LIST OF CONTENTS

PRONUNCIATION 1.1 (Individual Sounds and Their Writing in Pinyin)

Pinyin script provides an approximate method for representing the pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese using Roman characters with accents. Some letters are pronounced as in English, but others have very different sounds (as highlighted in the following chart). Pronunciation also varies in different regions of China, but the following guidance is generally acceptable.

See also the table below about groups of vowels and syllables.

PRACTICE 1.1 (Pronunciation of Characters in Simple Syllables)

With the help of the table given above please read these syllables:

Read:  ba,  ca,  cha,  da,  e,  ye,  er,  fa,  ga,  ha,  yi,  bi,  ci,  ju,  ka,  la,  ma, na,  bo,  pa,  qu,  re,  sa,  sha,  ta,  wu,  bu,  wa,  xi,  ya,  yi,  za,  zha

Repeat

PRONUNCIATION 1.2 (Pronunciation of Special Vowel Groups)

See the following table titled: “Some Special Vowel Groups and Syllables”. 

Some groups are marked with an asterisk, “*”.  The following comments apply to these. 

If the vowel group starting in “i” occurs on its own, it needs to be written beginning with “y” instead of “i”. So, “ian” would be written as “yan”.

Similarly, a group on its own starting in “u” is written using a “w” instead of the “u”. So, “uan” is written as “wan”.

Some sound groups are easier recognizable for an English speaker: aisle; ban; bang; naos (sounding like now); eight; tiara; ring.

PRACTICE 1.2 (Pronunciation of Special Vowel Groups and Syllables)

With the help of the table (of special vowel groups and syllables) given above please read these syllables:

Read:

en,  ben,  beng,  ci,  bi,  ya,  jia,  lia,  yian,  dian,  dianr,  yang,  liang, yao,  biao,  jiao,  ye,  bie,  jie,  xie,  yong,  jiong,  xiong,  you,  miu,  jiu,  o

Repeat

Read:

bo,  dong,  rong,  zhong,  wu,  bu,  yu,  nú,  lú,  ju,  qu,  wa,  zhua,  hua,  wai,  guai,  wan,  duan,  juan,  quan,  xuan,  wang,  huang,  chuang,  yue 

Repeat

Read:

lúe,  núe,  jue,  xue,  wei,  dui,  zui,  wen,  dun,  hun,  yun,  jun,  xun,  wo,  duo,  shuo,  huo,  huor .

Repeat

PRONUNCIATION 1.3 (Pronunciation of “i” Depending on Its Context)

The vowel “i” may occur after some, but not all consonants. If the sound of the letter “i” occurs on its own, the sound is represented by “yi”.

The letter “i” can be pronounced in two different ways, depending on which sort of consonant it occurs with.  It is easier to remember which is right, if you register where in your mouth the first group is pronounced.

Note: c, ch, r, s, sh, z, and zh are a family of sounds. They are all pronounced in the roof of the mouth towards the front of the palate with the help of different amounts of pressure from the tongue.  With “r” the tongue barely touches the palate, whereas with “zh” the tongue is folded back there somewhat painfully.

* If this “i” occurs with characters in the group in left hand column, but it occurs without a tonal mark — especially at the tail end of a word — it tends to be restrained. (Compare the end of English words like “sire”, “shire”, “adze”, “badge”, etc., in which the final vowel “e” is almost lost.)  For example, this applies to “shi”, but not to sh, sh, sh, or sh.

PRACTICE 1.3 (Varying Pronunciation of “i”)

With the help of the table given above please read these syllables:

Read:  bi,  ci,  chi,  di,  ji, li,  mi,  ni,  pi,  qi,  ri,  si,  shi, ti,  xi,  yi,  zi,  zhi.

Repeat

PRONUNCIATION 1.4 (Vowel Tones and Their Tone Marks in Pinyin)

Mandarin is pronounced with tones. These are indicated in Pinyin script by tone marks.

