Chinese For Dummies E-Book

Wendy Abraham

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fremdsprachen
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Seitenzahl: 456

Beschreibung

The fast and easy way to learn to speak Mandarin Chinese China has become a major influence in the world today, andMandarin Chinese is the world's most widely spoken language. Notonly is China full of opportunities in business and politics, butChinese culture, continues to make its way into the westernworld. With an updated CD including real-life conversations, ChineseFor Dummies expands grammar, verb conjugations, andpronunciations--and includes a refreshed mini-dictionarycomplete with even more essential vocabulary. * Basic vocabulary * Everyday conversations, including phone dialogue and smalltalk * Speaking in perfect pitch and tone * Easy-to-understand grammar rules * Getting around in a Chinese-speaking country * Cultural references like maintaining face, dining etiquette,and social mores Also included is an audio CD that features actual Chineseconversations by native Chinese speakers, which allows you to hearhow Chinese is really spoken. Written by a leading Chinese languageteacher in the United States, Chinese For Dummies introducesan often-daunting language to you in a fun-and-easy For Dummiesmanner. CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included aspart of the e-book file, but are available for download afterpurchase.

Leseprobe

Chinese For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

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Copyright © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2012955832

ISBN 978-1-118-43666-0 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-43654-7 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-43657-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-43658-5 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Dr. Wendy Abraham has taught courses on Chinese language, literature, history, and culture at Hunter College, Georgetown University, NYU, and Stanford University. She spent a year researching Shang Dynasty oracle bones in Taiwan, which sparked her deep interest in the development of China’s written language. Wendy has directed Chinese language programs for American students in Beijing and Shanghai, and she has interpreted for high-level arts delegations from China. Her doctoral dissertation was on the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng, a subject about which she has written widely and continues to lecture frequently throughout the United States. Her interest in all things Chinese since the age of three continues unabated.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Oszkar and Shandy, with love for the Iakab family — then and now.

It is also dedicated to my father, György, my mother, Marilyn, my sister, Susan, and my new brother-in-law, Michael.

Author’s Acknowledgments

The first million thanks go to my mother for making this past year (and me) possible. It would never have happened without her and our late night Scrabble games, and I will be forever grateful.

The next million thanks go to my father for filling this past year with amazing new conversations, lots of love, and a letter to his newly found cousins.

Thanks also go to my sister and brother-in-law for their collective sense of humor and for reminding us about all the things in life for which we should be grateful.

To Gerard and Jean Russak for extending the welcome mat, music, and deep friendship to me and the ever-growing brood of cats on the Upper West Side.

To all those who made miracles happen this year: Csongor Nyulas (Hungarian translator par excellence), Bob Edelstein, Anna Mekulinova, Hila Turkienicz, Itzhak Fouxon, Nehama Rosenberg, Malka Spitzberg, Leon Fishbein, my wonderful Elly Ne’eman, and Am Hazikaron. My family will always be grateful for your help in finding Oszkar and Shandy while writing this second edition of Chinese For Dummies.

Needless to say, this book would not have been possible without the remarkable folks at Wiley: Stacy Kennedy (the wonderful and efficient Acquisitions Editor), Tim Gallan (the calm and collected Project Editor), Constance Carlisle (who labored tirelessly to get the audio CD just right), and Megan Knoll (whose eye for Chinese typos without even knowing the language was stupefying). Great team, all.

Finally, thank you Cynthia Reidlinger, Ollie, Tommy, and the extended Sargent clan for contributing so much to this book and providing a great dose of inspiration along the way.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

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Chinese For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/chinese to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Getting Started

Part II: Chinese in Action

Part III: Chinese on the Go

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Part V: Appendixes

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting Started

Chapter 1: Chinese in a Nutshell

Grasping Chinese Dialects

Pīnyīn Spelling: Beijing, Not Peking

Sounding Off: Basic Chinese Sounds

Starting off with initials

Ending with finals

Perfect pitch: Presenting the four tones

Adding Idioms and Popular Expressions to Your Repertoire

Chapter 2: The Written Word: Checking out Chinese Characters

Perusing Pictographs, Ideographs, and the Six Scripts

The Chinese Radical: A Few Clues to a Character’s Meaning

Following the Rules of Stroke Order

Rule 1

Rules 2 through 9

Which Way Did Those Characters Go? Unraveling Character Order

Separating Traditional and Simplified Characters

Using a Chinese Dictionary . . . without an Alphabet!

