Learning Chinese A Foundation Course in Mandarin Julian K Wheatley MIT 8 6 Dialogue In the store L is the l ob n G is a customer g k G L ob n n y u m iyou mi nj nzh Do you have any tissues L Y u y u j nk u de h gu ch n de N y o n i zh ng Yes we have imported ones and national products Which kind do you want G J nk u de du shao qi n How much are the imported ones 25 Learning Chinese A Foundation Course in Mandarin Julian K Wheatley MIT L Li ng ku i b Gu ch n de y ku i r Xi o b or de 2 80 the local ones are 1 20 For a small pack one G J nk u de t i g i le w h ishi m i gu ch n de The imported ones are too expensive I may as well buy the local ones L b cu gu ch n de y b ch Yeah there s nothing wrong with local ones G L H o l i li ng b o ba N shi li ng ku i s Okay two packs please That s 2 40 G Zh shi sh ku i Here s a 10 L H o zh o n q ku i li Fine here s 7 60 in change Notes j nk u gu ch n zh o V to import enter mouth port N imports N produced in China national product V find but here to provide change Other purchases w ish ngzh sh zi l ngzi shu zi zh jiad o qi n ji n f iz o xi ngz o m oj n x f shu y shu y g o ch ng o s p l n guah d o d opi nr ku ngqu nshu b y nt o nqu nt o w ish ngmi n toilet paper sanitary paper comb hairbrush nail clippers soap scented soap towel wool cloth shampoo wash hair water tooth brush tooth paste lipstick lip paste aspirin razor shave beard knife razor blades spring water condoms prevent birthglove safety glove tampons sanitary cotton y b o a pack y g y b y g y b y g y ku i a bar y ti o y p ngr y g y b y t ng a tube y g y p ngr y pi nr a pill y g y g y p ngr y g y h a box y g y h 8 6 1 Sh qing things The noun sh qing or sh r sh r sh things in the sense of items of business introduced in 5 6 1 is common in expressions such as the following 26 Learning Chinese A Foundation Course in Mandarin Julian K Wheatley MIT 1 Sh r t i du le w b n ng q N t i k x le I have too much to do I can t go That s too bad 2 Sh nme sh r M i sh r What s up Nothing 3 N b shi w de sh r That s nothing to do with me 4 Sh qing d u b nw n le ma H i m i ne h i y u y ji n Have you finished everything Not yet there s still one item 5 Ch le sh nme sh H oxi ng ch ch hu le What happened Looks like there was an car accident 6 Y u sh r d di nhu If something comes up phone 7 Mini dialogue N zh o w y u sh nme sh What do you want to see me about Xi ti n w d su n q Zh nggu li xu m fan n g i w xi y f ng tu ji nx n I m planning to study abroad in China this summer would you mind writing a letter of recommendation for me K y Sh nme sh hou x y o ji o When does it need to be in Sh y yu sh w h o h i y u li ng ge l b i Nov 15 there s still 2 weeks H o n w y h u y u w nt ji g n n li nx Okay I ll get in touch if I have questions 8 7 Regional languages dialogue and narrative The colloquial names for regional languages f ngy n shortened from d fang de y y n and misleadingly called dialects in English are generally formed from the name of the province or city where the language is most current eg Gu ngd nghu for Cantonese or Sh ngh ihu for Shanghainese However linguists in order to suggest more accurately the region where the language is spoken use more specialized names based on the names of historical kingdoms or regions plus y eg Yu y Cantonese Here are some of the better known Chinese regional languages each subsumes regional variants which are more properly called dialects But even these may not be mutually intelligible 27 Learning Chinese A Foundation Course in Mandarin Julian K Wheatley MIT Gu ngd nghu or Cantonese The dialect grouping of which Cantonese is the standard is called Yu or Yu y Yu dialects include T ish n also called Toisan after the Cantonese pronunciation and Hoisan after the pronunciation of Taishan itself spoken on a coastal region of Canton Province southwest of Hong Kong Speakers of Yu are found in many parts of the world The majority of Chinese Americans are descendents from emigrants from Taishan County and adjoining regions known in Cantonese pronunciation as Sze Yup four counties Recent administrative changes have made the Sze Yup area actually Ng Yup five counties F ji nhu or Hokkien Fujianese or Fukienese is also called Hokkien after the Fujianese pronunciation of Fujian The dialect grouping as a whole is called M n and within M n the southern or western group that includes Taiwanese and the languages of Amoy Xi m n in Mandarin and Swatou Sh nt u in Mandarin are often called M nn ny southern Min The descendents of Min speakers are now found throughout Southeast Asia notably in Singapore where they are the majority as well as other parts of the world Sh ngh ihu The language of Shanghai is usually called Shanghainese in English with an intrusive n The dialect grouping that includes Sh ngh ihu S zh uhu N ngb hu and others is called W or W y K ji hu or Hakka Hakka is the Cantonese pronunciation of the word k ji guests strangers guest families which reflects the fact that many K ji people settled in Cantonese speaking areas Hakka speakers are found in Canton province in bordering southwest Fujian in Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as in many parts of Southeast Asia 8 7 1 Chinese regional languages Place Beijing Ji a foreigner studying in China has been talking toY a Chinese student Ji N f m …