Note: The spoken
Chinese Mandarin language has 4 spoken tones.
We have attempted to re-create those below
where after each syllable we tell you (1),
(2), (3), or (4) as they correspond to each
of the 4 tones. We encourage you to complement
your Xianzai.com Emergency Chinese newsletter
with a good offline study program.
NEW
WORDS
(1) My name is: wo(3) de
ming(2) zi(4) shi(4)
(2) I am from: wo(2) lai(2)
zi(4)
(3) Country: guo(2) jia(1)
(4) USA: mei(3) guo(2)
(5) England: ying(1) ge(2) lan(2)
(6) Germany: de(2) guo(2)
(7) Canada: jia(1) na(2) da(4)
(8) Australia: ao(4) da(4) li(4)
ya(4)
LESSON
- Hi - my name is:
hai(4) , wo(3) jiao(4)
- I am from the USA.
wo(3) lai(2) zi(4) mei(3) guo(2)
- I was born in England but I live in
Australia.
wo(3) zai(4) ying(1) ge(2) lan(2) chu(1)
sheng(1) , dan(4) zhu(4) zai(4) ao(4)
da(4) li(4) ya(4).
- I have come from Canada.
wo(3) cong(2) jia(1) na(2) da(4) lai(2).
- I have traveled to many countries.
wo(3) qu(4) guo(4) hen(2) duo(1) guo(2)
jia(1) lu(2) you(2).
* Tip: It is only recently
that China has opened its doors to the rest
of the world and some Chinese people still
hold out-dated or stereotypical views about
people from other countries based on little
more than watching TV shows (foreigners hold
similar attitudes to Chinese--so it's even).
Often Americans are assumed
to all be rich and arrogant; Australians are
seen as lazy alcoholics while the English
are seen as aloof snobs. Like all stereotypes
they are, in the main, wrong and with some
Chinese language skills, you can help people
understand that people are people wherever
you go.