Welcome To My Twisted GPA

Archiving my Chinese and Japanese learning adventures of at University. Feel free to chat with me about anything.

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

hi everyone! i was super busy last week with school and work, so sorry about the inactivity. i've decided that i might only post language updates with the romanized writings of each language because typing out the characters is too time consuming. 

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

Japanese Vocabulary

Some vocab we learned on Monday:

とけい - tokei - clock

はし - hashi - chopsticks

いぬ - inu - dog

ねこ - neko - cat

いか - ika - squid

かに - kani - crab

こくさい - kokusai - international

ぶんがく - bungaku - literature

ええぶんがく - ee bungaku - english literature

りんがく - forestry

しゃかいがく - sociology

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

Time in Japanese

A: いま　なんじですか　(ima nanji desu ka?) - what time is it now?

いま - now

じ - o'clock

the ”ka” at the end of the sentence makes the sentence a question

B: じゅうにじはんです (juuniji han desu) - It is 12:30

じゅうに - 12

はん - half 

More Vocab

ごぜん - AM

ごご - PM

the AM and PM are placed before the time。。。example:

ごぜん　じゅういちじ　です。(gozen juuichiji desu)　－ It is 11:00 o'clock PM

いち － 1 (ichi)

に　ー　2　(ni)

さん ー　3 (san)

よん / し　－ 4　（yon/shi)

ご　－ 5 （go)

ろく 　－ 6　(roku)

なな / しち　－ 7　(nana/shichi)

はち　－ 8　（hachi)

きゅう / く　－ 9　(kyuu/ku)

じゅう　－ 10　（juu)

My teacher told my class that sometimes "yon" is said in place of "shi" for number 4 because "shi" sounds similar to the word for "death" in Japanese. The same goes for number 9. ”Kyuu" is used in place of "ku" because "ku" sounds like "suffer” in Japanese.

From 11 - 19, you say "juu" then the second number. example:

じゅういち －　11　(juu ichi)

じゅうに　－ 12 (juu ni)

じゅうさん　－　13 (juu san)

And for 20, 30, and so on..

にじゅう　－　20 (ni juu)

さんじゅう　－　30 (san juu)

21 would be..

にじゅういち　－　21 (ni juu ichi)

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

Chinese Dialogue

We also started learning more conversation phrases

Characters:

A: 王先生， 你是老师吗？

B: 我不是老师，我是学生你呢？

A: 我也是学生。

Pinyin:

A：Wang2 Xian1sheng5, ni3 shi4 lao3shi1 ma5?

B: Wo3 bu4 (”bu“ is pronounced bu2 here because it precedes another fourth toned word "shi4") shi4 lao3shi5, wo3 shi4 xue2sheng5. ni3 ne5?

A: Wo3 (“wo" is pronounced wo2 here because it precedes another third toned word "ye3") ye3 shi4 xue2sheng5

English Translation:

A: Mr. Wang, are you a teacher?

B: I am not a teacher, I am a student. And you?

A: I am also a student.

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

Chinese Radicals

On Monday and Tuesday, my class was taught the radicals:

 鱼 (yu2) - fish - characters with this radical will have something to do with marine animals

鸟 (niao3) - bird - characters with this radical will have something to do with flight or bird type animals

马 (ma3) - horse - characters with this radical will have to do with four-legged mammals or transportation

山 (shan1) - mountain - characters with this radical will have to do with mountains or mountain related terrain

田 (tian2) - field - characters with this radical will have something to do with agriculture, or aspects related to land

石 - (shi2) - rock/stone - characters with this radical will have something to do with actions carried out with stones, things made of stone, are related to weight, or mineral matter

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

Updates!

