Presentations of the meet-ups at China House NHTV May 2016 in Breda.

1. 中国：旅游、休闲和流行文化
China: Tourism, Leisure
and Popular Culture 語
01 June 2016 2016年6月1日

2. Tones used for Standard Chinese
Chinese is a tonal language. This means that the pitch
or tone affects the meaning.
Tones
mā má mǎ mà ma
妈 麻 马 骂 吗
mother hemp horse to scold particle

3. Unlike in the European languages, there is a rather small and limited number of possible syllables in Chinese
– around 400
Syllables
音节
The Standard Chinese Language

4. Dialects
方言
Varieties of Chinese dialects
By Wyunhe - File:Map of sinitic dialect (Simplified Chinese)
Chinese is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, consisting of hundreds of local
language varieties, some dialects are not mutually intelligible. The differences are similar
to those within the Roman languges. (All have phonomic tones)

5. Characters are derived from pictures (Pictograms)
rì Day, date
yuè Month, monthly，
moonlike
yún
Numerous, many, high,
Say, speak
yǔ Dense, scattered
Literal & figurative meanings

6. From Pictograms to (Compound) ideograms Ｉ
landscape
everyone
forest
Picture credit:
Chineasy

7. From Pictograms to Compound ideograms ＩＩ
仙
Entrance
immortal
闲
idle time
Picture
credit:
Chineasy
闲
leisure
仙
Rishi (xiānrén)
闲
idler(xiánrén)

8. How do I know the pronouciation of a character?
中
middle
Phonetic component
Semantic
component -
an indicator of
the meaning of
the character

9. Simplified & Traditional Chinese Characters
國
Country
Nation
(guó)
国 Simplified
Traditional
The PRC has officially adopted Simplified Chinese characters for use in mainland China,
while Hongkong, Macau, and the ROC (Taiwan) were not affected by the reform.
中国 (zhōngguó) Middle kingdom
英国 (yīngguó) England
法国 (fǎguó) France
美国 (měiguó) America
德国 (déguó) Deutschland

10. Chinese words
Most classic words are monosyllabic
Most words in modern Chinese are
disyllabic
老
師
學
習
學
校
醫
院
報
紙
lǎo
shī
xué
xí
xué
xiào
yī-
yuàn
bào
zhǐ
• 衣 yī, clothing
• 車 chē, vehicle
• 人 rén, person
• 日 rì, sun
• 見 jiàn, to see
When new words were introduced to the
Chinese language, most words were translated
into Chinese and the new words were coined
based on the meaning of each character, eg:
computer 電腦 diànnǎo electric brain
railway 鐵路 tiělù iron road
Example of trisyllable loanwords:
Chocolate 巧克力 qiǎokèlì
Jeep 吉普车 jípǔchē

11. Words related to “travel”
旅
Troops
to
Travel
(lǚ)
• 旅游 (lǚyóu) tourism
• 旅途 (lǚtú) trip
• 旅馆 (lǚguǎn) hotel
• 旅社 (lǚshè) hotel
• 旅行社 (lǚxíngshè) T-agency
• 旅客 (lǚkè) travellor
• 旅伴 (lǚbàn) companion
宾馆、饭店、酒店、旅社、旅馆、客栈、招待所

12. 方
向
Four directions
北běi
西
xī
東
dōng
南nán

13. 地
理
Geographic features
江(jiāng)
River which flows
through a gorge
川(chuān) stream(s)
岛(dǎo) island
门(mén) gate, gorge
河(hé) old broad river
海(hǎi) ocean, sea
湖(hú) lake(s)
广(guǎng expanse(s)
森(sēn)林(lín) forest
山(shān) mountain(s)

