Go Study Chinese

Yet Another Reason to Learn Chinese- Bilingualism Protects the Brain

2011-06-01T18:12:00.000-07:00

Ellen Bialystok and Fergus I.M. Craik, researchers at York University in Toronto, recently discovered that being bilingual helps protect the brain from Alzheimer disease. In fact, bilingualism could slow the progression of this type of dementia by up to six years.

One of the keys to using your two languages to slow the progression of mental decline is to use them regularly, which means more than just an occasional foray into Mandarin Chinese. To truly keep up with the language and benefit your brain, you should converse in it at least a few times a week with a native speaker and make a point to watch movies and TV shows or listen to radio or Internet broadcasts in Mandarin Chinese. The more you can use the language and keep maintaining your fluency, the better.

How to Use Podcasts for Chinese Language Study

2011-05-25T04:17:00.000-07:00

Podcasts are great. You can listen to them whenever you want, over and over again until you get what you need out of them. But many newcomers to Mandarin language learning wonder how to get the most out of podcasts like ChinesePod and Popup Chinese.
Here are a few tips and ideas:

- Use Chinese podcasts to practice listening. This is especially important if you don't have regular access to Chinese speakers and aren't hearing the language spoken on a regular basis. Try listening to a few podcasts while you are doing everyday activities or household chores to get used to how the language sounds.

- Try to figure it out yourself. Use the pause button frequently, stopping the podcast to try and guess what the hosts just said. You can listen to a whole dialogue and then try to parse it out or stop after each sentence to take things more slowly.

- Write down words and phrases for future use. Pick out one or two words or phrases to use throughout the day and try to find places to use them. Make up simple sentences using your new word or phrase to fix the information in your brain.

- Do the exercises. If you are a subscriber, take advantage of all of the materials the podcast provides. Don't skip over the exercises, but use them to deepen your understanding of the lesson.

- Listen to Chinese podcasts out of order. If you have some situation coming up where you might need to know Chinese, skip ahead to a podcast having to do with that situation. Heading to a Chinese restaurant? Pull up all of the lessons on food, ordering and paying the bill. Have a test at school on a chapter dealing with professions? Look up related podcasts and impress your teacher with a few extra words and a perfect score on the oral portion of your test.

- Don't be afraid to repeat lessons. You don't need to listen to a podcast only once. Listening a second or third time can help you recognize things in the dialogue that you might have had trouble with the first time around.

Popup Chinese

2011-04-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

Popup Chinese is a newcomer on the Mandarin Chinese podcast scene, but with its snappy dialogue and entertaining scenarios, it is quickly becoming a favorite of Chinese language learners.

You can choose from any of four different levels of Chinese lessons, from Beginner to Advanced. Hosts Echo, Brendan and David make learning fun and introduce slang and everyday language as well as the common phrases you'll need to get by in Mandarin. There are over 800 podcasts and more being added every week.

Access to the entire site costs $49.99 for a year, but you can get one week of free access to try it out first. Full access includes transcripts, exercises, downloadable files, HSK test prep materials and a host of Chinese language learning tools.

Listening to the basic podcasts online is always free, but the extra material is well worth the cost.

The site also hosts the informative and entertaining Sinica podcast, which discusses hot topics about China and the world in English.

The Popup Chinese crew also has a Cantonese language version for anyone interested in learning a different dialect of Chinese.

ChinesePod

2011-03-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

ChinesePod is one of the most well-known names in online Chinese language learning and for good reason. Whether you love or hate hosts Ken, Jenny and John, pretty much all of the expats you come across in China have an opinion about them one way or the other.
Lessons on ChinesePod cover common circumstances, such as talking on the phone and buying groceries, and you can find Chinese language dialogues that pertain to pretty much any situation you might get into while in China.
You can listen to any of the over 1,500 episodes from your computer or pay for monthly plans starting at $14, which gives you access to the downloadable episodes, transcripts, exercises and study tools. Discounts are available for buying 3,6,12 or 24 month subscriptions. A week long free trial is available to check out this Mandarin language learning program before you buy.
There are five levels of language learning, so you are sure to find one appropriate for your personal level of Chinese.
The company offers podcast lessons for other languages as well, including French, Spanish and Italian.

