COPYRIGHT
Published by Collins
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First Edition 2019
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Ebook Edition © March 2019
Version: 2019-03-26
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CONTENTS
COVER
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
INTRODUCTION
THE ESSENTIALS
TRANSPORT
IN THE HOME
AT THE SHOPS
DAY-TO-DAY
LEISURE
SPORT
HEALTH
PLANET EARTH
CELEBRATIONS AND FESTIVALS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PHOTO CREDITS
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
INTRODUCTION
Whether youre on holiday or staying for a slightly longer period of time, your Collins Visual Dictionary is designed to help you find exactly what you need, when you need it. With over a thousand clear and helpful images, you can quickly locate the vocabulary you are looking for.
The Visual Dictionary includes:
10 chapters arranged thematically, so that you can easily find what you need to suit the situation
images illustrating essential items
YOU MIGHT SAY common phrases that you might want to use
YOU MIGHT HEAR common phrases that you might come across
VOCABULARY common words that you might need
YOU SHOULD KNOW tips about local customs or etiquette
USING YOUR COLLINS VISUAL DICTIONARY
The points set out below will help to make sure that your Collins Visual Dictionary gives you as much help as possible when using Mandarin Chinese:
1) How to address people politely
At work, you can call your peers by their names a rule of thumb is to always address people by their job title or occupation with their family name first, for example, (zhāng lǎo shī), Zhang teacher. You may also hear (xiǎo Wang), literally young Wang or (lǎo Lǐ), old Li in the workplace depending on age and seniority, although this is rather informal.
When invited to meet a friends family, unless they are younger or roughly the same age, you shouldnt call them by their names. You can call their grandparents (yé ye/nǎi nai) grandfather/grandmother, and their parents or anyone in that generation (shū shu/ā yí) uncle/auntie, as if they were your own relatives. Addressing the older generations by their names is considered very rude in Chinese culture.
or Although both are translated as you in English, is used to show respect when addressing, for example, your parents, grandparents, or boss. On the other hand, is used to address friends and peers.
2) Measure words
Measure words are unique to Chinese, and are mandatory when using a noun with a numeral, for example, one car is (yī liàng chē) and three bedrooms is (sān jiān wò shì). In these cases, the measure words are (liàng) and (jiān) respectively. There are many different measure words in Chinese, and they are used for different types of objects. The most common measure word is (gè) and this can be treated as a default option when you dont know the exact measure word to use.
3) Tones for and
To maintain consistency, we use yī (first tone) as the Pinyin for the character and bù (fourth tone) for the character . This is in line with the authoritative Contemporary Chinese Dictionary. However, the pronunciations for these two characters may vary according to the tones of the characters that proceed or follow them, as shown below:
TONEEXAMPLES When its the last character of a phrase or sentence First tone (dì yī) first (tǒng yī) unity When followed by characters of the first, second, and third tones Fourth tone (yì tiān) one day (yì qǐ) together When followed by characters of the fourth tone Second tone (yí yè) one night (yí qiè) all TONEEXAMPLES When its the last character of a phrase or sentence Fourth tone (jué bù) never (yě bù) nor When followed by characters of the first, second, and third tones Fourth tone (bù xíng) no (bù hǎo) bad When followed by characters of the fourth tone Second tone (bú cuò) good (bú qù) not going toFREE AUDIO
We have created a free audio resource to help you learn and practise the Chinese words for all of the images shown in this dictionary. The Chinese words in each chapter are spoken by native speakers, giving you the opportunity to listen to each word twice and repeat it yourself. Download the audio from the website below to learn all of the vocabulary you need for communicating in Chinese.
www.collinsdictionary.com/resources