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<info>
<title>Standard Chinese</title>
<subtitle>A modular Approach</subtitle>
<author>
<orgname>Sponsored by Agencies of the United States and Canadian governments</orgname>
</author>
</info>
<preface>
<title>Colophon</title>
<para>This publication is to be used primarily in support of instructing military personnel
as part of the Defense Language Program (resident and nonresident). Inquiries concerning
the use of materials, including requests for copies, should be addressed to:</para>
<para>Defense Language Institute </para>
<para>Foreign Language Center </para>
<para>Nonresident Training Division </para>
<para>Presidio of Monterey, CA 93944-5006</para>
<para> Topics in the areas of politics, international relations, mores, etc., which may be
considered as controversial from some points of view, are sometimes included in the
language instruction for DLIFLC students since military personnel may find themselves in
positions where a clear understanding of conversations or written materials of this
nature will be essential to their mission. The presence of controversial statements —
whether real or apparent — in DLIFLC materials should not be construed as representing
the opinions of the writers, the DLIFLC, or the Department of Defense. </para>
<para>Actual brand names and businesses are sometimes cited in DLIFLC instructional
materials to provide instruction in pronunciations and meanings. The selection of such
proprietary terms and names is based solely on their value for instruction in the
language. It does not constitute endorsement of any product or commercial enterprise,
nor is it intended to invite a comparison with other brand names and businesses not
mentioned. </para>
<para>In DLIFLC publications, the words he, him, and/or his denote both masculine and
feminine genders. This statement does not apply to translations of foreign language
texts. </para>
<para>The DLIFLC may not have full rights to the materials it produces. Purchase by the
customer does net constitute authorization for reproduction, resale, or showing for
profit. Generally, products distributed by the DLIFLC may be used in any not-for-profit
setting without prior approval from the DLIFLC. </para>
<note>
<para>This course was formatted by Eric Streit (eric@yojik.eu) using the docbook format
from the pdf scanned documents found on:</para>
<para>https://fsi-language.yojik.eu</para>
<para> You can find the pdf, epub, odt versions on https://git.yojik.eu/ (whole book or
separate lessons)</para>
<para>Version: 16 of August 2020</para>
</note>
</preface>
<preface>
<title>Preface</title>
<para>Standard Chinese: A Modular Approach originated in an inter-agency conference held at
the Foreign Service Institute in August 1973 to address the need generally felt in the
U.S. Government language training community for improving and updating Chinese
materials, to reflect current usage in Beijing and Taipei.</para>
<para> The conference resolved to develop materials which were flexible enough in form and
content to meet the requirements of a wide range of government agencies and academic
institutions. </para>
<para>A Project Board was established consisting of representatives of the Central
Intelligence Agency Language Learning Center, the Defense Language Institute, the State
Department's Foreign Service Institute, the Cryptologic School of the National Security
Agency, and the U.S. Office of Education, later joined by the Canadian Forces Foreign
Language School. The representatives have included Arthur T. McNeill, John Hopkins, and
John Boag (CIA); Colonel John F. Elder III, Joseph C. Hutchinson, Ivy Gibian, and Major
Bernard Muller-Thym (DLI); James R. Frith and John B. Ratliff III (FSI); Kazuo Shitama
(NSA); Richard T. Thompson and Julia Petrov (OE); and Lieutenant Colonel George Kozoriz
(CFFLS). </para>
<para>The Project Board set up the Chinese Core Curriculum Project in 1974 in space provided
at the Foreign Service Institute. Each of the six U.S. and Canadian government agencies
provided funds and other assistance. </para>
<para>Gerard P. Kok was appointed project coordinator, and a planning council was formed
consisting of Mr. Kok, Frances Li of the Defense Language Institute, Patricia O’Connor
of the University of Texas, Earl M. Rickerson of the Language Learning Center, and James
Wrenn of Brown University. In the fall of 1977, Lucille A. Barale was appointed deputy
project coordinator. David W. Dellinger of the Language Learning Center and Charles R.
Sheehan of the Foreign Service Institute also served on the planning council and
contributed material to the project. The planning council drew up the original overall
design for the materials and met regularly to review their development. </para>
<para>Writers for the first half of the materials were John H. T. Harvey, Lucille A. Barale,
and Roberta S. Barry, who worked in close cooperation with the planning council and with
the Chinese staff of the Foreign Service Institute. Mr. Harvey developed the
instructional formats of the comprehension and production self-study materials, and also
designed the communications classroom activities and wrote the teacher's guides. Lucille
A. Barale and Roberta S. Barry wrote the tape scripts and the student text. By 1978
Thomas E. Madden and Susan C. Pola had joined the staff. Led by Ms. Barale, they have
worked as a team to produce the materials subsequent to Module 6.</para>
<para>All Chinese language material was prepared or selected by Chuan 0. Chao, Ying-chi
Chen, Hsiao-Jung Chi, Eva Diao, Jan Hu, Tsung-mi Li, and Yunhui C. Yang, assisted for
part of the time by Chieh-fang Ou Lee, Ying-ming Chen, and Joseph Yu Hsu Wang. Anna
Affholder, Mei-li Chen, and Henry Khuo helped in the preparation of a preliminary corpus
of dialogues.</para>
<para> Administrative assistance was provided at various times by Vincent Basciano, Lisa A.
