Time to learn Chinese Characters

Chinese Characters - Introduction 汉 字 han4 zi4 The two characters above mean “Chinese Characters”. Chinese Characters are the founding block/unit of Chinese language, because one or more Chinese characters form words, phrases, and sentences, etc. The number of Chinese characters can be a little overwhelming, but it helps keep Chinese overall a simply structured language.We start by discussing the pronunciation of Chinese Characters. There are two aspects of Chinese characters’ pronunciation to learn about. 1.Phonics Pinyin Invariably, each Chinese character's pronunciation is either a consonant followed by one or two vowels (always in this order) or one or two vowels only. In an analogy, Chinese characters all sound a bit like "La", "Di", "Da".And generally the pronunciation of each Chinese character lasts about the same length in a sentence. So roughly, a Chinese sentence sounds like "he saw me", "I know you", or "who can sing?", if read flatly. The phonics system for Chinese characters is called Pinyin. We will introduce Pinyin in much detail starting from Class 3. 2. Four Tones Each Chinese character has one vowel, and each vowel, in turn, has a tone with it. Many characters should have different tones for different meanings, but most have unique tones in all situations.There are 5 possible tones: 4 major tones and a "light" tone. Conventionally, the major tones are labeled as following. Tone 1: flat Tone 2: up Tone 3: curve Tone 4: down The 5th tone is called "light" tone, which has no number as label. Characters with light tone should be pronounced light and fast, the only exceptions to the previous rule that all characters in a sentence lasts about the same long.We will introduce how to pronounce the four tones in the next class. It is important to remember that Chinese character’s tone has nothing to do with its meaning. Understanding Four Tones The best way to explain tones is probably do so by using examples. Here, we can use English pronunciation of letter "i" as one example. Tone 1: flat In English, it is the default tone we use to pronounce 'i' emotionlessly as in saying "I am ....".The audio material(mp3 files) will show flat tone 'i', and how 'i' would sound on other tones as if with strong emotions although you should keep in mind that in Chinese, tones have nothing to do with meanings or emotions. Tone 2: up This tone is a little like the tone used in English for questions. For example: "Is he right?" The tone of "i" used in word 'right' here is equivalent to the up tone used in Chinese. Tone 3: curve There is not exact equivalent for Tone 3 in English. However, Tone 3 can be delivered through a quick combination of tone 4 and tone 2 in a very quick way. Remember, tone 4 before tone 2. So maybe you want to learn to use tone 4 first. Tone 4: down The 4th tone is what you will use when saying "right" as in "Yes, he is right.” All vowels can be pronounced in 4 tones.It can be a great practice to play it on your own language. Pinyin - Vowels 拼 音 pin1 yin1 Pinyin is a Roman-letter based system that China now uses to mark the pronunciation of Chinese characters. With four tones and pinyin, any Chinese characters can be pronounced precisely. In many cases, Pinyin is quite intuitive to English speakers with only a few exceptions. However, it can be a twist to render Pinyin in four tones for people who just start.Pinyin is made up of 2 tables: vowel table and consonant table. Vowel Table: a o e i u ϋ ai ei ui ao ou iu ie ue er an en in un ϋn ang eng ing ong As you can see, most vowels are simply a combination of the 6 major vowels in the first row, which is obviously the most important part, and some special consonants.How can you remember all this? We are putting all these into English words with virtually the same sound for you to learn and remember in an easier way. Note: letters in the following explanation in "..." are pronounced as in English, and those in '... ' are pronounced in Pinyin. Also, all samples are delivered in 4 tones. a - as the vowel in "star" without the "r" sound o - as the vowel in "law" e - as the vowel in "stir" i - as the vowel in "bit" u - as the vowel in "food" ϋ - as "y" in "yellow" followed by the 'u' above ai - as the vowel in "bike" ei - as the vowel in "lake" ui - combination of 'u' and 'i', the same as word "we" in English ao - as the vowel in "loud" ou - as the vowel in "flow" iu - combination of 'i' and 'u', the same as word "yew" in English ie - combination of 'i' and 'e', as the vowel in "sierra" ue - combination of 'u' and 'e', as the vowel in "buena" er - combination of 'e' and 'r', as the vowel in "early" an - as the vowel in "anchor": en - as the word "earn" without the "r" sound: in - as in the word "inn" un - as in the word "one": ϋn - as "y" in "yellow" followed by the English word "one" ang - as the word "long" eng - as the vowel in "lung" ing - as the vowel in "England" ong - as 'u' followed by the 'ng' as above: Pinyin - Consonants Consonant Table: b p m f d t n l g k h j q x z c s r zh ch sh y w For consonants, we also put all these into English words with the same sound for you to learn and remember in an easier way. Note: We pronounce these consonants followed by some vowels that can help deliver the sound more clearly. Letters in the following explanation in "..." are pronounced as in English, and those in '... ' are pronounced in Pinyin. b - as the "b" in "book" p - as the "p" in "pool" m - as the "m" in "moon" f - as the "f" in "food" d - as the "d" in "door" t - as the "t" in "tom" n - as the "n" in "no" l - as the "l" in "love" g - as the "g" in good" k - as the "k" in "kill" h- as the "h" in "high" j- as the "j" in "jeep" q- as the "ch" in "cheese" x- as the "sh" in "sharp" z- as the "z" in "zero" c- as the "ts" in "tsunami" s- as the "s" in "sun" r- as the "r" in "red" zh- start with 'j' in "jeep", but then end smoothly with "r" sound. The first 2 sounds in the sample voice show such move. ch- start with 'q' in "cheese", but then end smoothly with "r" sound. The first 2 sounds in the sample voice show such move. sh - start with 'x' in "sharp", but then end smoothly with "r" sound. The first 2 sounds in the sample voice show such move. ( 'zh, ch, sh' are similar to, but strictly different from 'j, q, x' respectively. However, mixing them is not a too big problem for you to be understood in China.) y- as the "y" in "yes" w- as the "w" in "wood"

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For learning	Chinese (Mandarin)
Base language	English
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