Thursday, July 19, 2007

Mandarin cool... so are Japanese and Korean! #2

Lesson 2 - Greetings

Hanyu Pinyin is used as the basic form of pronounciation here, unless otherwise stated. For those not familiar in Hanyu Pinyin (were you sleeping in your Primary school chinese lessons?), these are some illustrations:

a = a as in art
i = i as in ink
u = oo as in cool
e = a as in air
o = aw as in paw
ao = ou as in ouch
an = un as in until




John: Excuse me... (when asking for attention)
Xiao Ming: 不好意思 (bu hao yi si) OR 打扰一下 (da rao yi xia)
Nakamura: すみません (su mi ma sen)
Yong Su: 안녕하세요 (an nyong ha se yo)

John: I'm sorry.
Xiao Ming: 对不起 (dui bu qi)
Nakamura: ごめなさい (go me na sa-i)
Yong Su: 미안해요 (mi an he yo)

John: Thank you!
Xiao Ming: 谢谢 (xie xie)
Nakamura: ありがとうございます (a li ga to-u go za i ma-su)
Yong Su: 감사합니다 (kam sa ham ni da)

John: Good bye!
Xiao Ming: 再见 (zai jian)
Nakamura: さようなら (sa yo-u na ra)
Yong Su: 안녕히 가세요 (an nyong hi ka se yo) OR 안녕히 계세요 (an nyong hi ke se yo)

Note that in Korean, 안녕히 계세요 is said by person who is leaving, while 안녕히 가세요 is said by person who is staying back. :)


Disclaimer: I'm not a Chinese/Japanese/Korean teacher and I'm only sharing what I know. These lessons are not part of any formal text books and you don't get any certifications from learning them. You will not become an expert from these lessons because I'm not any expert myself. The only thing I can guarantee is that your Chinese/Japanese/Korean friend can finally understand what you're trying to say.

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