Happy News!

大家好！
Breathing Chinese has moved! Head on over to www.breathingchinese.wordpress.com to view the new page!

Extraordinary Tales of The Ordinary Path

大家好！ （Hello Everyone!)           
           I started this blog not entirely sure what topics to write about. However, I keep finding more and more websites, forums and blogs written by Chinese learners out in the world wide blogosphere. Most of the bloggers fall into two categories: Those who recently moved to China, and those who are learning Chinese on their own. All of them chronicle the author's attempts to learn Chinese, or else provide lessons and tips on the language (of varying quality). However, they all ignore the largest group of Mandarin language learners: the regular kind. Classroom learners, in either high school or college, who are taking the old fashioned route. (Flashcards and Integrated Chinese textbooks, all day erreday)

             So this is the real deal, traditional route, plain vanilla classroom experiences blog.  I haven't (yet) set out on a grand adventure to the Middle Kingdom, or made a pact to listen to Chinese podcasts every day. I'm just trying to flesh out the story a little bit, highlighting the very large group of Chinese learners that have yet to make an appearance online. If you're a parent wondering if Chinese school would be right for your child, or you're a student trying to confirm  your experience is typical, or you're a freshman considering what's rumored to be the hardest language to learn: you've come to the right place. Because although I'm writing about the typical learning approach, learning Chinese itself is anything but typical. 

             Check out the Links tab at the top of the page for useful resources. I'll collect the sites I found most helpful when doing homework, studying or trying to get background help.  And the Vocab tab should be fun for anyone trying to expand their Chinese vocabulary without straining themselves too much ;).

              To temporarily wrap this up, I'll say this: Chinese has been frustrating, challenging and exciting. I am overwhelming glad I chose to pursue it, and I encourage others to do the same. By building this blog I hope to dispel some myths about the language and while providing a more accurate picture of what to expect.
Sophie

The Best Online Grammar Resource

大家好!
I've been looking for an online resource for Chinese grammar for a long time, with relatively little success. Most pages are either poorly written or not in depth enough to suit my needs. This afternoon, I stumbled across a link to the Chinese grammar wiki on another website, and I am over the moon.
It's still a work in progress, but I checked out a few articles and they've been fantastic. Clear explanations, structure formulas, and plenty of examples. It's also free, hosted by a Chinese learning company in 上海.
You should ABSOLUTELY check it out. Let me know what you think in the comments!  http://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Main_Page

Measure Words: A Crash Course

大家好！
Today we're doing a basic explanation of measure words. Although they are quite simple, measure words can pose a challenge to Westerners because they rarely appear in English. I'll try to concentrate this post on the rule you need to understand and the examples/exceptions you'll actually use, to save time and keep you from going crazy. There are many, many technical nuances out there, but for beginner learners/survival Chinese purposes, these should be low priority.
                 What are Measure Words? Measure words are used when counting something. They are placed between the number and the noun, and define the unit the speaker is using. For example, if you're telling your friend how much cake you ate, you tell your friend a number and the unit: pieces. ("three pieces of cake" is different than "three whole cakes"). Theoretically, every noun should have one of these words. But we often leave it out in English, especially if there is only one unit that would make sense in context. For example:  we saw three buildings. There's no extra word between three and buildings.
             Chinese (with very few exceptions) always includes the measure word.  So "we saw three buildings" would translate to "we saw three individual buildings". Categories of nouns have different measure words (books and other bound literature has a different measure word than that used for people, which is again different than that used for tables). Therefore, the measure word used in "three individual buildings" would be different than, say, "three individual shirts".
                  Where do they go in the sentence? 
number + Mw+ Noun forms the basic pattern.
 我有三个朋友。（I have three friends)

So which one do I use?
Chinese has hundreds of these, with varying levels of usage. Many have become obsolete or exist only in traditional Chinese. Focus on these:
个 (位)  The most generic. If you don't know the one you're trying to use, substitute 个. Used for people, sometimes buildings, months, packages, and all manner of other things. (位) is a more respectful version, and used only for people (in professional settings or when speaking to an older/more authoritative person)
本  for books and other bound things
把 for things with handles (chairs, etc)
年 天 year/day
 快 毛 money.快 forms the larger unit (something like dollars) and 毛 forms the cents
只 used for one of a pair, and also certain pets (this part is annoying so just stick to dog and cat. Most animals have their own Measure word). 1 sock, 3 cats will both use the same measure word.
辆 used for cars
件 clothes (except pants)
条 long, thin objects (pants, snakes etc)
双 a pair (a pair of chopsticks, a pair of sneakers)

Exceptions?

