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Introduction to Mandarin ChineseMandarin 1

By Hua-Fu Liu

Tian Tan, Beijing

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Simple Greetings• 你 好。 (nǐhǎo)

• 下 午 好。 (xiàwǔ hǎo)

• 早。 (zǎo)

• 你 好 吗 ﹖ ( 你 好 嗎 ﹖ ) (nǐhǎo ma)

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我的名字 (wǒde míngzi)

• 刘华馥 (Liú huáfù )

• 刘老师 (Liú lǎoshī)

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Chinese Languages• Mandarin vs. Chinese• Mandarin is spoken by the Han people in China• Mandarin is a dialect from Beijing• Mandarin is the official language in China• Mandarin’s writing system is well established• Mandarin can be called Putonghua, Guoyu,

Hanyu, Huayu, Zhongwen, Zhongguo Hua• There are over 900 million people speak Mandarin

Huang Shan, China

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Characteristics of Mandarin

• Each syllable is a separate character

月（ word/one character) 　；月亮 （ word/ two characters)

• A lot of them are homonyms (homophonic characters such as jī )

鸡，肌，基，迹，机，饥

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Characteristics of Mandarin

• Tonal language

妈，麻，马，骂，吗 mā má mǎ mà ma

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Characteristics of Mandarin

• Characters (ideographic script)

日，月，山，木，鸟，鱼，车http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification

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Characteristics of Mandarin

• Isolated language (no declination; no changed in tense, person, number, gender, case, etc.)

是 (shì)

• Simplified vs. Traditional characters

龙 学 国 凤 风龍 學 國 鳳 風

• Pinyin system (letter of Roman alphabet)

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中国• Ice cream was invented in China around  2000BC when the Chinese packed a soft milk and rice mixture in

the snow.

•Chinese President Hu Jintao loves Starbucks coffee (and so does Bill Gates).

• In 550 AD, two Chinese monks smuggled silkworms out of China and started the western world's silk boom.

•Fingerprinting was used in China as early as 700 A.D.

• The Chinese physician Hua T'o, born sometime between 140 and 150 A.D., was the first doctor known to perform surgery under general anaesthetic. The potion used to render his patients unconscious was a mixture of hemp and strong wine called ma fei san. Prior to the communist revolution, a national holiday commemorated his birth. [ China | Medicine ]

• The Sui, who ruled China briefly around 600 A.D., devoted much of their reign to constructing the Grand Canal, a waterway 100 feet wide, lined with roads and trees, and stretching for 1,000 miles. The canal was completed in less than 25 years, at a terrible cost in human life. Almost 5.5 million people were involved in the construction, and it has been estimated that 2.5 million died due to the harshness of the working conditions. The canal, extending from Peking to Hangchow, is as navigable today as when it was built almost 1,400 years ago.

• http://www.lilith-ezine.com/articles/politics/Interesting-Facts-China.html (all above and more info)• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RymsnSfJp7g (Top 10 Extraordinary Facts About China)

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On-line Materialsof Chinese language

• Chinese language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language

http://www.chinalanguage.com/

• Written Chinese

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_written_language

• Chinese Script and Language

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/chinese.htm

• Chinese On-line Dictionary

www.nciku.com

• Provinces of the People's Republic of China

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_provinces