Tuesday, November 30, 2010

国家 guó jiā



The term for "country" or "nation" in Mandarin Chinese is guó jiā.
Example:
Dōng nán yà guó jiā lián méng yǒu shí gè chéng yuán guó. 
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has ten member states.

Traditional Characters:
東南亞國家聯盟有十個成員國。
Simplified Characters:
东南亚国家联盟有十个成员国。

Thursday, November 25, 2010

简单 jiǎn dān simple


The Mandarin Chinese word for "simple" is jiǎn dān.
Example:
Wǒde xiǎng fǎ hěn jiǎn dān. 
My idea is very simple. 


Traditional Characters:
我的想法很簡單。 
Simplified Characters:
我的想法很简单。

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

数字 Numbers



中国語では1~99は日本語と同様に数えます。ですから、1~10までの読み方を覚えれば、99まで数を重ねて読めばいいです。

しかし、100は、日本語では「百」だけでよいですが、中国語では「百」の前に「一」を加え、「一百」と言います。そして、100以降は「零」の発音を覚える必要があります。


0から20までの数え方は次の通りです。


零 líng リン
一 yī イー
二 èr アー
三 sān サン
四 sì スー
五 wǔ ウー
六 liù リョウ
七 qī チー
八 bā バー
九 jiǔ ジョウ
十 shí シー
十一 shíyī シーイー
十二 shíèr シーアー
十三 shísān シーサン
十四 shísì シースー
十五 shíwǔ シーウー
十六 shíliù シーリョウ
十七 shíqī シーチー
十八 shíbā シーバー
十九 shíjiǔ シージョウ
二十 èrshí アーシー

普段何気なく使っている数字のジェスチャーですが、日本人と中国人では、作る手の形が違います。次の絵にあう数字を当ててみよう。

Monday, November 8, 2010

Clarifying Chinese Characters

Mandarin Chinese has many written characters which sound the
 same. Sometimes it is not clear which character or meaning the 
speaker is using.
When clarification is needed, Chinese characters can be explained
 with this pattern: XY de X, where X is the character being 
explained, and XY is a common compound which uses that character.
 Characters can also be clarified by putting them in a commonly 
used phrase.
This type of clarification is especially useful for names, since it is 
usually not evident which characters are used to write a 
person’s name.

Clarification Examples

Wǒ de míngzi shì …
My name is…
我的名字是…

Xǔ Míng Fú – yán wǔ xǔ, rì yuè míng, fúqì de fú
許明福 – 言午許, 日月明, 福氣的福

Lín Píng Quán - shuāng mù lín, píngān de ping, quánlì

de quán
林平權 - 雙木林, 平安的平, 權力的權

Xú Bǎo Chuān - shuāng rén xú, zhūbǎo de bǎo, hé

chuān de chuān
徐寶川 - 雙人徐, 珠寶的寶, 河川的川

Learn To Clarify Your Chinese Name

If you have a Chinese name, you should learn how to clarify it in this 
manner. You will need the help of a native Mandarin speaker to choose 
a clarification that is understandable.

Monday, November 1, 2010

信 xìn

The Chinese character 信 (pronounced xìn) is composed of two
elements - the radical 人 in the altered form of 亻(pronounced
rén meaning person) and the character 言 (yán meaning word; 
to speak).
A person standing by his or her word symbolizes trust, one of
 the meanings of this character. The other meanings are believe
,true, and mail or letter.
The character 信 is classified as an associative compound. While
it is easy to see that a person's word equals trust, this character's
association with mail is less clear. Perhaps we can imagine letters
as a form of communication unique to humankind - people are the
only ones capable of sending words by mail.

Mandarin Vocabulary With Xìn

Simplified CharactersPinyinEnglish

半信半疑bàn xìn bàn yíhalf-believe, half-doubt

报信bào xìnnotify; inform

不信任bù xìn rènmistrust

不信用bù xìn yòngdistrust

电信diàn xìntelecommunications

电子信箱diàn zǐ xìn xiāng    electronic mailbox

短信duǎn xìnSMS message

公开信gōng kāi xìnopen letter

黑信hēi xìnblackmail

互信hù xìnmutual trust

可信任kě xìn rèntrusty

难以置信nán yǐ zhì xìnincredible

使信服shǐ xìn fúto convince

推荐信tuī jiàn xìnrecommendation letter

写信xiě xìnto write a letter

信封xìn fēngenvelope

信服xìn fúto convince

信赖xìn lài                                  confide; trust

信箱xìn xiāngmailbox

信用xìn yòngcredit

自信zì xìnconfidence

Mandarin Proficiency Test

The most widely used Mandarin proficiency test is 
the 汉语水平考试 or HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi). 
The test is used for proficiency certification that 
may be required by Chinese universities and 
professional organizations.
According to The Examiner, China is planning a new 
version of the HSK, although I have heard that the 
"new HSK" has been in use for at least a year now.
Nonetheless, the Examiner article contains some
 interesting comments about the nature of the 
exam and its application in daily life:
"If you pass Level 3 and immerse yourself
in Beijing for months, you will have no problem
interacting with the locals," said Mr Zhou. "
But even if you obtain Level 6, if you are not
soaked in a conducive language environment,

you most probably will still struggle to converse
or read Chinese newspapers."
There are six levels to the HSK, and each level consists 
of a writing test and a speaking test. Level One candidates 
must know 150 words, while the Level Six tests expects a 
knowledge of more than 5,000 words. You can read more 
about the HSK requirements at this link