Chinese Language Mandarin, Exams of Chinese

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Chinese Language

Mandarin

Peace Corps / China

The script accompanies the following 15 audio tracks:

CN_Mandarin_Lesson_1 (Time 3:39) (File Size:1.5MB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_2 (Time 14:52) (File Size:6.1MB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_3 (Time 4:45) (File Size:1.95MB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_4 (Time 2:07) (File Size:873KB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_5 (Time 3:14) (File Size:1.3MB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_6 (Time 4:22) (File Size:1.8MB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_7 (Time 3:01) (File Size:1.24MB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_8 (Time 3:37) (File Size:1.49MB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_9 (Time 1:24) File Size:576KB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_10 (Time 1:50) (File Size:757KB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_11 (Time 1:19) (File Size:544KB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_12 (Time 1:12) (File Size:497KB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_13 (Time 2:41) (File Size:1.1MB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_14 (Time 1:01) (File Size:420KB) CN_Mandarin_Lesson_15 (Time 1:25) (File Size:588KB)

Lesson 1 Introduction to Chinese Language

Mandarin is the official language of the People’s Republic of China. It is the dialect spoken in the capital, Beijing. It is taught in all schools and is used for television and broadcast. Almost the entire population understands Mandarin. The language taught in Pre-Service Training (PST) for Peace Corps trainees is Mandarin.

Chinese is a language with a large number of words with the same pronunciation but different meanings; what distinguishes these ‘homophones’ is their ‘tonal’ quality – the raising and lowering of pitch on certain syllables. Mandarin has four tones – high, rising, falling-rising and falling, plus a fifth “neutral” tone. To illustrate, look at the word ma , which has four different meanings according to tone:

High mā ‘mother’ Rising má ‘hemp’ or ‘numb’ Falling-rising mă ‘horse’ Falling mà ‘to scold’ or ‘swear’

Writing System

Chinese is not a phonetic language and the characters do not bear any resemblance to actual pronunciation. Chinese is often referred to as a language of pictographs.

There are about 56,000 characters, but the vast majority of these are archaic. It is commonly felt that a well-educated, contemporary Chinese might know and use between 6,000 and 8, characters. To read a Chinese newspaper you need to know 2,000 to 3,000, but 1,200 to 1, would be enough to get the gist.

Each Chinese character represents a spoken syllable, so many people declare that Chinese is a monosyllabic language. Actually, it’s more a case of having a monosyllabic writing system. While the building block of the Chinese language is indeed the monosyllabic Chinese character, Chinese words are usually a combination of two or more characters. You could think of Chinese words as being compounds.

Phonetic system – Pinyin

In 1958 China adopted a system of writing their language using the Roman alphabet. It's known as Pinyin. It is used in this course.

Grammar

Chinese grammar is much simpler than that of European languages. There are no articles (a/an/the), no tenses, and no plurals. The basic point to bear in mind is that, like English, Chinese word order is subject-verb-object. In other words, a basic English sentence like “I (subject) love (verb) you (object)” is constructed in exactly the same way in Chinese.

Lesson 2 Phonetics

There are 6 basic vowels and 21 consonants in Mandarin Chinese. A syllable always consists of a vowel (V) or a consonant with a vowel (CV), such as ba, fo, ne. Consonant clusters, two or more consonants used in succession, are not permitted in Chinese. Syllabic combinations common in English such as VC (up, at), CVC (big, pat, map), CCVC (bred, dread, stone), CVCC (mask, best, sand), CCV (fly, blue, grow) CCCV (screw, spray, stray), VCC (old, and, ink), VCCC (Olds, ants, amps), CCVCC (brand, trains, swings), CVCCC (tests, tenths, lunged), CVCCCC (thirsts, texts, worlds), CCVCCC (slurps, prints, flirts), CCCVC (street, squat, strut), CCCVCC (struts, squats, sprained), and CCCVCCC (scrimps, sprints, squelched) are not possible in Chinese. CVC, on the other hand, is possible in Chinese, but the final C can only be the nasal sounds -n and -ng and the retroflex –r, such as jing, nan, yong and er. Consonants are often called initials because they invariably appear initially in a word with the exception of the final -n, - ng or r, which can appear finally. Vowels are also called finals because they appear medially or finally in a word. Vowels can stand by themselves when no initial consonant is present.

