146 Routledge Course in Modern Mandarin Chinese Level 1
- Pronunciation challenges
3.1. Tongue twister
Learn this tongue twister one line at a time. Don’t give up until you can say each line without
making any errors.
兩個 yFnyuán Two Actors
兩個 yFnyuán，一個 xìng Yuán， Two actors, one’s last name is Yuan,
一個 xìng Yán。 one is Yan.
Yuán YFnyuán tFoyàn Yán YFnyuán。 Actor Yuan does not like actor Yan.
Yán YFnyuán máiyuàn Yuán YFnyuán。 Actor Yan complains about actor Yuan.3.2. Loan words from English: Foreign names
How are foreign names translated into Chinese? Usually they are transliterated. That is,
they are given Chinese pronunciations that are close to the pronunciations of the original
names. Find out what each of these American presidents is called in Chinese by matching
the English name with the transliterated name.
a. ( ) Huáshèngdùn A. Bush
b. ( ) LínkGn B. Carter
c. ( ) Bùshí C. Clinton
d. ( ) KBlíndùn D. Ford
e. ( ) LéigBn E. Kennedy
f. ( ) Fútè F. Lincoln
g. ( ) LuósCfú G. Nixon
h. ( ) GAnnFidí H. Reagan
i. ( ) KFtè I. Roosevelt
j. ( ) NíkèsBn J. Washington
Structure drills
- 你 zài zuò 甚麼？(Use and Structure note 9.1)
You will hear a question asking what someone is doing, followed by an action verb. Use the
verb to answer the question, as in the example.