Learn Chinese in 5 minutes per day - Lesson 2

Learn Chinese in 5 minutes per day - Lesson 2.

你好！你好吗？

Can you remember those characters from last lesson? If you remembered that they mean "hello, how are you?" Then you have guessed right! Revising really pays off when you are learning a foreign language.

How would you answer that question? You could say "我很好," meaning "I am very good."

Don't forget to revise what we have already learnt as we go along!

Part 1 - Preparation（remember to write these words down on your flashcards.)

• 
  叫 - jiào - called/named
• 是- shì - is, are, am, be
• 名字 - míng zi - name
• 美国 - Měi guó - America
• 英国 - Yīng guó
• 澳大利亚 - Ào dà lì yà
• 人 - rén - person/people
• 的 - de - Add to the end of 我 or 你 to make yours, or my.

Compound words:
美国 + 人 = 美国人 (American)

英国 + 人 = 英国人 (English)

澳大利亚 + 人 =

澳大利亚人 (Australian) 

我 + 的 = 我的 (my)

你 + 的 = 你的 (yours.)

Part 2 - Implementation

So, now that we know how to say hello, we need to learn how to introduce ourselves! Today, we are going to learn how to tell other people our names, and also let them know where we come from. Today we will learn 2 ways to say our names.

The first way is to use the "I am called" structure. You only need 2 characters, plus your name. For example, I would say:

我叫 Harry. = (I called Harry) = I am called Harry.

The second way that we can tell other people our names is to say "My name is." For example, I would say:

我的名字是Harry. (My name is Harry) = My name is Harry.

Not too hard, is it?

Now, how about introducing to others where you are from. That is easy too! All you have to do is say "I am ______ people." For example, since I am Australian, I would say:

我是澳大利亚人。(I am Australia people.) = I am Australian.

American: 我是美国人。

English: 我是英国人。

So, now that we know these new words and sentences, we can construct a longer dialog. Try the one below, to see how your Chinese is progressing:

A: 你好。你好吗？

B: 我很好。你好吗？

A: 我很好。我的名字是Bob.

B: 你好，bob. 我的名字是Sarah.

A: 你好，Sarah. 我是美国人。

B: 很好！我是澳大利亚人。

A: 再见。 

Did you get that? Below is the translation into English:

Hello, how are you?I am very good. How are you?I am very good. My name is Bob. Hello Bob, my name is Sarah. Hello Sarah, I am American. Cool! I am Australian. Bye. 

Step 6 - Test yourself.
If 中国 means China, then what does the following mean?
你好，我是Xing Xing, 我是中国人。

How about:
我是Harry.
Does it mean:a) I am Harryb) I know Harry c) Harry is good.

Good luck studying! See you next time!

再见！

If you would like to revise some of what we have learnt over the last few lessons, then please watch this video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX9fFh5O_Lw

If you would like to revise what we did last lesson, go back and revise by clicking here: http://hubpages.com/hub/Learn-Chinese-in-5-minutes-a-day-Lesson-1

Please leave a comment if you would like me to let you know other country names!