Our podcast for today is the first show in a new series we're launching to teach proper Chinese pronunciation. In these podcasts we will review sounds that many non-native speakers have trouble with, and share some hard-learned tips and tricks on how to make yourself sound more like a native speaker. And our target for this first show is one of the most commonly mispronounced words in the Chinese language.We've intentionally designed this podcast to be short and tightly focused with maximum word and phrase repetition. If you're new to Chinese, we'd encourage you to be an active participant in the recording, and speak along with Echo and Brendan (you will learn faster!). And, as always, we'd love to have your thoughts and feedback on the new show. If you've got ideas on the new show, why not let Echo know what you think by sending her an email at echo@popupchinese.com?
toneandcolor
said on April 22, 2009
补充生词 Supplementary vocabulary for this lesson:
日本 [rìběn] Japan ("land of the rising sun")
日语 ［rìyǔ］ Japanese language
星期日 ［xīngqīrì］ Sunday
日记 ［rìjì］ diary
日夜 ［rìyè］ day and night
星期日我去日本。［xīngqīrì wǒ qù rìběn］ On Sunday I'm going to Japan.
她用日语写日记。［tā yòng rìyǔ xiě rìjì］ She uses Japanese to write her diary.
sseamon
said on April 22, 2009
hi guys, get a loading error on the audio.
toneandcolor
said on April 22, 2009
Great idea for a show - beginning students definitely need this kind of drilling before they form bad pronunciation habits. Looking forward to hearing more podcasts on pesky [jiao/zhao] [xiao/shao] [qiao/chao] distinctions, as well as the ever-elusive [ü].
Gail天堂的声音
said on April 22, 2009
why cannot i hear the podcast?
Absolute Beginners
said on April 22, 2009
Re-uploaded guys - as best I can figure right now our flash player was having a problem with the punctuation in the title. Absurd issue, but there is it.
Flash player is working for me again, and the download link on the side panel works perfectly. Thanks for your patience and sorry for the delay with this.
--david
bonita.delmonte
said on April 22, 2009
I agree with toneandcolor. This is a useful type of review, especially with the constant drilling. I'm hoping to hear more of them too.
Echo
said on April 22, 2009
@toneandcolor & bonita.delmonte,
对，我们也是这样想 ：）
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
maxiewawa
said on April 23, 2009
Japanese people often have problems with 日, which is particularly problematic because they have to use it whenever they say where they are from!
I tried to do an explanation in a comment here, but thought a video would be better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU1UTS46IW0
Echo
said on April 23, 2009
@maxiewawa,
You can open youtube in China??
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
imron
said on April 23, 2009
Sure, why not. Check out www.witopia.net for a fast and easy to setup VPN. Alternatively if your site is hosted outside of china and is running on a VPS or a dedicated server you could set up a remote port forwarding proxy to acheive the same goal. Thats what we do at the company I work for.
stratman1
said on April 24, 2009
@maxiewawa
That Japanese pronunciation video brings me back.. teacher: “再说一遍。。日” student: “lee" teacher: "日” student: “ree" over and over..good times =p
So you're half Japanese half Chinese? All australian?
maxiewawa
said on April 24, 2009
Echo 老师 我回国了！But yes, I could watch youtube through a VPN.
Anchorfree.com was free.
I'm half Taiwanese Chinese, half white Australian. ;)
Gail天堂的声音
said on April 24, 2009
@stratman1,
yes, it also reminds me of this dialogue:
teacher:你是哪国人？
Japanese:我是lee本人。
teacher:什么？你是哪国人？
Japanese:我是lee本人。
sometimes i think, even if all the people around the world cannot pronounce Ri in the right way, the Japanese should, because this is one character of their country name.
trevelyan
said on April 24, 2009
Can be a bit tough to figure it out at first, but most of the North Americans I know have it pretty well down. I have no idea why the Japanese have such trouble with it.
Echo
said on April 24, 2009
@imron,
That's cool. I didn't know it.
@stratman1 & gail,
有一次我接到一个人打来的电话，他自我介绍的时候，说“我是r/lee &**&￥%#人”，我以为他是瑞典人，见了面才知道是日本人。
@maxiewawa,
那你还回来吗？
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
Ian
said on April 24, 2009
I will find these kind of lessons very helpful, as I have no one I can speak Chinese regularly with to correct my pronunciation.
I also was reading “ri" as English "ree"
I'm English but I live in Switzerland so I can do German, where there is a lot of
ö and ü which comes in handy for pronouncing 女
Echo
said on April 24, 2009
@ians,
Hey，很高兴看到你留言!
Glad to hear that you like our lessons (although I have heard from you letter :P)
加油, looking forward to your visit :)
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
Ian
said on April 24, 2009
@Echo
Watch'ya，我也高兴加你的社区
A question about another lesson if I may, in the lesson What's Your Number? You all say there is no Chinese word for message.
但是 above you use 留言, this does 翻译 to "leave a message".
Is that a different kind of message?
I'm also really looking forward to my first time in 中国和北京, i finished biting all my finger nails, and I'm on to my toes now, well.... maybe not that bad :o)
回头见
伊恩
Echo
said on April 25, 2009
@ians,
Hey,
There are several different kinds of "message". Like the most common one(maybe): SMS--短信/信息/短信息/短消息；then, "leave a message on the website or leave a telephone message" -- 留言；last, if you are a secretary and you answer phone calls everyday, sometimes you may need to write down some messages for your boss when he/she is not in the office -- that is the one I say hard to translate -- you could say "您想留个言吗？"(do you want to leave a message) to the speakers on the other end of the telephone, but it sounds more like the second one, and not natural in Chinese.
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
Gail天堂的声音
said on April 25, 2009
@echo, @ians,
yes, so many different ways to say sms. and i think “短消息”is a little bit too old. we dont use it very often. the rest:短信、信息、短信息---they are all a part of 短信息。
mattkei
said on June 14, 2016
Hi, I'm a little confused because I thought Sunday was Xing Qi Tian (I'm not proficient at writing characters yet!) Am I completely wrong or what is the difference between using Xing Qi Ri and Xing Qi Tian?
oldgabe
said on June 15, 2016
@mattkeiThere is no real difference I know of, just two words for the same thing.