Chapter 3: Warming Up with the Basics: Chinese Grammar

The Basics of Chinese Nouns, Articles, and Adjectives

Nouns

Definite versus indefinite articles

Adjectives

Getting Into Verbs, Adverbs, Negation, and Possession

Verbs

Adverbs

Bù and méiyǒu: Total negation

Getting possessive with the particle de

Asking Questions

The question particle ma

Yes/no choice questions using bù between repeating verbs

Interrogative pronouns

Chapter 4: Getting Started with Basic Expressions: Nǐ Hǎo!

Making Introductions

Acquainting yourself

Introducing your friends and family

Asking people for their names

Greeting and Chatting

Addressing new friends and strangers

Conversing around the clock

Talking about the weather

Finding out where people are from

Taking (that is, rejecting) compliments

Saying goodbye

Chapter 5: Getting Your Numbers, Times, and Measurements Straight

Counting in Chinese

Numbers from 1 to 10

Numbers from 11 to 99

Numbers from 100 to 9,999

Numbers from 10,000 to 100,000 and beyond

How ’bout those halves?

Ordinal numbers

Asking how many or how much

Telling Time

Asking and stating the time

Specifying the time of the day

Save the Date: Using the Calendar and Stating Dates

Dealing with days of the week

Naming the months

Specifying dates

Celebrating Chinese holidays

Sizing Up Weights and Measures

Chapter 6: Speaking Chinese at Home

Hanging Out at Home

Hunting for an Apartment

Decorating Your New Digs

Appointing Your Rooms, Fēng Shuǐ Style

The bedroom

The bathroom

The kitchen

The living room

The basement

The attic

Part II: Chinese in Action

Chapter 7: Getting to Know You:Making Small Talk

Establishing a Connection

Posing simple introductory questions

Chatting about family

Making Small Talk on the Job

Talking About Where You Live

Chapter 8: Dining Out and Shopping for Food

All About Meals

Satisfying your hunger

Sitting down to eat and practicing proper table manners

Getting to Know Chinese Cuisines

Dining Out

Understanding what’s on the menu

Placing an order and chatting with the wait staff

Dipping into some dim sum

Finding the restrooms

Finishing your meal and paying the bill

All the Tea in China

Taking Your Chinese to Go

Making comparisons

How much is that thousand-year-old egg?

Chapter 9: Shopping Made Easy

Going to Stores

Getting What You Want at a Department Store

Just browsing

Asking for help

Shopping for Clothes

What’s your size?

Comparing quality: Good, better, best

Comparing two items

What are you wearing? Chuān versus dài

Asking about the color and material

Shopping for Other Items

Hunting for antiques

Buying high-tech and electronic things

Getting a Good Price and Paying

Negotiating prices at the night market

Paying for your purchase (or demanding a refund)

Chapter 10: Exploring the Town

Attending a Performance

Exploring different types of music

Buying a ticket

Asking whether someone has done something

Exploring Museums and Galleries

Visiting Historical Sites

Going to the Movies

Hopping Around Bars and Clubs

Chapter 11: Taking Care of Telecommunications

Getting Familiar with Telephone Terms

Going Mobile with a Cellphone

Making a Phone Call

Calling your friends

Ringing hotels and places of business

Phoning a client

Sorry, I’m Not Home Right Now . . .