Bowden, Jill W. Ellis, Donna Fong, Renee T. C. Liang, Thomas E. Madden, Susan C. Pola,
and Kathleen Strype. </para>
<para>The production of tape recordings was directed by Jose M. Ramirez of the Foreign
Service Institute Recording Studio. The Chinese script was voiced by Ms. Chao, Ms. Chen,
Mr. Chen, Ms. Diao, Ms. Hu, Mr. Khuo, Mr. Li, and Ms. Yang. The English script was read
by Ms. Barale, Ms. Barry, Mr. Basciano, Ms. Ellis, Ms. Pola, and Ms. Strype. </para>
<para>The graphics were produced by John McClelland of the Foreign Service Institute
Audio-Visual staff, under the general supervision of Joseph A. Sadote, Chief of
Audio-Visual.</para>
<para> Standard Chinese: A Modular Approach was field-tested with the cooperation of Brown
University; the Defense Language Institute, Foreign Language Center; the Foreign Service
Institute; the Language Learning Center; the United States Air Force Academy; the
University of Illinois; and the University of Virginia. </para>
<para>Colonel Samuel L. Stapleton and Colonel Thomas G. Foster, Commandants of the Defense
Language Institute, Foreign Language Center, authorized the DLIFLC support necessary for
preparation of this edition of the course materials. This support included coordination,
graphic arts, editing, typing, proofreading, printing, and materials necessary to carry
out these tasks.</para>
<para>
<inlinemediaobject>
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fileref="FSI-Chinese-MOD1-Textbook/Images/0021-FSI-StandardChinese-Module01ORN-StudentText-1.png"
align="right"/>
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</preface>
<preface>
<title>Introduction</title>
<section>
<title>About the course</title>
<para>This course is designed to give you a practical command of spoken Standard
Chinese. You will learn both to understand and to speak it. Although Standard
Chinese is one language, there are differences between the particular form it takes
in Beijing and the form it takes in the rest of the country. There are also, of
course, significant non-linguistic differences between regions of the country.
Reflecting these regional differences, the settings for most conversations are
Beijing and Taipei.</para>
<para> This course represents a new approach to the teaching of foreign languages. In
many ways it redefines the roles of teacher and student, of classwork and homework,
and of text and tape. Here is what you should expect: </para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>The focus is on communicating in Chinese in practical situations — the
obvious ones you will encounter upon arriving in China. You will be
communicating in Chinese most of the time you are in class. You will not
always "be talking about real situations, " but you will almost always be
purposefully exchanging information in Chinese.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>This focus on communicating means that the teacher is first of all your
conversational partner. Anything that forces him<footnote>
<para>As used in this course, the words "he," "him," and "Ms" are
intended to include both masculine and feminine genders.
(Translations of foreign language material not included.)</para>
</footnote> back into the traditional roles of lecturer and drill-master
limits your opportunity to interact with a speaker of the Chinese language
and to experience the language in its full spontaneity, flexibility, and
responsiveness.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Using class time for communicating, you will complete other course
activities out of class whenever possible. This is what the tapes are for.
