Chinese Writing

ni hao! My Chinese name is 潘中石 .

潘 pan common surname; sounds like Parker

中 zhong means middle, centre; refers to China (the

middle country 中国 )

石 shi means “rock”, “stone”

Q: How is the order of Chinese names

different?A: • The surname goes first…• names usually consist of

– 2 characters 王宇– or 3 characters 潘中石

How did I learn Mandarin?

What different types of Chinese are spoken

aside from Mandarin?

Chinese Languages• Mandarin: 847.8 million (70.9%)

– Jin: 45 million (3.8%)

• Wu: 77.2 million (6.5%) (incl. Shanghainese)– Huizhou: 4.6 million (0.4%)

• Min: 71.8 million (6.0%) (incl. Taiwanese)• Yue and Pinghua: 62.2 million (5.2%)

(incl. Cantonese)• Xiang: 36 million (3.0%)• Hakka: 30.1 million (2.5%)• Gan: 20.6 million (1.7%) 

How old are chinese characters?

Ended the Warring States period by completing the conquest of

China in 221 BC

Development of characters

“Traditional”

“Simplified”

Tonal Language

mā má

mǎ mà

ma

What are the most useful phrases to learn first?

xie xie 谢谢 !

THANK YOU!

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ni hao!你好 !

HELLO!

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In Chinese culture when saying xiexie – 谢谢 or nihao – 你好 ! They are often repeated to shown

warmhearted enthusiasm and respect.

xiexie xiexie 谢谢！谢谢！

nihao nihao 你好！你好！

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wo bu yao 我不要

I DON’T WANT THIS

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There is another of the Chinese phrases that you might find even more useful, and that is wobuyao – 我不要 , which means ‘I don’t want this’. Remember that China is a business and merchant driven culture, and so when in China you will be approached by salesmen and merchants selling everything from heavily spiced things to eat to a statue of the Buddha, and you should be able to refuse a purchase.

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wo bu hui chi la 我不会吃辣

I DON’T EAT SPICY

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And speaking if heavily spiced dishes, there is another word that you should know – wobuhuichila- 我不会吃辣 , ‘I don’t eat spicy (food)’. Remember that China has an extremely varied cuisine, and that while some of their dishes might be acceptable to any palate , there are others that are so spicy that you will find them absolutely unmanageable if you are not used to spicy food. 

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ZHONGUO HEN HAO

中国很好CHINA IS VERY

NICEwww.superchinablog.com

One last phrase – zhongguo henhao – 中国很好 , or ‘China is very nice’. The Chinese are an ancient people and extremely proud (as they have every right to be) of their incredible cultural heritage. It is also good manners to begin a new friendship with positive sentiments.

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Kate ：你好！

Zhongshi ：你好！ Kate ：你叫什么名字？

Zhongshi ：我叫中石。你呢？

Kate ：我叫 Kate 。

• ni hao! • (knee how)• ni hao! • ni jiao shenme

mingzi? • (knee je-ow

shama ming ze)• wo jiao Zhong shi 。

ni ne ?• (war je-ow jong

shur. knee na)• wo jiao Kate.

Speed dating 非诚勿扰• you will have 20 seconds which

each person you talk to • your goal is to have a proper

conversation with each person before your time is up

• the people with the highest number of complete conversations

Zhongshi ：你姓什么？Kate ：我姓 Smith。

你 呢？Zhongshi ：我姓潘。

Kate ：很高兴认识你！

Zhongshi ：我也是。我要走了。

再见！

• ni xing shenme?(shing)

• wo xing Smith. ni ne?• wo xing pan

(parn)

• hen gaoxing renshi ni

(hun gow shing ren shur knee)

• wo ye (yee-air) shi. • wo yao zou le.

(…ye-ow zoah la) zai jian! zai jee-en)

Game: social climbing• You need to meet as many people as possible in

5 minutes and remember their names• You can only move on to the next person after

you have shown the proper courtesy (completed the dialogue!)

• When you have finished, raise your hand and find someone else with their hand raised

• the person who has met the most people and remembered their names at the end, gets the prize

• 0 零 ling 10 十 shi 20 二十 er shi• 1 一 yi 11 十一 shi yi 21 二十一 er shi

yi • 2 二 er 12 十二 shi er 22 二十二

er shi er• 3 三 san 13 十三 shi san 23 二十三 er shi

san• 4 四 si 14 24• 5 五 wu 15 25• 6 六 liu 16 26• 7 七 qi 17 27• 8 八 ba 18 28• 9 九 jiu 19 29

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