Transliteration of Chinese
Hi there! Have you ever heard of Chinese characters? They are a special way of writing in China, and they have been used for thousands of years. However, people in other countries do not use Chinese characters to write. Instead, they use their own way of writing, which is called the Roman alphabet.
Transliteration is a big word that means changing one way of writing to another. So, when we talk about transliteration of Chinese, we mean changing Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet. This is important because it helps people who don't know Chinese to read and pronounce Chinese words correctly.
Let's take the word “你好” as an example. It means “hello” in Chinese. If we want to transliterate it, we need to use the Roman alphabet. In this case, we would write it as "nǐ hǎo".
Now, you might be wondering why the letters have little marks over them. Those little marks are called diacritical marks, and they help people who know Chinese to know how to pronounce the words correctly. For example, the "ǐ" in "nǐ" is pronounced like the "i" in "bit" but with a rising tone. The "hǎo" is also pronounced with a rising tone, but the "a" sound is longer than the "a" in "cat", so it is written with a line over it.
In summary, transliteration of Chinese means changing Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet so that people who don't know Chinese can read and pronounce Chinese words correctly. It involves using diacritical marks to show the correct pronunciation of the words.
Transliteration is a big word that means changing one way of writing to another. So, when we talk about transliteration of Chinese, we mean changing Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet. This is important because it helps people who don't know Chinese to read and pronounce Chinese words correctly.
Let's take the word “你好” as an example. It means “hello” in Chinese. If we want to transliterate it, we need to use the Roman alphabet. In this case, we would write it as "nǐ hǎo".
Now, you might be wondering why the letters have little marks over them. Those little marks are called diacritical marks, and they help people who know Chinese to know how to pronounce the words correctly. For example, the "ǐ" in "nǐ" is pronounced like the "i" in "bit" but with a rising tone. The "hǎo" is also pronounced with a rising tone, but the "a" sound is longer than the "a" in "cat", so it is written with a line over it.
In summary, transliteration of Chinese means changing Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet so that people who don't know Chinese can read and pronounce Chinese words correctly. It involves using diacritical marks to show the correct pronunciation of the words.