Pensions for a billion. Does China have a pension system? Yes and no in Chinese Why there is no Chinese alphabet
Chinese writing is a well-established expression that we are used to denoting something that is completely incomprehensible. But in the modern world, learning the main language of the East, spoken by the most populous country in the world, is becoming the norm. Many states are “going east” in tourism, trade, manufacturing, and other areas. To relieve the fear of learning a speech that is so different from all European ones, let’s look at the Chinese alphabet in an accessible form.
Phonetics or alphabet?
Let's define the terminology. The Chinese did not know such concepts as the alphabet or alphabet. The written language of the Celestial Empire consists, according to various estimates, of 50-100 thousand hieroglyphs, each of which is assembled from keys - elements of writing (which cannot be called the word “alphabet”), they, in turn, can be used separately and have their own meaning. This writing is hieroglyphic, not alphabetic.
There is still an opinion that only a person born in the country can master the technique of Chinese writing. But foreigners are able, and there is plenty of evidence of this, to master the technique of reading, understanding, and speaking. In writing, at the current level of development of gadgets, many hours of exercises with paper, ink and a brush, which were previously used to study hieroglyphs, have been replaced.
Now about the “letters” - this system was invented specifically for foreigners seeking to master the Chinese alphabet. In order for people who are accustomed to reading and writing Latin or Cyrillic letters to be able to effectively learn the basics, something that can be called the alphabet has been created. At its core, these are the rules for reading keys and hieroglyphs, that is, transcription, phonetics of the Chinese language. Its Europeanization greatly simplifies the knowledge of the Chinese alphabet.
Chinese was and remains one of the most complex languages on the planet, so for ease of understanding, we will include the terms “letters” and “alphabet” in our review and analyze it as clearly as possible.
What is "pinyin"?
The Celestial alphabet has a more correct name “pinyin” - it is a system of phonetic writing or transcribing keys using Latin letters. The “alphabet” was approved 60 years ago – in 1958. Today, this addition to classical writing is studied by Chinese children without fail, to say nothing of foreigners: without the Pinyin alphabet, few will be able to continue moving forward in mastering Chinese literacy.
- The first rule: if in Western languages and in Russian one letter of the alphabet corresponds to one sound, in China a letter often sounds like a combination of several. Basic Pinyin Alphabet Table:
| Chinese | Latin | Transcription |
| 诶 | A | ēi |
| 比 | B | bǐ |
| 西 | C | xī |
| 迪 | D | di |
| 伊 | E | yī |
| 艾弗 | F | ài fú |
| 吉 | G | jí |
| 艾尺 | H | ài chǐ |
| 艾 | I | ài |
| 杰 | J | jie |
| 开 | K | kāi |
| 艾勒 | L | ài lè |
| 艾马 | M | ài mǎ |
| 艾娜 | N | ài nà |
| 哦 | O | ó |
| 屁 | P | pì |
| 吉吾 | Q | jí wú |
| 艾儿 | R | ài er |
| 艾丝 | S | ài sī |
| 提 | T | tí |
| 伊吾 | U | yī wú |
| 维 | V | wei |
| 豆贝尔维 | W | dòu bèi ěr wéi |
| 艾克斯 | X | yī kè sī |
| 吾艾 | Y | wú ài |
| 贼德 | Z | zéi dé |
- Second rule: there are more main and consonant sounds in the alphabet than Latin letters. We will present them later. This table is for informational purposes only.
- Third rule: the lines above the letters of the transcription are tones. In Chinese there are 4+1, and the meaning of what is said in different tones changes dramatically depending on how you pronounce them. The sound of tones is the next stage in learning the alphabet. At the initial level, accessible even to children, it is enough to watch a video pronunciation lesson and find out what the “alphabet” sounds like.
- Fourth rule: each Chinese syllable is divided into two. Let's look at examples.
Initials
The beginning of a syllable is called an initial. Here and further we will consider the words that are the first in the lives of people around the world: “mom” and “dad”:
- 妈妈 māma (mother);
- 爸爸 bāba (father).
Both words are made up of repeating syllables, each of which has a different letter of the alphabet as an initial. For mā it is m, for bā it is b.
