Eternity -- An Introduction

What is language? It's not only a means of communication between people, but also a means of defining a people. The Chinese take great pride in their language, and they should because over 1/5 of the world's people can speak Chinese. The art of calligraphy has existed for ages, and it shows how the Chinese respect and really appreciate their language.

So are you curious about the Chinese language? If you have ever seen a Chinese character, does it baffle you? Well, this section will teach you the very basics of the Chinese language. The Chinese language has over 50,000 characters. Characters are the equivalent of a word in the romantic languages. Because the Chinese language is not phonetic but rather pictorial, every word is represented by one character.

Literally "Middle Kingdom" - The Chinese Words for China

The Chinese language dates far back into history. The earliest known examples of Chinese written language are carved in tortoise shells and ox bones. About 6,000 years ago characters appeared incised in pottery. Chinese is also the only major writing system in the world that continued its pictograph-based development without interruption and is still in general modern use. Many other Asian languages are derived from written Chinese. For instance, Korean and Japanese are based on Chinese. This section is broken down into three sections Dialects, Overview, and Beginner's Tutorial. You do not want to miss this: The Chinese Language.

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Start

• Discover the many Dialects of the Chinese Language. Here you will find a short list and brief descriptions of the major dialects.
• Start off your experience of the Chinese Language with a brief Overview. You will find valuable information here regarding the what to do and what not to do.
• Go to the Beginner's Tutorial to the Chinese Language to learn the basics and simple techniques of the Chinese Language.