Digging into Chinese!

大家好！

As can be expected, my days have been filled with a lot of Chinese language study. It’s going pretty well, and I feel like I’m picking up words and grammar more quickly as time goes on. It was slow going at first, but now I’m starting to get more and more confident with speaking, listening, reading, and writing. It’s been really interesting studying a language in such a different language family. There are so many differences and “Chinese surprises” that keep me on my toes. Here are some of the most unique parts of my language study so far.

One of the most important parts of Chinese is the use of tones. They are very challenging to learn, but they also make Chinese very melodic. Tones are basically the different pitches used in speaking. There are four tones (plus one neutral tone) that make Chinese words differ in meaning. We have tones in English, but they mostly give nonverbal information about our sentences, like emphasis, surprise, or questioning. In Chinese, saying a word with a different tone usually makes it a completely different word. The common example is that saying “ma” four different ways can mean horse, mother, scold, or linen. For another example, today in our listening class we learned about the different kinds of teas. Green tea ( 渌茶 )is pronounced “lü cha” with “lü” as a falling tone. If you ask for some green tea, but accidentally pronounce “lü” with a rising tone, you are asking for donkey tea. This does not exist, and you probably don’t want to tempt them into creating that concoction for you. A lot of times as a language learner, you can depend on the fact that people will know what you’re saying because of context, but to be really clear you have to be very aware of your tones.

This is a really good link to see how tones work and what they sound like in Chinese. And there’s a game so you can test your tonal skills!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/games/tones.shtml

As we often say in class, 汉语语法不太难，汉字很难 - “Hanyu yufa bu tai nan, Hanzi hen nan.” In English, "Chinese grammar is not too hard, Chinese characters are very hard." Chinese grammar really isn’t too hard for a few reasons. First, Chinese tends to stick with single-morphemes, words without added parts. For example, verbs don’t have any conjugation to accommodate tense or the subject; tense is shown in context or with a word added. Also, while we like to chock our English sentences full of information, adverbs, and so forth, the Chinese tend to say just as much in fewer words. In English, we even borrowed the very efficient Chinese phrase 好久不见 – hao jiu bu jian --- or “long time no see.” There’s no denying that “long time no see” gets the point across that “I have not seen you in a long time.” We learned in class that if you plan to go see the doctor you can say 我要看病 - “wo yao kan bing.” Literally each word is “I want to see/look sick.” While this seems a little strange, it makes sense in Chinese because you’re saying that you are sick and you are going to go show the doctor that you are sick.

Measure words are another part of Chinese that is pretty interesting. There’s not much of an equivalent in English. Basically, measure words are always needed when saying there are a certain number of an object. In English, we can say “three books” or “five people,” but in Chinese you always need to put a measure word in between the number and the noun. It’s kind of like when we say “three pairs of pants” or “two pieces of paper.” Measure words can be pretty tricky in Chinese because there are many, many different ones for all the different kinds of nouns. The most common measure word (and the fall-back if you can’t remember the right one) is “ge” 个. There are lots more though, such as a measure word for books (“ben” 本), a measure word for things that are paper, but thinner than books like maps or newspapers (“zhang” 张), different measure words for drinks (“bei”杯，”ping”瓶，”he”盒), a measure word for writing utensils (“zhi” 枝), a measure word for vehicles (“liang” 辆), etc., etc. It can be a little daunting to try to remember all of the unique measure words. It’s just one of those things that you have to memorize until it’s instinctive. The cool part about measure words is that it sometimes shows how the Chinese categorize things a little differently than we probably would. For example, the measure word “tiao” 条 is used for snakes, rivers, pants, skirts, dragons, and noodles. It seems like a funny combination, but all of the objects are long and flowing. Makes sense, right?

Another part of Chinese that can be pretty amusing is the transliteration of certain words. Sometimes, these words sound pretty close to English, but it is different enough to be entertaining. For example, the Chinese really, really love their KFC. Here in China, the restaurant is called “kuhn-duh-gee” like Kentucky. Chocolate is “chow-kuh-lee.” One of my favorites, hamburger is pronounced “han-bow-bow.” A jacket is a “geeya-kuh.” We just learned today that if you say you drive a “gee-poo” car, you are the proud owner of a Jeep. I probably laughed the most when I heard the transliteration of Harry Potter, which goes something like “hah-lee boh-tuh.” It’s fun to hear these kinds of words that are reminiscent of English while keeping a distinct Chinese sound.

Between tones, grammar, and measure words, I’m keeping busy with Chinese! I study quite a bit to keep up with my classes and try to use as much Chinese as I can when I’m out and about. I’m not expecting to master the language while I’m here, but I think it will be a great souvenir that I’ll take home with me!

So for now, 再见！Bye!