Exchange- You teach me Pinyin, I'll practice mandarin conversation

[ScoobyDoo]

Hi everyone,

I have a problem. I'm conversationally fluent in mandarin (like a regular Beijinger) but don't know how to read/write. Anyone in Beijing (near Wudaokou or in Hadian district) want to practice mandarin in exchange for pinyin lessons? I just bought a book from BLCU and need someone to teach me basic pinyin. Please respond or PM me! Thanks!

[XiaoXi]

You want to learn pinyin? Is that even useful if you can already speak fluently? I'm surprised you can speak without knowing pinyin actually. What is useful for you to learn is the Chinese characters. I don't see how pinyin will benefit you since all text in China is written with Chinese characters. Pinyin is only useful really to aid an English speaker in understanding how the words are pronounced. If you can already do that then I don't think there's any point.

[Lu]

I'm not in Haidian, but aren't there a bunch of websites around that can teach you pinyin?

[renzhe]

What is useful for you to learn is the Chinese characters. I don't see how pinyin will benefit you since all text in China is written with Chinese characters.

But all the resources for learning Chinese characters show the pronunciation in pinyin. Unless you have somebody holding your hand for 5 years, you won't get far learning Chinese characters without learning pinyin first.

Knowing pinyin is also useful because it makes it possible to write notes, short messages, etc. with minimal effort. Most literate people on the Mainland will be able to read them, even though it is a somewhat unusual way to write.

I just find it the trade-off offered here a bit lacking. Surely, somebody who needs Chinese conversation practice in Beijing can get enough native speakers to do this. You might be more successful offering foreign language tutoring instead. Most Chinese will happily teach you pinyin in exchange for some English practice.

Besides, it shouldn't take you more than a few hours to get comfortable with pinyin. It is completely phonetic, and the few quirks should be no problem to someone who can already speak.

EDIT: For example, you could go through all the sounds here: link. If you can speak fluently, you should be familiar with all those syllables, and the pinyin transcription is pretty self-explanatory once you know the sound.

[imron]

Is that even useful if you can already speak fluently?

It is if you ever want to type anything on a computer, send a text message etc.

I'm surprised you can speak without knowing pinyin actually.

It's not all that surprising really. I imagine there are many people of Chinese descent who have grown up overseas speaking Chinese at home and who are reasonably fluent in the spoken language, but who have little/no capabilities in reading/writing (including pinyin).

[XiaoXi]

If you're a native English speaker then you should be very used to the English alphabet and English sounds...pinyin is not much different. If you are fluent in Chinese already then you should probably be able to learn it all in about a day. Especially since so many of the sounds are the same e.g. mai cai lai; ge le se. The initials are all the same as English except a few like zh, c, x. You no doubt will already have a good idea how many Chinese words are pronounced that you use already since we have Chinese words that we use in English e.g. Tai Chi with the correct pronunciation of tai.

I think by the end of this post you realise you probably already know about 80% of pinyin since 80% of it is obvious and logical.

[ScoobyDoo]

Thanks for everyone's input. So no takers?! does anyone know someone who knows someone who wants to try this? Haha. Perhaps you can consider this an added incentive, but i'm a fun and energetic person so our conversations will be useful and lively!

Like imron said, knowing pinyin is absolutely essential for typing on a computer! and yes, it'll only take a few hours for me to get the hang of it and after that, it'll purely be self-study. But knowing 80% or even 90% pinyin is just as good as not knowing it at all if one doesn't know all the variations in pronounciation.

If some kind soul could just offer a few hours of their time or knows a chinese student who wants to practice english, please get in touch!

[imron]

Well, I'm no longer in Beijing, but his might help: http://lost-theory.org/chinese/phonetics/

[XiaoXi]

Still haven't learned it eh? The only variations are zh which is the 'other' J sound (I'm assuming you know what I mean since you're already fluent in Chinese), x is the other sh sound, q is the other ch sound and c is the ts sound. The tone markings are obvious since they're just in the direction the tone goes and you won't need them to type on a computer anyway. I think even you're a total newbie to Chinese you could learn pinyin in a few days. For you it should be almost instant. I think the only varying pronunciation is the i sound ie chi and qi; shi and xi.

[PhilipLean]

Hi ScoobyDoo

Is this any help ? I have found it useful - http://www.instantspeakchinese.com/pinyin/

Also there are several teaching texts that spend a long time using pinyin before moving onto characters, mostly too long for beginners (who should be learning characters early) but they might help you.

Maybe the best and most comprehensive of these is the old USA Foreign Service Institute Mandarin Complete course - text and audio

Part one is in pinyin and English - only part two uses Hanzi.

The whole course is now public domain and can be downloaded here http://www.legaltorrents.com/torrents/571-fsi-mandarin-chinese---complete-course

As usual with FSI material :

1 - it is dated (it was written in the 1960s) - for example, only the old meaning of Tongzi (comrade) is used, the conversations relate better to that period.

2 - the more interesting and useful examples (conversational) are in the later chapters of part one.

That said it is an excellent work.

It is a big download 1.6gig but well worth it as a reference.

[PhilipLean]

Here is a sample of the FSI Mandarin. From Unit one.

[XiaoBin]

Wo Yao! ;)