Fifth rule: initials are consonant sounds (letters of the alphabet and their combination). But there is a nuance: in the Chinese alphabet there are 22 consonants, and there are 21 initials. The exception is the sound ng (pronounced -pang, is an ending similar to English -ing). Here is the table:
| b | c | d | f | g | h | j | k |
| l | m | n | p | q | r | s | t |
| x | z | zh | сh | sh | ng (pang) | ||
All syllables in the letter begin with 21 given sounds, there are exceptions when reading
Finals
The final is the ending of a syllable, and in addition to the consonant ng, the main sounds are used in these cases. For those familiar to us, ma and ba are the symbol a. The number of finals in Chinese phonetics is 35, and they have their own gradation:
- monophthongs - one letter;
- compound - a sequence of vowels or vowel and consonant(s).
This is what the table for studying the finals looks like:
| monophthongs – 6 sounds | |||||
| a | e | i | o | u | ü |
| compound – 29 sounds | |||||
| ai | ei | ia | ou | ua | üe |
| ao | en | ie | ong | uo | ün |
| an | eng | in | ui(uei) | üan | |
| ang | iu(iou) | un(uen) | |||
| iao | uai | ||||
| ing | uan | ||||
| ian | uang | ||||
| iang | ueng | ||||
| iong | |||||
Learning syllables using the beginning-to-end principle is not a difficult task, and these are the basics of Chinese pronunciation.
Sixth rule: there are fewer real combinations of initials and finals than the mathematically probable ones for 57 characters; syllables are also connected to each other according to the rules given in tabular form:
Pinyin at its core is a phonetic constructor for those who are beginning to study literary Chinese. The system does not take into account dialects, but for the school curriculum of Chinese residents, and even more so for those starting to learn the language of foreigners, this linguistic Lego greatly simplifies understanding.
Tones in Chinese phonetics
Having figured out the combinations of letters, sounds and syllables in the tables, you need to multiply them by four, and then add one more.
Seventh rule: meaning depends on tones. This will not be found in Russian or in any of the Romance or Celtic languages. The closest in meaning phenomena of the Russian language are:
- Homonyms are words with the same spelling and different meaning depending on the context. Example - key (tool or spring);
- Homographs are homonyms with different accents. Example: castle or padlock.
Now let's return to our first word in life and in the Chinese language: “mother”. It is such only in the first tone. The table shows how the value changes in the future:
As can be seen from the spelling, tones are indicated by dashes above the letter (in Russian there are only three such signs - an arc over Y, dots over Y and an accent mark). How to pronounce these dashes is determined by their shape. Pictures will help here. An enlarged view is shown in the figure:
Let us also give a simple and resourceful modern rule: the tones of Chinese can be easily remembered by the McDonald's emblem:
In the original Chinese script, different tones correspond to different characters:
As the pictures show, there are four main tones in the language. The fifth is the neutral pronunciation of short syllables, usually denoting particles.
How to read correctly?
The phonetic construct of initials, finals, and tones becomes more complex as you move on to actually reading Chinese. Here it is important to remember a number of rules and formulas that explain the sounds of the Chinese language.
Eighth rule: “invisible letters” are used when reading. These are y and w - many will notice their absence in the tables of syllables. These letters - y and w - are initials, but special ones. They are knocked out from their spelling by ü, u, i. But when reading, the “invisible” initials must take their places. Basic rules for how an exception syllable is written and sounds:
Tenth rule: the arrangement of tones has its own logic. Basic Rules:
- Vowels are marked with a special tone sign. When there are two or more of them in a row, the sign is given to the letter that is closer to the beginning of the sequence a→o→e→i→u→ü.
- with a tone above the letter i, the sign replaces the dot;
- with a sequence of two syllables, the third tone changes by -1. The first syllable is assigned a second tone, the second - a third;
- when combining syllables when the first of them is the third, and the second is any other, a change of -0.5 occurs and a semitone appears between the second and third. But only in pronunciation. The third tone sign remains in the writing;
- the exceptional word bù (negation: not or not) with the addition of a second four-tone word changes its to -2 and is pronounced with a second intonation.
These are just a few exceptions that confirm the general rules of the beautiful Chinese constructor Pinyin, which is a conductor between Western and Eastern languages.
