Basic Spoken Chinese


Book Description

This is a beginning-level course in spoken Chinese that employs a revolutionary new method designed to have you quickly speaking and comprehending Mandarin Chinese. Along with its sister book Basic Written Chinese and their accompanying workbooks, Basic Spoken Chinese offers a complete introductory course to the Chinese language. As a native English speaker, working hard to learn Chinese is not enough; you have to work smart to learn this very different language efficiently. Downloadable audio and video reinforce the material introduced in the book. No matter why you've chosen to learn Chinese--for business, travel, cultural studies or another goal--the Basic Chinese approach of two separate but integrated tracks in spoken and written Chinese will help you learn this language most efficiently and successfully. Detailed explanations in English of Chinese pronunciation, grammar, usage, culture, society, and recommended learning approaches. A digital Instructor's Guide is available electronically. A written Character Transcript (Simplified and Traditional) is available electronically. The downloadable materials feature: 40 videos with dozens of native speakers filmed on location in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. 6 hours of native-speaker audio, including all of the book's conversations. Build up sections, new words, and pronunciation exercises. Available separately, Basic Spoken Chinese Practice Essentials is the companion workbook for Basic Spoken Chinese. This practical guide includes a broad range of drills and exercises designed to enhance your proficiency in speaking and comprehending dramatically. While intended for use with the companion textbook, it can be used together with any Chinese textbook or teaching program to hone your Chinese language skills.




Hacking Chinese


Book Description

Learning Chinese can be frustrating and difficult, partly because it's very different from European languages. Following a teacher, textbook or language course is not enough. They show you the characters, words and grammar you need to become proficient in Chinese, but they don't teach you how to learn them! Regardless of what program you're in (if any), you need to take responsibility for your own learning. If you don't, you will miss many important things that aren't included in the course you're taking. If you study on your own, you need to be even more aware of what you need to do, what you're doing at the moment and the difference between them. Here are some of the questions I have asked and have since been asked many times by students: How do I learn characters efficiently? How do I get the most out of my course or teacher? Which are the best learning tools and resources? How can I become fluent in Mandarin? How can I improve my pronunciation? How do I learn successfully on my own? How can I motivate myself to study more? How can I fit learning Chinese into a busy schedule? The answers I've found to these questions and many others form the core of this book. It took eight years of learning, researching, teaching and writing to figure these things out. Not everybody has the time to do that! I can't go back in time and help myself learn in a better way, but I can help you! This book is meant for normal students and independent language learners alike. While it covers all major areas of learning, you won't learn Chinese just by reading this book. It's like when someone on TV teaches you how to cook: you won't get to eat the delicious dish just by watching the program; you have to do the cooking yourself. That's true for this book as well. When you apply what you learn, it will boost your learning, making every hour you spend count for more, but you still have to do the learning yourself. This is what a few readers have said about the book: "The book had me nodding at a heap of things I'd learnt the hard way, wishing I knew them when I started, as well as highlighting areas that I'm currently missing in my study." - Geoff van der Meer, VP engineering "This publication is like a bible for anyone serious about Chinese proficiency. It's easy for anyone to read and written with scientific precision." - Zachary Danz, foreign teacher, children's theatre artist About me I started learning Chinese when I was 23 (that's more than eight years ago now) and have since studied in many different situations, including serious immersion programs abroad, high-intensity programs in Sweden, online courses, as well as on the side while working or studying other things. I have also successfully used my Chinese in a graduate program for teaching Chinese as a second language, taught entirely in Chinese mostly for native speakers (the Graduate Institute for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University). All these parts have contributed to my website, Hacking Chinese, where I write regularly about how to learn Mandarin.




