Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Tones are what gives mandarin its character. Each syllable is actually spoken on a different note. It is at first a challenge for Westerners when learning to speak, simply because we are not used to them. The best thing you can do is to listen to Mandarin being spoken. What do you hear? Can you imitate it?
Mandarin has four tones and a neutral tone. My best advice to anyone wanting to speak this language is to learn how to say the tones comfortably. You need to hear… Continue reading
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
Pinyin is the writing system that allows you to read Mandarin immediately. It is written with the Roman alphabet and is very consistent. You just need to learn how to read the different sounds. Some letters are used as they are in English: bei, hua, lao etc. Others are not. You simply need to learn the new values: xi is pronounced like she and qi is pronounced like chi.
Pinyin makes it possible to pronounce Chinese fairly accurately very fast. You want to be learning how to… Continue reading
Monday, May 10th, 2010
MANDARIN AND SOUND
Language is sound. Arrgh! … Oops! … Wow! … Oh noooo! … Various combinations of sound communicate our meaning. As you approach Mandarin as your new language, get acquainted with its sounds. The better you hear, the easier it will be to understand natives. The better you sound when you speak, the easier your communication will be.
Falling in love
My advice is always to learn a language that you are attracted to. It is much easier to spend time with something… Continue reading
Monday, May 10th, 2010
Mandarin Chinese is a beautiful language. I have deeply enjoyed my own learning journey through it. This article is the first in a series for anyone interested in its study.
In many ways, learning Mandarin is no different than studying French, Spanish or German. You need to learn new sounds, to get a feel for how natives say things. There are words and expressions to be learned. It naturally takes motivation and time. But there also are different things to absorb. If you approach them smartly, they become… Continue reading
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
(A post about how to use the Google Translate Tool to practice a language.) I recently decided to brush up on my Chinese. I always roll with laughter when I see “Learn Chinese in 7 days” programs being advertised.
Whenever you learn a language, the great limitation is vocabulary – in speaking and also in understanding. Trying to increase my own fluency, I just created the following technique for practice.
I was listening to a guided meditation in English and was trying my best to translate what I… Continue reading
Friday, February 26th, 2010
Twenty years ago, if you wanted to learn a language, you bought a book and a cassette series, and you looked for a teacher in your city. With the Internet explosion of the recent years, there are treasures beyond all imaginings for the language learner. There are organizations, schools, individuals, blogs which provide us with countless tools: podcasts, games, lessons, language exchanges, free materials etc.
What this means is that you can customize your way of learning exactly to your own specifications. You can work alone, with others… Continue reading
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
We want to invite you to join us for Online Language Classes. It is probably the most convenient way of practicing a new language. It lets you have a class from home whenever it is convenient for you.
Speaking a language, hearing it, and interacting with native speakers are the vital steps that allow you to make a language yours. It is often a challenge to arrange this. Online classes make it incredibly easy. We must still learn new vocabulary and grammar to expand our knowledge, but a… Continue reading
