As the importance of spoken Mandarin increases along with the availability of broadband it’s no wonder that more and more schools are offering Mandarin Chinese via distance learning. Brush High School is the first school is Ohio USA to offer Mandarin Chinese through distance learning.
The school can now offer its Mandarin program across the country. This year five students from Brush High School will travel to China on a school trip to learn about Chinese culture and to practice what they have learnt.
It's estimated that around 500 elementary, middle and high schools in the USA offer Mandarin as a taught language.
Showing posts with label learn mandarin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learn mandarin. Show all posts
Friday, 4 June 2010
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Learn Chinese - Easy mistakes to make
The difference between 了 (le) and (guo) 过
Foreigner’s often get these two words mixed up when learning Chinese. 了 and过 both indicate something that happened in the past but they are both used differently.
The easiest way to remember it is that了 is used to illustrate that an action is complete such as：
我去了 – I went
我吃了 – I’ve eaten
The word 过 is used to talk about an experience, for example:
我去过 – I’ve been (I’ve been there before)
我吃过 – I’ve eaten (I’ve eaten this before)
过 does not apply to a specific event, but simply means you have experienced something in the past. This is an easy rule to remember. It does not apply 100% to the Chinese language but is a good rule to use to help you good by.
Good luck Chinese learners,
李华
Foreigner’s often get these two words mixed up when learning Chinese. 了 and过 both indicate something that happened in the past but they are both used differently.
The easiest way to remember it is that了 is used to illustrate that an action is complete such as：
我去了 – I went
我吃了 – I’ve eaten
The word 过 is used to talk about an experience, for example:
我去过 – I’ve been (I’ve been there before)
我吃过 – I’ve eaten (I’ve eaten this before)
过 does not apply to a specific event, but simply means you have experienced something in the past. This is an easy rule to remember. It does not apply 100% to the Chinese language but is a good rule to use to help you good by.
Good luck Chinese learners,
李华
Friday, 14 May 2010
Learn Chinese – Make no mistake
There are tricks to learning Chinese. There are some commonly made mistakes by learners of Chinese, one of the mistakes is the word order when asking questions. English doesn’t translate perfectly into Chinese, the grammar and word order is different.
In English when we make a question we’d usually put there “where” or “what” first. Such as “what would you like to eat?” But in Chinese you need to put that question word at the end, so you need to say “you would like to eat what?” “你想吃什么?” If you said “什么你想吃” That would be completely wrong and you would get some strange looks.
So remember with questions, the word order changes. Another example might be if you were in China and had your hotel address and were asking “where is my hotel?” you would like to say “my hotel is where?” which is “我的酒店是在哪里？” and not “哪里我的酒店?” Oh just reading it makes me cringe! Lol
李华
Recommended reading:
Easy Peasy Chinese is fun book to help learn some of the concepts in learning Mandarin. It also has some interesting incites into Chinese culture and is pretty cheap too! Chinese isn't easy peasy, but this book makes it fun.
In English when we make a question we’d usually put there “where” or “what” first. Such as “what would you like to eat?” But in Chinese you need to put that question word at the end, so you need to say “you would like to eat what?” “你想吃什么?” If you said “什么你想吃” That would be completely wrong and you would get some strange looks.
So remember with questions, the word order changes. Another example might be if you were in China and had your hotel address and were asking “where is my hotel?” you would like to say “my hotel is where?” which is “我的酒店是在哪里？” and not “哪里我的酒店?” Oh just reading it makes me cringe! Lol
李华
Recommended reading:
Easy Peasy Chinese is fun book to help learn some of the concepts in learning Mandarin. It also has some interesting incites into Chinese culture and is pretty cheap too! Chinese isn't easy peasy, but this book makes it fun.
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Simplified and Traditional Chinese Characters
The written Chinese language evolved over the years however today there are two main written versions of the characters in use today, traditional and simplified. Personally I only learn how to write simplified character, but there are certain rules which you can learn to recognise traditional characters. Traditional characters can be important to learn, especially when you go to KTV (karaoke). Most KTV bars use traditional characters and if you wanna sing along, you best get used to the traditional characters, only if it’s to read and recognise them.
Simplified is the more common written form in Mainland China where as the traditional form you will find in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Although the simplified form with fewer strokes can be quicker and easier to learn, the traditional form can also be easier to understand from a different perspective. This is because the traditional characters still maintain all of the radicals and meaning within the character, therefore if you were to look at a traditional character for the first time and you just understood the radicals, you could probably piece them together to get a rough understanding of what the characters meaning.
Simplified or traditional, which do you understand and which do you prefer?
龙 - Dragon - simplified character
龍 - Dragon - traditional character
Simplified is the more common written form in Mainland China where as the traditional form you will find in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Although the simplified form with fewer strokes can be quicker and easier to learn, the traditional form can also be easier to understand from a different perspective. This is because the traditional characters still maintain all of the radicals and meaning within the character, therefore if you were to look at a traditional character for the first time and you just understood the radicals, you could probably piece them together to get a rough understanding of what the characters meaning.
