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Introduction

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

你们好！Nĭmen hăo!

Welcome to Getting started with Chinese 2!

This two-week course will teach you how to ask questions using ‘what’ and ‘where’, use time expressions in the correct order and speak about different activities such as watching TV and learning Chinese. Little by little you will improve your ability to make more sophisticated conversations and to understand more complex language in a variety of different scenarios.

Each week comprises 3–4 hours of interactive activities, explanations, exercises and tips about language learning. It is a good idea to keep notes either on paper or electronically in your preferred digital device so that you can keep track of your progress. At the end of both weeks you will have a quiz with 10 questions to revise what you have been learning and check your progress. Each week also has consolidation and expansion activities, and you will be encouraged to build your own phrase book little by little.

One important thing to do before you start is to take some time to decide how you will allocate your time to your studies. Learning Chinese, like learning any language, is a gradual process; it’s often described as a ‘marathon, not a sprint.’ Little and often is the best approach, so if possible, spread your 3-4 hours over the week, rather than devoting one whole afternoon or evening. This will give you plenty of opportunities to revisit vocabulary and language structures, to revise quickly what you did last time and above all, to practise and consolidate. This is the best way to learn vocabulary and perfect your pronunciation and tones. If you are keen to learn characters, you can make paper flashcards or use some apps such as Quizlet to make digital flashcards.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

refer to different languages and use different terms such as China, Chinese books, Chinese people and Chinese language
talk about activities, such as watching TV and learning Chinese
recognise where time expressions should be placed in sentences
ask questions with shénme 什么 (‘what’), nǎr 哪儿 (‘where’) and understand the different usages of dōu 都 (‘all, both’)
ask a choice question with háishì 还是 (‘or’).

Open Centre for Languages and Cultures

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

This course has been developed from extract parts of LXC002 - Beginners Chinese 2: 开始吧 kāishĭ ba!. The Open University has launched a dedicated learning centre called The Open Centre for Languages and Cultures. OpenLearn is supporting this project and is providing extracted units of all courses on The Open Centre in our dedicated Language and Cultures Hub.

The Open Centre for Languages and Cultures is the exciting new home for non-accredited language and intercultural communication short courses. You can study a wide range of language and language related subjects with us anywhere in the world, in any time zone, whatever your motivation – leisure, professional development or academic.

It’s the one stop shop for engaging with languages, professional communication and intercultural dialogue.

Our short courses allow us to be agile and responsive to the needs of learners who want to be part of a global society. We offer non-accredited short courses in a range of subjects including modern languages and languages for business and the workplace. We are also leading the way in developing short courses for academic research methods and pre-sessional English with IELTS, which will be available for registration in due course.

The Open Centre for Languages and Cultures is an international leader in online language learning and intercultural communications, built on our pioneering pedagogy and research.

What makes the Open Centre different?

The OU is the leader in online learning and teaching with a heritage of more than 50 years helping students achieve their learning ambitions.
The short courses are underpinned by academic rigour and designed by native speakers experienced in producing engaging materials for online learning of languages and cultures.
The graduating nature of the courses means that learners can build up their language and skills over time.
Learners will also gain a better understanding of the culture(s) associated with the language(s) they study enabling the development of intercultural communication skills.
Learners can mix and match the short courses and study more than one course at a time.

Once this course is complete you will be directed to OpenLearn’s hub for language content where you will be able to build on your newly found language skills.

Now that you’re fully prepared, it’s time to start on Week 1.

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kāshĭ ba

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Introduction

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

In this first week, you will learn how to refer to names of languages; how to talk about activities such as watching TV and learning Chinese; how to use different terms such as China, Chinese books, Chinese people and Chinese language; and where time expressions should be placed in sentences.

Wǒmen kāishǐ ba! 我们开始吧! (Let’s start).

1 How to refer to different languages

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

You may already know country names such Zhōngguó 中国 (China), Yīngguó 英国 (United Kingdom) or Fǎguó 法国 (France), now you will learn how to turn the country names into their corresponding language.

