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Hello dear language learners!
Out of professional interest and mere curiosity here is a question for you.
Which grammar point(s) do you find the most challenging in Chinese grammar?
Partical 了
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Passive voice
50%
Structure with 把
50%
Other (mention in the comments, please)
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2명 응답함 • 설문조사 종료
2023년 3월 17일
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Vodka, Textbook and Two Students
Maybe it's a kind of professional hazard already ^^ but I'm always in the search for new teaching materials. Constantly. Endlessly.
Not so long ago I found the textbook that I've been looking for...i don't know, for ages really! And when I finally got it, I started skimming through the units, comparing grammar explanations, examples etc. Everything was quite good (not as heavenly awesome as I'd expected tho) but at some moment I stumbled upon a text which roughly can be translated this way:
-Hey! Why aren't you going to the classes today?
-I'm not feeling well...
-Eeeew, you stink! What happened last night?
-I drank vodka with my friends.
-Omg, how much did you drink?
-Not so much, just a couple of bottles. But then I threw up on the floor, and my friends gave me a glass of something else.
...
Well, I do understand that this sort of situation may be routine for some people. And they need to know how to say "I'm not well" / "I got drunk" and so on. But is it really so important to add such texts in pre-intermediate level textbooks?
Dear teachers, would you use such book in your classes?
Dear students, would you like to be taught this kind of vocabulary?
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How to greet in Russian (even if you're an advanced learner, you will find something new here)
Many people around the world are staying home now. And, as I can see by the increasing number of Russian lesson requests, some of them decided to dedicate these days to learning Russian^^ I hope some of these notes below will help you widen your knowledge of the Russian language.
Informal ways to say Hello in Russian
The most common way to informally say hello in Russian is Привéт (<em>Priv</em>é<em>t</em>), meaning “hi.” Among Russian men, you often hear the slightly more rough-sounding Здорóво (<em>Zdor</em>ó<em>vo</em>), generally followed by a firm handshake.
Some Russian girls and women tend to use diminutive greetings with each other. For example, Привéтик<em> </em>(<em>Priv</em>é<em>tik</em>) is a cute way to say hello in Russian, and Привéтики<em> </em>(<em>Priv</em>é<em>tiki</em>) sounds even cuter (please do not use it if you aren't wearing a pink sweater with a unicorn on it).
Formal ways to say Hello in Russian
If the people you are addressing are noticeably older than you (or above your status), use Здрáвствуйте (<em>Zdr</em>á<em>vstvuite</em>). It looks like the imperative form of one old-fashioned verb Здрáвствовать (to be healthy). So when you say Здрáвствуйте, you basically mean to say "I wish you to be healthy". It does look like a polite way to greet someone, doesn't it?
For daily usage, though, even this word gets too complicated. Здрáсти (<em>Zdr</em>á<em>sti</em>) is the more colloquial, shortened form. There’s also an informal version, mostly used in writing: Здрáвствуй (<em>Zdr</em>á<em>vstvui</em>), though this has another connotation. It conveys aloofness and detachment, so it’s best suited for “Dear John” letters.
About the time of day
Дóброе утро (<em>D</em>ó<em>broye útro</em>) means “good morning” and is often heard before noon.
Дóбрый день (<em>D</em>ó<em>bry den’</em>), or “good day,” is a stylistically neutral, polite greeting that can be used until the end of the work day.
Дóбрый в<em>é</em>чер (<em>D</em>ó<em>bry vécher</em>), meaning “good evening”.
One greeting for many time zones
Did you know that Russia has 11 time zones? When it’s 10 am in Kaliningrad, people over in Kamchatka are already eating their evening meals at 8 o’clock! Now imagine you’re in a Russian chatroom and have no idea what time of day it is for the person you’re chatting with. How do you greet them then? Дóброго вр<em>é</em>мени суток<em> </em>(<em>D</em>ó<em>brogo vrémeni sútok</em>) — literally, “Good around-the-clock!”
What kind of greeting do you prefer to use?
