Wow, Mark Zuckerberg speaks Chinese! Very impressive! Although the tones went into a disaster, the pronunciation is fairly good and makes his words and even jokes well understood with the help of the context. Mandarin Chinese has four tones and that is the most challenging part. The same pronunciation with different tones can have absolutely different meanings. For example, Shui(3) Jiao(3) means dumplings, while Shui(4) Jiao(4) means sleep. Moreover, there are different characters with exactly the same pronunciation and the same tone. But of course those characters have different meanings. For instance, Wan(3)碗 means bowl, while another Wan(3)晚 means night. Shui(3) Jiao(3) Duo Shao Qian Yi Wan? means How much is it for a bowl of dumplings?, while Shui(4) Jiao(4) Duo Shao Qian Yi Wan? means How much is it to find someone to sleep with for a night? OMG! But dont be sacred by this, dear learners of the Chinese language. Chinese people are EXTREMELY tolerant about foreigners speaking Chinese. Simply Nihao(Hello), Xiexie(Thanks), Zaijian(Bye), Piaoliang(Beautiful), and Henhaochi(Delicious) can make you very popular. LOL. However, as a Chinese languge teacher here in the US, I have to be really strict, picky and intolerant.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 16:34:54 +0000
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