How to Find a Chinese Conversation Partner

2011-03-02T18:17:00.000-08:00

Now that you understand the importance of having a Chinese conversation partner, you may be wondering how to find one.
Many colleges and universities offer programs to hook up Chinese speakers who are students at their school with local students who want to practice Chinese and are willing to help their students improve their English skills. Contact the foreign language department of nearby schools to find out if they have such a program.
Even if your local school doesn’t offer a conversation partner program, you may be able to make a connection on your own by placing an ad in the school paper or on bulletin boards on campus.
People who don’t live close to a school may have more trouble finding a conversation partner, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible. Try placing ads in your local classified paper or go talk to people working at a local Chinese restaurant who may be or know recent immigrants eager to practice their English in exchange for a little bit of Chinese conversation.
For the more technologically inclined, you may be able to find a conversation partner online who can converse with you via free chat or calling services such as Skype.

What Does a Mandarin Chinese Conversation Partner Do?

2011-02-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

Textbooks and classroom studies can only teach you so much and there comes a time when you’ll need to speak with a native Chinese speaker to get the fluency level you desire.
A Mandarin Chinese conversation partner can be an excellent way to get Chinese practice for free. Essentially, a conversation partner is a native speaker of the language you are learning who can talk to you and help you practice your speaking and listening skills. In exchange, you will spend an equal amount of time speaking English (or whatever your native language is) to help your partner practice his or her English skills.
A typical conversation session lasts between 1 ½ to 2 hours, split equally between the two languages. Conversation partners can meet at one of the participants’ home or they can meet up at a local coffee shop or fast food joint. It’s a good idea to plan in advance by coming up with some good topics to cover and writing down any specific questions you want to ask your partner. Many conversation partners go on to become good friends as their fluency improves and they move into conversations about each other’s lives.
Getting a conversation partner isn’t a necessity for learning Chinese, but it can definitely help improve your skills and teach you a lot about Chinese culture.

Review of Oxford Chinese Dictionary

2011-01-05T00:52:00.000-08:00

The Oxford Chinese Dictionary was released in 2010 by Oxford University Press and is the largest single volume English-Chinese, Chinese-English dictionary in the world. For some students of Mandarin, this may seem like a treasure trove of words and phrases (over 300,000) to learn, but others may be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of words found in this new dictionary.
The dictionary contains small boxes explaining Chinese cultural concepts, which can sometimes be as important as learning the words. At over 2,000 words, this book isn’t well-suited for packing in your backpack and hauling to class, but for home use, you may enjoy using it to learn a few words and phrases on your own.
The decision on whether this dictionary is for you may depend on how you view your Chinese studies.
The bottom line- if you enjoy exploring words and phrases, think language learning should be approached with curiosity and fun or want to learn not just the words in your textbook, but words that people actually use, then the Oxford Chinese Dictionary could be right for you.
If you are struggling with your Mandarin classes and like to keep things straightforward, or tend to get easily overwhelmed or distracted when studying, you may want to stick to smaller Chinese dictionaries for now.

The Importance of Learning About Chinese Culture

2010-12-03T00:24:00.000-08:00

When you study Chinese, you’re not only learning a language, or at least you shouldn’t be only learning a language.

To really get into the mindset of the people who speak it, you probably need to study a bit of Chinese culture along with practicing your tones and sorting out stroke order. The Chinese do, after all, have thousands of years of culture for you to investigate and explore. Learning about Chinese culture can help you with your Mandarin Chinese lessons in a few different ways.

You can understand the people you’ll be conversing with much better when you understand their culture. This cannot be underestimated. Making Chinese friends will help you improve your Mandarin more than almost anything else, but if you don’t get them and they don’t get you, there’s no room to develop those beneficial kinds of friendships.

You can appreciate your travels in China much more. Whether you plan on visiting for a week or two, taking a year off to travel the country end-to-end, or moving to Shanghai for business, the more you understand about Chinese people and their culture, the more you’ll be able to absorb in your time there.

Your mind will be opened to new ideas. You’re already in learning mode while you study the Mandarin language. Why not learn some cultural things,too, while you’re in this prime learning mode?

What Parts of Chinese Language Learning are Most Challenging?

2010-11-07T08:52:00.000-08:00

Learning Chinese is frequently described as “challenging,” and some parts of the language certainly fit that description.

