How to start learning Chinese. How to learn Chinese

Title: Self-instruction manual of the modern Chinese language.

Here is a self-study guide for the Chinese language - one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. The advantage of the Self-Tutorial is the completeness of information and accessibility of presentation for beginners to study Chinese... With some effort, but at a reasonable time, you will learn how to conduct conversations on everyday topics and read simple Chinese texts, which will allow you to feel quite comfortable in the Chinese language environment.
The self-instruction book is provided with a linguaphone course.

The self-study book of the Chinese language is intended for a wide range of readers. This publication has been developed as a beginner's guide to learning Chinese for schoolchildren, students, teachers, and others. The self-instruction book consists of a theoretical part, conversational lessons and educational texts.
When learning any language, special attention should be paid to pronunciation, Chinese is no exception. The main difficulty of Chinese pronunciation is the abundance of palatine and aspirated sounds unusual for us and the presence of tones. The Chinese language is very melodic, so the presence of musical abilities and hearing greatly facilitates the process of mastering Chinese pronunciation, however, even in the absence of special musical talents, but subject to systematic studies and listening to audio materials, it is quite possible to master Chinese phonetics. Another difficulty of the Chinese language is the hieroglyphic writing ("Chinese literacy"), which is extremely difficult for people who are accustomed to letter writing. The section on hieroglyphics contains a table of Chinese keys, the study and memorization of which is extremely necessary in order to learn to read and write in Chinese. One of the best ways to memorize Chinese characters is to practice calligraphy and systematically spell out the characters and their individual elements (see the corresponding section).

Content
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION TO THE CHINESE LANGUAGE
Pronunciation
Chinese phonetic alphabet
Tones
Tone Changes Hieroglyphics
Rules for writing hieroglyphs
Key table Grammar
Parts of speech
Order of words in a sentence
Grammar constructions
SPEAKING PRACTICE
Lesson 1. Greetings
Lesson 2. Introduction
Lesson 3. Age. A family
Lesson 4. Study. Language
Lesson 5. Seasons. Weather
Lesson 6. Shopping. Shop
Lesson 7. In a restaurant. Food
Lesson 8. Clinic
Lesson 9. Sports
Lesson 10. At leisure
Lesson 11. Traveling in China
Answers to exercises
LEARNING TEXTS with grammar comments
Text I. Sincere concern
Text 2. Shanhaiguan
Text 3. The Peasant and the Serpent (parable)
Text 4. Da Yu controls the elements (parable)
Text 5. Excursion to Xiangshan
Text 6. Letter
Text 7. On sports event
Text 8. Yugong moves mountains (parable)
Text 9. Wallet
Text 10. An inconspicuous bird (parable)
ANNEXES
Appendix No. 1
A quick overview of grammar
Grammar test
Grammar Test Answers
Appendix No. 2
Minimum vocabulary
Appendix No. 3
Chinese syllable table
Correspondence table of Russian and Chinese transcriptions (according to Palladium)
Appendix No. 4
Hieroglyphic key (radical) table
Appendix No. 5
Chinese calligraphy

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This article was co-written with my fighting friend Christina Miller. It just so happens that the problem of learning the Chinese language does not cease to be relevant for us. Learning any language is usually an endless process, but in the case of the Chinese language, this endlessness is even difficult to grasp.

And every time there is a need to achieve a new level and expand our language boundaries, we begin to actively discuss which methods of learning a language are more effective.

The Chinese language is difficult on its own, but the difficulty of learning it is compounded by the use of ineffective methods. Ten years ago it seemed to me that the main thing that determines the success of knowledge foreign language Is patience and work.

When did I have the experience of learning a new foreign language with the help of more effective methodology, I began to suspect that the Chinese language could be learned more productively. After all, you must agree, no matter how much sand there is on the beach, digging a hole will be faster with an excavator, and not with a child's shovel for a sandbox.

All the methods of studying the Chinese language that I encountered at school, at the Oriental Institute of the former Far Eastern State University and at two Chinese universities were difficult to call effective. In Russia, I realized quite early that there would be no sense in such a study, because I started working with the Chinese language quite early and constantly saw that I was learning something wrong and wrong.

I would like to believe that somewhere there are ready-made methods of learning the Chinese language, but most likely they exist in a "single copy", that is, they are the results of many years of experience of individual teachers, and not of a school. In China, I have come across various approaches to teaching the Chinese language, but it seemed to me that even Chinese professional language teachers for foreigners are not particularly involved in the study of approaches to learning, but simply teach from those textbooks that are published Peking University foreign languages.

Of course, developing a methodology for learning a foreign language requires a certain vocational training, but I hope that in the near future there will be significant changes in this area. So it's hard for me and Christina to talk about how to learn Chinese. But on the other hand, in the course of numerous experiments on ourselves and permanent discussions on this topic, we come to understand what mistakes we made in the process of studying. Undoubtedly, one's own "rake" is always closer to the body, but I hope that someone will be able to avoid them. We will be glad if you share your bad experience. Let's start with?

All in all

Do not use prehistoric textbooks for study. For example, about Gubo and Palanka. These textbooks have been republished for many years without revisions and have long ceased to be relevant. Better to seek English versions textbooks: they are more often republished and edited. Why? Have you met any Russian-speaking Chinese who called you comrade? And phrases and words learned at the very beginning of the study are remembered for a very long time. It will be a shame that you cannot use them (eg cryptic 劳驾).

Don't learn Chinese without a purpose. This is an expensive and time consuming hobby. You must clearly understand why you are doing this, and what level you want to achieve. It makes no sense to learn wenyan if you plan to limit yourself to business correspondence only. Yes, you will not have a language rich in Chengyu, but you can convey the idea to your opponent, and even a rare Chinese in a business environment decides to impress with the depth of knowledge of Chinese classics. For example, textbooks on business writing, compiled even in the early 90s, are written in a rather old clerical language, which is rather complicated and focused on correspondence on high level(diplomacy, intergovernmental agreements, etc.). Modern businessmen use a simpler language for correspondence.

Don't learn words out of context. It is difficult and useless. You won't speak Chinese because you have a mess of hieroglyphs in your head. Words are needed in context and only in context.

