Volunteer Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 1 of 28 Peace Corps / China The script accompanies the following 15 audio tracks: CN—Mandarin—Lesson—1 CN—Mandarin—Lesson—2 CN—Mandarin—Lesson—3 CN—Mandarin—Lesson—4 CN—Mandarin—Lesson—5 CN—Mandarin—Lesson—6 CN—Mandarin—Lesson—7 CN—Mandarin—Lesson—8 CN—Mandarin—Lesson—9 CN—Mandarin—Lesson—10 CN—Mandarin—Lesson—11 CN—Mandarin—Lesson—12 CN—Mandarin—Lesson—13 CN—Mandarin—Lesson—1 4 CN Mandarin Lesson 1 5 (Time 3:39) (File Size:1.5MB) (Time 14:52)(File Size:6.1MB) (Time 4:45) (File Size:1.95MB) (Time 2:07) (File Size:873KB) (Time 3:14) (File Size:1.3MB) (Time 4:22) (File Size:1.8MB) (Time 3:01) (File Size:1.24MB) (Time 3:37) (File Size:1.49MB) (Time 1:24) File Size:576KB) (Time 1:50)(File Size:757KB) (Time 1:19)(File Size:544KB) (Time 1:12)(File Size:497KB) (Time 2:41)(File Size:1.1MB) (Time 1:01)(File Size:420KB) (Time 1:25)(File Size:588KB) Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 2 of 28 Lesson 1 Introduction to Chinese Language P4 Lesson 2 Phonetics P5 Lesson 3 Basic Grammar P9 Lesson 4 Greetings P11 Lesson 5 Introductions P12 Lesson 6 Numbers/Prices P14 Lesson 7 Food & Drink P16 Lesson 8 Some Chinese Dishes P18 Lesson 9 Useful Phrases P19 Lesson 10 Sick and Emergency P20 Lesson 11 Direction and Places P21 Lesson 12 Clothes and Colors P22 Lesson 13 Time P23 Lesson 14 Family P25 Lesson 15 Home Items P26 Appendix: Measure words in Chinese (no audio) P27 Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 3 of 28 Mandarin is the official language of the People’s Republic of China. It is the dialect spoken in the capital Beijing. It is taught in all schools and is used for television and broadcast. Almost the entire population understands Mandarin. The language taught in Pre-Service Training (PST) is Mandarin. Chinese is a language with a large number of words with the same pronunciation but a different meaning; what distinguishes these ‘homophones，is their ‘tonal，quality - the raising and lowering of pitch on certain syllables. Mandarin has four tones - high, rising, falling-rising and falling, plus a fifth ‘neutral，tone. To illustrate, look at the word ma which has four different meanings according to tone: High    ma    ‘mother， Rising    ma    ‘hemp，or ‘numb， Falling-rising    ma    ‘horse， Falling    ma    ‘to scold，or ‘swear， Chinese is not a phonetic language and the characters do not bear any resemblance to actual pronunciation. Chinese is often referred to as a language of pictographs. There are about 56,000 characters, but the vast majority of these are archaic. It is commonly felt that a well-educated, contemporary Chinese might know and use between 6000 and 8000 characters. To read a Chinese newspaper you will need to know 2000 to 3000, but 1200 to 1500 would be enough to get the gist. Each Chinese character represents a spoken syllable, so many people declare that Chinese is a ‘monosyllabic language.，Actually, it，s more a case of having a monosyllabic writing system. While the building block of the Chinese language is indeed the monosyllabic Chinese character, Chinese words are usually a combination of two or more characters. You could think of Chinese words as being compounds. In 1958 China adopted a system of writing their language using the Roman alphabet. It's known as Pinyin. It is used in this course. Chinese grammar is much simpler than that of European languages. There are no articles (a/the), no tenses and no plurals. The basic point to bear in mind is that, like English, Chinese word order is subject-verb-object. In other words, a basic English sentence like ‘I (subject) love (verb) you (object)，is constructed in exactly the same way in Chinese.. Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 4 of 28 High ma ‘mother， Rising ma ‘hemp， or ‘numb， Falling-rising ma ‘horse， Falling ma ‘to scold， or ‘swear， There are 6 basic vowels and 21 consonants in Mandarin Chinese. A syllable always consists of a vowel (V) or a consonant with a vowel (CV), such as ba, fo, ne. Consonant clusters, two or more consonants used in succession, are not permitted in Chinese. Syllabic combinations common in English such as VC (up, at), CVC (big, pat, map), CCVC (bred, dread, stone), CVCC (mask, best, sand), CcV (fly, blue, grow) CCCV (screw, spray, stray), VCC (old, and, ink), VCCC (Olds, ants, amps), CCVCC (brand, trains, swings), CVCCC (tests, tenths, lunged), CVCCCC (thirsts, texts, worlds), CCVCCC (slurps, prints, flirts), CCCVC (street, squat, strut), CCCVCC (struts, squats, sprained), and CCCVCCC (scrimps, sprints, squelched) are not possible in Chinese. CVC, on the other hand, is possible in Chinese, but the final C can only be the nasal sounds -n and -ng and the retroflex -r, such as jing, nan, yong and er. Consonants are often called initials because they invariably appear initially in a word with the exception of the final -n, -ng or r, which can appear finally. Vowels are also called finals because they appear medially or finally in a word. Vowels can stand by themselves when no initial consonant is present. Let’s learn the finals (vowels) first: MANDARIN SIMILAR ENGLISH SOUND EXAMPLE (PINYIN & CHARACTER) NOTE a Father ba爸 e fur ce测 i see dr地 o or po婆 u flute bu不 u German ‘fur， Lu绿 Written as ‘u， when appearing after ‘j q x， ai fly nai奶 ao now ha。好 ei day mei美 ia yard xia下 ie yes xie谢 iu yolk liu六 ou low lou楼 ua wah hua花 ue you ate yue月 ‘ue， stands for a syllable by itself, so it is written as ‘yue，, with the 2 dots dropped ui way hu!会 uo war zuo做 iao miaow yao要 Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 5 of 28 uai why kuai 快 an upon man慢 en broken wen问 ang town fang 房 eng ehng peng石並 er her 、 -- er—— ian yen dian 点 iang yahng liang xie 凉 in inn xin心 ing eeng ting 听 iong yohng yong 用 ong song dong 冬 uan wand guan 关 un when hun昏 uang wong huing 黄 uan you an quin 全 un yuen jun年 Now the initials (consonants): MANDARIN SIMILAR ENGLISH SOUND EXAMPLE (PINYIN & CHARACTER) NOTE Bb boy ba爸 Pp paper po婆 Mm mother ma妈 Ff food fa发 Dd door da大 Tt tall ta他 Nn name ni你 Ll life le乐 Gg girl ge个 Kk kid ke客 Hh high he和 Jj jeans jie姐 the lips do not protrude Qq cheese qian 钱 Xx shock xiu休 the lips do not protrude Zz kids zuo坐 Cc cats ca擦 Not a equivalent in English Ss sir san三 Zhzh joy zhao 找 pronounced without rounding and protruding the lips Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 6 of 28 Chch child chuang 床 See above Shsh shoe shuo 说 See above Rr red ruan 软 See above Vv visit Only to spell foreign words Ww white wo夜 Is actually ‘u，when ‘u，stands for a syllable by itself Yy year you有 Is actually ‘i，（see above) Some sounds are especially difficult for English speakers to remember, and have similar pronunciations. The sound q9 for example, sounds a little like ch. Similar pairs are xand h and j and zh. zi ci si zhi chi shi ri ji qi xi High high, flat, continuous tone Rising ' rising tone similar to the intonation used in the question What?， Falling-rising " tone that falls then rises. You'll hear many Mandarin speakers ‘swallow，the rising sound, only giving it a clear falling-rising pattern far emphasis. Falling 、 falling tone, similar to the one used when yelling ‘Damn!， To help you get close, here's a brief try at tones, transcribed in English. Consider the syllable ‘mmm，（a non-syllable in Mandarin). Then, The high level tone is what you might say in English if you were asked a question, and you had to think about it before answering. It's high, and it's a constant tone: “Mmm, sixteen, I think.” ' The rising tone is like a question: “Mmm? I didn't catch that.” ▽ The low level tone is what you might say in English to express doubt, or disbelief: “Mmm...I don't know about that.” 