Basic Phrases in Chinese
About one billion people (around one-fifth of the world's population) speak some form of Chinese as their native language. There are between seven and thirteen main regional groups of Chinese (depending on the classification scheme). Mandarin (around 850 million) and Cantonese (around 70 million) are some of the most spoken forms of the Chinese language.
Mandarin is known as the 'common language' in China. It is the language of the government and the media in China and Taiwan. It is also one of the four official languages in Singapore. In addition, there are communities of Mandarin speakers throughout the world. The total number of Mandarin speakers is more than 1 billion.
Pronounce it Right!
Let's now learn how pronunciation works in Mandarin.
| A |
--- |
as in 'father' |
| Ai |
--- |
as in 'high' |
| Ao |
--- |
as in the 'ow' in 'wow' |
| E |
--- |
as in the 'u' in 'burden' |
| Ei |
--- |
as in the 'ei' in 'weigh' |
| I |
--- |
as in the 'ee' in 'meet' or like 'oo' in 'look' |
| Ian |
--- |
as in 'yen' |
| Ie |
--- |
like the word 'yeah' |
| O |
--- |
as in 'for' |
| Ou |
--- |
as the 'oa' in 'boat' |
| U |
--- |
as in 'jute' |
| Ui |
--- |
as in the word 'bay' |
| Uo |
--- |
like a 'w' followed by an 'o' |
| Yu |
--- |
as in the German 'ü' |
| ü |
--- |
same as above |
| C |
--- |
like the 'ts' in 'bits' |
| Ch |
--- |
as in 'chop' |
| H |
--- |
as in 'hay' |
| Q |
--- |
like the 'ch' in 'chips' |
| R |
--- |
like the 's' in 'pleasure' |
| Sh |
--- |
as in 'ship' |
| X |
--- |
as in the 'sh' in 'ship' |
| Z |
--- |
like the 'dz' in ‘thuds' |
| Zh |
--- |
like to 'j' in budge |
Numbers Talk
| 1 |
--- |
Yi, Yao |
| 2 |
--- |
Er, Liang |
| 3 |
--- |
San |
| 4 |
--- |
Si |
| 5 |
--- |
Wu |
| 6 |
--- |
Liu |
| 7 |
--- |
Qi |
| 8 |
--- |
Ba |
| | |
| 9 |
--- |
Jiu |
| 10 |
--- |
Shi |
Cantonese is spoken by about more than 66 million people in the Guángdong and Guángxi provinces as well as Hainán island in China. It is also spoken in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the USA, the Netherlands and several other countries that have Chinese-speaking communities.
Pronounce it Right!
Let's now learn how pronunciation works in Mandarin.
| A |
--- |
as the ‘a’ in 'father' |
| Ai |
--- |
as the 'i' in 'bind' |
| Au |
--- |
as the 'ou' in 'bout' |
| E |
--- |
as the ‘e’ in 'set' |
| Ei |
--- |
as the 'a' in 'bay' |
| Eu |
--- |
as 'e' + the 'ur' in 'burn' |
| I |
--- |
as the 'ee' in 'see' |
| Iu |
--- |
is similar to 'you' |
| O |
--- |
as in 'pot' |
| Oi |
--- |
an in the 'oy' in 'toy' |
| Oo |
--- |
as in 'noon' |
| Ou |
--- |
as the rod 'owe' |
| U |
--- |
as in 'put' |
| Ue |
--- |
in 'sue' |
| Ui |
--- |
as 'oo' + 'ee' |
| J |
--- |
like the 'dz' in 'thuds' |
| Ch |
--- |
like the 'ts' in 'tsar' |
| Ng |
--- |
as in 'ring' |
Numbers Talk
| 1 |
--- |
Yat |
| 2 |
--- |
Yih |
| 3 |
--- |
Saahm |
| 4 |
--- |
Seih |
| 5 |
--- |
Ng |
| 6 |
--- |
Luhk |
| 7 |
--- |
Chat |
| 8 |
--- |
Baaht |
| | |
| 9 |
--- |
Gauh |
| 10 |
--- |
Sahp |
OutsourcingTranslation provides effective solutions for translation, interpretation and transcription to several companies in the world. We stand out in the market of translation service providers by positioning ourselves entirely on the basis of high-quality work, delivered within a shorter turnaround time and at competitive rates.
Contact usfor all your Chinese translation, transcription and interpretation needs.