Learn Chinese with Mike Absolute Beginner Coursebook Seasons 1 & 2


Book Description

"It is definitely new, and it definitely works." -Dr. Licheng Gu, Program Director, African & Asian Languages, Northwestern University What do I get when I learn Chinese with Mike? This ebook contains 10 video-based lessons and is part one of a series of six. It features audio and visual learning material and works best on tablets and smartphones. Addictive learning Mike Laoshi (Teacher Mike) will astound you with his unparalleled ability to make learning Mandarin Chinese fun and easy. Be warned, his teaching style is highly addictive, so if you have a family, career or social life, you may want to put those on hold for a little while. Why Chinese with Mike? Chinese with Mike is 100% new and breaks with traditional Chinese curricula. Mike's humour, mixed with his logical, step-by-step approach shields learners from the unnecessary complexities of Mandarin Chinese. Through a blend of short and highly addictive video lessons, you'll acquire essential Chinese with confidence. More importantly, you get a little one-on-one time with Mike, as he makes learning Chinese ridiculously easy-and fun! What will I learn? This is a solid foundation course that teaches you how to speak Chinese and also understand how the language fits together. Season 1 Covers pinyin, the four tones and writing system using Simplified Chinese characters, common words, phrases and typical conversations. In no time you'll be able to talk about yourself, your family, your friends, your job, your home, your dogs and cats. Season 2 If Season 2 wasn't included, you wouldn't be able to tell people you can speak Chinese, you like to play basketball, or you want to eat beef fried rice. More importantly, you wouldn't even know how to ask permission to use the bathroom! Without Season 2 you wouldn't get very far in life. Why will learning Chinese be a breeze? · Mike builds confidence through his logical step-by-step design of the course · Mike explains pronunciation with clear, familiar examples · Mike adds interesting facts about the intricacies of language · Mike includes lots of cultural tidbits · Mike recognizes and explains thoroughly troublesome areas · Mike uses native speakers to help you with listening and speaking Chinese with Mike is suitable for classroom, self-study or home schooling. Praise for Mike The coolest Chinese teacher out there. Totally rad!! confusedlaowai.com Like a rock star teacher. Excellent for beginners. Entertaining too! socialmandarin.com As an instructor, I have found Prof. Hainzinger's teaching material was very practical; it was very easy to be inserted into our classroom activities because of its fragmented structural style, and its companying video files. In addition, the students really appreciated the lively style of the text, as well the vivid video contributions. Yuxiang Liu Lecturer in Chinese, EALC The University of Chicago




Learn Korean: Must-Know Korean Slang Words & Phrases


Book Description

Do you want to learn Korean the fast, fun and easy way? And do you want to master daily conversations and speak like a native? Then this is the book for you. Learn Korean: Must-Know Korean Slang Words & Phrases by KoreanClass101 is designed for Beginner-level learners. You learn the top 100 must-know slang words and phrases that are used in everyday speech. All were hand-picked by our team of Korean teachers and experts. Here’s how the lessons work: • Every Lesson is Based on a Theme • You Learn Slang Words or Phrases Related to That Theme • Check the Translation & Explanation on How to Use Each One And by the end, you will have mastered 100+ Korean Slang Words & phrases!




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.




Remembering Simplified Hanzi 1


Book Description

At long last the approach that has helped thousands of learners memorize Japanese kanji has been adapted to help students with Chinese characters. Book 1 of Remembering Simplified Hanzi covers the writing and meaning of the 1,000 most commonly used characters in the simplified Chinese writing system, plus another 500 that are best learned at an early stage. (Book 2 adds another 1,500 characters for a total of 3,000.) Of critical importance to the approach found in these pages is the systematic arranging of characters in an order best suited to memorization. In the Chinese writing system, strokes and simple components are nested within relatively simple characters, which can, in turn, serve as parts of more complicated characters and so on. Taking advantage of this allows a logical ordering, making it possible for students to approach most new characters with prior knowledge that can greatly facilitate the learning process. Guidance and detailed instructions are provided along the way. Students are taught to employ "imaginative memory" to associate each character’s component parts, or "primitive elements," with one another and with a key word that has been carefully selected to represent an important meaning of the character. This is accomplished through the creation of a "story" that engagingly ties the primitive elements and key word together. In this way, the collections of dots, strokes, and components that make up the characters are associated in memorable fashion, dramatically shortening the time required for learning and helping to prevent characters from slipping out of memory.




Learning Mandarin Chinese Characters Volume 1


Book Description

Reinforce your written Chinese with this practice book for the best-selling Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters. Learning Mandarin Chinese Characters helps students quickly learn the essential Chinese characters that are fundamental to the language. This character workbook presents 178 Chinese characters and over 534 standard words using these characters. It is intended for self-study and classroom use and includes the characters and words students need to know if they plan to take the official Chinese government HSK Level 1 Exam or the Advanced Placement (AP) Chinese Language and Culture Exam. Each character is presented plainly and transparently. A step-by-step diagram shows how to write the character, and boxes are provided for freehand writing practice. The meaning and pronunciation are given along with the critical vocabulary compounds and an example sentence. Review exercises reinforce the learning process, and an index at the back allows you to look up the characters according to their English meanings or romanized Hanyu Pinyin pronunciation. Key features of this Chinese workbook include: Designed for HSK Level 1 and AP exam prep Learn the 178 most essential Chinese characters Example sentences and over 534 vocabulary items Step-by-step writing diagrams and practice boxes