Don't invent phrases and expressions. Better to take ready-made. There are many cliches, both in spoken and written speech. They are understandable by ear, and your attempts to reinvent the bicycle in the form of alternative revolutions will lead to a legitimate question: "啥意思?" Creativity, especially in colloquial speech, no one will appreciate: there are too many homonyms in Chinese to complicate speech with unusual phrases. The situation is similar in written speech. A fully copied quote will not raise any plagiarism charges. It is at school that we are taught to change the structure of a sentence and replace words with synonyms in order to avoid tautology. There is no such problem in Chinese.

Don't be fooled when Chinese people praise your language level. They flatter you insolently. For the most part, this is just etiquette or sincere surprise at the sight of a "talking dog".

Don't confuse learning Chinese and preparing for the HSK exam. The exam must be taken when a certificate is required, or you want to fix an existing level. Preparing for HSK is not effective way learning Chinese. But, of course, it is easier to pass the exam for those who speak a language at a high level, even without special preparation.

Speech

Do not play the articulation of Chinese sounds on your own or with a non-native speaker. Only a professional Chinese phonetic teacher will hear inaccuracies in the pronunciation of tones and sounds. You will spend a lot of time and then spend that lot of time fixing it again. There is no point in further learning Chinese without a "set" pronunciation: you may have a rich vocabulary, but if you pronounce the wrong sounds and tones, it will be difficult to understand your speech. You can laugh at the pronunciation of "from ze botom of may hart", but bad English is more likely to understand than bad Chinese. A “poor” alternative to a professional teacher can be either a native speaker (Chinese), but then there is a risk of speaking Chinese with a Henan accent. Or constant recording of your voice, and repeated listening and comparison with the recording of the medium (audio courses).

Do not speak Chinese with foreigners in order to improve the level of the spoken language. You will acquire a Japanese or Korean accent (at best) in addition to your own, and you can still only communicate with Koreans and Japanese. Your pronunciation and vocabulary will genuinely amuse the Chinese people. It will seem to you that you have reached heights, you understand everything and can say everything, but a simple dialogue between two Chinese will bring you down to earth. Wouldn't it be funny for you to communicate with a Chinese who speaks broken Russian with a Tajik accent? Not to mention the numerous grammatical mistakes that are easy to pick up in the speech of the Laoists.

Don't rely on Chinese teachers. As a rule, they get used to the foreign pronunciation, begin to understand it and accept it as the norm. It is better at some stage to get an educated tutor who does not have much experience in working with foreign students. Your mistakes will cut his ears, and unlike friends and just Chinese acquaintances, he will not hesitate to tell you about it.

Don't try to befriend all the Chinese people around you. Look for people with your interests. You are more likely to meet someone you like at a sports center or club of interest (for example, a knitting, cross-stitch club). The main thing is that you have at least something in common, because topics of conversation, like "where are you from?", "What did you eat for lunch today?" If you want to speak Chinese about philosophical issues, then you need to communicate with Chinese people who are interested in them, and better - they are engaged professionally. Waiting for a deep thought from every taxi driver or security guard you meet is a waste of time. This is not even Russia, where a taxi driver can have a PhD.

You should not watch educational films made specifically for learning Chinese. It is torture for the mind and the eye. A strange plot, poor production and acting will not contribute to the growth of love for Chinese culture. Start from feature films also not worth it. Cartoons are a great choice for beginners. Choose those that you have already seen in Russian or English language, love and are ready to revisit. Especially good are Japanese masterpieces like Spirited Away. Firstly, you will know the plot well and many lines without translation. Secondly, the phrases are simple, easy to remember, and you do not have to be distracted by complex and lengthy remarks that are found in films.

Don't get carried away with dubbed Hollywood films. Yes, it will seem to you that you understand everything, and the phrases are so simple and logical. But the language used there is very far from the real Chinese. Often the Chinese translate literally, and do not try to adapt the text to Chinese realities, since sometimes they themselves do not understand the meaning of the phrase in English. In addition, they are often shortened, and many replicas are simply omitted for unknown and incomprehensible reasons. If you are not ready for the masterpieces of Chinese cinema, start with Hong Kong.

Do not watch history films and TV series in Chinese at the beginning of your language studies. It is difficult, and most importantly, it will not come in handy for you soon. You need to know history and literature well in order to appreciate all the charm. Films and series about modern life will enrich your vocabulary and won't blow your mind. For example, "乡村爱情" (if you are not afraid of Dongbei dialect) or "家有儿女" (for general consumption). The main thing is that you should be interested. The torture of learning Chinese is already enough.

Writing

Don't start learning hieroglyphs from hieroglyphs. Keys are the path to learning ancient Chinese writing. For example, Christina learned about the existence of keys when she memorized more than two hundred units of Chinese writing with great difficulty. Question: is it possible to mock students like that, forcing them to haphazardly write and memorize a set of sticks in a different order, when they do not evoke any associations?

Don't get carried away with reading adapted texts. Better start with books for children, where will simple vocabulary but exactly the one used by the Chinese. And as the language level grows, you can move on to more complex texts. The abrupt transition from adapted texts to newspapers, journalism and fiction will shock you.

Do not seek to read Chinese literature at the beginning of your study. Poetic Chinese, which is used in fiction, is quite difficult, and most importantly, you can only use it within the framework fiction... It is better to read simpler journalism on topics of interest to you. If you have to look at all the words in the text in the dictionary, then you are unlikely to remember at least one word. If incomprehensible words will be no more than 10-20%, then they will have a chance to stay in your head for a long time.

And finally.

Never say “I know Chinese perfectly” out loud. Learning Chinese is an endless process. And even after spending many years studying the language, you will constantly be faced with situations, texts, etc., when you do not understand a word.

Learning Chinese has become a fashionable trend in the modern world. Parents invite Chinese-speaking nannies or enroll their children in full immersion courses. Schools with in-depth study Chinese language students are accepted only after a preliminary interview, to which you can get through a long line of applicants. In fact, it is not always easy to find good teacher a Chinese tutor or a competent tutor who is able to teach in an accessible and competent manner - the proposals often do not meet the demand.