Let’s learn the finals (vowels) first:

MANDARIN SIMILAR ENGLISH

SOUND

EXAMPLE (PINYIN

& CHARACTER)

NOTE

a Father bà 爸

e fur (^) cè 测

i see dì 地

o or (^) pó 婆

u flute (^) bù 不

ü German ‘für’ (^) Lǜ 绿 Written as ‘u’ when appearing after ‘j q x’ ai fly (^) năi 奶

ao now (^) hăo 好

ei day (^) měi 美

ia yard (^) xià 下

ie yes (^) xiè 谢

iu yolk (^) liù 六

ou low (^) lóu 楼

ua wah (^) huā 花

e you ate (^) yuè 月 ‘e’ stands for a syllable by itself, so it is written as ‘yue’, with the 2 dots dropped ui way (^) huì 会

uo war zuò 做

iao miaow (^) yào 要

uai why kuài 快

an upon (^) màn 慢

en broken wèn 问

ang town (^) fáng 房

eng ehng (^) pèng 碰

er her (^) èr 二

ian yen (^) diăn 点

iang yahng (^) liáng xié 凉

in inn (^) xīn 心

Tones

High ¯ high, flat, continuous tone

Rising ΄ rising tone similar to the intonation used in the question ‘What?’

Falling-rising ˇ tone that falls then rises. You'll hear many Mandarin speakers ‘swallow’ the rising sound, only giving it a clear falling-rising pattern for emphasis.

Falling ١ falling tone, similar to the one used when yelling ‘Darn!’

To help you get close, here's a brief try at tones, transcribed in English. Consider the syllable ‘mmm’ (a non-syllable in Mandarin). Then,

¯ The high level tone is what you might say in English if you were asked a question, and you had to think about it before answering. It's high, and it's a constant tone: “Mmm, sixteen, I think.” ΄ The rising tone is like a question: “Mmm? I didn't catch that.” ˇ The low level tone is what you might say in English to express doubt, or disbelief: “Mmm...I don't know about that.” ١ The falling tone is like an interjection: “Mmm! Well, I'll be!”

Listen and repeat: first tone second tone third tone fourth tone ā á ă à mā má mă mà tāng táng tăng tàng qīng qíng qǐng qìng yān yán yăn yàn guō guó guǒ guò

Choose the syllables you heard：

1. dìdiăn bāobiăn tōnghóng dàodiăn dìtăn băopiàn gòngtóng dàotián

zàizuò xīngqiú cāntīng cèsuǒ cáicuò jīyóu kànxìn jiécuò

2. jiān xué yuē rì céng ròu xuăn zhān shuī juē zì qǐng zǒu juăn

zhǔn chén yuè jiāng cāng zhěn chūn yún zhāng shāng

Note: The word “bù” is the negative word. It precedes the verb to indicate that something does not happen. Here its tone changes from the fourth to the second because it is followed by a fourth tone. You will learn the rule in the future.

So how do you ask what something is? ‘什么 Shénme’ is the interrogative word “what.” The most important feature about Chinese interrogative pronouns is that, unlike English practice, which shifts all interrogative pronouns to the beginning of the question, Chinese keeps them in the position in the sentence where the answers would be expected.

What is this?

This is tea.

What is that?

That is a cup.

Zhè shì shénme?

Zhè shì chá。

Nà shì shénme?

Nà shì bēizi。

Lesson 4 Greetings

Vocabulary you (singular) nǐ I, me wǒ good, all right hăo good bye zàijiàn morning zăo morning zăoshàng afternoon xiàwǔ evening wănshàng

Dialogue 1

Greetings in all circumstances

A: How are you?

B: How are you?

A: Good bye.

B: Good bye.

A: N[ǐ hăo。

B: Nǐ hăo。

A: Zàijiàn。

B: Zàijiàn。

Note: Nǐ hăo. This is a common, slightly formal, greeting. Literally it would translate as “You are good,” or if conceived of as a question, “Are you fine?” However, it is not really a question. The response is usually simply Nǐ hăo again_._ Other common greetings used among friends or acquaintances are:

Dialogue 2:

Greet people in the morning Good morning.

Good morning.

A: Zăo。（or Zăoshàng hăo。）

B: Zăo。（or Zăoshàng hăo。）

Note: You can change the morning, zăoshàng, to afternoon, xiàwǔ, or evening, wănshàng, and add good, hăo , to greet people in different times of a day.

I/me wǒ You nǐ He/him tā She/her tā It tā

We/us wǒmen You (pl.) nǐmen They/them tāmen

Note: Chinese personal pronouns are very simple. There is no distinction for case. Wǒ is wǒ regardless of whether it is the subject of the sentence or the object of the verb, and the same is true for the second and third person pronouns. Nor is there a distinction for gender. Tā is tā , whether it refers to a woman or a man.

