The first tone is a high, flat tone. Your voice stays flat, with no rise or dip in the way it sounds. Using the word “ma” as an example, the first tone is indicated using the symbol above the letter a: “mā”. The second tone is a rising tone. Your voice rises from a low to middle pitch, as if you were asking someone to repeat something by saying “huh?” or “what?” The second tone is indicated using the symbol “má”. The third tone is a dipping tone. The pitch goes from middle to low to high, like when you say the letter “B”. When two third-tone syllables are near each other, the second one retains its third tone sound while the first takes the sound of the second tone. The third tone is indicated using the symbol “mǎ”. The fourth tone is a lowering tone. The pitch goes rapidly from high to low as if giving a command e. g. stop! Or as if you’re reading a book and have come across something new and interesting and are saying “huh”. The fourth tone is indicated using the symbol “mà”. Easy enough? If not, don’t fret. It’s definitely recommended to hear the tones demonstrated by a native speaker since it’s hard to get an idea of what they sound like purely through text.
The popular phonetic system, pinyin (characters: 拼音), is very helpful. Learning pinyin can be tricky, but most letters you will encounter sound very similar to their English counterpart. The new sounds you’ll have to learn include: “h”, “x”, “q”, “j”, “r”, and “ü”. There are also other letter combinations you need to learn, including “zh”, “ch”, and “sh”. “h”: Almost like English “h”, but a little bit throatier. “x”: Place the tip of your tongue near where your bottom teeth meet their gums and the middle of your tongue near the roof of your mouth. Then, blow air out of your mouth. It will sound similar to “sh”, but closer to “s”. “q”: Just like “x” but use a “t” sound to start it. It will sound similar to “ch”, but closer to “ts”. “j”: Similar to “q”, but you’ll need to use voice in this one. Instead of just breathing air out, do it with sound behind it. The difference between “q” and “j” is like the difference between “s” and “z” in English. “r”: This letter makes a different sound when it’s at the beginning of a syllable versus when it’s at the end. When it is at the start, it’s a tricky one and may need more practice. Take the tip of your tongue and lift it up until it almost touches the roof of your mouth. The sides of your tongue should touch around your back molars on either side. Then, breathe with your voice. It should almost sound like the “s” in “vision”, but closer to “r”. When this letter is at the end of a syllable, it sounds just like an “r” in English. “ü”: This letter is the sixth vowel of Chinese, and is not one found in English. However, it is relatively easy to say. First, round your lips as if you were about to say “oo”, as in “food”. Then, make the sound of “ee” that you hear in “bee”. “zh”: Very similar to English “j” in “jar”, but position your mouth the same way as for Mandarin “r”. “ch”: Very similar to English “ch” in “chew”, but position your mouth the same way as for Mandarin “r”. " sh": Very similar to English “sh”, but position your mouth the same way as for Mandarin “r”. The sounds “r”, “zh”, “ch”, and “sh” are known as the “retroflex” initials because they are a sound family of a sort.
Some good vocabulary lists to start with includes: times of day (morning: zǎo shàng; 早上, afternoon: xià wǔ; 下午, evening: wǎn shàng; 晚上) body parts (head: tóu; 头, feet: jiǎo; 脚, hands: shǒu; 手) food (beef: niú ròu; 牛肉, chicken: jī; 鸡, egg: jī dàn; 鸡蛋, noodles: miàn tiáo; 面条) along with greetings, colors, days of the week, months, transport words, weather, etc. When you hear a word in English, think about how you would say it in Mandarin. If you don’t know what it is, jot it down and look it up later. It’s handy to keep a little notebook on you for this purpose. Attach little Chinese labels (with the character, the pinyin, and the pronunciation) to items around your house, such as the mirror, the coffee table, and the sugar bowl. You’ll see the words so often that you’ll learn them without realizing it! Although having a wide vocabulary is good, remember that in Mandarin, accuracy is more important. It’s no good learning a word if you can’t pronounce it properly, using the correct tone, as different pronunciations could have entirely different meanings. For example, using the wrong tone (using mā instead of má) could be the difference between saying “I want cake” and “I want coke” - two completely different meanings.
Below you will find the numbers one to ten, written in simplified Chinese characters, followed by the Hanyu pinyin translation and the correct pronunciation. Make sure to practice saying each number using the correct tone. One: written as (一) or yī, pronounced [eee] Two: written as (二) or èr, pronounced [err] Three: written as (三) or sān, pronounced [saan] Four: written as (四) or sì, pronounced [ssuh] Five: written as (五) or wǔ, pronounced [oo] Six: written as (六) or liù, pronounced [lee-yoe] Seven: written as (七) or qī, pronounced [chi] Eight: written as (八) or bā, pronounced [baa] Nine: written as (九) or jiǔ, pronounced [jee-yoe] Ten: written as (十) or shí, pronounced [sh] Once you have mastered numbers one to ten, you can continue counting in double digits by saying the number in the tens’ position, then the word 十, followed by the number in the one’s position. For example: The number 48 is written as sì shí bā (四十八), literally meaning “four tens plus eight”. The number 30 is written as sān shí (三十), literally meaning “three tens”. The number 19 is written as yī shí jiǔ (一十九), literally meaning “one ten plus nine” (however in most Mandarin dialects the initial yī is omitted from numbers in the teens, as it is deemed unnecessary). The word for hundred in Mandarin is (百) or baǐ, so 100 is written as yì baǐ, 200 is written as èr baǐ, 300 is written as sān baǐ, etc.
