D2 Mandarin: Studying Chinese

ChineseClass101 Absolute Beginners Season 1 Lesson 4

你是学生吗？

Nǐ shì xuéshēng ma?

Are you a student?

对。我学中文。你呢？

Duì. Wǒ xué Zhōngwén. Nǐ ne?

Yes, I study Chinese. How about you?

我是老师。

Wǒ shì lǎoshī.

你可以教我中文!

Nǐ kěyǐ jiāo wǒ Zhōngwén!

You can teach me Chinese!

Sample sentences

她是大学学生。

Tā shì dàxué xuéshēng.

She is a university student.

你在学什么?

Nǐ zài xué shénme?

You in study what? ➡️ What are you studying?

张老师很忙。

Zhāng lǎoshī hěn máng.

Teacher Zhang is very busy.

我较中文。

Wǒ jiāo Zhōngwén.

I teach Chinese.

对，我是美国人。

Duì, wǒ shì Měiguórén.

Yes, I am American.

我不学中文

Wǒ bù xué Zhōngwén.

I don't study Chinese.

你可以叫我丽丽。

Nǐ kěyǐ jiào wǒ Lìly.

You can call me Lili.

Hanzi note:

叫 = jiào = call

较 = jiāo = to teach

是 = shì = to be

师 = shī = teacher/master

学 = to study

学生 = xuéshēng = student

大学 = dàxué = lit: big study = university

Extra Note:

中文 = Zhōngwen = lit: Chinese text; but use to refer both spoken & written form of language. All different dialects are Zhōngwen, while commonly refer to Mandarin.

普通话 = Pǔtōnghua = lit: the common language = official language of Mainland China.

*If you want to compare langguage, for example with English or Japanese, use Zhōngwen.

* If use to compare dialects like Cantonese, use Pǔtōnghua.

汉语 = Hànyu = lit: Han language = Mandarin. 

Hànyu & Pǔtōnghua is pretty much the same, but Pǔtōnghua is more standard & better pronounce than Hànyu.

国语 = guó yǔ = lit: national language. 

Guó yǔ and pǔ tōng huà are also essentially the same. guó yǔ is used by Taiwan and sometimes Hong Kong to refer to Mandarin.

huá yǔ (华语) / huá wén (华文)

These two terms also refer to standard Mandarin but are used in Southeast Asia, particularly in Singapore and Malaysia. Both countries have adopted Mainland China’s pǔ tōng huà (普通话) along with simplified characters rather than traditional. huá yǔ (华语) / huá wén (华文) refer exclusively to spoken and written language.

Other dialects language name:

Hokkien 福建话 (Fújiàn Huà) 

Cantonese 广东话 (Guǎngdōng huà) 

Teochew 潮州話 (Cháozhōu huà) 

Hakka 客家话 (Kèjiā Huà) 

Hainanese 海南语 (Hǎinán Yǔ)

*Note that the huà character here is different than huá in huáyu character.

Reference:

YoyoChinese