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ОглавлениеA Guide for Learners of Chinese
This dictionary is for learners of Chinese as a foreign or second language. It is designed to be a teaching/learning aid to the growing communities of teaching and learning the language. More specifically, this dictionary aims to help those learners who wish to sit for the New Chinese Proficiency Test (New HSK 新汉语水平考试), the Chinese government-sponsored, international standardized test, as it gives detailed treatment of all the 5,000 words in the prescribed Word Lists from Level 1 to Level 6. A further 1,000 very useful words are covered in the dictionary to allow for flexibility of the vocabulary requirement of the HSK.
In the following pages I offer the essentials of the Chinese language and, along the way, advice on how to make the best use of this dictionary.
1 PronunciaTion
1.1 The Pinyin romanization System
The pronunciation of Chinese words is transcribed in this dictionary using the internationally recognized Chinese romanization scheme called pinyin. Every Chinese word in this dictionary is accompanied by its pinyin spelling so users will know how it is pronounced.
Pronouncing Chinese syllables normally involves three elements: vowels, consonants and tones. Modern standard Chinese, known as Putonghua, uses about 419 syllables without tones and 1,332 syllables with tones.
1.2 Vowels
1.2.1 Single Vowels
There are seven basic single vowels:
| a | similar to a in ah |
| e | similar to a in ago |
| ê | similar to e in ebb (this sound never occurs alone and is transcribed as e, as in ei, ie, ue) |
| i | similar to ee in cheese (spelled y when not preceded by a consonant) |
| o | similar to oe in toe |
| u | similar to oo in boot (spelled w when not preceded by a consonant) |
| ü | similar to German ü in über or French u in tu; or you can also get ü by saying i and rounding your lips at the same time (spelled u after j, q, x; spelled yu when not preceded by a consonant) |
1.2.2 Vowel combinations
These single vowels enter into combinations with each other or the consonants of n or ng to form what are technically known as diphthongs. These combinations are pronounced as a single sound, with a little more emphasis on the first part of the sound.
You can learn these combinations in four groups:
| Group 1: | diphthongs starting with a/e/ê |
| ai | similar to y in my |
| ao | similar to ow in how |
| an | |
| ang | |
| en | |
| eng | |
| ei | similar to ay in may |
| Group 2: | diphthongs starting with i |
| ia | |
| ie | similar to ye in yes |
| iao | |
| iou | similar to you (spelled iu when preceded by a consonant) |
| ian | |
| ien | similar to in (spelled in when preceded by a consonant) |
| ieng | similar to En in English (spelled ing when preceded by a consonant) |
| iang | similar to young |
| iong | |
| Group 3: | diphthongs starting with u/o |
| ua | |
| uo | |
| uai | similar to why in British English |
| uei | similar to way (spelled ui when preceded by a consonant) |
| uan | |
| uen | (spelled un when preceded by a consonant) |
| ueng | |
| uang | |
| ong | |
| Group 4: | diphthongs starting with ü |
| üe | used only after j, q, x; spelled ue |
| üen | used only after j, q, x; spelled un |
| üan | used only after j, q, x; spelled uan |
1.3 consonants
Consonants may be grouped in the following ways.
Group 1: These consonants are almost the same in Chinese and English.
| CHINESE | ENGLISH |
| m | m |
| n | n |
| f | f |
| l | l |
| s | s |
| r | r |
| b | pronounced as hard p (as in speak) |
| p | p (as in peak) |
| g | pronounced as hard k (as in ski) |
| k | k (as in key) |
| d | pronounced as hard t (as in star) |
| t | t (as in tar) |
Group 2: Some modification is needed to get these Chinese sounds from English.
| CHINESE | eNGLISH |
| j | as j in jeep (but unvoiced, not round-lipped) |
| q | as ch in cheese (but not round-lipped) |
| x | as sh in sheep (but not round-lipped) |
| c | as ts as in cats (make it long) |
| z | as ds as in beds (but unvoiced, and make it long) |
Group 3: No English counterparts
Chinese zh, ch, and sh have no English counterparts. You can learn to say zh, ch and sh starting from z, c and s. For example, say s (which is almost the same as the English s in sesame) and then roll up your tongue to touch the roof of your mouth. You get sh.
1.4 Tones
Chinese is a tonal language, i.e. a sound pronounced in different tones is understood as different words. So the tone is an indispensable component of the pronunciation of a word.
1.4.1 Basic Tones
There are four basic tones. The following five-level pitch graph shows the values of the four tones:
The First Tone is a high, level tone and is represented as ¯, e.g. 妈 mā (meaning mother, mom).
The Second Tone is a high, rising tone and is represented by the tone mark , e.g. 麻 má (hemp or sesame).
