The fun part of learning any language.. learning Chinese grammar rules! The rules you must follow to properly speak the Chinese language. But don’t worry about how hard learning Chinese Grammar might feel at first. Learning Chinese grammar rules is one of the most effective ways to speed up your ability to speak the Chinese language. Keep in mind this is just a basic introduction to understanding how Chinese grammar works.
Chinese Grammar Rules: Sentence Structure
• A lot of learning how to speak Mandarin is encoded in learning Chinese sentence structure. Some state Mandarin Chinese grammar is simple but it’s really not.
Chinese Sentence Structure
Chinese Grammar Rules: Nouns and Pronouns
Chinese Noun Examples
• Context is the only way to tell if a Chinese Noun is singular or plural. • Chinese has single pronunciations for common pronouns such as “he”, “she”, or “it”. • The context of the sentence is very important when figuring out the “gender” in which the pronoun or noun is referring to. • Chinese nouns have formal and informal ways of speaking and writing them.
Chinese Grammar Rules: Verbs
• Chinese Verbs have no tense. Verbs only have one form regardless of the time it’s performed. • To indicate the time of the action such as “yesterday”, “today” and “tomorrow”. The words are added either before or after the subject. • Conjugating and irregular have no part in Chinese. • Two or more verbs can stack in Chinese Grammar, as Verbal complements(after the main verb) or as coverbs(before the main verb)
Chinese Grammar Rules: Adjectives
Chinese Adjective Examples
An adverb and an adjective in combination are ordinarily treated as a phrase and written as two units. Some adverb + adjective constructions, however, undergo a change in meaning so that they express a single concept rather than two independent concepts; such transformed adverb + adjective constructions are considered single words and written as single units.
Within any language or language there may be significant changes in speech, vocabulary, and pronunciation. The term used to describe these changes is called a dialect. Some words or phrases that exist in one dialect may exist or be absent from different dialect. The most common Chinese dialects Mandarin Chinese. Mandarin Chinese is the most understood of the Chinese Dialects with nearly a billion speakers worldwide.
How many chinese dialects? 10
List of Chinese Dialects
Mandarin Chinese – Official Dialect of the Republic of China and makes up the largest Dialect of spoken Chinese in northern to southwestern China.
Gan Chinese – A dialect closely related to the Hakka dialect.
Jin Chinese Spoken in parts of Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan, and Mongolia. This dialect is sometimes classified as a dialect of Mandarin.
Xiang Chinese – Spoken mainly in Hunan. Heavy influenced Mandarin.
Hakka Chinese – Spoken by a cultural group of people descended from the refugees from North China.
Wu Chinese – Spoken in the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the municipality of Shanghai.
Hui Chinese – Spoken in the southern parts of Anhui. Used to be considered a sub-dialect of Wu, now is own dialect.
Ping Chinese – Spoken in parts of the Guangxi. Sometimes classed as of Cantonese.
Yue Chinese – Spoken in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau, parts of Southeast Asia
Min Chinese – Spoken in Fujian, Taiwan, parts of Southeast Asia particularly Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore. Has seven subgroups.
Different Chinese Dialects of the Chinese language are spoken in many different nations and regions around the world, most commonly throughout northern Asia. However, the differences in regional Chinese dialects may not make one Chinese speaker nearly incomprehensible to another. In most cases, the different Chinese dialects don’t have a specific written form of the language, but there’s usually a certain amount of literature that accompanies each Chinese dialects.
Interested in further study into Chinese or confused on where to start? I recommend reading our Chinese Beginners Guide
Because Chinese doesn’t have a real alphabet in the standard sense. Chinese Pinyin is a system used to teach Chinese Characters into romanized Latin script that means “spelled sound”. Each Syllable is made up of Sheng and a yun. Sheng is the consonant that begins the syllable• Yun follows the Sheng and is usually a vowel sound. It’ll take a while to learn Chinese Characters since there are more than four hundred exist in the Chinese language. And that doesn’t count the various tonal variations. The overall total of possible combinations leaves Mandarin Chinese with total of 1600(400 base combinations characters with 4 tones each) unique syllables.
The standard Chinese dialect of Mandarin Chinese has four tonal marks that radically change the meaning of the word and crucial when you learn Chinese Pinyin. Theses are indicated by marks over the vowels or by using numbers along with the Chinese Pinyin.
