Читать книгу Instant Chinese - Boye Lafayette De Mente - Страница 6

PREFACE

In 1949 the newly established Chinese government issued an edict making Mandarin the national language of the country and mandating that it be taught in all schools. Today, virtually all Chinese speak Mandarin Chinese, known as putonghua (puutoong-whah) or “the common language,” as their first or second language.

This book uses English phonetics to represent the syllables making up Mandarin Chinese, making it possible for total newcomers to the language to communicate quickly and easily on a basic level without any previous introduction to the language.

This approach does not take into account the four “tones” that are part of Mandarin. But not all of the words in the language are spoken in tones, and the phonetic versions presented here are close enough to the “correct” pronunciation that the meaning is generally understandable.

With eight major “dialects” in China [some are actually different enough to be called languages!], the Chinese are used to coping with a variety of accents and variations in the tonal quality of speakers. They are especially tolerant of foreigners who make an effort to speak Chinese, and go out of their way to help them.

Here are a number of important introductory terms to get you started, keeping in mind that the phonetics are designed to be pronounced as English:

China	Zhongguo (Johng-gwoh) 中国
Chinese Language	Hanyu (Hahn-yuu) 汉语 or Zhongwen (Johng-wern)* 中文

* Hanyu is the literary term for the Chinese language; Zhongwen is the term generally used in ordinary speech.

Chinese (person)	Zhongguoren (Johng-gwah-wren) 中国人
Beijinger	Beijingren (Bay-jeeng-wren) 北京人
Shanghaiese	Shanghairen (Shanghai-wren) 上海人
Overseas Chinese	Hua Qiao (Hwah Chiaow) 华侨
Hong Kong	Xiang Guang (She-ahng Gahng) 香港
Kowloon	Jiulong (Jow-lohng) 九龙
Macao	Aomen (Ow-mern) 澳门