Are you a native Chinese speaker

[imron]

I personally never go into the Chinese corner because I know all the conversations in there are beyond me, so I just don't bother.

How do you know if you don't look Currently the longest thread on the main 中文角 page (with the exception of the jokes thread) was started by someone who at the time had only been learning Chinese for half a year. Combined with tools like chinesepera-kun, you might find it easier than you think.

I also agree with gougou. Feel free to test the waters, and if separating posts out into beginner/intermediate/advanced is something that proves popular and gets regular use, then it's a lot easier to justify splitting it out into separate sub-forums.

[Hero Doug]

To be honest, I wonder whether there is enough interest in that. But feel free to start a thread and mark it as beginners only to test the waters!

I may give that a try after I'm finished messing around with Linux.

How do you know if you don't look

I used to look regularly and excitedly, now I just scroll past it in shame

Actually I used to go in and have a look but I still have huge vocabulary gaps so a lot of times (most of the time) the meaning would get lost. I'll try the tool you suggested and see what I can do.

[tanklao]

I am a native Chinese speaker, but my mother toungh is Minnan Chinese which is identified as another language by the Internation Standardization Orgnization(ISO).

[skylee]

I am a native Chinese speaker, but my mother toungh is Minnan Chinese which is identified as another language by the Internation Standardization Orgnization(ISO).

You may wish to take a look at post #1 for what is "Chinese" for the purpose of this poll. In short if you consider yourself a native speaker, then you are (this is just a poll not an academic study). You can take ISO's view too if you like.

[skylee]

bump.

[bhchao]

I think I misvoted.

Mother tongue actually Cantonese/Shanghainese, but grew up speaking Mandarin with my elders.

[roddy]

Would be interesting to hear any comments or expansion on this:

My impression is that non-native speakers / learners of the Chinese language dominate this website and they care little about native speakers here.

[Hofmann]

A lot of native speakers (ABC, BBC, etc.) have had no formal education on the language, which sometimes makes them worse off than secondary speakers who have studied the language.

[xieco]

My impression is that non-native speakers / learners of the Chinese language dominate this website and they care little about native speakers here.

My impression is that non-native speakers / learners whose native languages are European dominate language learning websites and ... they learn languages in very different ways from me. Chinese speakers have no responsibility and motivation to visit this site, unless they happen to enter this site and like it (like me). Second, I don't personally think such indirect interactions as on the net would help much - the best that native speakers of any language can do is to offer translations - often with some debates. I have fairly good access to using tools (like skype) for online language exchange, but (as digression) I just don't care for it. It's very inconvenient (though it does make exchange possible to thousands of kilometers beyond me)...

It may not be very correct or even respectful, but: I think that, if you have the money to stay in China, then unless you're so terribly confused (complicated by pragmatic problems... just like the native speaker you meet doesn't want to discuss some sensitive words), it's very natural to ask real people directly and face-to-face. If not, I don't even see the point of going that far. Despite that some accomplished polyglots (ALL of western/European background, somehow) try to emphasize the point of home immersion, that it's _even_ possible to master a language in some ways to some degree without even travelling abroad... I won't _believe_ (with respect) someone can _actually_ do so; even if you do immerse at home by studying very hard, I won't ignore at all the physical environment for vitalizing the language. So, while getting translations and online exchange is a possibility, and I have no reason not to encourage you guys to learn my native language, whether you can go very far depends on yourselves (and on foreign immersion).

[skylee]

bump.

[calibre2001]

skylee 姐姐,

After reading through this thread, I still don't quite get what you mean by 'they care little about native speakers here'. Maybe examples can help clear things up?

It could be cultural difference.

[skylee]

I don't know how to explain. If you don't get what I mean then you don't. And you can explain many things based on "cultural difference", of course.

If you like you can vote.

[Hofmann]

I guess I'll elaborate a bit. I'm a native Cantonese speaker. Unlike most native Cantonese speakers I might possibly be able to give accurate information to students. Most native speakers of any language make very bad teachers (unless they've had training). Of course, native speakers have their good points in being able to point out certain things about culture and usage, but the fussy technical crap that needs to be understood by students is best explained by someone who knows what they're talking about, or someone who wasn't born into the system. I hate how puffed up some native speakers get when they're stating something as if it were the truth, and how many people believe them, just because they're a native speaker.

Actually, over the past few days, most of the BS I've read about Chinese is spouted from natives. Foreigners start out knowing nothing, but they tend to learn the truth.

[丽丽_Jinlei]

I am not a native, I'm Caribbean.

[animal world]

And just for the record, I care very much about the native speakers on this site! Without them (you) we would lose a ton of valuable input

Agree wholeheartedly with this statement. To make this site more of a two-way street, could we add a forum for Improving Your English to help Chinese members? Not only would this be an opportunity to repay the Chinese members in kind but it also may give them an additional incentive to stick around. I'd be delighted to contribute to such a forum.

[Goujian]

My native tongue is Shanghainese, and I only speak Shanghainese at home. It's known as 'Wu Chinese' (ISO code is wuu).

Though I'm an ABC, and I stutter/have an accent whenever I speak Mandarin.

[skylee]

I don't mean to bump the poll.  But a recent post (about picking a Chinese name) highlighting that I am a native speaker of Cantonese, not Mandarin has somehow reminded me of this thread, which I started in 2007.

 

I consider myself a native Chinese speaker.  But other people have other ideas.

[huberybob]

Hi, my mother tongue is Chinese, and currently I am a postgraduate in China, if there are some foreigners who want to find a Chinese to practice their language skills, then it is possible to contact me. I am very pleasure for it because I want to improve my English, so we can help each other. My skype: hu-zhongbo

[Lu]

Mandarin is Chinese, Cantonese is Chinese, and a bunch of different fangyan are also Chinese. One can be a native speaker of Chinese while not being a native speaker of Mandarin. In the thread mentioned, I didn't see anyone say you're not a native Chinese speaker.

[Kobo-Daishi]

 

I don't mean to bump the poll.  But a recent post (about picking a Chinese name) highlighting that I am a native speaker of Cantonese, not Mandarin has somehow reminded me of this thread, which I started in 2007.

 

I consider myself a native Chinese speaker.  But other people have other ideas.

 

This reminds me of a recent article about 2 teenaged girls from Hong Kong arrested in Taiwan for vandalizing a hotel and theft.

 

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2014/03/17/2003585858

 

http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=2437783

 

 

Giving only the women’s last names, Taipei prosecutors identified the pair as 19-year-old Yao (邱)and 18-year-old Tsang (曾).

 

The duo made headlines after they used false identities to rent a hotel room in Taipei that they allegedly trashed and vandalized with graffiti, before reportedly stealing the facility’s TV set, prompting police to issue a warrant for their arrest on Wednesday.

 

Police said they apprehended Yao and Tsang at a low-cost hotel in Greater Tainan, but not before they allegedly trashed another room, writing “Taiwan is China” on the wall in red ink, among other things.

 

Hotel staff called the police when the women failed to check out at the appointed time yesterday.

 

The staff said they became suspicious of Yao and Tsang, who had dyed their hair purple and gold respectively, when the two tried to pass themselves off as Taiwanese when checking in, but their Hong Kong accents gave them away.

 

Greater Tainan police said that when the women were questioned at a nearby police station, they said they had been planning to spend all of their money and then commit suicide.

 

They tried to pass themselves off as Taiwanese, but, their accents gave them away.

 

How's that saying go? Ngo jeui pah...a Cantonese speaking Mandarin.  

 

At least they consider Taiwan a part of China. And they don't call mainlanders locusts.  

 

Kobo.