ICANN 46 - Beijing Playing Card Deck

A special one-off Chinese language and culture card deck designed by ICANNWiki staff member Vivian Hua.

See all Playing Card Decks.

Mandarin Chinese & Pinyin

Chinese words are romanized throughout this deck with a system called pīnyīn (拼音), the official system of translating Chinese characters into Latin script in China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Below are some introductory ideas.

Mandarin's Four Accent Tones

• First tone (Flat / High Level)
• Second tone (Rising / High-Rising)
• Third tone (Falling-Rising / Low)
• Fourth tone (Falling / High-Falling)
• Fifth tone (Neutral)

Pronunciation Guide

q	As in “punch yourself” (no English equivalent)
x	As in “push yourself” (no English equivalent)
zh	With a sharpness found in words like “choke”
z	Unaspirated c, like a mix of “suds” and “cats”
c	Strongly aspirated c, as in “hats”
i	As in “bee”, but if proceeded by z-, c-, s-, zh-, ch-, sh-, or r-, those sounds are extended
ei	As in “hey”
ou	As in “so”
ang	As in the German “Angst”
ua	Like “wa”
ui	Like “wei”

Notable Chinese Dialects

Mandarin (官话 or guān huà) - 836 million Spoken in northern and southwestern China, and the official language of Singapore and Taiwan. When one refers to Putonghua or Chinese, one is generally referring to Mandarin.

Wu or Shanghainese (吴语 or wú yǔ) - 77 million Spoken in the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and in the municipality of Shanghai. It also includes the Shanghai dialect and is sometimes considered a representative of all Wu dialects, though not all Wu dialects are mutually intelligible.

Yue or Cantonese (粤语 or yuè yǔ) - 71 million Spoken in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau, and parts of Southeast Asia. The term “Cantonese” may cover all the Yue dialects, including Taishanese, or specifically the Canton dialect of Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Not all Yue dialects are mutually intelligible.

Min languages (闽语 or mǐn yǔ) - 60 million Spoken in Fujian, Taiwan, and parts of Southeast Asia. The largest Min language is Hokkien, and its dialects are notably mutually intelligible.

Others include Xiang or Hunanese, Hakka, and Gan.

Greetings & Common Phrases

Chinese Characters	Pinyin	English Translation
你好	nǐ hǎo	hello
喂	wei	hello (phone)
你好吗?	nǐ hǎo ma?	how are you?
你怎么样?	nǐ zěnme yàng?	what’s up?
我很好	wǒ hěn hǎo	i am well
好久不见	hǎo jiǔ bù jiàn	long time no see
我走了	wǒ zǒu le	i am leaving
明天见	míng tiān jiàn	see you tomorrow
再见	zài jiàn	goodbye
拜拜	bài bài	bye-bye

Introductions

Chinese Characters	Pinyin	English Translation
我的名字是...	wǒ de míng zì shì	my name is...
你叫什么名字？	nǐ jiào shén mē míng zì?	what is your name?
我是从 ____ 来得。	wǒ shì cóng ____ lái de	i am from ____.
我很高兴认识你。	wǒ hěn gāo xìng rèn shi nǐ	i am pleased to meet you.
我在 ____ 打工。	wǒ zài ____ dǎ gōng	i work at ____.

Dates & Times

Chinese Characters	Pinyin	English Translation
昨天	zuó tiān	yesterday
今天	jīn tiān	today
明天	míng tiān	tomorrow
上午	shàng wǔ	morning
中午	zhōng wǔ	noon
下午	xià wǔ	afternoon
晚上	wǎn shàng	evening
上礼拜	shàng lǐ bài	last week
这礼拜	zhè lǐ bài	this week
下礼拜	xià lǐ bài	next week

Numbers

Chinese Characters	Pinyin	Translation
一	yī	1
二	èr	2
三	sān	3
四	sì	4
五	wǔ	5
六	liù	6
七	qī	7
八	bā	8
九	jiǔ	9
十	shí	10
二十	èr shí	20
二十五	èr shí wǔ	25
一百	yī bǎi	100
一百五十	yī bǎi wǔ shí	150

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Vocabulary: 女 - nǚ (female)

Chinese Characters	Pinyin	Translation
女人	nǚ rén	woman
女孩子	nǚ hái zǐ	female child

Vocabulary: 男 - nán (male)

Chinese Characters	Pinyin	Translation
男人	nán rén	man
男孩子	nán hái zǐ	male child

Vocabulary: 朋友 - péng yǒu (friend/friends)

Chinese Characters	Pinyin	Translation
好朋友	hǎo péng yǒu	good friend
男朋友	nán péng yǒu	boyfriend
女朋友	nǚ péng yǒu	girlfriend

Culture: 钱 - qián (money)

Ancient Chinese coins are round with a square hole in the middle; their design reflected the Chinese view of the earth as square and the heavens as a circle.

A coin can also be a visual pun for “before your eyes”, because the hole in its center is called an “eye” and the coin has the same pronunciation as the word “before” (qián or 前).

Vocabulary: 漂亮 - piào liàng (beautiful)

Chinese Characters	Pinyin	Translation
美丽	měi lì	beautiful
潇洒	xiāo sǎ	handsome
性感	xìng gǎn	sexy

Vocabulary: 高兴 - gāo xìng (happy / glad)

Chinese Characters	Pinyin	Translation
快乐	kuài lè	happy / joyful
幸福	xìng fú	happy / blessed