Lesson 6 Numbers and Prices

Numbers 1–10:

one yī 一

two èr 二 (When counting, two is èr 二, when used with measure words, it is liăng 两) three sān 三

four sì 四

five wǔ 五

six liù 六

seven qī 七

eight bā 八

nine jiǔ 九

ten shí 十

Numbers 10–1billion: The Chinese number system is quite simple and generally easy to learn. Multiples of 10 are made by stating the multiple and then 10—so 20 is literally “two ten.” If you learn the numbers from one to 10, you can count to 100 without having to learn any new vocabulary. The Chinese counting system is based on units of 10. These multiply as follows:

10 shí 十

100 băi 百

1000 qiān 千

10,000 wàn 万

100,000 shíwàn 十万

1 million băiwàn 百万

10 million qiānwàn 千万

100 million wànwàn; yì 亿 1 billion shí yì 十亿

Ordinal numbers: Simply prefix any number with dì, and it becomes an ordinal: 1st dì yī 2nd dì’ èr 3rd dì sān 10th dì shí

Lesson 7 Food and Drinks

Vocabulary rice mǐfàn noodle miàntiáo dumpling jiăozi bread miànbāo vegetable shūcài pork zhūròu beef niúròu fish yú

water shuǐ mineral water kuàngquănshuǐ coffee kāfēi tea chá milk niúnăi. juice guǒ zhī. beer píjiǔ yogurt suānnăi

bowl wăn plate pánzi cup bēizi bottle píngzi

sugar táng salt yán chili làjiāo oil yóu MSG wèijing

hot rède; tàngde iced bīngdòngde and hé

Phrases & Sentences:

I’d like to have noodles. Wǒ yào miàntiáo。

I don’t want noodles. Wǒ búyào miàntiáo。

Do you have… or not? Yǒu méiyǒu…？

Don't make it too hot. Búyào tài là。

I like dumplings. Wǒ xǐhuān jiăozi。

I don’t like rice. Wǒ bùxǐhuān mǐfàn。

Can I have the bill, please? Măidān/Suànzhàng。

Please try to use the vocabulary above to substitute these sentences.

Lesson 8 Some Chinese Dishes

Cold Dishes (Appetizers): liángbàn jiāngdòu Boiled cowpeas with chili sauce pàocài pickles

Hot Dishes (Main Course): yúxiāng ròusī Stir fried shredded pork with “YuXiang” sauce huíguō ròu Twice cooked pork yúxiāng qiézi Stir fried eggplant with “YuXiang” sauce gōngbào jīdīng Spicy chicken with peanuts fānqié chăo jīdàn Scrambled eggs with tomato tángcù páigǔ Sweet and sour spare ribs

Vegetable: hǔpí qīngjiāo Fried/Tiger-skin green pepper tǔdòu sī Stir fried shredded potatoes tángcù liánbái Stir fried cabbage with sweet and sour sauce gānbiăn sìjìdòu Fried kidney beans

Noodles: fānqié jīdàn miàn Noodles with egg & tomato zájiàng miàn Noodles with meat sauce niúròu miàn Noodles with beef hóngyóu shuǐjiăo Boiled dumplings with chili sauce qīngtāng shuǐjiăo Boiled dumplings chāoshǒu Boiled soft dumplings with soup

Rice & Grains mǐfàn Rice dàn chăofàn Fried rice with egg bābăo zhōu 8-treasures Porridge

Fruits: píngguǒ apples xiāngjiāo bananas júzi tangerines xīguā watermelon táozi peaches lízi pears căoméi strawberries

Please say “I like …” and “I don’t like …” in Chinese by using above vocabulary.

Please visit a Chinese restaurant in your hometown to try out some dishes and try your Chinese language!

Lesson 10 Sickness and Emergency

Sickness

I am sick. Wǒ shēngbìng le。

I have a cold. Wǒ gănmào le。

I am allergic to this. Wǒ duì zhège guòmǐn。

I am tired. Wǒ lèi le。

I want to go to bed. Wǒ xiăng shuìjiào le。

Where is the bathroom? Xǐshǒujiān zài nă?

I need to go to the hospital. Wǒ yào dào yīyuàn。

May I ask where the hospital is? Qǐngwèn, yīyuàn zài nă?

Emergency

Help! Jiù mìng!

Police! Jǐngchá!

May I use your telephone? Wǒ kěyǐ yòng nǐde diànhuà ma?

I need to call the police 110. Wǒ yào dă yāo-yāo-líng。

(yāo is an alternate pronunciation for the number one, used because yī is easily confused with qī, especially on the telephone)

Lesson 11 Direction and Places

Direction

Where is the…? …zài năr?

On the left Zài zuǒ biān。

On the right Zài yòu biān。

Straight-ahead Qián biān。

Near by Fù jìn。

Not far from here Lí zhèr bù yuăn。

Above Shàng biān。

Behind Hòu biān。

Places

shop shāngdiàn

street jiē(dào)

restaurant fànguăn

school xuéxiào

classroom jiàoshì

office bàngōngshì

bus station chēzhàn

railway station huǒchēzhàn