Speaking » Pronunciation »
Place and Manner (of Articulation)
February 5th, 2009 | 5 Comments
In the teachers’ lounge the other day, a kindergarten teacher was sharing stories about her students. One child had proudly gone to the teacher and said, “Ms. ____, Guess what? I can say ‘Hello’ in Chinese!” She expected the child to say: 你好, ni3 hao3. Imagine her surprise when the child utter the phrase, “Herro!”
Ma1, Ma2, Ma3, Ma4!
January 28th, 2009 | 5 Comments
what do the numbers mean after the words in italics? “ri4″ and “dien4″ for example.
Glad you asked! Chinese is a tonal language, which means that the way you say the word is integral to the meaning.
If an English speaker asks, “…ma?” or yells, “MA!”, the “ma” in both cases is the speaker’s mother.
But in Chinese, a word that sounds like “…ma?” means “numbness/pins and needles” while “MA!” means “to scold or yell at”.
American-born Taiwanese girl who married a Japanese guy. And who forgot about six years' of Spanish grammar and most of the vocab.
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Korean-American girl who blogs under a Spanish pseudonym because being culturally confusing is fun. Native speakers say that she has outstanding Spanish (which is a definite compliment) and outstanding German (which is most assuredly not).
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