Table Of Content

HANYu PINYIN )11t41f-i PENG'S CHINESE TREASURY concept and cartoons by Tan Huay Peng Times Books International S;II!1Qport _ /Ii"./" lItmp~r (11984 TImes Editions Pte Lid Published by Times Books International Hanyu Pinyin 6 an imprint 01 Times EdJlions Pte Ltd Times Centre, 1 New Industrial Road The Four Tones 8 Singapore 1953 Simple Vowels 13 2nd Floor, Wlsma Hong Leong Yamaha 50 Jalan Penchala Compound .vowels 24 46050 PetaNng Jaya Consonants 41 Selangor Darul Ehsan Malaysia The Neutral Tone 67 First published June 1984 Tone Sandhi 71 Reprinted 1986, 1988, 1990 Tone Marks 72 All rights reserved. No pan of this publication may be The Umlaut Mark 74 reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form Of by any means, electronic, mechanical, Two-syllable Words 76 photo-copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior Vocabulary 82 permission of the copyright owner. Printed by Mentor Printers Private Limited ISBN981204 1419 Basic Words and Characters HANYU PINYIN Approximately 500. basic words. with their Chinese characters in the modern simplified form. are progressively introduced in groups according to sound. As far as possible. the examples given for each vowel or consonant group can be identified from the cartoon. 100 Pinyin words with two syllables are also listed and explained. Cartoons Learning Pinyin is really no drudgery. and cartoons Hanyu Pinyin. the Romanized Chinese phonetic have been used throughout for the dual function: System. is considered the most effective aid to to amuse and to teach. Almost effortlesslY, it is learning Mandarin today. It is precise and accurate possible to learn the Pinyin spelling. pronunciation and compared to other Romanizations, such as . and pitch of each word. as well as its meaning and Wade-Giles and Yale. it is less complicated and Chinese character - at the same time. thus more easily learnt. So flip these pages. be inspired, learn and have The system reads and writes easily. using fewer fun! letters per sound than any other system. As an additional guide to proper pronunciation. simple tone marks are placed over the vowels. Pinyin Made Simple This book demonstrates the simplest way to master Pinyin. It analyzes the system. breaking down the sounds into simple vowels. compound vowels, and consonants. First things first. The 4 tones are introduced. after which comes the pronunciation of each vowel and consonant component of one-syllable words. 7 6 1st tone ;;; THE FOUR TONES Chinese is a tonal language. Every Chinese character is a syllable with a fixed tone. If the tone is wrong, the meaning is changed right away. and in some cases corresponds with no existing Chinese character! 2nd tone Mandarin. the official Chinese language. has four basic tones: each one is indicated by a tone mark. The tone marks are placed over the vowels. If the letter '"j" has a tone mark over it. the dot is - omitted. The first tone is a high continuous tone. like the reciting of "A BCD. etc." 3rd tone The second tone is a rising questioning tone, like a surprised "Huh?" V The third tone is a drawling tone. first falling then riSing. like an indecisive "Well .. " The fourth tone is a sharp falling tone. ... like a purposeful "Yes!" "' Examples: a A A A ~ ~ ~ ~ T 1 060 0 Q u u u 4th tone 8 9 VOWELS CONSONANTS II In Mandarin there are 6 simple vowels and 15 compound vowels. The compound vowels are There are also 24 consonants. divided into combinations of 2 or J vowels. 7 groups according to the way they are articulated. 10 II SIMPLE COMPOUND VOWELS SIMPLE VOWELS VOWELS ""'" a a; ao ~ e e; ~ ;a ;e ;u lao , 0 ou u ua u; un uo uai U ua ue CONSONANTS b p m f d n g k ng h , , q. , zh ch sh z c s Lefs begin with the simple vowels: y w a e 0 u U 12 13 a a as in cash. rash as in mama. papa when placed between 1 and n T- 1000 Ii, fear y' jf tooth tiNn 7i: sky qi3n p~ m. ~1 mother ~a . :it hair jian JlI. see xi!n $I'; first w. r.s piAn !lQ cheat nA. it carry ~ frog dian shop fl money .yii III duck ba i§ father dian ,~. spot qian ilii noodles miiin h. Pft ha! da IT beat jiatt ~ reduce 15 I' e e as in get, w£t as in ~arn, learn when preceded by I or u lexcept for the letter yl ~ M\ Swan de m he iUJ river ge 1- obtain ye 1I night xi~ *4 slanting ge individual ji~ ill elder sister lie ~ crack ke i~l: song re !!.\ ho[ jie I~ receive que Ml really lesson she he "'- ~ tongue bi~ ~lJ don't ye Pt leaf c jOin he n!O drink die I'Ji fall yue 11 moon [6 17 • I • is pronounced like a vocalized r as in sir. wit I if preceded by zh. eh, sh or r \ 1/ ~- .:'0:- zhi I1l point , , 'I" chi 0<; eat chi II!; spoon chi i8 late • shi matter 8 day • is pronounced like a buuing z I if preceded by z, c or s zl i\ purple cr III bestow z; q: word d; !f:i younger ti H; body cj iii1 phrase brother sl Ii silk bIi, . f:/. grain q; -l:: seven 1m four ., ;g pen ji ic remember . ) ~ chicken y' 1>. garment ml !It rice xl i1!i west 18 19