I found a You Tube video on the 3 Patterns That Unlock 80% of Chinese by Canto to Mando
today. While the goal of the channel is to teach Cantonese speakers how
to speak Mandarin, I think this will also help me a lot in picking up
Mandarin because I had noticed the things he talked about on some
phrases but do not have enough of a background with Mandarin to realize
what was actually happening. This is the type of thing that would be
really helpful to me to have a Mandarin speaker explain. I'm glad I
found this channel.
The 1st pattern is the STPVO Blueprint.
Apparently in both Mandarin & Cantonese there is only 1 basic
pattern whereas in English there can be more than 1. Sentences in
Chinese are set up with Subject 1st, followed by Time, then Place, Verb,
& Object. I do not have enough of a vocabulary to have noticed this
yet. But now that I know about, I will likely recognize it in the
Duolingo lessons.
Subject = I, Time = yesterday, Place = home, Verb = read, Object = book.
Due to STPVO pattern, direct translation does not work.
The
2nd pattern is The Action Chain. Apparently there are no prepositional
phrases in Chinese, you just string things together. If there is more
than 1 action in a sentence, they are listed chronologically with no
prepositions.
Don't look for a Chinese word for that "to".
I don't think they should have included the "to" under the 2 in English.
This is one way to say this in English.
In Chinese it is said chronologically.
The color coding is wrong but numbers are correct. Basically it is "I plane went China."
This color coding is correct.
Both these English sentences have the same translation in Chinese.
Here's
another example of the Action Chain with a longer series of actions.
You apparently keep stringing them together in chronological order.
When translating in to Chinese, say it like it actually happens.
There is also a Crucial Upgrade. It is basically the If-Then statement. Both in English & Chinese the "Then" is frequently absent.
The "then" does not need to be there for the If-Then statement.
In Chinese it is more like a Because-So statement.
Both have same Chinese translation, "I yesterday home ate pizza."
There is a bonus pattern; it is the use of the word "but".
The final Pattern 3 deals with Time & its effect on verbs. In the present time, the Mandarin word 在（zài) is placed before the verb. For a past action, the Mandarin word 了（le) is either placed right after the verb or at the end of the sentence. For future tense, the Mandarin word 会（huì) is placed before the verb.
How time changes verb in English.
But in Chinese verbs themselves do not change.
A filter word is added; in Mandarin "right now" filter is before verb.
For "past actions" filter word in Mandarin is either after verb or at end of sentence.
Here
is the actual full video. It is about 21 minutes long, I found it very
interesting. I will be checking out more of his videos.
I spent about 1&1/2 hours this afternoon installing the jo & bokken rack. It is near the center of the house & visible when you enter the front door. Now I need to find my jo bag; I thought I put it in the box with the weapons but it was not in there.
Outermost pieces of blue tape mark doorway limits.
Top blue tape marks height of rack, other blue tape is width of rack.
I was too impatient to wait until rack was hung to see what it would look like.
All pau!
It kinda got my endorphins going to see the weapons up on the rack. It has been a while since I trained; I think watching these Chinese TV series with weapons & martial arts is making me want to return to training. Well, I don't "think"; I "know". But I also feel like I would be unfaithful to my senseis if I trained under another sensei; so I have chosen to only train in my mind.
I hope training in my mind will be OK for me; I've done it temporarily before when I had a work injury, but I've never done it fully in place of physical training. When I was physically training, during the last 2 weeks or so before I was testing I would have a heightened sense of awareness, faster reflexes, & automatic movements.
I think it was when I was in the last week before my ikkyu test (1st level brown belt) that my co-worker Liz was rear-ended as we were running an errand for a work retirement party. The guy that rear-ended her motioned for us to pull over in to the parking lot of the convenience store that was right there. I gathered what little information I could from him; he said he forgot his license, registration, & insurance info, so I just got his name & home address. Then I went to Liz (who had whiplash & was sitting in her car) & asked her to call the police because I knew it was a false address! (I sent a lot of stuff out for work & knew the zip code he gave me for the particular city he gave as his address was way wrong.)
While Liz went in & called, I stood behind his car taking down the license plate number, make, model, & color as well as writing down a description of him; I was sure he had given me a fake name, too. While I was still standing behind his car, he started it up & slowly began to back up! I beat on the glass of his hatchback & was doing my best to cave it in! (I was still on the adrenaline high from the accident.) It startled him but he continued to slowly back up until he was clear enough to pull forward. As he shifted in to drive, I ran to the passenger door to get in, but he saw me & reached over to lock the door. (If I had gotten in & he left he could have been charged with kidnapping.) The brief moment he stopped to reach for the door allowed me to race to the front of the car & begin beating on the hood, again with the intention of caving in the hood. I forced him to back up in to the parking spot next to Liz & he came out of the car. I went up to him, got in his face, & told him he needed to stay & take responsibility for the accident because Liz was hurt; he said he needed to leave because he had to go to work. When I would not back down, he stepped back then turned & walked away & went behind a building on the adjacent property & disappeared. When the police officer arrived I gave him all the information I got, we told him what happened, & they towed the guy's car away. FYI It turns out both the name & address given were false (they got the real info from the car) & he was also charged with hit-&-run since he left the site. His insurance had to pay for Liz's whiplash & a muscle I tweaked in my shoulder. (My doctor was unsure if it was from the accident or beating on the car. 🙄)
According to Liz, both she & the cashier at the convenience store were amazed that I started pounding on the car & went up to confront the guy when he stepped out of the car. The thought never entered my mind that he might try to do something, I was in a different state & would have automatically neutralized him if he took a swing due to the level of training I was at for the couple of weeks leading up to that day. I normally trained 5 days a week, but when I was preparing for a test I trained 7 days a week & did a lot of solo work at home. FYI I passed my ikkyu test with flying colors! (This is also when I was at 100 pounds with 12% body fat. I was at my strongest at this weight & conditioning.)
