China: A Tasting Menu

The Languages of ChinaAndThe Chinese LanguageThe Languages of China and The Chinese LanguageToday:1. The Languages of China2. The Chinese Language

Next Week:3. Chinese Writing

China and USA Superimposed

Tibetan script (two styles); Read from left to right

Uighur writing (top row) and Chinese characters; a wall in Xinjiang Province

Manchu writing; read left to right and top to bottomChina in East Asia

Chinaand its Borders

Languages in China

Dialects of South China

The Romance Languages

Map of Chinese Dialects

Sun Yat Sen(Sun Zhongshan)First President of the Republic of China (1912)

Dialects of South ChinaComparison of pinyin and Wade-Giles systems of RomanizationWade-Giles (old system)PekingMao Tse-TungSzechuanChekiangHopeiChungkingSun Yat-SenSwatowPinyin (new system)BeijingMao ZedongSichuanZhejiangHebeiChongqingSun ZhongshanShantou

The Four Tones of Mandarin1st tone: Home, home on the range (as at the start of that song)a high, level sound;2nd tone: Are you going home? (a neutral question asked with mild interest)evenly rising;3rd tone: Surely, youre not going home? (the curve of downwards-upwards is often used when an English question expects the answer, no);4th tone: Im going home (a statement of finality)flat and falling.Same syllables but differing in tone 1st tone 2nd tone 3rd tone 4th tone

m mother m hemp m horse m to scold d to put up d to answer d to beat d to be big

tng to open up tng copper tng tub tng to ache

pio to float pio dipper pio to bleach pio ticketUnstressed syllables with little or no tone Go ma?Is it high?

Tcngming.Shes smart.

Xixie!Thank you!

Excerpt from The Answer of LoveTopical structure of sentences in Chinese (topic in bold) Zhige dfng ky tio w this-ONE place may dance This place, (one) can dance (here). (=One can dance here.)

Yfu xnde ho; pngyu jide ho Clothes, new (ones) are good; friends, old (ones) are good.A Students Name: Wang Zan Mei

wang2, 4 strokes, family name zan4, 16 strokes, sing praise to mei2, 11 strokes, plum flowers

01., track 12007Pop288777.9eng - http://www.oimp3.com