What the alphabet looks like - table with transcription
We have given the basics of a unique alphabet in the basic version of translating Chinese characters into Latin letters. There is also a native Russian table with transcription - Slavic pinyin (used by computer translators). It will not help much in learning the language, since reading transcriptions will require knowledge of international rules, but it will be useful for your horizons and/or a tourist trip. Here is the Chinese alphabet in Russian in tabular form with international transcription and tones:
| Russian | Chinese | transcription |
| A | 阿 | ā |
| B | 贝 | bèi |
| IN | 非 | fēi |
| G | 给 | gěi |
| D | 得 | děi |
| E | 也 | yě |
| Yo | 用 | yong |
| AND | 热 | rè |
| Z | 赛 | sài |
| AND | 伊 | yī |
| Y | 伊可罗肯 | yīkěluókěn |
| TO | 卡 | kǎ |
| L | 艾了 | àile |
| M | 艾姆 | àimǔ |
| N | 恩 | ēn |
| ABOUT | 哦 | ò |
| P | 佩 | pèi |
| R | 艾和 | àihe |
| WITH | 艾斯 | àisī |
| T | 泰 | tài |
| U | 吴 | wú |
| F | 艾弗 | àifú |
| X | 哈 | hā |
| C | 册 | cè |
| H | 切 | qiē |
| Sh | 沙 | shā |
| SCH | 夏 | xià |
| Kommersant | 图路迪斯尼亚克 | túlùdísīníyàkè |
| Y | 俄 | é |
| b | 灭斯迪斯尼亚克 | mièsīdísīníyàkè |
| E | 诶 | ēi |
| YU | 哟 | yō |
| I | 亚 | yà |
The Russian transcription of the adapted alphabet can simplify the task even further - a kind of translation:
| A a | A |
| B b | ba |
| C c | tskha |
| CH ch | chha |
| D d | Yes |
| E e | uh |
| F f | F |
| G g | ha |
| H h | Ha |
| -i | And |
| J j | ji |
| K k | haha |
| Ll | la |
| Mm | m |
| Nn | n |
| O o | O |
| P p | pha |
| Q q | qi |
| R r | jan |
| Ss | sa |
| SH sh | sha |
| T t | tha |
| - u | at |
| - ü | Yu |
| W w | va |
| X x | si |
| Y y | I |
| Z z | tsa |
| ZH zh | zha |
Important clarification: some are listed in lowercase only because they are never used at the beginning of words in Chinese. Therefore, there are no uppercase variants.
Conclusion
The Chinese language is rightfully one of the leaders in terms of inaccessibility for foreigners. But learning it at the everyday and even professional level is not as difficult as it seems. What is needed: attention, scrupulousness and time to study the phonetic constructor. For this, the Pinyin system is indispensable, which is actively used even by a translator. And when “Europeanized” writing, reading and pronunciation have been mastered, the Chinese language is ready to begin to reveal to you its original meaning in beautiful hieroglyphs.
Many people interested in the Chinese language ask what the Chinese alphabet is, or even look for the Chinese alphabet with a translation. Let’s dot the I’s right away: Chinese language has no alphabet. Let's figure out why this happened and try to look for a black cat in a dark room.
What is the alphabet
First, let's define what an alphabet is. Definition from Ozhegov's dictionary: "ALPHABET - a set of letters or other signs of a given writing system."
Why there is no Chinese alphabet
Because the alphabet is a collection of letters or other signs of the writing system, let's see what signs are in Chinese and whether there are letters in it.
Chinese characters
The Chinese writing system has no letters, but is based on hieroglyphs. Can a set of Chinese characters be an alphabet, by analogy, for example, with the letters of the Russian alphabet? To answer this question, you need to understand the difference between Chinese and other languages.
In Chinese, like in Russian and other European languages, there are words. This is where the similarities end. Further differences. In Russian and other European languages, a word consists of letters. A single letter of the European alphabet has no semantic meaning. In Chinese, a word is made up of characters. A single Chinese character can have a semantic meaning, i.e. speak in one complete word. In modern Chinese, there are about 30% of such words consisting of one hieroglyph, and most words consist of only 2 hieroglyphs (in ancient Chinese, most words consisted of one hieroglyph). There are also words made from 3 or more hieroglyphs, but there are much fewer of them; as a rule, these are complex terms or transcribed borrowings from other languages (for example, Russian names transcribed into Chinese).
