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[eBook] Free: "Chinese Phrase Book: over 1000 Essential Mandarin Phrases" $0 @ Amazon AU, US

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Many Chinese language textbooks are intended mainly for people who study Chinese in formal classes and are based on assumptions that are appropriate primarily for such learners.

The words and phrases such textbooks introduce in early lessons are often those that help students function in a classroom setting. Such textbooks also assume that the learners’ need to learn to read and write Chinese is as pressing as their need to speak it, so they introduce oral and written skills at the same rate.

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  • +25

    As an ozbargainer, I felt obliged to get this freebie, even though I already speak mandarin natively…

    • +2

      The way I see it is digital hoarding of free ebooks and comics, Epic store games, and DLC for games I'll probably never buy/own… it's not like it costs anything right? :)

    • Name confirms this.

  • +40

    May as well start learning in preparation for our Chinese masters.

    • +9

      Sad but true

      • +10

        China is a dictatorship. We shouldn't embrace them. It seems for some reason, people want them to invade us and somehow 'create a better society.' They persecute some religions and shut down free speech. You sure they are better than America?

          • @AustriaBargain: America is at least freedom but its not perfect

            China is lack of freedom. I know some Uni students come to Australia and start shit talking China and how much better Australia is. So instead of us being salty and focusing on the bad things about America, hence capitalism, we should appreciate what we have. The fact that Chinese students are bad mouthing their own county's system is a red flag that we do not want!

            • +5

              @RetroMetro: Some angry person is downvoting all the anti CCP comments. Haha that's quite childish aye

              • @RetroMetro: Perhaps they are just acknowledging the stupidity and inanity of people going off on juvenile political rants on a thread about a free ebook. 🤡

            • +3

              @RetroMetro: You do understand what an anecdote is, don't you?

              People bad mouth their own country/political system all the time.

              It sounds more like you need improve your critical thinking/problem solving skills and research the solutions to your perspectives a bit more thoroughly.

              Yes, China is ruled by a single political party which is not ideal and recent events seem to have further highlighted the downside of having one eternal leader, literally. This doesn't translate to an embrace/do not embrace action, it means we need to be more aware of our own actions and how we 'engage' with China, our largest trading partner, still, and quite literally one of the worlds largest economies.

              Last time I saw a Chinese Naval ship in Australia, the soldiers were ozbargaining baby formula. Australian society will always be Australian, I have yet to see the Chinese government suggest we replace BBQs with some Peking duck although their recent bucket list gives much to the imagination.

              America has issues, China has issues. 2020 has highlighted it, plastered it in bright red covid blood across the entire planet, when politics and science play with peoples lives. We don't need to be sensationalist black and white, it's 2020 now. We stand to our own values, we stick to our guns, we choose the policies that suite us best as a nation, not tag along like little puppy dogs when big brother says jump.

              • +3

                @CalmLemons: "People bad mouth their own country/political system all the time.."

                yeah i mean its me and them doing it plus tons of other Uni people I know so I think I have a pretty valid point.

                "Australian society will always be Australian, I have yet to see the Chinese government suggest we replace BBQs with some Peking duck although their recent bucket list gives much to the imagination"

                its not just about our culture thats at stake, Its much more than that. Im sure a dictatorship government will crack down on culture if it perceives it as a threat to their government. For example in our culture we have freedom of religion, China will just remove that if they have to.

                "It sounds more like you need improve your critical thinking/problem solving skills and research the solutions to your perspectives a bit more thoroughly"

                err we could all use that including you

                • +4

                  @RetroMetro: You said:

                  "China is lack of freedom……The fact that Chinese students are bad mouthing their own county's system is a red flat that we do not want!"

                  Yes, personal, religious, cultural, literally freedoms are heavily restricted in China, it's why it's called communist China, a totalitarian state.