• years and days don't use a measure word. In fact, they kind of function as a measure word with an unmentioned noun (a month of time, where time would be the noun).
• The phrase would look like this: number + 年／天 ＋the rest of the sentence.
• 我学中文学了三年了。I have taken Chinese for three years.
• months and weeks use the regular pattern ( 三  个星期)  this is especially important with months, since if you leave you the measure word you get 三月, which means March.
• More exist, but for the first few years of learning Measure words should remain straightforward. 

Tips For Learning Characters

大家好！　(hello everyone!)

Characters form the most unique and fascinating aspect of the Chinese language. Unfortunately, they require a great deal of time to memorize. After more vocab quizzes than I can count, here's my input on what methods to use for memorizing characters:

1. Accept the amount of repetition you will have to do. Some kinds of repetition, however, are more helpful than others. Reading a character over and over might help you recognize it, but you probably won't be able to write it yourself without a prompt. Instead, Practice the act of remembering a character without a clue: 
1. make flashcards
2. write the same character ten or twenty times across two lines of notebook paper, then think about something else for a few minutes. After the break, check that you can write it without looking at your notes. If you can, then congrats! If not, rinse and repeat.
2. For the more difficult characters, practice writing them with your finger at random moments through your day. Frequent, short reminders help your brain store the information better than long study marathons. To do this, place small reminders around you:
1. write it on your hand so you see it several times a day (this was how I remembered right and left)
2. tape up pictures of the character where you will often see them (in the fridge, on your bathroom mirror, on the computer monitor. I know it sounds dorky to cover your apartment in Chinese words, but it really works.)
3. Finally, there are some characters that require a bit more than standard repetition. For more complicated words, use these Special tips for tricky characters:
1. understand where the components come from and their individual meanings. （There are several good radical dictionaries online. These list, by stroke order, the most common Chinese radicals and include their meaning.)
2. Research the origin of the character (Although several characters were originally pictographs, this group is by no means the majority. If you can't find an 'original' picture that the character developed from, just draw your own.
3. find similar characters and relate them
1. Ones that use the same components, have similar meanings, or similar sounds.

These study tips are exactly that--tips. I don't have a degree in Foreign language education or neuroscience, so I have no scientific backup for these ideas. But I've found them to be very effective for myself and my friends, so they will probably work for you. Feel free to trim down, improve on or substitute all of the above with your own habits, and remember to share what you come up with!

That's all for now.
Sophie

Expressing Time： Phrases for the Date and Days of The Week

大家好！
This is the second post in a series on expressing time. To go to the first (how to talk about hours of the day), click Here.

The Date:
The general pattern to know: 今天(today) 是 (the number of the month) 月 (number of the day) 号。

What is today's date? 今天是几月几号？

Today is August eleventh. 今天是八月十一号。
Today is August 11th of 2012 今天是 二0 十二 年八月十一号.

Next year: 下年

Last year: 上年 

This year: 今年

The year before last year: 去年

The year after next: 后年 

Here are some example sentences with the English, Chinese, pinyin and literal translation of the Chinese sentence. These literal translations might help you follow a complicated phrase. Keep in mind, however, that most words do not literally translate into English very cleanly, so these interpretations can be very rough.

Next year I will start college.

下年我上大学。

(next year) (I) (start) （college)

Where were you last year?

上年你在哪儿？

(last year) (you) (at) (where?)

My birthday is March 11th: 

我的生日是三月十一号。
(my)(birthday) (is) (third month) (tenth day)

When is your birthday?

你的生日是几月几号？
(your) (birthday) (is) (what month) (what day)

What are you doing this summer?

