china house nhtv meet-up 3 saying chen chinese language
TRANSCRIPT
中国:旅游、休闲和流行文化
China: Tourism, Leisure and Popular Culture 語
01 June 2016 2016 年 6 月 1日
Tones used for Standard Chinese
Chinese is a tonal language. This means that the pitch or tone affects the meaning.
Tones
mā má mǎ mà ma妈 麻 马 骂 吗 mother hemp horse to scold particle
Unlike in the European languages, there is a rather small and limited number of possible syllables in Chinese – around 400
Syllables
音节
The Standard Chinese Language
Dialects
方言
Varieties of Chinese dialects
By Wyunhe - File:Map of sinitic dialect (Simplified Chinese)
Chinese is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, consisting of hundreds of local language varieties, some dialects are not mutually intelligible. The differences are similar to those within the Roman languges. (All have phonomic tones)
Characters are derived from pictures (Pictograms)
rì Day, date
yuè Month, monthly , moonlike
yún Numerous, many, high,Say, speak
yǔ Dense, scattered
Literal & figurative meanings
From Pictograms to (Compound) ideograms I
landscape
everyone
forest
Picture credit: Chineasy
From Pictograms to Compound ideograms II
仙
Entrance
immortal
闲idle time
Picture credit:
Chineasy
闲leisure
仙Rishi (xiānrén)
闲idler(xiánrén)
How do I know the pronouciation of a character?
中middle
Phonetic componentSemantic component - an indicator of the meaning of the character
Simplified & Traditional Chinese Characters
國CountryNation
(guó)
国 Simplified
Traditional
The PRC has officially adopted Simplified Chinese characters for use in mainland China, while Hongkong, Macau, and the ROC (Taiwan) were not affected by the reform.
中国 (zhōngguó) Middle kingdom英国 (yīngguó) England法国 (fǎguó) France美国 (měiguó) America德国 (déguó) Deutschland
Chinese words
Most classic words are monosyllabic
Most words in modern Chinese are disyllabic
老師 學習 學校 醫院 報紙lǎoshī
xuéxí
xuéxiào
yī-yuàn
bàozhǐ
• 衣 yī, clothing • 車 chē, vehicle • 人 rén, person• 日 rì, sun• 見 jiàn, to see
When new words were introduced to the Chinese language, most words were translated into Chinese and the new words were coined based on the meaning of each character, eg:computer 電腦 diànnǎo electric brain railway 鐵路 tiělù iron road Example of trisyllable loanwords:Chocolate 巧克力 qiǎokèlìJeep 吉普车 jípǔchē
Words related to “travel”
旅Troops
toTravel
(lǚ)
• 旅游 (lǚyóu) tourism
• 旅途 (lǚtú) trip
• 旅馆 (lǚguǎn) hotel
• 旅社 (lǚshè) hotel
• 旅行社 (lǚxíngshè) T-agency
• 旅客 (lǚkè) travellor• 旅伴 (lǚbàn)
companion
宾馆、饭店、酒店、旅社、旅馆、客栈、招待所
方向Four directions
北 běi
西xī
東dōng
南nán東 东
地理Geographic features
江 (jiāng) River which flowsthrough a gorge
川 (chuān) stream(s)
岛 (dǎo) island
门 (mén) gate, gorge
河 (hé) old broad river
海 (hǎi) ocean, sea
湖 (hú) lake(s)
广 (guǎng expanse(s)
森 (sēn) 林(lín)
forest
山 (shān) mountain(s)
中国地名
Chinese Place names
BeijingNanjingHubeiHunanHebeiHenanShandongShanxiJiangxi GuangdongGuangxi
北京 (běijīng)南京 (nánjīng)湖北 (húběi)湖南 (húnán)河北 (héběi)河南 (hénán)山东 (shāndōng)山西 (shānxī)江西 (jiāngxī)广东 (guǎngdōng)广西 (guǎngxī)
Northern CapitalSouthern CapitalLake NorthLake SouthRiver NorthRiver SouthMountain EastMountain WestRiver WestWide EastWide West
Lost in translationDifferent ways of translating names and scenery:
• Transliteration• Translation word by word• Free translation• Combination of transliteration and free translation
音译 Transliteration
The most common way to render the names of foreign places in Chinese is to use Chinese characters that sound similar to the name in the original language.
Holland /NetherlandsAmsterdamDen HaagGronningenRotterdam Zaanse SchansFontainebleauChamps-Élysees
荷兰 (hélán) / 尼德兰 (nídélán) 阿姆斯特丹 (āmǔsītèdān)海牙 (hǎiyá)格罗宁根 (géluónínggēn)鹿特丹 (lùtèdān)桑斯安斯 (sāngsīānsī)枫丹白露 (fēngdānbáilù)香榭丽舍 (Xiāngxièlìshè)
Lotus + Orchid
Sea + toothlike
风车村 (fēng hē cūn)red maple & white dewfragrant pavilion & beautiful house
直译 Translation word by word
A handful of foreign names, mostly place names, were given characters based on the meaning of the name in the original language instead of being transliterated. The meaning preserved but of course the sound completely different
OxfordIceland MediterraneanNorth SeaBlack SeaGiethoornNeptune
牛津 (niújīn)冰岛 (bīngdǎo)地中海 (dìzhōnghǎi) 北海 (běihǎi)黑海 (hēihǎi)羊角村 (yángjiǎocūn)海王星 (hǎi wángxīng)
Village addedStar added
意译 Free Translation
Some places have names that are preferred by Chinese, but not necessarily based on the original word.
San FranciscoHonoluluEsperanto----------------------JapanTokyoHanoiBandungPhnom Penh
圣弗朗西斯科 (shèngfúlǎngxīsīkē)火奴鲁鲁 (huǒnúlǔlǔ)爱斯不难读 (Àisībùnándú)
The Chinese Characters have enormous influence in East and Southeast Asia, you can see from their Chinese names.
旧金山 (jiùjīnshān)檀香山 (tánxiāngshān)世界语 (Shìjièyǔ )----------------------------------日本 (rìběn)东京 (dōngjīng)河内 (hénèi)万隆 (wànlóng)金边 (jīnbiān)
童 (tóng) means child, boy, name of a child, so is this a fair for children? No, it’s a cultural festival where East and West can meet each other. Part of the activities is a program for the children.Suggestion: 嗵嗵 , used for sound, lively atmosphere.
Lost in translation?
Simple take away: basic numbers
Ready to tackle a new challenge? Let’s start first with numbers in Chinese!!!
Shí10
Bǎi100
qiān1000
wàn10.000
Yì100.000.000
十 百 千 万 亿
Did we forget that smallest number, the simple zero?
New trend: many Chinese seem not eager to use this character in their writing and often replace it with a 0. Can you imagine why?
学说中国话朋友遍天下
Simple take away: numbers
?
知者不言 (ZHĪ ZHĚ BÙYÁN)言者不知 (YÁNZHĚ BÙZHĪ)
THOSE WHO SPEAK DO NOT KNOW, THOSE WHO KNOW DO NOT SPEAK.
LaoZhi did not mean we should not seek wisdom, so let’s hear your questions and ideas Questions...
您的消息是什么 ?Thank you ! 谢谢
xièxie