Simplified or traditional, which do you understand and which do you prefer?
龙 - Dragon - simplified character
龍 - Dragon - traditional character
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Chinese Story – Monkey’s Wear Straw Hats -猴子戴草帽
Short stories are a great way to learn Chinese. It can put your existing knowledge into a different context, helps you remember and of course you may learn a few new characters along the way. I’ve just posted this story on YouTube and wanted to share it with you.
猴子戴草帽
爷爷在树林里休息，旁边放着十几草帽。一群猴子从树上救下来抢草帽，一个`一顶，戴上就跑。爷爷急得满头大汗。他摘下帽子，一边擦汗，一边想办法。猴子看见了，也摘下帽子擦汗。爷爷笑了。他把草帽仍在地上，猴子看见了，就把草帽也仍了下来。
English Translation
Monkey’s Wear Straw Hats
An old man was relaxing in the forest, he put beside him ten straw hats. A gang of monkeys came down from the trees, each grabbed a hat, just put it on and ran. The old man was so worried his head was full of sweat. He took off his hat, he wiped away the sweat while thinking of a solution. The monkeys saw and also took off their hats and wiped away their sweat. The old man laughed. He grabbed his hat and threw it on the floor, the monkey’s saw, they just grabbed their hats and threw them down.
I love this story, it’s filled with Chinese wisdom. Hope you like the video.
李华
猴子戴草帽
爷爷在树林里休息，旁边放着十几草帽。一群猴子从树上救下来抢草帽，一个`一顶，戴上就跑。爷爷急得满头大汗。他摘下帽子，一边擦汗，一边想办法。猴子看见了，也摘下帽子擦汗。爷爷笑了。他把草帽仍在地上，猴子看见了，就把草帽也仍了下来。
English Translation
Monkey’s Wear Straw Hats
An old man was relaxing in the forest, he put beside him ten straw hats. A gang of monkeys came down from the trees, each grabbed a hat, just put it on and ran. The old man was so worried his head was full of sweat. He took off his hat, he wiped away the sweat while thinking of a solution. The monkeys saw and also took off their hats and wiped away their sweat. The old man laughed. He grabbed his hat and threw it on the floor, the monkey’s saw, they just grabbed their hats and threw them down.
I love this story, it’s filled with Chinese wisdom. Hope you like the video.
李华
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Learn Chinese through Poem - 悯农
Poems are a great way to learn a new language are also a good incite into culture. I’ve just learned a new poem called Min Nong (悯农) which means to have pity on agriculture. Chinese history goes back around 3,000 years, this poem itself is around 2,000 years old and as I state on my YouTube video its “ancient ancient pop music!”
悯农
锄禾日当午，
汗滴禾下土。
谁知盘中飧，
粒粒皆辛苦。
English Translation
Have pity on agriculture
At noon they weed with hoes,
Their sweat drips onto the soil.
Each bowl of rice, who knows?,
Every single grain is exhausting.
And there we have it, remember to check out the YouTube video and let me know how my pronunciation is like.
Thanks,
李华
悯农
锄禾日当午，
汗滴禾下土。
谁知盘中飧，
粒粒皆辛苦。
English Translation
Have pity on agriculture
At noon they weed with hoes,
Their sweat drips onto the soil.
Each bowl of rice, who knows?,
Every single grain is exhausting.
And there we have it, remember to check out the YouTube video and let me know how my pronunciation is like.
Thanks,
李华
Monday, 26 April 2010
Top five reasons to learn Chinese
Chinese is such as beautiful language. It may sound like to most of us a bunch of “chings,” “wangs” and “wolla’s” but once you get into it, you begin to hear the words and understand the musical language that is Chinese.
2. When you learn Chinese you also learn about their culture and how the Chinese think (possibly a good reason for business men!).
3. As mentioned in one of my previous posts, Chiense grammer is easy. There are no verbs to remember!
4. Chinese are very proud of their written language, which a lot of people consider an art. Traditional Chinese characters have been simplified over the years. Chinese is the only language where its history has been written in the same language for more than 3,000 years.
Although there are thousands of Chinese characters don’t be put off. There are in fact only around 400 syllables or sounds which you only need to learn in Chinese. These sounds tend to have their own characters and to make new words these characters are combined. So when looking to a new character for the first time you can actually begin to understand it’s meaning.
5. Chinese is an ancient language and has survived through the ages. Over one billion people speak Chinese which is a 5th of the world’s population. According to Wikipedia 850 million of the speaking Mandarin. That’s a lot of people you can speak to if you speak Chinese.
Any other reasons to learn Chinese? Post them in the comments
1. China right now has one of the fastest growing economies in the world and there are so many opportunities. Many of which are untapped and speaking the language can reveal these. There are also many jobs for Mandarin speakers outside of China. This could be in international relations, tourism, and there is a shortage of qualified Chinese language teachers.
