Learn Chinese Blog|learn to speak Chinese

helpful Chinese language learning tips and resources

My impression of cars in China

Posted on | May 2, 2011 | Comments Off

If you have never been to China, or haven’t been here for a few years for those who have then the image you have of china might be a little outdated. Previously it has been a common perception of china in the west that china is a country of bicycles. But if you come to Beijing today, you see a much different picture. Car ownership is huge in China, but the surprising thing is not the quantity of cars – though rush hour around Zhongguancun has to be seen to be believed, but the quality of cars.

Around Wudaokou where our Chinese language school is based it is really not uncommon to see lots of new cars being well cared for, but as well as plenty of mid range cars it is reasonably common to see top of the range BMW’s and, Porche Cayenne and Range Rovers. This is a not the image I had of modern china.

China is such a large population with increasing prosperity that many a car maker is looking to make the most of this market, and this even includes the niche car markers. At the Shanghai motor show http://www.autoshanghai.org/en/ taking place this week both Ferrari and Lambourghini are advertising their latest cars to potential customers.

Language tips:

Ferrari:法拉利 (fǎ lā lì)

Lambourghini:兰博基尼 (lán bó jī ní)

 

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Category: Living in Beijing

Chinese Character of the week

Posted on | April 25, 2011 | Comments Off

饿 è

To be hungry

My favourite character this week has to be the character for ‘to be hungry’.

On first look, for such a simple pinyin spelling (è) the character is somewhat complicated, however, I found a good way to remember it is that when I am hungry, I want to eat. Breaking the character down, on the right hand side is the character for ‘I’ 我 , and on the left hand side is the food radical 饣, found in many characters to do with food. So really, it’s pretty logical…at least for this character anyway!

P.S.  if you’d like to see the stroke order of the character, please find it here

And the best way to remember this character is to  practice writing on your notebook or in your web browser by using Skritter below.

Learn Chinese Characters

 

 

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Category: Chinese characters, Language

How to study Chinese – Learning style

Posted on | April 22, 2011 | Comments Off

It’s been a while since our last post, however, we are trying to update our blog more often and with more posts focused on Chinese language.  Today, is our first post about learning style.

Thinking about studying fills some people with dread, others may really enjoy the though of a new challenge. Whatever your perspective is on studying, when it comes to studying Mandarin, one thing is almost certainly true – it needs a lot of effort and perseverance.

I have only been studying Mandarin a few months, but I have found it really helpful to consider different tips I have learnt over many previous years of study, and to see how I can apply these to studying Mandarin.

The first is that it is useful to know your learning style.

There is a plethora of research available regarding learning styles. A simple summary is that there are four parts to people’s learning styles, each with opposite ends to the spectrum. Most people will not be at either extreme of any of the styles, but it is something useful to consider.

Style

Explanation

Sensory

Like facts

Vs

Intuitive

Like meanings

Visual

Like visual representations

Vs

Verbal

Like explanations with words

Active

Like experimental and group learning

Vs

Reflective

Like to work through problems on their own

Sequential

Like details before the ‘Big picture’

Vs

Global

Like the big picture first, details later

 

I’ve put this first as (if you have a choice!) knowing your learning style can help you to decide where you want to do your learning. This is especially important if you are time pressured, as ending up trying to learn somewhere where there seems to be no real connection with your teachers will be a frustrating experience at best!  I like to know details, and the ‘why?’ of things, so to be in a one to one Chinese class setting is ideal, as I am able to ask immediately if I don’t understand something. However, if you really like group learning, a one to one setting may be more of a hindrance than a help.

 

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Category: Language, Learning Approaches
Tags: chinese learning > language learning > learning style

Chinese New Year 2011 – Year of the Rabbit

Posted on | January 30, 2011 | Comments Off

the year of the rabbitIn 2011, the traditional Chinese New Year starts on Feb 3rd and it will be the year of the Rabbit (兔年 tù nián). And the evening of Feb 2nd is the most important night, Chinese New Year’s Eve – (除夕 chúxī), and then next day Feb 3rd is the first day of Spring Festival. On Chinese New Year’s Eve, as tradition, Chinese families come together for a celebration dinner – (年夜饭 niányèfàn), some traditional dishes include dumplings – (水饺/饺子 shuǐjiǎo/jiǎozi ), fish(鱼 yú) and Nian Gao (年糕 niángāo). What’s else is obvious, you can see and hear everywhere, yes, it’s firewords/fire crackers -(烟花/鞭炮 yānhuā/biānpào), so loud and noisy, you may not like it, but it’s so much fun to watch, if you ever get a chance to play firecrackers, you would love it.

How people would greet each other during Spring Festival? Some the most common greetings probably are:

兔年快乐 – tù nián kuài lè

新春快乐 – xīn chūn kuài lè

过年好/新年好 – guò nián hǎo

恭喜发财 – gōng xǐ  fā cái

Lastly, we’d like to share a funny video made by some foreigners in Beijing, To say “Happy New Year” by singing several popular Chinese songs, creative and fun, pay attention to last part. LOL.

祝大家兔年快乐！

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Category: Culture
Tags: chinese new year > festivals > holidays

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