Pronouncing Chinese Tones Level – This tone is pronounced high and level. Almost monotone. Rising – This tone has a increase in pitch. Departing – This tone sounds like it’s “dipping”. Falls and Rises again. Entering – This tone starts out high then drops in tone.
Chinese Pinyin Tonal Marks
When trying to learn Chinese Pinyin. You must pay attention to Tonal marks because they can change the word from one meaning to a whole completely different meaning. Example of how changing the tonal marks changes the meaning of the Chinese Character.
Chinese Tone Examples
I put together a directory for you to start to learn Chinese Pinyin characters. Sorted by tone alphabetically. I also split “c”, “s”, and “z” each into separate pages to cut down on the size of the images and make it more organized.
Learn Chinese Pinyin is extremely important when it comes to learning to write and read Chinese Characters. So make sure to practice pronouncing and writing Chinese Pinyin whenever you can. As many times as you can.
Three Ways To Make Learning Chinese Script Easier
Learning Chinese script isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Having had friends who studied Chinese, in fact, I know it’s a downright challenge.
The difficult thing about Chinese script is it consists of a multitude of complex characters, each of which represents a unique combination of sound and meaning. Know how you only need to memorize 24 letters of the alphabet and 10 numeric digits to read an English book with some amount of competency? With Chinese, you need to commit a minimum of 4,000 hanzi characters to memory to read Modern Standard Chinese.
Here are a few ways to help ease the learning process:
Learn what the individual character components represent. Most Chinese characters are made up of components that stand for either physical things or abstract concepts. Learning what each of those components stand for can help you memorize and identify characters much easier.
Use flash cards to help you memorize. On one side of each card, write the Chinese character. On the other, write its pronunciation, meaning and a sample word that uses it. Check these flash cards regularly — you’ll need plenty of work to get to that 4,000 minimum.
Keep notes. On your journal, write down new characters and components you encounter, along with their meaning. This should make it easier to see patterns, allowing you to competently guess the meaning of new characters you come across.
Interested in further study into Chinese or confused on where to start? I recommend reading our Chinese Beginners Guide
This guide was written for Chinese Beginners that don’t know where to start learning Mandarin Chinese.
Why Learn Chinese?
Mandarin Chinese is currently ranked first as the most spoken language in the world with nearly an estimated billion speakers in China, Taiwan, and other parts of the world.
The most spoken Chinese dialect is the Mandarin dialect, which is understood by the vast majority of Chinese Speakers.
Chinese Beginners Guide Menu
So how to start learning Chinese?
Actually learning Chinese and able to speak Chinese isn’t very hard. A few tips below will help improve your Chinese skills step by step.
– You need to find a motive why you want to learn Chinese, and how long, how often you speak Chinese? E.g. : My colleague wanted to be a part time translator so he signed up for a Chinese course. My student had a Chinese girl friend and wanted to communicate with her and her parent in Asia. It all depends what motivates you to learn Chinese and always remember your motive.
– Use 20 minutes a day, to learn new words and practice the previous chapter, pronounce it out loud so you’ll remember them.
– Find a local group, or friends who are able to speak Chinese, go out with them more often and learn from them. You need a partner so you can improve your oral skills.
– Learn to speak and understand Chinese is easy, but writing and pronounce it accurately would be the harder part.
– There’s no faster way to master Chinese Language, because it has totally no connection with French, Italian or Spanish. Chinese characters itself has more than 3000 kinds of it and each has its own meaning. Combining 2 character will form another meaning. If you wan to master Chinese language, go to the resource box below and you can find how to master them well.
Chinese Language Learning Tips
Actually learning Chinese and able to speak Chinese isn’t very hard. A few tips below will help improve your Chinese skills step by step.
– You need to find a motive why you want to learn Chinese, and how long, how often you speak Chinese? E.g. : My colleague wanted to be a part time translator so he signed up for a Chinese course. My student had a Chinese girl friend and wanted to communicate with her and her parent in Asia. It all depends what motivates you to learn Chinese and always remember your motive.
– Use 20 minutes a day, to learn new words and practice the previous chapter, pronounce it out loud so you’ll remember them.