Those. A hieroglyph in Chinese is not like a letter in Russian. If we draw an analogy, then in terms of sound it is a syllable, but in terms of meaning it is more like the root of a word in the Russian language. After all, the root of a word, unlike a letter, is already a unit that has a semantic meaning. And the hieroglyph in Chinese, as stated above, has exactly this meaning. Therefore, the characters cannot be called the Chinese alphabet. Plus, alphabets have a precise small number of letters (Russian has 33, English has 26). The exact number of characters in the Chinese language is unknown. It is estimated at approximately 50,000. Of these, the commonly used ones are about 5,000, and the most popular ones are about 1,500. This is another explanation why Chinese characters cannot be an alphabet.
Chinese characters keys
Chinese characters are made up of smaller graphic units called keys. Can the keys be Chinese alphabet? Also no. As is the case with hieroglyphs, unlike the letters of the European alphabet, a separate key has its own semantic meaning (therefore, many keys can be used as independent hieroglyphs).
Pinyin
Pinyin is a romanization system for the Chinese language. In simple words, it is a system for writing Chinese syllables in Latin letters. Because Since in Chinese a character is a syllable, then with the help of pinyin any Chinese word can be written in Latin letters.
Could Pinyin be the Chinese alphabet? Can not. Yes, as in European alphabets, Pinyin has a precise number of elements; each of them individually does not carry a semantic meaning and is part of words. But pinyin is just a way of writing Chinese syllables in Latin letters. And pinyin does not consist of letters, like the alphabet, but of whole syllables. Pinyin is, roughly speaking, an auxiliary device invented quite recently (pinyin was adopted in 1958, while the Chinese language arose in the 2nd-3rd centuries BC). Pinyin was invented so that a person who does not know how to pronounce a hieroglyph, but knows the Latin alphabet, can pronounce this hieroglyph. Those. Pinyin is not an alphabet as a basis for writing, but simply a means of recording Chinese sounds.
This is confirmed by the Chinese Wikipedia in the article “alphabet”:丁化体系都只是一套用字母来标音的符号，而不是 字母。 Translation: “It is important to understand that there is absolutely no concept of an alphabet in the Chinese language. Pinyin, Zhuyin and other similar systems of romanization of Chinese writing are just sets of characters to represent sounds, but not an alphabet.”
When to use hieroglyphs and when to use pinyin
To understand the place of hieroglyphs and pinyin in the Chinese language, we will give examples of the use of both. Basically, in modern China, hieroglyphs are used. Document flow, press, laws, etc. in China - all this is in hieroglyphs. Pinyin is used as an aid, for example, in cities on street signs their names are written in hieroglyphs and accompanied by pinyin. This is done to make life easier for foreigners who do not know Chinese. It also happens that the Chinese themselves may not know some very rare character, so pinyin can help the Chinese themselves.
Another example of using pinyin is typing characters on a keyboard. Using Pinyin, Chinese characters can be typed on a regular English keyboard. To do this, you type pinyin using English keys, and you get a hieroglyph. This is exactly how the Chinese type characters, on regular English-language keyboards.
Another example of using pinyin is when you need to organize a list of words written in Chinese characters. In this case, they are ordered according to the Latin alphabet of the first syllables of Pinyin. This is useful, for example, when filling out forms when there is a long list of possible options and you need to find yours. You simply search for it using the Latin Pinyin alphabet.
Finally
As Confucius said, “It is very difficult to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there.”
There is no Chinese alphabet as such. Chinese is too different from European languages; due to its peculiarities, it simply does not need an alphabet. In the past, there were attempts to create an alphabet for the Chinese language and translate Chinese writing from hieroglyphs into words from the letters of this alphabet, but these alphabets quickly fell out of use (for example, the Chinese romanized alphabet 拉丁化新文字). Now many people mistake Pinyin for the Chinese alphabet, but Pinyin is not an alphabet, but a set of Latin syllables (not letters!) for the sound transmission of Chinese characters.
