Cards & Scissors for Learning!

On December 1st, please come to class with

1) A box of blank business cards (~100/box)
   If you don't know what a business card looks like (is that possible?), go here to take a look: http://www.flickr.com/photos/themandatepress/6345343060/in/pool-artofthebusinesscard

2) A small pair of scissors (please don't bring very large scissors) (or very small ones)

These scissors are a little bit too big (but very attractive) Peacock Brand (CC Meanest Indian Flickr)

Chinese Syllables

English syllables can start with 1, 2 or 3 consonants:

sit (CVC),

spit (CCVC) and

split (CCCVC). 

English syllables can also end with 1, 2 or 3 consonants: 

sit (CVC),

silt (CVCC) and

silts (CVCCC).

Chinese syllables can only start with one consonant (C) and usually end with a vowel (V): CV. Some Chinese syllables end with a consonant: CVC, and some start with a vowel and end with a consonant: VC. Chinese syllables (Mandarin syllables) are much simpler than English syllables.

The character 蔣 is pronounced 
jeang (Gwoyeu Luomaatzyh)/jiǎng (Hanyu Pinyin)/ㄐㄧㄤˇ(bopomofo)
Traditionally, Chinese syllables are divided into two parts: initials and finals.

ㄐ	ㄧ	ㄤ	ˇ
聲母	韻母
Initial	Final

Init- means the “beginning”

Fin- means “the end”

ㄐ	ㄧ	ㄤ	ˇ
聲母	介音	韻尾	聲調
Initial	Medial	(Coda)	Tone

Chinese syllables usually end with a vowel (= an open syllable). A few syllables end with a consonant, but there are only two choices: -n or –ng.

Summary:

English syllables can start or end with several consonants (CCCVCCC). 

Chinese syllables can only start and end with one consonant (CVC). 

This is why we say that syllables in Mandarin are much simpler than syllables in English.