– Find a local group, or friends who are able to speak Chinese, go out with them more often and learn from them. You need a partner so you can improve your oral skills.
– Learn to speak and understand Chinese is easy, but writing and pronounce it accurately would be the harder part.
– There’s no faster way to master Chinese Language, because it has totally no connection with French, Italian or Spanish. Chinese characters itself has more than 3000 kinds of it and each has its own meaning. Combining 2 character will form another meaning.
Chinese Alphabet
Learning to read the Chinese Alphabet should be the first stop for Chinese beginners. It’s important to understand that there isn’t exactly a Chinese alphabet. Chinese uses Chinese characters to represent ideas.
Chinese Numbers
Understanding how to write Chinese numbers should take very little time and effort to learn.
Chinese numbers are written from Left to Right like English numbers.
Although the Chinese symbol for zero appears above, it’s only used when it comes to money.
You write the base Chinese Number then what I call a “multiplier” if the number is above ten. Here are a couple of examples to demonstrate what I mean.
It’s actually pretty straightforward when it comes to learning how to use the Chinese number system. Pronouncing Chinese straightforward easier. Because they follow the exact same pattern in the above example.
To illustrate what I mean, here are Chinese numbers 1 to 100.
Chinese numbers 1 to 100
You really just need to memorize how to pronounce the base Chinese Numbers then you can easily pronounce any Chinese number. I personally choose to remember that Chinese numbers follow a “number-position” type pattern. Example of what I mean..
Understanding how to write Chinese numbers is really that easy to learn. Should only take you an hour or two to fully memorizes the Chinese number system.
Chinese Vocabulary and Phrases
The logical next step after learning the Chinese Alphabet for Chinese beginners would be to start developing your Chinese vocabulary with Chinese words and phrases. I put together two posts of Chinese vocabulary and one post of Chinese phrases for Chinese beginners to start building their knowledge of Chinese Words and Phrases.
Chinese Grammar
The Chinese grammar rules you must follow and understand to properly speak the Chinese language.
Learning to understand Mandarin Chinese sentence structure isn’t simple to grasp.
To narrow it down you can say it follows a Subject-Verb-Object pattern. Chinese nouns have formal and informal ways of speaking and writing nouns and pronouns. Context plays a major role in figuring out what tense Chinese Verbs refer to. Two or more verbs can stack in Chinese Grammar, as Verbal complements(after the main verb) or as coverbs(before the main verb).
Because Chinese doesn’t have a real alphabet in the standard sense. Chinese Pinyin is a system used to teach Chinese Characters into romanized Latin script that means “spelled sound”. Each Syllable is made up of Sheng and a yun. Sheng is the consonant that begins the syllable• Yun follows the Sheng and is usually a vowel sound. It’ll take a while to learn Chinese Characters since there are more than four hundred exist in the Chinese language. And that doesn’t count the various tonal variations. The overall total of possible combinations leaves Mandarin Chinese with total of 1600(400 base combinations characters with 4 tones each) unique syllables.
The standard Chinese dialect of Mandarin Chinese has four tonal marks that radically change the meaning of the word and crucial when you learn Chinese Pinyin. Theses are indicated by marks over the vowels or by using numbers along with the Chinese Pinyin.
Chinese Pinyin Tonal Marks
Pronouncing Chinese Tones Level – This tone is pronounced high and level. Almost monotone. Rising – This tone has a increase in pitch. Departing – This tone sounds like it’s “dipping”. Falls and Rises again. Entering – This tone starts out high then drops in tone.
When trying to learn Chinese Pinyin. You must pay attention to Tonal marks because they can change the word from one meaning to a whole completely different meaning. Example of how changing the tonal marks changes the meaning of the Chinese Character.
I put together a directory for you to start to learn Chinese Pinyin characters. Sorted by tone alphabetically. I also split “c”, “s”, and “z” each into separate pages to cut down on the size of the images and make it more organized.
Learn Chinese Pinyin is extremely important when it comes to learning to write and read Chinese Characters. So make sure to practice pronouncing and writing Chinese Pinyin whenever you can. As many times as you can.
Chinese Grammar Rules
The fun part of learning any language.. learning Chinese grammar rules! The rules you must follow to properly speak the Chinese language. But don’t worry about how hard learning Chinese Grammar might feel at first. Learning Chinese grammar rules is one of the most effective ways to speed up your ability to speak the Chinese language. Keep in mind this is just a basic introduction to understanding how Chinese grammar works.
