Saturday 12 December 2015

Homework 13.Dec.2015

Look at Book page 27

Listen to the audio and Read out loud.





Homework – 13.Dec.2015

Please Read aloud the text of Page 27

Go to Vocaroo to record it, and post your recording as a comment below or mail to teacher Carol.


Saturday 5 December 2015

Homework 6.Dec.2015

Look at Book page 28

Listen to the audio and Read out loud.



Homework – 6.Dec.2015

Please Read aloud the text of Page 28

Go to Vocaroo to record it, and post your recording as a comment below.

Wednesday 2 December 2015

Mandarin Audio Books 有聲書

Audio books are awesome for foreign language learners!

For serious learners, please follow the steps to learn efficiently.
1. Listen to a short paragraph for 1~3 times; try to repeat after that;
2. Do dictation, which means write down every word you've heard.
3. Check the script.
4. Compare what you've missed and you don't understand. check the dictionary or ask your teacher.

First of all, go find a book you like and suits your level.

 Here are free audio books 有聲書 (or 有声书 in Simplified Character) resources:




  • 好讀 有聲書: collects mostly prose, literature, novels

Saturday 28 November 2015

Homework 29.Nov.2015

Look at Book page 22. 

Listen to the audio and Read out loud.



Homework – 29.Nov.2015

Please Read aloud the text of Page 22 (Replace it with your own name) in Mandarin properly. Go to Vocaroo to record it, and post your recording as a comment below.

Thursday 26 November 2015

The lyrics of "國境之南" Sung by Van Fan(范逸臣)


范逸臣(ㄈㄢˋ ㄧˋ ㄔㄣˊ, Fan4 Yi4 Chen2), a Taiwanese singer from Amis aborigine(阿美族) tribe. He acted in the movie Cape No.7(海角七號) and sang the theme songs of it.

  • 范逸臣 @ Wikipedia 維基百科
  • Grammar of "之(ㄓ, zhi1)":  之 = 的; however, 之 is commonly used in written Chinese, whereas 的 is used in spoken Mandarin.
The lyrics in Mandarin with bopomofo and pinyin and pinyin. (Click to download)


Saturday 14 November 2015

Homework 15.Nov.2015

Look at Book page 21. Replace the name with your name. 

Listen to the audio and Read out loud.



Homework – 15.Nov.2015

Please Read aloud the text of Page 21 (Replace it with your own name) in Mandarin properly. Go to Vocaroo to record it, and post your recording as a comment below.

Saturday 10 October 2015

Tools helping to improve Chinese Reading Ability 線上閱讀

Decipher : (APPs / Website)

  • With both Traditional and Simplified version 支援正簡字體
  • Articles are classified by levels, Easy(HSK2), Intermediate(HSK3~4) and Advanced(HSK5). 文章分級
  • Online dictionary alongside each word 線上字典

Sunday 2 August 2015

Mandarin Movies/Drama with English Subtiltes

Watching drama and learning natural Mandarin.

Viki Asian Drama/Movies provides English subtitles: (I've listed some recommended ones. You may change the search engine to find more.)


Youtube with English subtitles:




Thursday 30 July 2015

Recommended Youtube Channels for learning

Here are some interesting Youtube Channels in Mandarin with English Subtitles(most of them). Subscribe NOW!

1. Stopkiddinstudio - inviting foreign students introducing differenct cultures


2. 阿兜仔不教美語 - a Spanish guy talking about his experiences in Taiwan


3.ShenLimTV - a Malaysian host talking about differences among different ethnic Chinese(華人) groups


Memrise - helping to memorize

Just found this awesome Website - Memrise. (Also with iOS, Android APP)

Must check how efficient it is to help memorizing.

Click HERE in Memrise to learn BoPoMoFo (Chinese Alphabet)
Click HERE in Memrise to learn Basic strokes and all Radicals
Click HERE in Memrise to learn 56 basic Radicals
Click HERE in Memrise to learn the book - Practical Audio Visual Chinese實用視聽華語

Click HERE in Memrise for all the Traditional Chinese Classes
Click HERE in Memrise for all the Simplified Chinese Classes

Wednesday 17 June 2015

How do the Chinese characters work? Introduction to components.

The Three Attributes of Functional Components (Video #1)

Click HERE--> 人犬(or犭)羊又彳行大見  to watch the Stroke Order of each Character explained in above video.



