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Lesson 1 FL - Foreign Language

The document provides an overview of key features of the Chinese language: 1. Mandarin is the most widely spoken dialect in mainland China, while Cantonese is mainly used in Taiwan. 2. Chinese is a tonal language written with characters called ideograms. Learning 3,000-4,000 characters allows for basic communication. 3. Pinyin is the phonetic system for pronouncing Chinese characters, using initial consonants and vowel or dipthong finals.

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Angela Magtibay
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365 views5 pages

Lesson 1 FL - Foreign Language

The document provides an overview of key features of the Chinese language: 1. Mandarin is the most widely spoken dialect in mainland China, while Cantonese is mainly used in Taiwan. 2. Chinese is a tonal language written with characters called ideograms. Learning 3,000-4,000 characters allows for basic communication. 3. Pinyin is the phonetic system for pronouncing Chinese characters, using initial consonants and vowel or dipthong finals.

Uploaded by

Angela Magtibay
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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FL - Foreign Language

Lesson 1 Pinyin
Key Features of Chinese Language
Chinese is the most widely spoken in the world.
Two most popular forms of Chinese language are:
1. Mandarin is the standard form widely spoken in mainland China.
2. Cantonese is mainly spoken in Taiwan.
 Chinese belongs to Sino Tibetan language family
 Chinese is a tonal language
 The written form of the language is called characters which are basically kind of ideogram, looks
like picture.
 There are almost 50,000 characters in Chinese language. But learning 3000 to 4000 characters one
can accomplish daily communication, news paper reading or academic pursuit
 Speaking Chinese is like singing a song; the tonal ups and downs add musical effect to the language.
 Everybody knows that Chinese is a kind of pictographic language. Each Chinese word is made of
Chinese characters, and each character is monosyllabic and has its own pronunciation.
 Chinese people mark the pronunciation of characters in pīn yīn (Chinese phonetic alphabet).
 Pinyin, or Hanyu Pinyin, is the official phonetic system for pronouncing Chinese characters. pīnyīn
( 拼音) literally means spelled out sounds.
 There are two groups of alphabets in pīn yīn.
 One group is used at the beginning of a syllable and are called initials.
 The other group follow initials and is called finals.
Initials
b p m f d t n l
g k h j q x
zh ch sh r z c s
y w
Finals
Single Finals
a o e u ü
Compound Finals
a: ai ao an ang
o: ou ong
e: ei en eng
i: ia ie iao iu
in iang ing iong
u: ua uo uai ui
uan un
uang ueng
ü: üe üan ün

Syllables
Initial Sound English Sound Equivalent Chinese Example
b bear 不 bù (not)
p pope 跑 pǎo (to run)
m more 妈 mā (mom)
f fate 分 fēn (cent)

d bed (unaspirated) 对 duì (correct)


t tap (aspirated) 天 tiān (sky)
n now 你 nǐ (you)

l lean 六 liù (six)

g get (unaspirated) 个 gè (piece)


k kangaroo (unaspirated) 客 kè (guest)
h help 很 hěn (very)
j jeep 见 jiàn (see)
q ch in “cheap” 请 qǐng (please)

x in “she” 下 xià (below)


zh jam (with tongue curled backwards) 真 zhēn (real)
ch chirp (with tongue curled backwards) 吃 chī (eat)
sh shut (with tongue curled backwards) 说 shuō (say)
r azure (with tongue curled backwards) 热 rè (hot)
z woods 早 zǎo (early)
c its 错 cuò (wrong)
s sink 三 sān (three)

These last two are special sounds because they are not true initial sounds, but sometimes function as initial
sounds.
y yes — yī (one)
(Not a true initial. The letter i is written with a
y when no initial is present.)
w want 我 wǒ (I)
(Not a true initial. The letter o is written with a
w when no initial is present.)

Single Finals
Final Sound English Sound Equivalent Chinese Example
a pronounced as the a in “father” 妈 mā (mom)
e pronounced as the er in “serve” 客 kè (guest)
i pronounced as the ee in “bee” — yī (one)
o pronounced as the o in “fox” 我 wǒ (I)

u pronounced as the woo in “wood” 不 bù (not)


ü pronounced as in German or French. Similar to 女 nǚ (wo
lure (“ooh” with pursed lips)

Compound Finals
Final English Sound Equivalent Chinese Example
Sound
ai bike 来 lái (come)
ao now 好 hǎo (good)
ei may 美 měi (beautiful)
ia y in “yes” and slide to a as in British “are” 下 xià (below)
iao the combination of the beginning consonant in “yes” and the o in 小 xiǎo (small)
“how”
ie similar to the ye in “yes”. 谢 xiè (thanks)
iou/iu iu is always pronounced as iou – pronounced as a slide from “y” as 久 jiǔ (long ago)
in “yes” to the “o” in “go“

ou o in “so“ 有 yǒu (have)


ua pronounced similar to the American “what” without “h” and “t”. 花 huā (flower)
Sounds like the English spelling “wah”
uai pronounced similar to the English word “why” 快 kuài (fast)
üe pronounced as a slide from pinyin “ü” (German “ü” or the French 月 yuè (month)
“u”) to the vowel “e”
uei/ui pronounced similar to the sound in “wait”. It is spelt as “wei” 喂 wéi (a greeting
when it stands as an independent syllable. for answering the
phone)
uo pronounced similar to the British English “war” . The spelling 说 shuō (say)
“wo” is used when it stands as an independent syllable.
an pronounced as the un in “fun” 安 Ān (peace)
en pronounced as the en in “taken” 很 hěn (very)
ian pronounced as the en in “yen” 天 tiān (sky)
in pronounced as the in in ‘pin‘ 心 xīn (heart)
uan pronounced as the an in “wan” 欢 huān (happy)
un pronounced as the on in “won” 准 zhǔn (standard)
üan ü as pronounced above +an 元 yuán (dollar)
ün ü as pronounced above +n 军 jūn (army)
ang pronounced as the ong in “song“ 上 shàng (above)
eng pronounced “e” is as described above, followed by the nasal “ng” 朋 péng
sound
(friend)
iang/yang pronounced similar to “young”. The spelling “yang” is used when 两 liǎng (two)
it stands as an independent a syllable
ing/ying pronounced as the ing in “sing”. The spelling “ying” is used when 明 míng (bright)
there is no consonant in the beginning of a syllable.
iong/yong Pinyin “y” + “u” + “ng”. The “o” is affected by “y”⑴ and so 穷 qióng
sounds similar to the vowel in “too”. The spelling “yong” is used
when there is no consonant in the beginning. (poor)

ong pronounced “o” is as described above, followed by the nasal “ng” 懂 dǒng (under-
sound stand)
uang/wang The spelling “wang” is used when it stands as an independent 黄 huáng
syllable.
(yellow)

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