Chinese language training

Over the course of over a century, English has evolved from a language spoken by several million people on the island to a global language. He still remains the most useful language in the world. However, the benefits of learning Chinese have grown significantly over the past two decades. In the world, Chinese is spoken by almost as many people as English - about 1.5 billion people. If you isolate standard Chinese, 909 million people speak it as their mother tongue. It is spoken in countries where large Chinese diasporas live: Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Mongolia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Macau, Brunei, Hong Kong and Australia (Cantonese is common in the United States).

In China itself, few people speak English. The oft-cited figure of 300 million English speakers is incredibly overrated, with the true number being closer to 10 million, which is less than 1% of the population.

Standard Chinese or Mandarin Chinese (which means a common language based on the Beijing dialect) - official language China, one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and native language Han people. Chinese, if considered as one language, consists of several main dialectical groups, within which together there are more than 200 subdialects. Some linguists believe that Chinese is best viewed as a family of languages and the main dialects classified as separate languages.

The linguistic diversity in China is comparable to the types of pronunciation in the UK, where it seems that almost every city has its own specific English. Chinese citizens from different regions may not even understand each other, and use Mandarin when communicating; in Russia it means "Chinese", and in Western countries it is referred to as Mandarin or Mandarin.

All Chinese dialects share a common writing form that has evolved and standardized over two millennia. The pinyin (phonetic spelling) system was developed in the mid-1950s under the guidance of linguist Zhu Yuguang, who is called the "father of pinyin," and was approved in 1978 as the standard romanization system for Mandarin. In 2000, the phonetic alphabet, hanyu pinyin, at the legislative level became a single standard for spelling and phonetic notation of the national language.

Why study?

Over the past two decades, China, thanks to a sharp economic growth, has become one of the world's leading powers. Domestic and international demand for Chinese products remains strong and the yuan is gaining ground. China's economic growth has increased interest in the Chinese language. Understanding and speaking Chinese is essential for the formation of cultural intelligence, especially for those who do business in China. In addition, China is taking steps to become a global power, expanding its economic activities overseas, and welcoming foreign companies into its economic landscape. Many corporations that trade with China or have offices in China are looking for people who can speak Chinese. Job prospects are great, whether the person is hired to work in a foreign department or travel to China as an expat.

The Chinese people are proud of their culture and history, one of the ancient civilizations in the world. Learning Chinese will not only help you travel freely around the country, but will also open your eyes to a wide range of cultural backgrounds. Chinese native speakers are very welcoming, they will literally "twist" to understand you, talk to you and help you correct mistakes. Linguistic heritage great country noticeable in Korean and Japanese, to some extent in Vietnamese. If you don't know Japanese, you can do without it when visiting Japan if you can speak Chinese. The kanji used in Japanese writing are Chinese characters (translated as "Han letters"), just like khancha in Korea.

You will be able to understand complex philosophical texts or read classical Chinese novels. Chinese literature (modern and ancient) is a huge and very deep cultural layer, many works have no analogies in the literary heritage of other cultures. Its history stretches back thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the urban genre that emerged during the Ming Dynasty for the entertainment of literate Chinese. A large number of interesting materials have not been translated into other languages.

How many hieroglyphs are there, how many do you need to learn?

Many who want to learn Chinese are stopped by the difficulty factor. In fact, Standard Chinese is arguably the most overrated language in the world in terms of difficulty to learn. It has a logical, consistent grammar: simple tenses, no conjugations, no plural, few phonemes, the meaning of complex words immediately becomes apparent. The most tricky part- this, of course, is the memorization of hieroglyphs.

In the Chinese language there are more than 80,000 Chinese characters (Han), to be precise, according to the Zhonghua Zihai dictionary - 85,568 characters. The largest dictionary contains every Chinese character that ever existed, from ancient Buddhist texts to symbols used by the Qing, Ming and Song dynasties. Sounds impressive, but in fact, many hieroglyphs are not currently used. The average native speaker uses about 3500 characters in all conversations.

It is expected that in primary school the child should learn about 2,500 hieroglyphs. Then the student high school learns about 1,000 more specific hieroglyphs. Overall, high school graduates know about 4,500 characters; educated Chinese - from 8,000. Only very talented scientists and linguists, perhaps, are approaching the level of 80,000. But even the most gifted linguist admits that one of the most big problems that Chinese creates is not about the mechanics of the language, but about the long and hard work required to learn.

Finding characters in a Chinese dictionary, if you take into account paper binding, is a multi-step process that takes a lot of time if you are not careful. Even a bilingual dictionary (such as Chinese-Russian) will not be a sufficient reference guide. When learning Chinese, you may need at least three dictionaries to get general idea, which means a specific symbol, word or phrase and even then some intellectual power will have to be applied to understand how to use the hieroglyphs correctly. Many Chinese characters are in some way like small abstract pictures that even a toddler can draw.

In general, learning Chinese is never boring. Each hieroglyph is designed to reflect a specific meaning, puzzle. Individual characters may be words in their own right, but most words are composed of two or more characters.

Example of word formation:

手 (show: shǒu) - hand;
if we combine the word hand or the hieroglyph 手 and the symbol 表 (biao: biǎo), dial, clock, we get a wrist watch– 手表 (shǒubiǎo);
手套 - gloves (showtao: shǒutào), here 套 (tao) in the meaning of a wrapper, covering:
手机 (shǒujī) - mobile phone, 机 (tszi) - generic phoneme in the names of devices, mechanisms, machines.

Another example for decryption, using the characters 上 and 手:

上 (shan: shàng) - over, up; get up;

手 (show: shǒu) - hand;
上手 (shàngshǒu) - to begin, to begin, to master.

How many characters do you need to know if you are starting to learn Chinese to become fluent? The number of hieroglyphs and words that need to be learned depends on many components: the goal of learning, the current level of language proficiency, and even the frequency of using certain hieroglyphs in colloquial speech.

How many words are there in Chinese? It's a difficult question. Chinese is a living language, it is still evolving and new terms and expressions are being created every day. Hanyu da tsydyan ( large dictionary Chinese words), lexicographically comparable to the Oxford English Dictionary, contains 370,000 words, but, as in the case of hieroglyphs, many words (from the dictionary) are not used by modern Chinese.

