Learning Chinese / Mandarin

Mandarin is the official language of the People's Republic of China, however Cantonese is widely spoken in the southern provinces.  There are also many other dialects and minority languages in use throughout China. Prior to the allocation of your child you won’t know which province you will be visiting.  So which language should you learn?  

Arguably Mandarin is the best choice.  Being the official national language, Mandarin is understood if not spoken by most government officials. It is the language broadcasted by China Central Television and the CCTV news service can been viewed on Australia’s own SBS channel. Mandarin is also understood by residents of Shanghai where all Australian's will spend at least half of their time in China.  Written Chinese characters are largely the same in both Mandarin and Cantonese. While Cantonese does have some dialect specific characters, a good Mandarin phrase book will enable you to converse with a Cantonese speaker by pointing to characters.  Mandarin courses are readily available in South Australia and inexpensive audio-tapes and compact disks are also available from most good book stores.

Below are some phrases that are particularly useful for adoptive parents.  They are provided in “Pinyan” which is the most widely accepted romanisation of the Chinese language.  Most also include the Pinyan symbols to show the 5 tones of Mandarin.   These are displayed below for your reference.  Have fun practicing your Mandarin, as it is sure to enrich your experience and that of your child.

The 5 Tones of Mandarin as Displayed in Pinyan

  ˉ Flat Tone       ́ Rising Tone      ˇ Falling-Rising Tone      ̀Falling Tone         No Tone