今年夏天的时候你做什么？
(this year) (summer) (time) (you）（do) (what)?

*note: here, I'm using the ....的时候 construction. For more information about this, go to the previous lesson on time, linked here.

Day of the week:Day of the week:

星期-
This word has a couple translations. First off, it means 'week'. 

Next week: 下个星期 

Last week: 上个星期
Two weeks: 两个星期

However, it can also be used to express the day of the week.

Monday: 星期一

Tuesday: 星期二

Wednesday: 星期三 

Thursday: 星期四

Thursday: 星期五 

Friday: 星期六

Saturday: 星期七

Sunday: 星期日 

Note that we start the week on Monday, making it the first day and Saturday the seventh day. Also remember that Sunday is special; it's usually called 星期 日, ( 日 means sun), or 星期天.
The days of the week are used in sentences exactly as they would be in English:
Today is Monday
今天是 星期一
Wednesday I will go to the library.
星期三 我想去 图书馆

Remember that, like all other Chinese sentences, the time phrase must go first. Thus the phrase "I will go to the library on Thursday" needs to be reordered like the one above：
星期四我想去 图书馆
and you can NEVER say:　 我想去 图书馆星期三

Keep these rules in mind and these sentences will be a breeze! Let me know if I missed anything. What other concepts do you find difficult? Comment below :)
再見！
Sophie Sino 

Expressing Time: Phrases for Hours in the Day

大家好！
I'm starting a series on how to express time and dates. Most of my Chinese textbooks lumped all the time-related concepts together in one chapter, which can get confusing. So I'll break these up a little and explain them in more detail.

Let's start with some handy words to know when expressing the time of day:
Vocab
early morning (like until 10 or 11 AM)              早上                      zǎo shàng
morning (from about 10 to 12)                          上午                      shàng wǔ
noon （from 12:00 to 1:00 PM)                       中午                      zhōng wǔ
afternoon (from 1:00 to 6:00 PM)                     下午                       xià wǔ
evening  (6:00 on)                                             晚上                      wǎn shàng
hour                                                                    点                        diǎn
minute                                                                 分                         fèn
half (as in, half hour)                                            半                        bàn
and quarter (as in, quarter of an hour)                   刻                         kè

Notice the repeat of the word 午. This character can mean noon by itself. The 上 means up, but it can also mean 'before'. 下, then, would mean down and 'after' 早 means early, so 早上 forms 'early morning'.
What about 中？ This character means middle, so 中午 is literally middle of the noon. This also makes sense when you think about the name of China: 中国。 国 (guo) means country or kingdom. So China is, literally, the 'middle kingdom'. So cool!

Anyway, translating time between Chinese and English is fairly straightforward.  There's just one difference: the Chinese always express units of time (and also locations) from largest to smallest. (year, month, day, etc.)  So 'the 7th of may, 2012' would read '2012 may the seventh' in Chinese. Or, “2:30 tomorrow afternoon” would read “tomorrow afternoon 2:30”

The general setup for a phrase expressing time in Chinese would run:
(general time expression)+（hour)+ 点 + (minute) + 分。

The general time expressions are those that say what portion of the day you're talking about- morning, afternoon, etc.   So a few examples of these phrases would run like this:

Four in the afternoon
下午四点

Seven in the morning
早上七点

Six thirty at night
晚上六点半

Ten forty five in the morning
上午十一点三刻

 Twelve in the afternoon
中午十二点

Notice that the corresponding times to 'morning', 'afternoon' etc. are fairly loose; therefore, if you're setting a time at exact noon (12:00) you would need to specify both the general time expression 中午 and the exact hour 十二点.

Use in Sentences: 
Keep in mind that time phrases come before ANY OTHER phrase in the sentence (location, verb, or otherwise). The only words that can go before the time are the subject.
For example:

我晚上八点睡觉。
I will go to bed at eight o'clock tonight.
Here's the sentence broken up by phrase:
   我            晚上八点         睡觉‘
(subject)      (time)         (verb phrase)

There's only one other place to put the time phrase: at the very beginning, even before the subject. Use this if you want to emphasize the time (I'm going to bed at EIGHT tonight, versus tonight I'm going to bed at eight).

