We’ll start now by going through a book that was suggested to me by my good friends at the local Chinese tea house: 中国话 [Zhōngguóhuà], Spoken Chinese (3rd printing 1997).
I know, I’m the new Picasso. 😛
It is a very nice book that drills basic situation with which you can start learning Mandarin Chinese. I’ve also added some flashcards and games at the end where you can practice these new words, hanzi and sentences by doing nothing more than playing. 🙂
Also, make sure you post with us here and on FB and practice your new skills!
🙂
So, let’s start with the basics: saying hello!
A: 见到你，很高兴.
Jiàn dào nǐ ， hěn gāoxìng 。
I am very glad to meet you.
B: 见到你，我也很高兴。
Jiàn dào nǐ ， wǒ yě hěn gāoxìng 。
I am very glad to meet you too.
A: 你身体好吗？
Nǐ shēntǐ hǎo ma ？
How are you?
B: 好，谢谢。你呢？
Hǎo ， xièxie 。 nǐ ne？
Fine, thank you. And you?
A: 我也很好。
Wǒ yě hěnhǎo 。
I’m also well.
B: 你忙吗？
Nǐ máng ma？
Are you busy?
A: 不忙。
Bùmáng 。
(I’m) not busy.
B: 再见！
Zài jiàn ！
See (you) again! (Goodbye!)
A: 再见！
Zàijiàn ！
See (you) again! (Goodbye!)
If you like to practice these sentences, words, pinyin and hanzi and also hear the pronunciation check out these flashcards I’ve made specifically for this lesson.
Today we’ll also be talking a little about what is probably the most hideously scary part of the Chinese language for foreign people: hanzi.
OK, let’s not go overboard. And sodoku isn’t from China, anyways. (It’s French :P)
The Chinese writing system, while it is complicated without a doubt, is also rather unfairly over-dramatized. Of course, as a beginner suddenly faced with a wall of incomprehensible and completely alien-looking writing, it is certainly daunting, but remember, if Chinese children can learn it, so can you.
You just have to approach it the same way.
When you see your first full Chinese text.
But before we go into that, also remember that learning these characters is the same as learning English vocab spelling for more complicated words. In fact, while you need to learn about 700 words for an A1 (basic) level in English, you ‘only’ need to learn about 150 hanzi for the Chinese equivalent HSK1.
If you keep this in perspective then it’s doesn’t look that bad, now, does it?
So, with motivation through the roof now, 😛 , let’s take a look at what hanzi actually are.
Hanzi are not words made up of letters. They are more like written pictorial and audio representations of ideas made up of basic building blocks called radicals.
However, this technique of communication is found not only in Chinese.
Look at it, just LOOK AT IT!
For example, when you see the sign ‘2’, you know that this means the number ‘two’. It is a representation of an idea that is independent of language. This sign ‘2’ means the same thing in English, German, Hungarian, Russian, Indonesian, etc, even though each language will assign a different spoken word to it.
The hanzi are the exact same. Hanzi are traditionally attributed to Cang Jie 倉頡, a minister of the mythical Yellow Emperor 黃帝 in a very successful attempt to unify the vast land that fell under his control. And what better way than by giving the people a common language by which they could understand each other, regardless of (at times substantially different) regional dialects?
In fact, even today, people from Japan can communicate via the written kanji/hanzi when they know nothing of the other’s language, showing the real power and genius behind this writing system.
So it really is a very useful skill to develop and have at your fingertips.
Never mind that EVERYTHING is written in hanzi if you to China, or even a Chinese website.
In our blog, we’ll be introducing hanzi, step by step, so it is a good idea to learn them along with their pinyin as the lessons continue on. That way, you don’t have to learn the vocabulary AGAIN via hanzi, halving your learning time and making things much easier for yourself.
Remember that while beginning may feel slow, if you keep at it, it’ll speed up and become second nature soon enough.
For a very nice video introduction, introducing the ideas and logic you’ll have to get used to (all part of the fun! XD) check this out!
So enough with the preliminaries! ON TO THE MAIN EVENT!!
We’ll be starting our little lessons with our book through our next post!
Until then, have fun learning!
R
So we’ve already had a look at the four magical tones of this musical language, now to move onto the next step: the syllabary. In Chinese this is call pinyin.
It is a phonetic description of the well-known Chinese characters and a very useful learning tool for those starting the language.
This had to be done. And I’m not saying sorry. 😛
!WARNING!
Don’t be fooled into thinking that for a complete understanding of the language that pinyin is enough. It will help you start, but in real life no one uses this for writing. For a full use of this wonderful language, you need to start with this training wheel, but you have to learn how to function without it, too.
Again, there are a lot of sites and vids for learning pinyin. However, it is quite a large system, so the best organized sites are usually the best here. And, of course, the style of what you find informative and useful depends on you and your personality.
You may like this sort of very detailed lesson:
Or you may better follow an interactive chart where you click and repeat the pronunciation.
I’m the last type of person, so I’ve spent quite a bit of time with the previous link, clicking at random and repeating.
Also, I’ve been lucky enough to have been introduced to a lovely Chinese family who have a teahouse near to my place who help me out by correcting my pronunciation. I help them and they help me. This is a very cool thing and something that is definitely a good thing: get active in your local Chinese community and you’ll not only have a chance to improve your even very basic Chinese skills, but meet some wonderful people as well!
In fact, if you’re over here in Hungary, or on Facebook make sure to check them, their social events and TEA out! 🙂 Körönd Tea House
OK, end promo, but the fact remains, the quicker you start interacting with natives of your goal language the better and more rewarding it is. Don’t be shy, they’re not going to bite!
So, get to practicing pinyin, take the time to write out you own little chart, pronounce them, get the feel of them padawan and once you’ve got this more or less down, then you can start learning words and sentences!
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
So have fun learning and see you in the next post!
This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it, or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you started this blog and what you plan to do with it.
chinesestudyclub 