Sutff

Fare i salti mortali [per fare qualcosa]

“to do somersaults/flips [in order to achieve something]” – to do all one can, to jump through hoops [in order to achieve something]

Salto mortale, which is the Italian word for a mid-air somersault, literally translates to “deadly jump” – so it’s not hard to guess why such a difficult feat was chosen as a metaphor for the Herculean efforts that are sometimes needed to reach our goal.

Generally, plurality markers in Romance languages can be of two types: (1) sigmatic (an -s is added to form plural nouns, e.g. Spanish casa “house”, casas “houses”) or (2) vocalic (the word-final vowel changes to mark plurality, as in Italian and Romanian, e.g. It. & Rom. casa, casă “house”, case “houses”).

Neapolitan has a distinct, third plural type for nouns and adjectives, which is unusual for both Western and Eastern Romance languages: in-word vowel-alternation. As well as changing the word-final vowel, nouns & adjectives in Neapolitan use vowel-alternation within the noun to mark plural nouns.

e > i: pesce “fish”, pisce “fish”; mese “month”, mise “months”.

e > ie: dente “tooth”, diente “teeth”, pere “foot”, piere “feet”.

o > u: culore “color”, culure “colors”; lione “lion”, liune “lions”; ansioso “anxious”, ansiuse “anxious (pl.)”.

This has nothing to do with plurality, but a similar vowel-alternation also helps to distinguish masculine nouns from feminine nouns. 

i ~ e: frisco “fresh (m.)”, fresca “fresh f.); chisto “this (m.)”, chesta “this (f.)”; isso “he”, essa “she”.

i ~ ie: chino “full (m.)”, chiena “full (f.)”.

ie ~ e: tiennero “tender (m.)”, tennera “tender (f.)”; miezo “half (m.)”, meza “half (f.)”.

uo ~ o: buono “good (m)”, bona “good (f.)”; nuovo “new (m.)”, nova “new (f.)”; muorto “dead (m.)”, morta “dead (f.)”.

Medieval Spanish uses both tenere and habere. Tenere expresses physical ownership whereas habere expresses a more abstract possession (such as hunger, thirst, fear, etc.). In later stages of the language, forms of tenere prevailed so that tener is used to express both concepts in modern Spanish. Haber however is used as the auxiliary (helping) verb to build perfect tenses.

Neapolitan uses a similar system but not with every abstract noun. Nouns such as raggiona “reason” and paura “fear” select avé, whereas physical possession select tené/ténere. Avé is also used to construct perfect tenses and express obligation, e.g. aggio visto “I have seen”, aggio ‘a ascì “I have to go out”.

Another way to categorise Romance languages is by looking at which verb is used to express ownership, build perfect tenses, and express existential statements (“there is a woman”). For example, Italian and Romanian use forms of habere for both possession and perfect tenses, but esse to express existential statements. Sardinian, Occitan and French on the other hand would use habere for all three.

Neapolitan is a special outlier: possession is expressed mainly by tenere (and only exceptionally by habere); perfect tenses are mostly built with habere (intransitive verbs however might select esse, like Italian, but not reflexive verbs); and existential statements are made with stare.

Tengo n’aniello “I have a ring”

Aggio vevuto “I have drunk” (cf. M’aggio assettato “I’ve sat down”);  Ammo juto “We have gone” (but Simmo jute)

A common tip you’ll see for language learning is to change your phone’s language. In the past, I was overwhelmed by all the new characters, so I didn’t feel that I was learning much, and I got frustrated easily when I couldn’t figure how to do something. Now that I’m finally at the point where I can very comfortably navigate my phone (iPhone) in Chinese, I thought I’d share some useful vocab.

Apps:

Contacts = 通讯录 tōngxùnlù - address book, directory

Notes = 备忘录 bèiwànglù - memorandum, memorandum book

Facetime = Facetime通话 tōnghuà - to talk over the phone, phone call

Calendar = 日历 rìlì - calendar

Calculator = 计算器 jìsuànqì - calculator

Reminders = 提醒事项 tíxǐng shìxiàng 提醒 tíxǐng - to remind 事项 shìxiàng - matter, item

Podcasts = 播客 bōkè - radio broadcast, podcast

Photos = 照片 zhàopiàn = photograph, picture

Music = 音乐 yīnyuè - music

Clock = 时钟 shízhōng - clock

Google Docs = 文档 wéndàng - file

Google Drive =  云端硬盘 yúnduān yìngpán 云端 yúnduān - cloud 硬盘 yìngpán - hard disk

Camera = 相机 xiàngjī - camera

Google Translate = 翻译 fānyì - to translate, translator, translation

Settings = 设置 shèzhì - to set up, to install

Messages = 信息 xìnxī - message, news, information

As a college student taking Chinese classes, I’m always interested in seeing what textbooks other schools are using. We all know about Wang Peng and Li You, but what are 3rd-year and 4th-year students using? Here’s a totally-not-comprehensive list I’ve compiled (with year/level when known)!