Activity _unit2.2.1 Activity 1

Match the following maps with the correct languages.

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Using the answers from the previous question complete the following statements, matching the correct parts of their sentences. How do you form the names of various languages?

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2 Daily activities

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

Table 1 lists some new vocabulary which you can use to talk about different daily activities. Read and repeat the words aloud and then copy them into your notebook.

Table _unit2.3.1 Table 1 Vocabulary to speak about daily activities

Chinese	English
xué 学	learn, study
zuò 做	make, do
xiě 写	write
kàn 看	see, watch, look; read
shàng wǎng 上网	surf the internet
zhuānyè 专业	major, subject
yīngwén 英文	English language
zhōngwén 中文	Chinese language
wénxué 文学	literature
diànshì 电视	TV
shū 书	book
hànzì 汉字	Chinese character
wǎnshang 晚上	evening
tiāntiān 天天	every day
fàn 饭	meal

Note that 网 wǎng is the shortened word for internet: the equivalent of the English ‘net’. The full term in Chinese is hùlián wǎng 互联网 (lit. inter-connect net).

Activity _unit2.3.1 Activity 2

Listen to the words given in Table 1 in the audio below. Pause and repeat each word as many times as you want. Then, write down the five words that you found more difficult to remember in the space below.

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Transcript

xué 学

zuò 做

xiě 写

kàn 看

shàng wǎng 上网

zhuānyè 专业

yīngwén 英文

zhōngwén 中文

wénxué 文学

diànshì 电视

shū 书

hànzì 汉字

wǎnshang 晚上

tiāntiān 天天

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You have just learned some new verbs and nouns. Now, match the following nouns with the appropriate verb.

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Look at the pictures and decide if the statement underneath is true or false.

Figure _unit2.3.1 Figure 1

Long description

Tāmen xué zhōngwén. 他们学中文。

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Discussion

True. This is a drawing of a class learning Chinese with Chinese words on the board.

Figure _unit2.3.2 Figure 2

Long description

Tā kàn diànshì. 她看电视。

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Discussion

True. This is a drawing of a girl watching TV.

Figure _unit2.3.3 Figure 3

Long description

Dàwèi xiě hànzì. 大卫写汉字。

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Discussion

True. This is a drawing of a western man writing Chinese characters.

Figure _unit2.3.4 Figure 4

Long description

Tā kàn yīngwén shū. 他看英文书。

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Discussion

False. This is a drawing of a man reading a Chinese book, not an English book

Figure _unit2.3.5 Figure 5

Long description

Wǒ shàng wǎng. 我上网。

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Discussion

True. This is a drawing of a person surfing on the internet.

3 Time expressions

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

Now have a go at Activities 3 and 4.

Activity _unit2.4.1 Activity 3

Listen to the recordings and answer the True/False questions that follow. (Try to answer without revealing the transcript).

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Tāmen tiāntian zǎoshang kàn diànshì. 他们天天早上看电视。

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They watch TV every evening.

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Wǒ wǎnshang xiě hànzì. 我晚上写汉字

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I write Chinese characters in the evening.

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Select the correct option to complete this sentence.

From the above listening, we can conclude: in Chinese, time expressions such as ‘every morning’, ‘in the evening’ etc. must be placed:

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Activity _unit2.4.2 Activity 4

Listen to the audio and select the activities you hear. (Try to answer without revealing the transcript).

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Wǒ xīngqīyī hé xīngqī’èr wǎnshang xué zhōngwén. Wǒ xīngqīsān wǎnshang kàn diànshì. 我星期一和星期二晚上学中文。我星期三晚上看电视。

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Listen to the audio and select the activities you heaer. (Try to answer without revealing the transcript).