Here's how the sentence would read with the emphasis on the time:
晚上八点我睡觉。

Asking what time it is:
现在 几点？ (right now how many hours?) (xiàn zài  jǐ diǎn )
现在是八点半。 （right now it is eight thirty) （xiàn zài shì bā diǎn bàn）

Other Time Words in Chinese: 
There are a few other words that are used in Chinese to talk about time. However, they are used in different situations.

时间 is more of a general term. Rather than being in sentences that talk about an exact time on the clock, 时间（shí jiān） is used to talk about having time, or how long something took to do.

时候 is also more general. This is used to talk about a time when something else was happening. For example:
When I am eating...
我吃饭的时候....
By attaching 时候 to the verb phrase, you can make the verb phrase a time and provide a context. Note that you always need to have a 的 between the verb and the 时. You do not, however, need a word that corresponds to 'while' in English. You can go straight into the second verb:
我吃饭的时候， 他看书 。
while i am eating, he reads a book.
时候 can also be used one other important way: asking people what time something will happen.
For example:
What time do you eat?
你什么时候吃饭？


That's all for now!  Next time, we'll learn days of the week and how to talk about what date it is.
再见！
Sophie Sino

Useful Expressions To Learn

大家好！ (Hello Everybody!)

你吃了吗？ This was the first full Chinese sentence I learned. Literally translated, it means "Have you eaten yet?". People respond with "我吃了” or "我还没有吃”  meaning, respectively, “I have eaten” or “I have not eaten yet”. This expression is similar to "what's up?" in English, because its literally translation has very little to do with what it actually means. Asking people whether or not they've eaten is like asking "How are you?".

Idioms and fixed expressions can be very useful, because they're often some of the most common phrases in spoken Chinese and because they can help you memorize certain grammar patterns. For example, I memorized how to say "I have already eaten" a year before I learned how to form the past tense. Having the sample sentence already stored in my brain helped as a reference point when I moved on to the more advanced grammar.

So here are some of my favorite fixed expressions. They are very common in conversation, and usually come up in the first few lessons of any beginner's Chinese textbook:

你吃了吗？　Have you eaten yet?  (nǐ chī le mā?)
    This one will help you remember how to form past tense sentences. If you memorize this short one, you can substitute in other subjects, verbs, and verb phrases while maintaining the original structure and you will always be right. 
好久不见！     literally: good time not seen, i.e. It's been a while! (hǎo jiǔ bú jiàn)

对不起！　I'm sorry. (duì  bù  qǐ)
    This is useful in all kinds of situations--it can be an "excuse me for bumping into you" kind of sorry or a "I apologize for making fun of your nose" I'm sorry. 

没问题！　literally: don't have problem, i.e. No problem, or it's allright! (Méi  wèn  tí)
     What you say when someone apologizes to you. wenti, 问题，can mean problem or question, depending on the context. Also, you should know that mei is a shortened version of meiyou 没有，which means not having. Because this is a short, commonly used expression, the 没有 is shortened to just 没. This is also easier to say, because the extra syllable makes the sentence cumbersome. 

不好意思　literally: not good meaning, i.e. I'm uncomfortable/ embarrassed, excuse me.（bù hăo yì si)
     Useful when you do something silly or embarrassing, but where "I'm sorry" doesn't quite fit. My class used it a lot when they blanked and had to ask our teacher how to write a very simple character.

新年快乐！     literally: new year happy happy, or  Happy new year! (xīn nián kuài le)

祝你生日快乐! literally: wish you birthday happiness, or Happy birthday! (zhù  nǐ  shēng  rì  kuài  le)

我叫爱美　　I am called Amy. (wǒ  jiào  ài  měi )
         also: 你叫什么名字？you are called what name? ( nǐ  jiào  shén  me míng  zi)
    Once you have this pattern down, you can substitute in other subjects or question words to ask others their names, to introduce yourself and your friends, and to ask about other people. 

 Feel free to ask questions about these, or share whatever expressions you found useful in the comments box below. I'd love to learn a few new ones!
That's all I've got for now.
再见！(see you later!)
Sophie Sino