alfred Posted May 14, 2005 at 10:58 PM Report Share Posted May 14, 2005 at 10:58 PM Hello, I've just starting using the Rosetta Stone program, level 1; I was aware that the program worked primarily on a match-phrases-to-photos theme, so I've registered as it seems that I might have a lot of questions about the sentences I'm matching to photos. Just to be sure that I'm meaning what I'm saying, and that the program is teaching what it's intending. Anywho, I wanted to make this first post to discuss a sentence in the first unit of the program, hoping someone can explain to me exactly what the characters mean, and how they combine to make a sentence. The program shows a boy riding a horse, and the correct choice here is: 一个骑在马上的男孩儿. I was wondering if anyone could explain the characters in this sentence. (First, is this a sentence?) After some research I can see that: 一个 the? a grammar particle? 骑to ride 在be at, in, on, etc. 马horse 上 below, under? 的 grammar particle? 男孩儿 boy 1. Is this a "boy riding a horse" or "the boy is riding the horse" or "the boy is on top of the horse"? How do the verb words relate to the object & noun words in the sentence? Thanks for any help, I look forward to posting in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevelyan Posted May 15, 2005 at 02:12 AM Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 at 02:12 AM Your translation is correct. It may help if you remember that prepositional phrases precede the noun and verb phrases they modify in Chinese. 一个骑在马上的男孩儿. one RIDING ON A HORSE boy ---> a boy riding a horse 他在北京工作 he IN BEIJING works 我们一起去上海旅游 We TOGETHER went to Shanghai on holiday If you want software that will help you understand sentences like this on a word-by-word basis, try running them through the Adso engine. It will save you a great deal of looking thing up in a dictionary, and is unlikely to be wrong for this sort or relatively basic text. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quest Posted May 15, 2005 at 02:57 AM Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 at 02:57 AM 一one 个 [people quantifier] 骑to ride 在be at, in, on, etc. 马horse 上 on, above 的 [possessive/associative/descriptive particle] 男孩儿 boy a "mounted" boy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlomker Posted May 15, 2005 at 01:03 PM Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 at 01:03 PM Alfred, I'm also using Rosetta Stone and have the same opinion...their intuitive approach isn't always so intuitive. I find the program most useful for expanding my vocabulary of nouns and verbs, but it's a challenge to determine what the particles and phrases add to the meaning. I'm using the program in pinyin mode, so I frequently look up the words online as well. I use: http://www.pzlabs.com/chinese/o.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfred Posted May 15, 2005 at 04:54 PM Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 at 04:54 PM Thanks all! Great links and helpful advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Posted May 16, 2005 at 12:37 PM Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 at 12:37 PM Hi On your Rosetta Stone CD you can find a text book explaining in US english what the text is supposed to say "D:DocsTextsLevel I" or in what ever drive you have your disc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlomker Posted May 16, 2005 at 04:11 PM Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 at 04:11 PM Stone CD you can find a text book explaining in US english what the text is supposed to say "D:DocsTextsLevel I" or in what ever drive you have your disc. I have the combined level 1 & 2 program and that directory isn't on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Posted May 17, 2005 at 06:02 PM Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 at 06:02 PM It is on the installation CD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlomker Posted May 18, 2005 at 02:14 PM Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 at 02:14 PM It is on the installation CD I wish it was. Thanks for sending me the file for level 1. It'd be nice if I could find the corresponding document for the level 2 as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpoon Posted May 23, 2005 at 06:44 AM Report Share Posted May 23, 2005 at 06:44 AM the program's supposed to mimic human's natural ability to aquire language by listening and image correlation. But doesn't that only happen in our early childhood? I tried it without any text at all (no pinyin or characters) to mimic real life as much as possible, but it gets really difficult. Even with pinyin I start getting lost at around Unit 2, or just simply waiting to hear (or see) one or two key words to clue me in on which image I should pick. And isn't pinyin kind of cheating? What's the point in the narrator even talking, then? although at least you get the satisfaction that if a native speaker, talking quickly, suddenly went up to you and said "na ge nan hai er, he na ge nu: hai er zai tiao" I would know exactly what they were talking about and they would be like and on the topic of adverbs/descriptors and their order: zai4 fei5 ji5 shang4 mian4 de yi1 ge4 nan2 hai2 er2 really confusing.. using English word order and limited understanding of the parts of the sentance you get "plane > fei ji" "above > shang" "boy > nan2 hai" but that's wrong... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ic1male Posted February 25, 2009 at 12:31 PM Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 at 12:31 PM Forgive me for resurrecting a thread that is almost four years old. I have just started with Rosetta Stone, too. I'm slightly confused as to why the program gives the following (all presumably mean to swim?) 这个男人在游泳。 这只狗在游水。 这条鱼在游。 So it seems a man does one thing, a fish does another and a dog does yet something else! Can anyone explain why? Many thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Posted February 25, 2009 at 08:04 PM Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 at 08:04 PM 这个男人在游泳。 这只狗在游水。 这条鱼在游。 This [M] man is swimming swimming. (Chinese likes two-character words, sometimes this means that two characters that mean basically the same thing are put together, to make a two-character word.) This [M] dog is swimming in water. This [M] fish is swimming. They all have 游 you, to swim. 游泳 youyong also means to swim. 水 shui means water, so 游水 youshui is to swim in water. I hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ic1male Posted February 25, 2009 at 09:17 PM Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 at 09:17 PM Yes, that helps, thanks. So is it only for humans that two character verbs are used? They used another example of 这个男人在跑步。 This man is running-running but the horse is just running. 这匹马在跑。 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baoman Posted March 4, 2009 at 12:40 AM Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 at 12:40 AM 跑步 is a verb-noun and is = 跑. Just like 吃饭 "to eat (food)" and 走步 "to walk" (lit. to walk a step). 男人 can both 跑 and 跑步. It's the same, but 跑步 is clearer that he is running, just like 吃饭 is clearer that one is eating than doing something else pronounced chi1. Wait a second... Do horses 跑步. 步 means "step". Do horses take "steps", or do they only 跑? Anyway, I think it's obvious that in this case the horse is running. Horses don't really have a lot of different things they do, compared to humans. So just 跑 is enough to understand. This explanation based on my gut-feeling. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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