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Wǒ xīngqīsì wǎnshang xiě hànzì. Wǒ xīngqīwǔ wǎnshang shàng wǎng. Wǒ xīngqītiān wǎnshang kàn diànyǐng. 我星期四晚上写汉字。我星期五晚上上网。我星期天晚上看电影。

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4 Names of countries, people and language

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

In English, the words ‘English’, ‘French’, ‘Spanish’, etc. are used not only to designate language and a person’s nationality but can also function as adjectives in front of nouns (e.g. ‘English newspaper’, ‘French poet’, ‘Spanish city’). In Chinese, however, a distinction is made. As you have already seen, the character wén 文 is added to a country name to designate language and the character rén 人 to designate a person. When associating a country with anything else, however, you use just the country name in front of the noun in question, as shown in the table below. In these examples, the country name functions as an adjective.

Table _unit2.5.1 Table 2 Names of countries, people and language

Country names as adjectives	Languages	People
Zhōngguó wénxué 中国文学 Chinese literature	zhōngwén 中文 Chinese	zhōngguórén 中国人 Chinese person/people
Xībānyá diànyĭng 西班牙电影 Spanish film	xībānyáwén 西班牙文 Spanish	xībānyárén 西班牙人 Spaniard

Country names as adjectives

Languages

People

Zhōngguó wénxué 中国文学

Chinese literature

zhōngwén 中文

Chinese

zhōngguórén 中国人

Chinese person/people

Xībānyá diànyĭng 西班牙电影

Spanish film

xībānyáwén 西班牙文

Spanish

xībānyárén 西班牙人

Spaniard

Note that there can be some ambiguity when saying something like:

Example _unit2.5.1

Zhōngguó xiăoshuō 中国小说 a Chinese novel

In this example, it could be that the novel is in the Chinese language, but it could also be that it was originally written by a Chinese writer but has been translated into another language. The ambiguity is removed if the language name rather than the country name is placed before the noun.

Example _unit2.5.2

zhōngwén xiăoshuō 中文小说 a novel in Chinese

Activity _unit2.5.1 Activity 5

Choose the English words that correspond to the underlined characters (forms).

Zhōngguó hěn dà 中国很大。

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Zhōngguó diànyĭng hǎo kàn. 中国电影好看。

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Lǐ Yīng xué Făguó wénxué. 李英学法国文学。

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5 What would you say?

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

Now have a go at Activity 6.

Activity _unit2.6.1 Activity 6

Describe the following pictures in Chinese. Then, listen to the model description and record your answer trying to sound like the model. You can play it back or try a new recording as many times as you like by pressing ‘Start again’ or ‘Re-record’.

6 Build a language notebook

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

Building a language notebook is a way to note down, each week, new vocabulary and expressions, and also tips about pronunciation, grammar, culture and communication in general that will support you as you start to learn Chinese.

Activity _unit2.7.1 Activity 7

What would you write in each box, if anything? Would you add more boxes?

Table _unit2.7.1 Table 3 Language notebook

Key vocabulary	Table 3 Language notebook 1, Your response 1
Key sentences	Table 3 Language notebook 2, Your response 2
Culture	Table 3 Language notebook 3, Your response 3
Language	Table 3 Language notebook 4, Your response 4

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Discussion

This is a suggestion as to how you may have filled in the boxes.

Table _unit2.7.2 Table 4 Example of a completed language notebook for Week 1

Key vocabulary in characters, Pinyin, and English	学 xué	to learn, to study
	做 zuò	to make, to do
	写 xiě	to write
	看 kàn	to see, to watch, to look; to read
	上网 shàng wǎng	to surf the internet
	专业 zhuānyè	major; subject
	英文 yīngwén	English language
	中文 zhōngwén	Chinese language
	文学 wénxué	literature
	电视 diànshì	TV
	书 shū	book
	汉字 hànzì	Chinese character
	晚上 wǎnshang	evening
	天天 tiāntiān	everyday
	今晚 jīn wǎn	this evening; tonight
Key sentences	I write Chinese characters in the evening. Wǒ wǎnshang xiě hànzì. 我晚上写汉字。
	I read books, watch TV and surf the Internet in the evenings. Wǒ wǎnshang kàn shū, kàn diànshì, shàng wǎng. 我晚上看书, 看电视, 上网。
	What subject do you study? Nǐ xué shénme zhuānyè? 你学什么专业？
	I study Chinese literature. Wǒ xué Zhōngguó wénxué. 我学中国文学.
Language	How to change country names (usually ends with guó 国) to languages: replace guó 国 with wén 文 if there is guó 国 in the country name, if there is not guó 国 in the country name, add wén 文; How to say people of a country country name + rén 人 How to say some daily activities. Time expressions must go before verbs.

