Learn to Speak Mandarin I


Book Description

Imagine you have found your dream job at a company that is located in a different country, but you don’t speak the language of that country. This is the case for An An, the narrator of this textbook. An An is a brave panda from Washington, D.C. who learned Mandarin and traveled across the world to Beijing for his dream job interview. In this book, you will join An An for 10 hours (chapters) for his first day in Beijing going to his job interview and learning to speak Chinese in a variety of settings. An An will teach you everything you need to know to master basic conversational Mandarin. Follow along as he introduces himself to the job interviewer, describes his favorite pastimes, and as he meets his dream significant other, panda Ping Ping.Ranging from asking for directions, to communicating with the taxi driver in Mandarin while learning how to count, each lesson combines cultural insights about Chinese traditions and customs alongside basic language instruction. Free audio and flashcards are downloadable from www.inspirlang.com/resource.




The Way of the Linguist


Book Description

The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey. It is now a cliché that the world is a smaller place. We think nothing of jumping on a plane to travel to another country or continent. The most exotic locations are now destinations for mass tourism. Small business people are dealing across frontiers and language barriers like never before. The Internet brings different languages and cultures to our finger-tips. English, the hybrid language of an island at the western extremity of Europe seems to have an unrivalled position as an international medium of communication. But historically periods of cultural and economic domination have never lasted forever. Do we not lose something by relying on the wide spread use of English rather than discovering other languages and cultures? As citizens of this shrunken world, would we not be better off if we were able to speak a few languages other than our own? The answer is obviously yes. Certainly Steve Kaufmann thinks so, and in his busy life as a diplomat and businessman he managed to learn to speak nine languages fluently and observe first hand some of the dominant cultures of Europe and Asia. Why do not more people do the same? In his book The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey, Steve offers some answers. Steve feels anyone can learn a language if they want to. He points out some of the obstacles that hold people back. Drawing on his adventures in Europe and Asia, as a student and businessman, he describes the rewards that come from knowing languages. He relates his evolution as a language learner, abroad and back in his native Canada and explains the kind of attitude that will enable others to achieve second language fluency. Many people have taken on the challenge of language learning but have been frustrated by their lack of success. This book offers detailed advice on the kind of study practices that will achieve language breakthroughs. Steve has developed a language learning system available online at: www.thelinguist.com.




Learn to Speak Cantonese I


Book Description

Imagine falling in love with someone, but not speaking the same language as their extended family. This is the case for Gabriel, the narrator of this textbook, who is an American boy learning Cantonese to impress his girlfriend's mom. In this book, you will join Gabriel in his first meeting with Jenny's mother and the rest of her family, all of whom are from Hong Kong and can only speak Cantonese. From having dim sum to describing his favorite pastimes, Gabriel will teach you everything you need to know to master basic conversational Cantonese.




Speak Chinese Today


Book Description




Learn to speak Mandarin: Improve wellbeing


Book Description

Learning to speak Chinese Mandarin can have beneficial effects on your health, especially your mental health, hence your overall wellbeing. This book makes learning Chinese Mandarin real easy because it uses an approach that children use to learn their mother tongue. Since one sixth of the world population lives in China, learning Chinese can improve your exchanges with a vast number of people This is of increasing importance in a world that is more and more intertwined with economic and social networks.




Keeping My Mandarin Alive: Lee Kuan Yew's Language Learning Experience (With Resource Materials And Dvd-rom) (English Version)


Book Description

Learn Mandarin while you brush your teeth or shave? Read how Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew does it!A Prime Minister as an interpreter? Find out when and why MM Lee had to do it.For the first time, this towering figure of the island-state's politics gives a first-hand account of How he has learnt Mandarin over the last 50 years and kept it alive. He also tells When and Why he decided to learn the language, Where he got hold of the learning materials from, Whom he practises his Mandarin with and What spurs him on.MM Lee goes beyond these 5Ws and 1H in Keeping My Mandarin Alive, to share the agony of a mature Chinese language student and how he has overcome the difficulties — he strove to learn Mandarin only at age 32 (from 1955) and Hokkien at age 38 (from 1961).The comprehensive package also details how the English-educated MM Lee has been relating Mandarin to his master language in an effort to grasp the former and unravels how the latest technology has helped him in his quest.Edited by Dr Chua Chee Lay, one of MM Lee's Chinese tutors, Keeping My Mandarin Alive comprises:




