First 3 Initials (1-3 of 24)

Here we go...the first three sounds!

We will keep it very simple today, the first three sounds have exact counterparts in the English language.

1. (Bb)-this sounds just as it looks. It would not be necessary to practice, but it is an important habit to form, practicing and drilling new sounds until they are part of your very essence and require no thought the next time you are called upon to recall it. So say a few 'Bb' words in English and really consider how your lips move, where your teeth are positioned, what your tongue is doing, how much air is passing through your mouth, are your vocal chords vibrating, etc...

2. (Pp)-again, just as it looks. But consider this; just as English has many voiced and voiceless/aspirated letters, the 'Bb' and 'Pp' in Mandarin Chinese is comparable in the same sense. Mom, what that means is, compare many of the English sounds:

Bb vs. Pp
Dd vs. Tt
Gg vs. Kk
Vv vs. Ff
Zz vs. Ss
Jj vs. Ch

Ok, now what's the big difference?? Leave a comment and let me know that you found it. It is a basic pronunciation tip that will help us with Mandarin Chinese as well.

3. (Mm)-another simple one. What are your lips doing? Is your voice vibrating? Is any air passing through your lips? Where is your tongue hanging out at?

So, recap...B, P, M. Sound just as they look, and when using the pinyin system to write out Mandarin Chinese words, are written just the same as well.

Ok, that's 3 down, 21 initials to go. (And 39 finals after that. Then combine them in an array of pairings, and we will have something like 1300 possible syllabic sounds to learn. But I'm betting on the fact that, much like learning all the letter sounds in English, once we learn these first few, it will just be a matter of putting them together...easy, right?)

Mom, please comment when you get these down...I do not want to get too far ahead of you...I am not sure about your schedule...but let's try to get at this early and often. I am guessing you might say, "But Matthew...I'm so busy..I don't have time for this right now." To which I will respond, "Bull, I am busier than you and I am not doing this alone, so let's go!" Or you might say, "Matt...I do not want to do this now, I want to wait until I turn in my independent study proposal and do it then for credit." To which I say, "I know...so take notes now and once you get your independent study approved, consider this time ahead of where you will need to be. If you start three months ahead of your proposal being accepted, that should shave three months off the time it will take to actually do your year-long project. Plus, it would give you more time at the back end to really spiff up your final presentation." Or you might have another excuse or 20, to which I will be sure to have endless replies to..so let's bag that and just do it! :)

Ready...set...let's go!!!

Fish Management and Care

Please help me take care of the fish...click on the white space and feed them a bit...but remember, not too much...everything in moderation, right?

:)

Adding Useful Links to the Links List

Technical note about the site: Please add all relavent links with a good title to the 'Useful Mandarin Chinese Links' list on the right-hand side of our blog. Simply click the screwdriver and wrench icon and add the web address and a succint title that will help us remember what the site is useful for. This will be much easier than having to search and scroll through past posts to find them.

Happy Linking!

Pronunciation Terminology Link

As promised...a good link, still a bit advanced with several of its definitions, but a good starting point nonetheless for understanding some of the new terminology we will be confronted with.

Here is the link:

http://esl.about.com/library/special/bl_phonemes_explained2.htm

Do not try to read it in its entirety...simply bookmark and use as a reference when necessary.



:::Ahem::: "Oh, excuse me, I feel a tickle in my soft palate."

:::Sniffle::: "Gosh darn this weather, my nasal cavity is so irritated lately."

:::Grhhghrm::: "I think something is stuck in my vocal folds."

See...there are real-world applications even for these words!!

Phonetics/Pronunciation Terminology

So, were taking our first strides into Mandarin Chinese phonics and pronunciation. On the website that I shared in the previous post, there are three ways to learn each sound, a graphic demonstration, a step-by-step explanation, and a video with an actual human mouth. I think using all three is the best method, might be something one letter can show you with an actual human mouth while some of the sounds, all the action is happening inside where we cannot see, and we really depend on the graphics and literal explanations.

Before we get too deep, we should stop and take some time to learn all the terminology related to pronunciation. What exactly and where exactly is our oral cavity, our soft palate, our hard palate, nasal cavity, vocal chords and others. If we understand these terms more inately, our learning of future sounds will go that much quicker. Let's invest the time now in order to reap the rewards later. I will look for a comprehensive list of terms and some good explanations, graphics and images for us. Let me know if you find anything good in that regard.

How are those cookies?? I'm making hard-boiled eggs right now...not the same as a peanut butter cookie though...

Pinyin-Initials

Ok..so as I understand it, every Mandarin Chinese word is made up of an 'initial' and a 'final'. You combine one initial with the final and make the word. There are a certain number of possible combinations, and like homonyms in English (see, see...no, know...to, too, two...hi, high) some of the same sounds can have multiple meanings. So if we are going to learn the Pinyin basics so deeply, we must first master the recognition and sounds of each individual 'letter'. (Side note: I don't think we can consider them letter like our alphabet, but for the sake of simplicity, from here on I will call each of them letters.

So..the initials...here is an AWESOME website I just found.

http://www.learnchineseabc.com/chinese-pinyin-initials.htm

Let's monkey around on this and watch as our Mandarin Chinese pronunciation improves.

