中国：旅游、休闲和流行文化

China: Tourism, Leisure and Popular Culture 語

01 June 2016 2016 年 6 月 1日

Tones used for Standard Chinese

Chinese is a tonal language. This means that the pitch or tone affects the meaning.

Tones

mā má mǎ mà ma妈 麻 马 骂 吗 mother hemp horse to scold particle

Unlike in the European languages, there is a rather small and limited number of possible syllables in Chinese – around 400

Syllables

音节

The Standard Chinese Language

Dialects

方言

Varieties of Chinese dialects

By Wyunhe - File:Map of sinitic dialect (Simplified Chinese)

Chinese is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, consisting of hundreds of local language varieties, some dialects are not mutually intelligible. The differences are similar to those within the Roman languges. (All have phonomic tones)

Characters are derived from pictures (Pictograms)

rì Day, date

yuè Month, monthly ， moonlike

yún Numerous, many, high,Say, speak

yǔ Dense, scattered

Literal & figurative meanings

From Pictograms to (Compound) ideograms 　Ｉ　

landscape

everyone

forest

Picture credit: Chineasy

From Pictograms to Compound ideograms 　ＩＩ

仙

Entrance

immortal

闲idle time

Picture credit:

Chineasy

闲leisure

仙Rishi (xiānrén)

闲idler(xiánrén)

How do I know the pronouciation of a character?

中middle

Phonetic componentSemantic component - an indicator of the meaning of the character

Simplified & Traditional Chinese Characters

國CountryNation

(guó)

国 Simplified

Traditional

The PRC has officially adopted Simplified Chinese characters for use in mainland China, while Hongkong, Macau, and the ROC (Taiwan) were not affected by the reform.

中国 (zhōngguó) Middle kingdom英国 (yīngguó) England法国 (fǎguó) France美国 (měiguó) America德国 (déguó) Deutschland

Chinese words

Most classic words are monosyllabic

Most words in modern Chinese are disyllabic

老師 學習 學校 醫院 報紙lǎoshī

xuéxí

xuéxiào

yī-yuàn

bàozhǐ

• 衣 yī, clothing • 車 chē, vehicle • 人 rén, person• 日 rì, sun• 見 jiàn, to see

When new words were introduced to the Chinese language, most words were translated into Chinese and the new words were coined based on the meaning of each character, eg:computer 電腦 diànnǎo electric brain railway 鐵路 tiělù iron road Example of trisyllable loanwords:Chocolate 巧克力 qiǎokèlìJeep 吉普车 jípǔchē

Words related to “travel”

旅Troops

toTravel

(lǚ)

• 旅游 (lǚyóu) tourism

• 旅途 (lǚtú) trip

• 旅馆 (lǚguǎn) hotel

• 旅社 (lǚshè) hotel

• 旅行社 (lǚxíngshè) T-agency

• 旅客 (lǚkè) travellor• 旅伴 (lǚbàn)

companion

宾馆、饭店、酒店、旅社、旅馆、客栈、招待所

方向Four directions

北 běi

西xī

東dōng

南nán東 东

地理Geographic features

江 (jiāng) River which flowsthrough a gorge

川 (chuān) stream(s)

岛 (dǎo) island

门 (mén) gate, gorge

河 (hé) old broad river

海 (hǎi) ocean, sea

湖 (hú) lake(s)

广 (guǎng expanse(s)

森 (sēn) 林(lín)

forest

山 (shān) mountain(s)

中国地名

Chinese Place names 　

BeijingNanjingHubeiHunanHebeiHenanShandongShanxiJiangxi GuangdongGuangxi

北京 (běijīng)南京 (nánjīng)湖北 (húběi)湖南 (húnán)河北 (héběi)河南 (hénán)山东 (shāndōng)山西 (shānxī)江西 (jiāngxī)广东 (guǎngdōng)广西 (guǎngxī)

Northern CapitalSouthern CapitalLake NorthLake SouthRiver NorthRiver SouthMountain EastMountain WestRiver WestWide EastWide West

Lost in translationDifferent ways of translating names and scenery:

• Transliteration• Translation word by word• Free translation• Combination of transliteration and free translation

音译 Transliteration

The most common way to render the names of foreign places in Chinese is to use Chinese characters that sound similar to the name in the original language.

Holland /NetherlandsAmsterdamDen HaagGronningenRotterdam Zaanse SchansFontainebleauChamps-Élysees

荷兰 (hélán) / 尼德兰 (nídélán) 阿姆斯特丹 (āmǔsītèdān)海牙 (hǎiyá)格罗宁根 (géluónínggēn)鹿特丹 (lùtèdān)桑斯安斯 (sāngsīānsī)枫丹白露 (fēngdānbáilù)香榭丽舍 (Xiāngxièlìshè)

Lotus + Orchid

Sea + toothlike

风车村 (fēng hē cūn)red maple & white dewfragrant pavilion & beautiful house

直译 Translation word by word

A handful of foreign names, mostly place names, were given characters based on the meaning of the name in the original language instead of being transliterated. The meaning preserved but of course the sound completely different

OxfordIceland MediterraneanNorth SeaBlack SeaGiethoornNeptune

牛津 (niújīn)冰岛 (bīngdǎo)地中海 (dìzhōnghǎi) 北海 (běihǎi)黑海 (hēihǎi)羊角村 (yángjiǎocūn)海王星 (hǎi wángxīng)

Village addedStar added

意译 Free Translation

Some places have names that are preferred by Chinese, but not necessarily based on the original word.

San FranciscoHonoluluEsperanto----------------------JapanTokyoHanoiBandungPhnom Penh

圣弗朗西斯科 (shèngfúlǎngxīsīkē)火奴鲁鲁 (huǒnúlǔlǔ)爱斯不难读 (Àisībùnándú)

The Chinese Characters have enormous influence in East and Southeast Asia, you can see from their Chinese names.

旧金山 (jiùjīnshān)檀香山 (tánxiāngshān)世界语 (Shìjièyǔ ）----------------------------------日本 (rìběn)东京 (dōngjīng)河内 (hénèi)万隆 (wànlóng)金边 (jīnbiān)

童 (tóng) means child, boy, name of a child, so is this a fair for children? No, it’s a cultural festival where East and West can meet each other. Part of the activities is a program for the children.Suggestion: 嗵嗵 , used for sound, lively atmosphere.

Lost in translation?

Simple take away: basic numbers

Ready to tackle a new challenge? Let’s start first with numbers in Chinese!!!

Shí10

Bǎi100

qiān1000

wàn10.000

Yì100.000.000

十 百 千 万 亿

Did we forget that smallest number, the simple zero?

New trend: many Chinese seem not eager to use this character in their writing and often replace it with a 0. Can you imagine why?

学说中国话朋友遍天下

Simple take away: numbers

?

知者不言 (ZHĪ ZHĚ BÙYÁN)言者不知 (YÁNZHĚ BÙZHĪ)

THOSE WHO SPEAK DO NOT KNOW, THOSE WHO KNOW DO NOT SPEAK.

LaoZhi did not mean we should not seek wisdom, so let’s hear your questions and ideas Questions...

您的消息是什么 ?Thank you ！ 谢谢

xièxie