Look Who it Was Random video

Absolute Beginner Mandarin Chinese: Learn with Katherine!

1,168 views · Published 18 May 2017 · 9:57 · Indexed 21 September 2026

Channel: eChineseLearning · 2017 · Education

Watch on YouTube

In today's video you can see an example of an online Skype Mandarin lessons. For a Free Trial Lesson of your own, you can sign up here today: https://goo.gl/uPB4jH
_______________________

When beginning Chinese, it's important to to learn pīnyīn, the romanized written version of spoken Chinese, along with the speaking tones from the very beginning of your study.
_______________________

In today's lesson, Teacher Katherine introduces an absolute beginner to Chinese with 你好 (nǐ hǎo), which means "hello" and is one of the most common phrases a foreigner may know of Mandarin Chinese.

Chinese is not a phonetic language. The pronunciation of Mandarin is not related to the writing of Chinese words, or “characters”. Using the romanized alphabet, pinyin, or more specifically Hanyu pinyin, is a roadmap for how to pronounce Mandarin Chinese tones. The four little lines above the vowels in pinyin represent the four Chinese tones. Reading the pinyin and speaking the tones is essential if you would like to be understood:

mā (mother) "high and level" - 1st tone
má (to bother) "rising from middle to high" - 2nd tone
mǎ (horse) "first falling then rising" - 3rd tone
mà (to scold) "falling from high" - 4th tone
ma (interrogative particle) "brief and soft" - neutral tone
_______________________

Follow along with today's lesson and practice the speaking tones along with Teacher Katherine.

Don't forget to subscribe and stay tuned for more Chinese lessons with us. Learn Chinese on Skype and enjoy our online Chinese conversation lessons with qualified teachers in China!

www.echineselearning.com

More from this channel