You may have filled your table in differently, or you may have a different idea about how to build on what you are learning. Your learning journey is personal, so you need to keep notes in a way that is appropriate to you.

Take some time, now, to establish your own language notebook.

7 Practising and consolidating

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

In the next activity you will work as an interpreter.

Activity _unit2.8.1 Activity 8

Listen to the sentences given in English and then record yourself saying them in Chinese. Play back your recording and then listen to a model answer given in the feedback section.

8 Typing Chinese characters

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

You will now have a go at typing Chinese characters.

Activity _unit2.9.1 Activity 9

Follow these instructions on enabling Chinese font and typing characters. Once you have enabled the Chinese font, the most common method used in inputting Chinese characters is to type in the Pinyin.

Below are the key characters used this week. Try to type them using the Pinyin input into the box below. Carefully read the characters below so that when you type, you are able to choose the correct ones.

Remember, when using the Pinyin input method, you don’t need to worry about tones. All you need to type is the correct Pinyin spelling.

Table _unit2.9.1 Table 5 Typing Chinese characters

xué 学	to learn, to study	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 1, Your response 1
zuò 做	to make, to do	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 2, Your response 2
xiě 写	to write	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 3, Your response 3
kàn 看	to see, to watch, to look; to read	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 4, Your response 4
shàng wǎng 上网	to surf the internet	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 5, Your response 5
zhuānyè 专业	major; subject	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 6, Your response 6
yīngwén 英文	English language	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 7, Your response 7
zhōngwén 中文	Chinese language	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 8, Your response 8
wénxué 文学	literature	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 9, Your response 9
diànshì 电视	TV	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 10, Your response 10
shū 书	book	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 11, Your response 11
hànzì 汉字	Chinese character	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 12, Your response 12
wǎnshang 晚上	evening	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 13, Your response 13
tiāntiān 天天	everyday	Table 5 Typing Chinese characters 14, Your response 14

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9 Word formation

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

Words in Chinese are formed by one or more characters. In this section you will look at combining characters to form new words.

Box _unit2.10.1 Box 1 Word formation

shàng 上 (to go to) + wǎng 网 (net) = shàngwǎng 上网 (surf the internet)

xué 学 (to learn, school) + shēng 生 (new) = xuéshēng 学生 (pupil, student)

wăn 晚 (late) + shang 上 (up, above) = wănshang 晚上 (evening)

zhuān 专 (specialised) + yè 业 (course, industry) = zhuānyè 专业 (subject, major, special field)

yīng 英 (hero, Britain) + wén 文 (language, culture) = yīngwén 英文 (English language)

hàn 汉 (Han Chinese) + 字 zì (character) = hànzì 汉字 (Chinese character)

电 diàn (electricity, electric) + 视 shì (viewing, vision, sight) = 电视 diànshì (television).

Note that it literally means ‘electric viewing’!

Reminder…

字 in 名字 míngzi (name) is the same 字 as in 汉字 hànzì (Chinese character) except that here it is pronounced with the 4th tone.

Activity _unit2.10.1 Activity 10

Match up the Chinese words with their English equivalents. All the characters have been introduced, but they are in combination with different characters to form new meanings.

Drag each answer (above) into the correct slot (below)

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10 This week’s quiz

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

Check what you’ve learned this week by taking the end-of-week quiz.

Week 1 quiz

Open the quiz in a new window or tab (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link), then return here when you have done it.