14. 中国
地
名
Chinese Place names
Beijing
Nanjing
Hubei
Hunan
Hebei
Henan
Shandong
Shanxi
Jiangxi
Guangdong
Guangxi
北京 (běijīng)
南京 (nánjīng)
湖北 (húběi)
湖南 (húnán)
河北 (héběi)
河南 (hénán)
山东 (shāndōng)
山西 (shānxī)
江西 (jiāngxī)
广东 (guǎngdōng)
广西 (guǎngxī)
Northern Capital
Southern Capital
Lake North
Lake South
River North
River South
Mountain East
Mountain West
River West
Wide East
Wide West

15. Lost in translation
Different ways of translating names and scenery:
• Transliteration
• Translation word by word
• Free translation
• Combination of transliteration and free translation

16. 音
译
Transliteration
The most common way to render the names of foreign places in Chinese
is to use Chinese characters that sound similar to the name in the original
language.
Holland /Netherlands
Amsterdam
Den Haag
Gronningen
Rotterdam
Zaanse Schans
Fontainebleau
Champs-Élysees
荷兰 (hélán) /尼德兰(nídélán)
阿姆斯特丹 (āmǔsītèdān)
海牙 (hǎiyá)
格罗宁根 (géluónínggēn)
鹿特丹 (lùtèdān)
桑斯安斯 (sāngsīānsī)
枫丹白露 (fēngdānbáilù)
香榭丽舍 (Xiāngxièlìshè)
Lotus + Orchid
Sea + toothlike
风车村(fēng hē cūn)
red maple & white dew
fragrant pavilion & beautiful
house

17. 直
译
Translation word
by word
A handful of foreign names, mostly place names, were given characters
based on the meaning of the name in the original language instead of
being transliterated. The meaning preserved but of course the sound
completely different
Oxford
Iceland
Mediterranean
North Sea
Black Sea
Giethoorn
Neptune
牛津 (niújīn)
冰岛 (bīngdǎo)
地中海 (dìzhōnghǎi)
北海 (běihǎi)
黑海 (hēihǎi)
羊角村 (yángjiǎocūn)
海王星(hǎi wángxīng)
Village added
Star added

18. 意
译
Free Translation
Some places have names that are preferred by Chinese, but not
necessarily based on the original word.
San Francisco
Honolulu
Esperanto
----------------------
Japan
Tokyo
Hanoi
Bandung
Phnom Penh
圣弗朗西斯科 (shèngfúlǎngxīsīkē)
火奴鲁鲁 (huǒnúlǔlǔ)
爱斯不难读 (Àisībùnándú)
The Chinese Characters have enormous
influence in East and Southeast Asia, you
can see from their Chinese names.
旧金山 (jiùjīnshān)
檀香山 (tánxiāngshān)
世界语 (Shìjièyǔ）
----------------------------------
日本(rìběn)
东京 (dōngjīng)
河内 (hénèi)
万隆 (wànlóng)
金边 (jīnbiān)

19. 童(tóng) means child, boy, name of a child, so is this a fair for children?
No, it’s a cultural festival where East and West can meet each other.
Part of the activities is a program for the children.
Suggestion: 嗵嗵, used for sound, lively atmosphere.
Lost in translation?

20. Simple take away: basic numbers
Ready to tackle a new challenge? Let’s start first with numbers in Chinese!!!
Shí
10
Bǎi
100
qiān
1000
wàn
10.000
Yì
100.000.000
十 百 千 万 亿

21. Did we forget that smallest number,
the simple zero?
New trend: many Chinese seem not eager to
use this character in their writing and often
replace it with a 0. Can you imagine why?
学说中国话朋友遍天下
Simple take away: numbers

22. ?
知者不言 (ZHĪ ZHĚ BÙYÁN)
言者不知 (YÁNZHĚ BÙZHĪ)
THOSE WHO SPEAK DO NOT KNOW,
THOSE WHO KNOW DO NOT SPEAK.
LaoZhi did not mean we should not
seek wisdom,
so let’s hear your questions and ideasQuestions...

23. 您的消息是什么?
Thank you！
xièxie