Lesson 02 - Phonetics, Thank You

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Pinyin pronunciation, rules of phonetic spelling, retroflex final.
Vocabulary : I'm sorry, Thank you, See you tomorrow. 

Rules of phonetic spelling

Sound discrimination

Tone drills

Neutral tone

In Chinese there are a number of syllabes wich are unstressed and take a feeble tone. This is known as the neutral tone wich is shown by the absence of tone-graph.

Retroflex final

The final 儿 "er" is sometimes attached to another final to form a retroflex final and when thus used, it is no longer an independent syllable. A retroflex final is represented by the letter "r" added to the final

Conversation

- Duì   bù    qǐ !              - Méi   guānxi  !               - Xièxie ！     - Bú  kèqi ！
            对     不    起！                       没     关系 ！                               谢谢   !                       不  客气 !

- Míngtiān  jiàn !        - Míngtiān  jiàn !       - xiū xi   yí huìr !        - hǎo ba ！

                明天       见   !                     明天          见  !                  休 息      一会儿！              好  吧 !

Lesson 01 - Phonetics, Hello

Learn Chinese, free online audio courses

Introduction to the Pinyin, the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, the four tones. First conversation.

Lesson 01

· Initials

· Finals

· Tones

· Tone changes

· Conversation

· Calligraphy exercises

The Chinese Phonetic Alphabet

There have been many different systems of transcription used for learning to pronounce Chinese. Today the official transcription accepted on an international basis is the Pinyin alphabet, developed in China at the end of the 1950's.

Initials

A syllable in Chinese is composed of an initial, which is a consonant that begins the syllable, and a final, wich covers the rest of the syllable.

•  m, f, n, l, hand sh are pronounced as in English.
• d like "d" in "bed" (unaspirated)
• j like "g" in "genius" (unaspirated)
• Particular attention should be paid to the pronunciation of the so-called "aspirated" consonants. It is necessary to breath heavily after the consonant is pronounced. 
• p like "p" in "pope"
•  Distinction between certain initials: b / p   d / t   g / k   j / q   z / c   zh / ch
• ch (tongue curled back, aspirated) 
• c like "ts" in "cats" 
• q harder than "ch" in "cheap" 
• k like "k" in "kangaroo" 
• t like "t" in "tap"  
• r somewhat like "r" in "rain"  
• x like "sh" in "sheep" but with the corners of the lips drawn back  
• g a soft unaspirated "k" sound  
• b like "p" in "spin" (unaspirated)  
• zh like "j" in "job" 
• z like "ds" in "beds"

                              

In modern Chinese, there are 38 finals besides the above-represented 21 initials.

Finals

•  ie like "ye" in "yes"
•  e like "e" in "her"
•  er like "er" in "sister" (american pronounciation)
•  ai like "y" in "by" (light)
•  ei like "ay" in "bay"
•  ou like "o" in "go"
•  an like "an" in "can" (without stressing the "n")
•  -ng (final) a nasalized soung like the "ng" in "bang" without pronouncing the "g"
•  uei, uen and iou when preceded by an initial, are written as ui, un and iu respectivly.

Mandarin Chinese has four pitched tones and a "toneless" tone.

Tones Changes

A 3rd tone, when immediatlely followed by another 3rd tone, should pe pronounced in the 2nd tone.
Nǐ hǎo = Ní hǎo

Conversation

                       - Nǐ     hǎo  !                             - Zài    jiàn  !                      
                   你       好   ！                                再     见   ！

Calligraphy exercises

4 first chinese characters : 你，好，再 et 见. Learn the stroke order.

Tones

四面楚歌（sì miàn chǔ gē）

At the end of the Qin Dynasty (qín cháo 秦朝,221-206 BC), the State of Chu and the State of Han fought for control of the country. Xiang Yu, the king of Chu, was besieged at a place called Gaixia by the Han army led by Liu Bang. Xiang Yu was in a desperate situation, with little food and only a few soldiers. At night, the surrounding Han troops started to sing Chu folk songs. Xiang Yu was very surprised at this, and said, “Has Liu Bang occupied the whole of Chu? How can he have drafted so many Chu people into his army?” Then he fled together with the remainder of his forces.This idiom is used metaphorically to mean to be in a helpless and critical situation, surrounded by the enemy on all sides.


秦朝末年，项羽和刘邦原来约定以鸿沟东西边作为界限，互不侵犯。后来刘邦听从张良和陈平的规劝，觉得应该趁项羽衰弱的时候消灭他，于是，便把项羽紧紧围在垓下这个地方。这时，项羽手下的兵士已经很少，粮食又没有了。夜里听见四面围住他的军队都唱起楚地的民歌，不禁非常吃惊地说：“刘邦已经得到了禁地了吗？ 为什么他的部队里面楚人这么多呢？”说着，心里已丧失了斗志，便从床上爬起来，在营帐里面喝酒，并和他最宠爱的妃子虞姬一同唱歌。唱完，直掉眼泪，在一旁的人也非常难过，都觉得抬不起头来。虞姬自刎于项羽的马前，项羽英雄末路，带了仅剩兵卒至乌江，最终自刎于江边。 四面楚歌这个成语比喻四面受到敌人的攻击，处于孤立危急的困境。

