Chinese language is gaining more importance each day as people around the world are coming forward to learn Chinese language. Various reasons are associated behind peoples’ craze for the language, but most important reason is the growing economy of China and future benefits associated with it.

Despite getting enrolled in foreign language course in their own country, people mostly prefer to travel to China to learn the language being amidst the custom and culture of that place. Perhaps, the mission of learning is more fulfilled if one is acclimatized with typical way of living and customs of China along with Chinese scripts.

In the process, people may get hesitant in packing their luggage being dubious about the living standard and level of comfort while staying in China. But through this article I would like to say that if you wisely select the Chinese learning schools, then they are prepared enough to provide excellent accommodation facility throughout your stay in China. Choices are many such as, staying in Chinese family, campus residency, shared apartments, hotels etc. Hence, you can make a best selection according to your need to make your stay more exciting and comfortable.

Among these different accommodation facilities, I find staying with a Chinese family as the most exiting and challenging one as it will give you sufficient exposure in their way of living. Constant communication with the family and repeated hearing of the language enormously support in understanding the language.

Each home assigned for the purpose provides optimum level of comfort to its guest. They look for all utility items in room and allow guest to dine with them. Moreover, it is in your hand to demand the level of comfort and facilities depending on your budget or affordability.

If you approached well approved Chinese learning centers, they will provide satisfying learning experience by arranging touring trips, organizing cultural events, and let you interact with native Chinese people. You can choose the learning session as per your comfort, as most of the Chinese mandarin learning centers offer learning session all through the year.

Hence, if you are driven with a craze of learning Chinese but hesitant about to move there, this is the right time to pack your luggage. Contact one of the reliable Chinese learning centers and enroll yourself today. As the economy of China is growing spontaneously, you can not lag behind to take advantage of it.

China Study Abroad is a highly reliable Chinese Mandarin learning center that provides excellent learning facility to interested candidates. Apart from providing qualified teachers to teach language, centers looks for all basic necessity that an individual needs while learning Chinese Mandarin abroad.

By Sharon Lepcha

Learn Chinese by Studying Abroad China
Hence, if you are fond of Mandarin Chinese and looking for typical Chinese environment to enrich your Chinese learning experience, study abroad in China is the best option.

What Can Sutdents Expert If They Learn Chinese In China
But the good news is that through exciting programs coupled with safe and comfortable stay at an affordable cost, many well approved centers are providing outstanding Mandarin Chinese.

TEFL job opportunity in China
Location: Shanghai, China, Employer: DG Learning Center, Title: English Teacher. … Job details. Native English Speaker (US, UK, AU, ZA, CA, NZ). Bachelors degree or above.

Technorati Tags: easy way to learn chinese, learn to speak mandarin, learning mandarin chinese, mandarin language course.

China is emerging as one of the strong global economy since the last two decade and is the world’s biggest holder of foreign exchange reserves with the reserves touching 1.2 trillion US dollars few months back (March, 2007).

Many countries around the world are interested in business with China and are actively involved in learning Chinese language to understand and enhance the business opportunities.

Napoleon Bonaparte has once said that "China is the sleeping giant. Let her lie and sleep for when she awakens she will tremble the world." Nearly two century after the visionary statement of the legend, China’s dormant economy emerged so drastically that economic power that country holds now directly affects and facilitates the pace of global market.

People around the world and countries are now deliberately moving forward to exchange business relation with world’s fastest growing nation, a nation which is experiencing huge transition from a central-planned economy to a global-oriented market and has become a dominant player in the international economy and financial system.

Hence for better business understanding, business opportunity and cultural exchange, learning Chinese language has become an all time high with approximately thirty million people are studying Chinese in universities, colleges or private courses.

Chinese is considered to be one of the world’s most popular languages and is a simple structured and tonal language where a single word can have different meaning depending upon the way it is pronounced. There are number of dialects in Chinese spoken in different province but the popularity is gaining by Mandarin language and this has also been recognized as the official language of China.

To follow the suit, the United States is investing huge sums in establishing Chinese learning schools and passing bills to encourage the Chinese language programming in schools across the U.S. and cultural exchanges to improve the ties between the two countries.

Despite learning Chinese language in home countries, people often prefer to travel to China and spend time there to get acclimatized with their tradition, culture and to gather experiences of being like a Chinese. With huge demands of Chinese language, major cities in China are overcrowded with Mandarin learning schools and many of which provides superb accommodation facilities, native Chinese speaking teachers and well qualified individuals to teach Chinese as foreign language.

