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｡

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｡

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。

Chinese Pinyin in 6 Mins

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.

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 Characters	Pinyin	English
	半信半疑	bàn xìn bàn yí	half-believe, half-doubt
	报信	bào xìn	notify; inform
	不信任	bù xìn rèn	mistrust
	不信用	bù xìn yòng	distrust
	电信	diàn xìn	telecommunications
	电子信箱	diàn zǐ xìn xiāng	electronic mailbox
	短信	duǎn xìn	SMS message
	公开信	gōng kāi xìn	open letter
	黑信	hēi xìn	blackmail
	互信	hù xìn	mutual trust
	可信任	kě xìn rèn	trusty
	难以置信	nán yǐ zhì xìn	incredible
	使信服	shǐ xìn fú	to convince
	推荐信	tuī jiàn xìn	recommendation letter
	写信	xiě xìn	to write a letter
	信封	xìn fēng	envelope
	信服	xìn fú	to convince
	信赖	xìn lài	confide; trust
	信箱	xìn xiāng	mailbox
	信用	xìn yòng	credit
	自信	zì xìn	confidence

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

:http://english.hanban.org/node_8002.htm