Survival Chinese. Boye Lafayette De Mente
ection>
SURVIVAL
CHINESE
How to communicate without
fuss or fear INSTANTLY!
by BOYE LAFAYETTE DE MENTE
Revised and Updated by Jiageng Fan
TUTTLE Publishing
Tokyo | Rutland, Vermont | Singapore
CONTENTS
Preface
The “Language Wall” is Down!
The National Language
Introduction
Chinese Written in “English”
Those Notorious “Tones”
Chinese is Easier than English!
The Chinese “Alphabet”
Running Words Together
Pronouncing Chinese “in English”
Pronunciation Guides
PART 1
Common Expressions & Key Words
Greetings
Personal Information
Directions
Air Travel
Money
Taxis
Subways
Trains
Buses
Rental Cars
Hotel Vocabulary
Toilet / Restroom
The Seasons
The Weather
Eating
Drinking
Paying Bills
Telephone / Email / Internet
Shopping
Business
Post Office
Health / Help
Sightseeing
Leisure
Barber Shop / Beauty Salon
Measurements
Personal Titles
Academic Titles
Business & Professional Titles
Homes
Vogue Expressions
PART 2
Numbers and Counting
The Cardinal Numbers
The Ordinal Numbers
Counting Things
Counting People
Counting Other Things
Telling Time
Days of the Week
Counting Days
Weeks
Counting Weeks
The Months
The Years
Giving Dates
Holidays
PART 3
Exploring China
China’s Provinces
The Autonomous Regions
Major Cities
Famous Places in Beijing
Famous Landmarks Near Beijing
Shopping Districts in Beijing
Famous Places in Shanghai
Shopping Districts in Shanghai
Famous Chinese Cuisines
Famous Tourist Destinations
Important Signs
PART 4
Making Your Own Sentences
Part5
Additional Vocabulary
PREFACE
The “Language Wall” is Down!
There are at least eight primary Chinese languages, and although they belong to the same family and historically have been referred to as dialects, they are as different as French, Italian, Spanish and other so-called Romance languages. And that’s why they are sometimes considered as different languages by some people.
Westerners have also traditionally regarded learning and speaking any of the Chinese “dialects” as especially difficult because they are all “tonal languages.” That is, changing the tone of voice in the pronunciation of words changes the meanings of the words.
These circumstances, combined with the forbidding appearance of the “characters,” or logograms, used to write all of the Chinese languages, have long been viewed by Westerners as insurmountable barriers. Furthermore, many Chinese words have dozens of homonyms [words that are spelled the same and may be pronounced the same but have different meanings], further complicating matters.
The National Language
But this view of the Chinese language is outdated. In 1949 the newly established Communist government of Mao Zedong decreed that Mandarin Chinese, the “dialect” spoken in Beijing and the surrounding areas, was to be the official language of China, and thereafter would be taught in all of the schools throughout the country.
Today, the majority of Chinese speak Mandarin Chinese, known as pǔtōnghuà (poo-tohng-hwah) 普通话 or “the common language,” as their first or second language. A further boon to foreigners taking up the study of the national Chinese language is the fact that Mandarin Chinese has only four tones. [Some of the other dialects have as many as eight tones.]
Boyé Lafayette De Mente
INTRODUCTON
Chinese Written in “English”
The transcription of Mandarin Chinese into Roman letters, known as pīnyīn (peen-een) 拼音, was reformed in 1958, making it easier for foreigners to study the language without having to learn the thousands of logograms.
However, several of the letters used in the pinyin version of Chinese are still pronounced in what might be called the old way. These include c, q, x, z, and the combination of ch. C is pronounced more or less as “ts,” q as “ch,” x as “sh,” z as “dz,” and zh as “j.”
There are also some variations (from English) in the pronunciation of vowels in Chinese words. U may be pronounced more like o, and e may be pronounced more like u. These and other variations in pronunciation are accounted for—to the extent possible—in