler’s Diarrhea on recommended usage though). Imodium can also be taken to provide quick relief by reducing the muscle spasms in the gastrointestinal tract.

Unfortunately, Pepto-Bismol is not easy to come by in Beijing, and is only sold by some of the international clinics and hospitals in the city. Imodium, however, is more commonly found among the pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals. It’s best to prepare well, and bring some from your home country before arriving in Beijing, to avoid having to search around the city when you need it the most.

If you’re really having trouble finding these drugs in the city, you may find some willing and helpful incoming expats on the forums thebeijinger and Chinese-forums.com that are may offer a helping hand to bring some extra in with them, provided you pay them back, of course.

Finally, don’t forget to rehydrate if you’re experiencing traveler’s diarrhea. Dehydration is very common result of the fluid loss, and a useful recipe for fluid replacement is:

Two glasses of fluid: the first glass containing 8 oz. of fruit juice, 1/2 tsp. of honey or corn syrup, and a pinch of salt, and the second glass filled with 8 oz. of purified or carbonated water and 1/4 tsp. of baking soda, and the traveler should drink alternately from each glass until their thirst is quenched.

For additional reading on traveler’s diarrhea:

Wikipedia: Traveler’s Diarrhea

Center for Disease Control: Traveler’s Diarrhea

University of Maryland- Medical Center: Traveler’s Diarrhea

Do you have any tips or advice? Let us know in the comments!

World Cup Chinese Vocabulary

1on1 Mandarin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 07:48:56 +0000

If you are in Beijing, Shanghai, or even other cities in China, I think you have noticed that China has huge number of soccer fans excited over the World Cup. Here around Wudaokou, almost every bar or cafe is open until all hours for the World Cup games as well. Your Chinese friends are probably talking about the World Cup all the time now. We put together some useful Chinese vocabulary so you can talk about the World Cup soccer games with your Chinese friends.

1. The World Cup-世界杯-（shì jiè bēi）

2. South Africa-南非 -（nán fēi）

3. Fan-球迷-（qiú mí）；Big Fan-铁杆球迷-（tiě ɡǎn qiú mí）

-他是意大利队的铁杆球迷。
He is a big fan of Italian team.

4. Goal-进球-（jìn qiú）-德国队的第一场比赛踢进了4个球。
The German team scored fours goals in the first game.

5. Penalty Kick-点球-（diǎn qiú）

6. Hand ball-手球- (shǒu qiú)

7. Header-头球-（tóu qiú）

8. Coach-主帅-（zhǔ shuài）

马拉多拉是阿根廷队的主帅。
Diego Maradona is the coach of Argentina.

9. Foul-犯规-（fàn ɡuī ）

10. Yellow Card/Red Card-黄牌（huánɡ pái）/红牌（hónɡ pái ）

-Maxi got a red card and been sent off.-Maxi被红牌罚下。

World Cup news, schedule and updates in Chinese: worldcup.qq.com

Random Posts

recharging and Checking minutes on china mobile

Jimmy Olsen — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 08:25:43 +0000

Omegadelta.net has a comprehensive post on navigating China Mobile’s automated service number, including plans, rates for voice, texts, data, international calling, and other information. Quite a good guide. If you just want some easy ways to recharge or check your balance on China Mobile, though, read on.

To get started, call 13800138000 to talk to a female robot (in Chinese) or a male robot (English). To navigate through the menus:

enter 2 for English
enter 2 to recharge (the guy says something like “to make an advance payment”but it means recharge)
enter 1# to recharge the cell phone you’re calling from
enter your PIN
enter # to end

You should hear a message confirming your recharge. After you hang up, you can text YE to 10086 to get a text message indicating your balance. The text will be in Chinese but you should be able to see numbers reflecting your recharge.

You can also save the number string 13800138000p2p2p1# on your phone, and set the number as a quick-dial number. Then all you’d have to do is call that phone number, then wait for it to enter digits for you automatically. Enter your PIN. Then, enter # to finish.

Alternatively, Omegadelta.net also says here that you can recharge your account by texting CZ [PIN number] to 10086.

A high-quality Chinese video website

1on1 Mandarin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:22:19 +0000

Today, we are introducing to you a high-quality Chinese video site: 奇艺(qí yì). It’s like Hulu.com in China. Their video quality is quite good, and stands out from other video sites in China. What’s more, they have many legal copies and full length movies, TV dramas and documentary films you can watch online for free. Please check it out at Qiyi video – www.qiyi.com.

We have a post about other Chinese video websites here, covering Youku.com, 56.com and Ku6.com. Among those four video sites, we would recommend Youku.com and Qiyi.com (they’re just like the Chinese version of Youtube and Hulu).