They introduce the new material of each unit and give you as much additional
practice as possible without a conversational partner.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The texts summarize and supplement the tapes, which take you through new
material step by step and then give you intensive practice on what you have
covered. In this course you will spend almost all your time listening to
Chinese and saying things in Chinese, either with the tapes or in
class.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
<emphasis role="bold">How the Course Is Organized</emphasis>
</para>
<para>The subtitle of this course, "A Modular Approach," refers to overall organization
of the materials into MODULES which focus on particular situations or language
topics and which allow a certain amount of choice as to what is taught and in what
order. To highlight equally significant features of the course, the subtitle could
just as well have been "A Situational Approach," "A Taped-Input Approach," or "A
Communicative Approach."</para>
<para>Ten situational modules form the core of the course: <informaltable frame="none"
rowsep="0" colsep="0">
<tgroup cols="2">
<colspec colname="c1" colnum="1"/>
<colspec colname="c2" colnum="2"/>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>ORIENTATION (ORN)</entry>
<entry>Talking about who you are and where you are from.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION (BIO)</entry>
<entry>Talking about your background, family, studies, and
occupation and about your visit to China. </entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>MONEY (MON)</entry>
<entry>Making purchases and changing money.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>DIRECTIONS (DIR)</entry>
<entry>Asking directions in a city or in a building.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>TRANSPORTATION (TRN)</entry>
<entry>Taking buses, taxis, trains, and planes, including finding
out schedule information, buying tickets, and making
reservations.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>ARRANGING A MEETING (MTG)</entry>
<entry>Arranging a business meeting or a social get-together,
changing the time of an appointment, and declining an
invitation.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>SOCIETY (SOC)</entry>
<entry>Talking about families, relationships between people,
cultural roles in traditional society, and cultural trends in
modern society.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>TRAVELING IN CHINA (TRL)</entry>
<entry>Making travel arrangements and visiting a kindergarten, the
Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, a commune, and a factory.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>LIFE IH CHINA (LIC)</entry>
<entry>Talking about daily life in <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Bĕijīng</foreignphrase> street
committees, leisure activities, traffic and transportation,
buying and rationing, housing. </entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>TALKING ABOUT THE NEWS (TAN)</entry>
<entry>Talking about government and party policy changes described
in newspapers the educational system agricultural policy,
international policy, ideological policy, and policy in the
arts.</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable></para>
<para>Each core module consists of tapes, a student textbook, and a workbook.</para>
<para> In addition to the ten CORE modules, there are also RESOURCE modules and OPTIONAL
modules. Resource modules teach particular systems in the language, such as numbers
and dates. As you proceed through a situational core module, you will occasionally
take time out to study part of a resource module. (You will begin the first three of
these while studying the Orientation Module.)<informaltable frame="none" rowsep="0"
colsep="0">
<tgroup cols="2" align="left">
<colspec colname="c1" colnum="1" colwidth="1.0*"/>
<colspec colname="c2" colnum="2" colwidth="1.0*"/>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>PRONUNCIATION AND ROMANIZATION (P&R)</entry>
<entry>The sound system of Chinese and the Pinyin system of
romanization.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>NUMBERS (NUM)</entry>
<entry>Numbers up to five digits. </entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>CLASSROOM EXPRESSIONS (CE)</entry>
<entry>Expressions basic to the classroom learning
situation.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>TIME AND DATES (T&D)</entry>
<entry>Dates, days of the week, clock time, parts of the
day.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>GRAMMAR</entry>
<entry>Aspect and verb types, word order, multisyllabic verbs and
auxiliary verbs, complex sentences, adverbial expressions.
</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable></para>
<para>Each module consists of tapes and a student textbook.</para>
<para>The eight optional modules focus on particular situations: </para>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>RESTAURANT (RST)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>HOTEL (HTL)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>PERSONAL WELFARE (WLF)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para> POST OFFICE AND TELEPHONE (PST/TEL)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CAR (CAR)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>CUSTOMS SURROUNDING MARRIAGE, BIRTH, MD DEATH (MBD)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>NEW YEAR'S CELEBRATION (NYH)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS (l&0) </para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>Each module consists of tapes and a student textbook. These optional modules may
be used at any time after certain core modules, </para>
<para>The diagram on page <xref linkend="Image-1"/> shows how the core modules, optional
modules, and resource modules fit together in the course. Resource modules are shown
where study should begin. Optional modules are shown where they may be
introduced.</para>
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<para><emphasis role="bold">Inside a Core Module </emphasis></para>
<para>Each core module has from four to eight units. A module also includes: </para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Objectives</emphasis>: The module objectives are
listed at the beginning of the text for each module. Read these before
starting work on the first unit to fix in your mind what you are trying to
accomplish and what you will have to do to pass the test at the end of the
module.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Target Lists</emphasis>: These follow the objectives
in the text. They summarize the language content of each unit in the form of
typical questions and answers on the topic of that unit. Each sentence is
given both in romanized Chinese and in English. Turn to the appropriate
Target List before, during, or after your work on a unit, whenever you need
to pull together what is in the unit.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Review Tapes</emphasis> (R-l): The Target List
sentences are given on these tapes. Except in the short Orientation Module,
there are two R-l tapes for each module.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Criterion Test</emphasis>: After studying each
module, you will take a Criterion Test to find out which module objectives
you have met and which you need to work on before beginning to study another
module.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Inside a Unit </emphasis></para>
<para>Here is what you will be doing in each unit. First, you will work through two
tapes: </para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Comprehension Tape 1 (C-l)</emphasis>: This tape
introduces all the new words and structures in the unit and lets you hear
them in the context of short conversational exchanges. It then works them
into other short conversations and longer passages for listening practice,
and finally reviews them in the Target List sentences. Your goal when using
the tape is to understand all the Target List sentences for the unit.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Production Tape 1 (P-l)</emphasis>: This tape gives
you practice in pronouncing the new words and in saying the sentences you
learned to understand on the C-l tape. Your goal when using the P-l tape is
to be able to produce any of the Target List sentences in Chinese when given
the English equivalent. </para>
<para>The C-l and P-l tapes, not accompanied by workbooks, are "portable," in
the sense that they do not tie you down to your desk. However, there are
some written materials for each unit which you will need to work into your
study routine. A text <emphasis role="italic">Reference List</emphasis> at
the beginning of each unit contains the sentences from the C-l and P-l
tapes. It includes both the Chinese sentences and their English equivalents.
