Lesson 18 - 你想喝什么？

Today we discuss beverages. To ask, "What would you like to drink?" we say:
ni3 xiang3 he1 shen2 me? 你想喝什么？
To answer we just replace the 什么 with the beverage of choice and change you to I. Example:
wo3 xiang3 he1 ka1fei1. 我想喝咖啡。
Some other useful beverages are listed below:
tea cha2 茶
cola ke3le4 可乐
milk niu2nia3 牛奶
water shui3 水
beer pi2jiu3 啤酒

Since many beverages are served warm in China, it is often important to the foreigner to get ice in their drink (or at least cooled). To do this we just add bing1 冰 before the noun to modify it. Example:
I would to drink cold water. wo3 xiang3 he1 bing1 shui3.
我想喝冰水。

To practice your pronunciation with voicethread please click the following link:
http://voicethread.com/share/151668/

Lesson #17 - 你喜欢什么颜色？

What color do you like? Some classes have begun learning their colors. We learned how to pronounce and recognize the colors.
蓝色 blue (lan2se4)
白色 white (bai2 se4)
黑色 black (hei1 se4)
绿色 green (lu4 se4)
红色 red (hong2 se4)
黄色 yellow (huang2 se4)
紫色 purple (zi3 se4)
咖啡色 brown (ka1 fei1 se4)
粉红色 pink (fen3 hong2 se4)
Practice telling the colors of objects around you by using the construction, "That is ____." = 那是_____的. (na4 shi4 ____ de).
那是红色的。
那是黑色的。

To practice your pronunciation with Voicethread click the below link:
http://voicethread.com/share/151668/

Lesson # 16 - 动物

This last lesson was devoted to pets and animals. Not a whole lot, but a respectable introduction. First is a list below of the animals learned:
狗 dog (gou3) 大象 elephant (da4 xiang4)
猫 cat (mao1) 鱼 fish (yu2)
鸟 bird(niao3) 羊 sheep (yang2)
鸡 chicken(ji1) 鼠 mouse (shu3)
熊 bear (xiong2) 马 horse (ma3)
牛 cow (niu2) 猪 pig (zhu1)

We have learned in the past how to say, "I like..." = 我喜欢。。。 wo3 xi3 huan1...
We only need to add one character to say, "My most favorite..." and that is 最 zui4. So for us to say, "Bears are my favorite." We'd say, 我最喜欢熊。 Or we could say, "My favorite animal is that elephant."
我最喜欢的动物是大象。 We could also say, "I don't like mice." 我不喜欢老鼠。” Just add the negative 不 before the verb. Practice the sounds for the animals and make 3 sentences using "like." 再见！

Lesson 15 - 感恩节快乐！

感恩节快乐！ Happy Thanksgiving! (gan3 en1 jie2 kuai4 le4)

It is that wonderful time of year again when Americans slaughter millions of unsuspecting overweight birds for the festival of thanks.
The Chinese do not have Thanksgiving. This is obvious when we think about the origins of Thanksgiving. The Chinese never had pilgrims who were doing their best to hack it in the New World and thankful for their survival. Never the less the Chinese are eager to at least say Happy Thanksgiving to their American friends.
Below are some common Thanksgiving vocabulary:
turkey 火鸡 (huo3 ji1)
eat 吃 (chi1)
I'm full 我吃饱了。 (wo3 chi1 bao3 le.)
Please pass the mashed potatoes.
请来土豆泥。 (qing3 lai2 tu3 dou4 ni2)
Let's watch some football!
我们看美式足球吧！ (wo3 men kan4 mei3 shi4 zu2qiu2ba)

Lesson 14 - 现在几点？

Asking the time and understanding the answer is a simple matter. See the dialogue below:
A.) 请问，你有手表吗？
B.) 有啊
A.) 现在几点？
B.) 现在九点二十三分。
A.) 谢谢！

Person A asks if B has a watch politely. B responds affirmatively. A asks the time. B says it is 9:23 right now. A says thank you.

To say the time you only need a number 1 - 12 followed by Dian3 点 and then another number for the minutes followed by fen1 分。 There are shortcuts also. Instead of saying 3:30 三点三十分 we can say 3 and a half 三点半， which is much faster in Chinese. Below are a number of examples:
四点五十三分 = 4:53
十二点半 = 12:30
八点十分 = 8:10
一点 = 1:00
七点四十五分 = 7:45
九点一刻 = 9:15 (writen as quarter after 9)

Have fun with this. 要好好玩！

Lesson 13 - 龙

Per popluar request, this is a lesson about the Chinese dragon. Sources are pulled from the internet including Wikipedia.com as well as Travelchinaguide.com. Enjoy!


