Chinese Language Sound: Pinyin and Tones

This week I am starting a new ‘Chinese Language for Beginners’ course. I plan to introduce the Chinese Pinyin and tones in the very first class.  In a Western language, such as English, French, or Spanish, a word is spelled with a group of letters from an alphabet.  Generally, based on its spelling, once you learn the alphabet, you know how to pronounce the word.  Unlike an alphabetic language, Chinese writing and pronunciation are two different systems.  Chinese writing consists of “characters” which are visual symbols, each a work of art in itself. Mandarin Chinese sounds are represented with Hanyu Pinyin and four tones.  To learn to understand and speak Chinese, the biggest challenge is to master the pinyin sounds. Chinese Pinyin uses the Roman alphabet, but the actual sounds can be very different.

This morning when I was checking my Beijing high school friends’ group chat online, a few friends from around the world were chatting about the 2024  Australian Open on their local TV stations, specifically on the new Chinese tennis star – Qinwen Zheng.  One post from a friend who lives in Melbourne states: “All the commentators can't pronounce Zheng Qinwen. They called her Zhong Qinwen, Zhang Qinwen, or the worst one, Zhong Queenwin [Chuckle].” 

There are a few things to mention on this post:

1. The Chinese tennis player’s name is: Zheng Qinwen (Chinese: 郑钦文; pinyin: Zhèng Qīnwén).
2.  In a Chinese name, family name or surname comes first, followed by given name which can be one or two characters.
3. The tennis player’s family name is: Zheng. But some of the Australian tennis commentators pronounce it as Zhang (Chinese: 张；pinyin: zhāng), or Zhong (Chinese: 仲；pinyin: zhòng).
4. The tennis player’s given name is: Qinwen (Chinese: 钦文; pinyin: qīn wén). The pinyin Q is pronounced more like the Ch sound in Chimney, not Qu as in Queen.

When speaking Chinese, one needs to pay attention to the pronunciation - pinyin and tones, otherwise no one will understand what you are saying; they’ll get confused or laugh about it:-)

I am not discouraging anyone to learn Chinese, but just want to raise the awareness.  

Happy Learning Chinese😊

Saturday Children’s Chinese Class at Athenaeum

On this quiet beautiful autumn Saturday morning after the Halloween in Salem, Panda Land is starting a new Chinese class for young children at The Salem Athenaeum.  Children will learn to speak Mandarin with the tones, write Chinese characters with the strokes, read Chinese poems, and listen to stories in Chinese.  In addition to language study, children will learn about Chinese culture through stories. This is a wonderful opportunity to introduce children to Chinese language and culture and enrich their education and life.

The class is on Saturday morning at 10am. If you are interested to sign your children up for the class, please contact Judy Wang Bedell for details.  For more information about Panda Land you can visit www.pandalandchinese.com .  Please feel free to pass the word around.

Writing Chinese Characters

Starting with this new school year, I have been teaching a Chinese 1 course at our local high school. The students are really enjoying learning Chinese language and culture.  They try their best at the tones and the sounds, write the characters, and speak the numbers and daily greetings.  They hope that someday their Chinese language skills will be useful to them in life.

However, mastering the Chinese tonal sounds and memorizing the characters are challenging.  These days I am constantly thinking how to help my students to memorize the visual image of characters.

Interestingly enough, this morning I read an article online at the Wall Street Journal about a spelling bee on Chinese Central TV promoting Chinese youth to gain and retain their skills in writing Chinese characters. 

I found a few interesting passages in the article:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304410204579141422985199050

The show has touched a nerve in China, where purists complain that smartphones are eroding language skills, thanks to the frequent use of emoticons and software that lets people write faster using the pinyin system, where Chinese words are written phonetically in Latin script.

Mandarin has been an important part of the government's strategy to unify a vast country that spans the Uighur-speaking Muslims of the far West, and the dialects of Cantonese and Fujianese in the south. Contestants from various ethnic minority groups in China also took part in the competition in their ethnic dress, underscoring the idea that Chinese language brings the country together.