NOTE 1

When a third tone (…â) precedes another third tone, pronounce it as a second tone (…á).  Hence “hën hço” is pronounced ‘hên hço’.  Similarly, “nï hço” is pronounced more like “nî hço”.

NOTE 2

Some words like “bù” change before a fourth tone syllable   ã or before a toneless syllable.  “bù” changes in writing to “bö”.

PRACTICE 1.4 (Pronunciation of Vowel Tones)

Read the following verses (from Galatians 5:22-23).

Lðng yð fångmièn, shìnglîng de guóshî yóu èixín, xïlì, hêpîng, jiånrën, rêncî, liængshèn, xðnxín, wénhê, zðzhð.

PRACTICE 1.5 (Pronunciation of Vowel Tones)

Read:

DIALOGUE 1.1 (Pronunciation of Vowel Tones)

Read this dialogue as two persons, A and B:

DIALOGUE 1.2 (Pronunciation of Vowel Tones)

Read this dialogue as two persons, A and B:

VOCABULARY 2.1 (Greetings, Request and Thanks)

* See guidance on Mandarin pronunciation and Pinyin script.

Check especially “h” in Pronunciation 1.1.

Check especially “q”, and “x” in Pronunciation 1.1.

Check tones and tonal marks in Pronunciation 1.4.

Remember, when a third tone (…â) precedes another third tone, pronounce it as a second tone (…á).  So, “nï hço” is pronounced more like “nî hço”.

PRACTICE 2.1 (Greetings and Appreciation)

VOCABULARY 3.1 (Messages)

(Remember, “h”  in “hço” is pronounced raspingly, like “ch” in Scottish “loch”)

(Pronounce “zh” in “zhì” like ‘dge’ in ‘hedgeless’. Curl back the tongue.)

GRAMMAR 3.1 (Style Awareness)

You may be able to discern subtle differences in how a word feels according to context.  Observe in the following example that “zhì” would feel too vague and general, so it’s good to add “-ge” to make the object in the sentence more specific.

The examples provided at the start of this course try to make meaningful sentences, but with only a few words learned at this stage, it is almost unavoidable that some of them lack some of the finer style you can achieve with a wider choice of words.

INCREMENTAL CONSTRUCTION 3.1 (Messages)

Learn the following method or constructing a sentence incrementally.

INCREMENTAL CONSTRUCTION 3.2 (Messages)

REVIEW 3.1

VOCABULARY 4.1 (Personal Pronouns)

ACTIVITY 4.1

{Suggested Instructions for Group Instructor: Clap, repeat prompt: “Juanita”.  Get all to stand, pointing to oneself, to the adjacent person, or to another person further away.}

Imagine “Juanita” dancing to lively music played on stringed instruments.  Do the following activity.

:-                

                   wó     point to self (= 1st. person)

                   nï       point to partner (= 2nd. person)

                   tå       point to another (= 3rd. person)

Repeat singing and clapping.   Repeat gesturing without singing.   Repeat singing and clapping.

Repeat singing and gesturing.}

GRAMMAR 4.1 (Sentence Construction – Subject and Predicate)

Observe in the following examples how a sentence is made up of a Subject and its Predicate.  The Subject is, in effect, the doer of an action.  The action is conveyed by a doing word, a verb.  This action may or may not affect an object.  For further examples of sentence construction see Study 19.

GRAMMAR 4.2 (Sentence Construction – Conveying a Verb for “Being”)

In this first example, the action word, or verb, conveys the thought of “being”.  In some languages, as with Chinese Mandarin, the verb word indicating “being” can be omitted. Each of these sentences is simple, only having one clause, and this is a Main Clause.  In each of these simple Main Clauses there are a ‘subject’ (doer) and an adjective describing the doer.

GRAMMAR 4. 3 (Sentence Construction – With a Verb Not for “Being”)

In these second examples, the action word, or verb, conveys the thought of “reading”.  In one set the verb does not have an object.  The other does.