                  Your point is because some student you know, perhaps many students you know, bad mouth china, therefore we should avoid China altogether. I agree with that they say, Australia is definitely a lot better than China. But your logic follows the lines of, I have lots of friends from Texas who say guns are good and the NRA does many great things for America and protects it's citizens, therefore, as many people say the NRA is good, it must be good. Just saying you gotta be careful with your logic flow there, not to touch on experiencing things for yourself before making judgements, especially at uni level.

                  This thread is about learning the Chinese language. It does not mean that if you learn German, you are a Nazi.

                  • @CalmLemons: yeah I get what you are saying. Im not basing my judgement from just some opinions. But looking at the history of socialism and how devastating it has been on multiple nations such as Russia, China and North Korea, millions lost their lives by being suppressed. My judgement is formed by a lot of things not just some opinions from Chinese students. So this is my logical flow not just from one source :)

            • +2

              @RetroMetro: Chinese students are bad mouthing their own county's system is because
              - That is what you want to hear, isn't it…
              - They are not here long enough…

          • +1

            @AustriaBargain:

            There probably is the makings of something better than America. The party is in control of everything

            As long as we're using this logic, I'm told North Korea is pretty good too as the Workers' Party of Korea and master Kim Jong Un is "in control of everything" there as well. May be we should let North Korea take over the world instead as I believe Kim's hairstyle is far superior in comparison any day of the week.

          • +6

            @AustriaBargain: Never thought I'd see the day when CCP sympathisers started posting on OzBargain.

            • +4

              @n1: I’m not, but it’s not like we can change the system of any other country, we have to deal with how they are ran. Surely australia can condemn and trade at the same time. But we don’t condemn human rights abuses in the US, or maybe we do I wouldn’t know.

      • +12

        China literally has Muslim concentration camps but do please continue about how racist America is.

        • +2

          America literally has Muslim children in camps whose parents aren’t known anymore, because no one cared to keep track as a matter of policy.

          • +4

            @AustriaBargain: Do you want to expand on this more? Serious question as I haven't heard about this from America.

        • +1

          Australia soldiers literally has slit the throat of Muslim kids in Afghanistan and American has done only the worse, and they simply sanctions the International criminal court officials who wants to investigate them.

        • +1

          Yes and there is meant to be a million or more people being persecuted in these camps in hideous fashion. Yet people are making comments about other countries… Covid wouldnt have happened if the government for fear of how it looks, hadnt let its own people in Wuhan die rather than reporting and trying to manage it earlier. The way the government treats its own people and keeps them in the dark / lack of knowledge is a major problem, if thats how they treat their own population, imagine how they treat others. The worst racism i have encountered as a dark skin person has come from there. America has its own problems and so does all countries, but dont try to compare them to a government like the CCP and what it has done to its own people.

      • +3

        There, there. Take your social credit and move on please.

      • +1

        Check the quality of your takes.

        Well below average.

    • +2

      Don't worry. Australia is at the very bottom of China's list.

      • +4

        yeah thanks to our location on the globe. If they start moving down the pacific we know they are coming for us which gives us time to prepare.

        • poor Japan, getting invaded by china but nothing they could do.

          Reason why China despise the Aus-Japan alliance.

        • If you say "hey siri tell me a joke"
          Siri may say "A country set up a national holiday just to memorize a failed invasion on a foreign land"
          Or it may say "What is the only thing Australians can do in Afganistan? Committing war crimes"
          Or it may say "What is the word for 'trigger' in Australia? Convict "

  • +14

    Free is good it will be compulsory soon away.

    • -2

      I, for one, welcome our new overloads. As an avid Ozb'er, I am able to help spread propaganda as free ebooks.

      • +5

        I for one do no support the Chinese overlords. They seem nice on the outside by removing social classes and hunger and all that but in all honestly we are gonna be like 'shit these guys suck' after a few years of their occupation. But by then its too late. We need to cut ties with China to keep our freedom.

        • +1

          Cutting ties would be the ideal/ethical thing to do but unfortunately that would be economically devastating to us.