"Save the children, save the Chinese language, save our culture!" he [Wang Xuming, a former spokesman of the Ministry of Education] tweets frequently on his account, which has about 1.8 million followers.

When I was growing up in Beijing, I practiced writing characters with a fountain pen every night and aimed to master the skills to write each character beautifully.  I also practiced Chinese calligraphy with brush and ink.  The idea I was taught was that with the skills of writing characters beautifully, I would be respected as a well educated and intelligent person.  I guess this value has changed in the new generation in China as it has in America, where many young people don’t learn or care much about beautiful cursive writing.  Many learn to type on computers and use their smart phones to communicate.

I am wondering how long I would like to have my students to learn to write Chinese characters before I introduce them how to use a computer to “type” Chinese characters. 

Children’s Chinese Class in Fall 2013

Hope you all enjoyed the summer.  As the new school year is about to start, Panda Land is preparing a new Chinese class for young children, to be held after school on Wednesdays at The Salem Athenaeum.  Children will learn how to speak Chinese with the tones, how to write Chinese with the strokes, and listen to stories in Chinese.  In addition to language study, children will learn about Chinese culture through stories.

This is a wonderful opportunity to introduce children to Chinese language and culture and enrich their study.

If you are interested to sign your children up for the class, please contact Judy Wang Bedell.  For more information about Panda Land you can visit www.pandalandchinese.com .  Please feel free to pass the word around.

Red, White, Blue, and Fireworks

Today we had our first summer class.  We learned how to say different colors in Chinese.  On the day before Independence Day, I had the children write down the Chinese characters for red, white, and blue.  I also encouraged them to think of words for colors when they watch the fireworks tomorrow night.

Here are some words for colors:

English	Chinese	Pinyin
black	黑色	hēi sè
blue	蓝色	lán sè
brown	咖啡色	kāfēisè
gold	金色	jīn  sè
gray	灰色	huī sè
green	绿色	lǜ sè
light blue	浅蓝色	qiǎn lán sè
maroon	栗色	lì sè
orange	橙色	chéng sè
pink	粉红色	fěn hóng sè
purple	紫色	zǐ sè
red	红色	hóng sè
silver	银色	yín sè
violet	紫罗兰色	zǐ luó lán sè
white	白色	bái sè
yellow	黄色	huáng sè

Happy 4th of July!

Teaching Boys Mandarin Chinese

In the school year of 2012-2013, most of my Chinese students were young boys, ranging from 7 to 14 years old.  I wasn’t teaching at an all-boy school or specifically favoring boys.  I have taught many girls in the past and enjoyed them very much.  However this year it happened to be this way.  I don’t want to promote any gender stereotypes, but do find it very interesting to teach these boys with their smart and active minds. 

In one class I had three second-graders, all active and fun-loving boys.  They also loved to learn Chinese.  One’s favorite activity was writing Chinese characters, another’s was to read and speak phrases in story books, and the third boy was happy to do whatever the other two liked to do.  They also liked to sing; they were very young and picked up the tunes very easily, so sounded just like Chinese children.  One day they were saying in my class, “Studying Chinese is not a race.  By studying Chinese, we learn to focus then we can unlock our potentials.”  Hearing these words come out of their mouths, I knew they had learned more than just Chinese from my teaching. 

In the other class, I had two sixth-graders who were very intelligent and passionate about learning Chinese.  One boy was very particular about learning to write each character in correct stroke order and to say each word in perfect tones; another took a more naturally easy approach and especially liked reciting Chinese poems and songs.  We talked about Chinese history and how it relates to the rest of the world.  At the end of the year, I introduced Chinese chess to them which they enjoyed immensely.

Two other boys studied Chinese with me this year.  One is a 9-year-old who has been studying with me for four years now.  He is so dedicated to Chinese study, does everything I ask him, from learning the Pinyin, speaking phrases, and writing characters.  He especially enjoyed his Chinese calligraphy lessons.  The other student was an eighth-grader who had studied Chinese for two years in Hong Kong.  He has been my most advanced student so far.  I admired his study habits which I believed he had adopted in Hong Kong.  I also appreciated his understanding of Chinese culture and the sense of global citizenship.  We had many interesting conversations on Eastern and Western culture.