The Chinese dragon is a Chinese mythical creature, depicted as a long, scaled, snake-like creature with four claws. In contrast to the Western dragon which stands on four legs and which is usually portrayed as evil, Chinese dragon has long been a potent symbol of auspicious power in Chinese folklore and art. The Chinese dragon is traditionally also the embodiment of the concept of yang (male) and associated with the weather as the bringer of rain and water in an agriculturally water-driven nation. Its female counterpart is the Pheonix.





The dragon is sometimes used in the West as a national emblem of China. However, this usage within both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China on Taiwan is rare.
Firstly, the dragon was historically the symbol of the Emperor of China. Starting with the Yuan Dynasty, regular citizens were forbidden to associate themselves with the symbol. The dragon re-emerged during the Qing Dynasty and appeared on national flags.[1]
Secondly, the dragon has aggressive, warlike connotations that the Chinese government wishes to avoid. It is for these reasons that the giant panda is far more often used within China as a national emblem than the dragon. In Hong Kong, however, the dragon is part of the design of Brand Hong Kong, a symbol used to promote Hong Kong as an international brand name[2].
Many Chinese people often use the term "Descendants of the Dragon" (龍的傳人) as a sign of ethnic identity. Though this trend only started when different Asian nationalities were looking for animal symbols for representations in the 1970s. The wolf was used among the Mongols, the monkey among Tibetans.[1]
In Chinese culture today, it is mostly used for decorative purposes. It is a taboo to disfigure a depiction of a dragon; for example, an advertisement campaign commissioned by Nike, which featured the American basketball player LeBron James slaying a dragon (as well as beating up an old Kung Fu master), was immediately censored by the Chinese government after public outcry over disrespect.[3]
A number of Chinese proverbs and idioms also feature references to the dragon, for example: "Hoping one's son will become a dragon" (望子成龍, i.e. be as successful and powerful as a dragon).

For information on Western Dragons take a look at the below websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon
http://www.crystalinks.com/dragons.html

Lesson 12 - 你多大？

Learning to say, "How old are you?" is very easy in Chinese. It is pronounced: Ni3 duo1 da? which literally means: You many years old? The characters are below:

Question: 你多大？
Answer: 我十五岁。

The answer is just as easy after you have learned how to say your numbers. Simply put in the subject "I" which is 我 (wo3) and then the number of years followed by the character 岁 (sui4) which means years old. One can also ask about other people per the below example:

Question: 你的爷爷多大？ How old is your grandfather?
Answer: 我的爷爷八十四岁。 My grandfather is eighty four years old.

Practice asking about other people in the family and/or friends.

Lesson 11 - 中秋节快乐。

It's that time of year again.... we're nearing the 15th day of the 8th lunar month (this year the full moon falls on Sept. 26th). This day in China is a popular holiday called: Mid-Autumn's Festival. It is a time of reunion and a night of moon gazing and munching on moon cakes. In Chinese we say:

中秋节快乐！ zhong1 qiu1 jie2 kuai4 le4.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

There is a famous legend of Chang e. The Earth had 10 suns in ancient times and Chang e's husband was a famous archer who shot down 9 in one shot, thus saving the people from famine. A goddess gave him an elixir, but Chang e drank it when he was out one day. She began to float up to the moon with only her rabbit for company. To this day the full moon, Chang e and rabbits are all associated in Chinese folklore.

Happy Festival! Eat lots of moon cakes.

Lesson 10 - 两个苹果。

This lesson expored measure words. These are particles in a sentence that are similar to the English remnents: bottles, loaves, pairs... They are something we put before a noun to distinguish its number. ( Ex: I have 2 pairs of pants.)

我有三个好朋友。 wo3 you3 san1 ge hao3peng2you3.
I have 3 good friends.
他有两个书包。 Ta1 you3 liang3 ge shu1 bao1.
He has 2 bookbags.

There are other measure words besides 个. They include but are not limited to 杯，瓶， 碗， 座， 只，个 and many more. Some examples follow.

我有一杯水。 wo3 you3 yi1 bei1 shui3.
I have 1 glass of water.

他有六瓶可乐。ta1 you3 liu4 ping2 ke3le4.
He has 6 bottles of Cola.

Until next time. Peace.

Lesson 9 - 你们都学汉语吗？

In today's lesson, we covered the use of ye3 也 and dou1 都。 These characters are used right after the subject in a sentence. We used them with questions for practice:

你们都没有纸吗？ Don't you all have paper?
他们也学汉语吗？ Do they all study Chinese?

For review before the exam please practice the below relationship related words.

哥哥 ge1ge Older Brother
弟弟 di4di Younger Brother
妈妈 Ma1ma Mother
爸爸 Ba4ba Father
爷爷 Ye2ye Grandfather
奶奶 Nai3nai Grandmother

Also for the exam you should be able to write the numbers from 1 to 100, recognize the characters we've discussed and all of their meanings and how to use them in a sentence.

要努力学习！