| Chinese |
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| 1.How long will it take for me to order a cup of tea? |
| The basics of Chinese are relatively simple and it should be possible to learn how to order a cup of tea in a matter of minutes. Thus, encouraged you will be able to move on to the somewhat less simple issue of tones in Mandarin (there are 4) which means that the same word may have a different meaning depending on the tone employed. |
| 2.What is Pin yin? |
| Pin yin means "phonetics", or more literally "spelled sound". It is the official Romanisation system for standard Mandarin. It is used to teach Chinese schoolchildren and foreign learners the standard pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese. |
| 3.How does Pin yin relate to Chinese characters? |
Pin yin is not a language but is instead used to teach Chinese schoolchildren and foreign learners the standard pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese, a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and south-western China which has more native speakers than any other language. The number of modern Chinese characters is considerably larger than the possibly combination of initials and finals in pin yin.
Nowadays, Pin yin is widely used by younger Chinese speakers to enter Chinese text into computers and mobile phones. |
| 4.How are tones shown in Pin yin? |
| There are four tones in Mandarin Chinese. The first tone is a sustained tone and its tonal mark is ¡®-¡®. The second tone is a rising tone and its tonal mark is ¡®/¡¯. The third tone is a rising and falling tone; its tonal mark is ¡®v¡¯. The fourth tone is a falling tone; its tone mark is ¡®\¡¯. Mandarin Chinese is a vowel-dominated language and tones are marked above vowels. The tone mark is added to the vowel in the syllable that comes first in this sequence: a o e i u ¨¹. (mouth open widest the first) |
| 5.Are tones impossible for foreigners? |
| No. It is perfectly possible for anyone to master the tones after putting in the requisite effort. Statistics show that Mandarin tone recognition could be achieved with 60% - 80% accuracy after a 20 hour study. Imitating what your Chinese teacher sounds like at first stage is crucial. |
| 6.I am no longer a teenager; can I still hope to learn Chinese from scratch? |
| Absolutely ¨C it is never too old to learn ¨C we specialise in helping more mature students! |
| 7.Do I need to learn hundreds of characters? |
It very much depends on what level of literacy you are looking for and your aim in learning the language but it is not as daunting as it may sound.
Although studies carried out in China have shown that full literacy in the Chinese language requires a knowledge of between three and four thousand characters for native Chinese speakers, it was also shown that only 100 characters cover 45% of the most commonly used words. Many teachers of Mandarin are of the view that some 800 - 1000 characters are more than sufficient to attain an excellent grasp of Chinese in daily use. |
| 8.How soon will I be able to speak some words of Chinese? |
| Within the first 45 minutes of your first lesson! |
| 9.Do I necessarily need to learn to read Chinese or can I simply learn to speak it? |
| It is not necessary to learn to read Chinese to be able to enjoy your first steps in China and in Chinese culture. You could simply learn to speak Chinese and be able to survive quite easily in a social environment. That said, learning a handful of Chinese characters will help you to read signs and menus in Chinese. |
| 10.Do I need a special brush to write Chinese? |
| No. Special brushes are only used in calligraphy and painting nowadays and thus you may use any pen, pencil, felt tip etc to write Chinese. |
| 11.How many hours will I need to study to get a basic level of spoken Chinese? |
| Something of the order of 40 hours (at say 2-4 hours a week) will take you to a basic level of spoken Chinese. You will then be able to introduce yourself, call a taxi, book a ticket/table, order food, ask for directions, do shopping etc. all by yourself in Mandarin ! |
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