Changes

Additions:

Additions:

The Chinese language does contain a word with a pronounciation represented by the romanization "shī".  However, the same romanization can represent a large number of words.  What follows is a basic (and brutally oversimplified) explanation of Chinese language, but it should serve to give readers a basic understanding of how to properly identify Chinese words and communicate them to others in an unambiguous way.

The Chinese language does contain a word with a pronunciation represented by the romanization "shī".  However, the same romanization can represent a large number of words.  What follows is a basic (and brutally oversimplified) explanation of Chinese language, but it should serve to give readers a basic understanding of how to properly identify Chinese words and communicate them to others in an unambiguous way.

Mandarin Chinese, also known as standard Chinese or Pǔtōnghuà (普通话), has five distinct tones, four which are tonal and one which is neutral and pronounced without emphasis. <ref>http://www.wku.edu/~shizhen.gao/Chinese101/pinyin/tones.htm</ref>

Mandarin Chinese, also known as standard Chinese or Pǔtōnghuà (普通话), has five distinct tones, four which are tonal and one which is neutral and pronounced without emphasis. <ref>http://www.wku.edu/~shizhen.gao/Chinese101/pinyin/tones.htm</ref>

There are a multitude of ways to represent Chinese pronounciation, but you will most likely encounter PinYin or Wade-Giles in English works.  Wade-Giles is the older of the two systems and is slowly being phased out in favor of PinYin.  Check out the United States [[Library of Congress]] website for up to date information on conversion standards: <ref>http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pinyin/</ref>.  I will stick strictly to the PinYin romanization as it is the simplest and most common.

There are a multitude of ways to represent Chinese pronunciation, but you will most likely encounter PinYin or Wade-Giles in English works.  Wade-Giles is the older of the two systems and is slowly being phased out in favor of PinYin.  Check out the United States [[Library of Congress]] website for up to date information on conversion standards: <ref>http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pinyin/</ref>.  I will stick strictly to the PinYin romanization as it is the simplest and most common.

In PinYin the first four tones are represented using accent marks.  The neutral fifth tone is represented by the absence of an accent mark.  It is also acceptable to follow the romanized syllable with a number to represent the tone (first through fourth), no number is needed for the fifth tone.  For example:

In PinYin the first four tones are represented using accent marks.  The neutral fifth tone is represented by the absence of an accent mark.  It is also acceptable to follow the romanized syllable with a number to represent the tone (first through fourth), no number is needed for the fifth tone.  For example:

Fifth tone: shi

Fifth tone: shi

The characters (and meanings) for each of these prononciations is different. Therefore, writing the appropriate accent mark or number dramatically reduces ambiguity, though writing the actual character is still far superior.  Here is an example of different characters which correspond to the same syllable but with different tones:

The characters (and meanings) for each of these pronunciations is different. Therefore, writing the appropriate accent mark or number dramatically reduces ambiguity, though writing the actual character is still far superior.  Here is an example of different characters which correspond to the same syllable but with different tones:

shī: 诗  poetry, verse, poem

shī: 诗  poetry, verse, poem