Speak Many Languages - be a polyglot - first steps in Chinese on your way to 11 Languages

A friend of mine, CJ for short, who is a member of Toastmasters International, speaks 11 languages. His languages are mainly Asian languages. Many people in Singapore speak several languages.



The joke goes that English people speak English and louder English. I speak English.  From living in the USA and reading the US newspapers daily I have acquired most American vocabulary. I constantly strive to pick up the Australian and New Zealand words. But I am nowhere near CJ. He does, however, provide an incentive and a language target.

Actually, I speak English and French.

I have made a list of my dream 11 languages:





I learned French and Latin at at school in the UK. If you already speak English, the romance languages are the easiest.

English / American / Australian / Kiwi (New Zealand)
1 French
2 German
3 Spanish
4 Italian
5 Portugese

Italian flag.

Now for the harder ones:
6 Greek (modern)
7 Hebrew (modern)
8 Russian (Cyrillic - for use in Bulgaria)
9 Chinese (modern and in pinyin which is English alphabet)
10 Malay / Indonesian
11 Japanese
12 Tamil/Urdu/Arabic

1 French - bonjour
2 German - kindergarden - kinder is child. Garten is garden. Kindergarden - in the US and Singpoare is pre-school.
3 Spanish - sombrero. (Large-brimmed  hat). Manana. Tomorrow.
4 Italian - ciaou - goodbye
5 Portugese

Now for the harder ones:
6 Greek (modern)
7 Hebrew (modern) cherubim and seraphim. One cherub. Two cherubim. We know the Hebrew plural which is im. Bethlehem - bread house or house of bread. Beth is building or house. Lehem is bread.
8 Russian (Cyrillic - for use in Bulgaria)
9 Chinese (modern and in pinyin which is English alphabet)
10 Malay / Indonesian
11 Tamil/Urdu
12 Arabic (modern)

I am using Chineasy and Duolingo for Chinese. 11 languages.

You try it.

That sounds quite challenging. Not if you make it one word a day in each language. Or one word a day in one language for the next ten years.

How many times a day do most people answer nonsense quizes. The ones which ask think of ten words beginning with the first letter of your name.

Instead find ten words in a foriegn language which you already know.
Or ten words you can instantly recognize and always remember.

I can tell you single words in most of my twelve languages.
Let me do it by guesswork and then check a research source such as Professor Google.

French - I already know at least ten words for food. Croissant (crescent). Cul de sac. (End of sack meaning dead end road.) Au revoir for goodbye.

Let's start with easy Chinese
First the signs you see on doors saying the days the shop is open or closed.

You will see the usual numbers.

But Chinese numbers are easy. Four of them are like Roman numerals turned sideways.

- is one. 

= is two (the lower line is slightly larger)

Three is three horizontals.

You know the Roman sign for ten. x

Spin it sideways and you have the Chinese sign for ten which is +

Of course you can now spot 11 and 12 

+-  +=

Did I say I would teach you four numbers? I have taught you seven.

Four is like a square, a window, with two curved curtains inside. That is eight numbers.

That is enough to get you started and get you going.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a trave writer and phtographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a langauge evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting every Wednesday, on zoom the first Wednesday of the month but the other Wednesdays are workshops on app learncool.sg
Or quicker to type and easier to remember: 

Useful Websites
 tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

How To Learn Chinese Numbers

Where can you see Chinese numbers?

Flag of China.

In China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore.

Flag of Singapore.

But also in Japan which uses the same symbols.

Japanese flag.

Plus of course in Chinese restaurants worldwide. Such as in the USA.

And in the UK.









And websites.

The Chinese numbers one to three and ten are easy, just like the Roman numerals but turned sideways.

The Roman numersals one to three are 1 11 111. Ten is X.

Chinese one is a horizontal line.
Chinese two is two horizontal lines, one above the other.
Chinese three is three horizontal lines.

Chinese ten is like a cross or plus sign. +

You can now read 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13.

