中文?

[Snitchcat]

Alright, I can't be bothered to type in Chinese today -- at work and need to stay with an English keyboard right now. But.... you guys: LOL!

Not that I find the conversation funny as in 'laugh aloud' humour, but as in it's great to read the conversation and just enjoy the language, especially in an English-dominated online world. (^_^) Hope I didn't offend!

Take care,
Snitch.

 

[wistfullylinda]

Haha I'm not sure how much I count as a 外國人. I'm Taiwanese American, and though I only went to Chinese school for one year (couldn't stand it, though now I think I should have tried harder), I did live in Taiwan from age 2-8. So it's not completely foreign to me. 你們比較厲害! I do still have lots to learn though, so thanks for the encouragement, not_HarryS and Snitchcat.

And nice Chinese name, Bartholomew. Makes me think of 奶油.

 

[starscape]

Hello everyone in this thread. Glad to know you are all interested in studying Chinese. I'm a native speaker and qualified to teach Chinese at school. If you have questions you can ask in this thread.




By the way, I finished a fantasy novel with 110,000 English words, and because of this foreign exchange rate, I cannot afford a freelance editor in UK or USA. I have been revising the manuscript since 2008 and it's killing me -.- And I don't know whether the agents rejected the submissions due to the remaining grammar mistakes.

If anyone is interested in an exchange, feel free to contact me. Thanks.

 

[Bartholomew]

By the way, I finished a fantasy novel with 110,000 English words, and because of this foreign exchange rate, I cannot afford a freelance editor in UK or USA. I have been revising the manuscript since 2008 and it's killing me -.- And I don't know whether the agents rejected the submissions due to the remaining grammar mistakes.

If anyone is interested in an exchange, feel free to contact me. Thanks.

I do freelance editing, and I charge significantly less than most editors, as I'm still working toward my degree. 110,000 words is rather long for a first novel. I can't promise we'll come to an arrangement, but I'd be happy to look at the first five or so pages.

I can almost guarantee that you're getting a lot of your rejections based solely on the story's length.

bartholomew [dot] klick [at] gmail [dot] com

 

[Bartholomew]

哦，她是美籍华人吗，还是住在内地呢？

我的朋友也是中国的

（不好意思，你要是在学习中文的话，你也应该开始习惯中国的文化。在国外我要问这么多私人的问题的话，你可能会觉得我很不礼貌。但在中国问这样的问题是很正常的。哈哈哈。）

巴特这个名字啊。。。主要是听起来怪怪的。有一点像个在内蒙的城市名一样。哈哈。你该多学点字再选新名字啊

No, no. Not rude at all. She got me used to it, actually.

She's a Chinese exchange student. She ended up with a horrible host family - they basically wanted a slave, and they intended on dropping her off at the airport a week early...! Anyway, we connected in the English department and traded a Chinese lesson for some constructive revisions.

She flew back this morning. Very sad. Also, now I am way too shy to try replying in Chinese, since I've lost who was effectively my copy editor.

I plan on visiting, though. And I am fully aware that I'll either need to just anglothrust my name into the language -- (我的名字是Bart。) or pick something more appropriate. I'm leaning toward 牛 (I'm large and muscular) or 建国, out of respect as a visitor -- and to maybe endear myself just a little bit with suspicious government officials.

I'm seriously considered Rosetta Stone, too. Can anyone vouch for its Chinese program? I tutored English for a long time, and it's English program impressed the hell out of me.

 

[Snitchcat]

Hello everyone in this thread. Glad to know you are all interested in studying Chinese. I'm a native speaker and qualified to teach Chinese at school. If you have questions you can ask in this thread.

Good. I can plague you with grammar questions then! LOL. Welcome to the Chinese thread, Starscape.

Btw, if you haven't already taken up Bartholomew on his offer, I can help you edit, too -- I have some free time coming up.


As for the Rosetta Stone programme, I've heard it's good, and it really does work. But personally, I've never tried it. I can't remember if it offers a free trial; but if it does, give it a go?

 

[starscape]

No, no. Not rude at all. She got me used to it, actually.

That reminds me of Star Trek Enterprise. The Vulcan delegate was puzzled when Archer asked him lots of personal questions. And then T'Pol or another Vulcan character told the Vulcan delegate something like "Human do it all the time." LOL

 

[starscape]

I do freelance editing, and I charge significantly less than most editors, as I'm still working toward my degree. 110,000 words is rather long for a first novel. I can't promise we'll come to an arrangement, but I'd be happy to look at the first five or so pages.

I can almost guarantee that you're getting a lot of your rejections based solely on the story's length.

bartholomew [dot] klick [at] gmail [dot] com

Thank you. I will consider the offer after the current round of revision -.- But, seriously? 110,000 words are too many for a fantasy? I remember I saw at somewhere that manuscripts under 80,000 words will NOT be considered?

The usual length for a manuscript is between 80,000 and 125,000 words.

 

[starscape]

Good. I can plague you with grammar questions then! LOL. Welcome to the Chinese thread, Starscape.

Btw, if you haven't already taken up Bartholomew on his offer, I can help you edit, too -- I have some free time coming up.

Thank you for your offer too. Feel free to ask at here.

 

[Snitchcat]

Thank you. I will consider the offer after the current round of revision -.- But, seriously? 110,000 words are too many for a fantasy? I remember I saw at somewhere that manuscripts under 80,000 words will NOT be considered?

The number of words is only one reason a query may be rejected; the variety of reasons is endless:

• Not to the editor's taste
• Just bought a similar story
• List is full
• No budget
• Didn't like opening
• Didn't like the subject
• Was in a mood (editors are human, too, )
• Loved it but felt it wasn't right for their publishing line

And, a host of others we can only guess at. It's one of those mysteries that I would like solved each and every time a (form) rejection comes through. But.... wishful thinking only here. Reality isn't that way.