New Practical Chinese Reader vol. 5 & 6 (3rd yr)

Chinese in Motion: An Advanced Immersion Course (3rd yr)

Reading into a New China: Integrated Skills for Advanced Learners (3rd/4th yr)

Beyond the Basics: Communicative Chinese for Intermediate and Advanced Learners (3rd/4th yr)

Chinese Odyssey: Innovative Chinese Courseware vol. 5 & 6 (3rd yr)

China Scene: An Advanced Chinese Multimedia Course (3rd yr)

China’s Development and Dilemmas: Authentic Readings for Advanced Learners (5th yr)

Masterworks Chinese Companion: Expressive Literacy through Reading and Composition (3rd/4th yr)

Perform Suzhou: A Course in Intermediate to Advanced Spoken Mandarin

The Routledge Advanced Chinese Multimedia Course

All Things Considered: An Advanced Reader of Modern Chinese (3rd yr)

Eyes on China: An Intermediate-Advanced Reader of Modern Chinese (3rd)

Anything Goes: An Advanced Reader of Modern Chinese (4th yr)

A Kaleidoscope of China: An Advanced Reader of Modern Chinese (3rd/4th yr)

Literature and Society: An Advanced Reader of Modern Chinese - Revised Edition

A New China: An Intermediate Reader of Modern Chinese (3rd yr)

Taiwan Today: An Intermediate Course (3rd yr)

Comprehensive Chinese: Understanding the People and the World A & B (3rd yr)

Comprehensive Chinese: On the Present and Past A & B (4th yr)

Comprehensive Chinese: Writing and Truth A & B (5th yr)

Let’s learn about reading basic signs in Chinese! Chinese signs often use more formal words/characters that learners aren’t exposed to until more advanced levels, which makes them frustrating to read. However, if you are in China, you’ll see signs all over the place, so it’s important to learn to read them.

Today we’ll be looking at signs talking about forbidden actions/behaviors.

禁止 jìnzhǐ - to prohibit, to forbid, to ban

吸烟 xīyān - to smoke 禁止吸烟 = no smoking

入内 rùnèi - to enter 禁止入内 = no entrance

跳下 tiàoxià - to jump down 禁止跳下 = no jumping

For a long time there was a significant gap between written Chinese and spoken Chinese, but eventually efforts were made to close that gap that we don’t need to go into here. More importantly rn, this gap meant that there were a lot of spoken morphemes with no corresponding character, one being de. Many characters were used, often interchangeably (so old texts are a party), but things have since been standardized to 地, 得, and 的, each with a specific function. While obviously in spoken they all sound the same, it’s good to know which one to use in writing! 

~的~

Often initially introduced as a “possessive marker,” really this is a more general noun modifier. If the de is preceding a noun, it’ll be this one.  (I’ve added spaces to make it stand out more)

noun modifying a noun

teacher’s book 老師 的 書

adjective modifying a noun

a very interesting movie 非常有意思 的 電影

clause modifying a noun

people who do not know me 不認識我 的 人

The following noun can also be left off if the suggested noun is obvious, or to say something like “one(s).”

我寫的小說不比你寫的有意思

 "The novels I’ve written, compared to the one’s you’ve written, are not as interesting" 

這種啤酒不行，老師只喜歡苦苦的。

“This kind of beer is no good, the teacher only likes bitter (beer/ones).“ 

~得~ (also appears as dei)

To keep it simple, this de adds descriptive detail to a verb. If the de follows a verb, it’s this one. It’s pretty straightforward, just be careful when you have a verb with an object.

他說得很快。

"He speaks quickly.”

她說得跟中國人一樣。

“She speaks just like a Chinese person.”

老師說話說得很快，但是我們都聽懂。

“The professor speaks quickly, but we understood everything.”

As you can see above, if there is an object you’ll need to repeat the verb so you can modify it with de. Well jk that’s not always true if the sentence is understandable with just the one:

我說日文說得不錯，可是我不說別的外語。

我日文說得不錯，可是我不說別的外語。

both mean “I speak Japanese ok, but I don’t speak any other foreign language." 

Also good to remember with this is that if you want to negate the modifier, do it next to the modifier, not the verb.

他來的不早

NOT *他不來得早

"He didn’t come early." 

~地~ (also appears as di)

This one is the adverbial modifier. If the de is before a verb, it’s this one. You do not usually need it for monosyllabic modifiers, like in, "我也說…” or even “她常常來…” but otherwise you do.

他高興 地 說：「我把所有的功課都作好了。」

“He happily said, "I finished all of my homework.”

我希望以後能更好 地 研究中國的歷史。

“I hope to be able to better study the history of China”

Do you know? Modern dictionaries will have in excess of 50,000 characters where approximately 21,000 of those characters are in contemporary usage. But don’t be afraid! You can read around 99.48% of modern, everyday Chinese if you know approximately 3,500 characters.