It’s been a busy and rewarding year.  I am so happy to share my knowledge and heritage with people in our community.  I know that more and more young people will study Chinese in this changing world and I will be glad to help.

Salem Education Day

Introduction to Chinese Writing and Calligraphy

 Workshop for School-Age Children and Adults

At the Salem Athenaeum

Together we will learn about Chinese characters, discover the concepts and rules of Chinese calligraphy, and make the ink, hold the brush, practice strokes, and write on rice paper.  While you learn calligraphy, you will discover how to master your mindfulness, your breathing, and even your movement.

The instructor is Judy Wang Bedell, who was born, raised, and educated in Beijing China.  Since 2009 she has operated Panda Land, an enterprise in which she teaches Chinese language and culture to people on the North Shore.  She has taught in The Salem Athenaeum, Peabody Essex Museum, The Phoenix School, and Shore Country Day School.

Celebrating through Food

Every culture has its own way of celebrating life through food. 

I remember the first year I came to the US; I was invited to a Congregational church in Storrs, Connecticut as an international student to have the traditional Thanksgiving meal.  I learned that turkey and potatoes are the food to eat for Thanksgiving.  A couple of years later on the 4^th of July, I was invited to a backyard barbecue in New London CT and then to watch the fireworks.  I learned that grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, potato chips, and watermelons are the food to eat for Independence Day celebrations.  After I had my own family in the US, I adopted many of these American food traditions.  We have roast turkey for Thanksgiving, honey-glazed ham for Christmas, colored eggs for Easter, hamburgers and hotdogs for the 4^th of July, chocolate cake for birthdays, champagne for the New Year, chocolate for Valentine’s Day, etc.  As a bicultural family we have some of my Chinese food traditions as well.  I make Chinese dumplings (jiao zi) for Chinese New Year, tea eggs for Qing Ming (the tomb-sweeping holiday in spring), noodles for birthdays, and moon cakes for the Autumn Moon Festival.

For the Chinese, food is an important part of our life.  To celebrate holidays and special occasions, families and friends get together to enjoy big meals.  Food also embodies our good wishes.  For example, dumplings symbolize prosperity; apples are for peace and safety, oranges for good luck, peaches for longevity, fish for abundance.  This year the Chinese New Year is on February 10^th; to celebrate the Year of the Snake, I will make Chinese dumplings next Saturday.

Enclosed are links to four episodes of the BBC show Exploring China: a Culinary Adventure, which has interesting stories on how Chinese people celebrate their life and culture through their food.  I hope you enjoy watching them.

ep1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPfoxBhLLuk

ep2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg1fJH46QuE

ep3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVZKpYk19GE

ep4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV8VtETD0hc

Happy Year of the Snake!

Families, Relatives, and Children’s Names

Holiday season is the time to relax with families, relatives, and friends.  In this holiday season, I have focused on teaching Chinese family and relative names (family titles, not their giving names) to children.  We started with the words for family and home, my family, I love my family, mom, dad, older/younger sisters, older/younger brothers, and I, myself.  For older children, we learned how to address extended family members including father-side relatives and mother-side relatives and those by marriage.

In the traditional large Chinese family, a complex system with rules and protocols was developed to keep the family’s well-being, with each member having its own role and duty to fulfill.  Therefore each member of such a large family has its own unique family name (title). 

When I teach these family names to children, they often think it is too confusing. When I teach adults, they don’t like the idea that maternal relatives are considered outsiders of the main family tree.  Indeed, it can be hard to remember all the names for different relatives based on relations. 

By contrast I often feel that English family names are not clear enough.  When my husband introduced his uncle to me at a family gathering, “This is Uncle Chuck,” I had no clue how this Uncle Chuck related to him (he turned out to be my husband’s 三 姑 父 san gu fu, i.e. father’s third older sister’s husband).  When a friend of mine introduced me to his “sister-in-law”, again I was confused.  How did this woman relate to him?