Chinese Grammar Rules: Sentence Structure
• A lot of learning how to speak Mandarin is encoded in learning Chinese sentence structure. Some state Mandarin Chinese grammar is simple but it’s really not.
Chinese Sentence Structure
Chinese Grammar Rules: Nouns and Pronouns
Chinese Noun Examples
• Context is the only way to tell if a Chinese Noun is singular or plural. • Chinese has single pronunciations for common pronouns such as “he”, “she”, or “it”. • The context of the sentence is very important when figuring out the “gender” in which the pronoun or noun is referring to. • Chinese nouns have formal and informal ways of speaking and writing them.
Chinese Grammar Rules: Verbs
• Chinese Verbs have no tense. Verbs only have one form regardless of the time it’s performed. • To indicate the time of the action such as “yesterday”, “today” and “tomorrow”. The words are added either before or after the subject. • Conjugating and irregular have no part in Chinese. • Two or more verbs can stack in Chinese Grammar, as Verbal complements(after the main verb) or as coverbs(before the main verb)
Chinese Grammar Rules: Adjectives
Chinese Adjective Examples
• An adverb and an adjective in combination are ordinarily treated as a phrase and written as two units. Some adverb + adjective constructions, however, undergo a change in meaning so that they express a single concept rather than two independent concepts; such transformed adverb + adjective constructions are considered single words and written as single units.
Learning Chinese grammar rules can be considered the cornerstone of the language and will take some time to learn but creates a sturdy foundation to help you completely learn Chinese in no time. Take the time to let these points soak in, then build on them as you continue your Chinese studies. Good luck, and have fun learning Chinese
Chinese vocabulary lists to help start you on your way to learning Chinese vocabulary.
Your Chinese vocabulary should begin with words you could use in your daily life and should be familiar with already. Below are some useful Chinese vocabulary and expressions for Continents, Weather, Anatomy, Home/Rooms, Vehicles, and Countries from around the world.
Depending on where you live. You are taught a little differently when it comes to continents, if you’re an American like me, you were taught 7 continents. In parts of Europe, some are taught 5-6 continents instead. Either merging Europe and Asia as Eurasia and combining North and South America as one continent.
Chinese Words for Home / RoomsChinese Words for WeatherChinese Words for AnatomyChinese Words for Times / DayChinese Words for Seasons / YearsChinese Words for ProfessionsChinese Words for Months / YearsChinese Words for AnimalsChinese Words for ColoursChinese Words for Days WeekChinese Words for FamilyChinese Words for Meal Times Food
Consider Using a Language Learning Program
Try Language Software
If you are really serious about learning Chinese and want to maximize your time then you should consider using a Chinese language course to further aid you in your quest to learn French. There are several great programs out there that deliver a great language learning experience. The advantages of a language learning program is the organization and having a next step already lined up. Most break down the lessons into 30-minute intervals that can fit into any type of schedule. Flexible to retry a lesson to make sure you understand what you are learning and give you confidence in succeeding.
Examples of great Chinese language programs can be found below.
This guide was written for Chinese Beginners that don’t know where to start learning Mandarin Chinese.
Why Learn Chinese?
Mandarin Chinese is currently ranked first as the most spoken language in the world with nearly an estimated billion speakers in China, Taiwan, and other parts of the world.
The most spoken Chinese dialect is the Mandarin dialect, which is understood by the vast majority of Chinese Speakers.
Chinese Beginners Guide Menu
So how to start learning Chinese?
Actually learning Chinese and able to speak Chinese isn’t very hard. A few tips below will help improve your Chinese skills step by step.
– You need to find a motive why you want to learn Chinese, and how long, how often you speak Chinese? E.g. : My colleague wanted to be a part time translator so he signed up for a Chinese course. My student had a Chinese girl friend and wanted to communicate with her and her parent in Asia. It all depends what motivates you to learn Chinese and always remember your motive.
– Use 20 minutes a day, to learn new words and practice the previous chapter, pronounce it out loud so you’ll remember them.
– Find a local group, or friends who are able to speak Chinese, go out with them more often and learn from them. You need a partner so you can improve your oral skills.
