Of heteronyms, same spelling but different sound and different meaning
I totally love the television show The Big Bang Theory. And if you think a group of geeky scientists has nothing to do with learning Chinese, think again.
Here, our brilliant Dr Sheldon Cooper trips over the word "polish". If it's pronounced POElish, it is relating to the country of Poland. However, if it's PAHLish, then it means to shine or wax. Or, as helpfully pointed out by Penny, you can see if it has a capital P or not.
In this case, the word "polish" is what we call a Heteronym, a word with the same spelling as another but having a different sound and a different meaning. To further illustrate, here are some common ones. You might have noticed their peculiarities at some point in time before but probably did not delve too much into them.
lead (LEED) - to guide VS lead (LED) - a heavy metal, chemical element
tear (TARE) - to rip VS tear (TEER) when you cry
bass (BASE) - a string instrument VS bass (rhymes with mass) - a type of fish
minute (MINNit) - you get 60 of them in an hour VS minute (myNOOT) - tiny
resume (reeZOOM) - to restart VS resume (REHZoomay) - the document you submit for job interviews
The Chinese language also has its heteronyms. They are written in exactly the same way but have different pronunciations and different meanings. I've compiled over 20.. don't worry, I'm not going to overwhelm you with all of them at one go. Let's go slow and start with 5 simple ones. (The rest will be released in subsequent posts; look out for the tag "same same but different".)
1 simple illustration is the commonly used word: 还. You can either use it as 还 huán (to return something) or 还 hái (besides, also, still).
会 huì has multiple meanings. It can be (a) will do or know how to do something, or (b) to meet together or assemble. On the other hand, when we're talking about accountancy or calculation-related, it's 会 kuài. Therefore an accountant is called kuài jì shī, not a huì jì shī.
觉 has 2 forms. It can be 觉 jiào as in 睡觉 (to sleep) or 觉 jué as in 感觉 (to feel or to sense).
When we wish someone Happy Birthday, we say 生日快乐 shēng rì kuài lè.
But when the same 乐 character is used in relation to music, we pronounce it as 乐 yuè.
Examples are 音乐 yīn yuè and 乐队 yuè duì.
Last but not least in this post, the word 行.
As 行 xíng, it can mean (a) to move, (b) to carry out, or (c) good & competent.
As 行 háng, it refers to an occupation or an industrial place. For example, banks are called
银行 yín háng (银 = cash or money).
The KT Perspective
I've highlighted 5 simple characters but with the different pronunciation / meaning, does it feel like you've learnt 10 words? Take your time to digest them.. this explains why the entire list of heteronyms is spread over a few posts to make them more manageable. To put things in perspective, some words actually have even more alternatives. For example, 乐 may possibly also be used as a Surname. What I've presented is a summary, created on the basis that they are the most relevant & applicable for daily usage.
Invest in a good dictionary, one that helps to point out the pronunciations / meanings. I recommend pinpinchinese, which allows you to key in the Chinese or English word or pinyin.
The link is also available on the blog's landing page (side bar under "Resources").
Unfortunately Google Translate has its limitations and may not always show the alternative pronunciation / meaning in a clear manner. I tried it with the word 还. The pinyin provided is hái (circled in red) and the translations are given accordingly. The alternative meaning (to return something) is listed further down (circled in blue) but its own pronunciation huán is not shown. Hence you have to be mindful when engaging Mr Google Translate.
Enjoyed this post? Give it a Like or drop me some feedback so that I can tweak the contents of the upcoming posts. Look out for the next few heteronyms (tag: same same but different).