The text <emphasis role="italic">Reference Notes</emphasis> restate and
expand the comments made on the C-l and P-l tapes concerning grammar,
vocabulary, pronunciation, and culture. After you have worked with the C-l
and P-l tapes, you go on to two class activities:</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Target List Review</emphasis>: In this first class
activity of the unit, you find out how well you learned the C-l and P-l
sentences. The teacher checks your understanding and production of the
Target List sentences. He also presents any additional required vocabulary
items, found at the end of the Target List, which were not on the C-l and
P-l tapes.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Structural Buildup</emphasis>: During this class
activity, you work on your understanding and control of the new structures
in the unit. You respond to questions from your teacher about situations
illustrated on a chalkboard or explained in other ways.</para>
<para>After these activities, your teacher may want you to spend some time
working on the drills for the unit.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Drill Tape</emphasis>: This tape takes you through
various types of drills based on the Target List sentences and on the
additional required vocabulary.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Drills</emphasis>: The teacher may have you go over
some or all of the drills in class, either to prepare for work with the
tape, to review the tape, or to replace it. </para>
<para>Next, you use two more tapes. These tapes will give you as much additional
practice as possible outside of class.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Comprehension Tape 2 (C-2)</emphasis>: This tape
provides advanced listening practice with exercises containing long, varied
passages which fully exploit the possibilities of the material covered. In
the C-2 Workbook you answer questions about the passages.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Production Tape 2 (P-2)</emphasis>: This tape
resembles the Structural Buildup in that you practice using the new
structures of the unit in various situations. The P-2 Workbook provides
instructions and displays of information for each exercise.</para>
<para>Following work on these two tapes, you take part in two class
activities:</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Exercise Review</emphasis>: The teacher reviews the
exercises of the C-2 tape by reading or playing passages from the tape and
questioning you on them. He reviews the exercises of the P-2 tape by
questioning you on information displays in the P-2 Workbook.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Communication Activities</emphasis>: Here you use
what you have learned in the unit for the purposeful exchange of
information. Both fictitious situations (in Communication Games) and
real-world situations involving you and your classmates (in "interviews")
are used.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Materials and Activities for a Unit</emphasis></para>
<informaltable frame="all" rowsep="0" colsep="0">
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<entry align="center">TAPED
MATERIALS<?dbhtml bgcolor="#b3d9ff" ?><?dbfo bgcolor="#b3d9ff"?></entry>
<entry align="center">WRITTEN
MATERIALS<?dbhtml bgcolor="#b3d9ff" ?><?dbfo bgcolor="#b3d9ff" ?></entry>
<entry align="center">CLASS
ACTIVITIES<?dbhtml bgcolor="#b3d9ff" ?><?dbfo bgcolor="#b3d9ff" ?></entry>
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<tbody>
<row>
<entry>C-l, P-l Tapes</entry>
<entry>
<para>Target List </para>
<para>Reference List</para>
<para>Reference Notes</para>
</entry>
<entry>Target List Review</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry align="center">——————-</entry>
<entry align="center">——————-</entry>
<entry>Structural Buildup</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>D-l Tapes</entry>
<entry>Drills</entry>
<entry>Drills </entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>C-2, P-2 Tapes</entry>
<entry>
<para>Reference Notes</para>
<para>C-2, P-2 Workbooks</para>
</entry>
<entry>Exercise Review</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry align="center">——————-</entry>
<entry align="center">——————-</entry>
<entry>Communication Activities</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
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</informaltable>
<figure>
<title><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Wen wǔ</foreignphrase> Temple in
central Taiwan (courtesy of Thomas Madden)</title>
<para>By Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas or alternatively © CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC
BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51438668<inlinemediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata
fileref="../../../../T%C3%A9l%C3%A9chargements/1008px-Sun-Moon-Lake_Taiwan_Wen-Wu-Temple-01.jpg"
/>
</imageobject>
</inlinemediaobject></para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata
fileref="FSI-Chinese-MOD1-Textbook/Images/0021-FSI-StandardChinese-Module01ORN-StudentText-3.png"
align="center"/>
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
</figure>
<para> </para>
</section>
<?custom-pagebreak?>
<section>
<title>Background Notes: About Chinese</title>
<para><emphasis role="bold">The Chinese Languages</emphasis></para>
<para> We find it perfectly natural to talk about a language called "Chinese." We say,
for example, that the people of China speak different dialects of Chinese, and that
Confucius wrote in an ancient form of Chinese. On the other hand, we would never
think of saying that the people of Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal speak dialects
of one language, and that Julius Caesar wrote in an ancient form of that language.
