Page:A Pocket Guide to China (1943).pdf/54



THESE are pronunciation hints to help you in listening to the Chinese language records which have been sup­plied to your troop unit. They will also help you with the pronunciation of additional words and phrases given in this book, which are not included in the records.

Chinese is spoken in several dialects, the most im­portant being Mandarin, Cantonese, the Amoy, and the Foochow. The dialect you are going to hear on the records is the Mandarin, which is the national language of China and more generally understood than any other.

There is nothing very difficult about Chinese—except that you won’t be able to read the signs and newspapers you will see. That is because the Chinese use a very different writing system from ours. Therefore, the in­structions and vocabulary below are not based on the written Chinese language, but are a simplified system of representing the language as it sounds. This system con­tains letters for all the sounds you must make to be understood. It does not contain letters for some of the sounds you will hear, but it will give you all you need to get by on, both listening and speaking.

Here are a few simple rules to help you: 1. Use of the pitch of the voice. Chinese has a peculiar sing-song quality which is very important in the 50