Phonetics

Pronunciation is the basis for mastering Mandarin. Pronunciation is not related to the writing of hieroglyphs. Pinyin (phonetic writing) is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese that transcribes characters to teach them how to pronounce them correctly. It is important to understand that pinyin is not the way to write Chinese words in English. This alphabet, developed by the Chinese, contains different rules for how each letter and their combination should be pronounced. Each letter combination can have up to 4 tones, so just reading the pinyin is not enough. The system includes four diacritical marks that represent tones.

The two main groups of letters in pinyin are called initials (the consonant at the beginning of a syllable) and finals (the vowel at the end of a syllable). Each syllable has three parts: initial, ending, and tone. The pinyin system has 23 initials, 24 finals, 4 tones and a neutral tone.

For those who use the Cyrillic alphabet, the official standard is the Palladium system or "Palladic" (transcription of Chinese characters into Cyrillic), created by the Russian Sinologist and cleric Pallady Kafarov in the 19th century, who spent thirty years of his life in China. However, pinyin also has to be learned and memorized!

Tones are the essence of correct pronunciation.

Many characters have the same sound, so when speaking Chinese, tones are needed to distinguish different words:

First tone: high and even.
Second tone: ascending.
Third tone: descending-ascending.
Fourth tone: descending.

A neutral tone is not considered a separate tone, but it is an unstressed syllable.

Most often, the following example is used for teaching pronunciation: mā (mother), má (hemp) mǎ (horse) mà (curse).

When a word consists of more than one syllable, which is the case in most cases, each syllable has its own tone. For example: the word apple is 苹果 píngguǒ (pingo is the first syllable in the 2nd tone, the second syllable in the 3rd tone).

How to learn to speak Chinese? It is very important to be especially disciplined about tones from the outset. Some beginners think it's better to memorize vocabulary first and add tones later. It is not right. Then it will be very difficult to correct tonal errors or learn tones from scratch. It is more useful to practice tones in pairs or combinations, given that most words in Chinese are made up of several sounds, and each syllable carries its own tone.

Always try to learn the tone of each new character, for example, 雨 (rain) yǔ (yu) in 3 tones!

When listening to Chinese speech, try to listen to the sounds, not just make out the meaning!

The wrong tone changes semantic load suggestions!

Grammar

How do I learn Chinese? To truly understand a language, in the end to master it, you need to know grammar. Understanding the basics of grammar is critical to fluency. This is the key to being able to write sentences correctly.

Grammar Section - Beginner:

The rule	Example
According to the rules of Chinese grammar, a word is a word (not a letter). Words (verb, adjective) have a fixed form, regardless of how they are used and in what order they appear in the sentence; no gender or grammatical number.	她去工作. (tā qù gōngzuò) She goes to work: 去 - go 我去工作. (wǒ qù gōngzuò) I'm going to work 他们去工作. (tāmen qù gōngzuò) They go to work
Modifier + nominal 的 (de) + noun. A modifier (adjective, adverb) in a Chinese sentence comes before the word it specifies (noun, verb). 的 (de) - linkage (found in many grammatical structures).	他不喜欢贵的东西. (ta bù xǐhuān guì de dōngxī –ta bu sihuan gui de donsi) She does not like expensive things (the "de" link modifies the adjective; that is, it shows that expensive things) 我哥哥慢慢地开车. (wǒ gēgē màn man de kāichē - in gege man man de kaichē) My brother drives a car slowly.
Sentence template: subject + verb + object	她喜欢书籍. (tā xǐhuān shūjí –ta sihuan shuji) She loves books: 她 (ta), subject 喜欢 (sihuan), verb 书籍 (shuji), books, addition.
To say about someone or something located in a certain place, we use the word 在 ( zài – tsai), be, be in, na: someone (something) + 在 + place.	我在这里. (wǒ zài zhèlǐ –vo zai zheli) I am here. 猫在沙发上. (māo zài shāfā shàng - mao zai shafa shan) A cat on the couch.
The fact that someone has something is said by adding the word 有 (yǒu –y; have), subject + 有 + object.	我有一个妹妹 (wǒ yǒu yīgè mèimei) I have a sister. 他有车 (tā yǒu chē - ta yu che) He has a car.
没有 (méiyǒu - meiyu), negation (not to have)	我没有车 (wǒ méiyǒu chē) I don't have a car. 他没有钱 (tā méiyǒu qián) He has no money.
Any other verb is negated with 不 (bù – bu).	我不会去巴黎 (wǒ bù huì qù bālí) I'm not going to Paris. 她不喜欢玫瑰 (tā bù xǐhuān méiguī) She doesn't like roses.
是 (shì -shi) - a verb of being (to be), not quite the same, but similar to English verb"To be": subject + 是 + noun object. We cannot use 是 to associate an adjective with a noun, for example, this dress is beautiful, in this case 很 (hěn – hen) is used.	我是翻译 (wǒ shì fānyì) I am a translator. 他是老板 (tā shì lǎobǎn) He is the boss. 我们是学生 (wǒmen shì xuéshēng) We are students.
subject + 很 + adjective	她很漂亮 (tā hěn piàoliang) She is beautiful.
要 (yào-yao) is used in sentences related to desire and, if we talk about what is "going to do"; subject + 要 + complement; subject + 要 + "action plan".	我要一个三明治 (wǒ yào yīgè sānmíngzhì) I want a sandwich. 我要吃三明治 (wǒ yào chī sānmíngzhì) I'm going (or want to) eat a sandwich.
Sentence template: subject + adverb tense + verb + object	我们今天吃饭 (wǒmen jīntiān chī fàn) Today we eat rice.
和 (hé) - "and", for nouns only	我和我的朋友要去东京 (wǒ hé wǒ de péngyǒu yào qù dōngjīng) Me and my girlfriend (going) are going to Tokyo. 我喜欢大海和太阳 (wǒ xǐhuān dà huǎ hé tàiyáng) I love the sea and the sun.
Subject + verb + object + ma (“ma” at the end of a sentence turns it into an interrogative, to which the answer is unambiguous: yes or no)	你喝茶吗？ (Nǐ hē chá ma?) Do you drink tea?
Any interrogative sentence, if the answer is yes or no (so-called polar or binary questions).	日本是个美丽的国家吗? (Rìběn shìgè měilì de guójiā ma?) Is Japan a beautiful country?
Subject + tense adverb + negation + auxiliary verb + verb + object	我今天不会去北京. (Wǒ jīn tiān bù huì qù běi jīng - wu jin tian bu hui qu bei jing) I will not go to Beijing today: 我 (i), subject + 今天 (today), adverb + 不 (not ) + 会 (to be able to auxiliary verb) 去 (to drive), verb + 北京 (Beijing), addition.