Here is a You Tube video a little over 8 minutes long that shows practitioners of Aikido (the martial art I studied) sparring with karate & MMA fighters. The best parts are at about 3:30 where a karate fighter challenges an Aikido sensei at his dojo & also Tissier sparring with Pinna at about 5:10. There is a short section at the end that explains more about Aikido philosophy & techniques. The part of Aikido that resonates the most with me is blending with the attacker's energy & redirecting it; brute strength is not a part of being a practitioner so Aikido is a good martial art for me. I had many occasions where larger, stronger, beginner male practice partners would attack too fast or too strongly & end up hitting the mat really hard; they basically threw themselves, I just redirected their energy to the mat in as safe a manner as I could. More experienced students know to only attack as fast as you want to be thrown. Most of these happened after I had advanced to shodan & was assisting the sensei at our school's dojo near a naval air station where egos seemed to be a little larger. (The video is apparently dubbed via AI so the pronunciation of the non-English words are sometimes really bad.)
Today I also had to repair the cat door. Not sure exactly what happened but when I walked in to the cat room this morning the door was totally off its hinges. Fortunately all I needed to do was bend it slightly & pop the pegs back in to the holes in the frame to get it back in place.
Broken door lying inside house.
From the outside.
Door back in place. But still "broken".
I also squeezed the oranges I picked the other day. They made about 1&1/2 quarts of orange juice. There are a lot more oranges ripening on the tree; I will have Kai help with picking & juicing when he arrives next week.
My ears appear to have become more accustomed to hearing the Mandarin sounds! My pronunciation is getting better! (See the 2nd post for 07/04 called Canto to Mando for a really cool video I found that I think will help me a lot with learning Mandarin!)
I have also recognized that "ma" at end denotes a question.
The window for Episode 51 of the eruption of Kīlauea has narrowed slightly to be somewhere between the 9th & the 14th.
Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Rebecca! A me ka Hauʻoli lā Hoʻomanaʻo makahiki 28 e Laurel & Bill!
Chris came by to take a look at the closet at the top of the back stairs, opposite the kitchen door. My intention is to clean it out & have him install shelves for storing the shelf-stable canned foods I will be working on with the Kohala 'Ono Food Hui next year. I will also have him put in 2 vents & a fan with a thermostat so that there can be good air flow to keep the storage space from overheating & shortening the life of the canned foods. He will also be insulating the ceiling & the east wall that gets full sun in the morning. He only took measurements today; the actual construction will likely start in September or so.
Shelves at back will be for storing canning pots & supplies.
Shelves on this side will be sized for quart jars, fan will be at top left.
Shelves on this side will be sized for pint jars, intake vent will be at floor.
Floor space will be mainly clear for access.
When I fed Moʻo this morning, I noticed some movement in her water bowl. I looked closer & saw a bunch of mosquito larvae! I will have to empty her bowl out every couple days or so to keep them from maturing. Fortunately I can identify their pupal stage so I will know I had better empty her bowl or risk being bitten by the adult females!
The visitor profile at Lapakahi State Historical Park this morning was unusual. Up until about 10 am it was only swimmers! I saw Mia, Marona & Renee, Graham, Robert, & an unknown woman I had never seen before. Mia usually comes several times a week. Marona & Renee usually swim down from Māhukona but today wanted to explore the area south of Lapahaki so started from here. Graham & his wife Sherry come about twice a week & usually swim from Lapakahi to Māhukona, pick up their car there & drive back to Lapakahi to pick up their other car that is parked here. Robert comes to Hawaiʻi Island several times a year from San Francisco to volunteer at a soup kitchen & tries to swim somewhere every day while he is here. And I don't know anything about the unknown woman.
Renee & Marona head to the water.
On Fridays, on my way home from Lapakahi, I stop at Our Founding Farmers & have ice cream for lunch! Mark uses fresh local fruit & does not use artificial sweeteners or food coloring. And its not a boiled vegetable so it is an allowed food for my diet... Besides, I only do it once a week.
Chocolate chocolate chocolate.
On Friday afternoons Marian & I get together so her dog Poppy & Moʻo can have a puppy play date! Marian has 4 acres, lots of fruit trees, & a large vegetable garden. Right now their ulu is starting to ripen so she gave me one to try. Ulu is a staple starch for many Pacific Islanders; since it is a carb I have not really sought it ought for my diet. But I always try things once; it should be ripe in a few days. FYI My standard carb is not rice, it is poi. I think that is due to spending a year in Kohala as a child & living in a place where kalo was grown by my grandfather & turned in to poi by a Hawaiian neighbor.
Young ulu fruit next to flowering bract.
Half-grown ulu fruit & flowering bract.
Mature ulu fruit near half-grown fruit & flowering bract.
Even though Guardians of the Ancient Oath does not have simplified Chinese subtitles, I can still recognize some Mandarin words & phrases. Today I heard "How about you?" & "Why?" in the conversations.
你呢 （nǐ ne).
为什么（wèi shén me）.
Episode 51 of the eruption at Kīlauea is forecast to begin some time between the 9th & the 15th.
