Laura Robertson

It seems that the demand to learn Mandarin Chinese has grown just as quickly than China’s economy over the past few years. Now, thanks to the Internet, it’s easier than ever to take Chinese classes or connect with native Chinese speakers.

While some aspiring Chinese speakers might have the luxury of a Chinese teacher or friend, new websites make learning Chinese accessible to anyone who can log onto the Internet.

At the same time, learning a new language can be pretty daunting, and with so many choices available, it’s hard to know where to start. How much do you need to invest, in terms of time and money, in order to learn communication basics, or converse with confidence?

The answers to these questions will naturally depend on your personal goals, but for starters, the following websites offer several free or inexpensive options that provide a strong basis for learning a new language. While their approaches may differ, they all offer ways to help you improve your Chinese skills, whether you’re just learning, or nearly fluent.

Chinesepod: Over 300,000 users receive daily updates from this language tool, which has lesson plans on many topics for many different levels of Chinese speakers. Each podcast is about 10 minutes long, with levels ranging from Newbie to Advanced, challenging students of all levels. With over 1,000 different lessons to choose from, it’s easy to tailor your lessons to your interests.

In addition to the podcasts, which also have vocabulary lessons and language exercises, Chinesepod also has message boards where people can chat and ask questions to more experienced Chinese speakers.

While the Newbie podcasts are free, other content can cost between about $9.00 and $30.00 per month. Those with an extra $200 per month can even have the added benefit of a daily personal tutorial, where a native Chinese speaker calls them and talks in Chinese for about ten minute each day.

Italki.com: I hadn’t even been on the Shanghai-based italki.com for more than five minutes when I had multiple requests from three different Chinese students who wanted to chat. The enthusiastic learners make it easy to meet native Chinese speakers, and users with Skype can also video chat or talk directly to their new language friends.

As of April 20% of italki’s users were in mainland China, versus about 7% in the U.S, and smaller percentages were from other countries worldwide, like India, Egypt, Morocco, Brazil, and Algeria.

Since italki.com isn’t just limited to Chinese and English speakers, you could easily find language partners who could help you learn virtually any language, like Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, or even unique languages like Yucatec Maya, Yoruba, Hmong, and Akan Twi.

CcHello.com is another Chinese learning tool, offering tutorials and practice with native Chinese speakers. Much of it is geared to businesspeople who would like to converse with their contacts overseas.

Over 10,000 have registered for their courses over the past two years, and while this offers useful tools for those working in China, a casual learner might prefer a course that’s free of charge.

Livemocha.com is very similar to italki.com in concept, but provides more structured lessons plans. The Seattle-based site connects different speakers from all over the world, and offers basic introductory courses in a number of languages.

While the lessons might challenge more advanced language learners, they provide a great way for beginners to practice speaking, listening, reading, and typing. It offers users a good balance of structured lessons and interaction with overseas Internet users.

“No, No, No! Wo xiang wènwèn ni — zhege difang zenme zou. I want to ASK you how I can get to this place.”

See? The foreign traveler’s Chinese pronunciation made the girl confused. KISS me or ASK me is a question and trouble too! Remember: 问 wèn (ask) is the 4th tone, but 吻 wěn (kiss) is the 3rd tone.

Chinese has four pitched tones and a “toneless” tone (ā→  á↗  ǎ∨  à↘). The reason for having these tones is probably that the Chinese language has very few possible syllables — approximately 400 — while English has about 12,000. For this reason, there may be more homophonic words , words with the same sound expressing different meanings, in Chinese than in most other languages. Apparently tones help the relatively small number of syllables to multiply and thereby alleviate but not completely solve the problem. Learning Chinese in context, therefore, is very important.

Tone	Mark	Description
1st		High and level.
2nd		Starts medium in tone, then rises to the top.
3rd		Starts low, dips to the bottom, then rises toward the top.
4th		Starts at the top, then falls sharp and strong to the bottom.
Neutral		Flat, with no emphasis.

Can you imagine that the Chinese use only three syllables when expressing the same meaning as each of the following sentences conveys?

A mother who is riding on a horse thinks that it is slow and so she curses it.

Māma qí mǎ, mǎ màn, mā mà mǎ.