Hey everyone!! I haven't posting as frequently as I had hoped to because I've been busy with school and I'm doing my best to stay on top of all my work. That being said, I'm going to try to post what I've learned in my classes for this week by tomorrow, so look forward to clock reading in Japanese and more Chinese radicals :)

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

APNY 2015 Day 11

Remember that article you read on Day 9 about the history of Antarctica? Revisit your summary in your taget language(s) today. Then complete the following task:

Polyglot option: Translate your summary of the article/paragraphs into another one of your languages (do as much as you can!) Do not use your native language to translate if you can avoid it! Use L2 -> L3 or L2 -> L4, etc.

Mandarin: 可以说 (ke3 yi3 shuo1) meaning 'can say' and in Japanese...

いいうる (iiuru) - the definition says "to be able to say" or "to get to say"

Japanese: オーストラリア meaning Australia. In Mandarin, 澳洲 (ao4zhou1)

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

Day 8: You need a particle to show the relationship between すいみん and たのしむ. I enjoy sleep would be すいみん　を　たのしむ。This is not the most natural way to say "I enjoy/like (thing).". It seems you're taking classes so you'll find out for yourself soon enough but if you want to know now (japansociety org/webcast/waku-waku-japanese-lesson-9-i-like-~-i-dont-like-~). Basically it's more common to use the na-adjective suki or i-adjective tanoshii.

you are seriously awesome grapefruitcake!!!!!!! Thank you so much for all the corrections! i’ve already learned more from you than from my actual class :)  i’ll check out that website and get ahead of my class 8)

Here is the link to the video everyone: Waku Waku Japanese 

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

Some APNY corrections! Day 4: The first day of the New Year in Japanese is 元旦（がんたん）. Day 5: ざいにち means 'residing in Japan', こうとうご refers to 'spoken language' as opposed to 'written language'. You could say にほんご　は　にほん　で　はなします。(They) speak Japanese in Japan. Day 6: Just せんせい　です。is fine here. E.g. Who is your go-to resource? (My) teacher.

[subjunctivelymoody]

Get speaking feedback?

Are there any language learning sites where you can post clips of you speaking and get feedback? Sort of like Lang-8 or italki notebooks, but with audio rather than text.

Or is it better to just post videos on, for example, Youtube? I’m considering that, but most videos go by unnoticed unless you’re popular, so the chances of getting some helpful and constructive criticism is quite low.

[adventuresofyifen]

I’ve been looking for this too so PLEASE IF SOMEONE FINDS ONE LET ME KNOW!

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

I don't know of any websites, but there's an app called HelloTalk where you can find native speakers of your target language and talk to them. There's an option for sending recorded messages to the people you chat with. It's free, but if you want the extra or unlimited features it offers, then your have to pay money.

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

Resources Page

Hey everyone, I made a language resource page! I just finished the Chinese resource section (which is still subject to more additions) and will complete the Japanese one later on this week (i'm busy with school work at the moment). 

if anyone has any other resource recommendations, hit me up and i'll add it

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

APNY 2015

so now that i've caught up, anyone is welcome to offer corrections or advice/tips for my target languages :)

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

APNY 2015 Day 10

WOW i offically caught up as of now!

Post your favorite song in your language(s) and describe what it’s about and why you like it so much. You could also talk about the band that plays the song. Write as much as you can for each of your target languages!

Mandarin: my favourite song is Freedom by Yoga Lin (<- click to watch music video). the video has pinyin and english subtitles. 我很喜欢歌词 (wo3 hen3 xi3huan1 ge1ci2) ge1ci2 = song lyrics

Japanese: i like a few jpop tunes here and there. but at the moment i think my favourite is this jrock song called 完全感覚Dreamer by ONE OK ROCK. i'm usually not too much into rock but the reason why i like this song is because i like the singer's voice. ボーカルすき？(bookaru suki?) not sure if that's how to say it..

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

APNY 2015 Day 9

Today we’ll work on some reading comprehension again. Wikipedia is the one site that comes to mind that has reading material in tons of languages so that as many people as possible can find their language. Here’s the English version of the article(check the Wikipedia lefthand side bar for other languages!):

Basic: Scan a section of the article in your target language(s) for a couple sentences that you can understand the gist of. Write a summary or approximate translation of those sentences in your target or native language. Look up a few key words that you’re not sure about, but don’t use a  translator or a dictionary for every word!

