Howdy!

I am an American living in China now, and have been for over seven years. I am a teacher here, so I have heard a lot of "Chinglish" from students and teachers. Chinglish is basically when Chinese speakers speak English similiar to their own grammar.

I would like to know from Chinese speakers common mistakes that foreigners make when speaking Chinese. I think my problems is mainly the tones. When I talk to Chinese people, I know what I am saying, but am not saying it correctly. I find these to be very irritating in this language. I think also that westerners speak in a "Reverse Chinglish" where we are speaking Chinese using English grammar, which does not work well either.

I enjoy the Chinese writing system, but to me it is so large, I don't understand how people can memorize and know thousands of ideograms. Actually I am a better reader of the language than a speaker of it and strive to learn more characters everyday.

Chinese teachers, what mistakes do we make?

Senor

The improper English spoken by China folks are known as "Chinglish".

For the improper Mandarin spoken by westerners and influenced by English grammar, I think it should be called Engdarin (英式中文） or Anglo-darin .

Below is an example of "Engdarin" found in Singapore, which is 'grammatically wrong' in chinese, but clearly influenced by English grammar: I suspect it's a translation from translation software.

Engdarin:



English:




Proper Chinese (correction by me):

SBW,

You translate your topic title "Mistakes foreigners make in speaking Chinese" as 差错外国人用讲的

Actually, this is in English grammar and wrong in terms of chinese grammar.

The proper chinese translation should be:

外国人在讲中文时的差错

The emphasis (subject) is on "mistakes 差错" and in chinese grammar, it should often be put at the back of a sentence instead of at the front (unlike English grammar). What is then put in front are description of the subject (i.e. mistakes).

The above sentence structure is based on

A 在 B 的 C

C = subject

"A 在 B" will describe C

外国人 = Foreigner = A
讲中文时 = speaking chinese = B
差错 = mistakes = C

I am a foreigner who tries to speak Mandarin too...I don't notice all the mistakes I make but I'm sure I have a lot of problems with the particle 了 le. I really never know whether I'm using it correctly or not!

If I want to say: I've lived in Beijing for 8 months (2 years ago) how would I say?
I'd probably go: 我在北京住了8个月。I'm pretty sure this is wrong, and I can never get the difference between that sentence and something like: 我在北京住了8个月了。

This thing always gives me headaches!

Here are my explanation of the differences:

For "I've lived in Beijing for 8 months (2 years ago)", it should be 两年前，我在北京住了8个月. The use of "了" after the verb 住 (live) indicates 'past tense' (as in "have lived").

For "我在北京住了8个月了", it's "I've lived in Beijing for 8 months already ". The additional use of "了" at the back of the sentence indicates "already" or re-emphasis something that has already been done. The use of "了" at the back of a sentence usually means "already".

For "我已经在北京住了8个月", it's "I've already lived in Beijing for 8 months". The use of "已经" also means "already", but it is usually put in the midst of a sentence after "I" 我 , instead of at the back.

Chinese and English are two totally different languages with hardly any similarities, so it is common for both parties to make mistakes.

If you watch CCTV 4, you'll find some americans speaking mandarin. I think the most common mistakes are the tones. English is a toneless language and having to learn tones when you're an adult is extremely difficult. You're lucky you only have to learn 4 tones, there are around 8 or 9 tones in the south !

As for the chinese writing system, the chinese also don't understand why there are so many spellings in the english language to form a word which can be quite difficult to remember too. (especially the scientific words which bears no resemblance to any meaning)

It all boils down to what you learnt when you were young.

