Some very simple cards for my parents?

[Balthazar]

I'm not sure if this is the right part of the forum to ask, as I'm looking for resources not so much for studying as for being able to do some very simple communication without having to study.

 

My girlfriend's (Chinese) parents will be visiting us two weeks this summer, and my mom is interested in finding something that will allow her to communicate some simple things ("Are you hungry?", "Nice to meet you" and so on). Someone from her job mentioned cards and even kitchen magnets, and I'm sure there's a lot of stuff out there aimed at someone who doesn't know any Chinese at all. So what I'm looking for is reccomendations. I figure most people here don't use that sort of stuff (as they are studying with larger aims in mind), but perhaps someone has found themselves in a similar situation and come accross something useful.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[abcdefg]

I think a smartphone app would be your mom's best bet.

 

I did use flashcards such as the ones you are describing at a very early stage, but they were mostly nouns and simple verbs. Not phrases or sentences.

 

One other possibility is a traveler's Chinese-English phrase book. Lonely Planet publishes a couple.

 

http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/china/china-phrasebook-1/

http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/china/china-phrasebook-1/china-phrasebook-mandarin-chapter-1/

[耳耳语语]

This book provides symbolic pictures, with titles in French, English and Chinese :

"Guide de communication universelle" http://www.guidesulysse.com/catalogue/Guide-de-communication-universel-Guide-de-Conversation-Ulysse,9782894648513,produit.html

Preview :

http://www.entrepotnumerique.com/o/6/p/9782894648513?l=fr&r=http://www.guidesulysse.com

[edelweis]

there are books and cards but they are mostly aimed at people who go to China as guests...

http://www.amazon.com/Me-No-Speak-English-Chinese/dp/0978768019/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0NKYTVBCMT73K2RTH4QD

[Balthazar]

Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately my mom doesn't have a smart phone (or a tablet), and my parents are the type who struggle with anything digital. So I think I'll have to find something more traditional. I haven't been able to find something that appears to be created exactly for this type of scenario (simple interaction that is not focused on shopping/travelling etc, between people with no common language), but the Mandarin chapter from the LP phrasebook might be suitable. I'll definitely have a look at it (as well as these other suggestions)!

[Demonic_Duck]

there are books and cards but they are mostly aimed at people who go to China as guests...

http://www.amazon.co...VBCMT73K2RTH4QD

 

I'm assuming the intention here is to appear welcoming, make them feel at home and show an interest in Chinese culture, so I'm not sure the "I was too lazy to learn your language so I'm going to point at things instead" approach is the best one here...

 

That said I don't know what the inside of this book actually looks like and whether it's viable for actual language learning, I'm just going on the description on the Amazon page.

[edelweis]

I have to disagree. This is for Balthazar's parents to communicate with the future in-laws who are coming for a visit. Of course it would be nice of the parents to learn a few Chinese words. But learning Chinese is a long term endeavour. So the pragmatic thing to do for the parents is to find a way to communicate for those two weeks, which is what the OP asked for...

If anyone needs to show an interest in China and learning Chinese, it's Balthazar... the parents didn't chose to have Chinese in-laws.

[Demonic_Duck]

I'm not saying they ought to do that or are required to by any unwritten social rule, I'm just assuming that's at least a part of their rationale. Realistically, if they're not going to put many hours into studying, they'll only pick up a few phrases, but that's enough to show an interest and appear welcoming. Hence, I assumed that was the main goal rather than carrying out extensive communication (for which they have Balthazar and, presumably, his girlfriend to help).

 

Saying that, in hindsight maybe my reading of the original post was incorrect.

[imron]

so I'm not sure the "I was too lazy to learn your language so I'm going to point at things instead"

Surely you've been in China long enough to know that no Chinese will ever think this of any foreigner who shows even the faintest bit of Chinese knowledge. 

 

Given the adulations and praise foreigners get for even the worst "Knee Hows" and "Shay, Shays", and I expect printed cards with general meanings with both Chinese and English will go down quite the treat.