Listening to messages that people leave you

Recording and understanding greeting messages

Leaving messages

Using the Internet

Checking Your E-Mail

Chapter 12: Chinese at School and at Work

Going to School

Schools and supplies

Teachers and subjects

Exams and semesters

Degrees and diplomas

Settling into Your Office Digs

Conducting a Meeting

Scheduling and planning a meeting

Making the initial greeting

Starting the meeting

Making a presentation

Ending the meeting

Discussing Business and Industry

Chapter 13: Recreation and Outdoor Activities

Naming Your Hobbies

Exploring Nature

Tapping into Your Artistic Side

Striking Up the Band

Playing on a Team

Part III: Chinese on the Go

Chapter 14: Planning a Trip

Talking about When You Want to Travel

Celebrating the Chinese Holidays

Where To? Deciding on a Destination

Passports and Visas: Don’t Leave Home without ’Em

Packing for Your Trip

Enlisting the Help of a Travel Agency

Chapter 15: Making Cents of Money

Staying Current with Chinese Currency

Rénmínbì (RMB) in the PRC

Xīn Táibì in the ROC

Hong Kong dollars

Singapore dollars

Exchanging Money

Spending Money

Using cash

Paying with plastic

Doing Your Banking

Making withdrawals and deposits

Accessing an ATM

Tips on Tipping

Chapter 16: Getting Around

Flying Around the Airport

Making it past the check-in counter

Boarding your flight

Going through customs

Navigating Around Town

Hailing a cab

Hopping on the bus

Riding the rails

Chapter 17: Asking for Directions

Avoiding 20 Questions: Just Ask “Where?”

Different strokes for different folks: Saying nǎr versus saying nǎlǐ

Getting direction about directions

Understanding the answers to “where” questions

Expressing Distances (Time and Space) with Lí

Using Ordinal Numbers to Clarify Points of Reference

Specifying Cardinal Points

Chapter 18: Finding a Place to Stay

Making a Room Reservation

Checking In Before You Hit the Pool

Taking Advantage of Hotel Service

Counting on convenience

Getting problems fixed

Checking Out Before Heading Out

Chapter 19: Handling Emergencies

Calling for Help in Times of Need

Receiving Medical Care

Deciding whether to see a doctor

Describing what ails you

Discussing your medical history

Making a diagnosis

Treating yourself to better health

Calling the Police

Acquiring Legal Help

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Learn Chinese Quickly

Listen to Chinese-Language Tapes, CDs, and CD-ROMs

Check Out a Peking Opera Performance

Cook with a Wok

Shop for Food in Chinatown

Surf the Net

Watch Kung-Fu Flicks

Exchange Language Lessons

Make Chinese Friends

Study Chinese Calligraphy

Be Curious and Creative

Chapter 21: Ten Things Never to Do in China

Never Accept a Compliment Graciously

Never Make Someone Lose Face

Never Get Angry in Public

Never Address People by Their First Names First

Never Take Food with the Wrong End of Your Chopsticks

Never Drink Alcohol Without First Offering a Toast

Never Let Someone Else Pay the Bill Without Fighting for It

Never Show Up Empty-Handed

Never Accept Food, Drinks, or Gifts Without First Refusing a Few Times

Never Take the First “No, Thank You” Literally

Part V: Appendixes

Appendix B: Chinese Verbs

Appendix C: On the CD

Appendix D: Answer Key

Cheat Sheet

Download CD/DVD Content

Introduction

Globalization has made familiarity with other people, cultures, and languages not only preferable but also essential in the 21st century. With the help of the Internet, reaching out and touching someone on the other side of the earth has become as easy as clicking a mouse or using a smartphone. And yet nothing quite beats the excitement of a face-to-face encounter with someone who hails from the other side of the globe in his or her own language. Communication in cyberspace doesn’t even come close.

Whether you’re an inveterate traveler, going overseas for business, about to study overseas, interested in frequenting Chinatown, befriending a Chinese-speaking classmate or coworker, or just plain curious about China, Chinese For Dummies, 2nd Edition, can help you get acquainted with enough Chinese to carry on a decent conversation on any number of topics. You won’t become fluent instantly, of course, but this book helps you greet a stranger, buy a plane ticket, and order some food. It also gives you some invaluable cultural tips so that you can not only rattle off those newly acquired words and phrases but also back them up with the right behavior at the right time.

