This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz
by Elliotte Rusty Harold.
Original Post: Wanted: A Course in Pidgin Mandarin
Feed Title: Mokka mit Schlag
Feed URL: http://www.elharo.com/blog/feed/atom/?
Feed Description: Ranting and Raving
One thing this trip to Beijing has brought out is just how useful it would be to speak even a little Mandarin here, even if one can’t reasonably converse or understand spoken Mandarin. Maybe a week’s worth of basic vocabulary and phrases:
Yes
No
I don’t speak Chinese.
Cell phone
Too Expensive
No meat
Duck
Chicken
Beef
Rice
Noodles
Water
Tea
Coffee
Diet Coke
How much?
Skim Milk
Hello
Goodbye
Thank you
Not now
Maybe later
I don’t know
I understand
Turn right
Turn left
You’re going the wrong way
Down the sidewalk!
Oh my God I’m going to die and I still haven’t seen the giant pandas!
etc.
That plus basic numbers, Pinyin pronunciation, some simple rules of etiquette (you ride in the front set of the cab in Beijing), and perhaps a few common and useful Chinese characters would make navigating this city a lot easier. Also, I wouldn’t object to a refresher course in chopsticks, the utensils, not the piano solo.
However I specifically do not want a syllabus that focuses on complete sentences and proper grammar. Berlitz is great, but it assumes you’re just getting started on a course of study that will take years. This may makes sense for European countries, where you have to reach a level of fluency the Europeans have with English before you have any hope of conversing natively, but for a much less Anglophone environment like China, something faster and dirtier would be very helpful. Does anyone actually offer a course that lets you get away with atrocious, horrible grammar as long as you’re understandable?and that doesn’t take years to complete?
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