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Getting started with Chinese 2
Getting started with Chinese 2

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1 How to refer to different languages

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 1

Match the following maps with the correct languages.

Two lists follow, match one item from the first with one item from the second. Each item can only be matched once. There are 4 items in each list.

  1. Image depicting the shape of Italy.

  2. Image depicting the shape of Germany.

  3. Image depicting the shape of France.

  4. Image depicting the shape of the UK.

Match each of the previous list items with an item from the following list:

  • a.yìdàlìwén 意大利文

  • b.déwén 德文

  • c.fǎwén 法文

  • d.yīngwén 英文

The correct answers are:
  • 1 = a,
  • 2 = b,
  • 3 = c,
  • 4 = d

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?

Two lists follow, match one item from the first with one item from the second. Each item can only be matched once. There are 2 items in each list.

  1. replace guó (country) with wén (language).

  2. add wén in order to form the name of the language

Match each of the previous list items with an item from the following list:

  • a.If the relevant country name ends in the character, guó,

  • b.If the relevant country name does not end in the character guó,

The correct answers are:
  • 1 = a,
  • 2 = b