四面楚歌 (sì miàn chǔ gē )
【翻译】Songs of Chu on All Sides.
【释义】比喻陷入四面受敌、孤立无援的境地。
【例句】Tom人缘一直很好，可是受到了别人的中伤，陷入了四面楚歌的环境，几乎要崩溃了。
【近义词】腹背受敌、山穷水尽、楚歌四面
【反义词】安然无恙、旗开得胜

Taohuayuan: the Peach Blossom Land

Taohuayuan (táo huā yuán 桃花源), also known as "the Peach Blossom Land", is a fairyland and a historical site. The Chinese famous poet Tao Yuanming (táo yuān míng 陶渊明) in ancient Eastern Jin Dynasty (dōng jìn 东晋) described it in his prose, A Portrait of Land of Peach Blossoms (táo huā yuán jì 桃花源记). The beauty of its pastoral scenery, greatness of temple pavilions, abundance of the poetic prose stone inscriptions and the peculiarity of its historical legend, has made it well-known all over the world. 

► History & Culture
Founded in Jin dynasty, Taohuayuan had reached its peak in the Song dynasty (song 宋). It is one of the China's four major Taoist sacred places, sharing the same praise with Emei (é méi 峨眉), Wudang (wǔ dāng 武当) and Nanyue (nán yuè 南岳). From time immemorial, it has had the reputation of the thirty-fifth dwelling of immortals and the forty-sixth blessed spot, harmonized the culture of Nuo (nuó 傩), Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism and other multi-cultural. It is the product of Chinese history and culture change as well as the vicissitudes of life, and also witnessed the seclusion culture to the world. Taohuayuan represents a dimension of Chinese history and culture, having a very high visit, historical value and cultural artistic value, which flickers the light of human civilization.

► Attractions
Taohuayuan, a national AAAA scenic spot, is located in the southwest of Taoyuan County (táo yuán xiàn 桃源县), 23km away from Changde (cháng dé 常德), northwest of Hunan Province (hú nán shěng 湖南省). Taohuayuan covers a total area of 157.55 square kilometers, of which the core scenic area of 8.12 square kilometers. There are myths hometown Taoxian Ling (táo xiān lǐng 桃仙岭), Taoist Holy Land Taoyuan Hill (táo yuán shān 桃源山), blessed cave heavens Peach Hill (táo huā shān 桃花山), paradise Qin village (qín rén cūn 秦人村) of four scenic areas nearly 100 visiting spots.
The Center Of Taohuayuan
The Peach Hill and the Qin village are the center of the Taohuayuan Scenic Area. There are more than 70 tourists attractions, such as the Peach Hill Arch (táo huā shān pái fāng 桃花山牌坊), the Peach Blossom stream (táo huā xī 桃花溪), peach forest (táo shù lín 桃树林), Qionglin Bridge (qióng lín qiáo 穷林桥), garden of chrysanthemum (jú pǔ 菊圃), Fangzhu Pavilion (fāng zhú ting 方竹亭), Immortal Meeting Bridge (yù xiān qiáo 遇仙桥), the Pavilion of riverhead (shuǐ yuán tíng 水源亭), the ancient cave of people in Qin dynasty (qín rén gǔ dòng 秦人古洞), Yanzhi Hall (yán zhì guǎn 延至馆) and Jixian Temple (jí xián cí 集贤祠). Fronting water and with a hill at the back, the scenic area has a dense growth of evergreen trees and peach blossom trees and formed a "retreat away from the world". Coming when the peaches in full blossom, travels can check out the trees of flourishing flowers everywhere crowding like the peach blossom cloud. Red alternating with white, some flowers are coceine as rouge, while others are white as jade.
The Extension Of Taohuayuan
Extending from the area is the extraordinary landscape where the grandeur of Mount Wuling (wǔ líng shān 武陵山), the quiet cave and valleys, the rolling water of Dongting Lake (dòng tíng hú 洞庭湖) and the grace of mountains and rivers in Hunan are well-blended, presenting people with the fascinating Peach Blossom Land. Moreover, there is one of the Eight Grand Sights (xiāo xiāng bā jǐng 潇湘八景) in Hunan Province, known as "Fishing Village at Sunset (yú cūn xī zhào 渔村夕照)" among the scenic area together with the landscape of Yuan River (yuán jiāng 沅江), the historical ruins of Cailing Castle during the period of Warring States (zhàn guó cǎi líng chéng yí zhǐ 战国采菱城遗址) and Xinde Mountain (xīng dé shān 星德山), etc.


► Event
Taohuayuan Peach Blossom Watching Festival
Taohuayuan took on the meaning of Utopia for hermit's place because of Tao Yuanming's extraordinary prose. Since then thousands of scholars and celebrities of all dynasties went to visit the place and every year the Peach Blossom Watching Festival is held here with a huge social gathering. Peach trees are everywhere in the scenic area and blossoms come into bloom in late March to late April every year. It is just like a picture of rural scenery and a land of peace, away from the turmoil of the world.
• Time: March 28 to April 28

► Travel Tips
Admission Fee: CNY 65 (November to February), CNY 75 (March to October)
Opening Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Website: www.chthy.com,  www.cnthy.netTel: (86)736-6822491 6823100 
Traffic: You can take bus at the Changde South Station to Taoyuan North Station (an hour, CNY 6.5) and then transfer the bus to Taohuayuan (half an hour, CNY 3).