Chinese

Before traveling to China last year, I thought Thanksgiving was only known in America. To my surprise, my Chinese friends were eager to know what my Thanksgiving plans were as the holiday approached. They were curious to know if I was planning on traveling, eating turkey, getting together with my American friends and watching football, or getting dinner with them or simply just going to a bar. Their eyes glistened with curiosity as I explained to them the customs and traditions that revolve around Thanksgiving dinner.

       

In return, they taught me some Mandarin words.  First and foremost, of course: Thanksgiving (感恩节 gǎnēnjié)!  Then turkey (火鸡 huǒ jī) with gravy (肉汁ròuzhī), bread (面包 miànbāo), ham (火腿huǒtuǐ), corn (玉米 yùmǐ) and mashed potatoes(土豆泥 tǔdòuní). Not only did they teach me how to say the above-mentioned foods, but they also taught me how to say my favorite Thanksgiving desserts such as pumpkin pie(南瓜派 nánguā pài) and apple pie (苹果派 píngguǒpài). 


During this conversation, I emphasized the importance of gratuity, and how Thanksgiving was an opportunity to have precious moments away from all the fuzz and buzz of a busy life.  Americans use this holiday to reflect on how grateful we are and to take time to be with our families. Since my Chinese friends seemed so curious and eager to know more about Thanksgiving, I decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner with them. What I had in mind was, of course, something like this:

But in reality, we had this instead:

Source: Wikipedia Commons

It was a pleasant and entertaining dinner.   All types of pizzas were being passed around the table, such as pineapple pizza (菠萝比萨 bōluó bǐsà), cheese pizza (芝士披萨 zhīshì pīsà), pepperoni pizza (意大利辣香肠比萨 yìdàlì là xiāngcháng bǐsà) et cetera.  My friends tried hard to cut the pizza with their chopsticks (yes chopsticks are at times provided in some western joints!), just for the sake of laughter. I asked my friends, “Why the Chinese don’t eat much turkey at all?”  No one seemed to have an answer to it, so we looked it up in Baidu (the Chinese version of Google) and that is when I realized that turkeys are native to North America. And since Americans don’t export their cuisine as the French and Spanish do, there has not been much exposure to turkey in Chinese cooking. Nevertheless, we laughed until our stomachs couldn’t take it anymore.  The best part of it all is that we only spoke in Mandarin! It was a truly unforgettable Thanksgiving and one that will forever be ingrained in my heart, or as the chengyu says (刻骨铭心 kègǔmíngxīn).

Spending an American holiday with someone from another culture is truly special. I encourage every American who finds themself in a foreign country to have some foreign friends over for Thanksgiving dinner. Not only does it enrich your holiday experience, but you will also be able to learn things outside of a language. 

 

I want to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving (感恩节快乐 gǎnēnjiékuàilè)!

How to Read Chinese Pinyin and Why I should Learn

How to Read Chinese Pinyin and Why I should Learn

Learning Chinese, with its 10,000+ characters may sound daunting. But add a whole different system of sounds and tones in that  may not be in our native language and you’ve got yourself a recipe for one difficult language.

Chinese pinyin helps both foreigners and native Chinese speakers learn and understand the language, and also aids with reading and writing skills. It is essential for everyday life for Chinese people, as much as it is for foreigners.

So, let’s talk pinyin.

What is Chinese Pinyin?

Chinese Pinyin is the romanization of Chinese characters. It is a tool used to write the Chinese characters in the Latin alphabet. This aids both with reading Chinese and the pronunciation of it.

Where did Chinese Pinyin come from?

Many attempts had been made over years and years to create a standard romanized version of Chinese characters, but none were standardized and approved until the 1950s, where Zhou Youguang, also known as the ‘Father of Pinyin’ came into play. He and his team spent 3 years developing the Chinese pinyin system used today.

Without this, many of the Chinese population would still be deemed illiterate, and many people trying to learn the Chinese language would be left entirely lost…!

How to read Chinese Pinyin?

Firstly, it is important to be aware that although the letters used will be familiar to an English reader, it doesn’t mean they sound  the same. Chinese Pinyin includes sounds in English that we may not exist in other languages, so the closest possible romanization has been made. This means that you need to learn how to correctly pronounce the sounds first in Chinese pinyin, then you can correctly pronounce them when reading characters.

Pronunciations

Vowels

Consonants

The consonants are much more simple to read since they are largely the same or similar in pronunciation.

zh/ch/sh/z/c/s/j/q/x and r.The sounds you should watch out for, however, are:

Source: chinesepod.com

The next thing you have to remember when reading Chinese pinyin is that it’s not just new sounds you have to learn. You also have to read which tone mark the character has.

Tones are a pain, but extremely important. Saying a word with the wrong tone can result in some serious miscommunications since many words have the same pinyin spelling, but use different tones and have different written Chinese characters.

So, when you’re learning a new word, it’s vital that you learn the correct tone with it too.

There are 4 tones in Chinese and one neutral tone. Some people say there are 5 tones.

1st tone: ˉ e.g. mā 妈 (mother)

High pitch, naturally prolonged level sound.

2nd tone: ˊ e.g. má 嘛 (hemp)

Pitch from low to high, like when asking a question at the end of a sentence.

3rd tone: ˇ e.g. mǎ 马 (horse)

Pitch falls, then goes back up again

4th tone: ˋ e.g. mà 骂 (scold)

Sharp and strong fall of the tone

5th tone: no marker, e.g. ma 吗 (q. marker)

Neutral and short

Learning the correct pronunciation of Chinese pinyin, including the tones, is the key to learning the language well and making sure you sound like a native.

Don’t move on before you’re ready!

If you liked this blog post be sure to check out “What Exactly is Pinyin” and “5 Apps to Help You Better Integrate in China”