To say about the number, counting words (or numerators, classifiers) are used, which can be divided into several categories, according to the semantic group of nouns or character characteristics of the subject. For example, the classifier for books is 本 běn, for cars - 台 tái, for large buildings and mountains - 座 zuò, for animals 只 (隻) zhī, and so on.

Fortunately, there is a countable word. general purpose- 个 ge. The peculiarity is that it can be used for almost everything, although, of course, when possible, it is better to use specific classifiers.

Dialects

The second most common dialect after Putonghua (or Mandarin Chinese) is Cantonese (Yue). It is spoken mainly in the southern regions of China, in Guangdong province, in the eastern and southern parts of Guangxi, and Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong and Macau. Like standard Chinese, it also has tones, but instead of four tones plus neutral, Cantonese uses at least six tones. The two dialects are very different and completely incomprehensible to each other. There are many colloquial expressions in Cantonese. Historically, Chinese communities living in other countries speak the Cantonese dialect, due to the fact that the migration of Chinese people mainly took place from the south of China. Although there are large numbers of Chinese people living overseas who speak standard Chinese.

Linguists traditionally divide Chinese into seven main dialectal groups or languages. But a large number of linguists additionally recognize three more groups. Official opinion about dialects is that they are variations common language but this is a view shaped more by politics than linguistics. Many linguists believe that Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as other dialects, are sufficiently different from each other to be classified as separate languages; they have different phonology, vocabulary.

The largest, in addition to the Northern Chinese and Cantonese dialects, are considered wu, min (or Fujian; in Fujian and Taiwan), gan (in Jiangxi province), xiang (in most of Hunan province). There are several sub-dialects in each group. For example, u includes the dialects of Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou, which are somewhat mutually intelligible, but it also includes a number of other dialects that are very different from the three listed. The Shanghai dialect has become very popular among young people communicating on the Internet with the aim of standardizing and promoting it as a separate language. The lexical similarity between y and Mandarin is only 31%, which is about the same as between English and French.

How to learn Chinese on your own from scratch - choosing a method

Given the complexity of writing, as opposed to relatively simple grammar, most people who practice Chinese for beginners from scratch focus primarily on speaking skills before taking up writing.

Techniques used to study Mandarin:

Audiovisual course (using audio and video as key tools makes memorization easier and the learning process more interesting and less intimidating).
Situational approach (each new lesson offers topics based on practical, real-life situations; they are introduced in a variety of ways, resulting in specific information and grammar being memorized).
Stimulation method (using typical examples, the student learns language patterns, recognizes language features and masters the basics).

Programs designed to acquire conversational skills and mastery of writing. In the present, the world uses two main systems of Chinese writing - traditional and simplified Chinese. Traditional hieroglyphs are derived from ancient Chinese pictograms and have been used throughout most of the history of Chinese civilization. Many hieroglyphs are both beautiful and complex at the same time and take a long time to learn how to reproduce them and form words.

Beginning in the mid-20th century, the government of mainland China began to spread an alternative Chinese writing system, which was called “simplified”, in order to increase the literacy of the population throughout the country. For many hieroglyphs, this system simplifies the style using a number of methods. For those who decide how to learn Chinese on their own faster, it is better to start with the “simplified” version. But those who are going to spend many years developing and improving their abilities need to start learning from traditional hieroglyphs and only then "superimpose" on them the knowledge of simplified symbols.

Learning difficulties

Learning Chinese characters is initially very difficult, simply because there is nothing to connect with new information... The cool method is to learn 3,500 or so characters, which account for at least 99% of the written language. It is also difficult for native speakers of Chinese, including, usually requires routine and endless copying for a single year, in which case the Chinese can forget even the most ordinary symbols. V last years discontent grows in China modern methods language teaching. Could there be a better technique?

Hieroglyphs are actually not as arbitrary and incomprehensibly diverse as they might seem. They consist of a rather limited number of sub-symbols or radicals, which themselves consist of a set of standard dashes. Moreover, radicals often contain clues about meaning or pronunciation.

There are general rules or traditional theory (六书 Liù shū) for studying the composition of hieroglyphs and constructing them from radicals. For example, when you learn that a tree is 木 (mù), it will be clearer to remember that 林 (lín) is a forest, or even so 森林 (sēnlín). There are six types in the composition of hieroglyphs: pictogram, indicative, ideograph, phonetic connection, mutual explanation and phonetic borrowing. Strictly speaking, only the first four relate to the methods of compilation, but on the whole the theory is correct and reveals the general laws of the creation and development of Chinese characters.

How to Learn Chinese - Useful Apps

Speechling: Free Language Learning Tools

FluentU: One of the best apps out there with a huge collection of subtitled videos (music videos, commercials, news, dialogue, grammar lessons, interviews) - it's free, but there is also paid content.

Anki: The flash program uses a spaced repetition technique believed to improve the memorization of new words. Free for Android users.

Skritter: The spaced repetition-based app is recommended for those who take Chinese writing seriously.

Chinese Skill: free app for beginners. The course consists of 45 topics (food, numbers, colors, etc.) and focuses on learning vocabulary and grammar using a game mechanism.

Standart Mandarin: The application specializes in correct pronunciation.

Words for jogging application, based on the technique of the so-called unconscious mode of perception, offers 40 audio lessons, sets of popular words and colloquial expressions, vocabulary, and a pronunciation trainer.

