[...]... including Shanghai, by 8.4 per cent of Han speakers), Xiang (Hunan, 5 per cent), Cantonese (Guangdong, 5 per cent), Min (Fujian, 4.2 per cent), Hakka (northeast Guangdong and other southern provinces, 4 per cent) and Gan (Jiangxi, 2.4 per cent) Cantonese, Min and Hakka are widely spoken among overseas Chinese communities In Taiwan a form of Min dialect is used, though the ofycial language is Mandarin,... Introduction The Chinese language The Chinese language, or group of related languages, is spoken by the Hans, who constitute 94 per cent of China]s population One word for the language in Chinese is Hanyu, the Han language Different, non-Han languages are spoken by the remaining 6 per cent of the population, the so-called minority peoples, such as the Mongols and Tibetans The Chinese language is divided... pinyin romanisation with y as the yrst letter, and those beginning with u (as in rule) with w as the yrst letter: -i > yi -ie > ye -ia > ya -in > yin -ian > yan -ing > ying -iong > yong > you -iang > yang -iao > yao -iu -u/ü > yu -ue/üe > -uan > yuan -un > yun -u > wu -uang > wang -ua > wa -ui > wei -uai > wai -un > wen -uan > wan -uo > wo yue > Note the vowel changes with -iu (> you), -ui (> wei) and -un... example: !" sanbKi liùshí ba !"#$ jioqiAn sìbKi èrshí qc 9,427 !"# wowàn baqiAn liùbKi sanshí yc 58,631 368 ! èrshísanyì !"#$% sìqianwobkiliùshíqcwàn !"#$ baqiAn jiobKi èrshí yc 2,345,678,921 Care must be taken with large numbers, since the English number sets a thousand and a million differ from the Chinese wàn [ten thousand] and yì [hundred million] A million in Chinese is ycbkiwàn; ten thousand is ycwàn,... mainland Chinese government in the 1950s Words in Chinese are made up of one or more syllables, each of which is represented by a character in the written script Since the last century, Chinese has also been transcribed into Western alphabetic scripts, and this book makes use of the standard romanisation pinyin Note: Mandarin is China]s ofycial language, transmitted nationally by radio and television, and... une or ü in German über uan – u/ü followed by an, only with initials j, q and x ue or üe – with initials j, q and x (as ue) and with initials l and n (as üe), u/ü followed by e as above un – u/ü with n, like French une, only with initials j, q and x Mandarin pronunciation 3 Introduction Most ynals can be used without an initial (zero initial), and ynals beginning with i (as in machine) and u/ü (like... like wi in wild uan – u followed by an uang – u followed by ang, like wang in twang ueng – u followed by eng, which exists only with zero initial as weng ui – u followed by ei, similar to way un – u followed by en, like uan in truant uo – u followed by o, similar to war u/ü – with initials j, q and x (as u) and with initials l and n (as ü) like i in machine, pronounced with rounded lips, and similar to... methods and means 19.1.3 Coverbs of human exchange and service 19.1.4 Coverbs of reference 19.1.5 Coverbs and comparison 19.2 Disyllabic prepositions Bk and bèi constructions 20.1 The bk construction 20.1.1 The bk construction and complements 20.1.2 Le and zhe as complements in bk sentences 20.1.3 Bk and resultative complements 20.1.4 Nòng and Gko in bk sentences 20.1.5 Negative bk sentences 20.1.6 Bk and... 1949 and called there Guoyu ([national language]) Mandarin is also widely used in Singapore, where it is known as Huayu ( [Chinese language]) The Chinese population of Britain, which comes largely from Hong Kong, uses mainly Cantonese Written Chinese employs the character script, which existed virtually unchanged in China for over two thousand years, until a range of 1 Introduction simpliyed forms began... !"/ [Zhang Huìmíng Shandong Province xikojil zhukn] CHINA Lm Míng xiansheng shdu/qm A direct translation of the Chinese address would be: CHINA Shandong (province) Jinan (city) Jinan University Department of Chinese [Zhang Huiming Miss to transfer] Li Ming Mr to receive/to open (formal) 12 Note: ShDu [to receive] or qm [to open (formal)] is conventionally added after the name of the recipient, and = . h0" alt="" i Chinese An Essential Grammar Second Edition This new edition of Chinese: An Essential Grammar is an up-to-date and concise reference guide to modern Chinese (Mandarin) grammar. Refreshingly. language The Chinese language, or group of related languages, is spoken by the Hans, who constitute 94 per cent of China]s population. One word for the language in Chinese is Hanyu, the Han language Pollard Basic Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook By Virginia Yip and Stephen Matthews Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar By Stephen Matthews and Virginia Yip Colloquial Cantonese: A Complete Language