I designed this book to help guide you toward the successful use of one of the most difficult languages on earth. Chinese should also just be plain fun to learn.

About This Book

The good news is that you can use Chinese For Dummies, 2nd Edition, anytime, anywhere. No mandatory class sessions, no exams, and no homework assignments to dread. Need to get to a new city for a business meeting? Just turn to the chapter on travel to find out how to buy a plane ticket, get through customs, and get to the airport on time. Have to make a sudden trip to the doctor? Turn to the chapter on your health and figure out in advance how to tell your caregivers exactly what ails you.

The beauty of this book is that it can be all things to all people. You don’t have to memorize Chapter 5 before moving on to Chapter 6 if what Chapter 6 deals with is what you really need. Each chapter provides you with different bits of information about the Chinese language and highlights different parts of Chinese grammar. Read as much or as little as you want, as quickly or as slowly as you like. Whatever interests you is what you should focus on. And remember: You’re discovering a language that simultaneously represents one of the world’s oldest civilizations and one of its fastest growing economies in the 21st century.

Conventions Used in This Book

Pay attention to a few conventions that can help you navigate this book’s contents:

Chinese terms are set in boldface to make them stand out.

Pronunciations and meanings appear in parentheses immediately after the Chinese terms. The English translations are in italics.

This book uses the pīnyīn拼音 (pin-yin) (Literally: spelling the way it sounds) Romanization system of Chinese words. What does that mean? Well, if you go to China, you see signs in Chinese characters all around, but if you look for something in English, you may be hard pressed to find it. Whatever signs you see in Roman letters will be of pīnyīn, the Romanization system developed by the Communists in the 1950s, so seeing pīnyīn in this book is good practice for you.

In this edition of Chinese For Dummies, Chinese characters have been added in many places and appear after the initial transliteration from the pīnyīn. Chinese characters are fun to try to decipher. The Chinese have been working at precisely that for thousands of years, especially for the more complicated characters that took as many as 20 separate strokes of the traditional Chinese writing brush to create.

Lucky for you, many of the more complicated Chinese characters were simplified in the early 20th century to make them easier to read and write, and these are used in mainland China today. (You can read more about Chinese characters in Chapter 2.) The original (or traditional) characters are still used in Taiwan. In this book, simplified characters appear first, followed in parentheses by the traditional characters. Characters that were never simplified don’t have any separate notation in parentheses.

Another thing you should keep in mind as you begin to understand Chinese is that many of the English translations you see in this book aren’t exactly literal. Knowing the gist of what you hear or see is more important than knowing what individual words in any given phrase mean. For example, the Chinese phrase meaning so-so literally translates as horse horse tiger tiger even though you’re not actually talking about animals. Whenever I give a literal translation, I preface it with “Literally.”

The following elements in this book help reinforce the new terms and phrases you’re studying:

Talkin’ the Talk dialogues: Nothing beats seeing and hearing an actual conversation to learn Chinese, so I intersperse dialogues throughout the book under the heading “Talkin’ the Talk.” They show you the Chinese words, the pronunciations, and the English translations, and I often put cultural do’s and don’ts into context, which should come in handy. Many of these dialogues appear in the accompanying audio tracks so you can practice the sentences after you hear how they should sound. With the tonal nature of the Chinese language, this feature is indispensable as you learn Chinese.

Words to Know blackboards: These boxes come after the Talkin’ the Talk dialogues and highlight important words from each dialogue.

Fun & Games activities: Working through word games can be a fun way to review the words and phrases you encounter in each chapter. This element is a great way to gauge your progress and tease your brain at the same time. Look for these activities at the end of each chapter.