Furthermore, students can choose Chinese language with a hope of getting easy employment in areas like banking, trade, financial, diplomatic work, academics, news media, content management, tours and travel and many more. Each of these fields is very challenging and gives one an enough exposure to Chinese society, culture and tradition.

Hence, if you are feeling the urgency of learning Chinese language and align yourself in the fast track of business by learning Chinese language, this is the right time to start. If you cannot afford to go to China to learn typical Chinese language, there are plenty of online resources such as free online Chinese learning course, audio guidelines and other scripts which can make you perfect in Chinese language and help you actively participate in various business processes.

Sharon Lepcha is a writer and this article wrote by her for online portal http://www.Chinastudyabroad.org which is a leading online resource that provides complete information on learning Chinese language in China and Mandarin Chinese. People can view details like course duration, course fee, seasonal details, accommodation facility, travel details and can apply for the course online.

By Sharon Lepcha

China – Its Global Economy and Favored Chinese Language
China is emerging as one of the strong global economy since the last two decade and is the world’s biggest holder of foreign exchange reserves with the reserves touching 1.2 trillion US dollars.

Importance Of Chinese Langauge In The Global Economy
With China emerging as a global economy giant, people across the world are joining hands with the nation to conduct beneficial business ventures.

Mandarin Chinese Importance While Doing Business in China
China in global economy With China emerging as a global economy giant, many people have shown interest doing business with China.

Technorati Tags: easy way to learn chinese, learn to speak mandarin, learning mandarin chinese, mandarin language course.

The literal meaning of calligraphy is beautiful handwriting. In olden days, the books were hand-written using a quill and ink on the materials such as vellum or parchment. A person with beautiful and readable handwriting worked as a scribe. There are mainly three main styles of calligraphy - Arabic, Chinese and Roman. Here we look at Chinese calligraphy.

Chinese Calligraphy

Chinese calligraphy is also known as Oriental calligraphy. The scholars opine that Chinese calligraphy is not only a way to write Chinese characters but also is a unique Chinese art, which was a part of ancient Chinese culture. The Chinese calligraphy style is divided into calligraphy that was developed in ancient China and imperial China.

Calligraphy in Ancient China

In ancient China, incidents were inscribed on the bones of animals or on the shells of tortoises. This form of Chinese calligraphy was popular during the Bronze Age and is popularly known as shell and bone script. It was also known as oracle bone script. The Chinese alphabets of the ancient Chinese language are known as Jiaguwen. Later these characters were replaced by Jin wen, the script written on bronze plates or any bronze ware and Dazhuan, known popularly as the large Seal script or Great Seal script.

Jiaguwen: Jiaguwen is also known as the oracle bone script was a popular form of calligraphy used during the 14th century BC. During this period, pictures were used to convey thoughts and the materials used for writing are ink, brush and bamboo books.

Jinwen: Jin wen is popularly known as Chinese bronze inscriptions. This script was developed during the Shang dynasty and became popular during the Zhou dynasty. During the Shang dynasty, inscriptions were cast on the bronze; while in the Zhou dynasty, inscriptions were engraved on the bronze vessels and pots.

Dazhuan: Dazhuan scripts was used in traditional Chinese writing long before the Qin dynasty. The Qin dynasty used Small Seal script. The scholars avoided using Dazhuan scripts because the scripts were not precise or specific.

Imperial China

Around 220 BC, Qin Shi Huang conquered the entire Chinese basin. He was the first emperor to standardize the Chinese alphabets. Li Si, the prime minister of Qin Huang was a famous calligrapher. He developed a set of characters called Xi ozhun and these characters were standardised by the emperor. The writing tool used was brush and steeles. The calligraphy style that was popularised in imperial China are Lishu style and Kaishu style.

Lishu Style: Lishu style is also known as the clerical script. The modern chinese scripts are more or less similar to the clerical script. This script was developed during the Bronze age. Historians believe, this script was used by the government scribes during the Qin Huang dynasty.

Kaishu Style: Kaishu style is popularly known as the traditional script and is still used today. Minor changes have been made in the kaishu style of calligraphy during the 18th century. The scripts of kaishu style are regular and precise; hence was known as the standard script.

