Talking About Languages 谈语言（tán yǔ yán）

对话：

丽丽：你以前学过汉语吗？

lì li:nĭ yĭ qián xué guò hàn yŭ ma?

Lili: Have you ever studied Chinese before?

麦克：我学过一年。

mài kè:wŏ xué guò yī nián.

Mike: I’ve studied Chinese for one year.

丽丽：你应该学习标准的普通话。

lì li:nĭ yīng gāi xué xí biāo zhŭn de pŭ tōng huà.

Lili: You’d better study standard Chinese.

麦克：汉语的声调和汉字比较难。

mài kè:hàn yŭ de shēng diào hé hàn zì bĭ jiăo nán.

Mike: The tones and the Chinese characters are very difficult.

丽丽：语法呢？

lì li:yŭ fă ne?

Lili: How about the Chinese grammar?

麦克：语法不难。

mài kè:yŭ fă bù nán.

Mike: The grammar is not difficult.

丽丽：你每天都练习写汉字吗？

lì li:nĭ mĕi tiān dōu liàn xí xiě hàn zì ma?

Lili: Do you practice and write the Chinese characters everyday?

麦克：是的。不每天写得话很容易忘记。

mài kè:shì de. Bù mĕi tiān xiě de huà hěn róng yì wàng jì.

Mike: Yes. It’s easy to forget them if I don’t write everyday.

生词

1.语言yǔ yán: language

2.学习 xué xí: study

3.标准 biāo zhŭ: standard

4.普通话 pŭ tōng huà: common spoken Chinese

5.声调 shēng diào: tone

6.字 zì: character

7.语法 yŭ fă: grammar

8.练习 liàn xí: practice

9.容易 róng yì: easy

10.忘记 wàng jì: forget