ChinesePod is the oldest Chinese language learning platform. Services include videos and podcasts organized by level, overview exercises, flashcards with personalized word lists. The big advantage of the app is that you can download all the content and use it even without an internet connection.

Pros and cons of learning online

There are many advantages of some online resources for learning Chinese, among them two main ones can be distinguished:

Information search speed: with the help of an electronic dictionary (Large Chinese Russian Dictionary online; Pleco), you can find the meaning of any word in a few seconds. Of course, it's much more fun to open Skritter or Chinese Writer and write hieroglyphs for hours without even noticing it.

However, it should be borne in mind that quick access to everything we need is extremely distracting, especially if we are not exactly sure what to focus on. It is important to build a solid foundation in comprehending Chinese.

Technologies offered modern world, make us lazy: this is the other side of quick access to information, which is offered literally on a silver platter. They are not able to teach us to think and analyze, rely on our memory. And this is a big mistake, since it is memory for learning that is the most valuable resource.

You need to learn how to use online resources correctly. It is foolish and anachronistic to abandon them altogether, but the advice is to filter, to use what we need and when we need it, then we can really get the most out of it. You need to learn Chinese step by step and with great patience !!!

Benefits of Watching TV and Movies in Chinese

As the main source teaching material or just as an addition to your studies, watching TV in Mandarin is a great resource for developing your listening skills (any foreign language welcomes this practice). Mandarin subtitling is a big advantage. They allow our brains to associate sounds with written counterparts. Of course, this only works if you already know how Chinese characters are constructed and can recognize a small number of the most common characters.

Useful resources:

Even at the initial stage (when you are still zero in Chinese), as a rule, you can trace the plot. Even to understand the essence of what is happening, using only visual images.

Chinese films are not just entertainment, they provide a vivid picture of ancient and modern China and allow you to reflect on how attitudes and social values have changed over time. This is a really important practical skill for communicating with native speakers. of different ages... If you have even a little understanding of their views or the cultural connotation of the Chinese words they use, learning Chinese through watching movies will help improve your communication skills.

Advice - how to properly watch movies and TV shows... Educational value comes from active viewing. You need to revise this or that scene several times, while reading the subtitles and following the conversation of the characters. There should always be a notebook next to it, where to write down new words or sentence structures.

Live (活着, Huózhe) directed by Zhang Yimou.

An iconic epic film that tells the story of a family against the backdrop of great changes in modern China - from the 1940s to the end of the Cultural Revolution.

Blue kite (蓝风筝, Lán fēngzhēng), Tian Zhuangzhuang.

A powerful piece, perhaps one of the most faithful depictions of the communist regime, is the story of a family told by a boy nicknamed 铁头 (Tiě tóu) Iron Head, who grew up in Beijing in the 1950s and 1960s.

Raise the red lantern (大红灯笼高高挂, Dàhóng dēnglóng gāo gāo guà), Zhang Yimou.

Songlian, an educated 19-year-old girl, is forced to become the fourth wife of a wealthy fifty-year-old feudal lord after her father's death. She soon discovers that the status of wives and access to privilege is determined by a woman's ability to please her husband. The action takes place in the 1920s. The patriarchal values of Confucian society, the family hierarchy are reliably depicted for this period, when women were viewed simply as objects that could be used and thrown away at the whim of a man.

Painted Skin 畫皮, Huàpí), Gordon Chan.

Action-fantasy, film adaptation of the story by Pu Songling (Lao Zhai) from the collection "Description of the miraculous from Liao's office" (Liao-zhai-zhi-i). Time of action - the period of the Yuan dynasty, 13-14 centuries. The story begins with Wang Sheng, the commander-in-chief of the army, rescuing an orphan girl Xiaowei from bandits and bringing her home, where his wife Peizhong is waiting for him. Three months later, a strange series of murders is laid upon the city: a serial killer rips out the hearts of the victims. Peizhong begins to suspect that Xiaowei is actually a bloodthirsty demon, only disguised as a human, but Wei does not believe her. She calls for help from General Ban Yun, who quit the service and, as it turns out, befriended a demon hunter. Xia Bing pursued Xiaowei for years to avenge the murder of one of her family members.

Secondly, you need to develop the habit of previewing and reviewing educational material. A Chinese proverb says 磨刀不误砍柴工 (Mó dāo bù wù kǎn chái gōng), which can be translated as the better the preparation, the faster the work gets done. Each lesson must first be accompanied by a division into parts - and you need to start with the most difficult part.

Thirdly, you need to be as interactive as possible while learning. In the era of the Internet, this is not difficult to do - there are a lot of useful resources available online.

When practicing a self-directed approach, define specific and long-term goals (to achieve excellence, for example, in five years). Decide how much time to spend studying Chinese each day. Perhaps in six months the beginner will be able to read children's material or light text. The real goal is, for example, to learn (speak and write) 20 new hieroglyphs per month.

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Is it realistic to learn Chinese at home on your own from scratch, and even for free? Not everyone will dare to learn Chinese at home, but only the most desperate. However, nothing is impossible here either.

Read us and find out how to start learning Chinese on your own and how to do it with minimal moral and financial losses.

What's so complicated about that? ..

Chinese is one of oldest languages worldwide. And given the fact that every fifth inhabitant of the planet speaks it, it is also the most common. Agree, quite a sufficient reason to understand why you need to learn Chinese.

Despite the fact that Chinese is one of the main languages of the world, it is very difficult to learn. It is difficult to learn Chinese on your own not only because of the hieroglyphs (and there are a lot of them!), But also because of the phonetic features.

But don't be afraid. If "I want to learn Chinese on my own!" - this is your dream, then there is nothing unrealizable! And we will tell you where to start and how to deal with all the pitfalls.

By the way! For our readers, there is now a 10% discount on any kind of work

Learn Chinese from scratch on your own: techniques

Competently, and most importantly - free of charge, you can start the learning process by choosing the best methodology. By choosing the right one, you will achieve the maximum result in the shortest possible time.

And here are the most effective methods: choose, study, get down to business.

Method # 1

Learning to speak.