But the facts are almost exactly parallel.</para>
<para>Therefore, in terms of what we think of as a language when closer to home,
"Chinese" is not one language, but a family of languages. The language of Confucius
is partway up the trunk of the family tree. Like Latin, it lived on as a literary
language long after its death as a spoken language in popular use. The seven modern
languages of China, traditionally known as the "dialects," are the branches of the
tree. They share as strong a family resemblance as do Italian, French, Spanish, and
Portuguese, and are about as different from one another. </para>
<para>The predominant language of China is now known as <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Pŭtōnghuà</foreignphrase>, or "Standard Chinese"
(literally "the common speech"). The more traditional term, still used in Taiwan, is
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Guóyŭ</foreignphrase>, or "Mandarin"
(literally "the national language"). Standard Chinese is spoken natively by almost
two-thirds of the population of China and throughout the greater part of the
country. </para>
<para>The term "Standard Chinese" is often used more narrowly to refer to the true
national language which is emerging. This language, which is already the language of
all national broadcasting, is based primarily on the Peking dialect, but takes in
elements from other dialects of Standard Chinese and even from other Chinese
languages. Like many national languages, it is more widely understood than spoken,
and is often spoken with some concessions to local speech, particularly in
pronunciation. </para>
<para>The Chinese languages and their dialects differ far more in pronunciation than in
grammar and vocabulary. What distinguishes Standard Chinese most from the other
Chinese languages, for example, is that it has the fewest tones and the fewest final
consonants. </para>
<para>The remaining six Chinese languages, spoken by approximately a quarter of the
population of China, are tightly grouped in the southeast, below the Yangtze River.
The six are: the Wu group (<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin"
>Wú</foreignphrase>), which includes the "Shanghai dialect"; Hunanese
(<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Xiāng</foreignphrase>); the "Kiangsi
dialect" (<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Gàn</foreignphrase>); Cantonese
(<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Yuè</foreignphrase>), the language of
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Guăngdōng</foreignphrase>, widely
spoken in Chinese communities in the United States; Fukienese (<foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mĭn</foreignphrase>), a variant of which is spoken by
a majority on Taiwan and hence called Taiwanese; and Hakka (<foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Kèjiā</foreignphrase>), spoken in a belt above the
Cantonese area, as well as by a minority on Taiwan. Cantonese, Fukienese, and Hakka
are also widely spoken throughout Southeast Asia. </para>
<para>There are minority ethnic groups in China who speak non-Chinese languages. Some of
these, such as Tibetan, are distantly related to the Chinese languages. Others, such
as Mongolian, are entirely unrelated. </para>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Some Characteristics of Chinese</emphasis>
</para>
<para>To us, perhaps the roost striking feature of spoken Chinese is the use of
variation in tone ("tones" to distinguish the different meanings of syllables which
would otherwise sound alike. All languages, and Chinese is no exception, make use of
sentence intonation to indicate how whole sentences are to be understood. In
English, for example, the rising pattern in "He’s gone?" tells us that the sentence
is meant as a question. The Chinese tones, however, are quite a different matter.
They belong to individual syllables, not to the sentence as a whole. An inherent
part of each Standard Chinese syllable is one of four distinctive tones. The tone
does just as much to distinguish the syllable as do the consonants and vowels. For
example, the only difference between the verb "to buy," <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">mǎi</foreignphrase> and the verb "to sell,"
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">mài</foreignphrase>, is the Low tone
(<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Hani">ˇ̆</foreignphrase>) and the Falling tone
(<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Hani">`</foreignphrase>). And yet these words are
Just as distinguishable as our words "buy" and "guy," or "buy" and "boy." Apart from
the tones, the sound system of Standard Chinese is no more different from English
than French is. </para>
<para>Word formation in Standard Chinese is relatively simple. For one thing, there are
no conjugations such as are found in many European languages. Chinese verbs have
fewer forms than English verbs, and nowhere near as many irregularities. Chinese
grammar relies heavily on word order, and often the word order is the same as in
English. For these reasons Chinese is not as difficult for Americans to learn to
speak as one might think. </para>
<para>It is often said that Chinese is a monosyllabic language. This notion contains a
good deal of truth. It has been found that, on the average, every other word in
ordinary conversation is a single-syllable word. Moreover, although most words in
the dictionary have two syllables, and some have more, these words can almost always
be broken down into single-syllable units of meaning, many of which can stand alone
as words. </para>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Written Chinese</emphasis>
</para>
<para>Most languages with which we are familiar are written with an alphabet. The
letters may be different from ours, as in the Greek alphabet, but the principle is
the same: one letter for each consonant or vowel sound, more or less. Chinese,
however, is written with "characters" which stand for whole syllables — in fact, for
whole syllables with particular meanings. Although there are only about thirteen
hundred phonetically distinct syllables in standard Chinese, there are several
thousand Chinese characters in everyday use, essentially one for each
single-syllable unit of meaning. This means that many words have the same
pronunciation but are written with different characters, as <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">tiān</foreignphrase>, "sky," <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Hani">天</foreignphrase>, and <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">tiān</foreignphrase>, "to add," "to increase,"
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Hani">添</foreignphrase>. Chinese characters are
often referred to as "ideographs" which suggests that they stand directly for ideas.