Play and Learn Chinese


Book Description

Sales Handle The Parents’ Choice award winning-language program for children is now available in Chinese! This hands-on program shows parents how to turn everyday activities into fun Chinese-learning opportunities—for children ages 1-7. About the Book Play and Learn Chinese makes the process of learning a second language natural for children by involving the people who taught them their first language--their parents! From language innovator Ana Lomba, this hands-on program is based on real life, everyday activities that provide parents and children with countless opportunities to learn together. From taking a bath to taking a bike ride, this program makes everyday routines fun—and educational! Each colorful two-page spread features: Two action-packed activities, songs, or games—all with English translations Simplified Chinese characters and pinyin transliteration for easy pronunciation Illustrations of key words that act as a mini picture dictionary A comic strip that shows everyday dialogs in action Sidebars with fun cultural information All of the activities in Play and Learn Chinese are based on proven teaching techniques and are developmentally appropriate to maximize language learning while maintaining a playful attitude that captures the attention of a young audience. A fully updated introduction includes expert advice that guides parents through the language learning process. A 70-minute audio download features all of the Chinese songs, words, and games to help with pronunciation. This engaging audio download can also be used as a stand-alone tool. Features Proven track record: Ana Lomba’s language-learning materials have sold more than 75,000 copies! Expert author: Ana Lomba is an innovative developer of language-learning materials for children and a Parent’s Choice award winning-author. Chinese language study growing: Across the U.S., 200,000+ students are learning Chinese (Asia Society, 2010). Enrollment in K-12 Chinese language classes jumped 64% between 1997 and 2002 (Princeton University Study). Market/Audience Parents of children ages 1-7 who want to expose their children to the Chinese language and culture. Early childhood educators who are looking for language-learning materials for their classrooms. Benefit to the Customer Makes learning easy and fun by incorporating language-learning into everyday activities Proven technique from award-winning author Research shows that children benefit from learning a second language at a young age About the Author Ana Lomba (Princeton, NJ) is a leading children’s language educator and developed the breakthrough Ana Lomba’s Easy Immersion® language-learning technique. This method is changing the way people think about and interact with your children learning languages. She is the author of several language-learning programs for children including the Parents’ Choice Approved award-winning Play and Learn series. A Princeton University graduate, Ana has taught Spanish from preschool to college and held leadership positions with national language organizations in the U.S. She is a native of Spain. Marcela Summerville (Philadelphia, PA) is the founder of Spanish Workshop for Children, and award-winning Spanish immersion program for young children. She has published several articles on teaching a second language to youth. She is a native of Argentina.




Fluent Forever


Book Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • For anyone who wants to learn a foreign language, this is the method that will finally make the words stick. “A brilliant and thoroughly modern guide to learning new languages.”—Gary Marcus, cognitive psychologist and author of the New York Times bestseller Guitar Zero At thirty years old, Gabriel Wyner speaks six languages fluently. He didn’t learn them in school—who does? Rather, he learned them in the past few years, working on his own and practicing on the subway, using simple techniques and free online resources—and here he wants to show others what he’s discovered. Starting with pronunciation, you’ll learn how to rewire your ears and turn foreign sounds into familiar sounds. You’ll retrain your tongue to produce those sounds accurately, using tricks from opera singers and actors. Next, you’ll begin to tackle words, and connect sounds and spellings to imagery rather than translations, which will enable you to think in a foreign language. And with the help of sophisticated spaced-repetition techniques, you’ll be able to memorize hundreds of words a month in minutes every day. This is brain hacking at its most exciting, taking what we know about neuroscience and linguistics and using it to create the most efficient and enjoyable way to learn a foreign language in the spare minutes of your day.




Revolutions: a Very Short Introduction


Book Description

"In the 20th and 21st century revolutions have become more urban, often less violent, but also more frequent and more transformative of the international order. Whether it is the revolutions against Communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR; the "color revolutions" across Asia, Europe and North Africa; or the religious revolutions in Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria; today's revolutions are quite different from those of the past. Modern theories of revolution have therefore replaced the older class-based theories with more varied, dynamic, and contingent models of social and political change. This new edition updates the history of revolutions, from Classical Greece and Rome to the Revolution of Dignity in the Ukraine, with attention to the changing types and outcomes of revolutionary struggles. It also presents the latest advances in the theory of revolutions, including the issues of revolutionary waves, revolutionary leadership, international influences, and the likelihood of revolutions to come. This volume provides a brief but comprehensive introduction to the nature of revolutions and their role in global history"--