Chinese Language - 中文
大家好！Dàjiā hǎo！Welcome!
认识您, 很高兴。我的名字邵明义。
Rènshi nín hěngāoxìng，wǒde míngzi shàomíngyì。
Nice to meet you. My name is Shao Mingyi.
It may surprise you to learn that Mandarin is not really the name of the language. The term Mandarin really refers to one of the dialects of the seven Chinese dialect groups of which Mandarin is the largest. What most English speakers refer to when they use the term Mandarin is actually a modern standard in Chinese called Putonghua. (普通话) Mandarin Chinese is primarily used in Mainland China. Gouyu (國語) is used in Taiwan and Huayu (话语) is used in Singapore.
Although each of them can understand the other, the only differences are some dialects and different writing styles like Simplified and Traditional. Simplified characters are used in Mainland China and Singapore and Traditional characters are used in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Let's start learning some basic phrases to prepare you for your studies in China.
Hello
Chinese : 你好
Pinyin : nǐhǎo
Literal Meaning : You good
Goodbye
Chinese: 再见
Pinyin: Zài
jiàn
Literal Meaning: again see
I am sorry
Chinese : 对不起
Pinyin : duìbuqǐ
Literal Meaning : Sorry
How Are You?
Chinese : 你好吗
Pinyin : nǐhǎo ma?
Literal Meaning : You Good ?(yes/no)
Thank you
Chinese : 谢谢
Pinyin : xièxiè
Literal Meaning : Thank thank
You are welcome
Chinese : 不客起
Pinyin : Bú
kèqi
Literal Meaning : (You) Don’t need thank
1 to 10
Chinese : 1 - 10
Pinyin : yi1 er4 san1 si4 wu3 liu4 qi1 ba1 jiu3 shi2
Literal Meaning : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Conversation 1: What's your family name? (您贵姓)
Nín
您
guì
贵
xìng?
姓
- Wǒ
我
xìng
姓
Zhāng.
张
- Nǐ
你
jiào
叫
shénme
什么
míngzi?
名字
- Wǒ
我
jiào
叫
Zhāng
张
Jīngshēng.
京生
- Tā
他
xìng
姓
shénme?
什么
- Tā
他
xìng
姓
Wāng.
王
Translation
- What's your (family) name?
- My family name is Zhang.
- What's your first name?
- My first name is Jingsheng.
- What's his family name?
- His family name is Wang.
Conversation 2: Are you a student?
- Nǐ
你
shì
是
xuésheng
学生 ba ?
吧？
- Shì
是
de,
的,
wǒ
我
shì
是
dàxuéshēng.
大学生。
- Nǐ
你
shì
是
nǎ
哪
gè
个
dàxué
大学
de
的
xuésheng ?
学生？
- Wǒ
我
shì
是
Běijīng
北京
Dàxué
大学
de
的
xuésheng.
学生。
- Nǐ
你
xuéxí
学习
shénme
什么
zhuānyè ?
专业？
- Xuéxí
学习
Hànyǔ.
汉语。
Shì
是
Lǐ
李
lǎoshī
老师
jiāo
教
wǒmen.
我们。
Translation
- Are you a student?
- Yes, I'm a university student.
- From which university? (You are a student of which university?)
- I'm a Beijing University student.
- What is your major? (You are studiying what speciality?)
- I study Chinese. Professor Li is teaching us.
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