Learning Chinese might seem totally out of your ability, but truly, it's not. Once you get the hang of the basics and practice a little everyday, speaking Chinese comfortably can be in your grasp. So, I've decided to start uploading basic Chinese lessons here for anyone who wants to learn! This will probably be the longest one, as others will be 'How to Say' types of posts.
The Basics
Language is communication with others in the most basic way. Each language developed specifically for this reason - therefore, the best way to practice is by communicating.
With all that out of the way, now it's onto the real stuff! - actually, the groundwork must be laid. Today, I will teach you tones and pinyin. These two things are absolutely essential for anyone wanting to learn Chinese.
- Chinese is a character-driven and tonal language. This means it has no alphabet, no way of knowing how to pronounce the specific characters like 你好。
- However, over the years the pinyin system was developed. This is the Romanization of all sounds in the Chinese language, so the above is spelled out phonetically as nǐ hǎo, or hello.
Therefore, this is where we start.
Tones
There are five tones in Chinese. These are the fluctuations you hear when people speak Chinese, their voices moving up or down rapidly. Listed out, they are as follows:
- mā --> 1st Tone: voice does not change pitch, is in a 'higher' pitched voice than normal
- má --> 2nd Tone: end of syllable raised like a question in English, inflection goes up
- mǎ --> 3rd Tone: voice starts high, dips down and back up quickly
- mà --> 4th Tone: voice drops sharply, 'the angry tone'
- ma --> neutral tone
You may think that tones don't matter at all, but really, they make all the difference. For example, in the four similar words above, I've managed to say mother (1st), hemp (2nd), horse (3rd), the verb 'to scold' (4th), and ask a question in Chinese (neutral).
And as another example, just an example of the few characters that are 'ma' in some shape or form: 吗，嘛， 妈， 马， 骂，麻... it goes on and on!
Check out the famous "Lion-eating Poet in the Stone Den" poem if you still don't think tones are important.
And as another example, just an example of the few characters that are 'ma' in some shape or form: 吗，嘛， 妈， 马， 骂，麻... it goes on and on!
Check out the famous "Lion-eating Poet in the Stone Den" poem if you still don't think tones are important.
Pinyin (finals and initials)
Pinyin is the system of Romanization of Chinese sounds. Developed in the 1950s, it makes learning Chinese a much easier task than before. Some match up well, other sounds, not so much. Listed out, they are as follows:
- b --> book
- p --> pool
- m --> moon
- f --> food
- d --> dog
- t --> top
- n --> no
- l --> love
- g --> go
- k --> kid
- h --> high
- j --> jeep
- q --> cheese
- x --> sheep
- zh --> job
- ch --> chop
- sh --> ship
- r --> run
- z --> woods
- c --> cats
- s --> sip
- a --> are
- o --> straw
- e --> duh
- i --> tee
- u --> moo
- ü --> you
By mixing and matching these sounds and tones together, we can start speaking Chinese!
Other Sources
Tones with OrientalBeginnings
The most annoying video song known to man... but you really learn the pinyin as it gets stuck in your head!
The ever-reliant wiki page
A chart and more detailed pronunciation guide
Melanie and I's video on the matter, only does the first 8 pinyin initials
Have fun, and practice practice practice!
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