I learn Chinese said on February 1, 2007 at 06:39 PM

Hi,
Mandarin Chinese is getting more and more popular, and more and more people learn Chinese either in schools or on their own (mostly online). I’d like here to share some interesting Chinese learning materials that I found on the internet. I use this useful Chinese English dictionary and this tutorial that teaches Chinese writing. You can also try these mp3 Chinese lessons. If you get stuck you can post your questions to this Chinese learning forum. I hope these resources will help you learn Chinese. Good luck to everyone. The website is : http://www.clearchinese.com

Learn Chinese said on June 18, 2007 at 05:08 AM

You can find more video podcast to learn Chinese and mandarin on http://www.hellomandarin.com You also can learn more about Chinese culture on CLTV (http://cltv.hellomandarin.com)

Tom Wilson said on June 21, 2007 at 05:35 AM

Gary of University of Phoenix kindly recommended me to learn Chinese course several months ago. Beijing Online School of Chinese Language http://www.hellomandarin.com is a language school of UOP and the largest Chinese school in the world. This school can offer degree and non-degree Chinese course in the world. I met a student from Cambridge University of UK. Beijing Chinese School offers degree course service to Cambridge University.

I found I can use skype in an interesting and creative service ‘Voice Connecting China’ http://www.hellomandarin.com/connectingchina . There are about 3,000 Chinese volunteers waiting for me. They help me to practice Chinese after class and give me a online immersion environment. These volunteers are not professional teachers, but doctors, drivers, college students… Although I have not decided time point to start my formal class, now I can use the practice service as a free student.

When I call these volunteers through skype, the call can be received online or forwarded to home phone and cell phone of volunteers in China. I heard China Mobile offers 3G network service for Voice Connecting China, so I can find my favorite volunteers at any time through VOIP in 3G network. I also heard China Mobile will use Voice Connecting China for Beijing 2008 Olympics to offer Chinese language and culture course http://www.hellomandarin.com/courses/course.html to foreigners.

Chinese said on June 28, 2007 at 10:18 PM

I’ve starting to learn Chinese with this online website:

http://www.chinese-tools.com

It’s maybe the most comprehensive I’ve found. And now there is a Club to find language partners all over the world ( http://www.chinese-tools.com/club )

Enjoy!

Antonio Learning to Speak Mandarin Chinese said on July 24, 2007 at 06:14 AM

I also came across this site with free online videos claiming to help people

learn to start speaking mandarin Chinese in 58 minutes
- with no pen, no paper

It’s very unconventional and what is taught really sticks in your head.

http://www.ChinaSpeak.com.au

Susan Lee said on April 10, 2008 at 12:27 PM

When in Rome, why not let the Romans teach you?

In Huangshan (黄山) southern Anhui province in Eastern China, Fu Shou-Bing logs on to the computer in the public library near his village. Since discovering ECPod.com (http://www.ECPod.com), the retired High School Chemistry teacher has been logging on almost every day to the English-Chinese teaching website. Sometimes he cycles the 25 miles home, cooks himself a simple lunch of rice and stir-fried vegetables with salted fish, often returning once again to the library and his new hobby in the evening.

ECPod.com boasts an educational website that teaches members conversational English or Chinese (no “this is an apple” stuff here) via video clips contributed by other members. After a vetting and often transcribing process by language tutors commissioned by the site, the clips are available free of charge in YouTube fashion. The twist? Members film each other in everyday activities, hoping other members will learn not just their native tongue, but also cultural innuendos lost in textbooks and more conventional means of language learning.

“One member filmed himself cooking in his kitchen. We got a few emails asking what condiments he used,” says a bemused Warwick Hau, one of the site’s more public faces. One emailer even wanted to know if she could achieve the same Chinese stir-fry using ingredients from her regular CR Vanguard (华润超级) supermarket. “We often forget our every day activities may not be as mundane to people on the other side of the world,” Hau adds. Another such clip is “loaches” - a Chinese mother of 3 filmed her children and their friends playing with a bucket of loaches - slippery eel-like fish the children were picking up and gently squeezing between their fingers.

Lately the members have also begun to make cross-border friends and contacts. The ECPal function works much the same way sites like Facebook.com and MySpace.com work - members can invite each other to view their clips and make friends. And it has its fair share of juvenile humor as well. “Farting Competition” features two teenagers and graphic sound effects. Within several days, the clip was one of the most popular videos that week, likely due to mass-forwarding by the participants’ schoolmates.

For other members keen to learn more than the fact juvenile humor is similar everywhere, there are many home videos featuring unlikely little nuggets of wisdom. “The last thing I learned from the site is why you never find green caps for sale in China”, says Adam Schiedler one of the English language contributors to the site. Green caps signify cuckolded husbands, particularly shameful in China as they are a huge loss of face. Adam vows not to buy any green headgear for his newfound friends.

The subject matter of the videos often speaks volumes about its contributors. Members choose their own content and film the clip wherever they please, some of their efforts drawing attention to rural surroundings and the quaint insides of little homes otherwise not seen unless you backpack your way thru the tiny dirt roads and villages along the Chinese countryside.

Idyllic countrysides and cooking lessons aside however, ECPod marries the latest video sharing technology with the old school way of teaching a language - from the native speakers on the street. It’s a modern, more convenient alternative to spending 6 months in China. And why not let the Chinese teach you?

Visit http://www.ECPod.com

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Mary Anne Lazo said on August 13, 2008 at 11:57 AM

I have watched the Beijing Olympics Complete Medal Tally 2008 and found out some Chinese that already learned to speak English. If were trying to learn their language, then their trying to learn ours.

2008 Beijing Olympics Medal Tally Count Updates Re said on August 17, 2008 at 09:16 AM

olympic greetings!!! you can check here for 2008 Olympics Medal Tally Count, Updates and Results

Monica said on October 29, 2008 at 02:48 AM

http://www.chinmaionline.com,this website is useful, you can find lots of resourse about Chinese, there also be online teachers, they are kind and helpful.