03-15-2007, 04:49 PM
What? You can't use your question mark key?
FYI, the question mark is spoken in Chinese. You end a sentence with the word ma in a rising tone, like a question, to denote that you are asking a question. So you'd say 'ni chi ma?' (literally 'you eat question?' - a standard way to say 'hello' in China, because not everyone eats every day). Ni chi means literally 'you eat' although it's sometimes spoken that way as an abbreviated form. Same goes for ni hao (you good) or the longer more proper ni hao ma (you good question), the other common greeting.
That maybe as far as you get in Chinese, Greg. But I'll try feed you some useful terms as they come to mind.
Lesson 1: cesuo zai nar? (seh-so-ahh zigh nar) literally 'stink place where?' (where doesn't use ma for questions). Where's the bathroom?
FYI, the question mark is spoken in Chinese. You end a sentence with the word ma in a rising tone, like a question, to denote that you are asking a question. So you'd say 'ni chi ma?' (literally 'you eat question?' - a standard way to say 'hello' in China, because not everyone eats every day). Ni chi means literally 'you eat' although it's sometimes spoken that way as an abbreviated form. Same goes for ni hao (you good) or the longer more proper ni hao ma (you good question), the other common greeting.
That maybe as far as you get in Chinese, Greg. But I'll try feed you some useful terms as they come to mind.
Lesson 1: cesuo zai nar? (seh-so-ahh zigh nar) literally 'stink place where?' (where doesn't use ma for questions). Where's the bathroom?
Shadow boxing the apocalypse