Friday 22 May 2015

Chinese Stroke Orders - for Auckland FoGuang Chinese Class (Adult Beginner)

This page shows the Character stoke orders of the textbook, Go Chinese, used in Auckland FoGuang Chinese school.

Please click the link below and go to the demo page.

Special thanks to Mr. Yan Gwo-Shyong, the developer of this learning tool. (特別感謝開發者 顏國雄先生)

Go 100
Lesson 1 一二三四五六七八九十百千兩個
Lesson 2 你好我他們大家早很嗎
Lesson 3 請不用客氣對起沒關係謝她
Lesson 4 問貴姓什麼王叫名字明都的
Lesson 5 星期有今昨天年月日大小是到這幾
Lesson 6 爸媽哥姊弟妹口人還家共
Lesson 7 要買多少塊錢那了便宜點兒算歲
Lesson 8 點半分現在鐘上中下午晚時走
Lesson 9 找誰打電話哪位號等來
Lesson 10 老師同學教文用和會可以

Saturday 21 March 2015

Basic Chinese Characters

Ms ShaoLan shows us 12 basic Chinese Characters. You'll see them as components in most of the characters.
Viewing characters as LEGO blocks is the most important method native learners use.



CharacterMeaningBoPoMoFoPinYin
mouthㄎㄡˇkou3
personㄖㄣˊren2
fireㄏㄨㄛˇhuo3
treeㄇㄨˋmu4
mountainㄕㄢshan1
sunㄖˋri4
moonㄩㄝˋyue4
doorㄇㄣˊmen2
womenㄋㄩˇnü3
roofㄇㄧㄢˊmian2
kingㄨㄤˊwang2
waterㄕㄨㄟˇshui3

Here are the examples Ms ShaoLan gives us. They show how the characters work as LEGO blocks.
Click HERE to watch the stroke orders of the above Characters.

Basic CharacterDerivativesBoPoMoFoPinYin
人(person)从(follow)ㄘㄨㄥˊcong2

众(crowd)ㄓㄨㄥˋzhong4

大(big)ㄉㄚˋda4

犬(dog)ㄑㄩㄢˇquan3

太(too much)ㄊㄞˋtai4

人人(everyone)ㄖㄣˊㄖㄣˊren2 ren2

大人(adult)ㄉㄚˋㄖㄣˊda4 ren2

大众(public)ㄉㄚˋㄓㄨㄥˋda4 zhong4

太太(wife)ㄊㄞˋㄊㄞ˙tai4 tai

吠(bark)ㄈㄟˋfei4
火(fire)大火(big fire)ㄉㄚˋㄏㄨㄛˇda4 huo3

火大(angry)ㄏㄨㄛˇㄉㄚˋhuo3 da4
木(tree)林(woods)ㄌㄧㄣˊlin2

森(forest)ㄙㄣsen1

休(to rest)ㄒㄧㄡxiu1
山(mountain)火山(volcano)ㄏㄨㄛˇㄕㄢhuo3 shan1

火山口(crater)ㄏㄨㄛˇㄕㄢ ㄎㄡˇhuo3 shan1 kou3
日(sun)晶(sparkle)ㄐㄧㄥjing1

旦(sun rise)ㄉㄢˋdan4
月(moon)明(tomorrow/bright)ㄇㄧㄥˊming2
門(door)閃(to dodge)ㄕㄢˇshan3

問(to ask)ㄨㄣˋwen4
女(women)
rarely used

姦(adultery)ㄐㄧㄢjian1
宀(roof)安(peaceful)an1
王(king)女王(queen)ㄋㄩˇㄨㄤˊnü3 wang2
水(water)水門(water gate)ㄕㄨㄟˇㄇㄣˊshui3 men2
牛(cow)牢(prison)ㄌㄠˊlao2
豕(pig)家(home)ㄐㄧㄚjia1

家人(home)ㄐㄧㄚ ㄖㄣˊjia1 ren2

大家(everyone)ㄉㄚˋ ㄐㄧㄚda4 jia1
子(son)好(good)ㄏㄠˇhao3

大家好(hello, everyone)ㄉㄚˋ ㄐㄧㄚ ㄏㄠˇda4 jia1 hao3

王子(prince)ㄨㄤˊㄗˇwang2 zi3

小王子(little prince)ㄒㄧㄠˇㄨㄤˊㄗˇxiao3 wang2 zi3

Wednesday 11 March 2015

Free online Mandarin Chinese class for beginner - provided by Coursera website

Coursera provides free Mandarin Chinese class!