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Even if you have been to China, love the local cuisine or learn the language, it is unlikely that you have a clear idea of the intricacies of the Celestial Empire. Why do the Chinese have a long nail on their little finger? Why can't you stick chopsticks into rice? Do the Chinese consider themselves well-mannered? And what, after all, is it about a girl wearing a cleavage?
Editorial website shares truths that are mandatory to study before traveling to the Celestial Empire, gleaned from the writer and traveler Alexei Vinokurov, as well as from personal experience of life in exile.
1. We have all heard that heaven rewards a Chinese family with the birth of a boy and mocks it by sending it a girl. This attitude may still be alive in some provinces, but in larger cities the gender of the child is treated less dramatically. But still Patriarchy is heavily influenced in China: The older generation still tends to see a woman primarily as a housewife and wife, and many fathers are prejudiced against the desire of modern daughters to receive higher education (God forbid, also abroad) and actively build a career.
2. Chinese men love to take care of themselves and do not hide it. Again, this applies primarily to the younger generation. Guys willingly use various kinds of perfumes, do trendy hairstyles and haircuts, dye their hair and carefully think through their wardrobe. There is an opinion that the Chinese have borrowed the growing desire for “masculine aesthetics” from South Korea, known for its cult of beauty. The difference between the Chinese of the old and new generations is sometimes simply astounding: mature men rarely bother with the choice of clothes, not to mention the rest of the details of the men's toilet.
3. What is the reason for such drastic changes in the appearance of the Chinese? It's simple: appearance is the first thing that declares your well-being, and high income is the blue dream of a true Chinese. And in fact, this is what unites Chinese fathers and sons. Perhaps, under the influence of European culture, young people strive to have a sculpted figure, and a mature Chinese man will never be ashamed to show off his substantial belly: let everyone around him know that he eats well and can afford to gain weight.
4. Long nail on the Chinese little finger often causes bewilderment among Europeans, but is extremely transparent for his compatriots: this is another way to show others that this is not a person who is used to making a living through hard physical labor. No, no, no, his everyday life is comfortable, he knows his worth and in general, intelligence is his main working tool.
5. The obscene antics of all non-Chinese people are treated condescendingly and, perhaps, even a little condescendingly: “Western” behavior, what to take from it. By the way, a deep neckline here is considered a much greater manifestation of debauchery than a short skirt. Just like bright makeup. Chinese women themselves do not wear makeup at all or use a minimum of cosmetics.
6. Well-mannered western people or not, they are without a doubt very beautiful. Because they are light-skinned and big-eyed. Nationality does not matter, the main thing is that you have a clear “European” appearance, which means, according to the Chinese, you could easily show off on the cover of some fashion magazine.
7. For a Westerner, once in China, it can be difficult to keep his or her emotional state within reason. And it’s not just that you are considered handsome. Residents of the Middle Kingdom are, in principle, very generous with compliments.: So, if your vocabulary is limited to carefully pronouncing “Nihao!” (“Hello!”), they will certainly tell you that your Chinese is gorgeous. And you are also stylishly dressed. And this hairstyle suits you very well.
8. For dark-skinned nations, the Chinese have their own terminology. If you speak the local language, don't be surprised to hear the expression "coffee people." True, speaking about your dark-skinned friend, think about whether he is a coffee person or more of a chocolate person.
9. The Chinese love to drink and, perhaps, even know how to drink. For the most part, preference is given to beer, which is bought by the box for any celebration. By the way, Alcohol and cigarettes are freely sold here even to teenagers. At the same time, you practically won’t see a child drinking or smoking here: it doesn’t seem to even occur to local underage youth to organize drunken revelries and take advantage of such relaxations of the law.
10. In continuation of the previous point: be mentally prepared for the fact that you can easily you can meet a child of any age in a bar. No, of course, he didn't come to let off steam after screwing up his math test. It’s just that his parents are gathering here today with relatives or friends. And yes, once again: Chinese children show no interest in alcohol.
11. Another example of an unknowable oriental miracle is found on the roads of the Celestial Empire: rules are regularly violated, and a pedestrian is practically not considered a participant in traffic, but the number of accidents is ridiculously small. Chinese drivers manage to pass, brake and maneuver exactly at the second when it is necessary. It seems to be passed down genetically.