The Third Tone is a falling and rising tone. As you can see from the pitch graph it falls from below the middle of the voice range to nearly the bottom and then rises to a point near the top. It is represented by the tone mark , e.g. 马 mǎ (horse).
The Fourth Tone is a falling tone. It falls from high to low and is represented by the tone mark , e.g. 骂 mà (curse).
In Chinese speech, as in English speech, some sounds are unstressed, i.e. pronounced short and soft. They do not have any of the four tones. Such sounds are said to have Neutral Tone. Sounds with the neutral tone are not marked. For example in 爸爸 bàba (daddy) the first syllable is pronounced in the fourth tone and the second syllable in the neutral tone, i.e. unstressed.
1.4.2 Tone Changes
Tones may undergo changes in actual speech (“tone sandhi”). The third tone, when followed by a first, second, fourth or neutral tone sound, loses its final rise and stops at the low pitch. Followed by another third tone sound, it becomes the second tone. This is a general rule and the notation of third tone sounds remains unchanged.
For example, in 所以 suǒyǐ (therefore, so), notation remains the third tone for both syllables, but the word is actually pronounced like suóyǐ.
Two important words 不 bù (no) and 一 yī (one) also undergo tone changes. You will find the details of their tone changes under these entries.
1.5 Syllables
1.5.1 Chinese Syllables: Distinct Units
Normally a consonant and a vowel merge to form a syllable in Chinese. Every syllable is a distinct unit in speech. Learners should say each syllable clearly and give full value to most syllables in speech. The general impression of Chinese speech, described in musical terms, is staccato rather than legato (which could be used to describe English).
1.5.2 Syllable Division Mark
As Chinese syllables are distinct units and should not be liaised with preceding or following syllables, a syllable division mark (’) is sometimes used to avoid confusion, e.g. shí’èr, píng’ān, tiān’é.
2 WRITTEN CHINESE
2.1 “Chinese characters,” a unique writing system
Chinese is not written in letters, like a, b, c, nor does it use an alphabet. Chinese is written in logograms, known as 汉字 (Hànzì) and generally referred to as “Chinese characters.” Each Chinese character is pronounced as a syllable and, with few exceptions, has distinctive meaning or meanings. Though there are tens of thousands of Chinese characters, only a couple of thousands are in frequent use – the first 1,000 Chinese characters cover about 90% of daily communication.
2.2 The composition of Chinese characters: Meaningful components
Chinese characters may be composed of parts, some of which convey certain meanings. The presence of such components gives you some clue to the meaning of characters. The ability to recognize these components is both useful and interesting. See List 1 Meaningful Character Components on page xvi.
2.3 The writing of Chinese characters
STROKES
Each Chinese character is written by a number of strokes, with the sole exception of 一 (which means “one”). The table below shows the basic strokes.
STROKE ORDER
For the character to look correct, its strokes should be written in the correct order. Knowing the order will also help you remember characters. The general rules of stroke order are as follows.
2.4 Simplified and Traditional characters
The Chinese government simplified hundreds of Chinese characters in mid-1950s by reducing the numbers of their strokes. Such simplified characters are called 简体字 jiǎntǐzì. This dictionary uses jiantizi. Traditional versions (also known as complicated characters) are still used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and they are shown where applicable, e.g.:
xué 学 Trad 學
3 VOCABULARY
3.1 Words in this Dictionary
This dictionary gives detailed description of the 5,000 words prescribed for Level 1 to Level 6 of the new chinese Proficiency Test (New HSK 新汉语水平考试 Xīn Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì), the Chinese government-sponsored, international standardized test. Over 1,000 more words are covered, to further develop learners’ vocabulary power.
3.2 The importance of chinese characters
Most Chinese words are made up of two or more characters; the component characters usually determine the meaning of words. It is widely accepted by teachers and students of Chinese that in order to understand the meaning of a word, one should first of all learn the meanings of its component characters. This dictionary treats Chinese characters as individual items and gives them clear definitions, with the exception of a very few which are not used alone in Modern Chinese.
3.3 Word-formation methods
Chinese words are very transparent, i.e. the way a word is formed tells a lot about its meaning. Therefore it is very helpful to know the ways words are formed, as it facilitates understanding of words and makes learning more interesting.