        • your symptom is called 被害妄想症 in Chinese

          • @JZL: And your symtom is called 幼稚 in Chinese

    • -1

      People have only been predicting it since forever anyway. Blade Runner predicted that Chinese culture would have overwhelmed LA by 2019, and science fiction fans told themselves "yeah that sounds about right" back in the 80s. It's an old meme that didn't suddenly spring up in the minds of Australians sometime recently.

      • +7

        That’s Japanese culture in blade runner

    • +1

      Chinese Propaganda and ideologies are free can't wait for more of those deals

  • -5

    Looks like China embassy is wanna be new parliament house for Australia so it is good time to learn Chinese?

    • Hasn't it happened, that CCP (or as she calls it former) witch- Gladys miraculously became a member of Australian parliament.

      Who would have thought that Chinese espionage so easily infiltrated Australian security.

  • +6

    The overlords are coming, everybody should learn some.

  • Ni Hao!

    • +5

      Xiexie
      Gong xi fa cai

      That’s as far as I get other than smiling and nodding my head.

      • +4

        Gong xi fa cai is what OzBargain is all about.

  • +1

    I thought Scomo doesn't like Xi

    • Never know, they may fall in love one day, politicians have a funny way of working things out, .

      • You mean a funny way of loving each other?

    • +3

      He is in a funny relationship with Trump.

  • +2

    konnichiwa

    • +1

      Japan says hi

      • Annyeonghaseyo 안녕하세요

        • +3

          Onions on sale 🥰

          • +1

            @noren7: Haha Kim's Convienience. Appa is in the newest few episodes of Mandarlorian

  • +4

    Would Chinese phrases of 8964, Xi Bun or Winnie the Pooh be in the book?

    • -3

      No but here is a freebie for you: There are some bored foreigners, with full stomachs, who have nothing better to do than point fingers at us… First, China doesn't export Revolution; second, China doesn't export hunger and poverty; third, China doesn't come and cause you headaches, what more is there to be said?

      • +11

        I think that you will have a bright career in the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Why stay in Australia?

        • +6

          Considering my parents defected to Australia in 1989 as Chinese university students in the midst of Tianamen Square, I think not.

          • +8

            @[Deactivated]: So your parents fled from the CCCP to make a new life for you in a new country….and you've gone full tankie 30 years later
            What actually is going on here???

            • +2

              @maruuO: Obviously I just reposted an entertaining quote that I remembered that vchung requested. It perfectly summarises Xi Jinping's governance style as a man not afraid to raise a few eyebrows to get his point across.

              • +2

                @[Deactivated]:

                Xi Jinping's governance style

                I suppose dictatorship could be called a "governance style" indeed.

            • +1

              @maruuO: What does the Combined Community Codec Pack have to do with all of this?

              • @Munki: Could not sufficiently hide my power level throughout all of this. Container wars caused this.

        • +3

          love how Chinese who fled to Australia from being massacred by their dictator, decides to fall in love with their leader and spread his propaganda(I mean wisdom)

          • +2

            @[Deactivated]: Yet you still didn't see the obvious conflict in your own statement… because those who come to Australia are not for "fleeing from massacre". Stop learning everything about China from South Park for Christ's sake.

          • +2

            @[Deactivated]: I believe it's now a different leader, different generation, and in the interests of freedom of speech, the guy was putting out a perspective.

            The cultural revolution was a ploy for one man to cause confusion and attain power, tiananmen was an atrocity.

            This doesn't mean though, what levity says isn't true. How are we any better, when we don't allow others to express a point of view/perspective?

            Despite Chinas recent actions, I've yet to see bombs labelled Made in China dropped somewhere in the middle east…. - these aren't related things, but it highlights the same method of reasoning often used in comments along the lines of 'ccp sympathiser', with the exception of the evident troll polls.