Simply login to Coursera, and search the class "Chinese for Beginners".

If you have no idea about Mandarin, it's a quite start that helps you speak basic sentences.
Only PinYin (no character) is used in that class. Go with your own pace on listening and speaking practice.

Even if you use Bopomofo phonetic symbols instead of PinYin, it's a good to simply focus on the sound and do dictation.

Sunday 22 February 2015

Mandarin Online Tuition

Hello,

I'm a certified Mandarin Chinese teacher from Taiwan and now offering full-time tuition in Auckland, New Zealand. Most of my students are native English speaker aged from 18~66 and started from zero. (Few of them grew up in Mandarin/Cantonese family though. )

After 6 months learning (about 30 hours plus homework), students are able to use Mandarin to greet, order food, buy things, ask for directions, talk about preferences, hobbies and more.

There are some nice books we follow to ensure students' achievement, but it's all welcome to use your books or materials. A private lesson should be flexible enough to suit individual learner, isn't it?

Here's my background and teaching experience. My business knowledge and 5 year working experience in banking industry in Taiwan makes me different from other tutors. However, language learning is another hobby. I'm also learning Japanese from 2013. Being a language learner again helps a lot in teaching as well.

Now I am more than happy to offer online lessons through Skype, Google talk,... as well. If you are interested, simply leave me a message to make an appointment for a free-trial lesson or simply consultation.
Instead of writing a message, you could check my online classroom page (Click HERE) and book a time slot directly.

We will talk about your learning style, goals, materials, etc. in our first class.

The tuition fee is NZD$30/hour. There is discount for long-term or online class. Payment either in cash, PayPal or Bank account transfer.

Gook luck to your Chinese learning and hope to hear from you soon.

Carol Lin

Friday 30 January 2015

The lyrics of "原來你什麼都不要(You don't want anything after all)" - 張惠妹(A-Mei)

張惠妹(ㄓㄤ  ㄏㄨㄟˋㄇㄟˋ, Zhang1 hui4 mei4), known as A-mei, is one of the popular Mandarin singers in Chinese world.
This song is inside her very first album that impressed the audience.
See more about A-mei in wikipedia.

* Grammar of "什麼都(ㄕㄜˊㄇㄜ˙ㄉㄡ, she2 me dou1)"

S+什麼都+(不)V .
I want everything. = 我 什麼都 要.
I don't want anything. = 我 什麼都 不要.

The lyrics in Mandarin with bopomofo. (Click to download)



Sunday 25 January 2015

The lyrics of "Bu4 Yi2 Yang4, You4 Zen3 Yang4(不一樣又怎樣)" with Bopomofo(注音) - 蔡依林 Jolin Tsai

Jolin Tsai, always taking a lead in Mandarin Pop music, presents this song to reflect the dominant public opinion in the law-making process of Taiwan.

The lyrics in Mandarin with bopomofo. (Click to download)



The lyrics of ”記得(Ji4 De2)" with bopomofo(注音) - 張惠妹A-Mei

Ladies and Gentlemen, the most popular Taiwan aboriginal pop singer, A-mei(張惠妹 ㄓㄤ  ㄏㄨㄟˋㄇㄟˋ; zhang1 hui4 mei4) !!

PS. Don't miss her live show.

The lyrics in Mandarin with bopomofo. (Click to download)





Another male version from JJ Lin(林俊傑 ㄌㄧㄣˊㄐㄩㄣˋㄐㄧㄝˊ; lin2 jun4 jie2)


The lyrics of "Dui4 Bu4 Qi3, Wo3 De Zhong1 Wen2 Bu4 Hao3 (對不起我的中文不好)" with Bopomofo(注音) - Transition 前進樂團

The English band, Transition, has a very cute song: "Sorry, My Mandarin is not good."
對不起(ㄉㄨㄟˋㄅㄨˋㄑㄧˇ; dui4 bu4 qi3),
我的中文不好(ㄨㄛˇㄉㄜ˙ㄓㄨㄥ ㄨㄣˊㄅㄨˋㄏㄠˇ; wo3 de zhong1 wen2 bu4 hao3)

Did you hear the difference?
水餃(ㄕㄨㄟˇㄐㄧㄠˇ; shui3 jiao3) or 睡覺(ㄕㄨㄟˋㄐㄧㄠˋ; shui4 jiao4)
Dumpling or Sleeping ?

The lyrics in Mandarin with bopomofo. (Click to download)