Semi-cursive script known as Xingshu and grass script known as Caoshu were the chinese scripts that were developed during the first century AD is also a part of Chinese calligraphy. These scripts were never used to write standard official documents. These scripts are used in modern times to create a visual effect to any personal document.

By Maya Pillai

Chinese Calligraphy & Brush Painting

This Blog created by Chi Zhang, Chinese Calligraphy & Brush Painting artist. Chi is also a teacher in Confucius institute for Scotland in Edinburgh University. 

Incredible chinese calligraphy
A very talented street performer showing off his mad Chinese calligraphy skills using his foot and doing it while standing on his head. Just crazy. Would definitely get my 1RMB.

The scope and variation of Chinese calligraphy
Figures 12 to16, along with some earlier examples, indicate the scope and variation of Chinese calligraphy. The elegant characters of Emperor Hui zong in figure 12 conjure up the image of reeds.

Technorati Tags: chinese calligraphy, chinese calligraphy art, chinese calligraphy lessons

Mandarin is the official language of China and Taiwan. It is the dialect of the majority in Mainland China and the Chinese overseas. Cantonese is not as commonly used since Britain’s turnover of Hong Kong to China. It may become a dialect that is used among family and friends.or business purposes, Mandarin is more practical to learn. ChildBook has also carried Cantonese products in the past that took forever to sell.

Learning Chinese at Home

A great way to start your children in learning the Chinese Language is through Learn Chinese DVDs and videos and audio CDs. These DVDs are specially designed to optimally expose your child to the tones of Chinese with fun things to watch. The learning pace in DVDs are carefully programmed to help your child remember the words and phrases. Chinese songs on CDs on the other hand, are great to use while travelling or during your child’s relaxation time. For bigger children, Chinese stories on CDs can be played to expose them further to more Chinese vocabulary and sentence construction.

If one parent speaks Chinese, arrangements can be made that 1 parent will speak to the children in Chinese and the other will speak to them in English. Kids have an amazing ability to keep up with each parent’s language.

Exposing Children to Native Chinese Speakers

Chinese tutors are available to teach children and even the entire family to speak Chinese. Check online or newspaper ads for available tutors.
Play dates with children who are learning or already know Chinese is a fantastic way to expose your kids.
Another option is to hire Chinese-speaking baby sitters. Local universities often have students who are half-Chinese or spouses of Chinese. This can be an option you can try.

Other families get au pairs from China.

Some families hire Chinese nannies to ensure the children grow up hearing the native Chinese tones. Be careful in the hiring though. Truth to be told, there is a large number of people in the US from China who don’t have the necessary papers but are working as nannies. Nannies also take care of your children, so picking the right person is extremely important, especially if they live with you. Friends of ours have gone through multiple nannies and it was not a good experience.

Learning Chinese Online

There are online Chinese programs available for adult English speakers. So far, ChildBook is not aware if there are any online programs available for English speaking children.

Chinese Private Schools

Traditionally, non-public Chinese schools teach a child the Chinese language when the child is old enough to sit still and copy characters. Most schools still use the method of rote teaching used in China and Taiwan. Children in the US are very independent, therefore the rote method may not be the best way for children to learn the words and characters. Instead, the Montessori or ESL method may be used to interest the kids to learn Chinese. These methods place emphasis on using Chinese in conversation . Other programs that teach using a lot of singing and other fun activities will definitely make children learn Chinese easier.

Summer Camps

Chinese summer camps expose the child to full immersion of the Chinese language. Summer camps may be a weekend trip in the US, a full boarding school stay, or travelling to live for several weeks to China or Taiwan. ChildBook produces the largest list of Chinese summer camps available so stay tuned for updates.

Learn-Chinese Materials

There are a lot of products available in the market to help children learn Chinese. Books, videos, audio CDs/ cassettes and software can be used at home to learn Chinese. These materials not only expose the child to vocabulary or tones, but also show the beauty of Chinese culture. These materials can also be used for parents and children to spend time together.

Books

A big challenge to teaching Chinese from books is that one parent/ adult should know how to read it. For families who are starting to learn from scratch together, bi-lingual books are a big help. Story books that can be read along with audio CDs are useful to learn the proper pronunciation. A great introductory book to reading and writing Chinese characters is Long is the Dragon. For smaller children, I Won’t Bite is a very interesting material. Kids will be able to touch and feel the different types of animal skin textures.

