j z zh q c ch x s sh r

pinyin drill

j	z	zh
Motor oil 機油（机油）jī yóu	freedom 自由 zì yóu	Bosom friend 挚友 zhì yǒu
Urgent event 急事 jí shì	Selfish 自私 zì sī	knowledge 知識 (知识) zhī shí
brothel 妓院 jì yuàn	volunteer 自願 (自愿) zì yuàn	aspiration 志願 (志愿) zhì yuàn

q	c	ch
seven times 七倍 qí bèi	merciful 慈悲 cí bēi	tardiness 遲到 (迟到) chí dào
actually 其實 qí shí	this moment 此時 (此时) cǐ shí	eat  吃食 chī shí (sound demo only)
breath 氣息 (气息) qì xí	order (of things) 次序 cì xù	continuous 持續 (持续) chí xù

x	s	sh
hope 希望 xiwàng	death 死亡 sǐ wáng	disappointment 失望 shī wàng
西施 xī shī	forty 四十 sì shí	fourteen 十四 shí sì
attack 襲擊 (袭击) xí jí	driver 司機 (司机) sī jī	opportunity 時機(时机) shí jī

r

calender 日曆(日历) rì lì

sunset 日落 rì luò

glory 榮耀 (荣耀) róng yào

mildness 柔和 róu hé

meat category 肉類 (类) róu lèi

if 如果rú guǒ

聲調放置 Pinyin Tone Mark Placement

Simple Rules of Pinyin Tone Mark Placement

1. tone marks are only placed on the vowels:
                          a     o     e     i     u   ü  (more info on ü)

2. a and e always take precedence over all other vowels (note: a and e are never together in the same syllable.)

      Using second tone as an example.                          
                         ái, áo, uá, uái, uáng, üán
                         éi, ié, uéng, üé

3. when o and u are together, the tone mark is always on o

                        óu, uó

4. For all other cases, the tone mark is always on the final vowel

量詞(词) Measure Words

So you’ve been using 個 (个, ge) for everything huh? Here are some measure words for your reference, and you might start to wonder when you should use 個 (个, ge) :

一杯果汁 yībēigǔozhī (a cup of juice)
一台電腦(电腦) yītáidìannǎo, 一部電腦(电腦) yībùdìannǎo (a computer)
一台車(车) yītáichē, 一部車(车) yībùchē, 一輛車(辆車) yīliàngchē (a car)
一條(条)船 yītiāochuán， 一艘船 yīsōuchuān (a boat)
一件外套 yíjiànwàitào (a jacket), 一件行李 yījiànxínglǐ (a piece of luggage)
一根頭髮(头发) yīgēntóufā (a strand of hair)
一棵樹(树) yīkēshù (a tree), 一朵花 yīdǔohūa (a flower), 一束花 yíshùhūa (a bunch of flowers)
一扇門(门) yīshànmén (a door), 一扇窗 yīshànchuāng (a window)
一條皮帶(条皮带) yītiáopidài (a belt), 一條(条)蛇 yītiáoshé (a snake)
一隻猫 yīzhīmāo (a cat), 一頭牛 yītóuníu (a cow)
一匹馬(马) yīpīmǎ (a horse), 一尾魚(鱼) yīwěiyú (a fish) (very formal, usu. 一條魚(条鱼) yītiáoyú)
一枚戒指 yīméijìezhǐ (a ring)
一副眼鏡(镜) yífùyǎnjìng (a pair of eye glasses)
一本書(书) yiběnshū (a book)
一雙(双)筷子 yīshūangkuàizi (a pair of chopsticks)
一份菜單(单) yīfèncàidān (a menu)
一張面纸 yīzhāngmiānzhǐ (a tissue paper), 一張(张)床 yīzhāngchuáng (a bed)
一片麵(面)包 yipìanmiànbāo (a slice of bread), 一片光碟 yipiànguāngdié (a CD or DVD)
一片樹葉(树叶) yīpiànshùyè (a leaf)
一篇文章 yīpiànwénzhāng (an article)
一把傘(伞) yībǎsǎn (an umbrella), 一把梳子 yībǎshūzi (a hair brush)
一套沙發(发) yītàoshāfā (a set of sofa)
一道菜 yīdàocài, 一盤(盘)菜 yīpáncài (one dish)
一座山 yīzuòshān (a mountain)
一棟大厦 yīdòngdàshà (a building)
一盞燈(灯) yīzhǎndēng (a lamp)
一顆星星 yīkēxīngxīng (a star)
一粒米 yīlìmǐ (a grain of rice)
一床棉被 yīchuángmiánbèi (a comforter or quilt)
(for simplicity, “一”  in first tone: yī)