I think the mistakes foreigners make when speaking Chinese, or any foreigners speaking any new language, is mostly from translating stuff in your head from your own language into the foreign language, becuase that way you end up getting grammar structures wrong a lot.
General Zhaoyun's explanation of the wrongly constructed sentence in Chinese of the topic's title was a good illustration.
I reckon personally, as someone whose had to live in several different language environments, that you first need to work out how you learn, like, do you learn better from hearing or from seeing? If hearing, then spend as much time as possible listening to people, TV, radio etc, and if seeing, then read as much as you can, because this will reinforce the common structures of the foreign language until they become more natural and automatic. And try not to translate in your head first. Like, try not to first think what you want to say in English and then put it into Chinese, but try to think of it straight away in Chinese, and if you don't find the exact words, use simpler ones maybe, but don't go through English first, because that is the road to mistakes.
As for the tones, I guess the only thing there is constant repetition. Pronunciation is always the hard part for most people if you're already not a child anymore, because it's just hard in general for adults to get perfect pronunciation in a foreign language.
Anyway, take heart too from the fact that not only Chinese tones are a hassle. Other languages make you suffer too, like foreigners speaking Russian, who say 'I don't know how to pee' instead of 'I don't know how to write', just because they stress the wrong syllable of the last word.

[size="5"]Greetings from portugal!!
I'm a newcamer!!
I'm also studying chinese,i think this is the way,if it's not please correct
me.

I've lived in Beijing for 8 months (2 years ago)。
两年前，我已经在北京住了 8 个月(了)。i think it's wrong,"2 years ago,i live(still
living) in beijing for 8 months.(已经)it's something that you (can) still
doing it.

两年前，我曾经在北京住过 8 个月。 i think it's correct."2 years ago,i've
lived(not anymore)in beijing for 8 months.(曾经) it's something that you
dit it and it's over.(住过)。

EX:我已经学了两年中文(了)。i'm studying chinese for 2 years.(still studying)
我曾经学过两年中文。I've studied chinese for 2 years.(no longer studying,and
without knowing the result.)
我学习了两年中文。I've studied chinese for 2 years.(and dominated).

in my opinion, never being bothered by the use of “了”. The function of it is to indicate a perfective tense. U could use it with another functional word like “已经’’ (already) or use it alone. But the confusing part is many people have found that the use of "了" is beyond that function and being seen in many other occasions. This is because it is used in a very casual way which in many cases it has no or very little significance at all. people use it simple because it has a descending tone which would make the sentence sound completed. So use it whenever u want to use it



I am afraid it is not wrong. Despite a bit wordy i.e. use 了 twice the grammar is perfectly right. The sentence means two years ago,i had (already) lived in beijing for 8 months. In some cases, in an implied way, 已经 could mean something that u still doing it, but it is very ambiguous. Without a certain context, people usually would not notice it.




The use of (曾经) is not necessary in my opinion. Of course it is not wrong if u use it and will be more precisely to express that" u no longer being there after living for two years".



i dont know where u learnt that from. I guess this is designed for english speaking people as u can match them with the tenses in english gramma, hence easier to understand. Since there are no structures in Chinese as " have been doing..." or "had been doing..." , this way of explaination is smart. But usually chinese people would not notice the implied difference between “已经”and“曾经”, so if u want to precisely express what u mean u might need a few more functional words. i d like to rearrange it in this way, 我学过两年中文(i ve studied chinese for 2 years), 我以前or曾经学过两年中文(i had studied chinese for 2 years), 到现在我学中文已经两年了or到现在我中文已经学了两年了or到现在我已经学了两年中文了or我学中文到现在已经两年了or我到现在学中文已经两年了(they all mean i ve been studying chinese for 2 years, it is quite flexible to put the functional words in the sentence. 到现在means till now, i put it here to indicate the verb is continuing from a time point in the past till now. This is totally unnecessary in the" have been doing" structure in english, but for chinese as said above there is no such a structure, it will be necessary to strengthen the implied meaning of " 已经“)

I'm portuguese!!
And i'm studying chinese for only 2 years.
I've started the 3 year about a monht.

Your exapmples are really good,but there's a diference if you use
已经 or 曾经 with 了。And 了 not always refers to past.

Notice:
昨天我问了他。yesterday i've hasked him.(past)
我到了，但他还没有到。i've already arrived,but he didn't.(still not arrive
but it'll come).(present)
我想去了北京后，再去上海。I'm thinking going to shanghai,after going to
beijing.(future.)


他已经去中国了。He already left to china.
他已经去过中国了。He has been in china.
他曾经去过中国。He has been in china.

This are some examples why 了 can confuse a lot of us.