妈 mā - mum
马 mǎ - horse
骂 mà - curse

Chinese Shadow, which can also be called “Chinese Shadow Play or Chinese Shadow Puppet play”, is one of the most ancient genre of drama in China. It came into being in the Han Dynasty (206B.C.-A.D.220) and has more than two thousand years’ history.Popular among the people of China , Chinese Shadow is a dramatic form which uses lantern to project on the screen the shadows of the puppet. The artistic effect of the play is produced through light, screen, music, singing, and puppet operation. The shadow play is widely regarded as “a magic, lightning-like art” and has won high praise in many countries. ..

Dialogue:

Mike：	今天我们干什么？
	jin1 tian1 wo3 men gan4 shen2 me?
	What we will do today?
Wanghao：	我们去看皮影戏吧。
	wo3 men qu4 kan4 pi2 ying3 xi4 ba.
	Let’s go to see the Chinese Shadow Play.
Mike：	我在网上看过皮影戏的一些介绍。
	wo3 zai4 wang3 shang kan4 guo pi2 ying3 xi4 de yi4 xie1 jie4 shao4.
	I have looked up some informations of the Chinese Shadow Play on Internet.
Wanghao：	好啊！那我考考你。它有多久的历史了？
	hao3 a! na4 wo3 kao3 kao ni. Ta1 you3 duo1 jiu3 de li4 shi3 le?
	Well! Now let’s have a test. How far does it go back?
Mike：	大概有两千多年了吧。
	da4 gai4 you3 liang3 qian1 duo1 nian2 le ba.
	It nearlly has more than two thousand years’ history.
Wanghao：	那它主要有哪些流派呢？
	na4 ta1 dou1 zhu3 yao4 you3 na3 xie1 liu2 pai4 ne?
	How about its main schools?
Mike：	这个我还真不知道。
	zhe4 ge wo3 hai2 zhen1 bu4 zhi1 dao4.
	I actually don’t know about that.
Wanghao：	主要有陇东皮影，山西皮影和陕西皮影。
	zhu3 yao4 you3 Long3 Dong1 Pi2 Ying3,Shan1 Xi1 Pi2 Ying3 he2 Shan3 Xi1 Pi2 Ying3.
	It mainly has Longdong Shadow Play, Shanxi Shadow Play and Shaanxi Shadow Play.
Mike：	那我们今天要看的是哪种啊？
	na4 wo3 men jin1 tian1 yao4 kan4 de shi4 na3 zhong3 a?
	Which kind will we watch today?
Wanghao：	暂时保密。
	zan4 shi2 bao3 mi4.
	It is a secret.

]]> http://blog.cchello.com/2008/10/30/chinese-shadow-play/feed/ http://blog.cchello.com/2008/10/30/what%e2%80%99s-your-animal-of-chinese-birth-year/ http://blog.cchello.com/2008/10/30/what%e2%80%99s-your-animal-of-chinese-birth-year/#comments Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:35:16 +0000 CcHello http://blog.cchello.com/2008/10/30/what%e2%80%99s-your-animal-of-chinese-birth-year/

Every Chinese has his or her own animal sign?The zodiac is an important part of traditional Chinese culture. According to the Chinese calendar, the year you were born may determine your personality. It is a traditional way to calculate one’s age. Do you know what’s your animal of Chinese Birth year? And what’s the Benmingnian? In this dialog we will learn that in Mandarin, With that check out your animal sign….. ..

Dialogue:

No matter what language we want to learn, greeting and self-introduction are the most basic elements in learning process. Not only in western countries but also in other countries around the world, using the gently expression of self-introduction will help you to leave the elegant impression to others .Don’t you want to try?! ..

Dialogue:

头     tóu       –head
头发  tóu fa   –hair

脸     liǎn       –face
眼睛  yǎnjīng   –eye
嘴巴  zuǐ bā   –mouth

牙齿 yáchǐ   — tooth
耳朵  ěr duo   –ear
鼻子  bí zi     –nose

颈     jǐng     –neck
肩     jiān      –shoulder
胳膊  gē bo    –arm
手     shǒu     –hand
手臂  shǒu bì  –arm
手掌  shǒu zhǎng   –palm

乳房  rǔ fáng  –the breasts
胸     xiōng   –chest
肚     dǔ        –belly
背     bēi      –back
腹     fù       –abdomen / stomach / belly
腰     yāo   –waist

大腿  dà tuǐ  –thigh
臀     tún   –butt / buttocks

屁股  pìgu  –butt / buttocks (informal)
腿     tuǐ   –leg
膝盖  xī gài   –knee
小腿  xiǎo tuǐ  –the calf
脚     jiǎo  – foot

The Chinese seldom call each other by their whole name unless they are close friends or members of the immediate family. When addressing people, it is common practice to use titles like

Mr, xiānshēng 先 生

Mrs, fūren 夫 人

Miss , xiǎojiě 小 姐.

