#introtomandarin

[studysnooze]

Intro to Mandarin

Thank you so much to @salutarystudies for suggesting this master post and giving me ideas on what to write about. She’s one of the awesome new friends I’ve been making lately

EQ: What is the importance of learning Mandarin or another language in general?

1. I believe that when you learn a language that is not the same as your mother tongue, you gain an open mindset because you are willing to immerse yourself into their culture, the way they speak, and most importantly the way they think.

2. It’s also really cool when you know a different language because now you can communicate with more people and you have more access to different resources. For example, I don’t need to find an English dub/sub for anime because I can pretty much understand the Mandarin subtitles and even some of the Japanese titles.

Tones

1. Tones are extremely important when pronouncing in Mandarin. You will not understand the rest of this master post if you do not know the basics of tones. Please watch this short video on tones to get yourself started.

2. Note: since I cannot type the tone markings (if you watch the video you know what I mean), I will use the tone number which is another way to write the tone markings

How to introduce yourself

1. To say “hello, hey, or hi” you say “ni3 hao3”

a. 你好

2. To ask what someone’s name is, you say “ni3 jiao4 shen2me ming2 zi?”

a. 你叫什么名字

3. To say “my name is ___” you say “wo3 jiao4 (your name)”

a. Ex: 我叫 Nonso

4. To say “How about you? Or what about you?” you say “ni3 ne?”

a. 你呢？

Family members

1. Mom: ma1 ma1 (妈妈)

2. Dad: ba4 ba (爸爸)

3. Older brother: ge1 ge1 (哥哥)

4. Little brother: di4 di4 (弟弟)

5. Older sister: jie3jie3 (姐姐)

6. Younger sister: mei4 mei (妹妹)

7. Grandpa: ye2 ye2 (爷爷)

8. Grandma: nai3 nai (奶奶)

9. Parents (both of them together): fu4 mu3 (父母)

Numbers

One: yi1 (一)

Two: er4 (二)

Three: san1 (三)

Four: si4 (四)

Five: wu3 (五)

Six: liu4 (六)

Seven: qi1 (七)

Eight: ba1 (八)

Nine: jiu3 (九)

Ten: shi4 (十)

Colors

Red: hong2 (黄)

Orange: cheng2 (橙)

Yellow: huang2 (黄)

Green: lv4 (绿) (the ‘v’ letter makes a deep ‘u’ sound)

Blue: lan2 (蓝)

Purple: zi3 (紫)

“Colorful”: wu3 yan2 liu4 se4 (五颜六色)

This is my first master post so please send me a message or comment if you think I should make any edits to this post or if I made something seem unclear. I really want to share my knowledge as effectively as possible. Also, reblog or let me know if you liked it too! That way, I know that I should spend more time making these. Lastly, I need more ideas on what to make next so message me with any suggestions xx