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But this view of the Chinese language is outdated.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 the English phonetic version of each word and sentence in this book.
Here are some additional guidelines on how the 26 English letters are pronounced when used in Chinese words (most of them are pronounced very much like they are in English):
| A | “ah,” as in father |
| B | like the “b” in bay |
| C | like “ts” in rats |
| D | similar to the “d” in day |
| E | similar to the “u” in up |
| F | same as in English |
| G | similar to the “g” in gay |
| H | similar to the “h” in hah |
| I | pronounced as the “e” in easy |
| J | sounds like “jee-ay” |
| K | like the “k” in kay |
| L | same as in English |
| M | same as in English |
| N | similar to the “n” in nay |
| O | “oh” |
| P | like the “p” in pay |
| Q | sounds like “chee,” as in cheese |
| R | same as in English |
| S | same as in English |
| T | has a “ta” sound, as in take |
| U | like the “oo” in oops |
| W | like “wa” in water |
| X | pronounced “she” |
| Y | pronounced like “yah” |
| Z | sounds like the “ds” in heads |
Those Notorious “Tones”
Dealing with the problem of tonal changes in the pronunciation of Chinese words remains a challenge, but with a little effort, it does not preclude one from communicating effectively in the language. For one thing, one of the four tones in the language is neutral or flat, requiring no tonal change. [This is the way most English is spoken, but if you enunciate all Chinese words in this manner you will get some surprising results!]
Fortunately, the pronunciation of the other three tones in Chinese is not absolutely precise in actual use, although there is an “official” tone. Different people pronounce them slightly differently, so there is some tolerance; plus the fact that the context in which words are used helps make the meaning clear.
The four tones in Mandarin Chinese are described as even, rising, falling-rising, and falling. The even tone is generally spoken in a slightly higher pitch than the normal voice. In the rising tone, the voice goes from the normal pitch to a slightly higher pitch. In the falling-rising tone the voice goes down and up, and in the falling tone the voice goes from a higher to a lower tone.
* Mispronunciation here—it should be lǎomā.
In “formal” Chinese written in Roman letters the tones are indicated by diacritical marks over the appropriate letters—the even tone by a horizontal line (e.g. ā); the rising tone by a line sloping up (á); the falling-rising tone by a v-shaped mark (ǎ); and the falling tone by a line slanting downward (à). When there are no diacritical marks over letters it means they are pronounced “flat.”
Again, while using an incorrect tone will sometimes change the meaning of a word, pronunciation of the tones by the Chinese themselves often varies significantly, based on their education, where they were raised, etc.
Chinese is Easier than English!
It may require a stretch to think of Chinese as simpler and easier than English, but linguistically speaking that is the case. The Chinese “alphabet” consists of 405 syllables that use tonal differences to make up some 1,277 “building blocks.” English uses 26 letters and 44 basic sounds to create several thousand “building blocks.”
The 405 Chinese syllables are made up of combinations of five vowel sounds, 23 consonant sounds and 15 compound sounds consisting of combinations of the five vowels. While this may sound extraordinarily intimidating, the same syllables are repeated over and over, and their spelling never changes—while there often appears to be no rhyme or reason to the spelling of English words.
Chinese is also grammatically simpler than English. The sentence order of Chinese is the same as that of English: subject, verb and object. Adjectives come before nouns, just as they do in English. But there are no verb conjugations in Chinese, no articles (the, a, an), and no plurals. To make the Chinese words for “I, you, he, she” and “it” plural, you just add the suffix men (mern) to them:
| I | wǒ | (woh) | 我 |
