tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22408198.post5811323235479261048..comments2023-09-12T10:30:18.485+00:00Comments on Mandarin Student (普通话学生): Chinese Conversation Practice part 1Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04553675424803911693noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22408198.post-64434433312607962212009-11-01T01:24:45.703+00:002009-11-01T01:24:45.703+00:00Agreed - and my standard phrase at Cantonese-speak...Agreed - and my standard phrase at Cantonese-speaking places has become "Ni hui shuo putonghua ma?". Even if their Mandarin isn't good - it's probably better than mine. Plenty of scope to chat!Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11197148648944758867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22408198.post-17628209536879829412009-10-31T18:55:55.856+00:002009-10-31T18:55:55.856+00:00@Keith glad you enjoyed it :)
@Greg yes, nothing w...@Keith glad you enjoyed it :)<br />@Greg yes, nothing wrong in asking the same question again and again imho. that is the beauty of passing strangers, also health shops are excellent, resources most chains require the assistants to be fluent in Mandarin as the Doctors from the Chinese mainland often have poor English, I will be writing more about these in my next article. <br /><br />If you catch them at a non-busy period you can sometimes pay £5 to £8 for a neck/shoulder massage and then stay a lot longer chatting (particularly if the assistant/s have English questions they will happily trade for your Chinese queries).<br /><br />Resturants can be good but you can find staff who are happier talking Cantonese, Malaysian Chinese though are usually awesome they can often speak five or more languages and in my experience make excellent conversation partners (they seem to be better at understanding foreigners speaking Chinese possibly because they are more used to funky accents).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04553675424803911693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22408198.post-32587354898711380412009-10-31T18:28:57.442+00:002009-10-31T18:28:57.442+00:00Chris, great article. It got me thinking about my ...Chris, great article. It got me thinking about my attempts at starting conversations - and here are some of the things I do.<br /><br />1. When I go into a Chinese restaurant, they ask 'how many', and I reply, "Liang wei" - holding up two fingers. So then they know I speak a little Chinese, and sometimes it begins from there.<br /><br />2. Similarly, I try say as much in Chinese as I can in Chinese restaurants, in the hope that they will engage me in basic chat. Simple stuff is usually enough to get it going ... xie xie, yi ping pi jiu, bu yao, hen hao chi, etc.<br /><br />3. As I mentioned in my <a href="http://mandarinsegments.blogspot.com/2009/09/pleasure-while-practising.html" rel="nofollow">one post</a>, a massage with a Chinese person has their undivided attention for 30-60 minutes.<br /><br />4. I keep promising myself I'll use this again - only used it once so far. I prepared a question, and then spoke to a Chinese person at a train station, saying "Are you Chinese? I'm trying to learn Mandarin - can I ask you a quick question?" Then I asked my question, which was to do with the difference between 'ke yi' and 'ke neng'. I guess question choice is irrelevant, and you could use the same one repeatedly, as long as it gives you the chance to turn it into a basic conversation.<br /><br />Thanks again for a great article.Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11197148648944758867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22408198.post-34077995661478095772009-10-26T02:01:07.167+00:002009-10-26T02:01:07.167+00:00Hey Chris. This was a very interesting article. I ...Hey Chris. This was a very interesting article. I enjoyed it very much.Keithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02533265523359409077noreply@blogger.com