用外幣買賣 (Buying & Selling Using Foreign Currency) 請幫助我糾正我的短語。我在學習說關於用外幣買賣。 Can you please give me feedback on these sentences? I'm learning about how to buy and sell using different foreign currency. 1) 一碗湯人民幣幾元？ 2) 三個蘋果美元幾元？ 3) 這張報紙2美元88分。 4) 兩瓶白酒人民幣幾元？

German Notebook #1: Introduction (Bitte sehen mein Video) Hallo. Guten Morgen, guten Tag, guten Abend. Ich heisse Spence. Ich bin aus den USA. Ich wohne in Seattle. Mein Urgroßvater und meine Urgroßmutter sind aus Deutschland. Sie sind die Großeltern meiner Mutter. Meine muttersprache ist Englisch. Ich lerne gerne Sprachen. Mein Spanisch ist sehr gut. Mein Französisch ist Mittelstufe. Mein Chinesisch ist nicht schlecht. Wie ist mein Deutsch? [[[Bitte sehen mein Video: https://youtu.be/aKRX3wYQIRw ]]]

Off-By-One Errors: Pinyin Spellings and Basic Phrases Last night I went to the Super Fun Chinese Club's monthly free event. I came away with a few thoughts. First off, I'm not very fluent with common phrases. It was a bit of a struggle to go around the room and repeat, "你好。我叫Spence。你叫什么名字？" But those first few phrases weren't nearly as awkward as saying again and again, "很高兴认识你" or "我也很高兴认识你." There must be a simpler way to say this in Chinese. It sounds awkwardly formal to me, like saying in English, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Next up, I tried to talk with 董老师 entirely in 中文 to show off my language abilities. I feel on my face in two regards: 1) I kept saying 我明白 instead of 我不明白. (An off by one error.) And 2) I couldn't recall the words for basic phrases like "How do you say X in Chinese?", "Can you please repeat that?" and my new favorite "Can you please try saying that in a different way?" I couldn't remember any of these phrases because I haven't learned any of them. I've been learning really specialized vocabulary while neglecting the basics. The last thing that really struck me from the meeting was how even the slightest pronunciation error could make an entire sentence unintelligible. (A number of off-by-one errors.) A few examples: 1) I was trying to say, "我用三脚架固定“ (I use a tripod to fix/stabilize my phone (for filming). But instead of saying sān jiǎojià, I said sānjiǎojiù. 董老师 had no idea what I was saying. 2) I tried to say, "我每天都学习，每天都进步." (Every day I study, every day I improve.) But I said jìnjù instead of jìnbù. Again 董老师 had no clue what I was saying. 3) One of the attendees introduced himself with his Chinese name. The first syllable was lan, but he pronounced it làn instead of lán (蓝). I was trying to guess the meaning of his name, but it didn't occur to mean that the first character was actually 蓝 and he had just mispronounced it. When I was learning Spanish, we had the concept of sympathetic and non-sympathetic native speakers (basically the ones who could understand foreigners and the ones who couldn't.) I wonder how much this holds true in Chinese where there is much less exposure to non-native speakers. Would more context make me easier to understand? And am I going to have a harder time talking to native speakers in China than the Chinese teachers who live here in the US? My thought is probably yes for both.

美国人说中文 #2: 你喜欢什么？ (YouTube/Youku Video) ========视频/Video========== YouTube (美国人/USA): https://youtu.be/2HLgbLXdxm8 优酷/Youku (中国/China): http://bit.ly/meiguoren =========================== 我有一些疑问。你喜欢喝咖啡还是茶？你喜欢吃蛋糕还是巧克力？你喜欢学语言还是看电视？你最喜欢的动物是什么？你最喜欢的汉子是什么？你最喜欢的语言是什么？我不知道。你最喜欢喝什么？你最喜欢吃什么？你最喜欢做什么？ 我最喜欢做的是学习语言。谁是你最好的朋友？我最好的朋友是惠特尼。惠特尼。

中文 #1：大家好 (YouTube Video) YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/sO10tUoy1C0 =========Video Update for Chinese Users========== Mandarin Notebook 1 (April 9th, 2018) Youku (China): http://bit.ly/美国人和他的猫 （Alternative Link: http://bit.ly/meiguoren ） YouTube (International): https://youtu.be/UhZhFOD49cs ============================================ 你们好！我叫 Spence。我的中文名字叫老蓝眼睛。 我是美国人。我很高。我有一双蓝色的妖精。我有褐色的头发 我说英语和一点汉语。 我要学阅读，写作，说话和倾听。 (Wǒ yào xué yuèdú, xiězuò, shuōhuà hé qīngtīng.) 不要忘记！我叫Spence！我学中文！ (Bùyào wàngjì) 谢谢 和 再见。