New Members jolan Posted April 24, 2011 at 11:00 AM New Members Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 at 11:00 AM hi, I was wondering if you could help me building a list of chinese words that are similar to english. For example: women (we)in chinese has the same pron. as in english Obviously the meaning is different but i am interested in the sounds. I am not looking for the exact/perfect sound but something that comes pretty close. a few more i came across: in chinese(meaning) -> in english may(buy/sell) -> may yong(to use) -> young hao(good) -> how ye(also) -> yeah! cher(bus) -> share The list will help me (and others) building some vocab. in an easier way ;) cheerz jolan Ps. If you can add the chinese char. that might even be better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted April 25, 2011 at 11:39 AM Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 at 11:39 AM Hello, I would have to disagree that these words sound like english. to buy/sell is mai, a closer match would be mei for beautiful wo men does not sound like women when prononced correctly. che for bus or car also does not sound at all like share to my ear. yong bears no comparison to young as far as I can tell. ye is shorter than yeah. the only one that you have listed that is close is hao = how. I am not sure what help this could be in learning chinese, in fact it would be confusing for me. I think compiling a list like this would not be of use and IMHO would probably be a waste of time. Why do you think it would help? Shelley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hofmann Posted April 25, 2011 at 11:42 AM Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 at 11:42 AM Not even close. Think about how things sound instead of how they're spelled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbradfor Posted April 25, 2011 at 01:58 PM Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 at 01:58 PM I'm sorry to add to the negativity, but I think this is a bad idea as well. If you try to learn things based on "sounds kind of sort like XXX in English", I think you're going to have a hard time learning the correct pronunciation, and you run the risk of having a really strong English accent for a long time. There's really not that many sounds in Chinese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymoose Posted April 25, 2011 at 03:13 PM Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 at 03:13 PM 法克鱿 is a type of squid. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoobyqueen Posted April 25, 2011 at 05:03 PM Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 at 05:03 PM Misunderstood posting. Text deleted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted April 25, 2011 at 09:59 PM Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 at 09:59 PM I just can not see how this could help, Scoobyqueen. It would just be too confusing. The examples you give don't match any better than Jolan's. Why do you think it would help? I don't mean to be negative but I really cannot get my head round this "method". Does anyone do it for any other language? As jbradfor says it will probably give you a strong English accent. I will stick to learning them as complete and seperate things. :rolleyes: Shelley 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xiaocai Posted April 26, 2011 at 03:34 AM Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 at 03:34 AM It may work for some people. DIfferent people do have different methods of remembering things. Take the tampon-谈判 example given by scoobyqueen here. It doesn't necessarily mean that you pronounce 谈判 in exactly the same way you say "tampon" in English, but it may remind you that the word sounds somehow similar to "tampon" and it may ring a bell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazy-meiguoren Posted April 26, 2011 at 06:54 AM Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 at 06:54 AM 爱人 is pronounced a lot like the way Bugs Bunny pronounces "iron". Definitely not spelled the same way, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazy-meiguoren Posted April 26, 2011 at 07:03 AM Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 at 07:03 AM Pronouncing the pinyin for 腐刑 according to English phonetics could lead one to a polar opposite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoobyqueen Posted April 26, 2011 at 07:35 AM Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 at 07:35 AM Apologies Shelly. I think I may have misuderstood what the poster wanted. It has served me well as a memory aid in the past but it may well be too abstract as you say. I have deleted the post so as to not cause any confusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted April 26, 2011 at 08:58 AM Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 at 08:58 AM ;) I understand your confusion Scoobyqueen. Abtsract is a good word for it. Perhaps this is why I don't think it is of much use. Shelley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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