– Learn to speak and understand Chinese is easy, but writing and pronounce it accurately would be the harder part.
– There’s no faster way to master Chinese Language, because it has totally no connection with French, Italian or Spanish. Chinese characters itself has more than 3000 kinds of it and each has its own meaning. Combining 2 character will form another meaning. If you wan to master Chinese language, go to the resource box below and you can find how to master them well.
Chinese Language Learning Tips
Actually learning Chinese and able to speak Chinese isn’t very hard. A few tips below will help improve your Chinese skills step by step.
– You need to find a motive why you want to learn Chinese, and how long, how often you speak Chinese? E.g. : My colleague wanted to be a part time translator so he signed up for a Chinese course. My student had a Chinese girl friend and wanted to communicate with her and her parent in Asia. It all depends what motivates you to learn Chinese and always remember your motive.
– Use 20 minutes a day, to learn new words and practice the previous chapter, pronounce it out loud so you’ll remember them.
– Find a local group, or friends who are able to speak Chinese, go out with them more often and learn from them. You need a partner so you can improve your oral skills.
– Learn to speak and understand Chinese is easy, but writing and pronounce it accurately would be the harder part.
– There’s no faster way to master Chinese Language, because it has totally no connection with French, Italian or Spanish. Chinese characters itself has more than 3000 kinds of it and each has its own meaning. Combining 2 character will form another meaning.
Chinese Alphabet
Learning to read the Chinese Alphabet should be the first stop for Chinese beginners. It’s important to understand that there isn’t exactly a Chinese alphabet. Chinese uses Chinese characters to represent ideas.
Chinese Numbers
Understanding how to write Chinese numbers should take very little time and effort to learn.
Chinese numbers are written from Left to Right like English numbers.
Although the Chinese symbol for zero appears above, it’s only used when it comes to money.
You write the base Chinese Number then what I call a “multiplier” if the number is above ten. Here are a couple of examples to demonstrate what I mean.
It’s actually pretty straightforward when it comes to learning how to use the Chinese number system. Pronouncing Chinese straightforward easier. Because they follow the exact same pattern in the above example.
To illustrate what I mean, here are Chinese numbers 1 to 100.
Chinese numbers 1 to 100
You really just need to memorize how to pronounce the base Chinese Numbers then you can easily pronounce any Chinese number. I personally choose to remember that Chinese numbers follow a “number-position” type pattern. Example of what I mean..
Understanding how to write Chinese numbers is really that easy to learn. Should only take you an hour or two to fully memorizes the Chinese number system.
Chinese Vocabulary and Phrases
The logical next step after learning the Chinese Alphabet for Chinese beginners would be to start developing your Chinese vocabulary with Chinese words and phrases. I put together two posts of Chinese vocabulary and one post of Chinese phrases for Chinese beginners to start building their knowledge of Chinese Words and Phrases.
Chinese Grammar
The Chinese grammar rules you must follow and understand to properly speak the Chinese language.
Learning to understand Mandarin Chinese sentence structure isn’t simple to grasp.
To narrow it down you can say it follows a Subject-Verb-Object pattern. Chinese nouns have formal and informal ways of speaking and writing nouns and pronouns. Context plays a major role in figuring out what tense Chinese Verbs refer to. Two or more verbs can stack in Chinese Grammar, as Verbal complements(after the main verb) or as coverbs(before the main verb).
Because Chinese doesn’t have a real alphabet in the standard sense. Chinese Pinyin is a system used to teach Chinese Characters into romanized Latin script that means “spelled sound”. Each Syllable is made up of Sheng and a yun. Sheng is the consonant that begins the syllable• Yun follows the Sheng and is usually a vowel sound. It’ll take a while to learn Chinese Characters since there are more than four hundred exist in the Chinese language. And that doesn’t count the various tonal variations. The overall total of possible combinations leaves Mandarin Chinese with total of 1600(400 base combinations characters with 4 tones each) unique syllables.
The standard Chinese dialect of Mandarin Chinese has four tonal marks that radically change the meaning of the word and crucial when you learn Chinese Pinyin. Theses are indicated by marks over the vowels or by using numbers along with the Chinese Pinyin.