11 Summary of Week 1

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

Now you have reached the end of Week 1, reflect a little on what you have learnt.

Activity _unit2.12.1 Activity 11

In the box below, note down what you have found easy, useful or fun, and what was more difficult. At the end of the course, you can download your weekly reflection.

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Now, you might want to share in the space below some of your daily activities in Pinyin or characters. If you want to type Pinyin with tone marks, you can follow the simple instructions from the PDF file, How to type Pinyin with tone marks on a PC. You may start the sentence with Nǐ hǎo 你好.

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Next week you are going to learn how to say what you will do tomorrow, revise how to ask questions with shénme 什么 and nǎ'r 哪儿, learn different usages of dōu 都, how to say what you do at a certain place and how to ask a choice question with háishì 还是.

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Wǒ xǐhuān xué zhōngwén 我喜欢学中文!

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I enjoy learning Chinese!

Introduction

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

This week, you are going to learn how to talk about what you be will doing tomorrow; how to ask questions with shénme 什么 (‘what’) and nǎr 哪儿 (‘where’) and find out the different usages of dōu 都 (‘all, both’). You will also practise how to say what you do at a certain place and will learn how to ask a choice question with háishì 还是 (‘or’).

我们开始吧! (Let’s start)

1 I watch TV on Monday morning

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

You’ll start this week with a listening activity.

Activity _unit3.2.1 Activity 1

Listen to the recordings and write down their English translations. The key words to listen for are days of the week. You may remember the formula to form days of the week: xīngqīyī 星期 (week day) + numbers from one to six for Monday to Saturday. For example, ‘Friday’ in Chinese is xīngqīyīwŭ 星期五. For Sunday, there are two terms: xīngqítiān 星期天 and xīngqírì星期日.

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Wǒ xīngqīyī hé xīngqī’èr wǎnshang xué zhōngwén.Wǒ xīngqīsān wǎnshang kàn diànshì.

我星期一和星期二晚上学中文。我星期三晚上看电视。

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Answer

I learn Chinese on Monday and Tuesday evenings. I watch TV on Wednesday evenings.

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Wǒ xīngqīsì wǎnshang xiě hànzì.Wǒ xīngqīwǔ wǎnshang shàng wǎng.Wǒ xīngqītiān wǎnshang kàn diànyǐng.

我星期四晚上写汉字。我星期五晚上上网。我星期天晚上看电影。

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Answer

I write Chinese characters on Thursday evenings. I surf the internet on Friday evenings. I watch movies on Sunday evenings.

2 I am going to London tomorrow

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

In Week 1, you learned that time expressions must be placed before the verb in Chinese. Box 1 looks at how to use this rule when speaking about the future.

Box _unit3.3.1 Box 1 Expressing the immediate future.

As you may have learned already, Chinese verbs do not change their form, so tense is conveyed instead by the context, usually a time expression. The future tense (especially the immediate future) in Chinese is usually expressed by time expressions such as ‘this evening’, ‘tomorrow’, etc.

Example _unit3.3.1

Wǒ míngtiān xiàwǔ qù Lúndūn. 我明天下午去伦敦。

lit. I tomorrow afternoon go London. (I’m going to go to London tomorrow afternoon.)

Example _unit3.3.2

Nǐ jīntiān wǎnshang zuò shénme? 你今天晚上做什么？

lit. you this evening do what? (What are you doing this evening?)

The following list includes time expressions which indicate the future, as well other vocabulary which will help you to form sentences about what you are planning to do. You may already recognise some. Write them down in your notebook and practise saying them aloud.

míngtiān 明天 (tomorrow).
míngtiān wǎnshang 明天晚上 (tomorrow evening).
míng wǎn 明晚 (tomorrow evening).
míngtiān shàngwǔ 明天上午 (tomorrow morning).
míngtiān xiàwǔ 明天下午 (tomorrow afternoon).
shénme 什么 (what).
qù 去 (to go).
nǎr 哪儿 (where).
Běijīng 北京 (Beijing).
Lúndūn 伦敦 (London).