12. Ordinary Chinese rarely speak English or in any other foreign language. The exception may be students, staff of expensive hotels or residents of mega-progressive cities like Hong Kong. With others, be prepared to use gestures to communicate.
13. You can smoke everywhere. Even when choosing noodles in a store.
14. The moment is delicate, but important: paper in a public toilet(if it exists) It’s worth looking in advance somewhere in the washbasin area and exactly before you get into the booth. This applies to the vast majority of Chinese establishments.
15. It is better to refrain from touching, the Chinese don't like this. Handshakes are accepted only among those who are used to working with foreigners and are familiar with their culture. If you are handed a business card, try to take it and put it down as carefully as possible: a business card symbolizes a person, and you need to show respect to it.
16. Accepting an invitation from a Chinese man, say, for lunch or even stay in his city for a few days, keep in mind: he intends to pay for you. To argue with him means to challenge his right as a hospitable host and generally give a damn about his soul. It is better to praise his efforts and generosity in every possible way and show sincere gratitude.
17. When going to a typical Chinese food establishment, remember: There are no forks and there never will be. Even if eating with chopsticks is a difficult experience for you, never do the following:
- Don't stick your chopsticks into the rice (unless you're at a funeral).
- Don't throw chopsticks all over the table - it's bad luck.
- Do not point your chopsticks at your neighbor during a conversation - this is an insult.
- Do not hit your teeth or cup with chopsticks - it is extremely bad manners.
- Do not take food with the opposite ends of the chopsticks (it’s difficult to mix it up, but still).
- Don't stick food with one stick.
- It is relatively acceptable, but extremely amateurish, if you pierce food (for example, a dumpling) with chopsticks in an attempt to finally get it to your mouth.
No matter how much you suffer during such a feast, remember that your heroic attempts to eat like a decent person should deeply impress your Chinese acquaintances.
18. Many people consider the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire to be extremely impolite, and this is understandable: they constantly push, jump in line, rush ahead and generally behave as if other people around do not exist. Forget about apologies and accept the fact that the Chinese standing behind you in line will find it very convenient to lean on you. They themselves comment on it like this: “Yes, we know that such behavior seems rude to foreigners, but they have never lived in a country with such a large population. There are too many of us; You’ll never get a seat on the bus or a good job if you worry about being polite.” Well, it’s hard not to believe them and sympathize when you see a photo like this of an art school entrance exam.
We are convinced that those who love China and often visit there could make their own list of things that must be studied before traveling to this amazing country. Some rules may work for the north of the Celestial Empire or for megacities, but are rarely found in the south or in the provinces. We tried to collect the most universal points for you and are waiting for stories from your personal tourist experience in the comments!
The Chinese language today is perhaps the most mysterious and incomprehensible language. This language evokes the most contradictory emotions: from complete rejection to some kind of awe. In the media, on television and simply among people who have no idea about this exotic language, there are a lot of jokes, anecdotes and myths associated with this truly beautiful, deep language. In this article we would like to dispel these myths and answer the most common questions about the Chinese language.
Do the Chinese have an alphabet?
The answer to this question is clear - no, it has never happened and is unlikely to appear. Chinese writing is made up of hieroglyphs, which look like small images of the concepts being expressed. So the character “field” 田 really looks like a field, the character “fire” 火 looks like a fire, and 木 looks like a tree. Moreover, two trees 林 are already a “forest”. Of course, everything is not so simple, and recognizing the elephant in 象 will require much more imagination.
All Chinese characters consist of individual fragments called radicals (keys). There are about two hundred radicals in total, their knowledge greatly facilitates the study of hieroglyphs, but they are still not an alphabet, since they do not express the vowel and consonant sounds from which words are constructed.
How many characters are there in Chinese?
The average number of characters in the Chinese language is 50 thousand (including outdated and rarely used ones). “Large Collection of Chinese Characters” 汉语大字典 hànyǔ dà zìdiǎn contains 54,678 characters. But that's not all, the Zhonghua Zihai Dictionary (中华字海 zhōnghuá zì hǎi), released in 1994, includes 85,568 characters. Modern dictionaries usually contain no more than 20 thousand hieroglyphs. An educated Chinese should know about 8 thousand, while for a foreigner 3-4 thousand will be enough for everyday life and reading newspapers (although everything is relative).
