1. Introduction The Chinese language is:
Official language in ROC and PROC
Writing form: Traditional (ROC, Japan, Korea…)
Simplified (PROC…)
Non-phonetic language
Characters: 50,000 Traditional
2~3,000 Simplified (1960)
Pronunciation: zhu yin fu hao
Pinyin (Was invented in 1958)

2. Characters
Chinese characters are one of the world’s oldest written languages that can be traced back to as early as 3,500 years ago when they were first used. The character is the basic unit of the Chinese language and each character constitutes a single syllable.
In earlier times, since they were carved on tortoise shells and animal bones, it was called oracle bone script, and most of these characters were pictures called pictographs.

3. Evolution of Chinese characters oracle bone bronze vessel
Evolution of Chinese characters oracle bone bronze vessel seal style clerical style standard form 日 月
oracle bone script ( B.C.),
bronze vessel style ( B.C.),
seal style( B.C.),
clerical style(221B.C.-220A.D.),
standard form (220A.D.-present)

4. Chinese character in various form

5. Four major ways of forming Chinese characters –
Pictography originated from pictures;
e.g. 日(sun) 月(moon) 馬 马(horse) 目(eye) 木(tree)
Ideography or self-explanatory;
Through the formation of the characters to express the meaning; e.g. 上(up) 中(center) 下(down) 安(peace) 刃(blade)
Compound ideography
combines two or more symbols to represent a new word; e.g. 休(rest) 囚 (prisoner) 看(look) 尖(sharp)
Phonetic compound
The combination of sound and meaning;
e.g. 爸(father) 媽妈(mother) 罵骂(scold) 忠(loyal)

6. Eight basic strokes 一 二 三 十 六 八, 大 八, 大 我 五 小
Being familiar with the eight basic strokes will help reduce the chance of miswritten characters, while helping in getting started with writing new characters.
Horizontal line:
Vertical line:
Dot:
Left falling:
Right falling:
Rising stroke:
Turning stroke:
Hook:
一 二 三 十 六
八, 大
八, 大 我 五 小

7. What strokes these characters are using Click to get the answers大
Horizontal, Left falling, Right falling 六
Dot, Horizontal, Left falling, Right falling 五
Horizontal, Vertical, Turning stroke
horizont 小
Hook, Left falling, Right falling

8. Principles of writing Chinese characters
Left first, then right 女 她
Top first, then bottom 三 三 三
Horizontal first, then vertical 一 十
Left falling first, then right falling 八 八
Outside first, then inside 同 同
Complete inside, then close 回 回
Middle first, then left wing, and then right wing 小 小 小

9. What do you think the stroke order should be for the following characters:六 五 日 回 本 公

10. 筆 劃 順 序 的 重 要
人、八、入
刀、刁
見、貝
土、士
干、千
申、甲
未、末
日、曰
千、于
古、右
兄、只
大、丈
夭、天
名、各
七、匕
失、先
午、牛
子、孓

11. 月 木 日 林 明 森 生日 星星 女生 姓

12. Pinyin (Pronunciation)
Pinyin is a Chinese word that means using the English alphabet to spell the sounds of Chinese characters. Character, the basic unit of Chinese written language, is mostly single syllable. Many of characters share the same pinyin but have different tones. In order to differentiate meanings, Chinese relies on tones. For example, 買 măi means to buy, 賣 mài means to sell, and 花 huā means flower, 畫 huà means painting.
Let’s use these four characters to make up some phrases:
măi huā mài huā mài huà măi huà
(buy flowers) (sell flowers) (buy paintings) (sell paintings)
Different tones completely changed the meaning of the whole word. Therefore, the accuracy of the tone is extremely important.

13. Pinyin (Pronunciation)√ =
To buy m I ai F
4 Tone
21 Initial
35 Final
4 tones =

14. Most pinyin syllables consist of three parts: an initial (beginning sound) and a final (ending sound) and a tone. ( In English, there are over 8,000 syllables, while in Chinese, there are only about 400 basic syllables. ) Initials: There are 21 initials— b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, h, j, q, x, z, c, s, r, zh, ch, sh Finals: There are 35 finals— i, u, ü, a, o, e, ie, ai, ei, ao, ou, an, en, ang, eng, ong, ia, iao, iou, ian, in, iang, ing, iong, ua, uo, uai,uei, uan, uen, uang, ueng, üe, üan, ün Tones: There are 5 tones— Tone marks For example 1st tone mā 2nd tone má 3rd tone mă 4th tone mà short sound (no tone marks) ma

15. Can you pronounce the following words
日 月 明 生 星 期 今 天 昨 你 我 他 的 幾 是 Rì qí wŏ
yuè
jīng tā
míng de
tiān
shēng jĭ
zuó
xīng nĭ
shì

16. Characters and pinyin in Youtube
Vows and consonant song
Chinese pinyin in 6 minutes
Four tones
CHARACTERS
Strokes and their orders
36 Chinese characters

17. Learning Pattern
Listening Listen to the Chinese and translate them Speaking Say the English in Chinese Reading & Writing Follow the stroke order Make the connections between the symbol & sound

18. 一月一日星期一 Conversation 幾 幾 幾 The structure of statements =
The structure of questions
Question words are used
一月一日星期一 幾 幾 幾
Ex.