Foolish Assumptions

Some of the foolish assumptions I made about you while writing Chinese For Dummies, 2nd Edition, are that

You don’t know any Chinese, except for maybe a couple of words you picked up from a good kung-fu movie or the word tofu, which you picked up while grocery shopping.

Your goal in life isn’t to become an interpreter of Chinese at the U.N.; you just want to pick up some useful words, phrases, and sentence constructions to make yourself understood in a Chinese-speaking environment.

You have no intention of spending hours and hours memorizing Chinese vocabulary and grammar patterns.

You basically want to have fun while speaking a little Chinese.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided by topic into parts, chapters, and appendixes. Each part focuses on one aspect of the Chinese language, and the chapters cover different useful topics, such as how to dine at a restaurant, how to handle emergencies, or how to plan a vacation. The following sections tell you what types of information you can expect to find in each part.

Part I: Getting Started

This part familiarizes you with some basics of Chinese: how to pronounce words, how to create the proper pitch (also known as tone) for each word, and so on. Because Chinese is a tonal language, if you pronounce a word with an incorrect tone, you may say a whole different word. Sometimes the only way to know whether you’ve said something you didn’t intend is by the look on the listener’s face, so you should pay particular attention to the tones as you speak.

Part II: Chinese in Action

In this part, you really begin to use Chinese. Instead of focusing strictly on grammar, this part helps guide you through everyday situations that you encounter while meeting people, eating at restaurants, going shopping, or yakking on the phone.

Part III: Chinese on the Go

This part of the book gives you the tools you need to use Chinese in any number of practical real-world settings. You find out how to change money, how to ask for directions, how to book a room at a hotel, and how to tell a doctor what ails you. Whether your travels take you all the way to Shanghai or just to your cubicle at work is up to you.

Part IV: The Part of Tens

This part begins with some tips on how to learn Chinese quickly, and it offers reminders of what not to do in a Chinese setting.

Part V: Appendixes

This part contains helpful references that you may want to refer to occasionally as you snoop through the rest of the chapters. Appendix A is a handy mini-dictionary of both Chinese to English and English to Chinese. Feel free to check this section when you encounter unfamiliar words on a need-to-know basis. Appendix B contains a useful verb list, which can help in any setting. Appendix C provides a list of the audio tracks that come with this book. This appendix comes in handy when you’re ready to hear a selection of the Talkin’ the Talk dialogues from the book. Finally, Appendix D contains the answers to the Fun & Games exercises at the end of each chapter.

Icons Used in This Book

Cute little icons occasionally appear in the left-hand margins, next to sidebars, and with the Talkin’ the Talk dialogues throughout this book. These beacons shed light on what kind of information you’re looking at and can help you locate certain types of information in a hurry. The six icons used in this book are as follows:

The bull’s-eye appears wherever I’ve highlighted a great idea to help make your study of Chinese easier.

This icon, appropriately showing a string around a finger, should serve as a reminder about particularly important information concerning Chinese.

The bomb in this icon should act as a stop sign in your mind. It warns you about things to avoid saying or doing so that you don’t make a fool of yourself overseas or with a new Chinese-speaking acquaintance.

This icon clues you in on fascinating bits of information about China and Chinese culture. Knowledge of a culture goes hand in hand with knowledge of a foreign language, so these icons help light the way as you embark on your journey.

This icon highlights various rules of grammar that may be out of the norm. Even though this book doesn’t focus primarily on grammar, your successful execution of the language can only be enhanced by paying attention to little grammatical rules as they pop up.

The audio tracks that come with this book give you the chance to hear native Chinese speakers so you can better understand the way Chinese really sounds. This opportunity proves especially helpful because of all the tones you have to keep in mind. This icon indicates the basic sounds and Talkin’ the Talk dialogues you can find in these tracks. Note: If you’re reading this text in an electronic format, please go to the table of contents for access to the additional content.