A Study of Attitudes of Dialect Speakers Towards the Speak Mandarin Campaign in Singapore


Book Description

This book makes an original contribution to the fields of sociolinguistics, language planning policy and Chinese language studies. It examines the effectiveness of the Singapore’s Speak Mandarin Campaign in changing the language use of dialect speakers towards Mandarin.Singapore may be only “a small red dot” and barely visible on the world’s map. However, its complex and dynamic linguistic diversity and its quadrilingual educational system make it a unique and fascinating research site for examining deliberate language planning on the part of governmental authorities. 2017 marks the 38th anniversary of the Speak Mandarin Campaign, a focused language-planning policy aimed at changing the deeply entrenched sociolinguistic habits of Chinese Singaporeans who are used to speaking Chinese dialects. This book provides a revealing update on dialect speakers’ attitudes towards the campaign by including discussions and other related issues such as the recent call for the revitalisation of Chinese dialects by younger dialect speakers, Chinese students’ attitude towards learning Mandarin in schools, the encroachment of English in the home environment, the spread and dominance of English in the local linguistic landscape, and the challenges of maintaining Mandarin as a language of use and preference.




Speak Chinese Overnight Level One


Book Description

We have created a revolutionary way to help you learn to speak Chinese. Our incredible new method has literally cracked the code of learning Mandarin for English speakers, simply because our entire curriculum was written from an English speaker’s perspective. We believe this method will help you overcome the difficulties often experienced during the attempt at learning the Chinese language. Our state-of-the art program is well organized, complete and is written in a step-by-step format. You simply have to follow the instruction of each course and you will learn how to speak Mandarin Chinese easily and eventually fluently. Getting the Best Results Possible ! Once you master the basics of Mandarin, you can then move on to more advanced work perfect for traveling and business trips. If you are a professional who travels to China on a regular basis or deals with Chinese business markets, our books will help you with grammar, real estate sales, retailers, hospitality workers and even how to speak Chinese in a Chinese restaurant.You will learn how to converse using perfect grammar and will obtain perfect sentence structure while speaking Mandarin




Processes and Process-Orientation in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning


Book Description

There can be no products without processes. Though this statement may seem to be no more than an overused generalization, it encapsulates the undoubted importance of processes and process-oriented approaches in language teaching and learning. In foreign language education in recent decades, researchers and practitioners alike are increasingly focusing their attention on: 1) the learner as the active subject of learning and the internal processes that constitute his/her learning leading to the development of communicative competence; 2) teaching approaches, curricula and materials that reflect this view of language learning; and 3) other factors such as the sociocultural context, social interactions and discourse, and individual learner characteristics and differences. The theme of this book reflects this paradigm shift, and the papers included here from the disciplines of foreign language education and second language acquisition provide vital insights into processes in curriculum planning, teaching methodology, teacher education and professional development, language acquisition, language discourse, classroom instruction and interactions, the development of language skills and learning strategies, and language learning motivation.




Time and Migration


Book Description

Based on longitudinal ethnographic work on migration between the United States and Taiwan, Time and Migration interrogates how long-term immigrants negotiate their needs as they grow older and how transnational migration shapes later-life transitions. Ken Chih-Yan Sun develops the concept of a "temporalities of migration" to examine the interaction between space, place, and time. He demonstrates how long-term settlement in the United States, coupled with changing homeland contexts, has inspired aging immigrants and returnees to rethink their sense of social belonging, remake intimate relations, and negotiate opportunities and constraints across borders. The interplay between migration and time shapes the ways aging migrant populations reassess and reconstruct relationships with their children, spouses, grandchildren, community members, and home, as well as host societies. Aging, Sun argues, is a global issue and must be reconsidered in a cross-border environment.