I'll be brief today - we want our boy to be bilingual in Mandarin/English and to have the building blocks to learn several European languages from an early age. I'm told by linguistics experts it is feasible and I know I'll only do it if I can keep it fun for us both - I have no expertise in these languages so it will be mostly fresh for me too.
So here is a starter for you new parents to sing your kids to sleep with - 180 words in 9 languages. I believe you'll remember these after a week. Seriously. There are so many similarities - it's easier than you think!
English Mandarin Cantonese French Spanish Italian
1 One Yi(1) Yat Un Uno Uno
2 Two Er(4) Yih Deux Dos Due
3 Three San(1) Saam Trois Tres Tre
4 Four Si(4) Sei Quatre Cuatro Quattro
5 Five Wu(3) Ng Cinq Cinco Cinque
6 Six Liu(4) Luht Six Seis Sei
7 Seven Qi(1) Chat Sept Siete Sette
8 Eight Ba(1) Baat Huit Ocho Otto
9 Nine Jiu(3) Gau Neuf Nueve Nove
10 Ten Shi(2) Sahp Dix Diez Dieci
11 Eleven Shi(2) yi(1) Sahp yaht Onze Once Undici
12 Twelve Shi(2) er(4) Sahp yih Douze Doce Dodici
13 Thirteen Shi(2) san(1) Sahp saam Treize Trece Tredici
14 Fourteen Shi(2) si(4) Sahp sei Quatorze Catorce Quattordici
15 Fifteen Shi(2) wu(3) Sahp ng Quinze Quince Quindici
16 Sixteen Shi(2) liu(4) Sahp luht Seize Dieciseis Sedici
17 Seventeen Shi(2) qi(1) Sahp chat Dix-sept Diecisiete Diciasette
18 Eighteen Shi(2) ba(1) Sahp baat Dix-huit Dieciocho Diciotto
19 Nineteen Shi(2) jiu(3) Sahp gau Dix-neuf Diechinueve Dicanove
20 Twenty Er(4) shi(2) Yih sahp Vingt Veinte Venti
German Latin Japanese
1 Eins Unus Ichi
2 Zwei Duo Ni
3 Drei Tres San
4 Vier Quattuor Shi
5 Funf Quinque Go
6 Sechs Sex Roku
7 Sieben Septem Shichi
8 Acht Octo Hachi
9 Neun Novem Kyu
10 Zehn Decem Ju
11 Elf Undecim Juu ichi
12 Zwolf Duodecim Juu ni
13 Dreizehn Tredecim Juu san
14 Vierzehn Quattuordecim Juu yon
15 Funfzehn Quindecim Juu go
16 Sechzehn Sedecim Juu roku
17 Siebzehn Septendecim Juu nana
18 Achtzehn Duodeviginti Juu hachi
19 Neunzehn Undeviginti Juu Kyuu
20 Zwanzig Viginti Ni juu
Note I've included the numerical equivalents of the four tones used in Mandarin - if you memorise the above, sounding the "i" at the end of a word as an "r", and ignoring the tones, you'll be pretty close - you can hone your skills by looking at an excellent Singaporean Government Mandarin site: http://xuele.edumall.sg/xuele/slot/u107/index.html
Lots of excellent multilingual material once you know a little so that you can navigate to the beginners' modules (email me if you want any help as this is a really fabulous resource.
Finally, please do email me any corrections or suggestions - I may well link to further pronunciation guides at a later time.
You seem to have forgotten Welsh -
ReplyDeleteUn 1 prounced een
Dau 2 die
Tri 3 tree
Pedwar 4 Pedwaar
Pump 5 Pimp
Chwech 6 This is a hard one to pronounce as you have to make the ch noise which is like the noise when you clear your throat ...
Saith 7 Sayth (don't pronounce th like the)
Wyth 8 Oyth
Naw 9 now
Deg 10 deeg
I hope you can say them - it was really fun trying to work out how to say them
BNMx
Thanks very much BNM - fantastic!
ReplyDeleteThat'll give me something to memorise this morning when I'm walking with my boy in the rain!
More languages welcome - please add just like BNM!