Chinese Vocabulary

[pho50]

It has taken me all day to watch Meteor Shower episode three.... without subs.    And I'm not finished yet!  *hysterical laugh*  Why so long?  Aside from numerous distractions, I decided I should learn some new vocabulary words and make a list!  *more hysterical laughing*   
I'm exhausted.  I'm going to try to watch the rest without pausing once.

Comments

[pho50]

Oh that's actually what I'm watching. And yes, it does help to know the story although it's not a totally faithful adaptation.
This youtube channel has HQ video -
http://www.youtube.com/user/Cfanboys2
The dubbed voices take some getting used to...

[pho50]

I know I shouldn't pause every 3 seconds (literally) but after watching the 2nd ep and feeling like my comprehension had taken a nose-dive I was very frustrated... and determined to Understand It All Now!
But I think it was just I'm not used to watching/hearing mainland shows. Took me until the 3rd episode before I could make out anything! But I will definitely take your advice... and relax haha.

I think I'm going to watch the episode again w/o pausing and see if I hear all the words I looked up.

[echowillow]

random but since you 'happen' to have it on your list^^ 缘分 is probably one of my favourite words in the dictionary XD Its a very common theme in asian culture (especailly those that have strong buddhist influence). Although the direct translation into English is 'fate/destiny', but it actually connotes a different meaning all together in a chinese context. hehehehe... ^_^ random

Another word which I quite like is '柳 liu', which means 'willow' *points to username* XD oh btw, some people on my friend's list call me willow. I dun think I've introduced myself to you with that name before? I go by a chinese name in real life, so Willow is a pseudo-online name. Maybe when I'm forced to take an English name one day, I'll choose Willow XD another random moment I obviously don't want to talk about depression >.>

oh, i dunno y but I thought it was cute your list started with 'hippopotamus' ♥

[pho50]

keke you always make me laugh :)

Alright now you've got me curious about 缘分's real meaning tee hee. In Taiwan shows I remember hearing "ming yun" for fate. So is 缘分 specifically the fate that brings people together?

Willow! I didn't know. That so pretty. It reminds me of weeping willow (as in the tree). We used to have a huge one in my front yard when I was in 2nd grade so it's always been my favorite tree. (Yeha, I'm pretty much random all the time!)

I will never forget 河马 hippopotamus! In the show, a bunch of guys are sitting in a cafeteria when a girl walks in. One of the guys says, "he ma" and I thought he was saying "drink?" bahaha. Then everyone started saying "he ma" and I'm like why is she getting upset? HAHA!

Oh well, try to have a good day with your depression books... willow! :)

[blah_x_infinity]

A learned a few of these words from songs. I learn a lot of words from song lyrics, for some reason:

普通 - 普通朋友 David Tao
地盘 - 我的地盘 Jay Chou
缘分 - 缘分 Zhang Yan
消失 - 消失 Nan Quan Mama
拳 - 龙拳 Jay Chou

I don't pull out the dictionary watching videos so much as I pull them out looking at song lyrics. Maybe because I don't have to back anything up.

I think the "parasite" one is "寄生虫," which would look similar in tiny Chinese characters.

[pho50]

I learn a lot of my vocab from music too. Ah I can't believe I didn't catch 普通 in 普通朋友! I listened to that just recently.

And THANKS for clarifying 寄生虫! I put the pinyin in an online dictionary and scrolled thru dozens of characters looking for the right one. I even used nciku's handwriting recognition block to look up some characters. No wonder it took me all day to watch on episode!

[blah_x_infinity]

There's an English sub on YouTube, if that helps, but it's only one episode that's subbed so far:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3EF12DFEA8F8362E

I wouldn't have noticed the "寄"/"奇" thing myself had it not been for the other two characters. Characters that have the same phonetic can look very similar when they're tiny, plus they sound similar and I see "weird" a lot more than anything with the other character.

[pho50]

Well I still think you're pretty amazing for noticing that tiny difference in the characters! Seriously :)

Yeah, that youtube channel is where I've been watching Meteor Shower since I abandoned tudou for their HQ vids. I finished ep 4 w/o subs at lunch. And I only paused to look up about 6 new words. Yes!

viikii has ep 5 & 6 between 76-83% subbed so I think I'm going to scoot over there and give my brain a break tonight.
http://www.viikii.net/channels/goto/meteorshower#

Last weekend, before I started Meteor Shower, I started translating 3 or 4 songs.... I couldn't stop. It was crazy. I guess I should take advantage of this learning spurt. BTW, I've been meaning to ask you, are you taking Chinese in the fall? Just curious...

[dustthouart]

Hey, I have a friend who wanted to know the names of some Chinese hip-hop/rap artists. I remember a while ago I downloaded that song about Northeasterns not being gangsters from you, lol, and I was wondering if you could give me some recommendations? Because that's not really my scene.

[pho50]

Eh, it's not really my scene either. But if I were looking for some I'd probably start here - http://imusic.cn/music/genre/18/

Hope that helps. cfensi might know some.