Videos

Videos teach through engaging visuals, songs, and repetitive vocabulary. Viewers will also be exposed to how different places and persons look like. In 1 DVD of the Follow Jade series, Teacher Jade goes to a Chinese Kindergarten. Children will be able to compare how their own school and classmates look like. The Bao Bei series has 5 enjoyable videos that teach Chinese vocabulary of a lot of common words. Bao Bei is a panda puppet that children will like to study Chinese words.

Audio CDs

Chinese CDs can be grouped into 2:
100% Chinese songs and stories. Some do not have printed guides, others include a book/ booklet
Learn-Chinese CDs specifically designed for those learning Chinese as a second language. These CDs usually include books, booklets with Chinese, English and Pinyin. Songs are sung in both Chinese and English, or booklets show the English translations. For example, the songs in Teach Me Chinese Book and CD are popular and sung in both English and Chinese. Parents can also learn songs to sing for their children, such as Happy Birthday. This series also comes with a Teacher Guide. Other Learn-Chinese Book and CD series such as Sing and Learn Chinese Series and Let’s Sing Chinese also engages its listeners with interesting songs.

Software

So far, ChildBook is still waiting for a very highly recommended software that is easy for learners to use.

By: Ray Ritchey

Helping Children to Learn Chinese Language
Jade runs through the Chinese words. She explains or connects the words/ sounds to other familiar objects. She talks in a manner that young children will understand.

Children use Language Textbooks Chinese Made Easy
The Chinese Made Easy series of textbooks and workbooks feature content and activities that help children Learning Chinese language in a lively, engaging. 

Chopstix Celebrates 10 Years of Preschool Chinese Language
Chinese Language School of Connecticut’s Chopstix Preschool Program introduces Chinese to children as young as 18 months old.

Technorati Tags: chinese children learning videos, english to chinese learning book, preschool children

Learn Chinese - But Which Dialect?

Whilst I specifically learn Mandarin, the standard dialect of Chinese that most people speak, different regions have different dialects. The differences between some are really not too big (e.g. Beijing Chinese and Singapore Chinese) but others are almost a completely different language altogether (e.g. Mandarin and Cantonese). Some dialects are only spoken, and use mainstream Chinese characters for writing with.

It’s best to target your dialect to where you think you’ll visit. For Hong Kong and Macau you’ll probably want to learn Cantonese instead of Mandarin. Whilst most people in these regions learn basic Chinese Mandarin, you’ll find that you can communicate a whole lot more effectively in the real local language. If you just want to learn Chinese for the fun of it, learn Mandarin for sure.

Do I have to learn characters?

No! The beauty of learning Chinese nowadays is the presence of Hanyu Pinyin, or Pinyin for short. If you just want to learn spoken Chinese, there’s still some writing involved, but you won’t be writing characters. Hanyu Pinyin is the international standard for romanisation of Chinese characters.
Pinyin was invented to help foreigners learn Chinese and occasionally school children learn it as well - however most Chinese will not understand you if you try to write Pinyin - they associate characters with the sounds that we would associate to the romanised Pinyin. For example:

The simplified Chinese character for I (as in me) is (if you can’t see this character you might need to install a language pack).

The Pinyin for the character is ‘Wo3′. Written (as opposed to typed) Pinyin is different - the written Wo3 has a small ‘u’ on top of the O, indicating how to say the word to distinguish it from other ‘Wo’s.

If you simply wrote ‘Wo’ most Chinese would not understand you. If you said ‘Wo’ they would.

There are two different character systems, aren’t there?

Yes, there is Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Simplified Chinese is much easier to learn than Traditional Chinese (less complicated characters, etc.). Traditional Chinese is now only used in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

The Chinese government redeveloped the character system in the 20th century to produce simplified Chinese, which is now the standard in most parts of China and in some international Chinese communities. Depending on where you plan on travelling, you should target the character system you learn if you decide to learn written Chinese.

How long will it take me to learn Chinese?

It all depends on many factors, like frequency of study, the effort put in and whether you hear people around you speak Chinese fluently regularly. However, at an hour a day, to learn intermediate Chinese should take about six months to a year.

Author: Mark C. Robbins

Read A Blog - CHINESE LEARN MANDARIN

Once you know these 6 types of Chinese characters, you’l find that learning Chinese writing isn’t so difficult after all. Oh, one more thing.

Chinese Democracy REVIEWS - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
Chinese Democracy REVIEWS - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW - The Huffington Post. 