Chinese Pinyin Tonal Marks
Pronouncing Chinese Tones Level – This tone is pronounced high and level. Almost monotone. Rising – This tone has a increase in pitch. Departing – This tone sounds like it’s “dipping”. Falls and Rises again. Entering – This tone starts out high then drops in tone.
When trying to learn Chinese Pinyin. You must pay attention to Tonal marks because they can change the word from one meaning to a whole completely different meaning. Example of how changing the tonal marks changes the meaning of the Chinese Character.
I put together a directory for you to start to learn Chinese Pinyin characters. Sorted by tone alphabetically. I also split “c”, “s”, and “z” each into separate pages to cut down on the size of the images and make it more organized.
Learn Chinese Pinyin is extremely important when it comes to learning to write and read Chinese Characters. So make sure to practice pronouncing and writing Chinese Pinyin whenever you can. As many times as you can.
Chinese Grammar Rules
The fun part of learning any language.. learning Chinese grammar rules! The rules you must follow to properly speak the Chinese language. But don’t worry about how hard learning Chinese Grammar might feel at first. Learning Chinese grammar rules is one of the most effective ways to speed up your ability to speak the Chinese language. Keep in mind this is just a basic introduction to understanding how Chinese grammar works.
Chinese Grammar Rules: Sentence Structure
• A lot of learning how to speak Mandarin is encoded in learning Chinese sentence structure. Some state Mandarin Chinese grammar is simple but it’s really not.
Chinese Sentence Structure
Chinese Grammar Rules: Nouns and Pronouns
Chinese Noun Examples
• Context is the only way to tell if a Chinese Noun is singular or plural. • Chinese has single pronunciations for common pronouns such as “he”, “she”, or “it”. • The context of the sentence is very important when figuring out the “gender” in which the pronoun or noun is referring to. • Chinese nouns have formal and informal ways of speaking and writing them.
Chinese Grammar Rules: Verbs
• Chinese Verbs have no tense. Verbs only have one form regardless of the time it’s performed. • To indicate the time of the action such as “yesterday”, “today” and “tomorrow”. The words are added either before or after the subject. • Conjugating and irregular have no part in Chinese. • Two or more verbs can stack in Chinese Grammar, as Verbal complements(after the main verb) or as coverbs(before the main verb)
Chinese Grammar Rules: Adjectives
Chinese Adjective Examples
• An adverb and an adjective in combination are ordinarily treated as a phrase and written as two units. Some adverb + adjective constructions, however, undergo a change in meaning so that they express a single concept rather than two independent concepts; such transformed adverb + adjective constructions are considered single words and written as single units.
Learning Chinese grammar rules can be considered the cornerstone of the language and will take some time to learn but creates a sturdy foundation to help you completely learn Chinese in no time. Take the time to let these points soak in, then build on them as you continue your Chinese studies. Good luck, and have fun learning Chinese
Chinese vocabulary lists to help start you on your way to learning Chinese vocabulary.
Your Chinese vocabulary should begin with words you could use in your daily life and should be familiar with already. Below are some useful Chinese vocabulary and expressions for Continents, Weather, Anatomy, Home/Rooms, Vehicles, and Countries from around the world.
Depending on where you live. You are taught a little differently when it comes to continents, if you’re an American like me, you were taught 7 continents. In parts of Europe, some are taught 5-6 continents instead. Either merging Europe and Asia as Eurasia and combining North and South America as one continent.
Chinese Words for Home / RoomsChinese Words for Weather
Chinese Words for Anatomy
Chinese Words for Times / Day
Chinese Words for Seasons / Years
Chinese Words for Professions
Chinese Words for Months / Years
Chinese Words for Animals
Chinese Words for Colours
Chinese Words for Days Week
Chinese Words for Family
Chinese Words for Meal Times Food
Consider Using a Language Learning Program
Try Language Software
If you are really serious about learning Chinese and want to maximize your time then you should consider using a Chinese language course to further aid you in your quest to learn French. There are several great programs out there that deliver a great language learning experience. The advantages of a language learning program are the organization and having a next step already lined up. Most break down the lessons into 30-minute intervals that can fit into any type of schedule.
Flexible to retry a lesson to make sure you understand what you are learning and give you confidence in succeeding.
