When I was selected to attend the COMMAND AND STAFF COURSE at the AIR FORCE COMMAND COURSE in BEIJING, the CAPITAL of CHINA, I was excited at the same time somewhat worried. I was excited because of the great opportunity to finally see and visit the GREAT WALL and worried because I never knew any Mandarin words.
Every week, we are allotted a whole morning or afternoon session to learn MANDARIN, the Chinese National Language.
Before coming to CHINA, while on the process of preparing the numerous requirements with very limited time, many people who knew that I was soon leaving for CHINA were greeting me "NI HAO". Simple and short Chinese words that I didn't even know.
Situation that brought me to make the topic "SELECTION PROCESS FOR THE OFFICER ATTENDING THE COMMAND AND STAFF COURSE IN CHINA" as one of my options for THESIS writing with the noble intention to contribute for the improvement of the process. Unfortunately, my TUTOR (the term they use for THESIS ADVISER here) selected another topic out of the 3 topics that I presented. The other one which was not selected is the "PEACEFUL RESOLUTION OF TERRITORIAL DISPUTE BETWEEN CHINA and PHILIPPINES". I end up writing about "RETIREMENT SYSTEM".
Going back to the topic. I learned that "NI HAO" simple means "HELLO!"
Doing further research, I found some interesting and familiar MANDARIN words which sound like TAGALOG or local Philippine dialects. "ZHONGGUO" means CHINA. "MEIJO" means NONE, "MAMA" means MOTHER, "KAFEI" means COFFEE, "CHA" means TEA.
There is really a need to learn at least 300 MANDARIN words in order to pass the first level examination for the Chinese Language Course and qualify for the MASTER'S DEGREE. As of now I already learned how to greet, count, identify colors, days, months, body parts, food, drinks and ask some basic questions in MANDARIN.
As a background, MANDARIN is the main language of the PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA or PRC (The Official Name of China, while REPUBLIC OF CHINA or ROC is the Official name of TAIWAN). The pronunciation of MANDARIN is called PINYIN, the official romanization system used in PRC. Most PINYIN spellings reflect the nearest equivalent sound in English, but some letters sound different:
X is pronounced like "SH" as in SHIP
C is pronounced like "TS" as in SITS
Z is pronounced like "DS" as in KIDS
Q is pronounced like " CH" as in CHIN
ZH is pronounced like "J" as in JUST
"U" is pronounced with rounded lips like FEW in English
MANDARIN CHINESE has four "TONES', which affect the way a word is pronounced. Each syllable is pronounced with one of the four tones: high, rising, falling-rising, and falling. These tones can be written as accents on the pinyin pronunciation, but you need to listen to and mimic native speakers to master them. It is really challenging!!!
Some of the words:
"Zaoshang hao" is Good Morning
"Wanshanghao" is Good Evening
"Wo de mingzi shi" is My name is
"Hen gaoxing renshi ni" is Nice to meet you
"Zaijian" is Goodbye
"Wan an" is Goodnight
"Mingtian jian" is See you tomorrow
"Changcheng" means Great Wall
Some of the basic words that I need to know immediately since I am an EXPLORER:
"rukou" is entrance
"chukou" is exit
"cesuo" is toilet
"dong" is east
"xi" is west
"nan" is south
"bei" is north
"lu" is road
"jie" is street
"da jie" is avenue
"qiao" is bridge
"jingchaju" is police station
"yinhang" is bank
"huoche zhan" is train station
"jichang" is airport
"weixian" is danger
"yiyuan" is hospital
"Jinzhi xiyan" is NO SMOKING
"Wo ai ni" is I LOVE YOU...
Another big challenge here in CHINA is that there are establishments which signages are written in CHINESE characters. The best thing to do to lessen the impact of this challenge is to always bring with you an ENGLISH - CHINESE dictionary with CHINESE CHARACTERS to serve as reference or something that you can show to someone when asking for a direction because majority of the people cannot understand English!!!
I am praying that I can successfully hurdle the HSK (Mandarin Language Test) Level this coming April 16, 2016...
Situation that brought me to make the topic "SELECTION PROCESS FOR THE OFFICER ATTENDING THE COMMAND AND STAFF COURSE IN CHINA" as one of my options for THESIS writing with the noble intention to contribute for the improvement of the process. Unfortunately, my TUTOR (the term they use for THESIS ADVISER here) selected another topic out of the 3 topics that I presented. The other one which was not selected is the "PEACEFUL RESOLUTION OF TERRITORIAL DISPUTE BETWEEN CHINA and PHILIPPINES". I end up writing about "RETIREMENT SYSTEM".
Going back to the topic. I learned that "NI HAO" simple means "HELLO!"
Doing further research, I found some interesting and familiar MANDARIN words which sound like TAGALOG or local Philippine dialects. "ZHONGGUO" means CHINA. "MEIJO" means NONE, "MAMA" means MOTHER, "KAFEI" means COFFEE, "CHA" means TEA.
There is really a need to learn at least 300 MANDARIN words in order to pass the first level examination for the Chinese Language Course and qualify for the MASTER'S DEGREE. As of now I already learned how to greet, count, identify colors, days, months, body parts, food, drinks and ask some basic questions in MANDARIN.
As a background, MANDARIN is the main language of the PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA or PRC (The Official Name of China, while REPUBLIC OF CHINA or ROC is the Official name of TAIWAN). The pronunciation of MANDARIN is called PINYIN, the official romanization system used in PRC. Most PINYIN spellings reflect the nearest equivalent sound in English, but some letters sound different:
X is pronounced like "SH" as in SHIP
C is pronounced like "TS" as in SITS
Z is pronounced like "DS" as in KIDS
Q is pronounced like " CH" as in CHIN
ZH is pronounced like "J" as in JUST
"U" is pronounced with rounded lips like FEW in English
MANDARIN CHINESE has four "TONES', which affect the way a word is pronounced. Each syllable is pronounced with one of the four tones: high, rising, falling-rising, and falling. These tones can be written as accents on the pinyin pronunciation, but you need to listen to and mimic native speakers to master them. It is really challenging!!!
Some of the words:
"Zaoshang hao" is Good Morning
"Wanshanghao" is Good Evening
"Wo de mingzi shi" is My name is
"Hen gaoxing renshi ni" is Nice to meet you
"Zaijian" is Goodbye
"Wan an" is Goodnight
"Mingtian jian" is See you tomorrow
"Changcheng" means Great Wall
Some of the basic words that I need to know immediately since I am an EXPLORER:
"rukou" is entrance
"chukou" is exit
"cesuo" is toilet
"dong" is east
"xi" is west
"nan" is south
"bei" is north
"lu" is road
"jie" is street
"da jie" is avenue
"qiao" is bridge
"jingchaju" is police station
"yinhang" is bank
"huoche zhan" is train station
"jichang" is airport
"weixian" is danger
"yiyuan" is hospital
"Jinzhi xiyan" is NO SMOKING
"Wo ai ni" is I LOVE YOU...
Another big challenge here in CHINA is that there are establishments which signages are written in CHINESE characters. The best thing to do to lessen the impact of this challenge is to always bring with you an ENGLISH - CHINESE dictionary with CHINESE CHARACTERS to serve as reference or something that you can show to someone when asking for a direction because majority of the people cannot understand English!!!
I am praying that I can successfully hurdle the HSK (Mandarin Language Test) Level this coming April 16, 2016...
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