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Voscreen / Sharing useful resources for English learners
I just came across an app called Voscreen which also has an online version (very handy)
https://www.voscreen.com/life/1487/u1yzpn9mbavscvza2/en
You choose your mother tongue, your English level and the app shows you a little piece of a random movie. After that you choose the way the answers are shown (with English subtitles or without) and pick the closest to what actors just said phrase. Train your listening!
If you are Intermediate+, try it with English-English (set English as your mother tongue), it's still lots of fun.
P.S. sitting at home definitely brings more and more good things:) If you discovered anything useful, share it with us here
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#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly Can you guess a movie by this kind of description?
<ol><li>People drink coffee for 10 years.</li><li>A guy learns to love a girl without her Insta filters.</li><li>Paranoid billionaire afraid of immigrant.</li><li>A family's first Airbnb experience goes very wrong.</li><li>Group spends 9 hours returning jewelry.</li><li> Everyone tries the ice bucket challenge.</li><li>A series of naps</li><li>Cancer survivor never loses his sense of humor.</li><li>Leonardo DiCaprio wanders a frozen wasteland in search of an Oscar.</li></ol>
If you guessed any movie, write its name in the comments^^ Can you describe any movie with only one phrase?
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If Friday were a person… it would be a woman! (no offense - just pure linguistics)
This is an example of how grammatical gender influences perception.
In a 1966 study by Jakobson native Russian speakers were asked to personify weekdays. Unsurprisingly, participants consistently personified grammatically masculine weekdays — понедельник (“Monday”), вторник (“Tuesday”), четверг (“Thursday“) — as men, and grammatically female weekdays — среда (“Wednesday’), пятница (“Friday”), суббота (“Saturday”) — as women.
As a native Russian speaker, I do imagine Friday as a woman. "She" wears a dress, like in 1920's, has a little dog and smokes all the time!^^
What about your mother tongue? Do weekdays have gender? Whether they do or don't, try to imagine one of the weekdays and describe it here.
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"Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus"
“The myth of Mars and Venus” is simply the proposition that men and women differ fundamentally in the way they use language to communicate. There are some most common beliefs:
<ol><li>Language and communication matter more to women than to men; women talk more than men.</li><li>Women are more verbally skilled than men.</li><li>Men’s goals in using language tend to be about getting things done, whereas women’s tend to be about making connections to other people. </li><li>Men talk more about things and facts, whereas women talk more about people, relationships and feelings.</li><li>Men’s way of using language is competitive, reflecting their general interest in acquiring and maintaining status; women’s use of language is cooperative, reflecting their preference for equality and harmony.</li></ol>Which of the statements you think are true? Do you have any examples from your personal experience?
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Verbal hygiene
The term "verbal hygiene" was described by Professor Deborah Cameron as “the urge to meddle in matters of language”. The professor meant the attempt to control or manage the language we use. There are some examples of how it can be done in our society today:
<ul><li> replacing offensive or jargon language with ‘politically correct’ forms;</li><li> making the language more gender neutral;</li><li> changing the language spoken (Esperanto, as an attempt to create a lingua franca for ALL people)...</li></ul>But calling something by a different name doesn’t change what that thing is, right? Does the changing the language matter at all then?
I am curious to know if there is anything you would like to change in your mother tongue;)
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What was the first sentence you formulated in your target language?
No, it's not about "hello", "thanks" or "how much". I'm asking about those more or less complex phrases you formed for the first time on your own.
Another day I was asked if I still remember the first phrase I formulated in Chinese. My answer was "no" (it's been so many years...) but I do remember some of my first phrases in Spanish and Arabic:
Quiero comer en mi cama - I want to eat in my bed
Dos cervezas para mi y mi gato, por favor - Two beers for me and my cat, please
قطتك غريبة -Your cat is weird
زوجي لطيف - My husband is kind
Do you remember your first phrases?
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Does a diploma matter?
Today young specialists spend 4-6 years at colleges and universities to get their degrees and diplomas. But is it really important to have professional certification if you are a teacher? Or is it enough to be passionate about your subject, aim to improve your knowledge, and love your students?
If you have any thoughts about professional certification in other spheres, feel free to share it, too:)
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