This dictionary analyzes word-formation methods of headwords, whenever it is practical to do so. We recognize five methods of word-formation.
compounding (shortened to “comp”): the components of a word are complementary to each other in meaning and are of the same status. For example:
cáifù 财富 [comp: 财 property, fortune + 富 riches] N wealth, fortune
Modification (“modif”): one component modifies the other. For example:
báitiān 白天 [modif: 白 white + 天 day] N daytime
Verb+object (“v+obj”): the word has a verb-and-object relationship. For example:
chànggē 唱歌 [v+obj: 唱 sing + 歌 song] V sing songs, sing
Verb+complementation (“v+compl”): the word has a verb-and-complement relationship, that is, the first component is a verb and the second one modifies it. For example:
kànjiàn 看见 [v+compl: 看 look + 见 see] V see, get sight of
Suffixation (“suffix”): the word contains a suffix. For example:
bēizi 杯子 [suffix: 杯 cup + 子 nominal suffix] N cup, mug, glass (只 zhī)
3.4 Definitions
In most cases English equivalents or near equivalents are given as definitions. For example:
bāngmáng 帮忙 V help, help out
For grammatical words that have no English equivalents, concise explanations are given in brackets. For example:
de 的 PARTICLE (attached to a word or phrase to indicate that it is an attribute. 的 de is normally followed by a noun.)
After the definition of a noun, the specific measure word used with the noun is shown, if it is one of headwords in the dictionary. For example:
diànnǎo 电脑 [modif: 电 electricity + 脑 brain] N computer (台 tái)
When no measure word is shown for a noun, you can use the default measure word 个 gè.
The dictionary also show antonyms after the definition of common adjectives and some nouns. For example:
gāo 高 ADJ tall, high (ANTONYMS 矮 ǎi, 低 dī)
3.5 Example Sentences
Words become really meaningful only when used in sentences. A major feature of this dictionary is the thousands of example sentences that amply illustrate the meaning and usage of words. Great attention was paid to the composition of the sentences to make sure they are
(1) idiomatic,
(2) communicatively useful, and
(3) within the controlled vocabulary of this dictionary.
These sentences are accompanied by their pinyin and English translations. In some cases a second translation is provided in brackets to aid comprehension and idiomatic expression.
All this makes this dictionary an essential aid to teaching and learning Chinese.
4 GRAMMAR: Main Features
4.1 Topic+Comment Structure
The basic principle in making Chinese sentences is to follow the “topic+comment” structure. “Topic” means the subject matter you want to talk about, and “comment” is the information you give about the subject matter. To make a Chinese sentence, you simply first mention the subject matter you want to talk about, and then say what you have to say about it. For example, you can say 这件事 zhè jiàn shì (this matter/affair) first as the “topic” and then add “comment”:
这件事 我不清楚。Zhè jiàn shì wǒ bù qīngchǔ. I’m not clear about this matter.
这件事 我很了解。Zhè jiàn shì wǒ hěn liǎojiě. I know this matter well.
这件事 谁都不知道。Zhè jiàn shì shuí dōu bù zhīdào. Nobody knows this matter.
这件事 我不感兴趣。Zhè jiàn shì wǒ bù gǎn xìngqu. I’m not interested in this matter.
这件事 最近社交网站都在谈。Zhè jiàn shì zuìjìn shèjiāo dōu zài tán. Social media are all talking about this matter these days.
4.2 Ellipsis of Sentence Elements
Chinese speakers may leave out words that are supposed to be understood, and therefore need not be spoken. Subjects and conjunctions are often omitted. For example, you may translate the English sentence If you like it, you may buy it, but if you don’t like it, you don’t have to. into the Chinese sentence 喜欢就买，不喜欢就别买。Xǐhuan jiù mǎi, bù xǐhuan jiù bié mǎi. Compare the two sentences, and you will find that some English words, such as if, you, it, and but are not translated.
4.3 Word Classes: Flexibility, No Inflection
Chinese words do not have inflections, i.e. they do not change to indicate grammatical categories. For example, the verb 做 zuò (to do) is invariably 做 zuò; there is no past form or any other inflected form of this verb. Neither do Chinese words normally have formal markers of word class. Consequently, it is rather easy for a word to be used in more than one word class. This relative flexibility in word classes, however, does not mean that Chinese does not have word classes (see Section 4.5).
4.4 Measure Words and Particles
Measure words (量词 liàngcí) and particles (助词 zhùcí) are two word classes found in Chinese but not in English and most other languages.
Measure words are usually required when a noun is modified by a numeral. For example, 两书 liǎng shū is unacceptable; you must use the measure word 本 běn between the numeral and the noun: 两本书 liǎng běn shū (two books). Furthermore, Chinese nouns require specific measure words to go with them. For example, the noun 书 shū (book) must be used with the measure word 本 běn. See List 2 Measure Words.
In Chinese grammar, particles are words attached to other words or at the end of a sentence to indicate grammatical concepts or to express emotions. For example, the particles 了 le, 着 zhe, 过 guo are attached to verbs to indicate, respectively, whether the actions denoted are completed, in progress or past experiences.
