Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin Facts
1. Most spoken language around the
world.
2. Spoken in China, Taiwan,
Singapore, and Malaysia.
中文
6. Pinyin-system to write
Chinese with the Roman
alphabet
7.
There are 4 tones
8.
Easy grammar: no
conjugation of verbs, no
singular or plural, articles,
no gender specific nouns.
3. No alphabet
4. Traditional and simplified
characters.
5. Over 100,000 characters
Zhongwen, Zhongguohua,
Putonghua, Guoyu, Hanyu
Why learn Chinese?
1.
Left side and right side of the
brain.
2. Chinese characters increase IQ.
3.
China’s economic rise
4.
Learn about the culture
Chinese Basics
Pinyin
1.
Romanization
C=ts
Q=ch
X=sh
Zh=j
Other sounds can be be
pronounced as they are
written.
Initials
Chinese Basics
Pinyin
1.
Romanization
Ai = long i
EI = long a
Ui = way
Ao = ow
Ou = long o
Finals
The 4 Tones
Using “ma”
Practice sounds and
tones
Chinese?
Dialects
1.
There are many dialects
spoken in China.
2.
Each province and even
regions within provinces
have their own local
language.
3.
Tulsa to NYC vs. Beijing
to Hong Kong
Mandarin
How do the Chinese
communicate?
• Chinese characters!
• Also, most Chinese have
learned to speak Mandarin
since it is the official
language of China.
Oracle Bones
• People in China began
writing around 1,500 BC.
• Animal bones-shoulder of
an ox and turtle shell
• Priests could tell the future.
• Strips of bamboo
• Silk cloth
• Paper-100 BC
Hanzi
汉字
Characters
1.
Chinese symbols
2.
Pictograms
3.
Traditional or Simplified
4.
Over 50,000 characters
5.
3,000-5,000 to read a
newspaper
6.
Radicals
Radicals
Hanzi
汉字
How would you look up a
Chinese character?
1.
Number of strokes and the
radical.
2.
A radical is a classifier
3.
214 or 187
Radicals
Why simplify?
“One state, one people, one
language.”
• Chairman Mao
implemented this change
after the founding of the
People’s Republic of China
in 1949.
• Language and literacy
reforms in China opened
peasants and workers to a
better more sustainable life.
• 80% could not read before
1949.
Educational Reformer
Traditional vs.
Simplified
• There is a debate over which
characters should be used.
• Traditional characters are
learned in Taiwan, Hong
Kong, and Singapore.
• Which do you prefer?
Characters
Simple Characters
All strokes
Yong3
Forever
Complex characters
Zhe2-Talkative
64 strokes
Biang2(Biao1biao1)
noodles 58 strokes
Chinese Basics
Common Chinese
Surnames
The Book of Hundred Family
Surnames (百家姓)
Last name first
1.
Over 10,000 surnames
2.
85% of the population has the
top 100 surnames.
3.
I can’t marry you!
5.
4.
6.
7.
References
• http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/tps/1000bce.htm#language
• http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1000bce_lang
uage.htm
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3025796.stm
• “How Hand Writing Trains the Brain,”
Journal October 2010
Wall Street
• http://endphysics.com/chinese_characters_iq.html
• honghua Xinshi Dachi dian 《中华姓氏大辞典》 (Great
Dictionary of Chinese Surnames) by Yuan Yida (ISBN
7504114774)