Comparing English and ChineseComparing English and Chinese
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
A Fundamental Difference in the Sounds
Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Retroflex Alveolopalatal VelarNasal m n
Plosive p t kAffricate ts tFricative f s x
Approximant l 1 j/ w
Mandarin Initial Consonant Inventory
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Labialvelar GlottalNasal m n
Plosive p/b t/d k/gAffricate t d 4Fricative f/v s/z ç 5 x 6 h
FlapApproximant 4 j w 7
Lateral l
English Consonantal System
Stuff I Actually Know
Rhythm & Sound:
Iambic - Unstressed/Stressed
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
The Four Tones - Foundation for Spoken Mandarin
八 - ba1 or bā把 - ba2 or bá (你把我东西放在那儿?) 拔 - ba3 or bǎ (把出来 )爸 - ba4 or bà
& many more…
Stuff I Actually Know
Rhythm & Sound:
Iambic - Unstressed/Stressed
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
The Four Tones - Foundation for Spoken Mandarin
八 - ba1 or bā把 - ba2 or bá (你把我东西放在那儿?) 拔 - ba3 or bǎ (把出来 )爸 - ba4 or bà
& many more…
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Stuff I Actually Know
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Q: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?
Stuff I Actually Know
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Q: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?A: A woodchuck would chuck all the wood it could chuckif a woodchuck could chuck wood
Stuff I Actually Know
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Q: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?A: A woodchuck would chuck all the wood it could chuckif a woodchuck could chuck wood
妈妈骑马,马慢,妈妈骂马
八 - ba1 or bá拔 - ba2 or bā把 - ba3 or bǎ爸 - ba4 or bà
八 - ba1 or bá拔 - ba2 or bā把 - ba3 or bǎ爸 - ba4 or bà
Stuff I Actually Know
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Q: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?A: A woodchuck would chuck all the wood it could chuckif a woodchuck could chuck wood
妈妈骑马,马慢,妈妈骂马ma1ma qi2 ma3, ma3 man4, ma1ma ma4 ma3
八 - ba1 or bá拔 - ba2 or bā把 - ba3 or bǎ爸 - ba4 or bà
八 - ba1 or bá拔 - ba2 or bā把 - ba3 or bǎ爸 - ba4 or bà
四 si4 十 shi2 是 shi4
Stuff I Actually Know
绿- lü/lv鱼- yü/yv
Or more common: über 这里 (zhe li) vs. 站 (zhan)
V for Victory and R for rose
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Stuff I Actually KnowSome Grammar/Syntax Stuff
Word Order is somewhat different, and there are no subject/verb agreements.
Subject - Like English
Time words are placed directly before or after the subject 我明天会上课 (Wo3 ming2 tian1 hui4 shang4 ke4) 明天我会上课 (Ming2 tian1 wo3 hui4 shang4 ke4)
Location words are placed directly before the verb他在家打球 (Ta1 zai4 jia1 da3 qiu4)
她在学校吃中饭 (Ta1 zai4 xue2 xiao4 chi1 zhong1 fan4)
The object of a sentence is usually placed after the verb, but can also be before the verb, before the subject, or omitted entirely depending on the
sentence
你读什么书 ? (Ni3 du2 shen2me shu1?)球被我接到了 (Qiu2 bei4 wo3 jie1 dao4 le)
你的饭吃了没? (Ni3 de fan4 chi1 le mei2?)
Stuff I Actually KnowAccents & Dialects
- Water- Da Bears- Coupon versus Cyupon
你好(儿) Ni3 hao3(er) - hello
你去什么地方 ? Ni3 qu4 shen2 me di4 fang1? - where are you going?
你好麻烦 Ni3 hao3 ma2 fan2 - you’re very troublesome/irritating
睡觉 Shui4 jiao4 - sleep
吃饭 Chi1 fan4 - eat
胡说八道 Hu2 shuo1 ba1 dao4 - talking nonsense/bs
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Peking or Beijing?
Chinese Postal Map Romanization as opposed to Pinying- 1906- Based on Wade-Giles system- Was designed to transcribe Chinese terms for Westerners who were Chinese specialists- Used apostrophes for unaspirated and aspirated stop consonants
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.