Why are You Studying Chinese?
By the way, I started to learn chinese as well. But I soon realized that having only one 2 hours class per week, I would need at least 3 incarnations to reach a satisfactory level.

Technorati Tags: chinese language learning, how to learn chinese, learning chinese characters

What if that Chinese translator does not have a good idea of the English language? Chances are that he or she might make a blunder of the translation and provide you with misleading information. This is no problem as far as classical text is concerned and you shall be able to figure out what the written text means, even if there are some mistakes in the same.

The problems will surface when you try to get translations done of technical pages and they are imperfect. There is no way that you can trace out the mistakes in the translation. This is where a basic knowledge of the Chinese language helps. The Chinese culture is centuries old and originated long before the European culture.

There are priceless documents that have been passed down from generations to generations and are written in the Mandarin or Cantonese script. In recent years doctors have been amazed to observe the vast treasure trove of medical remedies that are hidden in China. All these scrolls and documentations are in the Chinese language and in order to know about them fully, one needs to have adequate knowledge of the Chinese language.

You might get hold of a translator for doing the translation of such pages, but the results might not be foolproof all the time. Chances are that these documents might contain biological terms that they are not conversant with. Let us look at it from an English-speaking native’s point of view. He or she knows French, apart from English, but has no idea of medical science. If you request them to translate `red blood cells’, it will not be surprising if they translate the same as `red blood prison’. This translation contorts the entire meaning of the original term and keep in mind, that this is a simple example, things might get more confusing with other cases.

`Boil’ (eruptions on the skin in medical parlance) might well be translated as `stew’. Be prepared to be confused if you see a translation that goes `red stew on feet’. If you want to access the vast medical treasure trove that is available in China, the only way out is to decipher these centuries old medical treatments that are time-proved, you need to have knowledge about the language they are written in. Who knows, there might be countless solutions for the maladies we are facing today, and whose cure has not yet been discovered, in these old scrolls. It needs someone who knows both medical science and knowledge of the Chinese language, to decipher.

So you should learn the Chinese language or at least find a reliable Chinese translation .

By JIEKUN SONG

Learning Chinese as a Foreign language
Librarianship and specially some education fields also require foreign language knowing people. For doing a job of either interpreter or a translator both require very good command over two.

Learn Chinese Language Tips and Techniques
There’s no doubt learning any foreign language requires effort,time and commitment. This holds true even more, especially whenthere’s a big difference between one’s native tongue.

Keeping A Constant Touch With It To Learn Chinese Language
You may like to punish yourself for not knowing the Chinese language. You wish to learn the language as well as written script since long.

Technorati Tags: how to learn chinese, learning chinese language, the chinese language

In fact, the best way to tackle the challenge of learning Chinese is to identify your reason and motivation for learning the language, as this will help you focus on the things that you should look out for. For example, the business owner wanting to learn Chinese has different needs to the traveler going over for a two week trip, and so you have to direct your learning to achieve the best results. Of course, perhaps a combination of methods would work best for you, but first let’s look at some of the popular approaches today.

The traditional way of studying Chinese is to enroll in a course. The psychological trigger of paying for books, resources, lessons, teacher all motivate the student to put in a certain amount of effort. However, learning this way can become slightly monotonous. The benefit of this approach is that you can gain formal assessment for your study efforts, and can take something away from the course that will help further advance your studies. On the other hand, it doesn’t necessarily suit the style and pace of everyone.

Nowadays, with the widespread use of technology as a learning tool, many possibilities have been created for those who prefer a different approach to learning languages. Of course, the traditional method of learning has evolved to keep pace with technology, with many institutions offering distance or online courses or modules to tailor to individual needs. However, there have been some interesting new ways to learn languages that are just been explored recently.

One of the most innovative ways learn Chinese is by joining a chat room or virtual reality environment. The design of software programs have allowed the use of multi-lingual input and output, along with speech and voice recognition to offer users a much richer learning environment even in the absence of direct human face-to-face contact. Chat programs such as QQ up being rapidly taken up by the Chinese populations, and foreign users always attract curious Chinese locals that want to offer language exchange through the translation and dictionary functions of the program. Virtual reality worlds such as Second Life and HiPiHi have also opened up new communication channels for users to interact with each other, and several linguistic and language interest groups are emerging and embracing the new medium for communication and exchange of ideas/information.