Mostly importantly, you can get access to tons of video resources to help you practice your Chinese listening and speaking. Hope this post is helpful and let us know if you find anything interesting.

Tomb Sweeping Day – 清明节 (Qīng Míng Jiē)

Jimmy Olsen — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:25:20 +0000

Tomb Sweeping Day’s Chinese name, 清明节 (Qīng Míng Jiē), literally means “clear bright festival”. Clear and bright refer to the arrival of spring. However, Tomb Sweeping Day is also known as Cold Food Day 寒食节 (hán shí jiē). Why? Read on to find out.

清明节 (Qīng Míng Jiē) is celebrated on April 5th, 2010 . It is a time to honor ancestors who’ve passed on by visiting their graves, clearing off debris or weeds, and offering flowers, food and incense at the grave site and the ancestral altar at home. 清明节 (Qīng Míng Jiē) is also a time for flying kites of all sizes, shapes, and colors. Many Chinese also burn paper money 烧纸钱 (shāo zhǐ qián) in order to send money that the deceased can use in the underworld. Some also burn cars, houses, and other useful objects to send them to the other side. (By the way, note that 烧纸钱 (shāo zhǐ qián) is not the same thing as 烧钱 (shāo qián), which means to spend money rashly. Don’t get it mixed up!)

But what’s the deal with the cold food?

According to English Bus Club’s blog post on 清明节,

“Qing Ming is popularly associated with Jie Zi Zhui, who lived in Shanxi province in 600 B.C. Legend has it that Jie saved his starving lord’s life by serving a piece of his own leg. When the lord succeeded in becoming the ruler of a small principality, he invited his faithful follower to join him. However, Jie declined his invitation, preferring to lead a hermit’s life with his mother in the mountains.

Believing that he could force Jie out by burning the mountain, the lord ordered his men to set the forest on fire. To his consternation, Jie chose to remain where he was and was burnt to death. To commemorate Jie, the lord ordered all fires in every home to be put out on the anniversary of Jie’s death. Thus began the “cold food feast”, a day when no food could be cooked since no fire could be lit.

The “cold food” festival occurs on the eve of Qing Ming and is often considered as part of the Qing Ming festival. As time passes, the Qing Ming festival replaced the “cold food” festival.”

Information for this post was compiled from whatsonxiamen.com, traditions.cultural-china.com and the English Bus Club.

Learn Chinese cooking terms

Jimmy Olsen — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 06:55:12 +0000

Francisco was planning to cook a great meal for his Chinese friends in his apartment. They arrived early to help him cook. He wanted to have Bavarian stir-fried vegetables with Russian borscht, which his friends had absolutely no experience with. So, he had to give them directions, but oh, no! When he wanted to ask someone to use the spatula to stir the vegetables, or to use the ladle to serve the soup, all he could say was “把那个。。。那个东西。。。那个，快点拿那个把它那个那个,快!”(bǎ nà gè 。。。nà gè dōng xī 。。。nà gè ，kuài diǎn ná nà gè bǎ tā nà gè nà gè ,kuài!) His poor friends didn’t know which kitchen utensil he wanted. It was like that all night.

So, they ordered KFC. Hope this post will help you avoid those situations.

In Chinese, 勺 (sháo) refers to spoon or a round utensil for eating/cooking, but can also refer to something that does what a spatula does – stirring or turning over food in a wok – 锅 (guō). 锅 (guō) is the generic name for most pots, but if you’re looking for a specific utensil or pot, see below. Cookware in general is called 烹调用具 (pēng diào yòng jù).

How to be a tough guy in Chinese

Jimmy Olsen — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:35:29 +0000

The following phrases are commonly used in casual spoken Chinese. They can help you to express your frustration, dissatisfaction, or ensure that people will not mess with you. Either that, or these phrases may earn you a free beating. Use at your own discretion.

The 找 (zhǎo)pattern: looking for…

找 (zhǎo) is most commonly used for 找东西 (zhǎo), i.e. looking for something. However, 找 (zhǎo) also has many other useful applications…

找茬 (zhǎochá), verb. To purposely find fault and pick at small details. Or, to make a fuss/make trouble.

他已经做得很好了，你别找茬了 (tā yǐjīng zuò děi hěn hǎo le, nǐ bié zhǎochá le) He’s done his best already; don’t be so picky.

A synonym for 找茬 (zhǎochá) is 找事 (zhǎoshì). Also, 没事找事 (méishì zhǎo shì), adj., is to be a busybody, or to complain, or to make a big deal out of something small.

