Learning Chinese?

[robotzu]

matthew，你会说中文？

[ComplexNumber]

from Babelfish:

你好世界

never trust babelfish for an exact translation

[matthew]

matthew，你会说中文？

I have no idea...

never trust babelfish for an exact translation

I'm sure that's the truth...speaking of which, anyone have any idea whether it was a close translation or not? I just entered "hello world" and cut/pasted what babelfish spit out...hopefully it wasn't another instance of me accidentally "saying" bad words.

[mostwanted]

matthew, just out of interest, is your native language "Berber" then? (since I figure you must know French besides English and Arabic).

[matthew]

matthew, just out of interest, is your native language "Berber" then? (since I figure you must know French besides English and Arabic).

Actually, my location can be a little bit deceptive...I'm am in Fes, Morocco, but I'm actually an American from the state of Arizona.

American English is my native language. I also speak Spanish, Arabic, Moroccan Darija (which is a very different dialect of Arabic) and a little French--but my French is at such an elementary level that I really don't count it.

[fuscia]

from Babelfish:

你好世界

i never even tried to write it. i just wanted to learn some phrases so i could play with the intonations.

[mostwanted]

Actually, my location can be a little bit deceptive...I'm am in Fes, Morocco, but I'm actually an American from the state of Arizona.

American English is my native language. I also speak Spanish, Arabic, Moroccan Darija (which is a very different dialect of Arabic) and a little French--but my French is at such an elementary level that I really don't count it.

Oh I see

Your list of known languages is impressive... very diverse!

[lucia_engel]

anyone have any idea whether it was a close translation or not? I just entered "hello world" and cut/pasted what babelfish spit out...hopefully it wasn't another instance of me accidentally "saying" bad words.

That's actually pretty close to what I would translate "Hello World" to, but instead of 你好世界, I would say 世界你好.

For a character by character translation, 你 is you, 好 is good, 世界 is world. But if you say 你好世界, it sounds more like "So you're living the big life (好世界) huh", at least that's what comes to mind if interpreted as colloquial Cantonese.

With 世界你好, though still a bit clunky, is more like greeting a friend.


And for those wondering what this means 你会说中文:
你(you)会(can)说(speak/say)中文(Chinese)

[ComplexNumber]

That's actually pretty close to what I would translate "Hello World" to, but instead of 你好世界, I would say 世界你好.

For a character by character translation, 你 is you, 好 is good, 世界 is world. But if you say 你好世界, it sounds more like "So you're living the big life (好世界) huh", at least that's what comes to mind if interpreted as colloquial Cantonese.

With 世界你好, though still a bit clunky, is more like greeting a friend.


And for those wondering what this means 你会说中文:
你(you)会(can)说(speak/say)中文(Chinese)

looks like quite a scary language to learn. it seems like there is not likely to be such a thing as a crash coarse in chinese due to the length of time required to learn even the basics to a rudimentary level.

[meng]

Maybe
da jia, zao an
(good morning everyone)???

The best way to learn a foreign language is to find a girlfriend/boyfriend who only speaks that language. Problem solved, next question!