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History Chinese is one of the very first languages in the world. The Chinese language makes use of pictograms and ideograms extensively. Pictograms are characters that represent the object of the picture. Ideograms are characters that represent ideas. Both of the above are used as radicals in the Chinese characters.

Pictograms These are some of the pictograms that were used by Chinese. Can you tell what characters they represent?

Evolution The pictograms shown in the above slide have evolved over time to become the Chinese characters we have now.

Ideograms Ideograms express ideas through words, let’s take a look.

Number System There are some similarities as well as differences between the English and the Chinese numbering system. We use Arabic 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 to form our number system. What do Chinese use for counting?

Number System Instead of using 1 and 0 for TEN, the Chinese numbering system have a special character for counting TEN. You will continue to see the amazing things you can do with Chinese numbers.

Number System Chinese numbers follow this *multiply in front* and *add at the end* rule. How do we write 11? We take the TEN character 十, and add a ONE 一. So the resulting number would be 十一 (sup yat) for eleven. How about 58? Simple. We write a 五, multiply by 十, and add 八. 五十八 (ng sup bat), which means 5 * = 58.

Number System Like English, the Chinese numbers have characters for HUNDRED and THOUSAND. They are 百 and 千, respectively. Same old rule, you always *multiply in front* and *add at the end*. Let’s do some exercises.

Number System Exercise 六十四 ? 九十七 ? 三百二十五 ? 一千八百 ? 49? 8215?

Greetings Good Morning 早 jo 晨 sun Good Afternoon 午 ng 安 on Good Night 晚 man 安 on Hello 你 lei 好 ho Good Bye 再 joi 見 kin How Are You? 你 lei 好 ho 嗎 ma

Greetings/Common terms Thank You 多 dor 謝 jeh Good Fortune To You 恭 gong 喜 hei 發 fat 財 choi This is yummy! 好 ho 味 may 道 dou Happy New Year 新 sun 年 lin 快 fai 樂 lok Merry X’mas 聖 sing 誕 dan 快 fai 樂 lok

Disciplines Engineering 工 gung 程 ching Computer 電 din 腦 lo Electrical 電 din 機 gei Systems Design 系 hai 統 tone 設 chit 計 gai Mechanical 機 gei 械 haai Chemical 化 fa 學 hok Environmental 環 wan 境 geng Software 軟 yuen 體 tai Geological 地 dei 質 jut Civil 土 to 木 mook Mechatronics 機 gei 電 din

Chinese Food & Restaurants Chinese Restaurants “Cha Lau” or “Jou Lau” are a place for food consumption as well as gathering of family and friends. In Chinese Restaurants, having lunch is called “yum cha”, in direct translation it means “to have tea” The food that is ordered during “yum cha” is called “dim sum”. Dim Sum are small platters of food that is ordered progressively (not all ordered at once as in other restaurants). Other than eating dim sum, drinking Chinese tea is also an integral part of yum cha (dining at Chinese Restaurants).