Introduction to Mandarin ChineseMandarin 1By Hua-Fu LiuTian Tan, Beijing

Simple Greetings

(nho)

(xiw ho)

(zo)

( ) (nho ma)

(wde mngzi) (Li huf )

(Li losh)

Chinese LanguagesMandarin vs. ChineseMandarin is spoken by the Han people in ChinaMandarin is a dialect from BeijingMandarin is the official language in ChinaMandarins writing system is well establishedMandarin can be called Putonghua, Guoyu, Hanyu, Huayu, Zhongwen, Zhongguo HuaThere are over 900 million people speak Mandarin

Huang Shan, China

Characteristics of MandarinEach syllable is a separate character word/one character) word/ two characters)

A lot of them are homonyms (homophonic characters such as j )

Characteristics of MandarinTonal language

m m m m ma

Characteristics of MandarinCharacters (ideographic script)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification

Characteristics of MandarinIsolated language (no declination; no changed in tense, person, number, gender, case, etc.)

(sh)

Simplified vs. Traditional characters Pinyin system (letter of Roman alphabet)

Ice cream was invented in China around 2000BC when the Chinese packed a soft milk and rice mixture in the snow.Chinese President Hu Jintao loves Starbucks coffee (and so does Bill Gates). In 550 AD, two Chinese monks smuggled silkworms out of China and started the western world's silk boom. Fingerprinting was used in China as early as 700 A.D. The Chinese physician Hua T'o, born sometime between 140 and 150 A.D., was the first doctor known to perform surgery under general anaesthetic. The potion used to render his patients unconscious was a mixture of hemp and strong wine called ma fei san. Prior to the communist revolution, a national holiday commemorated his birth. [ China | Medicine ] The Sui, who ruled China briefly around 600 A.D., devoted much of their reign to constructing the Grand Canal, a waterway 100 feet wide, lined with roads and trees, and stretching for 1,000 miles. The canal was completed in less than 25 years, at a terrible cost in human life. Almost 5.5 million people were involved in the construction, and it has been estimated that 2.5 million died due to the harshness of the working conditions. The canal, extending from Peking to Hangchow, is as navigable today as when it was built almost 1,400 years ago. http://www.lilith-ezine.com/articles/politics/Interesting-Facts-China.html (all above and more info)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RymsnSfJp7g (Top 10 Extraordinary Facts About China)

On-line Materialsof Chinese languageChinese languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_languagehttp://www.chinalanguage.com/

Written Chinesehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_written_language

Chinese Script and Languagehttp://www.omniglot.com/writing/chinese.htm

Chinese On-line Dictionarywww.nciku.com

Provinces of the People's Republic of Chinahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_provinces