2. When you learn Chinese you also learn about their culture and how the Chinese think (possibly a good reason for business men!).
3. As mentioned in one of my previous posts, Chiense grammer is easy. There are no verbs to remember!
4. Chinese are very proud of their written language, which a lot of people consider an art. Traditional Chinese characters have been simplified over the years. Chinese is the only language where its history has been written in the same language for more than 3,000 years.
Although there are thousands of Chinese characters don’t be put off. There are in fact only around 400 syllables or sounds which you only need to learn in Chinese. These sounds tend to have their own characters and to make new words these characters are combined. So when looking to a new character for the first time you can actually begin to understand it’s meaning.
5. Chinese is an ancient language and has survived through the ages. Over one billion people speak Chinese which is a 5th of the world’s population. According to Wikipedia 850 million of the speaking Mandarin. That’s a lot of people you can speak to if you speak Chinese.
Any other reasons to learn Chinese? Post them in the comments
Monday, 19 April 2010
What to do after Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese 3?
I’ve just answered this very same question on a forum and thought it was defiantly worth mentioning on my blog.
Pimsleur’s Mandarin is a self help audio book and has three levels. Each level has 30 half and hour lessons. Pimsleur was actually one of the first tools I used to start lean Mandarin and although it was slow, quite robotic and very American I feel as though it gave me a good foundation in Mandarin. When I completed level 3 I was quite disappointed that there was nothing else available, so I started searching for alternatives to help me learn Chinese.
My answer? Chinesepod.com. Chinesepod.com produce a Mandarin lesson every day. In fact they currently have around 1,300 lessons so even if they stopped you’ll have a massive archive to go through. Not only that, but you don’t have to worry about the same problem I and many others experienced with Pimsleur and that was them running out of lessons because Chinesepod continue to bring out fresh lessons.
I myself went onto the newbie lessons because I found that there was a huge amount of basic vocabulary missing from my Mandarin pallet. I actually did over 250 lessons as I enjoyed them so much. I’ve just completed around 200 Elementary lessons and am currently making that step between Elemenary and Lower Intermediate.
Also, more and more similar sights are always popping up. I've recently been getting into Chinese101 amognst others. So have a look around and try looking for a subscription service of some sort were you know you aren't going to run out of lessons!
Pimsleur’s Mandarin is a self help audio book and has three levels. Each level has 30 half and hour lessons. Pimsleur was actually one of the first tools I used to start lean Mandarin and although it was slow, quite robotic and very American I feel as though it gave me a good foundation in Mandarin. When I completed level 3 I was quite disappointed that there was nothing else available, so I started searching for alternatives to help me learn Chinese.
My answer? Chinesepod.com. Chinesepod.com produce a Mandarin lesson every day. In fact they currently have around 1,300 lessons so even if they stopped you’ll have a massive archive to go through. Not only that, but you don’t have to worry about the same problem I and many others experienced with Pimsleur and that was them running out of lessons because Chinesepod continue to bring out fresh lessons.
I myself went onto the newbie lessons because I found that there was a huge amount of basic vocabulary missing from my Mandarin pallet. I actually did over 250 lessons as I enjoyed them so much. I’ve just completed around 200 Elementary lessons and am currently making that step between Elemenary and Lower Intermediate.
Also, more and more similar sights are always popping up. I've recently been getting into Chinese101 amognst others. So have a look around and try looking for a subscription service of some sort were you know you aren't going to run out of lessons!
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Iceland Volcano Errupts - Holiday makers and businessmen may be stranded in China
Holiday makers and businessmen may be stranded in China if planning of flying back to Europe. Most Chinese air carriers have cancelled flights to Europe due to the high amount of volcanic ash is the atmosphere from a volcano eruption in Iceland. Four days on and there is still no sign of services returning to normal.
If you are stranded try logging onto http://www.airchina.com.cn/ or call 4008100999 for the latest information.
Have a go at practicing your mandarin and ask when you can get a plane to Europe:
我可以什么时候做飞机去欧洲？
wo keyi shenme shihou zuo feiji qu ouzhou?
If you are stranded try logging onto http://www.airchina.com.cn/ or call 4008100999 for the latest information.
Have a go at practicing your mandarin and ask when you can get a plane to Europe:
我可以什么时候做飞机去欧洲？
wo keyi shenme shihou zuo feiji qu ouzhou?
Chinese - some thing's don't quite translate
Hey, I wanted to talk to you about a word I learned today, and it’s quite an interesting one. 掰 or bāi has no true equivalent in English, it actually means ‘to break something off with your fingers’ or ‘to break with both hands’ which is I suppose the action as to how you would break off a piece of Kitkat!
That’s the beauty of learning Chinese, it’s so different and you come across these words which don’t quite translate but we get the meaning. Maybe we should have an equivalent of 掰 in English?
That’s the beauty of learning Chinese, it’s so different and you come across these words which don’t quite translate but we get the meaning. Maybe we should have an equivalent of 掰 in English?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