What does a Chinese keyboard look like?
Some people present it like this:
But in fact, it has no differences from a regular “English” keyboard: it’s all about the input method that is selected in the operating system (for example, Windows 7 supports several different ways of entering hieroglyphs, which can be controlled in the control panel: Region and Language → Languages and Keyboards → Change Keyboard). The popular and simple Microsoft Pinyin Ne input method looks like this: using the English keys, you enter the transcription (pinyin) of the Chinese word, and the system offers numbered options for hieroglyphs (usually more than a dozen, with the most common at the beginning), of which using the number keys or clicking the mouse the desired one is selected. Thus, Chinese characters are entered using a simple English keyboard and an additional program, which usually already comes with the system (in Windows XP it had to be installed separately).
Of course, the Chinese did not limit themselves to just entering transcriptions - there are keyboards that allow you to enter graphemes (the features that make up hieroglyphs), and each key can contain 8 graphemes at once. There are also keyboards with additional buttons for frequently used hieroglyphs.
Thus, the original Chinese keyboard for entering graphemes looks like this:
Why is Chinese called Mandarin?
The official language of the PRC is Putonghua 普通话, calling it “Mandarin” in Russian is incorrect and absurd, this definition is used only in Western literature as a copy of the old Chinese expression “guanhua” 官话 - “the language of officials” (in fact, the official Chinese language) . "Official" in English mandarin(from Portuguese mandarim); Over time, all northern dialects of Chinese began to be called “Mandarin” in the West. In our country they are simply called “Chinese”, since they are the main and largest group of dialects of the PRC.
Do the Chinese understand each other?
The Chinese do not always understand each other - this is often due to different dialects and accents, which create considerable obstacles to understanding in an already complex speech. Despite the fact that all citizens of the PRC, including minor nationalities, are required to know the state language Putonghua, everyone has their own pronunciation, so the chance of mutual understanding decreases with every step from east to west and from south to north.
One hieroglyph - one word?
A Chinese word can consist of one character (very often), or two or three. One character is always one syllable, for example, 吧 bā, 啊 ā, 妈 mā, 能 néng. Due to the large number of identical sounding words in Chinese speech, several syllables are increasingly being used, that is, several hieroglyphs, for example, 吃 chī - “eat, eat” is usually used in conjunction with 饭 fàn - “food, food” just for the sake of , to make it easier to perceive by ear - 吃饭 chīfàn - “eat, eat, eat.”
Is it possible to read Japanese characters if you know Chinese?
A long time ago, around the 5th century. n. e., Chinese characters somehow came to Japan through some unknown means. Perhaps they were brought by Buddhist monks - it is not known for certain. The Japanese at that time did not have their own written language, and based on Chinese characters they created their two alphabets - hiragana And katakana. The hieroglyphs themselves brought from China in Japan began to be called kanji(漢字), they are still used to write the stems of nouns, adjectives and verbs; For endings, particles, etc., hiragana is used.
The Japanese language has had a huge number of Chinese loanwords since the sixth century AD. Despite this, even knowing many characters, it is impossible to read Japanese text correctly due to grammatical and semantic differences; in addition, in mainland China, simplified characters are now used, while in Japan they have remained traditional. Thus, the writing of China and Japan developed from the same basis, but in different ways, therefore, knowing Chinese, you will not be able to read Japanese texts: there is only the possibility of understanding the main essence of what is written.
Why is Chinese so difficult?
The Chinese language is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the most difficult in the world, but this does not prevent many people from all over the world from mastering it at one level or another, reading, writing and speaking Chinese.
The main difficulty for many is hieroglyphs. Indeed, how to remember these thousands of completely different sequences of strokes? How to keep them in memory?
Chinese learners first need to learn the keys (there are about 200 of them, and they are simple). Keys help you memorize hieroglyphs faster, but without practice and constant repetition, new words disappear from memory very quickly.
Naturally, compared to alphabetic systems, hieroglyphic systems are overly complex and inconvenient (the same search in the dictionary!), but this can be overcome if you have a specific learning goal (for example, work, research or travel). Without a goal there is no point in learning.