The title is placed after the name, thus Miss Zhuo is Zhuó xiǎojiě in Chinese.

The word xiānshēng, “mister”, literally means “first born”, which implies respect. Anyone born before me is older than me, and thus earns my respect due to his age. On some occasions xiānshēng is also used with the meaning of “teacher”.

Women do not change their family name when they get married and that is why Miss Liu, after after changing her marital status, will be Mrs Liu. Especially in Hongkong or Taiwan you can also hear the expression tàitai for Mrs. The word xiǎojiě, Miss, is also used when addressing a waitress in a restaurant or a shop assistant. Xiǎo means “little” and jiě stands for “sister”. Nowadays waitresses are often also called xiǎomèi, which translates into “small little sister”.

The reason for this alteration is that the word xiǎojiě has encountered an inflation due to its connotation to sān péi xiǎojiě 三 陪 小 姐”, those young modern “geishas” who accompany guests in restaurants to sing karaoke.

The term “comrade”, tóngzhì 同 志, was still widely used in the 70s and 80s, but not so much any more - at least not between colleagues or amongst average Chinese citizens. Instead, in the office, people call their colleagues Lăo Wáng, “Elder Wang”, or Xiăo Lĭ, “Younger Li”. Here old and young do not really refer to age as such, but to people’s position or status, although in many cases these go hand in hand, as professional experience and success are supposed to accumulate steadily according to the years in service.

The word shīfu 师 傅 originally referred to a master of any specific skill, such as a carpenter, calligraphist, martial arts master etc. It contained the meaning of being a teacher, and thus the apprentice or student would call his master shīfu. Nowadays shīfu is commonly used to address, for example, a cab driver.

The Chinese like to use words that express profession or social status when addressing each other or referring to other people. This kind of underlines the fact that they pay a lot of attention to social roles and the status of each individual - thus defining the pattern of interaction and how people releate to each other. Surname comes before the title, such as in “doctor Zhang”, Zhàng dàifu 张 大 夫, “accountant Li”, Lǐ kuàijì ( 李 会 计), teacher Liu, Liú lǎoshī 刘 老 师 etc.

The importance of social merit
The main rule in addressing Chinese people is that the family name comes before a title, and the family name is also placed before a person’s first name. This just might stem from the Chinese manner of approaching the world and its phenomena from bigger entities to smaller ones. This also explains why in the Chinese society the focus is on social groups rather than on single members of a group. A practical example of this way of thinking is the manner in which the Chinese traditionally write an address on an envelope: first they write the name of the country, then the city and the street address, and finally comes the name of the person who will receive the letter. In most western countries the order is the reverse - the person’s name first, then the city and after that the country name. Placing the family name before the personal given name implies that the family is more important than any individual member of it.

The complexity of family relations

Within Chinese families, people do not call each other by their names, but instead by words indicating their mutual relationship. There are dozens of different names used to address younger or elder sisters, brothers of various ages, uncles and aunties from the mother’s and father’s side, younger brother’s wife, elder sister’s husband, father’s little sister and mother’s younger brother… not to mention cousins of various ages. Better not to try to grasp it all at once.

Children basically call their parents mother and father, and grand parents grand father and grand mother - here again differentiating between grand parents from the either side of the family. And, because the Chinese just love children, these are usually always given nicknames (xiǎomíng, i.e. “littlename”) used within the family, such as “Little Tiger”, “Little Fatty”, “Little Precious”.

When you see someone is injured in a car accident. But now you are in China, what will you do to help that person? Certainly the emergency phone number of your country is useless at this very time. So in China when you meet this kind situation, you should keep calm and call The First Aid Center. Its number is 120. It could be used all over the country. Then when you get through, please keep cool-headed and answer whatever questions the missionary asks. ..

Dialogue:

Nowadays, the form of blog appears on the news frequently. For instance, reveal an affair to the outside world or describe an event by blog. It is a platform for releasing news and exchanging information that is different from forum. So writing blog becomes more and more popular. Especially for young people. Record anything you have seen and write some ideas you want to express. Blog is a part of life, as it were. How about your idea? ..