But this is misleading. It is better to think of them as standing for the meaningful
syllables of the spoken language. </para>
<para>Minimal literacy in Chinese calls for knowing about a thousand characters. These
thousand characters, in combination, give a reading vocabulary of several thousand
words. Full literacy calls for knowing some three thousand characters. In order to
reduce the amount of time needed to learn characters, there has been a vast
extension in the People's Republic of China (PRC) of the principle of character
simplification, which has reduced the average number of strokes per character by
half. </para>
<para>During the past century, various systems have been proposed for representing the
sounds of Chinese with letters of the Roman alphabet. One of these romanizations,
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Hànyŭ</foreignphrase>
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Pīnyīn</foreignphrase> (literally "Chinese
Language Spelling," generally called "Pinyin" in English), has been adopted
officially in the PRC, with the short-term goal of teaching all students the
Standard Chinese pronunciation of characters. A long-range goal is the use of Pinyin
for written communication throughout the country. This is not possible, of course,
until speakers across the nation have uniform pronunciations of Standard Chinese.
For the time being, characters, which represent meaning, not pronunciation, are
still the most widely accepted way of communicating in writing. </para>
<para>Pinyin uses all of the letters in our alphabet except "<emphasis role="bold"
>v</emphasis>," and adds the letter "<emphasis role="bold">ü</emphasis>." The
spellings of some of the consonant sounds are rather arbitrary from our point of
view, but for every consonant sound there is only one letter or one combination of
letters, and vice versa. You will find that each vowel letter can stand for
different vowel sounds, depending on what letters precede or follow it in the
syllable. The four tones are indicated by accent marks over the vowels, and the
Neutral tone by the absence of an accent mark: </para>
<para>High: <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">mā</foreignphrase>
</para>
<para>Falling: <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">mà</foreignphrase>
</para>
<para>Rising: <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">má</foreignphrase>
</para>
<para>Neutral: <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">ma</foreignphrase>
</para>
<para>Low: <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">mǎ</foreignphrase>
</para>
<para>One reason often given for the retention of characters is that they can be read,
with the local pronunciation, by speakers of all the Chinese languages. Probably a
stronger reason for retaining them is that the characters help keep alive
distinctions of meaning between words, and connections of meaning between words,
which are fading in the spoken language. On the other hand, a Cantonese could learn
to speak Standard Chinese, and read it alphabetically, at least as easily as he can
learn several thousand characters. </para>
<para>Pinyin is used throughout this course to provide a simple written representation
of pronunciation. The characters, which are chiefly responsible for the reputation
of Chinese as a difficult language, are taught separately. </para>
<para><emphasis role="bold">BACKGROUND NOTES: ABOUT CHINESE CHARACTERS</emphasis>
</para>
<para>Each Chinese character is written as a fixed sequence of strokes. There are very
few basic types of strokes, each with its own prescribed direction, length, and
contour. The dynamics of these strokes as written with a brush, the classical
writing instrument, show up clearly even in printed characters. You can tell from
the varying thickness of the stroke how the brush met the paper, how it swooped, and
how it lifted; these effects are largely lost in characters written with a
ball-point pen. </para>
<para>The sequence of strokes is of particular importance. Let's take the character for
"mouth," pronounced <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">kǒu</foreignphrase>.
