19 Responses to “CLO_005: I like China very much (really!)”

1. Daniel Tynan Says:
   January 13th, 2007 at 12:23 am

   What about the word” Wo “jiang” zhongwen

   Someone told me that “jiang” is a more precise word to use than “hui shuo”

2. admin Says:
   January 13th, 2007 at 12:44 am

   Hi Daniel,

   “Wǒ jiǎng Zhōngwén” translates to “I speak Chinese” whereas “Wǒ huì shuō Zhōngwén” translates to “I am able to speak Chinese.” “Jiǎng” is more commonly used in Taiwan and Southern parts. You probably wouldn’t hear it used as much in Northern parts.

   -Adam

3. Daniel Tynan Says:
   January 15th, 2007 at 12:22 am

   Thanks Adam. I’m impressed you guys manage to keep these lessons from being Taiwan centric mandarin! I will save “Jiang” for when I am in Taiwan.

4. Tony Says:
   January 19th, 2007 at 3:18 pm

   I am going to Beijing and Shandong province. Does this course accurately reflect the language in those areas? I hope so as I am enjoying learning from these downloads!

5. admin Says:
   January 19th, 2007 at 10:00 pm

   Hi Tony,

   We use speakers from Northern China (Ray and Heidi) as well as Taiwan (Kirin), so where there are differences from one region to another we try to note them for you. In general though, we tend to focus on the more universal aspects of the language so as the national language of China you should certainly be able to use it anywhere you go.

   Good luck and let me know if there is anything I can do to help!

   -Adam

6. ka ying Says:
   April 21st, 2007 at 8:33 pm

   Bú kèqì meant you’re welcome, isn’t it? I got it from another website… can it be mean the same thing?

7. Adam Says:
   April 21st, 2007 at 10:05 pm

   The actual definition is “no need to be polite” but it’s used often where we would use “You’re welcome” in English. I believe that’s how we defined it in this lesson too. Is there another definition you heard?

8. Janiel Says:
   June 25th, 2007 at 11:59 am

   Can you say Ta ne? to mean what about him/her also the same way you ask what about you.

9. Adam Says:
   June 25th, 2007 at 7:39 pm

   Yes you can, Janiel. It would be context sensitive, so the listener should know who the “Ta” is referring to.

10. lorenzo Says:
    February 21st, 2008 at 8:10 am

    sorry here there are 2 “Danshi” the first one mean BUT the second one is write “Dan shi” same BUT which one is correct?

11. Adam Says:
    February 21st, 2008 at 8:26 am

    Thanks Lorenzo. I’ve changed them both to “danshi.” When writing out Chinese characters in a sentence, there is no spacing between them. However to make it easier to read in pinyin, we arbitrarily add spaces where we feel words start and end. Sometimes this results in inconsistencies.

12. Scott Says:
    March 11th, 2008 at 8:04 pm

    Can you explain why the last phrase was Duìbúqǐ. Wǒ Zhōngwén shuō de bú hǎo and not Duìbúqǐ. Wǒde Zhōngwén bushi hen hǎo

13. Adam Says:
    March 12th, 2008 at 3:21 am

    Hi Scott,

    While your sentence would be understood, the more proper way is to specify which aspect isn’t good. In this case, since we are referring to a conversation, that would be the speaking ability.

    Similarly, when saying you don’t understand something, unlike English you have to specify that you don’t understand what you are hearing (Wǒ tīng bù dǒng (see lesson 17)) or what you are reading (Wǒ kàn bù dǒng (lesson 34)).

    Hope that helps!

14. Filip Jensen Says:
    July 14th, 2009 at 4:20 am

    Hi Adam

    First I would to thank you guys for having created such a fantastic way to learn chinese.
    I think this is one of the easiest ways of learning the language.
    At this point I have only listened to podcast 1 - 3 (level 1) and I haven`t yet figured out how to say “yes” and “no”.

    Can you help me??

    Thanks and keep on the good work

15. Adam Says:
    July 16th, 2009 at 9:00 pm

    Hi Filip,

    In the last lesson (4), I explained that there is no definitive word for ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ in Chinese. You have to pay attention to the question you are responding and use the same verb in your answer. For example the following question:

    Nǐ xǐhuān ma? means Do you like (it)?

    To answer yes, you would say:
    Xǐhuān meaning (I) like (it).

    To answer no, you would say:
    Bù xǐhuān meaning (I) don’t like (it).

    The closest we find to “Yes” is “shì” (literally “is”), which can use when agreeing with someone, or “bú shì” (isn’t) when you don’t agree with something.

    You may also hear “Duì” from time to time which literally means “correct”, and can be used in place of “Yes” in certain situations.

    Hope that helps!

16. meron Says:
    May 5th, 2010 at 5:49 am

    I can’t believe that i have stumbled into this website of yours. I appreciate it very much for two reasons: one ‘coz it is progressive, and another very important thing is because it has got the pinyin on it.
    Thank you guys

17. Luís Romão Says:
    August 2nd, 2010 at 2:20 pm

    There seems to be a line missing in the review dialogue. A says “真的吗?”, but the line where B replies “真的” isn’t there. Also, the sentence “B:喜歡，我喜歡中國” is in the dialogue, but it isn’t spoken. Last but not the least, shouldn’t it be “Cindy” in the main text instead of “Bob”?

18. Bruce Ross Says:
    January 16th, 2011 at 7:11 am

    Thanks for the lessons… I recently signed up for the subscription. My question is regarding the following phrase:

    Ni3 Zhong1wen2 shuo1de hen3 hao3

    I thought this went Ni3de Zhong1wen2 shuo1de hen3 hao3

    In this case I would have thought Ni3de would have been used to reference your… is that not correct?

19. Adam Says:
    January 16th, 2011 at 11:59 pm

    Hi Bruce,

    Welcome to CLO! You are correct. In some situations though, when the person is close to the object (body parts, family members, skills (in this case)), then you can leave out the “de”. So actually both versions are correct. You will see this again in lesson 11 when we talk about family members.

    Hope that helps!

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