[Balthazar]

Yup. For the record I am studying Chinese myself. It's not going super fast (I've only been doing it for about a year and a half, as (part time) self-study), but I'm glad that I'm able to do basic communication with her parents a bit more effortlessly than I was initially. Of course my girlfriend will do most of the translation when they meet, as she did last time. I think the reason why my mom has expressed a wish for something like phrase cards is that she feels it would be nice to show an interest in some active participation with my girlfriend's parents even if it's so basic that it's largely a symbolic gesture of very little actual utility.

 

I don't think there's any danger of her parents being offended by the fact that my mom isn't aiming for actually learning the language. They're not the types with an "all or nothing" attitude at all, and (as I should perhaps have mentioned) our parents have spent time together previously, so it's not as if this is a first meeting or anything.

[hedwards]

Since they're going to be your in laws, wouldn't it make more sense to just get a short course? Going through even the first half of something like Languageaudiobooks Bite Sized Mandarin would probably do more than most other options.

 

Anyways, if you're going to be making up cards, I think the subject pronouns, a few words like want, eat, drink, not and tired would probably just about do it. Even without the subject pronouns, a handful of verbs would probably be more than enough. Most of the things they'll probably want to say are things that could be mimed without much effort.

 

You might also consider just getting a small phrase book, ideally an electronic one and just printing out a few of the more useful phrases.

[Lu]

There are 'universal communucation' books with just pictures of drinks, food, hospital, families... so you can point at things. But actually, in your particular case, would it perhaps be easier to make the cards yourself, if your girlfriend is willing to help?

[Balthazar]

hedwards: In theory it probably would. However, they're arriving in a few weeks, hardly enough to pick up anything more than "hello", "thanks," and they have a lot on their plate as it is. Furthermore, since one of my siblings is married to someone from another asian country my parents would have to go from knowing two languages (we are not native English speakers) to knowing four (two of them Asian) if they were to do all the work of making communication work between themselves and the in-laws. I think that's rather demanding for anyone (it would proably by easier for my girlfriend's parents to pick up some English).

 

In any case, the point here was to find something that could facilitate some very basic communication, just as a gesture (even if some see this as more of an expression of lazyness than kindness), not a longer-term strategy for acquiring some language skill.

 

I think the last suggestion of making cards ourselves might be the most suitable, actually. We did make a sentence list once before, when her parents picked up mine from the airport in Beijing (me and my girlfriend only arrived later the same day), but that was fairly limited in terms of content (and took a lot of time to write).

[abcdefg]

I think the last suggestion of making cards ourselves might be the most suitable, actually.

 

Understand your situation and agree with that solution.

 

Heck, I'll even help. If you tell me the things you want to be able to say, like a dozen or so phrases, I'll take a shot at the Chinese.

 

I'm sure that if I post them here in the forum, some members whose Chinese is better than mine will correct any errors and improve them. It could become sort of a small group project, maybe useful to others later as well as your family.

 

But your girlfriend should have the final editorial say, since she knows the regional speech habits and customs of her parents' home town better than any of us possibly could.

[hedwards]

@Balthazar, that's understandable, I wouldn't have bothered to post without something relevant to your situation.

 

Also, remember that Google images is there to help with most common nouns and probably some verbs as well. For instance 红茶 got me tons of images of red tea， 跑步 got me running images and 网球吧 got me a full page of tennis related items.

 

It's a shame that you're parents aren't very good with computers because a tablet with Pleco would do wonders for the situation. I've even found Google Translate to be surprisingly good at times with simple sentences.

[smcullen]

if you have a laptop or tablet with wifi, you could always just connect to Google Translate (translate.google.com) and types sentences. It'll translate for you.

[hedwards]

I've tried using Google Translate in the past, and the results are rarely comprehensible. I've gotten passable results by giving the translator Chinglish and the results are sometimes acceptable, but I've found that it's best to not even try.

[smcullen]

I guess it is  better for some languages than others. I have a friend who is married to a Latino lady but he speaks no Spanish and she speaks no English.  They use Google translate all the time. (I don't understand how they function but they manage somehow)