New Chinese Idiom Lesson Video

[Qiaonansen]

Just posted a new Chinese idiom video. I plan on trying to post a new one each day. It would be more exciting and useful if people came and shared their own sentences in the comment area. Here is the link to the latest video that I posted:

 

http://learnchinesecafe.com/车水马龙-che-shui-ma-long/

[Demonic_Duck]

Small pronunciation point - when you have two third tones in a row, the first one is pronouncied identically to a second tone, i.e. it should sound like "chē shuí mǎ lóng". Also some of your 车s sound a bit like 吃s.

 

I like that you explicitly looked at the grammatical context of how the idiom can be used, which is rarely focused on when teaching chengyu (but should be)!

[Qiaonansen]

Thank you DD. I'm aware of the two 3rd tones in a row as I teach Chinese at high school and university. I was trying to pronounce slowly. Thanks for the feedback on chi and che. I'll pay more attention in the future.

[Qiaonansen]

Update on two third tones next to each other.

 

Demonic Duck, something didn't seem right so I looked into it. In fact, in this Chinese idiom and likely most others, when two third tones appear next to each other, they are both pronounced as third tones. The rule of changing the first third tone to a second tone does not apply here. 

 

You can check this yourself with a Chinese friend. Pronounce the idiom with 水 pronounced as a second tone and see what they say.

[Demonic_Duck]

Just asked a couple of people to record it for me on wechat, both recorded it with the normal tone sandhi. The male and female Pleco recordings also both contain tone sandhi. I've never heard of any tone sandhi negation rule that specifically applies to chengyu. I think the only time you'd get two third tones in a row with no tone sandhi is where there's a pause of significant length (e.g. at the end of a sentence), or where the speaker changes their mind about what they're going to say next.

 

Edit: I also sent a recording of myself to one of those people (with tone sandhi included). She picked up on my “车” as being too close to [chuō], but didn't comment on the tones. When I asked specifically if there was anything wrong with the tones, she said they were fine.

[Qiaonansen]

DD, I was thinking the same thing. In this idiom, "车水" and "马龙" are separate concepts. One is a river of vehicles and the other is some kind of horse Dragon. Therefore, there would be a natural pause between these two and therefore no change in the tone of "水".

 

DD, I am very thankful for this exchange. Thank you!

[Qiaonansen]

Another new idiom video with examples posted. See it here:

 

Share you own examples in the comments section.

 

http://learnchinesecafe.com/learn-chinese-idioms-学富五车-xue-fu-wu-che/

[arreke]

Another new idiom video with examples posted. See it here:

Share you own examples in the comments section.

http://learnchinesecafe.com/learn-chinese-idioms-学富五车-xue-fu-wu-che/

Do you often use them in real life?

I've learned your idioms and also many others, but in real conversation I just forget to use them, don't know why...

 

Btw, here comes an example for 一见钟情

[Qiaonansen]

A helpful strategy for remembering to use idioms in daily conversation, and any vocabulary for that matter, is to associate the idiom with a close friend, family member or celebrity.

 

For example, I associate 学富五车 with Noam Chomsky. If you have ever seen him give a talk, you will know what I mean.

 

So let's say I'm learning this idiom for the first time. After understanding its meaning, I would associate it with Noam Chomsky, and then create a short sentence and memorize. After reviewing it a few times over the next few days, associating the idiom with Noam Chomsky, then it begins to move into my active vocabulary.