不 (bú, bù)

不 (bú, bù) switches tone according to the tone of the next character.
Here are some examples:

不	bú with 4th tone	bù with 1st tone	bù with 2nd tone	bù with 3rd tone
不	不要 búyào	不知道 bùzhīdào	不停 bùtíng	不喜歡(欢) bùxǐhuān
不	不對(对) búduì	不清楚 bùqīngchǔ	不能 bùnéng	不可能 bùkěnéng

Coming soon: how “一”, one, (yī, yí, yì) switches tone.

全浸學習(学习) Total Immersion

Even if you are not surrounded by Chinese, you can still create a Chinese learning environment for yourself:

• listen or watch Chinese talk shows, news reports, drama or songs through radio, mp3, TV, movies, etc.; always have them in the background if possible. (with the internet, these programs are readily available online)
• shadow or follow along the program out loud (when there is only you and Fido)
• sing Chinese songs
• whenever you are with a Chinese speaking person, switch to Chinese as if you don’t speak English
• if you want to know how to say a certain word or phrase in Chinese, ask the Chinese person: qǐngwèn {english word} zhōng wén zěnme shūo? Excuse me, how do you say {english word} in Chinese?
• make sure you have high quality tools:  a good dictionary is a MUST
• carry a dictionary with you wherever you go; try to imagine that you need to communicate with a Chinese person and look up all the new vocabularies
• create paper or electronic flash-cards of words or phrases to test yourself.  (for example: you can do this while waiting in line)
• if you have a friend or family member that is also learning Chinese, speak to each other in Chinese
• talk to yourself, describe what is happening in Chinese (do it at your own risk when others are around)
• think in Chinese, dream in Chinese

ü and u (“淤” 和 “屋”)

Pinyin 拼音

When sounding out Pinyin,       j          q          x          y    can only be combined with ü, never u.  But when spelling Pinyin, these 4 initials will change ü to u, but it is still pronounced ü. 

That is why we only see:  ju       qu       xu        yu  (but they are pronounced: jü, qü, xü, yü).  Some people confuse the first three combinations with :  zhu     chu    shu

Most Chinese Pinyin input method uses the v key on the keyboard to represent ü.

點綴(点缀) Embellish

Court Interpreting

不論故事聽起來有多動人….No matter how moving the story is, never forget that you are an interpreter.  No more, no less.  You become the person you interpret for (a witness, a prosecutor or an attorney) and that in itself is already very demanding and taxing.  You are not to add, delete or embellish what is being said.   You play a very important role of getting thoughts across accurately, but you remain neutral and invisible during this process.  You are not to judge, to form an opinion or to come to a conclusion about the case throughout the entire interpreting process.  A professional interpreter accurately pass on exactly what is being said and expressed.  You should however, be a constructive judge or critic of your work and always strive to be a better interpreter.

第三聲(声) The Third Tone

Has anyone ever told you that if you encounter 2 third tones, the first word is to be read second tone? (with the exception of double characters such as: jiě jie 姐姐， bǎo bao 寶寶 (宝宝), etc.）

Example: 
nǐ hǎo
你好

Next time when someone says 你好 nǐ hǎo. Pay attention to the 你 nǐ， it becomes ní.

I can go on and on about the rules and exceptions of the third tone.  This is just the very basics that you’ll need to know for now.