[Chinese] Want to learn Chinese? :)

[Elaina]

Originally Posted by jchen

okay I will teach you some Chinese I will teach you the basics first...it's kind of hard but at least you should know how to say the greetings...

Okay!

Let 'er rip, then.

[Jessica]

It's really hard when there's only the one of the four tones for Chinese- the second one. \
-
/
V
\

The four tones look like these, but smaller.
here's more:
yi da li yu: Italian
Xi ban ya: Spain
Ri ben: Japan

zao shang hao: good morning
wo ai ni: I love you
xi huan: like
jié jie: older sister
ge ge: older brother


what's especially hard for Americans is the "ü". They are bad at sounding it.
nü with the 3rd tone means girl.

[Planet hopper]

nü sounds very very close to the English new

Jessica, how do you guys make future? And past?

I need some advice to remember characters, my online chinese looks horrible, too much pinyin (romanisation).

Can you write?

Cheers, this is interesting

[Jessica]

yes I can write but I have to find a way to get the charater "typed up"...
do you know the strokes of the characters, planet hopper? because the characters of Chinese pinyin looks like their meaning.

there's héng - horizontal line
shu - vertical line
na
pié
dian ` or '

jiao with the 4th tone on the 'a' means "call" (one of the meanings). For the character there's a square and a character next to it that looks like a 4, but if you use your imagination it looks like someone calling. the square means mouth.
some characters don't look like their meaning. do you already know that most of the characters are simplified? There are more complicated ways to write them...

what do you mean by making the future and past? do you mean the future and past tense?



THIS IS WHAT NÜ LOOKS LIKE: 女

[Planet hopper]

There is a program to get characters typed, I've seen it. Basically, you type pinyin, hit ctrl and choose character with F1-F12
Simplified characters are coming from Beijing, in Taiwan, HK or Macao they are not used at all.
Yes, I mean How do you turn a present sentence into past or future?

It is said that nü was invented to resemble a modern woman walking, because the old one showed the woman in a more submissive pose.


Among Chinese speakers, traditional Chinese characters are referred to by several different names.

The government of the Republic of China on Taiwan officially calls traditional Chinese characters standard characters or orthodox characters (Traditional Chinese: 正體字, Simplified Chinese: 正体字 Hanyu Pinyin: zhèngtǐzì; Tongyong Pinyin: jhèngtǐzìh ). It should be noted, however, that the same term ("standard characters", zhèngtǐzì, 正体字) is used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard, simplified and traditional characters from variant and idiomatic characters (异体字).[1] Motto none Anthem National Anthem of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Capital Taipei (formerly and de jure Nanking) Largest city Taipei Official languages Standard Mandarin (GuóyÇ”) Government Semi-presidential system - President Chen Shui-bian - Vice President Annette Lu - Premier Chang Chun-hsiung Establishment Xinhai Revolution - Independence declared October 10... Simplified Chinese character (Simplified Chinese: or ; Traditional Chinese: or ; pinyin: or ) is one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of printed contemporary Chinese written language, simplified from traditional Chinese by the Peoples Republic of China in an attempt to promote literacy. ... Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Tongyong Pinyin (Chinese: ; pinyin: Tōngyòng pÄ«nyÄ«n; literally Universal/General Usage Sound-combining) is the current official romanization of the Chinese language adopted by the national government (although not all local governments) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2002. ...

In contrast, other users of traditional Chinese outside Taiwan, such as those in Hong Kong and Macau, and users of simplified Chinese characters, call them complex characters (traditional Chinese: 繁體字, Simplified Chinese: 繁体字; Pinyin: fántǐzì). An informal name sometimes used by users of simplified characters is "old characters" (Chinese: 老字; Pinyin: lǎozì). Simplified Chinese character (Simplified Chinese: or ; Traditional Chinese: or ; pinyin: or ) is one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of printed contemporary Chinese written language, simplified from traditional Chinese by the Peoples Republic of China in an attempt to promote literacy. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ...

Users of traditional characters may also call them "complete-bodied characters" (traditional Chinese: 全體字, Simplified Chinese: 全体字; Pinyin: quántǐzì). Simplified Chinese character (Simplified Chinese: or ; Traditional Chinese: or ; pinyin: or ) is one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of printed contemporary Chinese written language, simplified from traditional Chinese by the Peoples Republic of China in an attempt to promote literacy. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ...

Some traditional character users argue that traditional characters cannot be called "complex" as they were never made more complex; the characters were preserved the way they are, and also that simplified characters cannot be "standard" because simplified characters are not used in all Chinese-speaking regions[2]. Conversely, supporters of simplified Chinese characters object to the description of traditional characters as "standard," since they view the new simplified characters as the contemporary standard used by the vast majority of Chinese speakers. They also point out that traditional characters are not truly traditional as Chinese characters have changed significantly over time. Many characters since the Han Dynasty had been made more elaborate than the original standard[3]. Han Dynasty in 87 BC Capital Changan (202 BC–9 AD) Luoyang (25 AD–190 AD) Language(s) Chinese Religion Taoism, Confucianism Government Monarchy History - Establishment 206 BC - Battle of Gaixia; Han rule of China begins 202 BC - Interruption of Han rule 9 AD - 24 AD - Abdication to Cao...

Some older people refer to traditional characters as "proper characters" (Chinese: 正字; Pinyin: zhèngzì) and simplified characters as "simplified-stroke characters" (Traditional Chinese: 簡筆字, Simplified Chinese: 简笔字; Pinyin: jiǎnbǐzì) or "reduced-stroke characters" (Traditional Chinese: 減筆字,Simplified Chinese: 减笔字; Pinyin: jiǎnbǐzì) (simplified- and reduced- are actually homonyms in Mandarin Chinese, both pronounced jiǎn). Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Simplified Chinese character (Simplified Chinese: or ; Traditional Chinese: or ; pinyin: or ) is one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of printed contemporary Chinese written language, simplified from traditional Chinese by the Peoples Republic of China in an attempt to promote literacy. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Simplified Chinese character (Simplified Chinese: or ; Traditional Chinese: or ; pinyin: or ) is one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of printed contemporary Chinese written language, simplified from traditional Chinese by the Peoples Republic of China in an attempt to promote literacy. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... This article is on all of the Northern Chinese dialects. ...

In China's north-east, a local word for traditional characters is "real characters" (Chinese: 真字; Pinyin: zhēnzì)[citation needed]. Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ...

[CrOtALiTo]

Ufff. It's a lot words united.

[Jessica]

yeah that is an awful lot, but thanks for the info!

[Jessica]

Originally Posted by Planet hopper

There is a program to get characters typed, I've seen it. Basically, you type pinyin, hit ctrl and choose character with F1-F12

I tried it, but it didn't work. I guess you have to have a certain kind of computer to do it?

[Planet hopper]

Sorry for the lot, but the topic is really intricate and may lead to misunderstanding...The magic trick is a piece of software, free in China, may be windows has sth to let you do it, not sure. Anyway, I'll be in China in a few days, I'll answer from there

[Jessica]

what city will you be in China? My relatives live in Suzhou (my mom's) and my dad's in Binhai (which is a poor place, the bathrooms are GROSS ^^)