Tones Practice

To perfect your tones, it is recommended that you spend 5 minutes doing the following tones practice in the morning when your get up and in the evening before you go to bed. Read aloud the tones line by line, from left to right.


                          mā          má          mǎ          mà

                          bō           bó            bǒ           bò

                          hē           hé            hě           hè

                          nī             ní             nǐ            nì

                          dū           dú            dǔ           dù

                          lǖ             lǘ             lǚ            lǜ

                          tāi           tái             tǎi          tài

                          fēi           féi            fěi           fèi

                          kōu         kóu          kǒu        kòu

                          pāo        páo         pǎo         pào

                          de          me          ne           le

Note: The syllables in the last line do not have tone marks. They should be pronounced with a weak and short sound, which is named 'neutral tone'. 

Practice makes perfect! You will see your progress. 

Spend 10 minutes and get to know about China

I recently came across the flash video below and thought it provides quite true and updated information about China. I should definitely share this with all of you. Enjoy!

Pronouns

The following are the Chinese equivalents of the English pronouns:

'wǒ' - I / me;

'nǐ' - you (singular);

'tā' - he / she / it

To refer to more than one person, simply add 'mén' after the above pronouns. For example:

'wǒ mén' - we / us;

'nǐ mén' - you (plural);

'tā mén' - they / them

Now that we have learnt the pronouns, we are on our way to start saying short sentences.

Greetings

The easiest way to greet people in Chinese is 'Nǐ hǎo。' which means 'Hello.' In Chinese, 'nǐ' is 'you', 'hǎo' means 'good'. In response to 'Nǐ hǎo。', you can simply say 'Nǐ hǎo。' back.

Other greetings include the following:

'Zǎo shàng hǎo。' = Good morning.

'Zhōng wǔ hǎo。' = Good noon.

'Xià wǔ hǎo。' = Good afternoon.

'Wǎn shàng hǎo。' = Good evening.

Try using the greetings with your Chinese-speaking friends and see how they respond.

Chinese Names

Chinese people have family names and given names. However, unlike English names, Chinese last names come first while Chinese first names come last. For example, a famous Chinese film director is called 'Zhang Yimou'. His surname is 'Zhang' and his first name is 'Yimou'.

In China, when a woman gets married, she doesn't have to change her surname. In fact, most women don't. However, there is a phenomenon (mostly seen in Hong Kong) that a woman would add her husband's surname before her full name.

As a foreigner in China, you may find it useful to have a Chinese name (something that sounds like your original name and has a good meaning). Many Chinese people have English (or foreign) names. I guess it's all about finding common ground and making better communication. The video below is about names and really fun to watch.

Sexy Beijing - Lost in Translation - Danwei TV