ROUTINE 4.1

Form a variety of sentences using one choice from each of the three elements.

EXERCISE 4.1 (See Answers below.)

Translate into English:-

1. He reads.

2. Please read.

3. Please read it.

4. Please read this news.

5. I read it.

ANSWERS TO EXERCISE 4.1

EXERCISE 4.2 (See Answers below.)

Translate into Mandarin:-

1. Nï dö.

2. Qïng dö tå.

3. Tå dö zhìge xiåoxi

ANSWERS TO EXERCISE 4.2

(Practise these until you know them well.)

VOCABULARY 5.1 (Plural Construction)

GRAMMAR 5.1

The plural of words for personal pronouns and nouns for animate groupings is made by appending “men”.  This is similar to the appending of “s” in English.

EXAMPLES 5.1

ROUTINE 5.1

Form a variety of sentences using one choice from each of the three elements.

PRACTICE 5.1

{Suggested Instructions for Group Instructor: Students split into groups of three}

Exchange statements using:-

wó, nî, tå, wómen, nïmen, tåmen, hço, dö, zhìge xiåoxi.

VOCABULARY 6.1

GRAMMAR 6.1

*  Note that the verb word indicating “being” has been omitted again.

ROUTINE 6.1

Create questions (wìntî) and answers (huîdæ) from the two elements.

ACTIVITY 6.1

{Suggested Instructions for Group Instructor: Students split into groups of three.}

Exchange statements using:-

wó, nî, tå, wómen, nïmen, tåmen, shêi, hço, xiåoxi, qïngtië, dö.

VOCABULARY 7.1

GRAMMAR 7.1

GRAMMAR 7.2

*  Note that the verb word indicating “being” has been omitted again.

ACTIVITY 7.1

{Suggested Instructions for Group Instructor: Students split into groups of two or three.}

Act out roles of two persons.  Exchange names.  Exchange questions and statements using:-

wó, nî, tå, wómen, nïmen, tåmen, shênme, etc.]

VOCABULARY 8.1

* “yîge” is, in effect, a combination of “yí” (meaning “one”) and “gé”.  This “gé” is a measure word and the most common one, because you can get away with using it generally.  Later you will learn other measure words that are specific to particular nouns. (See Study 27.)

GRAMMAR 8.1

ACTIVITY 8.1

{Suggested Instructions for Group Instructor: Students split into groups of two or three.}

Act out roles of two persons.  Exchange questions and statements using one choice from each of the three sentence elements.

* Here you could also say: “Yéhêhuæ Jiènzhìngrên” : “Jehovah's Witness(es)”, for example.

DIALOGUE 8.1

Read this dialogue as two persons, A and B:

EXERCISE 8.1

Translate into English:-

ANSWERS TO EXERCISE 8.1

(Practise these until you know them well.)

EXERCISE 8.2

Translate into Mandarin:-

ANSWERS TO EXERCISE 8.2

(Practise these until you know them well.)

VOCABULARY 9.1

NOTE: “… ma?” is added to a sentence to convert it from a statement to a question.

EXAMPLES 9.1

* Note that this is asking how “you” are and differs from “Nï hço”.

PRACTICE 9.1

Convert these questions into plain statements.

PRACTICE 9.2

Convert these statements into questions by using “ma?”

PRACTICE 9.3

Convert these statements from singular person to plural person.

PRACTICE 9.4

Convert these questions from plural person to singular person.

PRACTICE 9.5

Converse using questions (wìntî) and answers (huîdæ).

REVIEW 9.1

VOCABULARY 10.1

GRAMMAR 10.1

* Remember, when a third tone (…â) precedes another third tone, pronounce it as a second tone (…á).  Hence “hën hço” is pronounced like ‘hên hço’.

ROUTINE 10.1

{Suggested Instructions for Group Instructor: Students split into groups of two or three.}

 Exchange names.  Converse using questions (wìntî) and answers (huîdæ)