URLLesson Introduction
Though we all wish we sounded like Jenny when we repeat after her, the old adage is true, that practice makes (well, almost) perfect. So don't give up! Put Jenny on in your headphones day in and day out, and you'll be guaranteed to be sounding more sweet and adorable within the week. Of course, if you are a man, this may or may not be a good thing... Either way, in this lesson, learn how to repeat after the teacher, in Mandarin Chinese.
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changye says
Hi Chinesepod. I have a question. Please tell me which of these sentences are correct? 再说一遍。 再说一回。 再说一次。 再说一遍我爱你。 再说一回我爱你。 再说一次我爱你。July 25, 2007
Lantian says
Hi Changye, My guesses, others please note I'm a student too, these are my guesses. 再说一次。correct for sure. Please say that once more. Implies maybe you are writing it down or taking careful note. 再说一遍。correct for sure. Please say that one more time. Also commonly used, maybe implies didn't hear well. 再说一回. wrong? Or means... Please talk about that a while. (?)July 25, 2007
rich says
Ooo...ooo... whoever wrote the intro certainly is trying to score some brownie points with our dear Jenny, but hey, who isn't? Heh. I'll just keep listening to her "sweet and adorable" voice over and over and just hope that at least I will then be able to Chinese girls with such a voice(rare) I'll be able to understand (listening to Chinese men speak is a whole 'nother genre, 哎哟)July 25, 2007
rich says
再说一遍 Remember, 遍 here means "one time THROUGH" (actually has the meaning of EVERYTHING), so you are actually saying "please say that one more time through". Recently I had asked my teacher how many times she had taught a particular book (not really knowing how at the time, so I struggled to ask her) and she replied 我把这本书教过十遍。So Amber or whoever can answer, is the question I should have asked something like 你教过这本书几遍？ 我把这本书教过十遍。 Are both those sentences correct? And could/should 把 be used that way? Could be either or, right?July 25, 2007
rich says
Err,...post before last, meant to say "...be able to UNDERSTAND Chinese girls...". Don't want any 误会 or anything on my intended meaning, ha ha.July 25, 2007
moreopenmind says
遍, 次, and 回 all mean the same thing: a measure word to indicate the number of times certain event or action occurs. 回 is more archaic. 遍 and 次 are virtually interchangeable and their usage is a matter of personal preference (and perhaps regional difference).July 25, 2007
rich says
ah, so doesn't have the meaning of watching/reading/saying something complete again? I thought something like 这部电影，我们再看一遍，好吗？would sound weird with 回 or 次。July 25, 2007
rich says
Here again to clog up this page with my lovely avatar...hehe. Another GUEST THAT CHARACTER! :) Staying, Going and Following - Guess the characters: (some come from the supplementary vocab) 1) ?: This is the place with a roof(mián) where you have domestic animals such as pigs(shǐ) 2) ?: You might have your customers do this with the words(yán) on the brochure of the product you are trying to sell(mài) 3) ?: No matter whether he goes forward on foot(zú) or stands still(gèn) you will do this 4) ?: As the world becomes more and more "flat"(biǎn) and easier to go(chuò) places, the same people and things seem to be ... 5) ?: To get yourself(jǐ) going(zǒu) you need to do this Hint (read only if you need help!): I tried putting all these characters in a sentence I think can use all of them in. It is a sentence that pretty much answers the question everyone askes me: Why China? I read that He is so wonderful, that I am willing to get up and even leave my home to follow Him to every land.July 25, 2007
john says
changye, Lantian and Rich pretty much got it. 再说一次。(zài shuō yī cì) This is correct. "Say it one more time." 再说一遍。(zài shuō yī biàn) This is correct. "Say it one more time (from start to finish)." When you use 遍 (biàn) it should be for actions that you have to go all the way through with. 次 (cì) can be partial, but 遍 (biàn) cannot. 再说一回。(zài shuō yī huí) This is correct, but not often heard. It has the sound of a dialect to it. "Say it one more time." 回 (huí) is like 次 (cì) here.July 25, 2007
changye says
Thanks, everyone! Japanese has three similar words for indicating “one time”. They are used in almost the same meaning. “度” is most commonly used. All the following sentences mean 再说一遍. もう一度言ってください。 もう一回言ってください。 もう一遍言ってください。July 25, 2007
Lantian says
Hi Changye, My Japanese is pretty rusty, but I remember "mou ichidou itte kudasai" very well because I used it all the time! I think the that's the 一度 kanji right? How do you pronounce the 回 and 遍 in Japanese? Interesting to learn the Chinese pronunciation and now go back to Japanese!July 26, 2007
chris says
In the 5th section of the Expansion, is it possible to drop the 儿 from the end of the sentences? I think I'm right in saying that this sound is only used in the North of the country?July 26, 2007
changye says
Hi Lantian, I am happy to hear of your interest in Japanese. Pronunciations of Kanji are more similar to those of ancient Chinese than to modern Mandarin. 一度……いちど ichido 一回….いっかい ikkai 一遍…いっぺん ippen As for those three characters, their Chinese readings have not changed much since 隋/唐 dynasties. Ancient Japanese language did not have consonant “h” and therefore people used “k” instead of “h” when they managed to read 回, which was imported from China. That’s the reason why 回 is pronounced as “kai”, not “hui” in modern Japanese.July 26, 2007
jlswedberg says
"mou ichidou itte kudasai" Oh, man, the memories. I had three semesters of Japanese in college, and I've lost almost all of it by now, but there are certain phrases that will always ring a bell. :-)July 26, 2007
iqichu says
Hello Amber, Apparently there are two characters for the word biàn, one in the expansion section and another in the pdf format, I wonder which the right one is. thanks. LuisJuly 26, 2007
rich says
Apparently I got my bold tags messed up in my characters this time, making their descriptions not so pretty. Saw no guesses, but still thought I'd encourage your character learning with the answers: Characters for Staying, Going and Following: 1) 家: This is the place with a roof(宀mián) where you have domestic animals such as pigs(豕shǐ) = jiā HOME, HOUSE 2) 读: You might have your customers do this with the words(讠yán) on the brochure of the product you are trying to sell(卖mài) = dú READ 3) 跟: No matter whether he goes forward on foot(足zú) or stands still(艮gèn) you will do this = gēn FOLLOW, WITH 4) 遍: As the world becomes more and more "flat"(扁biǎn) and easier to go(辶chuò) places, the same people and things seem to be ... = biàn EVERYWHERE, UNIVERSAL 5) 起: To get yourself(己jǐ) going(走zǒu) you need to do this = qǐ RISE, START All characters meanings are in this one sentence (hope it is correct, but if not, was my attempt):July 26, 2007
“我读过了他多么奇妙,所以我愿意起来连离开我家都为了到遍地的地方跟从他。”
"I read that He is so wonderful, that I am willing to get up and even leave my home to follow Him to every land."
