Book5_Module1_British_English_and_American_English_全程课件概要1.ppt

目前，簡體字主要在中國大陸、馬來西亞、新加坡，以及東南亞的一些華人社區中使用。過去簡體字與繁體字並存於聯合國各式文件中，然而中華人民共和國於1971年恢復聯合國合法席位後，目前聯合國中無成員國家使用繁體中文字體。聯合國的漢字體系標準與大陸的簡體漢字保持一致。對外發布的漢字正式文本以簡體漢字為準。 2008年後，聯合國將不再同時發行兩種漢字文本，只保留簡體文本。 The Writing System There are about 50,000 characters in written Chinese, however most people only know about 20,000 of these. Most of these characters have elements of meaning and information about pronunciation. The most widely used system of writing is Putonghua, which became the medium of instruction in all schools in 1956, and almost all publications made are using it. Varieties of Chinese There are eight main varieties of Chinese. These are regional, and are often called dialects, although they are very different from each other in pronunciation. There is also another classification. There is also another classification, however, which gives two varieties: Wenyan, an ancient literary language, and Baihua, a kind of colloquial language. Putonghua, closely similar to the language spoken in Beijing, has been developed since the late of 1950s. Its development has had the aim of simplifying Chinese. The Language Today Pinyin is a 58-symbol writing system which has been used since 1958. It has the aims of helping everyone to use Putonghua, and to learn the Chinese characters. In the 1970s a new map of China was printed which standardised the place names of every town, city and village. Read the passage and answer: What reasons did Webster have for writing an American dictionary? He wanted to simplify the spelling of English and make it look different from British English. What are the two problems with English? The spelling of words does not always represent the sound. Some words just seem to have too many letters. Can you see any similarities between Webster’s work and attempts to simplify Chinese? The work of simplifying Chinese has made it convenient for people to read, understand and use the Chinese language. So has Webster’s work for American people. Check the following statements. P