Japanese: オーストラリア since i'm still don't know enough kanji or vocabulary to read the article, i chose a recognizable katakana word. I believe it says: Australia. (oosutoraria)

Mandarin: they actually have this article in Mandarin!! 可以说 (ke3 yi3 shuo1) which translates to "can say". 

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

APNY 2015 Day 8

Basic: Do you like to sleep? Do you dream a lot? Do you have good dreams or bad dreams? Try to answer these in complete sentences.

Mandarin: 我喜欢睡觉。 我有梦。 wo3 xi3 huan1 shui4 jiao4. wo3 you3 meng4. (I like to sleep. I have dreams). 

Japanese:　すいみんたのしむ。i looked up "sleep" and got すいみん -suimin- and looked up "enjoy" and got たのしむ - tanoshimu - so i hope it's somewhat sensible?? same with the mandarin one.

Edit:

Corrections by grapefruitcake

Japanese: "Day 8: You need a particle to show the relationship between すいみん and たのしむ. I enjoy sleep would be すいみん　を　たのしむ。This is not the most natural way to say "I enjoy/like (thing)."."

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

APNY 2015 Day 7

I've almost caught up!!

Today is a vocab day!

Think about what you’ve done in the past week with your languages and pick out a few new words (3-5) that you’ve learned. 

Then, write the definition of those words and an example sentence with the word. Then try to write a few coherent sentences using all or some of the words! (if you can, do this all in your L2 [or L3, L4, etc.])

Mandarin: 

贵 - gui4 - honorable

example sentence: 你贵姓？ni3 gui4 xing4 (What is your honorable last name)

姓 - xing4 - surname

example sentence: 我姓李。wo3 xing4 Li3. (My last name is Li.

名字 - ming2zi5 - name 

example sentence: 你叫什么名字？ ni3 jiao4 shen2me5 ming2zi5 (What is your name?)

叫 - jiao4 - to be called

example sentence: 我叫王朋。wo3 jiao4 wang2 peng2. (My name is Wang Peng)

请 - qing3 - please

example sentence: 请问，你贵姓？qing3 wen4, ni3 gui4 xing4? (excuse me/ may i ask, what is your last name?

Japanese: 

いす - isu - chair

example sentence: いすはえいごでなんですか？isu wa eego de nan desu ka? (how do you say chair in english?)

め - me - eye

example sentence めはえいごでなんですか？me wa eego de nan desu ka? (how do you say eye in english?)

でんわ - denwa - telephone

example sentence: でんわはちゅうごくごでなんですか？denwa wa *is the 'wa' repeated in this case?* chuugokugo de nan desu ka? (How do you say telephone in Chinese)

えいご - eego - english

example sentence: かばんはえいごでなんですか？kaban wa eego de nan desu ka? (how do you say bag in english?)

としょかん - toshokan - library

example sentence: としょかんはかんこくごでなんですか？toshokan wa kankokugo de nan desu ka? (how do you say library in korean?)

[zhongwen-and-nihongo]

APNY 2015 Day 6

Today’s prompt is the following (answer in your target language(s) only):

What is your go-to resource for every one of your languages? Or, what resource do you think has helped you the most in learning your language(s)?

-sadly, with my limited knowledge in both languages, i can't answer the prompt as well as i would like to.

Mandarin: 我的资料是我的老师。wo3de5 zi1liao4 (resource) shi4 wo3de5 lao3shi1 (teacher).

Japanese: せんせいしかたです。 sensei (teacher) shikata (resource) desu.

again, i completely guessed on the grammar for both languages.. corrections are highly appreciated :) 

Edit: 

Corrections by grapefruitcake

Japanese: "Day 6: Just せんせい　です。is fine here. E.g. Who is your go-to resource? (My) teacher."