            • @CalmLemons: Have to correct you here

              Block-quote I've yet to see bombs labeled Made in China dropped somewhere in the middle east

              China is the world's second-largest weapon manufacturer and exporter. I am pretty sure there are a lot of bombs dropped in the middle east that are made in China

              • @AkiraSaito: Who cares where things are made in, what matters is who masterminds the idea (of bombing other human beings). Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, then the US atomic-bombed Japan, attacked Vietnam and probably Germany. Then after 9/11 the US proceeded to bomb Afghanistan. To find the non-existent WMD, they also bombed Iraq. They probably found oil though. They sure love attacking/bombing other countries.

            • +2

              @CalmLemons:

              The cultural revolution was a ploy for one man to cause confusion and attain power, tiananmen was an atrocity.

              western media keeps perpetuating the word atrocity but how many people died? the chinese look over at the dissolution of soviet union that resulted in chaos and reduction in population in the millions and conclude the event was a big success in this context

            • +1

              @CalmLemons: A lot of the AK-47s that are very popular with middle eastern insurgents are actually made in China these days.

              It's hard to come by a quality Russian made AK-47 these days and they come at a premium.

      • Trigger warning?

      • Whole comment need citation*

        • As quoted in "China's Xi named to oversee military, a step closer to presidency" in International Business Times (18 October 2010).

      • +6

        China doesn't export hunger and poverty; third, China doesn't come and cause you headaches, what more is there to be said?

        Unless you've had your head stuck under a giant rock, China has directly, and single-handedly exported untold amounts of poverty, misery, pain, hunger, deaths, job losses, and caused a massive global economic downturn in the past year alone.

        Granted the virus hasn't caused much of a "headache", but that's probably because people die from the virus and then they don't feel much of anything.

        • +1

          yeah that is all true. We can all agree there…

      • +4

        Ever heard about Belt And Road Initiative and what it actually does to poor/developing countries?

    • +2

      Winnie the Pooh may probably will :P

      Just had a quick search, it seems Winnie the Pooh is totally available to watch on many many video websites in China mainland…nothing seems banned.

  • -8

    Need to find a chinese wife

  • +9

    ciao ni ma

  • +6

    What's the chinese phrase for a country not giving a shit who you are and not kowtowing?

  • +1

    Néih Hóu

  • +7

    Here for the racist comments but left with disappointment.

    • You only need to look up.

      • There is nothing new or original or creative or funny. People are just repeating the same sh*t from the last decades. I wanna be inspired.

    • They're lost for words because their poster boy lost and they still licking their wounds.

  • +2

    Gonna get downvoted but here I go. Wish they taught traditional chinese instead of the mess of oversimplified and relatively uncultured characters. Tells us a lot about China's relationship with her own culture.
    At least people who know traditional characters have the benefit of knowing a language that many others can't read.

    • +3

      Found the Taiwanese!

      • -1

        No, actually canton! I am learning traditional characters :)

      • rofl

    • +6

      Because traditional characters are a bitch and a half to learn and write? The intention of the change was to increase literacy. Would it be more cultured if we still wrote in proto-clerical script?

      I also don't understand the uncultured argument. They're just an evolutionary stage of hanzi, which traditional characters also are?

      • +1

        You have a valid point. Though with effort anything can work. Hanzi characters are also a form of art. For example, 愛 (love) when simplified became 爱, losing the 心 (heart) in the middle.

        • +1

          I don't disagree, but I think it still retains much of its character (ha). It's a bit of a tradeoff, but I think it's overall beneficial.

          • +3

            @HentaiEnjoyer: Now that the reason to increase literacy has fulfilled, time to graduate from the primary stuff and learn the real deal?

      • +1

        Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan look like they're doing just fine 🤔

        • +3

          This isn't a good take.

          I can read and write both. Simplified is simply far easier to learn and write. You can still learn traditional of course (as per your point), but simplified is just superior for practical application.

          I'm sure you've also heard or experienced the difficulty of learning kanji from new Japanese learners, to paint a bit of contrast between the more simple hiragana and katakana characters, to traditional kanji.

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