Chinese family structure has changed dramatically in the last thirty years due to the one-child-per-family-policy.  Nowadays, many Chinese families have one child.  Therefore it becomes a more top- heavy tree:  four grand-parents, two parents, and one child. 

With this new structure, family relationships also change.  In the traditional way, a woman would use her husband’s family name once married and children carried the family line by having the father’s family name.   Since the 1950s, women have kept their maiden names even after getting married, but children mostly carry their fathers’ family names.  Now with one child, we hear stories of the husband and wife fighting over which family name to give to their single child.  I guess hyphenated family names haven’t taken off in China yet.

Hope you enjoy the holidays with your families, relatives, and friends!

Hosting Chinese Students

This summer for two and a half weeks I had an opportunity to co-host two Chinese students with my neighbor.  It’s a great experience for the students and host families.

On a Thursday evening, we went to Endicott College to pick up our boys.  We saw many families there expecting Chinese students.   It was a friendly and exciting atmosphere.   My son was eagerly waiting for the students’ arrival.   Then two Peter Pan buses came and we saw Chinese students coming off the buses group by group.   Which ones were our boys?  All we had seen before were two profiles of the two young Chinese boys ages 11 & 12.   There were girls and boys, ages 11 to 18.  I kept my eyes on the younger boys in the crowds.  I spotted a boy wearing a T shirt printed with a Rubik’s cube holding a purple suitcase handle.  I stepped over and asked his name.  Yes, I got one of our boys.  Through him, we found the other boy. They called themselves David and Jerry.  With excitement, we loaded their suitcases and had them get into the car.  As we drove out of the parking lot, my co-hostess said to the students: “Please put on your seatbelts!”  The boys followed the instruction.  I noticed they didn’t do it automatically like my son did.  Okay, they were fresh from China!

We had a welcome party in my neighbors’ backyard.  My older son grilled hamburgers.  It’s what they expected as typical American food.  David liked the cheeseburger; Jerry didn’t like the cheese.  Before they settled for the night, David asked, “How do we get to school tomorrow morning?”  Then he emphasized,  “It is very important.”  I was impressed by their serious attitude towards study.

Yes, the next morning they got up at 6:30 am, had breakfast, and went to school.

This was their English immersion program.  They took classes and went on field trips, including to NYC.  They lived with American families and experienced everyday life.

My own two boys had time to play with them, have dinner together every night, watch the Olympic Games together, share computer games, play ball in the backyard, and swim at the Y.  For two weeks, the boys lived as part of our family.  We went shopping together.  We took them to a baseball game, watched my younger son’s basketball games and Martial Arts practice.  We went to church and watched my older son play piano at the Sunday service.  They also met and played with other American children in our house.

Over the last weekend, we celebrated David’s 12^th birthday.  He had his mother on his iPhone watching our celebration.  With his iPhone, he was showing my house to his mother in China and I was able to see his mother and father and talk to them.  It was quite an amazing experience.  The world is connected more closely than ever before.

Before they left, Jerry gave me some fine white tea from his hometown and showed me how to make the tea properly.  David gave my boys some unusual Rubik’s cubes which they took to immediately.

After they left, Jerry called me via video phone from Toronto airport and I saw him and David there.  Jerry called me again after he got home.  Through the video phone he showed me his apartment and a room for my younger son to stay in when he visits China someday.  I got to see his Mom and Dad as well.  David has also emailed me and said he enjoyed the trip very much and he had taken on a new hobby:  playing Lego after seeing all the Lego sets built by my older son in our house.

It was very sweet.  I know that I have two boys attached to me in China now.

Quotes of the Chinese students:

Jerry:  My favorite American food is Hot Dogs.

David:  Shanghai is quieter than New York.

