Hey Everyone!
Hope everyone's had a great week- I know I have!
I am so excited to share with you what I have learned this week for my Genius Hour.
This week's focus was on learning action words or activities in Mandarin! I had a lot of fun, but definitely was challenged this week!
This was one of the many videos I used this week to help me in my learning process! Learning the daily activities and other activities was hard, as they have so many specific phrases to use for a similar idea.
For example: má- means to bother, but it can be pronounced a different way and have many other meanings, such as mother, to scold, horse, etc.
The tenses of these words: past, present, future are the most challenging. It can all change the way you say a word, and sometimes it was hard for me to remember what tense to learn.
These were definitely things I struggled with within my learning this week, especially when trying to read how you pronounce words. In Chinese, specifically Mandarin, pronunciation is everything, it all depends how to say the words, as it can dictate a different meaning.
I learned a lot this week about tenses, action words, activities and even more about pronunciation. My boyfriend was explaining the pronunciation rules to me, giving me examples of words that you can pronounce in different tones/pitches, with different meanings attached to them.
For example: nĭ - is more elongated (n-iee) meaning you whereas ní - is more sharp (n-E) meaning dirt
Obviously this is very important to consider when learning Mandarin, as you don't want to prounicate a word in the wrong tone, as that can get messy and confusing- especially if you're trying to say you, and you say dirt! YIKES!
My boyfriend has set goals for me, to work on my pronunciation more, as he says all the words are right but I just need to be more careful how I say it. He says it does take a lot of time and that he will go over words and how to say them as often as I need to.
I guess the only questions I have in this week is how will I remember every single pronunciation, as there are so many words with different ways to say them. Also, what does next week bring?
As a new week is coming, I am even more excited to expand my knowledge further, so I can reach my end goal of feeling comfortable and confident in speaking Mandarin. I will continue to practice and have my boyfriend and his mum correct my pronunciation ha!
Until next time!
Kuài shuō ba- Speak soon!
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