wô am brand new to Chinese and wô have started learning pinyin. I looked up xiexie and found several meanings based on tone. ‘Thanks’ was the one I was looking for but then there was also diarrhea xièxiè. Are native speakers left wondering about this when a learner thanks them?
I’ve been focusing on a few words I, you, he, thanks, ma, hello, and goodbye. I’ve been using youtube videos and a dictionary that offers skritter. I’m progressing slowly and have managed to identify one or two words in the greeting lessons here on lingq. I feel like am gaining ground. Am I on the right track? Any advance would be bu ke qi. Writing this out for example, I’m realizing my notes don’t always include tone. I wonder if the international keyboard can make all the tones or will I have to add more keyboards?
Hi Eric, I’m Clara from China. I would like to answer your questions.
Answer 1: We don’t feel confused or misunderstand xiexie as diarrhea when people thank us, because when we mean diarrhea, we say fu xie. I can figure out your confusion: they all pronounce as xie, how can we distinguish them? My answer is that depends on the context, besides, the chinese spell of these two words is diffirent, so when people thank us, we reflect it in our mind as xiexie, not diarrhea( fu xie).
Answer 2: About the tones, I think that is the most difficult part for a Chinese learner. My suggestion is you find a native speaker and talk together. I think that is the most effective way to master the tones.
And I found you wrote: Any advance would be bu ke qi. I guess what you mean is Any advice would be dou ke yi. Because bu ke qi is used when people thank you.