Sounds
Let’s face it- Mandarin Chinese has sounds English doesn’t. This doesn’t mean that native English speakers can’t pronounce Chinese sounds, just that it will be more difficult to differentiate between them. A good Chinese tutor or a friend who can help you hammer out the differences between sounds can make a big difference when you’re trying to say “shu” instead of “xue.”

Tones
Tones are the bane of most first-year Chinese language students. There are four different ways to inflect every word and each one changes the meaning. Again, personal one-on-one help is useful to get these right.

Characters
Even with the tones and strange sounds, the speaking part of Chinese may actually seem simple when you’re faced with memorizing thousands of Chinese characters. Flashcard programs and repetition are ideal for learning Mandarin characters.

Fortunately, not everything about learning Mandarin Chinese is hard. The basic beginners grammar is far easier than English or pretty much any of the European languages. If you’re having trouble with some aspect of Mandarin, just remember- in the end, being able to fluently read, write and converse will be worth all of the expended effort!

Learning Traditional Chinese Characters vs Learning Simplified Characters

2010-10-21T17:59:00.000-07:00

One question that often comes up when deciding between two different Chinese classes is whether or not to learn simplified or traditional characters.

In general, mainland China uses simplified characters while Taiwan, Hong Kong, many overseas Chinese and older texts use traditional characters. So part of your decision will be based on where you plan to use your Mandarin knowledge and whether or not you are more interested in historical aspects of China or modern business in the Middle Kingdom.

Another consideration is the beauty and complexity of the written characters themselves. Traditional Chinese characters are by far more complex and beautiful than the simplified versions. If you want to impress people with your impeccable Chinese calligraphy, traditional is the way to go.

Some proponents of traditional characters point out that these versions contain more of the history and culture of China within the characters themselves. Pieces of the characters mean specific things, so learning traditional will give you a better appreciation for where the written language came from. For some, this also makes it easier to memorize the meaning of the character.

On the other hand, the simplified versions often contain a phonetic version, a piece that gives some indication of the sound of the character. For some learners, this makes it easier to remember how to pronounce the simplified form.

In the end, the choice of simplified characters vs traditional characters comes mainly down to what you plan to do with the language. Someone planning to do business in mainland China will find themselves illiterate should they be familiar only with the traditional Chinese characters, while someone interested in studying historical texts or working in Taiwan will be equally disadvantaged if their only exposure is to simplified Chinese characters.

Learning Mandarin with a Chinese Tutor

2010-10-06T21:35:00.000-07:00

Learning Mandarin Chinese with a tutor is one way to quickly improve your skills, but you need to know what to expect before you start.

A tutor of Mandarin Chinese can help with pronunciation and listening comprehension in a way that a classroom teacher may not be able to. The dedicated one-on-one time spent with a tutor allows you to ask questions and clarify things that might have flown by during class time. Another advantage of a tutor is the ability to schedule classes whenever and wherever you want.

However, a Chinese tutor will typically cost more than group classes, and may be more difficult to find. You may not be able to progress as well as you like if you’re only speaking to someone for one hour a week in your target language.

Perhaps the best way to utilize a Mandarin Chinese tutor is to hire one in conjunction with regular Mandarin classes. That way you can have the best of both worlds and use the tutor for the things you really need help with instead of the basic vocabulary and grammar that you could learn in a cheaper classroom setting.

How Mandarin Chinese Tones Work

2010-09-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

An aspect of Mandarin learning that many students find difficult is the concept of tones. It also happens to be one of the first things you’ll learn in your Mandarin Chinese lessons. It’s all part of what you should expect when you first start studying Mandarin Chinese.

There are four tones in Mandarin. First tone is a steady tone, like a musical note held steady. Second tone is a rising tone, like what is used at the end of a question in English. Third tone drops down and then up again. Fourth tone is a falling tone that drops down at the end.

Tones are important because if you say the wrong one it changes the meaning of the word completely. A good Chinese teacher will make sure your tones are correct and you may have to try it hundreds of times before you consistently get your tones right. It can be frustrating to feel like you are repeating the same word over and over again, but keep in mind that the end result- speaking flawless Mandarin- will be well worth the effort.

What is Chinese Immersion?