How often will you see these if you don't know anything else? Surprisingly often. Look at the sign on a dooway or website giving the opening hours or dates of an event in English and you can see the equivalent in the Chinese.

Sometimes you see only the Chinese. If it's lunchtime and the sign is about opening or closing times and the times. If it is the first three days of the month, you can recognize the date. If you have a 24 hour clock you can read some signs.

Now that you have learned several easy numbers, you might have the confidence to learn some more and be interested in doing so.

Useful Websites
Free Chinese course on the internet
Duolingo.com
singaporeairlines.com
https://holidays.singaporeair.com/en-uk/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Learn To Read Chinese - First steps - one, two, three and ten

Problem
I ran around bookshops in Singapore, adult sections, children's sections, language sections, trying to find a children's book which would teach me a few signs in Chinese.

Solutions
The four solutions were
the internet
placemats
Chineasy
Duolingo and similar language course - harder.

Simplest signs - numbers
The numbers one, two, three, are like Roman numerals turned sideways. Roman numerals for one and two and three are parallel vertical lines.
I
II
III
Chinese signs for one, two and three are horizontal lines.

Look closely at the Chinese sign for two and you'll see the lowest line is wider, which is the same in many Chinese characters. the Chinese think a wide base line gives a pleasing sense of balance, like a building which won't fall over.

Look closely at the three and you'll see the middle line is slightly smaller, like the filling of a sandwich is hidden by the larger pieces above and below. But to recognize the signs, it's eough to remember the Roman numerals hint.

The Chinese make the sign for ten by placing their right index finger (fingernail showing) over  their left index finger (fingernail underneath).

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

How To Learn Chinese Numbers zero and 1-10: Elizabeth II, WWII, Sixth Avenue, Henry VIII

Problems
Why do we need numbers? We need them when shopping. We need to read prices in the supermarket or market, read the signs, understand when the price is said.

We see Roman signs a lot in English. Queen Elizabeth 1. Queen Elizabeth II. In the newspaper we read about Queen Elizabeth II. In the history books we read about Henry VIII, and in the art galleries. At the theatre we see Shakespeare's plays Henry IV and Henry V.

I tried Google Translate. Then I tried asking on Facebook where I have lots of Chinese speaking friends from Toastmasters International clubs in Singapore.

Two is a double horizontal line. Here the top line is slightly smaller than the lower line.

英国女王伊丽莎白二世

Queen of England 英国女王
Elizabeth 伊丽莎白
THE 2ND 二世


We slso have the Arabic numerals on calendars and car number plates.

In Chinese the numbers are on calendars in hotels and restaurants. If you've forgotten the date, in China you can check with their calendar. What if it's wrong? You might even spot the calendar is wrong and tell somebody.

Here's a Chinese calendar for 2017 from Wikipedia. After learning the numbers 1-10, you can start to recognize some numbers. Looking at a calendar, you realise it would be helpful to know the numbers 1-31 in any language you are learning, as well as the year.

The Chinese also use numbers in names. Number one son.

Streets are named with dates and numbers. In Singapore there's an MRT station called Sixth Avenue. I recognised the number six on the station platform. You could do the same.

1 I learned the numbers using Duolingo. I learned them years ago, went back, and I'd forgotten them.
2 I couldn't tell the differentce bewetween the sound for four and ten.
3 I couldn't work out which number was yuan.
4 The numbers seven and nine looked the same.
5 Duolingo doesn't teach the numbers in order, but randomly.
6 On Duolingo I assumed all the numbers were one to ten. I didn't realise they included zero.