Activity _unit3.3.1 Activity 2

Choose the correct Chinese translations for the English sentences. Tick all that apply.

I am going to learn Chinese tomorrow morning.

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Discussion

You learned in Week 1 that time expressions must be placed before the verb. In the above sentences, you can see that time expressions can be before or after the subject (e.g. wǒ我).

Time expressions can also be split up as in Míngtiān wǒ shàngwǔ xué zhōngwén. 明天我上午学中文. Míngtiān 明天 goes before wǒ 我, shàngwǔ 上午 goes after wǒ 我.

Which of the following sentences are correct to mean “She is going to London tomorrow afternoon”? Select all that apply.

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Discussion

Please note the difference between tā 他 --he and tā 她 --she.

From the above sentences, we can conclude: time expressions such as, ‘tomorrow evening, ‘tomorrow’ etc. in Chinese can be placed:

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3 Asking questions with ‘what’ and ‘where’

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

Now have a go at Activity 3.

Activity _unit3.4.1 Activity 3

Choose the correct Chinese translations for the English sentences below. Tick all that apply.

He is going to watch TV tomorrow evening.

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What is he going to do tomorrow evening?

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Compare the following sentences and then answer the question that follows.

Tā míngtiān wǎnshang zuò shénme? 他明天晚上做什么?

Tā míngtiān wǎnshang kàn diànshì. 他明天晚上看电视.

Where does the question word shénme 什么 go in a question sentence?

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Choose the correct Chinese translations for the English sentences.

I am going to Bejing tomorrow.

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Where are you going tomorrow?

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Compare the following two sentences and answer the question below.

Nǐ míngtiān qù nǎr? 你明天去哪儿?

Wǒ míngtiān qù Běijīng. 我明天去北京.

Where does the question word nǎr 哪儿 (‘where’) go in a question sentence?

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4 Use of dōu 都 (both/all)

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The adverb dōu 都 (both/all) is placed before the verb in statements. Depending on the meaning of the sentence, when negated it can be placed before or after the negation word. Learn more about its usage by having a go at Activity 4.

Activity _unit3.5.1 Activity 4

The following Chinese sentence should read 'Are all the teachers British?'. Is this true or false?

Lǎoshīmen dōu shì Yīngguó rén ma? 老师们都是英国人吗？

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Where should dōu 都 be placed in a sentence?

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The following Chinese sentence should read 'Not all of them are doctors'. Is this true or false?

Tāmen dōu bù shì yīshēng. 他们都不是医生。

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Discussion

The answer is: False. This sentence means ‘None of them are doctors’. To convey ‘not all of them’, dōu 都 should be placed between bù 不 and shì 是: Tāmen bù dōu shì yīshēng. 他们不都是医生。

The following Chinese sentence should read 'Not all of us live in London.' Is this true or false?

Wǒmen bù dōu zhù zài Lúndūn. 我们不都住在伦敦。

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So, we can conclude that dōu bù 都不 and bù dōu 不都 have different meanings. Which means what?

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5 dōu 都: asking about habitual actions

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The adverb dōu 都 can be used to ask about habitual actions:

Example _unit3.6.1

Nǐ wǎnshang dōu zuò shénme? 你晚上都做什么？

What do you usually do in the evening?

Note that dōu 都 cannot be used in the reply:

Example _unit3.6.2

Kàn shū, xiězì, shàngwăng …看书、写字、上网 …

reading books, writing characters, going online…

Activity _unit3.6.1 Activity 5

Listen to the following question in Chinese. Record your response, play back your recording and then listen to a model answer given in the feedback.

6 Emphatic dōu 都 in statements

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

Note that when talking about something that happens frequently, dōu 都 (all) normally follows the time expression (e.g. tiāntiān 天天 every day) to emphasise its frequency. Again, the whole phrase must be placed before the verb.