Where to Go from Here

Chinese is often considered one of the toughest languages in the world to master. Don’t worry. The good news is that you’re not trying to master it. All you want to do is be understandable when you open your mouth so that you don’t ask for the men’s room when you really want the ladies’ room. All you have to do now is keep listening to and repeating the words and phrases you find in this book. Turn to whichever chapter piques your curiosity, listen to the accompanying audio tracks at home or in your car, and keep practicing your favorite Chinese phrases when you’re with your family and friends in Chinatown.

Part I

Getting Started

In this part . . .

Part I warmly welcomes you to the Chinese language. I give you the lowdown on all the essentials of Chinese: how to pronounce Chinese sounds (and tones) like a native, how to read Chinese script, how to string Chinese words together so that they make sense, how to count in Chinese, how to speak Chinese around your home, and how to communicate in Chinese with all the cultural trimmings. Wŏmen kāishĭ ba! 我们开始吧! (我們開始吧!) (waw-mun kye-shir bah!) (Let’s begin!)

Chapter 1

Chinese in a Nutshell

In This Chapter

Getting a handle on basic Chinese sounds

Reading to communicate

Sounding fluent

Perfecting the four basic tones

Understanding basic Chinese idioms, phrases, and gestures

Time to get your feet wet with the basics of Chinese. This chapter gives you guidelines that help you pronounce words in standard Mandarin (the official language of both the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan) like a native speaker and helps you get a handle on the four tones that distinguish Mandarin Chinese. After you have the basics down, I show you how to construct basic Chinese phrases.

But before you dive in, here’s a bit of advice: Don’t be intimidated by all the tones! The best thing you can do when learning a foreign language is to not worry about making mistakes the minute you open your mouth. Practice speaking Chinese first to your dog or cat, and then work your way up to a couple of goldfish or a niece or nephew under the age of ten. When you finally get the nerve to rattle off a few phrases to your local Chinatown grocer, you’ll know you’ve made it. And when you visit China for the first time, you discover how incredibly appreciative the Chinese are of anyone who even remotely attempts to speak their language. All the hours you spent yakking away with the family pet start to pay off, and you’ll be rewarded greatly. Still have doubts? You’ll be amazed at how much you can say after snooping through Chinese For Dummies, 2nd Edition.

Encountering the Chinese culture is just as important as exploring the Chinese language. In fact, you can’t quite master the language without absorbing a little of the culture by osmosis. Just making the effort to speak Chinese is an act of positive diplomacy. Don’t worry about how you sound when you open your mouth — you’re contributing to international friendship no matter what comes out.

Grasping Chinese Dialects

Give yourself a big pat on the back right now. Yup, right now — before you even begin to utter one iota of Chinese. If you don’t do it now, you may be too shocked later on when it sinks in that you’ve taken on a language that has hundreds (yes, hundreds) of dialects — each one mutually incomprehensible to speakers of the other ones. Practically every major town, and certainly every province, in China has its own regional dialect that folks grow up learning. Of the seven major dialects (outlined in Table 1-1), Shanghainese, Taiwanese, and Cantonese are the ones you may have heard of before.

And then you have Mandarin, dialect of the masses. Mandarin Chinese is spoken by more people on earth than any other language today. Pretty much a quarter of humanity uses it, given China’s immense population. So just why was this particular dialect chosen to become the official dialect taught in all schools throughout China, regardless of whatever additional dialects people speak at home or in their communities?

With only four tones, Guānhuà 官话 () (gwan-hwah) ( [Literally: who were also known as Mandarins]) has served as the hybrid language of China since the 15th century because this dialect was based on the educated speech of the region around Beijing. Instead of referring to it as mainlanders in China now call it () (poo-toong-hwah) (Literally: ). People inTaiwan, in Hong Kong, and in overseas Chinese communities call it () (gwaw-yew) (Literally: ). You may also hear it referred to as (joong-one) () and () (hahn-yew) (), because the Chinese have often referred to themselves as descendants of the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), one of the golden eras of Chinese history. Because Chinese is the language of ethnic Chinese and China’s minority groups, the more all-encompassing term is preferred.