I've not really had much of a chance today to do more Mandarin - it's been a busy day. I did, however, listen to the rest of Chinesepod lesson 1, and I've managed to add a few more phrases and words to my vocabulary.
The first thing I came across today was the word shì. It's pretty difficult to say, or at least to imitate the pronunciation of the presenters on Chinesepod. It actually sounds a bit like a New York accent in a way! Shì appears to be part of the verb "to be", and, like Japanese, it seems to stay the same, regardless of who is "being". Some of the personal pronouns were also covered in the vocabulary for this edition of Chinesepod. I'm sure there are more, and there are undoubtedly different levels of politeness with the "you" form, but no doubt I'll come across these in good time.
我是 :: wǒ shì :: I am
睨是 :: nǐ shì :: you are
他是 :: tā shì :: he is
她是 :: tā shì :: she is
它是 :: tā shì :: it is
Interestingly the same word, tā seems to be used for he / she / it, but there are three separate characters: 他，她 and 它. (I keep wanting to say "kanji" for the characters, but I know they're not kanji!)
This phrase, 你是中国人 nǐ shì zhōng guó rén, means "you are Chinese". To make it into a question you need to add on the 吗 (ma) particle, giving nǐ shì zhōng guó rén ma?
The negative particle (?) seems to be bú. This may also mean "no", but I'm not 100% sure. I think it makes the verb which follows negative, so while the sense of bú shì is "no", it actually means "am not".
This is "I am", wǒ shì To say "I am Chinese" would therefore be 我是中国人， wǒ shì zhōng guó rén. To say "I'm not Chinese" I think you'd say 不是中国人, bú shì zhōng guó rén.
If 中国人 zhōng guó rén is "Chinese person" then 美国人 měi guó rén is "American person". By extension, I think that China is 中国 zhōng guó, and America is 美国 měi guó. The 人 rén is the "person" part. I'm sure I'll be able to add some more vocabulary quickly when I get a few more countries.
Putting it all together, you get 不是，我㖷美国人 bú shì, wǒ shì měi guó rén, meaning "I am not (or simply "no"), I am American.
Download 060427_Archive.zip to access the iPod-ready flashcards covering the phrases and words in what I've learned today.
Just as a wee practice of what I've covered so far:
A :: 你好 nĩ hão
B :: 你好吗？ nǐ hǎo ma?
A :: 很好。 你好吗？Hěn hǎo. Nǐ hǎo ma?
B :: 很好。你是中国人吗？Hěn hǎo. Nǐ shì zhōng guó rén?
A :: 不是。我是美国人。 Bú shì. Wǒ shì měi guó rén.
Translation
A :: Hello
B :: How are you?
A :: I'm well. How are you?
B :: Very well. Are you Chinese?
A :: No (I'm not). I'm American.
And that will do for tonight!
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