Beginning to Read Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation tips for the Chinese Romanized alphabet (hanyu pin yin) Simple Vowels a e i u o like the a in father or ah ha! like the e in the (the Arican English schwa not ee as before a vowel) like the ee in see (except after z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, or r when it s like the i in shirt ) like the oo in tooth (except after j, q, and x and when u is pronounced like the French u or the German ü ) like the o in toe Double and Triple Vowel Pronunciation Tips ai ao ei ou ua uo ian uai like the i in tie or like Taiwan like the ou in ouch or like Taos like the ay in pay or the ei in eight like the ow in show or the ou in dough like the wa in wall or water like the wo in wore or the wa in war like the ye in yen like the wi in wife or twice Consonants Different from English c q r x z zh like the ts in bats like the ch in inch (tongue is between the s in asure and the dr in drum like the sh in shell (tongue closer to teeth than in English) like the ds in lids like the j in jeans
The Four Tones Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language. Every Chinese character is a syllable with a fixed tone. However, there are more than 50,000 Chinese characters, but only 430 different sounds. Therefore, a lot of characters share the sa sounds. There are 4 basic tones in Mandarin Chinese. Each one is indicated by a tone mark, and the tone marks are placed over the vowels. wēn (warm) The first tone is high, flat, song-like, la wén (language) The second tone is rising, questioning, like a surprised What? ˇ wĕn (kiss) The third tone is low and drawling, first falling then rising, like an indecisive Well wèn (ask) The fourth tone is sharp and falling, like the command No! If the tone is wrong, the aning will be totally different. For example, Wŏ yào wèn nĭ ans I want to ask you. Wŏ yào wĕn nĭ ans I want to kiss you. Beginning Chinese Useful Phrases nín ma? mǎ mǎ hǔ hu hěn fēi cháng xie bú dù qǐ méi guān xi bú qǐng wèn, zěn...? jiào shén míng zi? jiào... zhè shì shén? zhè ge duō s qián? tài guì le! tīng dǒng zhī dào bú huì zhōng wén huì yì diǎn zhōng wén qǐng màn màn zài jiàn! hello hello (with respect) How are you? not good so so good very good extrely good thanks you re welco I m sorry that s alright correct incorrect May I please ask you how to go to? What s your na? My na is What s this? How much does this cost? It s too expensive! I don t understand. I don t know. I don t speak Chinese. I speak a little Chinese. Please speak slowly. goodbye
Words Used in Questions and Answers ma? yes/no question shì/shì de yes / bú shì no shéi? who? shén? what? (zài) nǎr/(zài) nǎ li? where? / wèi shén? why? yīn wèi because shén shí hòu? when? zĕn? how? jĭ/duō s? how many/how much? / jĭ diǎn? what ti? Duō s qián? How much does it cost? kuài qián dollars nǎ? which? Numbers in Chinese líng 0 yī 1 èr 2 sān 3 sì 4 wŭ 5 liù 6 qī 7 bā 8 jiŭ 9 shí 10 shí yī 11 shí èr 12 shí sān 13 shí sì 14 shí wŭ 15 shí liù 16 shí qī 17 shí bā 18 shí jiŭ 19 èr shí 20
èr shí yī 21 èr shí èr 22 sān shí 30 sì shí 40 wŭ shí 50 liù shí 60 qī shí 70 bā shí 80 jiŭ shí 90 yì bǎi 100 yì bǎi ling yī 101 yì qiān 1,000 yí wàn 10,000 Beginning Chinese Useful Phrases zǎo shàng Good morning. xià wǔ Good afternoon. wǎn shàng Good evening. Hello. nín Hello (with respect) ma? How are you? hěn I m fine. mǎ mǎ So so. hǔ hǔ Thanks. ne? And you? nǎ r Where going? I m going to qǐng wèn zěn,?/ nǎ lǐ?? May I please ask how to go to? jiào shén míng What s your na? jiào My na is zhè shì shén What is this?? zi?
zhè gè duō s How much is this? tài guì le It s too expensive. tīng dǒng qián? I don t understand. zhī dào I don t know. qǐ I m sorry. méi guān It s okay. xì Thank you. kè qì You re welco. zài jiàn Goodbye. correct bú incorrect qǐng màn màn Please speak slowly. bú huì zhōng wén I don t speak Chinese. huì yì diǎn diǎn zhōng I speak little bit Chinese. wén Online resources to get started: http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/chin/pinyin1.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/ http://www.learnchineseeveryday.com/ http://www.chinese-tools.com/learn/chinese