I shall look at the numbers in order, starting with the easy ones.
For reference, here's what Wikipedia says:

 Listen to audio (help·info)

• 0: 〇 (零)： líng
• 1: 一 (壹) yī
• 2: 二 (Traditional:貳) èr
• 3: 三 (Traditional:參) sān
• 4: 四 (肆) sì
• 5: 五 (伍) wǔ
• 6: 六 (Traditional:陸) liù
• 7: 七 (柒) qī
• 8: 八 (捌) bā
• 9: 九 (玖) jiǔ
• 10: 十 (拾) shí
• 100: 百 (佰) bǎi
• 1,000: 千 (仟) qiān
• 10,000: 万 (萬) wàn (1'0000)
• 100,000: 十万 (萬) shíwàn (10'0000)
• 1,000,000: 一百万 (萬) yībǎi wàn (100'0000)
• 100,000,000: Traditional 一亿 (億) yīyì (1'0000'0000)
• 1,000,000,000,000: 一兆 yīzhào (1'0000'0000'0000)

The symbols in brackets are the complex and formal forms, which are used mainly in notarized, official documents, and when writing checks. An exception is zero; the complex form is much more widely used than a casual circle. The complex forms are known in English as banker's anti-fraud numerals, in Chinese as 大寫 dàxiě (which is the same term for "capital letter"). They are necessary because, since normal Chinese characters are so simple, a forger could easily change 三十 to 五千 with just three strokes. See Standard numbers for more information.

This time I shall start with zero because that is in the Duolingo lessons.

ZERO

Zero visual Chinese writing symbol

Zero, surprisingly, is not simple, like the zero we use, a simple circle, just the opposite, lots of little lines. My memory aid is: I have zero time to learn all those lines! 

Zero sound

The word is ling. You would have to linger longer to learn to write that. But I have zero time. Ting-a-ling, open the cash register. I, the cashier, counted the money and you now owe me zero so I'll open the cash register, ting-a-LING!

ONE to THREE in Chinese Characters - Visuals

One to three or one, two, three.  What a funny pun.

One is easy, one horizontal line. It's like the Roman one, fallen over like a tombstone because it is so old.

Two is similarly two horizontal lines. Like the roman two but sideways.

Three is similarly three horizontal lines. Like the Roman three but sideways.

One to three in Chinese - the sounds.

ee er san

One to three - The Spelling

Yi but a silent y.

Ten looks like a Roman ten which is an X but topped over like a T with a spike on top. think of it as a cross or a plus sign. Plus ten.

Now, where can you test yourself?

USEFUL WEBSITES
https://tinycards.duolingo.com/decks/2JvHmk3/chinese-numbers

Video starting with zero
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ow3SXtz5i4

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

What do the Chinese signs on Sixth Avenue station mean?

I was sitting on a train in Singapore learning the numbers one to ten in Chinese which were easy. One is a horizontal line Like Hyphen. Two is two horizontals like an equal sign. Three is three horizontals like a Roman number three on its side. Ten is a cross like an X spun clockwise or a gravestone cross. Six looks like a stick man with a head, two arms two legs and imagine the body.

The train drew into sixth avenue station. I looked up and saw the middle symbol of the Chinese writing was the number Six.

If you look at the paper underground map you will see all the station names in Chinese. At one point I stuck the map into the front of my diary and tore off the Chinese part to make it less bulky.

Later I looked at the Chinese signs to try to find which word symbols were repeated. I was looking for names which were the same in English, such as park. However, I discovered that on my train stations map all the station names ended with an extra symbol. So the station name here has three symbols. On the paper map Sixth Avenue has four Chinese symbols, the fourth being either station or line.

Now, every time I go through Sixth Avenue station on the train, I am reminded of the sign for six.

Words for station

I typed in the words for sixth avenue station into Google Translate, then took each symbol and reversed the translation from Chinese to English

第

六

大

道

站

线

I got

The first

six

big

road

station

line

So the symbol for station has the right hand symbol like a little stick man, a station master behind an information desk, pointing to the right, to the station.

Numbers and Months

The numbers are also used for months. So if you look at a leaflet or poster which tells you the date in English, you can recognize the Chinese. January is two symbols, month and one. February is month two. Again, this is a handy reminder of the symbols for the numbers one to twelve.

January - month 1

February - month 2

March - month 3

april - month 4

may - month 5

june - month 6

july - month 7

august - month 8

september - month 9

october - month 10

november - month 11

december  - month 12

Author Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker, teacher of English and other languages.