Despite all the convenience of technology, any language enthusiasts will tell you the difference between learning the language and experiencing the language (i.e. travel to the country). To be immersed in the language beats any method of learning, but the costs of travel and accommodation tends to entice only those who find it a financially viable means of learning, or those die hard culture/language enthusiasts.

Instead of traveling to the country, it might also be worthwhile considering making friends with Chinese people who have made the trip to your country. Perhaps enquire about how you can host foreign exchange students, or join language exchange programs with local English language schools or organizations. That way, you can bring the people to you, rather than having to go to the people to learn the language.

Anyway, whichever way you decide to learn Chinese, the important thing for beginners is to work out your motivation for learning the language (it is one of the most difficult and greatest learning curve). When you have figured that out, you will want to adjust your learning style to the method of learning. If all goes well, then your motivation for learning Chinese, combined with an efficient and enjoyable method of learning, will go a long way to ensure that the experience will be a rewarding, even if slightly challenging one.

Some useful resources:
1) Chinese Vancouver
2) Learn Chinese Shanghai
3) Yao Mandarin

By bourne kaloyan

MSDict Oxford Beginners Chinese Dictionary BlackBerry
The Oxford Beginner’s Chinese Dictionary consists of Chinese-English and English-Chinese dictionaries with about 10000 words. 

Chinese for Beginners - Intensive Reading
Modern Chinese Beginner’s Course – Extensive Reading adopts the task-based teaching methodology to stimulate the learners’ autonomous learning.

Absolute Beginners - Pinyin Practice: zi
Absolute Beginners: Pinyin Practice: zi. Our podcast for today is our second show in a new series we’re launching to teach proper Chinese pronunciation.

Technorati Tags: easy way to learn chinese, inners classes, learn speak chinese

 Let’s learn a few useful basic and common Mandarin words and phrases that will help you break barriers with your Chinese friends.

How are You? -Ni Hao Ma

Also commonly shorten to Ni Hao.

This is likely to be the first Mandarin phrase that you will ever learn. Useful as a greeting or a ice-breaker. Suitable for use with all ages and professions.

Thank You -Xie Xie.

Another polite term that is easy to remember and use.

Very Good -Hen Hao.

This is useful when giving praise for a job or task well done. Also useful as a reply to anyone who says "Ni Hao Ma?’ to you.

Ni Hao Ma? (How are you?)

Hen Hao (Very Good)

No Good -Bu Hao.

This is useful when there is a need to comment on a shoddy or incomplete job or task. Can also be used as a reply to Ni Hao Ma? but may not be such a good reply.

Ni Hao Ma? (How are you?)

Bu Hao (No Good)

Very Expensive -Hen Gui.

When bargaining at the shops, this is the best term to use when driving a hard bargain.

Don’t want or No -Bu Yao.

This is the best term to use for touts - street hawkers who approach you at every tourist stop to ask you to buy things. Bu Yao….will stop them in their track.

This is beautiful -Hen Piao Liang.

Use this phrase to praise something that is nice or beautiful. May also be used when meeting a pretty girl too!

Taxi -De Shi.

De Shi is the correct term but you should be understood even if you use the English word for Taxi. They sound alike anyway.

Good Bye or See You Again -Zai Jian.

Well, I guess this is another term that will be easily understood even if the English word is used.

Excuse Me -Jie Guo.

There is always a crowd in touristy areas. There are so many Chinese who wants to see the same monuments too. Rather than push your way through the crowd, using the term Jie Guo may just open the path ahead for you!

Receipt -Fa Piao.

Always ask for the receipt or Fa Piao at the shops or from a taxi. This may be useful if you need to complain about a fraud or shoddy product. Also useful if you leave behind your bag or camera in the taxi.

I don’t want -Wo Bu Yao.

Useful when refusing a tout or when offered a drink too many at the Dinner table.

Author: Ken Cheong

Learn basic Chinese in short time (Shanghai city)
Do you feel happy when living in China? I think your answer will definitely be "Yes". But do you have any problems when living in China?

Learn Chinese - Podcast: Basic 001 - Basic Hello Greetings
We’ll present Mandarin Chinese vocabulary, phrases and proverbs from the bottom up in logical steps that will insure you’ll be able to use what you’ve learnt quickly.

English Service Project helps Chinese staff learn basic English
English Service Project helps Chinese staff learn basic English esp-21-small.jpg Almost every foreigner living in China has had a problem with the language barrier.