、 The falling tone is like an interjection: “Mmm! Well, I'll be!” Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 7 of 28 r Peace Corps / China    11/28/2006 Listen and repeat: first tone didian ditan baobian baopian tonghong gongtong daodian daotian zaizuo caicuo xingqiu jiyou canting kanxin cesuo jiecuo jian zhan xue yue shui jue ri ceng zi qing rou zou xuan juan zhun zhen chen yue chun yun jiang zhang cang shang Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 8 of 28 first tone second tone third tone fourthtone a a a a ma ma ma ma tang tang tang tang qing qing qing qing yan yan yan yan guo guo guo guo Mandarin grammar is relatively straightforward. There are no verb conjugations, no plurals, no articles (a/the), and no gender or tenses. At an elementary level, sentence order is similar to English: subject-verb-object. For example, the sentence ‘I study Chinese，follows exactly the same word order in Mandarin: I study Chinese. Wo xue hlnyu。（lit: I study Chinese) this zhe that na to be shi tea cha rice/meal fan cup beizi egg jidan question particle ma no bu what shenme This is tea. Zhe shi cha。 That is rice. Na shi fan。 This is a cup. Zhe shi beizi。 That is an egg. Na shi jidan。 Note: ‘Shi，is ‘to be，. It is generally followed by a noun which defines the subject/topic. It is not normally followed by an adjective on its own. A very simple way to form a question in Chinese is by putting a question particle ‘ma，at the end of a sentence that would otherwise be a plain statement. English counterparts of these questions are usually formed by syntactically more complicated “transformational” processes such as movement of the verb to the beginning of the sentence. Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 9 of 28 Is this tea? Zhe shi cha ma? Yes./ No. Shi / Bu shi。 Is that rice? Na shi fan ma? Yes. /No. Shi / Bu shi。 Is this a cup? Zhe shi beizi ma? Yes./No. Shi / Bu shi。 Is that an egg? Na shi jidan ma? Yes. /No. Shi / Bu shi。 Note: The word ‘bu，is the negative word. It precedes the verb to indicate that something does not happen. Here its tone changes from the fourth to the second because it is followed by a fourth tone. You will learn the rule in the future. ‘什么 Shenme， is the interrogative word ‘what，. The most important feature about Chinese interrogative pronouns is that, unlike English practice which shifts all interrogative pronouns to the beginning of the question, Chinese keeps them in the position in the sentence where the answers would be expected. What is this? Zhe shi shenme? This is tea. Zhe shi cha。 What is that? Na shi shenme? That is a cup. Na shi b3izi。 Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 10 of 28 r Peace Corps / China 11/28/2006 Vocabulary you (singular) I, me good, all right goodbye morning morning afternoon evening Greetings in all circumstances A: How are you? A: Ni hao。 B: How are you? B: Ni ha。。 A: Goodbye. A: ZaijUn。 B: Goodbye. B: Zlijian。 Note: Nihǎo. This is a common, slightly formal, greeting. Literally it would translate as “You are good,” or if conceived of as a question, “Are you fine?” However, it is not really a question. The response is usually simply Ni hǎo again. Other common greetings used among friends or acquaintances are: Greet people in the morning Good morning. Good morning. A: Zao。（ or Zaoshang ha。。） B: Za。。（ or Zaoshang ha。。） Note: You can change the morning ^zaoshiing9to afternoon ‘xaw，or evening ，respectively, and add good ‘hěo9to greet people in different times of a day. Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 11 of 28 you (singular) ni I, me wo good, all right hao goodbye zaijian morning za。 morning zaoshang afternoon xiawu evening wanshang Peace Corps / China 11/28/2006 Vocabulary May I ask...? Qingwen… you (singular) ni what shenme name mingzi I, me wo call, to be called, to be named jiao (V) to be surnamed; (N) surname xing a male’s name zhang wei Ask for the whole name A: May I ask your name? B: I’m called Zhang Wei. A: Qingwen, ni jia。shenme mingzi? B: Wo jia。Zhang W5i。 Ask for the family name and the given name A: May I ask your surname? B: My family name is Wang. I’m called Wang Jiande. And you? What is your name? A: My family name is Zhang. I am called Zhang Wei. A: Qingwen, ni xing shenme? B: Wo xing Wang, jia。Wang JiandS。 Nr ne? Ni jiao shenme mingzi? A: Wo xing Zhang, jia。Zhang Wei。 Note: In a Chinese name, the surname or family name always comes first, followed by the given name. Most surnames consist of a single character, though some have two. Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 12 of 28 Given names may be either one or two characters. Depending on social circumstances, individuals identify themselves either (1) by surname only: Wo xing Zhāng or (2) by full name: Wo jiao Zhāng Wei, or Wo shi'Zhāng W<^i. I/me wo You ni He/him ta She/her ta It ta We/us women You (pl.) nimen They/them tamen Note: Chinese personal pronouns are very simple. There is no distinction for case. 'Wo' is 'wo5 regardless of whether it is the subject of the sentence or the object of the verb, and the same is true for the second and third person pronouns. Nor is there a distinction for gender. ‘Ta’ is ‘ta’, whether it refers to a woman or a man. Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 13 of 28 r Peace Corps / China Numbers 1-10: one    yi two    er The Chinese number system is quite simple and generally easy to learn. Multiples of 10 are made by stating the multiple and then 10 - so 20 is literally ‘two ten，. If you learn the numbers from one to 10, you can count to 100 without having to learn any new vocabulary. The Chinese counting system is based on units of 10. These multiply as follows: 10 shi 十 100 bai 百 1000 qian 千 10,000 win 万 100,000 shiwan 十万 1 million baiwan 百万 10 million qianwan 千万 100 million wanwan; yi 亿 1 billion shi yi 十亿 Simply prefix any number with di, and it becomes an ordinal: 1st    di yi 2nd    di’ er 3rd    di san 10th    di shi Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 14 of 28 one yi two er 二 (When counting, two is er 二，when used with measure words, it is liang 两） three san ~三 four si 四 five wu 五 six liu 六 seven qi 七 eight ba 八 nine jiu 九 ten shi 十 1st dr yi 2nd di5 er 3rd di san 10th di shi Asking for the price Excuse me, how much is this? A: Qing wen, zhege duoshao qian? Ten yuan. B: Shi-kuai qiin。 I want this one. Thanks. A: Wo yao zh^ge。 H&xi士。 Asking for items in the grocery What do you want to buy? A: Ni yao mai shenme? I want to buy mineral water. How much is it (per bottle)? B: Wo yao mai kuangquanshui。Duōsha。 qian yi-ping? Two-sixty. How many bottles do you want? A: Liang-kuai-liu。Yio j i-ping? Four. B: Si-ping。 Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 15 of 28 this zhege that nage which nage how much? how many? duoshao money qi>an "dollar" or Chinese yuan kuai yuan is slightly more formal want yao thanks, thank you xiexie buy mai mineral water kuangquanshui (Measure word) bottle ping how many? (up to ten or so) ji- another meaning is ‘several’ Phrases & Sentences: I’d like to have noodles. I don’t want noodles. Do you have …or not? Don't make it too hot. Peace Corps / China 11/28/2006 Drinks Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 16 of 28 1. rice mifan 2. noodle miantiao 3. dumpling jiaozi 4. bread mianbao 5. vegetable shucai 6. pork zhurou 7. beef niurou 8. fish yu 9. water shui 10. mineral water kuangquanshui 11. coffee kafei 12. tea ch>a 13. milk niunai. 