Hello- 你好- nǐhǎo, pronounced [nee how] What is your last name(surname)? (formal )- 您贵姓? - nín guì xìng, pronounced [neen gway shing] or 你姓什么？- nǐ xìng shén me (inf. ), pronounced [nee shing shurn muh] What’s your name?- 你叫什么名字? - nǐ jiào shén me míng zì, pronounced [nee jee-ou shurn muh ming zi] [7] X Research source Yes- 是 - shì, pronounced [sh] No- 不是 - bú shì, pronounced [boo sh] Thank you- 谢谢 - xiè xiè, pronounced [shie shie] You’re welcome- 不用谢 - bú yòng xiè, pronounced [boo yong shee-e] Excuse me- 对不起 - duì bu qǐ, pronounced [dway boo chee] I don’t understand- 我不懂 - wǒ bù dǒng, pronounced [wuo boo downg] Goodbye- 再见 - zài jiàn, pronounced [zay jee-en]
For instance, in Chinese, there are no complicated rules about conjugations, agreement, gender, plural nouns or tense. Most words consist of single syllables which are then combined to make compound words. This makes sentence construction fairly straightforward. However, Chinese has its own set of grammar rules which do not have an equivalent in English, or other Indo-European languages. For example, Chinese uses grammatical features such as classifiers, topic-prominence and preference for aspect. As these features are not used in English, they can be quite difficult for learners to grasp. However, despite the differences, Chinese does use the same word order as English mostly, i. e. subject - verb - object, making it easier to translate word for word. For example, the English phrase “he likes cats” is translated directly as “tā (he) xǐ huan (likes) māo (cats).
Pinyin allows students of Mandarin to focus on their pronunciation, while also enabling them to read and write, without needing to learn complex Chinese characters. Although Pinyin uses the Roman alphabet, the pronunciation of its letters is often not intuitive to English speakers, which is why it must be studied carefully before it can be used. For example, the letter “c” in Pinyin is pronounced like the “ts” in the word “bits”, the letter “e” is pronounced like the “er” in the word “hers” and the letter “q” is pronounced like the “ch” in the word “cheap”. Due to these differences, it is essential that you learn the correct Pinyin pronunciations before using it as a guide. Although learning Pinyin pronunciations may seem like a pain, it can be extremely beneficial to your language learning and is still significantly easier than learning to recognize the traditional Chinese characters.
According to the BBC, there are over 50, 000 Chinese characters in existence, however most of these are rarely, if ever, used. An educated Chinese person will probably know about 8000 characters, but only about 2000 of these are necessary to read a newspaper. [10] X Research source When writing Chinese characters, you will first need to learn each of the 214 “radicals” - which are essentially the building blocks of every Chinese character. Some radicals can stand on their own as independent characters, while others are used only within more complex characters. It is also important that you follow the correct stroke order when writing the characters. There are a specific set of rules you will need to follow, such as left to right, top to bottom and horizontal before vertical. There are many Chinese workbooks you can buy which will guide you in the correct formation of characters. These are usually intended for schoolchildren, but are useful to anyone attempting to learn Chinese characters. Ideally, buy one which is designed for foreign countries, for example, you can use 快乐汉语 from Hanban as it also has the English translation. One of the major benefits of learning Chinese characters is that you will also have access to Cantonese, Japanese, Korean and other literatures, which also use many traditional or simplified Chinese characters in their writings, even though the spoken languages are not the same.
If you have a Mandarin-speaking friend who is willing to help, that’s great! Otherwise, you can place an ad in the local paper or online or investigate whether there are any pre-existing Mandarin conversation groups in the area. If you can’t locate any Mandarin-speakers nearby, try finding someone on Skype. They might be willing to exchange 15 minutes of Mandarin conversation for 15 minutes of English. If you can’t find someone on Skype, Try QQ (Just search it, you will find it in the first link), It’s a chat tool that is very popular in China, and in there you can find many language learning groups/rooms, Most people there are native Chinese speakers learning English. They will be glad to talk to you, Add the group (ID:229776426), Hope you can find your language partner.
With the growth of Asian neighborhoods around the country, many classes taught by volunteers have popped up. They range in cost from $300 to $500 or more per year, plus other costs. You can also try an online Mandarin school. Look out for language courses advertised at local colleges, schools or community centers. If you’re nervous about signing up for a class by yourself, drag a friend along. You’ll have more fun and someone to practice with between classes!
If you’re feeling particularly proactive, try pausing the video after a simple sentence and repeat what has just been said. This will lend your Chinese accent an air of authenticity! If you can’t find any Chinese films to buy, try renting them from a movie rental store, which often have foreign language sections. Alternatively, see if your local library has any Chinese films or ask if they would be able to source some for you.
Get a Mandarin Chinese radio app on your phone, so you can listen on the go. Try downloading Chinese podcasts to listen to while exercising or doing housework.
