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Mandarin speakers?

How the fuck do you do the tones properly? Tonal languages with 20 000+ charachters are ridiculassssse. How do you do it?? I mean position of the tongue, cheeks, teeth, breath, nunchaku and so on. Lira? Someone? You fucking ninjas are nuts.

edit: and if you say start with pinyin because it is easier don't...because i am and it isn't easier

I'm going to write a really long post with everything you need to know in an hour

Tones and position of tongue/consonants? Okay. Anything else?

I'll start with that. I appreciate it. I don't want to overload my plate.

My goal by september is to speak enough (at least pinyin) to:

-Greetings/basic conversation/teaching terms (for when i don't have a translator)

-Directions aka be able to direct a driver.

-Food (very important) I'm adventurous, have already eaten dog, scorpion, snake and so on, but i really want to know what i am buying, because i don't really trust them with food...at least not yet.

-Obviously terms of endearment towards females because i can fit 2.2 nijas on it.

-Money and business terms. I would like to learn to count to 100 but i think this might be a challenge in 2 months.

after that everything else is cake, and i hope to pick up more when there. My friend and partner's wife is Chinese so after i get used to it i'm hoping that she can fill in the rest of the important stuff as i go.

It seems easy, and it would in any other language (i could both read and write these terms in korean after less than 2 weeks.), but this is impossible. Pinyin doesn't even include the tones and i'm still calling my mother a donkey.

What really sucks is that i'm doing an Italian refresher at the same time and it can be confusing doing 2 languages in 1 even if my Italian is suffeciant enough to communicate.

Fuck My Life. My friend says they don't shave their pussies either...do you think it has something to do with communism?

probably nsfw.

www.orangetitedbitches.com

Anyone who has seen asian porn knows better than to think there's any reason to even visit that part of the world.

Asia is awesome. Who knew i would be all in on getting all in Asia after getting all in azia?

They make me penis look huge! mi hung guy!

Jokes dude. Makin jokes.

*segue*

its not funny because it isn't real

It can be. I hear Milton Bradley has an opening in creative at their Beijing hub.

too far

Here's all you need to know to start speaking mandarin with confidence:

Tones

Tones can be quite daunting if you don't already speak a tonal language. Still, the concept is quite easy: the way you pronounce a syllable (or a word) changes its meaning. The trick is getting the tones right.

Mandarin is quite simple, in the sense that there are just four possibilities. Mind you, the tones change quite a bit from place to place (the tones in Xian have little in common with the ones in Beijing), and you won't be completely misunderstood if you make a small mistake - as long as you distinguish the four tones properly.

• Flāt: Just keep your pronunciation steady. Don't fall, don't rise, don't anything. Just keep the damn thing steady. Pretend to be a singer sustaining a note in a Bas-like diva manner if you must, but don't change your pitch.
  Ríse: Let your pitch rise as if you were making a question. Except the "question intonation" is just inside the syllable. Start low, go upwards. That's pretty much it.
  Bŏunce: This is by far the most fun tone in Beijing Mandarin. Start high, get low, and then bounce back up.
  Fàll: Start with a really high pitch and then go down. It's just like saying "Fuck" when you stub your toe, except you can hold the sound a bit longer.

Blow	No	What the hell is going on?
p /pʰ/	b /p/	pin and spin. Simple as that. You can pronounce "b" as an actual /b/ if you want, they won't even notice.
t /tʰ/	d /t>	teen and steam. You can say dean for the latter as well. No probs.
k /kʰ/	g /k/	kin and skin. Say gain if you want to keep the "g" as an actual "g" in your head.
q /tɕʰ/	j /tɕ/	This is where your headache begins. This sounds a lot like "ch", except it's pronounced a tad bit more forward in the mouth. You can say "ch" for all they care, as long as you remember to make the aspiration with the letter "q". "j" can sound just like the first letter of your name.
ch /ʈʂʰ/	zh /ʈʂ/	This is a bit trickier. It still sounds like a "ch", except you have to curl up your tongue as if you were trying to pronounce the letter "r" at the same time. You're Canadian though, so it's probably just like saying "church" really really quick
c /tsʰ/	z /ts/	The "z" sounds like the z in "pizza". The "c" is its aspirated version. Not much of a challenge.
Voiced	Voiceless	Now let's go to a distinction you're already used to!
r /ʐ/	sh /ʂ/	Say "z" and "s" with your tongue curled way way on the back of your mouth, as if you're saying "pleasure" and "sure" in a somewhat retarded manner (that's closest you've got in the English language).