A web-application developed by the University of Cambridge Language Centre for basic level students of Chinese. It focuses on listening and reading skill but it also includes many activities that help learners prepare for speaking and writing. Note that you can also download Intermediate Chinese here.
Designed to give a practical command of spoken standard Chinese with nine situational modules. Each module consists of tapes (MP3), a student textbook (PDF), and a workbook. In addition to the core modules, there is a resource module and eight optional modules.
A collection of audio courses on Spotify, that will take you from beginner lessons to advanced conversations–featuring essential travel phrases and vocabulary.
The importance of Chinese stands out as the most spoken language in the world with over an estimated billion people in China and various other parts of the world speaking it. One can easily assume this makes Chinese one of the most important languages on the planet. China as a country is growing by leaps and bounds as a world power and shows to sign of slowing down.
Recent studies have shown that Chinese has become a popular choice for a second language among college students. Surpassing the previous favourite that includes Spanish, French, and German languages. This increasing popularity isn’t surprising since the growing appeal of Chinese culture in the west and worldwide.
Governments in the US and the UK are increasingly recognizing the importance of offering Chinese language classes in the school systems. One 2008 poll of employers in the UK, done by the Confederation of British Industry, discovered that 38% of employers answering the poll wanted to hire people who spoke either Mandarin or Cantonese. (The two were lumped together in the survey.) French speakers and German speakers ranked higher, at 52% and 43% respectively. Spanish was desired by 28% of employers.
The UK Schools Secretary said, in part as a result of this survey, that he would like every teenager to have a chance to learn Mandarin. He would also like to see Japanese, Arabic, Portuguese, and Indonesian offered more widely than they are at present. One secondary school in seven in the UK is already teaching Mandarin.
“In this new decade our ties with emerging economies like China will become even more important and it’s vital that young people are equipped with the skills which they need, and British businesses need too, in order to succeed in a rapidly-changing world,” Mr. Balls said.
Mandarin is the prominent version of Chinese, spoken by something like 885 million people out of the 1.3 billion who speak some form of Chinese.
In the United States, interest in learning Chinese used to come from Asian parents who wanted their children to keep up with the cultures they came from.
Now, more and more non-Asian parents see learning Chinese as a useful tool for their children, one that will help them compete for top jobs. The US government also sees the benefits of a good pool of Chinese speakers. Some of the school districts in the internationally-minded suburbs of Washington, DC, have offered Mandarin for decades.
Chinese Speaking Countries
Chinese Speaking Map
List of countries with a Chinese (Mandarin) speaking population or Chinese is a widely spoken language.
Chinese Speaking Countries in Asia
China Hong Kong Macau
Tibet (Tibet Autonomous Region within PR China)
Singapore
Taiwan (Republic of China)
Countries with a significant number of Chinese speaking population (more than 5 million)
Indonesia (Java and Bali)
Malaysia (Peninsular)
Thailand
Mandarin is an official spoken language in China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Cantonese is an official spoken language in Hong Kong and Macau.
Chinese Language Dialects
Chinese Dialects Map
Like many other languages around the world, Chinese has many dialects, the most common Chinese dialect is Mandarin Chinese.
Even though English happens to be popular throughout China, most Chinese people tend not to understand English very well, so learning some Chinese is important knowledge to have. The Mandarin Dialect is very universal throughout China overall, although a number of dialects could possibly be more common in other locations.
Chinese Language History
Since the invention of the Chinese Pinyin tonal system has made learning Chinese a lot easier then it was previously. The importance of Chinese Pinyin is a crucial method when it comes to writing Chinese in a romanized alphabet. Hanyu pinyin spells the sound and includes tone marks to help give you the proper pronunciation. Knowledge of the written language opens up the culture of one of the world’s oldest civilizations.
Before China’s reform in the 1970s, China was an isolated country that didn’t accept any tourism. After 1970, China has become one of the leading tourist destinations. The Great Wall of China might be one of the most traveled to places on Earth but other wonders of China include the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Terracotta Army in the Qin Empire Emperor’s Mausoleum, the Yangtze River, and the Potala Palace. Even if you’re just a casual traveler, learning some Chinese to understand street signs, order food, or just communicating with people you meet on the street, a most pleasant and enjoyable experience.
Chinese Language Today
Chinese Language Today
Chinese is becoming one of the most important languages when it comes to operating an international business.