4.5 Word Classes
Following are brief explanations of the basic terms in Chinese grammar used in this dictionary. (A word of warning: it is a rather complicated matter to define grammatical terms accurately. Here we will be content with some very general but useful ideas.)
| ADJECTIVE | a describing word, a word that describes people, things or actions, typically used before a noun. |
| ADVERB | a word that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. |
| CONJUNCTION | a word used to link two words, phrases or sentences, indicating certain relationships between them. |
| IDIOM | a set phrase, the meaning of which cannot be readily derived from its components. |
| INTERJECTION | a word that expresses strong emotions. |
| MEASURE WORD | a word that connects a numeral to a noun. Measure words are a special feature of Chinese; a list of measure words is included in the front matter. |
| MODAL VERB | a word used before a verb to indicate necessity, possibility, willingness, etc. |
| NOUN | a naming word, a word that names people, animals, plants, things, ideas, etc. |
| NUMERAL | a word that represents a number, typically used with a noun. |
| ONOMATOPOEIA | a word that imitates the sounds of a thing or an action. |
| PARTICLE | a word used with another word, phrase, or sentence to indicate certain grammatical meanings or to express strong emotions. |
| PREPOSITION | a word used before a noun or pronoun to indicate time, place, direction, manner, reason of an action, etc. |
| PRONOUN | a word that is used in the place of a noun, a verb, an adjective, etc. |
| VERB | an action word, a word that indicates what somebody does or feels. |
5 CULTURAL AND USAGE NOTES
As a dictionary for learners rather than a mere wordlist, this dictionary goes out of its way to give essential information on cultural context, pronunciation, grammar and usage of words. For example:
lǐwù 礼物 [modif: 礼 gift + 物 thing] N gift, present (件 jiàn)
…
NOTE: Chinese modesty requires that you belittle your present, describing it as 一件小礼物 yí jiàn xiǎo lǐwù a small/insignificant gift. Upon receiving a present, it is bad manners to open it immediately. The recipient is first supposed to say 不用不用 búyòng búyòng You didn’t have to and then express thanks for the gift, describing it as 这么好的礼物 Zhème hǎo de lǐwù such a nice gift, e.g. ■ 谢谢你送给我这么好的礼物。Xièxie nǐ sònggei wǒ zhème hǎo de lǐwù. Thank you for giving me such a nice gift.
There are hundreds of such notes in the dictionary.
6 HOW TO LOOK UP A WORD IN THE DICTIONARY
6.1 By Pinyin romanization
This dictionary arranges headwords alphabetically according to pinyin. So if you know how a word is pronounced, you can find it easily, just the way you will look up an English word in an English dictionary.
6.2 By radical
Very often, however, you do not know the pronunciation of a word when you come across it in reading. In that case you can find it either by its radical or the number of its strokes.
Radicals (部首 bùshǒu) are certain component parts of characters that have been used in Chinese dictionary-making for nearly 2,000 years. Characters sharing a radical are grouped together under the heading of that radical. To find a character in a dictionary, follow these steps:
(i) In the List of radicals, look up the character’s radical according to the number of strokes in the radical. This gives a Radical Index number.
(ii) Turn to the number in the radical index
(iii) Locate the character according to the number of remaining strokes needed to write the character (i.e. number of total strokes minus radical strokes = remaining strokes). You will find the pinyin by the character.
For example, to find 活:
(i) The radical group of 活 is 氵, which has three strokes. In the List of radicals, look up 氵in the section marked “3 strokes”:
3 strokes
氵33
(ii) Turn to number 33 in the radical index.
(iii) As there are nine strokes in 活, and the radical has three strokes, six strokes remain to complete the character 活 (9 – 3 = 6). Look in the section “6 strokes” and locate 活:
6 strokes
活 huó
(iv) Turn to huó in the dictionary:
huó 活 …
6.3 By number of Strokes
Unfortunately, looking for a character by its radical is not an entirely satisfactory method as learners may not always know which part of the character is the radical. Therefore, this dictionary includes a Stroke index to aid the learner further. Simply look for the character according to the number of its strokes, and then locate the character by its first stroke.
For example, to find 活:
(i) There are nine strokes in 活. Go to the section of nine strokes.
9 strokes
(ii) As the first stroke of 活 is “ 、”, locate 活 under “、”.
、
…
活 huó
(iii) Turn to huó in the dictionary.
huó 活...
6.4 By English Meaning
To find out the Chinese equivalent or near-equivalent of an English word, use the English-Chinese Word Finder, which is practically a handy English-Chinese dictionary. Chinese equivalents or near-equivalents of over 6,000 English words are listed alphabetically in the Finder.
For example, to find out what airport is in Chinese, turn to “A” in the Finder and locate airport in the list of words beginning with “A”:
airport fēijī chǎng 飞机场 55, jīchǎng 机场 86The entry for 飞机场 fēijī chǎng is found on page 55 and the entry for 机场 jīchǎng, on page 86.
It is my firm belief that learners of Chinese will find this dictionary a valuable learning aid.