Here it is as normally written, with the order and directions of the strokes
indicated.</para>
<figure>
<title>Strokes order</title>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata
fileref="FSI-Chinese-MOD1-Textbook/Images/0021-FSI-StandardChinese-Module01ORN-StudentText-4.png"
align="center"/>
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
</figure>
<para>If the character is written rapidly, in "running-style writing," one stroke glides
into the next, like this. </para>
<figure>
<title>Running style writing </title>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata
fileref="FSI-Chinese-MOD1-Textbook/Images/0021-FSI-StandardChinese-Module01ORN-StudentText-11.png"
align="center"/>
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
</figure>
<para>If the strokes were written in any but the proper order, quite different
distortions would take place as each stroke reflected the last and anticipated the
next, and the character would be illegible.</para>
<para>The earliest surviving Chinese characters, inscribed on the Shang Dynasty "oracle
bones" of about 1500 B.C. , already included characters that vent beyond simple
pictorial representation. There are some characters in use today which are
pictorial, like the character for "mouth." There are also some which are directly
symbolic, like our Roman numerals I, II, and III. (The characters for these numbers
— the first numbers you learn in this course — are like the Roman numerals turned on
their sides.) There are some which are indirectly symbolic, like our Arabic numerals
1,2, and 3. But the most common type of character is complex, consisting of two
parts: a "phonetic," which suggests the pronunciation, and a "radical," which
broadly characterizes the meaning. Let's take the following character as an example. </para>
<figure>
<title>Running style writing </title>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata
fileref="FSI-Chinese-MOD1-Textbook/Images/0021-FSI-StandardChinese-Module01ORN-StudentText-5.png"
align="center"/>
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
</figure>
<para>This character means "ocean" and is pronounced <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">yáng</foreignphrase>. The left side of the character,
the three short strokes, is an abbreviation of a character which means "water" and
is pronounced <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">shuĭ</foreignphrase>. This
is the "radical." It has been borrowed only for its meaning, "water." The right side
of the character above is a character which means "sheep" and is pronounced yang.
This is the "phonetic." It has been borrowed only for its sound value,
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">yáng</foreignphrase>. A speaker of
Chinese encountering the above character for the first time could probably figure
out that the only Chinese word that sounds like <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">yáng</foreignphrase> and means something like
"water," is the word <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">yáng</foreignphrase>
meaning "ocean," We, as speakers of English, might not be able to figure it out.
Moreover, phonetics and radicals seldom work as neatly as in this example. But we
can still learn to make good use of these hints at sound and sense. </para>
<para>Many dictionaries classify characters in terms of the radicals. According to one
of the two dictionary systems used, there are 176 radicals; in the other system,
there are 2l4. There are over a thousand phonetics.</para>
<para>Chinese has traditionally been written vertically, from top to bottom of the page,
starting on the right-hand side, with the pages bound so that the first page is
where we would expect the last page to be. Nowadays, however, many Chinese
publications paginate like Western publications, and the characters are written
horizontally, from left to right.</para>
<para><emphasis role="bold">BACKGROUND NOTES: ABOUT CHINESE PERSONAL NAMES AND TITLES
</emphasis></para>
<para>A Chinese personal name consists of two parts: a surname and a given name. There
is no middle name. The order is the reverse of ours: surname first, given name last. </para>
<para>The most common pattern for Chinese names is a single-syllable surname followed by
a two-syllable given name:<footnote>
<para>The first version of each example is in the Pinyin system of romanization.
The second parenthesized version is the conventional, or anglicized,
spelling.</para>
</footnote></para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Máo Zédōng</foreignphrase> (Mao
Tse-tung)</para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Zhōu Ēnlái</foreignphrase> (Chou
En-lai)</para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Jiǎng Jièshí</foreignphrase> (Chiang
Kai-shek)</para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Sòng Qìnglíng</foreignphrase> (Soong
Ch'ing-ling —- Mme Sun Yat-sen)</para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Sòng Mĕilíng</foreignphrase> (Soong
Mei-ling—Mme Chiang Kai-shek)</para>
<para>It is not uncommon, however, for the given name to consist of a single
syllable:</para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Zhŭ Dé </foreignphrase> (Chu De) :
Marshal Zhu De, the communist general <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Hani"
>朱德</foreignphrase></para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Lín Biāo</foreignphrase> (Lin Piao) </para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Hú Shì</foreignphrase> (Hu Shih) </para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Jiāng Qīng</foreignphrase> (Chiang
Ch'ing—Mme Mao Tse-tung) </para>
<para>There are a few two-syllable surnames. </para>
<para>These are usually followed by single-syllable given names: </para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Sīmă Guāng</foreignphrase> (Ssu-ma
Kuang) </para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Ōuyáng Xiū</foreignphrase> (Ou-yang
Hsiu) </para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Zhūgĕ Liàng</foreignphrase> (Chu-ke
Liang) </para>
<para>But two-syllable surnames may also be followed by two-syllable given names:</para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Sīmă Xiāngrú</foreignphrase> (Ssu-ma
Hsiang-ju) </para>
<para>An exhaustive list of Chinese surnames includes several hundred written with a
single character and several dozen written with two characters. Some single-syllable
surnames sound exactly alike although written with different characters, and to
distinguish them, the Chinese nay occasionally have to describe the character or
"write" it with a finger on the palm of a hand. But the surnames that you are likely
to encounter are fever than a hundred, and a handful of these are so common that
they account for a good majority of China’s population. </para>
<para>Given names, as opposed to surnames, are not restricted to a limited list of
characters, Men's names are often but not always distinguishable from women's; the
difference, however, usually lies in the meaning of the characters and so is not
readily apparent to the beginning student with a limited knowledge of
characters.</para>
<para>Outside the People's Republic the traditional system of titles is still in use.