2010-09-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

One of the terms you may hear when discussing your language lessons is “Chinese Immersion.” Basically, what this means is being completely surrounded, or immersed, in Chinese 24/7. During a Chinese immersion program, everything you do will be done in Chinese and speaking other languages – including English– isn’t allowed.

Chinese immersion programs come in many different forms. Some schools have a Chinese immersion option, in which students who attend that school take some or all of their classes in Mandarin. Summer programs offering language immersion may have a Chinese component or may be exclusively in Chinese. A study-abroad immersion program takes students to China or Taiwan to live, study and play in Chinese for a set time period.

In some immersion programs, the students take a language pledge, making a promise to themselves and their classmates to only speak the target language during the course of the program.

While a Chinese language immersion program may be difficult, complete immersion in any language is widely viewed as one of the most highly effective ways of learning a new language and becoming fluent in a short period of time. If you truly want to become fluent in Mandarin Chinese, at some point you will probably need to fully immerse yourself in the language, either through participation in an immersion program or through spending time living in a place where Chinese is the primary spoken language.

Review of World Learner Chinese

2010-09-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

World Learner Chinese is an Internet-based language learning program using audio files that you can listen to online or download as mp3 files. along with transcripts of the audio and exercises to practice what you’ve learned.
Each lesson consists of an audio recording that presents a Chinese monologue, dialogue, or vocabulary lesson followed by an explanation of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.
Each lesson is around ten minutes, making it easy to study in small bursts between other activities.
The program is based out of Taipei, so language learners in other places, such as Beijing, may notice some differences in accent and phrasing.
One problem I had with the program is that it jumped straight into tones without really explaining what tones actually are and how they work. Granted, this information can easily be found online.
If your style of learning is primarily listen-and-repeat, this might be a good program for you to try in your quest to learn to speak Mandarin.
The newsletter hasn’t been updated since April 2009, so I’m not sure whether any new material has been added since that point, but the basic audio files are enough to keep you busy for a while regardless.
The initial 26 lessons are free, although you’ll have to scroll through them backwards to get to the beginning.
The cost for a subscription is $30 for 3 months, $57 for 6 months, and $105 for 12 months.

How Hard is Learning Chinese?

2010-09-07T21:01:00.000-07:00

If you’re considering Chinese as a potential language to learn for school or on your own, you might be wondering exactly how hard it is to learn Chinese.
Long considered one of the most difficult languages to learn, Mandarin Chinese truly does have some major differences that make it problematic for Western learners. The written Chinese language, for one, can take far longer to learn than a language based on an alphabet, since every word has a different, unique character associated with it. Since Chinese has an estimated 60,000 written characters, that can make for a lot of rote memorization. Thankfully, only about 5000 characters are necessary to function in day-to-day life, including reading the newspaper.

In the Chinese spoken language alone, new learners have to cope with sounds that don’t exist in English and the tonal system, which can cause each word to have up to four different possible meanings, depending on the tone used when speaking the word.

Once learners get past the Mandarin sounds and tones, however, basic Chinese grammar turns out to be far simpler than European languages, since there are no conjugations and verb tenses.

In general, Mandarin Chinese is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn, but with over a billion native speakers in the fastest growing economy in the world, the effort may be well worth it.

Learning Mandarin Chinese vs Learning Cantonese

2010-09-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

One big question that people who are contemplating learning Chinese may have is exactly which form of Chinese they should study. Chinese has many different dialects, but the most common ones that people in the West study and come in contact with are Cantonese and Mandarin.

Mandarin is the dialect of mainland China and Taiwan. Cantonese is the dialect of Hong Kong. Part of deciding which language to learn will depend on what you plan to do with your Chinese language skills once you’ve completed your studies.
If you plan on doing business with people in mainland China or Taiwan, Mandarin Chinese would be the obvious choice. If you have connections in Hong Kong, however, Cantonese might be a better option for you. Many Chinese speakers in the West came from Hong Kong, so Cantonese often dominates Chinatowns and other enclaves of Chinese speakers in the U.S., Canada and Europe. However, as more mainland Chinese move to these places, the balance between Cantonese and Mandarin is beginning to shift.

Choosing between Mandarin and Cantonese might be difficult for some, especially American Born Chinese whose parents speak one dialect but who would prefer to learn the other. Of course, there’s always the option of learning both, although it would probably be wise not to try to learn both at the same time.