Thanks Lira. 9000 pubic hair for you.

will report back.

De rien

ironically enough, i believe that last pronunciation is similar to the r rien after the z and the s. At least i think so, and have been doing that.

quote:

Originally posted by zyklon-jay ironically enough, i believe that last pronunciation is similar to the r rien after the z and the s. At least i think so, and have been doing that.

There's some dialectal variation. It can sound like an actual Canadian "r", but I was afraid you could stumble upon the more zh'ish sound and wonder what the hell went on.

If it sounds like the French "r" (the one pronounced with your throat), then I'm sure there's definitely something lost in translation

quote:

Originally posted by Euforix Lira, I was expecting a longer novel.

I actually wanted to write in more detail, but I had unexpected visitors here in my office and I need to finish a presentation for tomorrow

Being able to speak the Moroccan dialect, it is surprising what else you can pronounce in pretty much any language. Now if only I can put that "skill" to good use and learn a couple more languages.
I really want to learn Italian, Greek and perhaps Japanese. But I have been concentrating on learning English the past few years that I haven't gotten round to any of those.

quote:

Originally posted by Lira There's some dialectal variation. It can sound like an actual Canadian "r", but I was afraid you could stumble upon the more zh'ish sound and wonder what the hell went on. If it sounds like the French "r" (the one pronounced with your throat), then I'm sure there's definitely something lost in translation

tabarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnak

quote:

Originally posted by Intellekshual Being able to speak the Moroccan dialect, it is surprising what else you can pronounce in pretty much any language.

Hey, you! Let me borrow your Arabicness you for a brief while: Do you pronounce ع and ح in the same part of your throat? I can (with some effort) pronounce the latter... but apparently I just can't pronounce the former without running out of air and have my life flesh before my eyes as I fall flat on the ground grasping for oxygen

Edit: I wish I could learn some Moroccan, and I know this is a bit of a heresy, but the best course I found teaches the Egyptian variety... and I can barely hear that bloody ع

quote:

Originally posted by Lira apparently I just can't pronounce the former without running out of air and have my life flesh before my eyes as I fall flat on the ground grasping for oxygen

LOL that is interesting, because the closest thing it sounds like is if were to try to reduce your air flow by putting pressure on your throat with your hand, or, in essence, choking yourself.
Probably a good exercise to get you familiar with producing the sound, the muscles that produce it, and what they need to do to produce it. Start saying "ah" and gently press your hand on your throat until you begin to hear the bloody ع , and keep practicing until you don't have to "choke" yourself in order to produce it... sounds like a lot of effort, not sure if worth it.

Or try to imitate a sheep or a goat, it essentially sounds like the bleat sound they make.

quote:

Originally posted by Intellekshual LOL that is interesting, because the closest thing it sounds like is if were to try to reduce your air flow by putting pressure on your throat with your hand, or, in essence, choking yourself.

A-ha! I knew it was close

quote:

Originally posted by Intellekshual Probably a good exercise to get you familiar with producing the sound, the muscles that produce it, and what they need to do to produce it. Start saying "ah" and gently press your hand on your throat until you begin to hear the bloody ع , and keep practicing until you don't have to "choke" yourself in order to produce it... sounds like a lot of effort, not sure if worth it.

Well, I've just got started, and I haven't even moved on to the words yet, so there's always the hope I'll nail this distinction down in the near future. Still, I can't quite remember the last time I decided to learn a language, heard the sound, read the description, and still didn't quite know where to begin

quote:

Originally posted by Intellekshual Or try to imitate a sheep or a goat, it essentially sounds like the bleat sound they make.

Actually, we imitate goats here using either ا or ه

quote:

Originally posted by Lira Well, I've just got started, and I haven't even moved on to the words yet, so there's always the hope I'll nail this distinction down in the near future. Still, I can't quite remember the last time I decided to learn a language, heard the sound, read the description, and still didn't quite know where to begin

It is not an easy language to learn at all, and most learners drop that letter altogether because they simply cannot pronounce it. Quite a few of them, however, persist and manage to reproduce it, or something tolerably close.

quote:

Originally posted by Lira Actually, we imitate goats here using either ا or ه

That is wrong!

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