14. juice guo zhi. 15. beer pijiu v 16. yogurt suannai 17. bowl wan 18. plate pinzi 19. cup beizi 20. bottle pingzi 21. sugar t>ang 22. salt yan 23. chili lajiao 24. oil you 25. MSG weijing 26. hot rede; tangde 27. iced bingdongde 28. and he I’d like to have noodles. Wo yao miantiao。 I don’t want noodles. Wo buyao miantiao。 Do you have …or not? You meiyou …？ Don’t make it too hot. Buyao tai la。 I like dumplings. Wo xihuan jiaozi。 I don’t like rice. Wo buxihuan mfn。 Can I have the bill, please? Maidan/Suanzhang。 Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 17 of 28 Please try to use the vocabulary above to substitute these sentences. r Peace Corps / China 11/28/2006 Please say “I like •••，，and “I don’t like …” in Chinese by using above vocabulary. Please visit a Chinese restaurant in your hometown to try out some dishes and try your Chinese Language! Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 18 of 28 Cold Dishes (Appetizers): 1. liangban jiangdou Boiled cowpeas with chili sauce 2. plocai pickles Hot Dishes (Main Course): 1. yuxiang rousi Stir fried shredded pork with “YuXiang” sauce 2. huiguo rou Twice cooked pork 3. yuxiang qiezi Stir fried eggplant with “YuXiang” sauce 4. gongbao jiding Spicy chicken with peanuts 5. fanqie cMo jidan Scrambled eggs with tomato 6. tangcu paigu Sweet and sour spare ribs Vegetable: 1. hupi qingjHo Fried/Tiger-skin green pepper 2. tudou si Stir fried shredded potatoes 3. tangcu lianbai Stir fried cabbage with sweet and sour sauce 4. ganbian sijidou Fried kidney beans Noodles: 1. fanqie jidan miln Noodles with egg & tomato 2. zńjiang mian Noodles with meat sauce 3. niurou mian Noodles with beef 4. hongyou shuijiao Boiled dumplings with chili sauce 5. qingtang shuijiao Boiled dumplings 6. chaoshou Boiled soft dumplings with soup Rice & Grains 1. mifan Rice 2. dan chaofan Fried rice with egg 3. babao zhou 8-treasures Porridge Fruits: 1. pingguo apples 2. xiangjHo bananas 3. juzi _ tangerines 4. xigua watermelon 5. t>aozi peaches 6. lizi pears 7. caomei strawberries 11/28/2006 1. Thank you. xiexie。 2. You’re welcome Buxie。 3. I am sorry. Duibuqi。 4. That’s all right Meiguanxi。 5. May I ask…？ Qingwen… 6. Do you speak English? Ni huishuo yingyu ma? 7. I am an American. Wo shi meiguo r6n。 8. I am a Peace Corps volunteer . Wo shi Heping duiyuan。 9. I don’t speak Chinese. Wo buhui hanyu。 10. Do you understand? Ni neng tingdong ma? 11. I don’t understand. Wo ting budong。 12. Please say it again. Qing zai shuo yibian。 13. Please speak slowly. Qing shuo man yidian。 Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 19 of 28 r Peace Corps / China 11/28/2006 Emergency Help! Jiu ming! Police! Jingcha! May I use your telephone? Wo keyi yong nide dilnhua ma? I need to call the police 110. Wo yao da yao-yao-ling。 (yao is an alternate pronunciation for the number one, used because yiis easily confused with qi especially on the telephone) Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 20 of 28 Sick I am sick. Wo shengbing le。 I have a cold. Wo ganmao le。 I am allergic to this. Wo dui zhege guomin。 I am tired. Wo lei le。 I want to go to bed. Wo xiang shuijiao le。 Where is the bathroom? Xishoujian zai na? I need to go to the hospital. Wo yao dao yiyuan。 May I ask where the hospital is? Qingwen, yiyuan zai na? 11/28/2006 Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 21 of 28 Direction Where is the...? …zai nar? On the left Zai zuo bian。 On the right Zai you biln。 