Where Can You Learn How to Speak Chinese?

2010-08-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

There are a variety of options for learning to speak Mandarin Chinese. Deciding which option is best for you might make the difference between an enjoyable learning experience and getting turned off of the Chinese language entirely. Here are a few of the options available to study Chinese.

Traditional Chinese Classes

If you learn how to speak Chinese in a traditional classroom setting, you’ll benefit from loads of resources and a teacher who has likely had the experience training years of students in tones, characters and Chinese conversation. You might also get caught in the shuffle, however, and not get the personalized attention you’d get in other settings. Also, standard Mandarin Chinese textbooks can sometimes get boring.

Private Chinese Tutoring

A private Chinese tutor will give you one-on-one help, which can be great for mastering perfect pronunciation and Chinese grammar. A Mandarin tutor is also more likely to teach you colloquial Chinese and Chinese slang, the kinds of things you won’t get in a classroom setting. Disadvantages of a Chinese tutor include cost and an irregular schedule that might encourage you to skip lessons.

Online Chinese Courses

Online Chinese courses have been popping up all over the Web, with venues like Chinese Pod making waves with people all over the world who are interested in learning the Chinese language. People who learn to speak Mandarin through these sites generally get up and running quite quickly and the cost of an online Chinese course is typically cheaper than a similar college Mandarin class or private tutoring.

Chinese Language Software and Audio CDs

The three big producers of Chinese language software and audio CD lessons are Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur and Rocket Chinese. Like an online Mandarin course, these programs can get you speaking Chinese quickly and have been used by thousands of people from casual tourists to people wanting to learn the language for business or in preparation for moving to China.

Immersion Study Abroad in China

For serious Chinese learners, there’s nothing like a study abroad in China. You’ll get classroom time in the language, of course, but the real lessons come when you need to ask for directions, order food at a restaurant and negotiate a decent price for something you desperately need and somehow forgot to pack when you were still back home. Learning Mandarin in China can be a lesson in life as well as a lesson in the language.

What to Expect from Your First Chinese Language Class

2010-08-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

You’ve bought the Chinese language textbook and Mandarin Chinese dictionary. Maybe you’ve even flipped through them a little, perhaps getting a little overwhelmed by all those Chinese characters you’ll be expected to learn and wondering what you’ve gotten yourself into (and whether it’s too late to switch to something easier- like Spanish or German.)

But never fear! Your first Chinese language class will be fun! Promise!

Most Chinese language classes designed for beginners don’t attempt to throw you into the language without any preparation. In your first class, you’ll probably learn how to greet people and you’ll start learning how to say things properly and all about tones.

Essentially, tones are the different ways that any given Chinese syllable can be pronounced- and each separate syllable has four possible tones, conveniently called first, second, third and fourth tone. Saying something in a different tone can completely change the meaning, so you’ll learn in your first class how to properly say the tones.

As far as that greeting goes, I’ll give you a quick hint:
In Mandarin Chinese, you’ll greet people by saying “Ni hao.”
Practice that a few times before your first class and you’ll be ahead of all your classmates already.

Reasons for Studying Chinese

2010-08-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

If you're considering taking a Mandarin Chinese course, learning a little Chinese online or traveling to China to study abroad, here are a few good reasons for studying Chinese:

- Mandarin Chinese, the official language of mainland China, is spoken by over 900 million people. It is the language with the most speakers in the world and over 20% of the people on the planet can speak it.

- Business in China is booming. China is currently the fastest growing economy in the world and one of the few countries that weathered the global recession and economic crisis that began in 2008. Speaking Mandarin is one way to take advantage of the growing opportunities to sell to, buy from and collaborate with people in China.

- Chinese is the number one language used on the internet today. If your business, school or personal interests involve the web, you'll want to know Mandarin.

- You'll be able to appreciate the vast culture and history of China when you understand the language.

- Travel will be easier, and not just in China. As China opens up to tourism more and more, the opportunities to see world-famous sights like the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, the Three Gorges and the pandas of Chengdu will be greatly enhanced when you know a little Mandarin. In addition, Chinatowns exist all over the U.S. and around the world, so no matter where you go, a little Chinese language may come in handy.

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2010-08-19T22:15:00.000-07:00

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