你的博客不是已经修改了好几次了吗？别没事找事，快发布吧！(nǐ de bókè bù shì yǐjīng xiūgǎi le hǎo jǐ cì le ma? bié méishì zhǎo shì, kuài fābù ba!) Didn’t you revise your blog post like a million times already? Stop fussing and publish it!

Adding the particle 啊 (a) or 呀 (ya) at the end and emphasizing 茬 (chá) or 事 (shì) increases the note of aggression. The particle is usually pronounced with 轻声 (qīngshēng) – pronounced with a neutral tone.

Quite often, you’ll hear drivers yelling at pedestrians/bicyclists/other drivers/people when they get in their way and the drivers have to suddenly put on the brakes because they’ve been driving too fast. They’ll say, “找茬呀你?! (zhǎocháyanǐ)“, that is, you lookin’ for trouble?!

If your friends are making fun of you, you could also say, “找茬呀你?! (zhǎocháyanǐ)”, or alternatively, “找事啊你?! (zhǎoshìanǐ)” you lookin’ for trouble? you wanna start somethin’? Make sure to emphasize the 茬 (chá) or 事 (shì). Hopefully, your friends will know that you’re joking.

The 欠 (qiàn) pattern: you deserve a...

欠 (qiàn) means owe, or lack. In English sometimes people will say someone “needs a smackdown”. In Chinese, this can be expanded to express dissatisfaction at people and/or situations. Another reason why Chinese is such a wonderful language.

欠揍 (qiàn zòu) adj., deserves a beating
欠打 (qiàn dǎ) adj.,deserves to be hit
欠骂 (qiàn mà) adj.,deserves to be scolded
说话欠考虑 (shuōhuà qiàn kǎolǜ) adj.,speaks without thinking

这小孩儿总是不听话，真欠骂! (zhè xiǎoháir zǒngshì bùtīng huà, zhēn qiàn mà!) This kid is such a brat; he deserves a good scolding!

网络又出问题了，真欠揍! (wǎngluò yòu chū wèn tí le, zhēn qiàn zòu !) Internet’s down again; somebody’s gonna get a hurt real bad!

All of these can be used to express displeasure, but rarely is used to indicate a desire for actual violence. Anyway, it’d be irresponsible to not caution you to be careful who you say it to. Your good friends or coworkers that you can joke around with, no problem. But your boss or spouse…well, not so much.

Translate English movie titles into Chinese

Jimmy Olsen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:00:31 +0000

The Chinese translation of the title of the movie Top Gun:

好大一把枪 (hǎo dàyī bǎ qiāng) “what a big gun!”

There are just some things that a dictionary isn’t suited for.

Ever try to talk to your Chinese friends about some English movie, but get blank looks? Movie titles are hard to translate, and when translated literally, usually make no sense and tell you nothing useful about the movie.

That’s where mtime.com comes in. How do you say Hoosiers (1986 basketball film, Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey) in Chinese? Enter the film name in the top right-hand corner…

and you get 火爆教头草地兵 (huǒbào jiāotóucǎodì bīng), or “The Hot-Tempered Coach and the Grassland Soldiers”

Who would’ve thought?

The site also has trailers, reviews, theater information and showtimes for certain cities. Although it’s in Chinese only, mtime.com covers both Chinese and foreign films.

Now, anyone know any sites for getting Chinese titles for English music, books, or video games?

1on1 Mandarin Blog, learn to speak Chinese

Announcements

Related posts

Wubi and Pinyin – Which Chinese Character Input Method?

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How to Deal With Traveler’s Diarrhea in Beijing

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World Cup Chinese Vocabulary

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recharging and Checking minutes on china mobile

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Tomb Sweeping Day – 清明节 (Qīng Míng Jiē)

But what’s the deal with the cold food?

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How to be a tough guy in Chinese

The 找 (zhǎo)pattern: looking for…

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Translate English movie titles into Chinese

火爆教头草地兵 hoosiers (1986)

7.7

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1on1 Mandarin Blog, learn to speak Chinese

Announcements

Related posts

Wubi and Pinyin – Which Chinese Character Input Method?

Related posts

How to Deal With Traveler’s Diarrhea in Beijing

Related posts

World Cup Chinese Vocabulary

Random Posts

recharging and Checking minutes on china mobile

Related posts

A high-quality Chinese video website

Related posts

Tomb Sweeping Day – 清明节 (Qīng Míng Jiē)

But what’s the deal with the cold food?

Related posts

Learn Chinese cooking terms

Related posts

How to be a tough guy in Chinese

The 找 (zhǎo)pattern: looking for…

The 欠 (qiàn) pattern: you deserve a...

Related posts

Translate English movie titles into Chinese

火爆教头草地兵 hoosiers (1986) 7.7 x

Related posts

火爆教头草地兵 hoosiers (1986)

7.7

x