Language Learning

Chinese Calligraphy

Posted by LYON on Jan 4, 2009 in Articles, Chinese | 0 comments

Chinese Calligraphy

History of Chinese Writing The tools used to communicate in the Chinese language have drastically changed over time, thus affecting how the characters are written and look. The earliest form of Chinese writing occurred on pottery and on oracle bones. These characters where written with sharp angles. Eventually the Chinese began to use brushes to write characters, which allow them to be formed with much grace. These characters were written in books that consisted of bamboo sticks and eventually on paper in a column formation from right to left. Despite the fact that oldest bamboo books no...

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Learning Chinese in Five Steps

Posted by LYON on Dec 27, 2008 in Articles, Chinese | 2 comments

Learning Chinese in Five Steps

Learn and Understand Tones The Chinese language is centered on the usage of tones. If you do not produce the tones that are associated with each word correctly, then you will not be able to communicate in the language effectively. The Mandarin dialect has 5 tones, which are neutral, first, second, third, and fourth tone. For people who are use to speaking and learning one of the romance languages, then it may be difficult to adjust to the major differences between Chinese and a language like English. The main difference between a language like Chinese and the romance languages is that...

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The Chinese Language in Education: National Coordination of Efforts

Posted by LYON on Dec 20, 2008 in Articles, Chinese | 0 comments

The Chinese Language in Education: National Coordination of Efforts

The 21st century has been the staging area for China’s awe-inspiring economic growth and it’s manifestation as a political leader; these facts have been a major factor in why public and private sector leaders acquired an increase interest in the country’s tongue and culture. It is crucial for the United States to have an increasing number of students who are proficient in the Chinese language because it will help America to maintain its leverage as it pertains to international dealings. In order to get Chinese taught in schools on an efficient and effective level, then...

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Top Five Reasons to Learn Chinese

Posted by LYON on Dec 8, 2008 in Articles, Chinese | 0 comments

Top Five Reasons to Learn Chinese

Top Five Reasons to Learn Chinese 1. 1/5 of the world’s population speaks it. The country of China has a population consisting of over 1.3 billion people, which means that nearly one-fifth of the world’s population speaks the same language. In addition, current studies show that there will be more websites, thus information, in Chinese then in English. Learning the Chinese language will give you the ability to access more information, communicate in a different language. All this will give you the ability to expand your knowledge of and perspective on different cultures, customs,...

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Learn about Spoken Chinese.

Posted by LYON on Nov 4, 2008 in Articles, Chinese | 0 comments

The Chinese language is called hanyu or Zhongwen. Over 1 billion people in the world speak some form of Chinese. The form of Chinese that has become the official dialect of the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan is Mandarin, also referred to as the Putonghua, meaning the common language. Besides being prominent in Mainland China and Taiwan, mandarin is also one of the official languages in Singapore and the United Nations. Some other variants (dialects) of the language are Min Dong, Jinyu, Pu Xian, Huizhou, Min Zhong, Gan, Hakka, Xiang, Min Bei, Min Nan, and Wu. These different...

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