Table _unit3.7.1 Table 1 dōu 都 used in statements

Tāmen	tiāntiān	dōu	kàn	diànshì
他们	天天	都	看	电视。

lit. they every day all watch TV (They watch TV every day.)

Activity _unit3.7.1 Activity 6

Where is dōu 都 placed within a sentence? Write down your conclusion in your notebook and then reveal the answer.

Answer

dōu 都 must be placed straight before the verb in a sentence.

7 Location, location, location

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

You have learned before that, in Chinese, time expressions such as ‘tomorrow evening’, ‘tomorrow’ etc. must be placed before the verb (time + verb), as in:

Example _unit3.8.1

Wǒ xīngqītiān wǎnshang kàn diànyǐng. 我星期天晚上看电影。

lit. I Sunday evening watch movies/a movie. (I watch movies/a movie on Sunday evening.)

Similarly, expressions of location should also be placed before the verb. The sentence structure looks like this: zài 在 (at/in) + a place + do something.

Example _unit3.8.2

Wǒ zài Běijīng xué zhōngwén. 我在北京学中文.

lit. I in Beijing learn Chinese. (I learn Chinese in Beijing. )

Activity _unit3.8.1 Activity 7

Choose the correct Chinese translation.

I study Chinese literature in Beijing.

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He learns French in France.

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From the above, we can conclude: In Chinese the location of expressions such as , ‘in Beijing, ‘in France’ etc. must be placed…

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8 Choice questions with háishi 还是

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To ask a question that offers a choice of answers, you need to use háishi 还是, a question word which is equivalent to the construction ‘Do…/Does…/Are…/Is…/Would …or …?’ in English.

Table _unit3.9.1 Table 2 Example 1 of a choice question using háishi 还是

Tā shì	Yīngguórén	háishì	měiguórén?
她是	英国人	还是	美国人？

lit. She is British, or American (Is she British or American?)

Table _unit3.9.2 Table 3 Example 2 of a choice question using háishi 还是

Nǐ kàn	diànshì, kàn shū,	háishì	xiě hànzì?
你看	电视 , 看书,	还是	写汉字 ?

lit. You watch TV, read books or write characters? (Do you watch TV, read books or write characters?)

Activity _unit3.9.1 Activity 8

Do you need the question word 吗 at the end of a choice question?

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9 What would you say?

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Based on what you have learned so far complete Activity 9.

Activity _unit3.10.1 Activity 9

Look at the picture and decide which statement is true.

Figure _unit3.10.1 Figure 1

Long description

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10 Build a language notebook

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Building a language notebook is a way to note down, each week, new vocabulary and expressions, as well as tips about pronunciation, grammar, culture and communication in general that will support you as you start to learn Chinese.

Activity _unit3.11.1 Activity 10

What would you write into each box, if anything? Would you add more boxes?

Table _unit3.11.1 Table 4 Language notebook

Key phrases in Pinyin	Table 4 Language notebook 1, Your response 1
Key words	Table 4 Language notebook 2, Your response 2
Culture	Table 4 Language notebook 3, Your response 3
Language	Table 4 Language notebook 4, Your response 4
Word formation	Table 4 Language notebook 5, Your response 5

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Discussion

This is a suggestion as to how you may have filled in the table.

Table _unit3.11.2 Table 5 Example of a completed language notebook for Week 2

Key phrases	Nǐ míngtiān qù nǎr? 你明天去哪儿? Wǒ míngtiān qù Běijīng 我明天去北京. Nǐ míngtiān zuò shénme? 你明天做什么? Wǒ míngtiān xué fǎwén, kàn diànshì, xiě hànzì. 我明天学法文, 看电视, 写汉字. Nǐ wǎnshang dōu zuò shénme? 你晚上都做什么? Nǐ míngtiān shàngwǔ háishì míngtiān wǎnshang qù Běijīng? 你明天上午还是明天晚上去北京?
Key words	míngtiān 明天 (tomorrow). míngtiān wǎnshang 明天晚上 (tomorrow evening). míng wǎn 明晚 (tomorrow evening). míngtiān shàngwǔ 明天上午 (tomorrow morning). míngtiān xiàwǔ 明天下午 (tomorrow afternoon). shénme 什么 (what). qù 去 (to go). nǎr 哪儿 (where). Běijīng 北京 (Beijing). Lúndūn 伦敦 (London).
Culture
Language	Use shénme 什么 to ask a ‘what’ question Use nǎr 哪儿 to ask a ‘where’ question Different usages of dōu 都 How to ask a choice question with háishì 还是
Word formation

