The Chinese language is made of characters we call 漢字(hànzì). Each hanzi has
its own writing and meaning and when placed together in the correct format
(grammar), will form sentences.
All hanzi of the Chinese language have 4 main tones which are denoted with the
specific symbols - (1st), ˊ(2nd), ˇ(3rd) and ˋ(4th). Apart from these 4, there
are also some special cases such as ü and ê (note that the symbols are different).
You will gradually need to get an idea of how to pronounce words with such special
pinyin but since they are not common, you should first concentrate on the basic
ones. You may also come across some without any symbols. Those are pronounced
in a light and quick tone. Learning how to pronounce the words with the correct
tone works lot like music tones. This means that you can have different hanzi
which sounds the same but having different meanings.
Example: 'da'
1st tone - 搭(dā)
Listen
General meaning/usage of word: To build, to board (e.g. a bus)
What the tone sounds like: Fa(in the do-re-mi-fa)
2nd tone - 達(dá)
Listen
General meaning/usage of word: reach, attain
What the tone sounds: Sounds similar to the tone when we say 'Huh?'
3rd tone - 打(dǎ)
Listen
General meaning/usage of word: beat, hit, strike
What the tone sounds like: This sounds similar to the 'da' in (Da)lmatian
4th tone - 大(dà)
Listen
General meaning/usage of word: big, huge
What the tone sounds like: Sounds similar to the 'da' for Duck(da-k)
In the example above, the 'da' is what we call 拼音 (pīnyīn), this allows people
to know how to pronounce a character. Keep on practicing with the four tones
as well as the various pinyin and take note that for convenience's sake, many
people may choose to write the pronunciation in another format such as 'da3'.
This should be easy to understand as well since it just means speak 'da' using
the 3rd tone.
Tip for remembering the symbols: the 1st is a horizontal stroke, 2nd is a
stroke going up, 3rd is a tick and 4th is a stoke going down (the end).
WRITING??
Once you have gotten the pronunciation, you might want to start learning how
to read and write the characters. Basically, characters are written from top
to bottom and left to right. There's no way around explaining each and every
character (because there are so many), but the basic rule of thumb is:
top-left->bottom left->top right->bottom right.
However take note that some characters are different.
An example: to write 部(bù), the stroke order is as below:
However, to write 達(dá), the stroke order is as below:
Due to this situation, you will really need to ask someone who knows (your
teacher/friend, or if you are self-studying, then at a forum) if you are ever
unsure about the order for a specific character. Keep practicing, learn to
speak->write->read.
RADICALS??
Radicals are what we call '部首' (bùshǒu). When using dictionaries and word
processors (WP), you are going to need the radical lookup/reference function to
locate your characters. I will give an example: if you see a character '好' and
wish to find out what it means and the pronunciation, you will look under the
radical reference in your dictionary/WP or whatever you are using. Here, the
radical (usually the upper or left of the character) is most likely '女'. Now
you will need to look over your radical chart to look for it (or the faster way
is to count the number of strokes, in this case being 3). Once you have located
the radical, you will search for the character '好' under that section. Since
the characters are usually listed according to stroke numbers (lesser on top),
we will search for the upper half of the list (since '好' has only 6 strokes in
total).
TRADITIONAL AND SIMPLIFIED??
You might have heard people talking about the traditional and simplified
systems and wondered what are those. Traditional writing system is the system
used in countries such as Taiwan where they chose to retain the usage of
the original writing system and the Simplified writing system is used in
countries such as China. See the difference between the 2 systems for the
sentence "It's not convenient for me to chat now, call back in 15 minutes."
我現在不方便聊天﹐十五分鐘過後再打來吧。
我现在不方便聊天﹐十五分钟过后再打来吧。
From the above, you can see that some characters are the same while some
characters are different. What the Simplified system did was really just as the
name implies: simplify the writing of the characters (usually in terms of stroke
number). The pronunciation and usage of the words FOR BOTH SYSTEMS
ARE THE SAME, only part of the writing differs.
Now you may ask "So which should I learn?". This is personal preference (and
also depends on the area of your interest), say for example, you are intending
to make a trip to China, it would be faster for you to learn the Simplified
first, but let's say you want to make some Taiwan pen-pals, then you might want
to go with Traditional first. For me, I can read both but I'm not very proficient
in writing the Traditional system. Now I would personally recommend the
Traditional though because once you have got that down, learning the Simplified
will be easy. Just remember that there isn't a more superior or more inferior
system between the two. Both have their own importance, significance and use.
TOOLS??
There are many tools(even flashcards and media) on the internet to
help you in your study. Apart from those, you will need:
-Chinese character encoding for your computer. This depends on what type of
browser you are using as well as your system. Just do a search at google or yahoo
for the main website of whatever browser and system type you are using for your
computer and look through the language packages to locate GB and BIG5.
-A decent dictionary or word processor. The latter is preferred, but it's really
your choice here. This is important because you will need it to check out
information for new words. NJstar is the most commonly used WP.
-Paper and pen. Sad to say, you must learn to write the hanzi. Learning only
pinyin won't do you any good in the long run.
Go to the 'Common words' section