Straight-ahead Qian bian。 Near by Fu jin。 Not far from here Li zher bu yuan。 Above Shang bian。 Behind Hou biln。 Places shop shangdian street jie(dao) restaurant fanguan school xuexiao classroom jiaoshi office bangongshi bus station chezhan railway station huochezhan Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 22 of 28 Clothes Yifu pants kuzi blouse waitao shirt chenshan skirt qunzi jacket jiake shoes xie sandals liangxie slippers tuoxie Colors ^anse white bai (se) black hei (se) red hong (se) yellow huang (se) blue lan (se) green lu (se) gray hui (se) brown zong/he (se) Xingqi" Xingqi yi Xingqi er Xingqi san Xingqi si Xingqi wu Xingqi liu Xingqi tian Zhoumo Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 23 of 28 Vocabulary： Days of the week Xing^i Monday Xingqi yi Tuesday Xingqi er Wednesday Xingqi san Thursday Xingqi si Friday Xingqi wu Saturday Xingqi liu Sunday Xingqi tian Weekend Zhoumo Months Yue January yi yue February er yue March san yue April si yue May wu yue June liu yue July qi yue August ba yue September jiu yue October shi yue November shi yi yue December shi er yue year nian month yue day ri/ha。 hour dian minute fen yesterday zuotian today jintian tomorrow mingtiai Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 24 of 28 What time is it? Ji dian le? It is 9:10. Jiu dian shi fen。 What day is it? Jintian xingqi ji? Today is Monday. Jintian xingqi yi。 What is the date of today? Jintian jihao? Today is May 1st. Jintian wuyue yīhao。 Peace Corps / China Lesson 14 Family 11/28/2006 mother mama father baba older sister jiejie younger sister meimei older brother gege younger brother dldi daughter V4 7 nu er son erzi grandmother nainai grandfather yeye niece zhinu nephew zhizi man nanren woman nuren boy nanhai’: girl nuhai’r Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 25 of 28 Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 26 of 28 glass / cup beizi chopsticks kuaizi bowl wan plate panzi spoon tangshi fork chazi knife dao table zhuozi chair yizi door men window chuang home jia hotel binguan room fan^ian bathroom weisheng jian/cesuo toilet matong toilet paper weisheng zhi soap ieizao towel maojin bed chuang bed sheet chuangdan blanket tanzi pillow zhentou Appendix (No Audio) In Chinese, as in other languages, nouns may be differentiated into a number of categories. The largest category is the common nouns, which covers tangible, discrete entities, e.g.大人 da^en adult,树 shu tree, etc. The other noun categories are a) proper nouns, e.g. 中国 zh3nggu。China,张伟 ZhĒng WSi (name of a person); b) material nouns (for non-discrete entities), e.g.茶 cha tea; c) and abstract noun (for non-tangible entities), e.g.文化 wenhua culture,经济 jingl economy. The Chinese common nouns, unlike English ones, make no distinction in form between singular and plural: cup/cups beizi a/one cup yi ge beizi two cups liang ge beizi egg/eggs jidan an/one egg yi ge jidan two eggs liang ge jidan Another important feature of the common noun in Chinese is that when it is used with a numeral, the numeral has to have a measure word between it and the noun. ge is by far the most common measure word and it can occur with a wide range of nouns. one person yi ge ren two eggs liang ge jidan three cups san ge beizi four elder brothers si ge gege five plates wu ge panzi six teachers liu ge laoshi seven water melons qi ge xigua Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees, Peace Corps / China Page 21 of 28 eight balls ba ge piqiu nine kids jiu ge haizi ten cities shi ge chengshi A considerable number of nouns words. We will learn more about or sets of nouns are linked with particular measure measure words in the future. 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