Technorati Tags: chinese language learning, learn chinese language, learn chinese online

If you’re learning or planning to learn Chinese, you might be looking to learn Chinese for free, but that may not be a wise thing to do. Let me explain.

First of all, here is just a general question for you if you want to learn Chinese for free. How good are free things, usually? You know the answer… Not good at all. There are many possible reasons for a Chinese language course to be offered for free including a genuine intention to give away something highly valuable. However, most of the time, a Chinese lesson that is given away for free doesn’t really measure up to the paid ones. That is why Chinese courses that claim to allow you to learn Chinese for free are usually not very valuable.

Also, another big problem with learning Chinese for free is that all those free Chinese learning materials often lack multimedia-based training materials. This might not be a big problem for other areas of learning, but it when comes to learning Chinese or learning Mandarin, you’re missing a huge chunk of education if you don’t hear it spoken or see natives interact with one another.

And chances are, you won’t be getting the "full package" if you were just going after materials in order to learn Chinese for free, because learning Chinese takes a lot of time and effort and the entire learning process will invariably require some form of investment. I have yet to meet someone who did learn Chinese from scratch to reasonable proficiency all relying on free resources to learn Chinese.

That said, it is a good idea to seek out some free resources to learn Chinese for free when you just started out, just so that you know what you’re getting yourself into. After you’re committed to learning Chinese or learning Mandarin and taking a serious Chinese language course, you should then invest in a really good Chinese learning program.

So next time when you’re on a wild search for materials to learn Chinese for free, think twice about it.

By: Owen Lee

Re: Help you with Chinese for free
I am wondering that if I will help 30 people, and then more and more foreigners would know Chinese well, maybe we need not to learn English any more one day. 

Learn Chinese For Free
Learning Chinese language is not a difficult task, You can learn Chinese in eight weeks freely if you can spend some dedicated time. 

Reviewed: ClearChinese: A Free Online Chinese Course
Learn how to speak, read and write in Standard Mandarin Chinese through ClearChinese.com’s free online lessons.

Technorati Tags: chinese language learning, conversational chinese, learn chinese language free

In other words, each Chinese symbol is a unity of form, sound and meaning.

To learn Chinese writing, you need to know each Chinese symbol or character individually.

You will need a vocabulary of at least 3,000 characters to understand 90% of what you read.

A vocabulary of 4-5,000 characters allows you to understand almost everything written in Chinese in the modern context.

Although there are more than 60,000 characters listed in the largest Chinese dictionaries most of them are ancient symbols and no longer in use.

Only a very small proportion of Chinese characters- some 300, perhaps- are simple representations of natural objects; all others are composite signs.

Each sign generally has two components:

a graphic component (which represent a man, woman, tree etc.)

and a phonetic component, which gives some idea of the pronunciation.

Learning Chinese writing is quite different from learning a Western language.

To learn a Western language like English, you need to know a whole series of sounds.

If you take an English word apart, separating it into its many phonetic syllables, it would lose its meaning altogether.

In learn Chinese writing, you first learn the characters and then you learn the word.

Take, for instance, the Chinese word da4 xue2 which means "university". First you learn da4 ‘big’ and xue2 ’school; learn’ separately.

Although the meaning of da xue has to do with da and xue, it is not a simple case of da ‘big’ plus xue ’school’.

It does not mean "big school".

If you were to take the English word ‘university’ and try to figure out its meaning based on the meanings of the five syllabic components u/ni/ver/sit/ty, you would not understand anything because they mean nothing.

So, the Chinese character forms the basis in learning Chinese writing whereas the word or sentence forms the basis for learning a Western language.

In Chinese writing, the symbol is the unit carrier of meaning whereas in English it is the word which serves the same purpose.

Chinese characters are essentially pictures and they appeal to the eye.

In comparison, Western letters and words are based on sound rather than sight.

by: Kah Joon Liow 

It Is Different Between Chinese Learning And Western Language
In the modern Chinese writing system, each character is a form of its own, representing a particular sound and at least one meaning.

How is learning Chinese writing different from learning a Western
Learning Chinese writing is quite different from learning a Western language. To learn a Western language like English, you need to know a whole series of sounds.

Learning Chinease Writing Is Different From Learning A Western
Learning Chinese writing is quite different from learning a Western language. To learn a Western language like English, you need to know a whole series of sounds.

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