We collect the main backbone of semantic words and learn them by heart ... It talks about the simplest and most important words that will form the basis of future communication. Leave the grammar and rules for writing sentences for later. The first thing worth paying attention to is increasing your vocabulary.
Learning set expressions ... When you already have the basic words in your head, you can start learning the most commonly used expressions that will help keep the conversation going.
Working on tones ... They are what make Chinese such a unique and complex language at the same time. What's the point? Depending on the different pronunciation the same word can have different meanings. If we take the Northern Chinese language as a basis, then there are 4 basic tones:

First... A high, even tone that is pronounced with a relative rise in the voice. The sounds should be without hesitation.
Second... A rapidly rising, short tone, when pronounced, the voice should be raised from low to high. The intonation is similar, as if you are asking again.
Third... A descending-ascending tone, in which the voice first lowers and then rises. It looks like you are asking the question in disbelief.
Fourth... A quickly descending, top-down, short tone similar to the pronunciation of a categorical order.

Practicing pronunciation skills ... Check out the Youtube channels to help you practice tones and practice pronunciation.
Learning grammar and learning to build sentences ... If you think that there is little grammar in Chinese, you are greatly mistaken. Yes, there are no conjugations, concordances and tenses of verbs, as well as plural nouns. Due to the fact that Chinese is an analytical language, here the sentence is built according to the type: subject - action - object. But here there are classifiers, topic-commentary structure and types. But all this should be learned only after passing the basics.

One word can have completely different meanings depending on the pronunciation of the tone. For example, confusing "mā" and "má" is the same as confusing sentences “ i want a cupcake" and " i want coke» ... Not exactly the same, is it?

List of the most important foundation words:

An example of basic expressions that are best to start learning Chinese on your own from scratch:

Method # 2

System features:

Ideal for dummies who don't know how to quickly learn Chinese on their own. The system allows you to learn Chinese reading and writing without the help of hieroglyphs.
There are nuances that Latin letters cannot fully reflect due to phonetic features. Therefore, it is still better to find video and audio materials if there is no experienced assistant nearby.

So as for reading hieroglyphs , then here you will need knowledge of only a few of them. The rest can be taught as additional education or a closer acquaintance with Chinese culture.

To read an average Chinese newspaper, you need to know about 2000 characters.

To communicate freely, a person needs to know about 5,000 hieroglyphs. BUT! Once you have learned these complex ancient symbols, you will be able to discover many paths to learning other languages. For example, Japanese, Cantonese, and Korean use a simpler version of Chinese characters.

Once you have learned the hieroglyphs, you will probably want to learn them. write ... And here, more than ever, tremendous patience and creative skills are needed.

To begin with, you will have to carefully study the table of radicals - the individual strokes that make up the hieroglyphs.

There are 214 radicals in Chinese. Some of them are full-fledged, that is, they themselves have some meaning. Others can only make sense when used in conjunction with additional ones.

The direction of the strokes in writing is extremely important. For example, strokes from top to bottom, left to right, and horizontal strokes are written first than vertical strokes. Otherwise, the hieroglyph is considered to be misspelled.

When asked if it is possible to learn Chinese on your own, it is important to follow two main rules:

Read Chinese texts as often as possible... You should devote at least 20 minutes to this activity daily. Any sources are suitable for this, starting with children's books and textbooks, which are often printed in pinyin. Even signs and labels, menus in Chinese restaurants are suitable for reading. Once you master this, you can start studying newspapers. This will allow you to become one step closer to the culture of this country.
Write as often as possible... Writing practice is the best way to learn Chinese yourself at home. For this purpose, you can keep a diary in which you will describe the weather, plans for the day, your state of health, or a habitual occupation. A great way to master writing is to find a Chinese pen pal who will point out mistakes and teach you new things. Make simple lists of foods, things to do, things, verbs, and more often.

Method # 3

We immerse ourselves in the language environment.

The best example of how to start learning Chinese on your own is to immerse yourself in a language environment. And here are some tips on how to do it:

Practice with a native speaker ... Chatting with a Chinese is the best way to master the language. Practical communication will help you master pronunciation, learn colloquial expressions. All this is not in the textbooks. It is enough to practice an hour or two a week, so that in a couple of months the results will be noticeable. By the way, this is beneficial to the other side as well: the Chinese will be able to improve their Russian at your expense, or will be glad to sit down with coffee / tea for free (not for you, of course). No Chinese acquaintances? It's okay - go online! It is full of representatives of the Celestial Empire, dreaming of making a friend among the Europeans. Don't forget about Skype courses or tutors too.
Listening ... You can listen to audio in Chinese even on the road, jogging, or while cleaning. During this, try to speak the speech. It's not scary if it doesn't work out. Listen carefully and remember the most important thing. At first you will not understand anything, but over time you will succeed.
Watching movies in Chinese ... It can also be cartoons familiar to you, during which a person is immersed in the language environment. You also practice not only understanding, but also pronunciation of tones and skills of constructing sentences. You should start with short films and cartoons. Let there be subtitles, but from time to time try to recognize the speech without their help. Stop the movie regularly and repeat what was said with the same intonation.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Fear is the main obstacle in learning a foreign language. Accept from the start that you are bound to make mistakes. But the sooner you do them, the sooner you will learn to bypass them. Your job isn't perfect Chinese. It is enough just to understand the interlocutor and be able to speak out on any issue. You will improve later, but for now - make a mistake on your health!

Ideally, of course, you need to go to China. This increases motivation many times over - the reason why we generally need to start learning a foreign language. Local bustling streets and the mesmerizing majesty of the Great Wall of China, strange delicacies and epic battle sites will help you understand things that you did not understand before. Here everyone finds something of their own, understands Chinese culture in their own way.

If you went to China with a minimal set of knowledge, get ready for the fact that no one will understand you. Locals will constantly be distracted by your appearance, strange accent and mispronunciation.

Is it difficult to learn Chinese on your own? Still would! But it's worth it. And here are the recommendations of professionals to help you, with whom this process will not be so painful:

Prepare for this to be a lengthy process. It is unlikely to succeed quickly.
Read aloud as often as possible. So you can not only hone your understanding, but also your pronunciation skills.
Find a Chinese learning partner. There is great amount free sites where people share their language experiences.
Watch Chinese movies, TV shows, cartoons, listen to the radio. This should be given at least 1 hour every day.