So it looks like only 24 initials to memorize...compare that to asking a new Korean or Panamanian student to learn and memorize our English alphabet and all of its sounds. Not too bad...I think the finals will be harder.

Let's practice with that site a lot first...let's really master these 24 sounds first..then move on.

Pinyin Basics

Ok..so I'm sitting at home alone...I want to learn the basic Mandarin phonics..but if I say just one sound, who will know if I am right or wrong? I do not want to start a bad habit, mispronouncing a basic sound the wrong way now, which could lead to a lifetime of mispronunciation and some real serious frustration later on. It is so much easier to perfect something at the beginning than to have to adjust and change habits later. So..what can we do...here are three ideas:

First, books! So what if people "don't read anymore"?...we do. 'Nuff said. Now I have half a bookshelf of Chinese books that I have slowly collected over time. Some adult level, some beginner level, some children's books, some books for learners of Korean and the Chinese they would benefit from (Korean being 70% directly from Chinese-think English from Latin, but 10% more!). So, we can read the books, most of them have a pronunciation guide in the front. Many will offer Mandarin-English equivalents. 'a' in Mandarin sounds like the 'a' in 'hat'. 'b' in Mandarin sounds like the 'b' in 'baby'. Such and so forth... Not bad, but I still cannot hear anything, so can I be positive it is correct. Now my 'o' may sound different than your 'o' mom...we might have slightly different dialects between the two of us. So how could we get a more definitive answer...

Our second option, on-line learning sites! Do a google search for learning Chinese on-line and viola! hundreds and thousands of sites. Click and peruse at your leisure and you can find the entire gamut of useful, useless, well thought out, thoughtless, University projects, some Chinese guy in Brooklyn's project, classy design, trashy sites, etc... It can be hit or miss, and many have endless dead links and other gaps in the website. However, some of the sites have audio links, Chinese calligraphy flashes, and a lot more interactive features to use. Pretty good, and let's save and share the best that we find. But is there something even more direct for us to master the phonics and basic pinyin 'alphabet' and sounds.

Our third, but not final, option, Youtube 'learn to speak Mandarin Chinese and Pinyin' video clips! Yes, a simple search will return such classics as:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9Ayvjy-Dgs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dstZmHpOa48
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUTbiLcsD1A&feature=related

Cheesy? Check! Slightly ridiculous? Check-Check! Childish and meant for kids a quarter of our age? CHECK-CHECK-CHECK-CHECK-CHECK!!!!!

But effective, I am already getting a hang of the simple vowels, and even starting to hear the differences between z, c, s, j...so subtle and difficult, we really need to hear a native Mandarin speaker produce the sounds.

So, here are three options, but as I said, they are not by any means definitive. What else can you think of where we could really benefit and master these basic pronunciations and pinyin sounds? Let me know!

Ready...set...let's go!!!

The Basics

Where to begin...a language that is thousands of years old, has transformed itself, and is spoken by more people in the world than any other by more than double the closest langauge (which happens to be English, so we already have one of the top-2 most widely spoken languages...let's go get the mantle-piece mom!) http://www.photius.com/rankings/languages2.html <------check that link for proof of what I just wrote about it being by FAR the most widely used language on Earth.

Well...I have studied four languages during my short lifetime: English-31 years, Spanish-3 years, Vietnamese-1 year, and of course Korean-5 years. (a little previous knowledge of Chinese also...but, that hardly counts) In my opinion we should build our Chinese language knowledge like a sturdy and solid skyscraper that will never topple. Think about Jimi Hendrix's song, 'Castles Made of Sand'...let's not let our hard work now wash away into the sea, eventually. :)

I propose we spend a lot of time up front really drilling the Pinyin system and acquiring a deep understanding of the phonetics. There isn't an alphabet such as we use in English, but there are sounds that are used repeatedly, let's become masters at these finite sounds, then we could read anything we ever encounter, we learn it once, we master it, and we never have to do it again. (In Mandarin anyways, next we can learn Spanish or Arabic...or French or Russian...) Let's really drill these basic sounds, reading the pinyin, knowing the four tones, and get ready for some basic vocabulary and our first sentences.

Building our Mandarin this way is the most time-consuming initially, but I'd rather ride to the top of a skyscraper that I knew would never falter, rather than rush to the top of a building that had been built over night. I also think this way we can mark more precisely our progress and give us some real toe-holds to hang our proverbial hats on each night. Say, you master three or two or just one new sound today, you now have that knowledge for your eternity, not bad..incredibly actually!

Ready...set...let's go!!

Welcome

Ni hao!

Welcome to our newest addition to the Martin catalog of blogs. Here will be a free-learning zone primarily for mom and myself to become fluent Mandarin Chinese speakers, listeners, writers, readers, understanders of grammar, and so much more! Please feel free to visit at any time, provide any ideas, tips, previous knowledge of all things Mandarin, Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, or even Chinese Mandarin...all is welcome. The only requirement is a positive attitude, an unmatched work-ethic, faith and confidence in your abilities always, and the willingness to try and fail with the ultimate goal of improving in a fascinating way.

Ready...set...Let's go!!