JJ Easy Chinese
Features of Chinese
China is a diverse nation encompassing multiple ethnicities, each with its unique language. The exact number of dialects in China is difficult to ascertain. Due to a significant number of early immigrants from the Canton province, the Cantonese dialect has gained prominence in North America. Consequently, many Americans mistakenly perceive Cantonese as the official Chinese dialect.
The "Zhuyin" system originated from the Beijing dialect during the Qing Dynasty and is currently utilized in Taiwan, and Singapore. In 1958, the People's Republic of China introduced the official phonetic system called "Hanyu Pinyin" to transcribe Mandarin pronunciations into the Latin alphabet. This system aimed to standardize pronunciation and promote dialects. Mandarin is the sole official dialect used nationwide. In 1977, the United Nations made the decision to adopt Chinese Pinyin as the international standard for spelling Chinese names using Roman letters.
In contrast to the European alphabetic system, Chinese employs a logographic system, where words are constructed using strokes rather than Pinyin letters. Many students excel in memorizing Pinyin, but struggle with reading and writing Chinese characters. When typing Pinyin into a computer, multiple Chinese characters may appear, leaving them uncertain about selecting the correct one. Consequently, their ability to speak is more developed than their reading and writing skills.
Chinese essential grammar is much easier than English:
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Chinese has no indefinite or definite articles.
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Chinese nouns have no plural forms.
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Chinese verbs do not change with pronouns, singular or
plural forms of nouns neither with tense.