This document provides an introduction to learning Chinese characters and pronunciation. It discusses that [1] Chinese characters are made up of basic building blocks similar to letters in the English alphabet, [2] understanding these basic blocks allows one to recognize enough characters to understand menus, and [3] in addition to reading, one needs to learn spoken Chinese to communicate through asking and answering questions. It encourages learning pronunciation through listening and repeating words without worrying about the technical aspects of tones at first.
2. Building blocks are a bit like the alphabet in English:
all the words and characters in Chinese are built up from
these 200 or so simple characters
(they are also very unlike the alphabet in other ways.
We will come onto that later)
3. Your understanding of Chinese can also be built up
from these basic blocks
Very quickly* you will recognise enough characters to
be able to make sense of a Chinese menu
*times will of course vary from person to person, but normally it takes a few hours of time on the course)
4. But characters are only one side of the Chinese language...
...as well as reading, you are also going to need to be able
to make yourself understood, ask questions and understand
the answers.
5. This course will teach you to do all of these:
Some levels will help you to read the characters on menus
(which is both what I found most important to be able to
read when in China, and is most likely to impress your
mates)
6. Other levels will build up your vocabulary of spoken
Chinese, and other levels again will teach you the questions
that you will need to ask to get around in China, and how
to answer them
7. In between the vocab levels there will be little slideshows
like this, that will give context and explain anything at all
complicated...
...but don’t worry - for all its reputation for being a difficult
language, Chinese is very simple in its grammar, so there
won’t be too much need for that!
8. The next level will introduce the basics of spoken Chinese
9. Before you do this, there are a three of things that you
should know:
First: Chinese is a tonal language
Second: the “tone” of each syllable is
shown by little lines above the vowels
Third: DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE
TONES!
10. I don’t mean that the tones of the words aren’t important:
They are.
11. I just mean that you don’t need to worry too much about
them:
When you learn each new word, be careful to listen hard
to the audio recording.
If you are in a private place, and/or can face the
embarrassment, try to repeat the word out loud, matching
the pronunciation as closely as you can
12. But don’t worry yourself about actually knowing what the
tone is supposed to be, or what “tones” are supposed to
represent *
Chinese children** can speak Chinese with faultless tones,
but they have no idea which word is supposed to be
which. They just copy what they hear.
*in truth, it still seems a bit of an odd concept to me, you can find out more about my thoughts on that on the blog
**and, in fact, in my own totally English daughter is a constant reminder of this - check out this blog post about her
experiences learning to speak Chinese.
13. So why not follow their example:
Copy the sounds, but don’t waste time worrying about
which type of tone it is.You can do that later in your
studies, if you really want to.