Anyhow, keep at it. You'll get an acceptance soon!

 

[Bartholomew]

Thank you. I will consider the offer after the current round of revision -.- But, seriously? 110,000 words are too many for a fantasy? I remember I saw at somewhere that manuscripts under 80,000 words will NOT be considered?

Submission guidelines trump all, but the more words you have, the more expensive your book is to print, and the riskier you are as a new author.

 

[starscape]

Thank you two. Perhaps I should split this book? But that would be uhm a bit weird ...

Anyway, no questions on studying the language yet? Ok then. It isn't that hard to study chinese.

 

[Snitchcat]

Heheh. 我會問，但現在很累也受了很大的emotional turmoil/impact. (How do you say that in written Chinese?)

啊，Starscape，FYR: 我會說廣東話，不會說普通話，所以我的書面漢語比較不好也很象口語。Er.....其實，你也會看繁體字嗎？


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我会问，但现在很累也受了很大的emotional turmoil / impact. (How do you say that in written Chinese?)

啊，Starscape，FYR: 我会说广东话，不会说普通话，所以我的书面汉语比较不好也很象口语。Er.....其实，你也会看繁体字吗?

 

[Bartholomew]

Thank you two. Perhaps I should split this book? But that would be uhm a bit weird ...

Anyway, no questions on studying the language yet? Ok then. It isn't that hard to study chinese.

What I really need is a coach for the four tones and for all of the consonants. The two Chinese people who listen to me try to pronounce a word correctly just sort of smirk, and then say, "No, it's fine, really." They won't say what I did wrong, or help me correct--only smirk. -_-

 

[Bartholomew]

Thank you two. Perhaps I should split this book? But that would be uhm a bit weird ...

If there aren't 20,000 words you can safely delete (not necessarily all together) then you just need help looking. I mean that in a friendly, "I've had my own 120k word novel beta-read before" kind of way. It's not a matter of removing 20,000 bad words, either. Look at the difference between the edited version of Stephen King's "The Stand" and the version he put out later, with the removed sections intact. Both versions are good. But the edited one tells essentially the same story in a much, much cheaper fashion.

 

[starscape]

我简繁体都可以阅读，但是不会说广东话，这门方言在大中华地区使用地域有限。普通话（国语）更便于不同地区人们交流

你询问的句子我猜测是不是“我现在很累，思维也很混乱”，或者“我很累，脑子很乱”，或者更口语化“我累死了，还头痛，没心情（听你的话）”

Heheh. 我會問，但現在很累也受了很大的emotional turmoil/impact. (How do you say that in written Chinese?)

啊，Starscape，FYR: 我會說廣東話，不會說普通話，所以我的書面漢語比較不好也很象口語。Er.....其實，你也會看繁體字嗎？


-----------------

我会问，但现在很累也受了很大的emotional turmoil / impact. (How do you say that in written Chinese?)

啊，Starscape，FYR: 我会说广东话，不会说普通话，所以我的书面汉语比较不好也很象口语。Er.....其实，你也会看繁体字吗?

 

[starscape]

What I really need is a coach for the four tones and for all of the consonants. The two Chinese people who listen to me try to pronounce a word correctly just sort of smirk, and then say, "No, it's fine, really." They won't say what I did wrong, or help me correct--only smirk. -_-

I think most consonants are the same in English and Chinese

some are a bit mismatched. like "Ch" in English = "Q" in Chinese

I don't know it's that hard for you to speak the four tones ...

 

[starscape]

If there aren't 20,000 words you can safely delete (not necessarily all together) then you just need help looking. I mean that in a friendly, "I've had my own 120k word novel beta-read before" kind of way. It's not a matter of removing 20,000 bad words, either. Look at the difference between the edited version of Stephen King's "The Stand" and the version he put out later, with the removed sections intact. Both versions are good. But the edited one tells essentially the same story in a much, much cheaper fashion.

Never had a beta reader before. Put the manuscript on Kindle once; a few purchases, but I didn't have any way to receive feedbacks.

Thank you but we should talk no more about this issue. This thread is about learning Chinese. Let's stay with the topic.

 

[Bartholomew]

I think most consonants are the same in English and Chinese.

No. o_o

 

[starscape]

Ah? Then I must have a strange accent ... 0_0

 

[Snitchcat]

The consonants are more similar to French or German sometimes than they are to English. Mostly it's noticeable for r and the q or x . As fast as tones go, if you song in any capacity (doesn't matter if you're out or in time) it helps. Chinese is a tonal language. English is intoned.

Btw, I'm on the Tab right now and it's too much hassle to switch input languages.

 

[starscape]

The consonants are more similar to French or German sometimes than they are to English. Mostly it's noticeable for r and the q or x . As fast as tones go, if you song in any capacity (doesn't matter if you're out or in time) it helps. Chinese is a tonal language. English is intoned.

Btw, I'm on the Tab right now and it's too much hassle to switch input languages.

I don't speak those languages, so I can't say anything. But it's good to know you have references

 

[AnotherMorning]

ChinesePod 帮助每个人汉语的发音


如果你认识IPA：

The following are the IPA symbols for this section’s pinyin consonant sounds:
Mandarin: ji [tɕ] English: "j" [dʒ] Mandarin: q [tɕʰ] English: "ch" [tʃ] Mandarin: x [ɕ] English: "sh" [ʃ]

 

[Snitchcat]

你询问的句子我猜测是不是“我现在很累，思维也很混乱”，或者“我很累，脑子很乱”，或者更口语化“我累死了，还头痛，没心情（听你的话）”

It's the first option: 我现在很累，思维也很混乱

Thank you.

 

[starscape]

You're welcome