Chinese phrase – sentence – learn Mandarin – How to say ” We don’t remember long days, we remember short moments” in Chinese: Wo3 men5 bu2 ji4 de5 man4 man4 chang2 ri4, wo3 men5 ji4 de5 duan3 zhan4 shun4 jian1. 我们不记得漫漫长日， 我们记得短暂瞬间。/ Grammar – pronunciation rule for reduplication of adjectives and Memory song by Barbra Streisand with lyrics

Posted on 11/27/2011 by Chinesetolearn

Chinese phrase – Chinese sentence – learn Mandarin – How to say ” We don’t remember long days, we remember short moments” in Chinese: Wo3 men5 bu2 ji4 de5 man4 man4 chang2 ri4, wo3 men5 ji4 de5 duan3 zhan4 shun4 jian1. 我们不记得漫漫长日， 我们记得短暂瞬间。
I made some changes to this quote:
We do not remember days; we remember moments. ~Cesare Pavese, The Burning Brand
So that I can add two useful adjectives to enrich your Chinese vocabulary and also review the pronunciation rule for reduplication of adjectives.
Wo3 men5 (我们 pronoun, we) bu2 (不 don’t, not, a negative prefix to put in front of verb to negate it) ji4 (记 verb, remember) de5 (得 a habitual particle to put after a verb) man4 man4 (漫漫 adverb , endless, very long to modify the chang2, adj. ) chang2 (长 adjective, long) ri4 (日 noun, day), wo3 men5 (我们 we) ji4 de5 (记得 remember) duan3 zhan4 (短暂 adjective, short) shun4 jian1 (瞬间noun, moments, shun4 means wink or blink, jian1 means time -shi1 jian1 时间, so, the time for one winking or blinking is short, thus, it means moments).

Pronunciation rules for reduplication of adjectives:

1. Two adjective: the accent is put on the second word.
2. Two adjective + de5 的： same as above.
3. Two adjective + er5 儿：the accent is put on the first word, and the second word got softened (sound like neutral tone).

For example: *** means accent
1 Man4 **man4** zou3. 慢慢走。Walk slowly.

2 Man4 **man4** de ren2. 慢慢的人。 Slow person.

3 **Man4** man4 er4 shuo1. 慢慢儿说。 Speak slowly.

For memory, in Chinese we call it ji4 yi4 记忆.

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Listen to funny Chinese tongue twister / “rao4 kou3 ling4” (绕口令) : What is Chinese tongue twister? Samples of twisters, pinyin, English translation, and info about twisters : origin, development and collection

Posted on 11/27/2011 by Chinesetolearn




Chinese tongue twister, also called “rao4 kou3 ling4” (绕口令）, is a traditional Chinese linguistic game, which is also known as “quick tongue twister”, “tongue tester” or “mouthful game” in different parts of the country.

A tongue twister contains a number of words and phrases with the same initial-consonant or vowel rhyme or words and phrases with similar pronunciations, forming simple and interesting rhymes. A tongue twister is meant to be read out quickly. So, most tongue twisters are quick, rhythmical and full of humor.

The info comes from:
http://kaleidoscope.cultural-china.com/en/11Kaleidoscope1913.html

A complete info about Chinese twister: the origin, development, samples of twisters and references can be found at: http://baike.baidu.com/view/1815.htm

Samples of Chinese twisters:
1.
Forty is forty. Fourteen is fourteen.

四 十 是 四 十 ， 十 四 是 十 四 。

Si4shi2 shi4 si4shi2, shi2si4 shi4 shi2si4.

2.
When you eat grapes, don’t spit the grape skins out. ( The correct pronunciation should be ‘bu2 tu4’, but everyone says it this way.)

吃 葡 萄 不 吐 葡 萄 皮 。

Chi1 pu2tao bu4 tu3 pu2tao pi2.

3.
Eat grapes without spitting the skin of the grape, not eating grapes spit the skin of the grape. ( This is literal. It means that while you are eating grapes, you shouldn’t spit the skin, but when you are finished, then you can spit the skin of the grape. It is a tongue twister, it doesn’t have to make sense!)

吃 葡 萄 不 吐 葡 萄 皮 ,不 吃 葡 萄 倒 吐 葡 萄 皮 。
Chi1 pu2tao bu4 tu3 pu2tao pi2, bu4 chi1 pu2tao dao4 tu3 pu2tao pi2.

4.
ten stone lions

十 尊 石 狮 子

shi2 zun1 shi2 shi1zi

5.
4 is 4, 10 is 10, 14 is 14, 40 is 40, 44 stone lions are dead.

四 是 四 ， 十 是 十 ， 十 四 是 十 四 ， 四 十 是 四 十 ， 四 十 四 只 石 狮 子 是 死 的 。

Si4 shi4 si4, shi2 shi4 shi2, shi2si4 shi4 shi2si4, si4shi2 shi4 si4shi2, si4shi2si4 zhi1 shi2 shi1zi shi4 si3 de.

Listen to those twisters and other twisters, see:
http://hua.umf.maine.edu/Chinese/topics/tongue/douying.html

A collection of tongue twisters with pinyin can be found at:
http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/zh.htm

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