excuter says
再说一遍 谢谢老师凯恩和老师朱July 26, 2007
rich says
Tips on Buying and Selling No, not here to give the little "buy low, sell high" spell, but actually, that kind of fits into what I thought I'd share with you newbies that find it hard to remember which character 买 is buy and which one is 卖 sell (just because it was a radical in the character 读[dú to read] in my little character thing above) Just writing the "buy low, sell high" I realized that on the sell character it has something high on it (the 十) or could say it is taller/higher than the 买 character in a sense. But then there is also the tones of mǎi and mài, where actually 买's tone goes up at the end (3rd) and 卖's goes down (4th), so the tones are "buy high, sell low" :P But the way I learned it was that sellers are buyers too, right?, because they have to buy their merchandise. The character for 10, 十, also has the meaning of "complete" such as in 十分. Once a seller has completely 十 bought 买 his merchandise, he can 卖。Now the buyer, originally, has nothing, right? So he needs to buy things and so there is nothing on top of 买。He must go to the one who has 10 十 items in stock. As for remembering how to write the 买 part of both characters, the top is 乛zhé which means "bent". The bottom is 头tóu meaning "head". Originally these two radicals were 网 net and 贝 money, respectfully, having a net full of money to buy things, or "catching things with money." Now you could think that if you have a 乛bent 头head you are poor and need to buy things. That's the best method I can come up with to remember! And don't forget to not get 买 mixed up with 实 (shí true, real), which is a head 头 under a roof 宀(mián)！July 26, 2007
fiylk says
bu hui hao laoshi shou haoJuly 26, 2007
ilovewangleehom says
Do any of you have the program NJStar Chinese? It's a program that allows you to type pinyin and gives you the character. It has a built in dictionary...you can type in things you hear on these lessons and learn the character as well. :)July 26, 2007
amber says
hi Chris, Yes, adding the 儿 (er) sound to the ends of certain words is definitely a characteristic of Chinese spoken in the northern parts of China. So, technically, you can add it, or not. But if you are in northern China, it would be best to use it. iqichu, I re-checked the character used for 遍 (biàn) in the PDF and the expansion sentences, and it is the same. Perhaps it looks a little different because it's a different font. :)July 26, 2007
changye says
Hi jlswedberg, As well as “再说一遍”, “I beg your pardon” is one of my most frequently used sentences. The two are absolutely essential to me!July 26, 2007
amber says
hi Rich, To ask your teacher how many times she has taught this book before, the easiest and most natural would be to say: 这本书你教过几遍了? Zhè běn shū nǐ jiāo guo jǐ biàn le?July 26, 2007
rich says
Thanks Amber. Guess I forgot the 了as well. Ooooooh that waskily 了bit！July 26, 2007
iqichu says
Thanks ,July 27, 2007
xiaodu says
zai shuo yibian, ye keyi shuo: zai chongshuo yibian, dou keyi la~~July 27, 2007
umbrella says
thanks, i 'll try to learn ChineseJuly 28, 2007
nicolas says
Lantian, It is good that you specify that these are your guesses. However you are still liable to what you write unless you specify that you do not guarantee, in any case, the accuracy or veracity of your guesses. Thus, the User exempts you, Lantian, from any liability related to the veracity, use or false expectations occurred or generated by your guesses.July 30, 2007
eileenblue says
再说一遍。 再说一回。 再说一次。 None of them is absolutely wrong. I'm sure all of them are widely used. It depends on which city you are in. As in the formal way,再说一次 is the most popular one among Chinese people 再说一遍 is popular in the southern area 再说一回 is popular in the northern areaAugust 4, 2007
mouseneb says
Since 跟 gen1 literally means "with," I find it interesting that it is used in Chinese for the phrase "repeat AFTER me." I'm wondering how you would differentiate in Chinese the two sentences: "Repeat after me" and "Say it with me." The difference in English being, I believe, that with "repeat after me" the students say the phrase after the teacher finishes speaking and is silent, whereas with "Say with me" the teacher wants the students to speak at the same time as the teacher.October 27, 2007
mouseneb says
Perhaps for "say it with me" we should say: "我们一起说" Women yiqi shuo. Anybody know for sure?October 28, 2007
Kyle says
That would be more literally translated as "Let's say it together", but the same general meaning is there.October 28, 2007
clay says
mouseneb repeat after me: 跟我读 （gēn wǒ dú） say it with me: 和我一起说 （hé wǒ yīqǐ shuō)October 28, 2007
mouseneb says
谢谢!October 28, 2007