My New Pastime -- Youth Baseball

Last Saturday evening, my husband and I went to Forest River Park in Salem to watch our son’s Little League baseball game.  It was a beautiful spring evening: blue sky with calm sea air surrounded by lush trees.  Before the game started, we strolled around the park to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere.  By 7:15 pm, we were back in the bleachers to watch the game.  Throughout the evening, I saw my son with other kids always happily running out of the dugout to where he was supposed to be.  He did the batting, had the strike, base hits, and runs batted in…  Certainly he was enjoying the game.   The children looked happy and so did the parents and grandparents watching the game.  As the game continued, the sky got dark and the lights around the field lit up.  When the game was over we had all had a good time and my son’s team had won.

This is my son’s first season of baseball.  It is also my first season to watch baseball games -- the America’s favorite pastime.   I remember before I came to the US about 26 years ago, I was preparing for my TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language).  In one sample test I did, the listening comprehension part was a baseball commentary.   I was totally lost on the passage and thought that wasn’t fair.  At the time there was no baseball in Beijing and I had no knowledge about the game at all.  I thought that I would have to go to America to learn about baseball in order to take the test.  Luckily, the real test I took didn’t have anything on baseball and I got good enough scores to qualify for study in the US.

After I came to the US, I watched one major league baseball game in Dallas.  It was fun and gave me the impression that baseball is not just a sport but also a social entertainment:  people sitting out doors in the summer time, eating all kinds of snack food, watching a leisurely game, and enjoying the social company.   However, this season with my son playing the game, I’ve started to learn about the terminology, rules, strategy, and techniques.  They are complicated!  If someone tested me for English listening comprehension with a baseball game commentary now, I could still very easily get lost.

Now America’s pastime has spread to China. There are baseball teams in Beijing, both professionals and youth leagues.  There is an official website on Chinese Baseball Association: http://baseball.sport.org.cn .  The photo of the Beijing youth baseball league at the Bird’s Nest in Beijing is from the website.  It states that youth baseball promotes “happy, healthy, cooperative baseball culture”.  It also quotes: “Baseball is a complex sport.  From the gaming conflict, it cultivates youth with characteristics of bravery, persistence, intelligence, flexibility, quick reaction, and decisiveness.  It also cultivates collectiveness and team spirit.”

      

“棒球这项运动具有浓厚的游戏性，在激烈的对抗中强调协调配合，能培养青少年勇敢顽强、机智灵敏，坚毅果断的性格，也能培养团结一致的集体主义精神和团队精神。”

　　

“鸟巢杯”少年棒球邀请赛的成功举办有助于让更多的孩子和家长认识棒球运动，扩大棒球项目的知名度，这对促进全民健身，传播“快乐、健康、合作”的棒球文化、提高青少年身体素质也有着积极的意义。

Below are some of the Chinese terms for baseball games:

English	Chinese	English	Chinese
baseball	棒球	baseball game	棒球赛
balk	投手犯规	ball	坏球
base	垒位	base on balls	四坏球上垒
batter	击球员/击手	batter's box	击球区
bench or dugout	队员席	bunt	触击球
called game	中止比赛	catch	接住
catcher	接手	catcher's box	接手区
coach	教练员	dead ball	死球
defense or defensive	守队或守队队员	double header	连赛两场
double play	双杀	force double play	双封杀
reverse force double play	封触双杀	dugout	队员席
fair ball	界内球	fair territory	界内地区
fielder	守场员	fly ball	高飞球
force play	封杀	forfeited game	弃权比赛
foul ball	界外球	foul territory	界外地区
foul tip	擦棒被接球	ground ball	地滚球
home team	主队或后攻队	infielder	内场手
infield fly	内场高飞球	in flight	飞行状态
inning	局	interference	妨碍行为
league	联盟（协会）	line drive	平直球
live ball	活球	manager	经理(总教练)
out	出局	outfielder	外场手
penalty	罚则	pitch	投球
pitcher	投手	the pitcher's pivot foot	投手的轴心脚
play	比赛开始或继续比赛	quick return pitch	急投
run or score	得分	runner	跑垒员
safe	安全	squeeze play	抢分触击
strike	好球(击)	strike zone	好球区
suspended game	改期续赛	tag	触及(触杀)
throw	传球	tie game	平局比赛
triple play	三杀	umpire	裁判员
wild pitch	暴投	wind-up position	正面投球