And this is what the most complex hieroglyph looks like - biang, 58 strokes. It is used to represent a type of Chinese noodle and is not found in computer fonts.
As for spoken Chinese speech, it is very difficult to perceive due to the many consonant words and tone system. Most Chinese have an absolute ear for music because they are accustomed to distinguishing tones right from childhood. Foreigners do not have this skill, so they have to guess the content of the speech based on the context, as well as through persistent training to develop their hearing, getting used to the perception of Chinese.
In addition, Chinese fiction and journalism are replete with set expressions - sayings in our language, the meaning of which cannot be understood without the help of a dictionary.
In general, it is not for nothing that the Chinese language has earned its title as one of the most difficult in the world, but with due diligence and a goal, it can be mastered. The reward for this can be a huge (and constantly growing) number of potential interlocutors!
We are not certified sinologists, but gained our knowledge during our lives and travels in China. Therefore, we will not burden you with encyclopedic knowledge and complex grammatical structures. On the contrary, examples and explanations in this section will be presented as accessible as possible from the point of view of people who have nothing to do with Chinese.
In this case, we deliberately distort in order to accurately reflect the sound of a particular word or phrase. After all, you don’t need to correctly write “I don’t eat spicy” in Russian letters, you need the Chinese to understand you. It is advisable to write Chinese names correctly in pinyin or when you write reports or want to find what you need, but when you speak, it is not necessary to follow it. I know that many sinologists will not agree with me, but to my ears, accustomed to foreign languages, this is more correct and closer to the original.
Today's topic: “yes” and “no”
Let's start with the fact that in Chinese there are no words “yes” and “no”!!! This well reflects the distant and incomprehensible Chinese mentality. Instead of these two simple words, the Chinese have many affirmative particles and different ways to confirm something, as well as a universal particle in order to deny everything. So:
Boo! 不 means both NO and NOT. The tone is falling, as at the end of a sentence. Absolutely universal:
- Bu shi 不是 = is not, is not
- Bu yao 不要 = I don’t want, I don’t need
- Bu hao 不好 = not good, bad
- Bu duo 不多 (click to listen to pronunciation) = not much
- Bu duei 不对 = not correct
- That is yours? Zhege shy nide ma? 这个是你的吗？
– Bububu 不不不 bu shi 不是
YES, YES, THAT'S EXACTLY
1.) The most common affirmative particle shi 是 or shida 是的(in both cases the emphasis is on Y) this is something like the English to be, to be.
- You are Russian? Ni shi eluosy ren ma? 你是俄罗斯人吗？
- Yeah! SHYde! 是的！
2.) Another popular buzzword is: duei 对 or “blow” if you speak quickly. The fourth tone is falling. Duey is translated as “correctly”, “exactly”.
– You ordered five dishes 点了五个菜
– Duey 对
– ..and you want it not to be too spicy 不太辣的
– Blow blow blow 对对对
3.) Xing 行= good, okay (second rising tone, pronounced into a chant, while the N sound at the end is said slightly nasally, at the end there is an invisible letter G. Pinyin transcription looks like Xing)
Bu sin, accordingly = nothing is okay and doesn’t suit you. Attention, correct pronunciation:
4.) Hao 好= good, okay
Used in the same way as in Russian:
– I’ll be back at five 五点回来 wu dien hui lai
– hao
5.) In all other cases, simply repeat the last verb (you won’t need such an advanced level when traveling - it’s more for a general understanding of what’s happening in Chinese):
– do you want this?
- Want!
True, due to the fact that declensions, conjugations, plurals and other grammatical structures familiar to us are absent in Chinese, literally it is rather:
– do you want this? Nǐ yào zhège ma? 你要这个吗？ Nii yao zhege ma*?
- want! 要! Yao!
By the same principle:
– Are you leaving at the next one? 下吗？ Xia ma*?
- I'm leaving. 下 Xia
– Do you like China? 你喜欢中国吗？Ni Xihuang Zhongguo ma*?
– Like 喜欢 Xihuang
* about the interrogative particle “ma” 吗 read in the following sections
This is how everything is ambiguous in the Middle Kingdom. Shyda.