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Posts: 1911

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Q: Pimsleur users please help with..

I broke down and got Pimsleur. I'm on lesson two, and I'm doing much better with this than I have with any other method. In lesson one it teaches you "english" (as in I can speak English). Fo rme to learn a language, I have to see the words too, hearing it isn't enough for me. I am having trouble with English (ying yi) because it sounds different to me on the recording. And "some/a little" yi dare is what it sounds like to me. If anyone can share with me the correct pinyin for those two things, I would appreciate it.

(I HAVE looked it up.. I'm not getting anything that seems correct...)

Thank you very much ahead of time. Smile
 

12 years 2 weeks ago in  Teaching & Learning - Chengdu

 
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Posts: 1318

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English ying yu 英语

some/ a little yi dian 一点

HugAPanda:

Thank you dear :) I found those, but it sounds not like what I thought it should on the recording. I should prolly stop thinking ;)

12 years 2 weeks ago
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12 years 2 weeks ago
 
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The "yu" may sound like a "yi" because it's not like the English word "you" or "yew." It's like the french "oo" sound with a "y" on front. In the case of "yi dian," sometimes it sounds more like "i dian," because in this case it's the number 1, and can be pronounced a little different from other "yi"s. I'm just like you, I need to see the words as well, especially the pinyin, because people don't pronounce it the standard way around here. You can learn a few characters on your own for the words you've learned. It can't hurt.

HugAPanda:

Thanks, Jnus :)

12 years 2 weeks ago
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12 years 2 weeks ago
 
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The pinyin is "yīng yǔ" and "yī diǎn diǎn". Here you emit the two points over "ǚ", because "ǚ" combines with "y".
Your problem is that you can't tell the vowel "i" and "ü".
For "i", you flat your lips and up-rise your tongue;
For "ü", you circle your lips and up-rise your tongue.

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12 years 2 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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You have to practice the tones first. If you can master the tones you should be able to master how it is supposed to sound correctly. There are four tones in total. 

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12 years 2 weeks ago
 
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I appreciate the lessons, I really do. And I realize that what you all are saying is probably the common way things are said in China., and therefore what I should be learning. And what you all are telling me is what I was finding when I tried to translate in google, nciku and a couple of others.

<edited to make sense>
My problem was with Pimsleur and how the voice was saying the word  compared to how the translators and how you all were telling me it was written in Pinyin. They weren't matching, and I was doubting how I had been practicing the syllable sounds in general. I have since found (love the internet) transcripts for the Pimsleur lessons and they use some words different.

They use Yingwen for English
and yi dianR for some/a little. 

I was getting confused (which isn't hard- I suck suck suck at language learning). The wen and the R were really throwing me off. 

Thank you very much. Very sincerly.

kchur:

Ah, that's 一点儿 [idiãr], which can't really be represented properly in pinyin, as it's non-standard. Don't worry, you wont hear that often south of Beijing. Normally you just hear what the above posters posted. I'm kind of surprised how all the books on tapes use such working class Beijinghuar. Beijing is the standard dialect, but it's like comparing what you'd usually hear in Westminster to cockney. On Chinese TV it often is shorthand for poverty. But everyone wants "conversational", so there you go.

12 years 2 weeks ago
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Jnusb416:

Yeah, I think the standard is "yi dia(n)r" but most of us encounter people that say "yi dian" or "yi dian dian." "Yingwen" is also the standard, but again, I don't hear that as much as I hear "ying yu." It depends on where you live, and there are often many variations on words that will confuse you. That's why characters are so useful. Many Chinese will even say that their Chinese is bad. What they mean is that their Mandarin is bad. So if they can't get it right all the time, don't worry if you have trouble too. :P

12 years 2 weeks ago
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HugAPanda:

I expect to learn it different than what it will actually be. But I'm really limited on my choices right now, and I want to possess some semblance of communication before I get there. I have found that, although it helps relieve the frustration and anxiety of learning all the new sounds, a mouthful of M&Ms doesn't actually help with the pronunciation.

12 years 1 week ago
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I've done basically no study, yet I can hold (very brief and limited) conversations... it's all picked up from needing to chat, and having a bi-lingual to help with translating, and remembering what I need/want to say.

Beijinghua is NOT standard Putonghua...perhaps the closest to it, but not the actual standard. I think it's now this enigmatic thing that people aspire to, but no-one speaks natively.

I have just started on Rosetta Stone, and found I know most of it (touch of grammar, and a bit of vocab I didn't know), but in having that - I can pick up the writing better!

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12 years 1 week ago
 
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I have used the 45CDs Mandarin Chinese Course 1, 2 and 3. It is all audio. I have all 90 lessons in Pinyin.  The method does work for English speaking people. But you must be willing to take the 3 months everyday to do the lessons and then continue it for as long as you need to do it.  It would be good to develop the pinyin pronounciation as one needs to listen.  All of course 1= 30 lessons script is online but others were taken off line- I can send U an e-mail of the other 2 Courses but at the end U will not go to intermediate level or even advance level.  Lesson to a Chinese radio station which is intermediate Chinese and you can maybe understand some of the conversation but it will not give one the conversation level you may need for college or university-

 

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11 years 41 weeks ago
 
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