Colloquial Chinese - Lesson 1

1. 哪/哪儿/哪里 in rhetorical questions to negate 你看看我，都已经快五十岁了，哪还能打篮球啊？ 他就会受那么一两句中文，哪能给你翻译中文小说啊？ 我哪里跟你说过一定会买你的东西了？

2. 好吧 showing that the previous request/suggest is not perfect, but it is acceptable 学生：老师，真对不起，我忘了把功课带来了，明天给你行吗？ 老师：好吧！下次别在忘了。

3. 人家 meaning (1) “the other people” or (2) referring to the speaker themselves. The second meaning is often used for complaining (1) 人家小李三点就来了，你怎么现在才来？ 人家能做到，我们也能做到。 (2) 人家话还不说完，他就把电话挂了！ 你怎么才来，人家已经等你半个小时了！

Sometimes it can be tricky to know what to learn if you are teaching yourself a language. Here are some ideas for what you can focus on learning each day for the first two months of learning a new language! I formatted it so there is the general topic for the day and then in parentheses are some ideas to get you started but you can definitely learn a lot more than what I’ve written down! These are just to help generate some ideas!

This definitely would move pretty quickly if you covered all this material in 2 months so you could definitely spend more time on each topic if you need! This would require quite a bit of time each day in order to learn it all. This could totally work for a 4 or 6-month challenge where you spend 2 or 3 days on each of the topics I listed if you don’t have enough time to cover each topic in just one day!

Polite phrases (thank you, please, yes/no, you’re welcome, I’m sorry)

Introductory phrases (hi, my name is, I’m from, I speak, how are you?)

Pronouns (I, you, he, she, they, we)

Basic people vocab (girl, boy, man, woman, person, child)

Basic verbs in present tense (to eat, to drink, to walk, to read, to write, to say)

Sentence structure (how to form some basic sentences)

Negative sentences (I do not __)

Question words (who, what, where, when, why, how, how to form questions)

Numbers (0-20, 30, 40, 50, 100, 1,000, 1,000,000)

Time (hour, minute, half hour, reading the time)

Meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert, appetizer)

Basic foods (apple, banana, rice, bread, pasta, carrot, soup, water)

More foods (beef, pork, fruit, vegetable, juice, coffee, tea, chocolate, cake)

Kitchen (stove, oven, kitchen, fridge, table, chair, bake, boil)

Eating supplies (knife, spoon, fork, plate, bowl, cup, glass)

More verbs (to make, to have, to see, to like, to go, to be able to, to want, to need)

Family (father, mother, son, daughter, aunt, uncle, cousin, grandmother, grandfather, parents, grandparents)

Transportation (car, train, plane, bus, bicycle, airport, train station)

City locations (apartment, building, restaurant, movie theater, market, hotel, bank)

Directions (north, south, east, west, right, left)

Adjectives (good, bad, smart, delicious, nice, fun)

More verbs (to give, to send, to wake up, to cry, to love, to hate, to laugh)

Colors (red, yellow, blue, green, purple, black, white, brown)

Emotions (happy, sad, calm, angry)

Physical descriptions (tall, short, blonde, brunette, redhead, eye color)

Body parts (arm, leg, hand, finger, foot, toe, face, eye, mouth, nose, ears)

Descriptors (rich, poor, beautiful, ugly, expensive, inexpensive)

Basic clothing (shirt, pants, dress, skirt, jacket, sweater, skirt, shorts)

Accessories (belt, hat, wallet, gloves, sunglasses, purse, watch)

More verbs (to keep, to smile, to run, to drive, to wear, to remember)

Animals (cat, dog, horse, cow, bear, pig, chicken, duck, fish)

More animals (turtle, sheep, fox, mouse, lion, deer)

Months (January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December)

Seasons (fall, winter, spring, summer)

Weather (sunny, cloudy, hot, cold, snowing, raining)

States of being (I’m hungry, I’m tired, I’m thirsty)

House (bedroom, living room, bathroom, stairs)

Furniture (bed, lamp, couch, door, window)

Electronics (phone, TV, computer, camera, radio, headphones)

Nature (tree, flower, plant, animal, grass, animal, outside, sky, sun, moon, clouds)

More verbs (to teach, to learn, to understand, to know, to listen, to hear)

School (classroom, elementary school, high school, college, student, class, grade, homework, test)

School subjects (math, science, English, art, music, chemistry, biology, physics)

School supplies (book, pencil, pen, paper, notebook, folder, backpack, calculator)

Classroom features (student desk, teacher desk, whiteboard, chalk, clock, bell)

Jobs (teacher, scientist, doctor, artist, dancer, musician)

More jobs (surgeon, manager, engineer, architect, lawyer, dentist, writer)

More verbs (to buy, to sell, to work, to ask, to answer, to dance, to leave, to come)

Comparisons (less than, more than, same, __er than)

Languages (French, German, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, English, Japanese)

Countries (France, Germany, China, Russia, Spain, Mexico, United States, Japan)

Religion (church, temple, mosque, to pray, Judaism, Christianity, Islam)

Past tense (I was, he ran, she wrote)

Hobbies (shopping, sports, soccer, chess, fishing, gardening, photography)

More verbs (to describe, to sleep, to find, to wish, to enter, to feel, to think)

Art (paint, draw, painting, gallery, frame, brush)

Morning routine (to wake up, to brush teeth, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, soap)

Future tense (I will run, he will write)

TV + internet (online, internet, to watch TV, TV show, movie, documentary, cartoon)