You may have filled the table in differently, or you may have a different idea about how to build on what you are learning. Your learning journey is personal, so you need to keep notes in a way that is appropriate to you.

Take some time now to establish your own language notebook.

11 Practising and consolidating

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

To help consolidate what you have learned in this week, now have a go at Activity 11.

Activity _unit3.12.1 Activity 11

Match the English sentences with their Chinese equivalents.

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Match the English word with the corresponding Chinese word.

To learn, to study

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Match the English word with the corresponding Chinese word.

Evening

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12 Head components

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

Head components, also known as ‘radicals’, offer associated meanings to words. Many characters share the same head component.

Table _unit3.13.1 Table 6 Head components rì 日 and 氵

Head component	Meaning association	Meaning association	Examples
日	sun, time	rì zì páng 日字旁	míng 明 (rì 日+ yuè 月= bright)
氵	water	sān diăn shuĭ 三点水	hàn 汉 (氵+ 又= Han Chinese)

As the table shows, the characters that contain the ‘sun head component’ (rì 日) normally have meanings associated with the sun, time or light. For example, zăo 早 means ‘morning’ and it has got the ‘sun head component’ on the top part. One can interpret that as the sun has risen. rì 日 is also an independent character as in xīngqīrì 星期日(Sunday).

The characters that contain the ‘water head component’ (氵) usually have something to do with water. The character hàn 汉 (now refers to Han Chinese) originally referred to a river.

Note that this head component is not an independent character but only a building block in forming characters.

Activity _unit3.13.1 Activity 12

Read through the note on head components rì 日, then go through the characters you have learned so far or check a dictionary and find three more characters that contain the head component 日 and give their English meaning.

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Can you find the English meaning of the following two characters that contain 氵?

Use a dictionary and write down their Pinyin and their English meanings.

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Answer

Jiāng 江--river
hǎi 海—sea

13 This week’s quiz

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

Check what you’ve learned this week by taking the end-of-week quiz.

Week 2 quiz

Open the quiz in a new window or tab (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link), then return here when you have done it.

14 Summary of Week 2

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

Now you have reached the end of Week 2, reflect on what you have learnt this week.

Activity _unit3.15.1 Activity 13

In the box below, note down what you have found easy, what was more difficult, and how you plan to improve.

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Download this audio clip.Audio player: lxc002_wk2_con_aud001.mp3

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Transcript

Hǎo hao xuéxí 好好学习！

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lit. good study/learn. This is a common phrase used to encourage learners to work hard!

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University badged course LXC002 - Beginners Chinese 2: 开始吧 kāishĭ ba!. Visit the OpenLearn’s hub for language content where you will be able to build on your newly found language skills.

Acknowledgements

The Open University — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 14:49:45 GMT

This free course was first published in February 2021.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.

The material acknowledged below and within the course is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:

Images

Introduction

Course image: Photo by Magda Ehlers from Pexels

Week 1

Section 2, Figure 1 and Activity 6, Image 1: Ana Sánchez

Section 2, Figure 2 and Activity 6, Image 2: Ana Sánchez

Section 2, Figure 3: Ana Sánchez

Section 2, Figure 4 and Activity 6, Image 3: Ana Sánchez

Section 2, Figure 5 and Activity 6, Image 4: Ana Sánchez

Week 2

Section 9, Figure 1: courtesy of Fu Qian

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