Well, if you need knowledge of Chinese due to the debt of your studies, then you can always order the writing of a test, translation or coursework in Chinese from specialists. They will solve your problem, and you will not have to learn in a short time something that will never be useful to you again. Or, you just save a lot of time researching what you really like or might need.

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I am often asked how difficult Chinese is and whether it is worth learning. In this post I will talk about some of the features of the Chinese language and, thus, I will try to answer the questions. And then it's up to you to decide whether to get involved in this business.

Book of Songs (Shih Jing), Ming era edition

Chinese writing is hieroglyphic. In classical Chinese (文言 wenyan) one word was written in one hieroglyph. For example: 名 min- name, title. In modern Chinese, a word can be written with one or two, less often three or more hieroglyphs: 历史 lichen- history, 百科全书 bike quanshu- encyclopedia (lit. " full book one hundred disciplines ").

In order to freely read the press and popular literature, knowledge of 3-4 thousand hieroglyphs is required - this is about how much a graduate of a high school in the PRC should know. To read specialized literature, understanding 5-8 thousand hieroglyphs is enough. The minimum literacy level for peasants is 1,500 characters, for workers and employees - 2,000 characters. Total number hieroglyphs are very large - several tens of thousands.

Hieroglyphs have a clear structure. In II-I thousand... BC. a list of basic characters (graphemes) was formed, which are still used as independent hieroglyphs, and are also part of more complex characters. Graphemes consist of certain features (horizontal, vertical, folding, with an angle, with a hook, points), which are written in a strictly defined order. Examples of graphemes: 口 coe- mouth, 手 show- hand.

However, about 90% of the characters are so-called. phonoideograms. They usually consist of two (or more) graphemes, one of which indicates an approximate reading (phonetic), and the other indicates a value (key). For example, in the word "mom" 妈妈 Mother two-character hieroglyph 妈 ma includes two graphemes: 女 nu- woman (key, indicates an approximate value) and 马 ma- horse (phonetic, indicates approximate reading). There are hieroglyphs-ideograms, where the graphemes included in their composition indicate only the meaning. For example, the character 好 hao- good, consists of graphemes 女 nu- woman and 子 tzu- child: a woman who gives birth to children is good.

In the 50s of the XX century, work began in the PRC to simplify hieroglyphs with a complex spelling. In 1964, a corresponding list was published, numbering about 6 thousand characters. Examples of full and simplified characters: 國 - 国 th(country, state), 說 - 说 sho(to speak), 樹 - 树 shu(wood). In the PRC, simplified hieroglyphs are now widely used. However, reading old books requires knowledge of complete hieroglyphs. In Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, the complex spelling of hieroglyphs is still common. While the principles of simplification are often intuitive, there are two types of spelling worth learning.

Phonetic alphabet is used for transcription pinyin zimu pīnyīn zìmǔ拼音字母, based on Latin and diacritics.

Thanks to the hieroglyphic writing, you can read texts written many centuries ago. In addition, you can read the literature of other countries where Chinese characters were widespread or are still used (old Korean and Vietnamese texts, Japanese texts, etc.).

Pronunciation

Usually foreigners study putonghua普通话 (lit. "common language"), based on northern dialects, Beijing pronunciation and oriented towards modern colloquial... In Mandarin, education is carried out, radio and TV are broadcast.

Chinese is a tone language. In Mandarin, there are four basic tones and a neutral one. The meaning of the word depends on the tone. Syllable example ma(written in Latin): 妈 mā(mom), 麻 má(hemp), 马 mǎ(horse), 骂 mà(scold), 吗 ma(interrogative particle).

A certain difficulty is the presence of - words that are pronounced the same, but are spelled differently. Various signs, jokes, wishes are associated with them. The presence of homophones does not allow switching to alphabetical writing. Sometimes the number of homophones can reach several tens or even hundreds.

Dialects

There are also many abbreviations in Chinese. For example, the phrase "Peking University" in Chinese is 北大 Beida("North" + "big"). This is an abbreviation of the four syllable 北京大学Beijing daxue("" + "University").

Chinese characters have a huge semantic field, which is reflected in a large number various meanings. Sometimes a paradoxical situation occurs when all the hieroglyphs included in a phrase or sentence are familiar, but general meaning incomprehensible. I have to use a dictionary to clarify the meanings of the hieroglyphs and their combinations. Now there are a large number of electronic dictionaries (on the Internet, in smartphones), which greatly facilitates this work.

If Chinese is so difficult, why learn it?

I think you already understood that the Chinese language is very, very difficult. It is based on completely different principles than the Indo-European languages we are used to. And yet there is something in it that makes you spend time and energy on it.

First of all, almost 1.5 billion people speak Chinese. China is a country of ancient and rich culture, whose writing is almost 3.5 thousand years old. Wonderful philosophical treatises have been written in Chinese, literary works, great poetry. It is impossible to adequately translate them into Russian, preserving all the variety of meanings and meanings. As the famous translator of Buddhist texts Kumarajiva (IV-V centuries) said, the translation is like chewed food: the food remains, but its taste is terrible.

Currently, political, economic, cultural relations between Russia and China are at a high level and there are prospects for their further development. This means that specialists with knowledge of the Chinese language will be in demand.

But ... Very often you will curse the Chinese language and throw textbooks on the floor with rage. You will berate yourself for getting involved in this crazy adventure. It will seem to you that all your efforts are in vain and you have not made any progress, although you have spent on learning the language. long years and during this time they could perfectly learn a few European languages... The hieroglyphs will be constantly forgotten, despite the fact that you will diligently write them, exhausting tons of paper. Perhaps you will have nightmares where hieroglyphs will haunt you, or you will painfully try to translate something. Sometimes the eyes will ache and the cheekbones on the face will ache. When you speak to a Chinese for the first time, you realize with horror that neither he nor you understand him absolutely.

This is all true. But if you still dare, read for inspiration here.

Well, have you decided to study Chinese? Or, perhaps, to your liking?