The Chinese market is the biggest growing market even in this economic downturn. Expertise in Chinese has grown increasingly important to the overall global economy and many business owners are looking to break into this international market. Any business in the twenty-first century will be trying to do business in China and in doing so will be required Chinese speakers to negotiate agreements and develop these trade deals. Economist predicts by 2020, China will without a doubt surpass the United States as the biggest international superpower.
The importance of Chinese is beneficial regardless if you do it for fun or for your career or even just for personal travel. When trying to uncover the importance of Chinese. One cannot discover a more fascinating and challenging language to learn.
All languages evolve with time and Chinese is no exception. To indisputably understand the importance of Chinese language you have to learn the actual language yourself to help you receive the full benefit of this amazing language later. In fact, the latest research has shown that learning a second language helps fight against Alzheimer’s disease and slows down the aging effects of the brain.
You probably already have your own reasons to learn Chinese but in case you don’t have one already or still looking for more reasons to get motivated to learn Chinese.
This article should help you answer the question “why learn Chinese?”
1 – Mandarin Chinese is the Most Spoken Language in the World
One of the biggest reasons to learn Chinese should because Mandarin Chinese is spoken by roughly a quarter of the world’s population which is estimated to be around two billion Chinese-speakers. Not all of them live in mainland China, but in parts of Taiwan, Singapore, and throughout southeast Asia.
2 – Chinese Influence on International Cultures
Second, traditional Chinese culture, from Confucianism and Chan Buddhism to martial arts and Chinese cuisine, has an enormous influence on East and Southeast Asian nations. Chinese culture has also greatly inspired the western world through Marco Polo, G. W. Leibniz, Max Weber, Franz Kafka, Andre Malraux, Bertolt Brecht, Ezra Pound, and Luis Borges, among others.
3 – Traveling to China is Increasingly Foreigner Friendly
With the Chinese Language you can Travel to China
In the past, China wasn’t very accessible from outside visitors wanted to travel there. But travel to China recently as become a lot easier back and forth from.
4 – With Chinese Pinyin Learning Chinese is Easier
Chinese Pinyin Tonal Marks
You don’t have to learn Chinese characters to learn how to speak Mandarin Chinese. Pinyin is a method of writing Chinese in the romanized alphabet. Hanyu pinyin spells the sound and includes tone marks to help give you the proper pronunciation.
5 – Fastest Growing Economy in the World
Improve Business Opportunities by Learning New Languages
China is currently the fastest growing economy in the world and is already the biggest global market to break into. Any business in the twenty-first century will be trying to do business in China and in doing so will require Chinese speakers to negotiate agreements and trade deals.
6 – Reading Chinese Literature
The dialects are not mutually intelligible but the written language is shared between them all. Although you do not need to learn to read Chinese characters to speak the language, by doing so you open the door to an enormously diverse and rich literature. In fact, the earliest record of writing was in Chinese characters although very different in form from modern characters (of which there are many thousand).
7 – Growing Presence of Chinese Speakers all around the world
Communities of Chinese Speakers have been popping up outside Chinese in parts of the United States and Europe.
8 – Learn Chinese as a Hobby/Love of Learning Languages
Love of Language Learning
Maybe you are just one of those people that just enjoy learning languages for the fun of it! Once you’ve mastered the urge to learn more becomes pretty strong. Contrary to popular opinion, not much confusion happens between languages.
9 – Rich Cultural History of Chinese on the World
Learn Cultural History With Languages
Learning Chinese is immediately linked to learning Chinese culture. Learning becomes a more extraordinary and enjoyable experience. Chinese has a unique ideographic writing system, which provides visual comprehensibility.
The grammatical structure of Chinese is not only logical but also pragmatic, related to the particular way of Chinese thinking. Knowledge of the written language opens up the culture of one of the world’s oldest civilizations.
10 – There are Scholarship Opportunities for Chinese Studies
Scholarship Opportunities with a New Language
Because of the higher demand for people speaking Chinese, many of the world’s governments and agencies have been offering scholarships and other opportunities for individuals who are interested in Chinese studies and learning Chinese.
Mandarin Chinese is truly an amazing language to learn. I hope you find this article helpful in narrowing and strengthening your reasons to learn Chinese.