These titles closely parallel our own "Mr.," "Mrs.," and "Miss." Notice, however,
that all Chinese titles follow the name — either the full name or the surname alone
— rather than preceding it.</para>
<para>The title "Mr." is <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin"
>Xiānsheng</foreignphrase>. </para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Xiānsheng</foreignphrase>
</para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Mínglĭ Xiānsheng</foreignphrase>
</para>
<para>The title "Mrs." is <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin"
>Tàitai</foreignphrase>. It follows the husband's full name or surname alone. </para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Tàitai</foreignphrase>
</para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Mínglĭ Tàitai</foreignphrase>
</para>
<para>The title "Miss" is <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin"
>Xiăojiĕ</foreignphrase>. The Ma family's grown daughter, <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Défēn</foreignphrase>, would be</para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Xiăojiĕ</foreignphrase></para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Défēn Xiăojiĕ</foreignphrase>
</para>
<para>Even traditionally, outside the People's Republic, a married woman does not take
her husband's name in the same sense as in our culture. If Miss Fang <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Băolán</foreignphrase> marries Mr. <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Ma Mínglĭ</foreignphrase>, she becomes Mrs,
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Mínglĭ</foreignphrase>, but at the
same time she remains <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Fāng
Băolán</foreignphrase>, She does not become <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Băolán</foreignphrase>; there is no equivalent of
"Mrs. Mary Smith." She may, however, add her husband's surname to her own full name
and refer to herself as <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Fāng
Băolán</foreignphrase>. At work she is quite likely to continue as Miss
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Fāng</foreignphrase>. </para>
<para>These customs regarding names are still observed by many Chinese today in various
parts of the world. The titles carry certain connotations, however, when used in the
PRC today: <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Tàitai</foreignphrase> should
not be used because it designates that woman as a member of the leisure class.
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Xiăojiĕ</foreignphrase> should not be
used because it carries the connotation of being from a rich family. </para>
<para>In the People's Republic, the title "Comrade," <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Tóngzhì</foreignphrase> is used in place of the
titles <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Xiānsheng</foreignphrase>,
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Tàitai</foreignphrase>, and
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Xiăojiĕ</foreignphrase>.
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Mínglĭ</foreignphrase> would
be:</para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Tóngzhì</foreignphrase></para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Mínglĭ Tóngzhì</foreignphrase></para>
<para>The title "Comrade" is applied to all, regardless of sex or marital status. A
married woman does not take her husband's name in any sense. <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Mínglĭ</foreignphrase>' s wife would be: </para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Fāng Tóngzhì</foreignphrase>
</para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Fāng Băolán
Tóngzhì</foreignphrase></para>
<para>Children may be given either the mother's or the father's surname at birth. In
some families one child has the father's surname, and another child has the mother's
surname. <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Mínglĭ</foreignphrase>'s and
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Fāng Băolán</foreignphrase>'s grown
daughter could be </para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Tŏngzhì </foreignphrase></para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Mă Dĕfēn Tóngzhì</foreignphrase>
</para>
<para>Their grown son could be </para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Fāng Tóngzhì</foreignphrase></para>
<para><foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Fāng Zìqiáng
Tóngzhì</foreignphrase></para>
<para>Both in the PRC and elsewhere, of course, there are official titles and titles of
respect in addition to the common titles we have discussed here. Several of these
will be introduced later in the course. </para>
<para>The question of adapting foreign names to Chinese calls for special consideration.
In the People's Republic the policy is to assign Chinese phonetic equivalents to
foreign names. These approximations are often not as close phonetically as they
might be, since the choice of appropriate written characters may bring in
non-phonetic considerations. (An attempt is usually made when transliterating to use
characters with attractive meanings.) For the most part, the resulting names do not
at all resemble Chinese names. For example, the official version of "David Anderson"
is <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Dàiwĕi Āndésēn</foreignphrase>. </para>
<para>An older approach, still in use outside the PRC, is to construct a valid Chinese
name that suggests the foreign name phonetically. For example, "David Anderson"
might be <foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">An Dàwèi</foreignphrase>. </para>
<para>Sometimes, when a foreign surname has the same meaning as a Chinese surname,
semantic suggestiveness is chosen over phonetic suggestiveness. For example,
<foreignphrase xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Wáng</foreignphrase>, a common Chinese
surname, means "king," so "Daniel King" might be rendered <foreignphrase
xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin">Wáng Dànián</foreignphrase>. </para>
<para>Students in this course will be given both the official PRC phonetic equivalents
of their names and Chinese-style names.<emphasis/></para>
</section>
</preface>
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