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Beginners Chinese Language Meetup

May 17
Sun 1:30 PM
Location
This location is shown only to members
Estimated attendance
 36  people attended.
4.50 4.5010

Who organized?
Evelyn and Ming

Join fellow beginner Mandarin speakers! This meeting is intended for those who are just learning Mandarin and can hold only the most basic conversation.

A no-pressure get together for those who enjoy the language and culture.

Bring: Your own namebadge in English and Mandarin so we don't have to collect dues to buy them. Bring dictionaries, books to help you. Thank you Rui Bai for donating namebadges last 2 times.

Goal: Speak only in Mandarin if possible. We will rotate every 20 minutes so you can meet new friends.

Theme: Foods. Talk to your language partner about your favorite foods. Come prepared to use words such as hot, spicy, salty, sweet, dumplings, cake, bread, noodles, hamburger, hotdog, coca-cola etc. (Last month's theme was family and job.)

Photos of this Meetup

No photos yet.

Talk about this Meetup

  • Rich
    Posted May 17, 2009 11:06 PM
    Rich
    Certainly challenging for me as a newbie .. but everyone was so patient and helpful. Thank you!
  • Pre-Meetup comments below
  • Rich
    Posted May 14, 2009 12:29 AM
    Rich
    OK, good I will write some things down and/or watch ... thanks!
  • Posted May 9, 2009 3:52 PM
    Evelyn
    Assistant Organizer
    Ni hao, Rich- You should write down your sentences and read them to your language partner. It's OK to ask questions this way, whatever it takes to get you to speak. The theme is FOODs, so ask basic questions. For example, "Do you like bread? Have you eaten Peking Duck? Do you like hotdogs? You get the idea...or you may come and have lunch at Teaism and just observe us struggling with our Mandarin! See you soon! Evelyn Asst Organizer
  • Rich
    Posted May 9, 2009 11:21 AM
    Rich
    I only know a few words .. can't hold a basic conversation yet, should I bail on this one? I have plenty of dictionaries and references, but would have to lookup up every word!

Who attended?

  • 36 attendees
    • “ Great chance to practice Mandarin, great idea to rotate every 20 minutes ”
    • “ Thanks for your help and this group again! ”
    • “ I'm not sure how many people showed up but it could have been all 40 of us. Great turn out. I met some new friends and saw some old ones. I always take something positive out of these meetings and this one was no exception. I think Evelyn did another great job running things, getting people to meet as many of the other members as they could by shuffling us around every 20 minutes or so. I'm already looking forward to the next meetup! Thank you Evelyn for another enjoyable Sunday afternoon! ”
    • “ It was very exciting. Last time (which was my first time) I only knew 5-10 Chinese words, and I was very motivated. This time, I could speak lot more,,, maybe the combination of 30-40 words?? Next time, I should be able to pronounce 60-80 words:) Thanks all for motivating me! ”
    • “ It will be better to have a sign in the restaurant so that people can find the group easily. ”
    • “ I am a real beginner but the group seemed a pretty well matched one with advanced beginners and real beginners like myself. Everyone was friendly and outgoing. It was fun and I look forward to the next one. ”
    • “ Great group of highly motivated beginning Mandarin speakers! ”
    • “ GREAT Group and very friendly ”
    • Carolyn (+1 guest)
    • Aom
    • nathan (+1 guest)