Learn to Speak Mandarin Chinese Online Free » Fundamentals http://freechineseblog.com Learn to Speak Mandarin Chinese Online Free Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:49:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Pronouncing Chinese Final Vowels http://freechineseblog.com/how-to-pronounce-the-final-vowels-in-mandarin-chinese/ http://freechineseblog.com/how-to-pronounce-the-final-vowels-in-mandarin-chinese/#comments Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:53:30 +0000 admin http://www.freechineseblog.com/?p=90 In this video you’ll learn how to to say the final vowels in Mandarin Chinese pinyin. Each character in Chinese starts a consonant called an initial and ends with a vowel called a final. Overall the vowel finals are pretty easy to pronounce and there are just two or three tricky ones. The most basic vowel sounds are: a, o, e, ai, ao and ou.




A = ah

O = ouh

E = Like the e in “yes”

Ai = Like the y in “by”

Ao = Like the ou in “ouch”

Ou = Like oh in “oh my gosh”






]]> http://freechineseblog.com/how-to-pronounce-the-final-vowels-in-mandarin-chinese/feed/ 2 How to Make or Form Chinese Words http://freechineseblog.com/how-to-make-chinese-words-in-mandarin-chinese/ http://freechineseblog.com/how-to-make-chinese-words-in-mandarin-chinese/#comments Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:36:13 +0000 admin http://www.freechineseblog.com/?p=84 In this lesson you’ll learn how to make or form words in Mandarin Chinese. How do you form a Chinese word? Chinese is written with characters which are comprised of radicals. Each character is a pictograph which contains one or many smaller pictographs called radicals. Radicals usually represent elements or basic things existing in nature.


Each character has one and sometimes several meanings and is pronounced with one syllable. In modern Chinese to form a word two characters are combined. For example, to get Beijing one combines the characters Běi (北), which means north and Jing (京), to get the word Beijing.


]]> http://freechineseblog.com/how-to-make-chinese-words-in-mandarin-chinese/feed/ 0 What is the Definition of Mandarin Chinese? http://freechineseblog.com/what-is-the-definition-of-mandarin-chinese/ http://freechineseblog.com/what-is-the-definition-of-mandarin-chinese/#comments Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:20:32 +0000 admin http://www.freechineseblog.com/?p=31 In this video you’ll learn what is Mandarin Chinese. Mandarin Chinese is the the official language of mainland China and Taiwan, and one of the official languages of Singapore. Mandarin is based on dialect spoken in Beijing and in north and northwestern China.




China has so many dialects that people from different regions cannot understand each other and use Mandarin to communicate. People often ask me whether I’m studying Cantonese or Mandarin. Cantonese is the language spoken in Hong Kong and in the province of Guantdong (Canton) in Southern China and is often used in China towns in North America.






]]> http://freechineseblog.com/what-is-the-definition-of-mandarin-chinese/feed/ 0 Mandarin Chinese Tones Video Tutorial http://freechineseblog.com/how-to-pronounce-the-four-tones-in-mandarin-chinese/ http://freechineseblog.com/how-to-pronounce-the-four-tones-in-mandarin-chinese/#comments Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:47:54 +0000 admin http://www.freechineseblog.com/?p=27
Chart showing the relative changes in pitch fo...
Image via Wikipedia

In this video you’ll learn how to pronounce the four tones in Mandarin Chinese. Mandarin Chinese has four tones. In the beginning of your studies these tones may be really tricky for you. But, once you get the hang of them it’s smooth sailing. Here are the four tones:

1. Flat
2. Rising
3. Dipping
4. Falling


In the first tone your voice is flat and does not go up or down. In the second tone your voice goes up, as if somebody were telling you something and you answered them with a question, saying, “Yeah?”. The third tone is the trickiest. You voice starts at its “natural” level, dips low, then comes back to its natural level. Sometimes it’s hard to hear the difference between the second and third tone. The fourth tone is pretty easy. Your voice starts at its “natural” level then drops fast. When you’re practicing the tones it’s okay to use a loud voice and exaggerate your voice. By the way, if you cannot get the tones right away don’t worry too much. The Chinese people will probably understand you and be happy just to ear that you’re trying!


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