Lesson:69 许多 外国 朋友 觉得 说 汉语 像 唱歌。
Many foreign friends feel that speaking Chinese is like singing.
中国 有 五千年 历史，是 一个 文明 古国。
China has a history of 5000 years and is an ancient civilized country.
中国 在 亚洲 东部，有 960 万 平方 公里 土地。北京 是 中国 的 首都。中国 有 13 亿 人，56 个 民族，92% 的 中国人 是 汉族。汉族 人 黑 头发，黄 皮肤，说 汉语。
China has 9.6 million square kilometres of land in eastern Asia. Beijing is the capital of China. China has 1.3 billion people, 56 nationalities and 92% of the Chinese are Han ethnic. Han people have black hair, yellow skin and speak Chinese.
汉语 用 汉字 记录。汉语 有 四 个 声调。许多 外国 朋友 觉得 说 汉语 像 唱歌，写 汉字 像 画 画儿。学习 汉语 挺 有 意思 的。
Chinese is recorded in Chinese characters. Chinese has four tones. Many foreign friends feel that speaking Chinese is like singing and writing Chinese characters like drawing. Learning Chinese is interesting.
标准 汉语 是 普通话，中国 的 广播、电视 都 用 普通话。大多数 中国人 都 会 说 普通话，很多 中国人 还 会 说 方言，比如 广东 话、上海 话 等。
Standard Chinese is Putonghua, which is used in radio and television in China. Most Chinese speak Mandarin. Many Chinese also speak dialects, such as Cantonese and Shanghai dialect.
外国人 学习 汉语，是 学习 普通话。
Foreigners learn Chinese by learning Mandarin.
Chinese Character and Word.
千 /qiān/ 写 /xiě/ 万 /wàn/ 话 /huà/ 唱 /chàng/ 歌 /gē/ 黑 /hēi/ 等 /děng/ 亿 /yì/ 黄 /huáng/ 像 /xiàng/ 画 /huà/ 挺 /tǐng/ 广播 /guǎng bō/ 上海 /shàng hǎi/ 首都 /shǒu dū/ 文明 /wén míng/ 古国 /gǔ guó/ 东部 /dōng bù/ 平方 /píng fāng/ 公里 /gōng lǐ/ 土地 /tǔ dì/ 汉族 /hàn zú/ 头发 /tóu fa/ 皮肤 /pí fū/ 记录 /jì lù/ 声调 /shēng diào/ 许多 /xǔ duō/ 画儿 /huà r/ 标准 /biāo zhǔn/ 普通话 /pǔ tōng huà/ 多数 /duō shù/ 方言 /fāng yán/ 比如 /bǐ rú/ 亚洲 /yà zhōu/ 广东 /guǎng dōng/
Chinese Grammars.
1: A number more than 100
Chinese uses the decimal system in its numeration; the units includeing “个”，“十”，“百”，“千”，“万” and “亿”. The ways to refer to a number more than 100 are as follows.
(1) For a number less than “万”, the units of “百”, “千” and “万” are pronounced, i.e., number + unit.
For example:
562: [五百六十二]
5642: [五千六百四十二]
56789: [五万六千七百八十九]
(2) The last unit can be omitted when reading a number (when without a zero in the middle of the number).
For example:
530: [三百五十] or [三百五]
3500: [三千五百] or [三千五]
35000: [三万五千] or [三万五]
(3) For a number more than “万”, the unit of “万” is used.
For example:
350000: [三十五万]
9600000: [九百六十万]
12000000: [一千二百万]
(4) No matter how many zeroes used in the middle of a number, only one of them is pronounced.
For example:
3050: [三千零五十]
3005: [三千零五]
30500: [三万零五百]
30050: [三万零五十]
30005: [三万零五]
2: Reading a percentage
“～ %” is read “百分之 ～”.
For example:
80%: [百分之八十]
98%: [百分之九十八]
3: The verb “像”
“像”: It is a verb meaning two things are similar.
For example:
说 汉语 像 唱歌。
Speaking Chinese is like singing a song.
他 像 他 爸爸。
He resembles his father.
他 的 书包 像 我 的 书包。
His schoolbag looks like mine.
4: Sentence description：“挺.....的”
“挺.....的”: It indicates a relatively high degree. An adjective is often used between “挺” and “的”.
For example:
今天 的 作业 挺 容易 的。
My homeword for today is quite easy.
他 的 发音 挺 好 的。
He pronounces it very well.
妈妈 工作 挺 忙 的。
My mother is very busy with her work.
5: Word description：“比如”
“比如”: It is a verb used before listing examples.
For example:
他 的 宿舍 有 不少 电器，比如 电视、电脑 等。
There are many electrical equipments in his dormitory, such as a TV set, a computer and so on.
她 的 爱好 很多，比如 看 电影、听 音乐、唱歌 等。
She has many hobbies, such as seeing movies, listening to music, singing and so on.
6: Word description：“等”
“等”: It is a particle meaning “and so on”, used after the thins or people listed.
For example:
她 买 了 词典、本子、笔 等。
He bought an dictionary, notebooks, pens and so on.
我们 班 有 韩国人、美国人、法国人 等。
There are Koreans, Americans, Frenchmen and people from other countries in our class.
我们 有 精读 课、会话 课、听力 课 等。
We have intensive reading, speaking, listening and other courses.
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