Category Archive: Blog

Subcategories: Chinese Grammar  Fun Facts  Learn Mandarin Chinese  Recommendation  SF Mandarin Tutor 

Yellow Bridge

  By Ling Ming | October 7, 2009 - 5:59 pm | Blog, Learn Mandarin Chinese, Recommendation Comments Off

 

If you are learning Chinese, or trying to improve you Chinese, you have to know about this great website Yellow Bridge.

I learned from a student of mine who is going to a Chinese bilingual school. He needs language tools like this one to help him finish his homework faster.

I use it all the time myself for their Chinese-English/English-Chinese dictionary.

It also has tons of other Chinese learning resources.

 

"Shi" “是”

  By Ling Ming | September 16, 2009 - 2:25 am | Learn Mandarin Chinese, SF Mandarin Tutor Comments Off

Many people learn the word 是 (shi) as the equivalent of “is, are, or am” in English, but is it?

For example,  you can say 他”是”美國人 (he is an American), but you can’t say , 他“是”高 (he is tall). If you want to say he is tall in Chinese, you can say 他很高 (he-very-tall), or 他高 (he-tall)
This is because the later ones are considered “Subject-Comment” sentences.
When you have a comment or adjective describing the subject, you would not translate the word “is, am, or are” into “shi” in Chinese. Instead, you would say your comment directly after the subject.
However, it is not to say that no adjectives can be placed after 是. As long as it is accompanied by a noun, it is ok to use it.
Such as 他是好孩子 (he is a good kid), or 那是一輛紅色的車 (that is a red car).
One case that you might find a little confusing is a sentence like this:
那輛車是紅色的。(That car is red)
It seems like there is only the adjective “red” after 是, but in fact, the 的 after “red” still makes it an adjective noun combination. So what you are really saying  in Chinese is “the car is (a) red (car).

It’s Hot!

  By Ling Ming | August 27, 2009 - 8:00 pm | Learn Mandarin Chinese Comments Off

 

How do we say “it’s hot” in Mandarin? It is a good exercise for people with some Mandarin knowledge to see if you can understand all the differences. Here are the variations:

 

Rè: It’s hot.

Hǎorè: It’s very hot.

Hěnrè: It’s very hot.

Tàirèle: It’s too hot.

Zhēnrè: It’s truly hot.

Rèjíle: It’s extremely hot.

Chāorède(1,4,n): It’s super hot!

 

More  advanced expression:

Rède bùdéliǎo: It’s unbearably hot.

Rèsǐle: It’s so hot I am dying!

 

Fast and Effective Way to Learn Mandarin Chinese

  By Ling Ming | June 3, 2009 - 9:43 pm | Learn Mandarin Chinese Comments Off

Listen to me and you will be able to talk to a native speaker faster than you expect:

1.  If you are a beginner, try to first understand the concept of pinyin, tones and measure word.
2. Memorize basic vocabularies, as many as you can. Pronounce the correct tone of each word loudly until you feel comfortable saying them in faster speed. Imagine a scenario when you practice. It’s even better if you put emotion in it.
3. Be committed to one learning material until you are familiar or bored with them. Don’t keep switching to a newer one. Every time you change to a different book/ software, your brain has to take time to adjust to all the visual differences.
4. Full emersion to the language through TV, movies, radio, podcasts, or talking to a native speaker when you can. It can be as relaxed as you want it to be, but do choose the program with “standard” Mandarin Chinese.       
           

Bilingual News Sites

  By Ling Ming | April 15, 2009 - 4:46 pm | Learn Mandarin Chinese, Recommendation Comments Off

My student Ed told me that he has been trying to read e-news off line, but they can be really overwhelming. Here are some sites that I recommend that are more light weight and friendly:


A relatively new site created by the Taiwanese government to promote bilingual education.

Taipei Times- click on the Bilingual Pages on the left.

Taiwan News

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/list_en.php?cate=news_bilingual&title_pic=logo_bilingualnews_2.jpg


This one is published by a radio station rather than news papers.

Secrets of Learning Mandarin

  By Ling Ming | January 20, 2009 - 11:52 am | Learn Mandarin Chinese, SF Mandarin Tutor Comments Off

For the past several years of my tutoring, I have students from 7 to 65 years old, it is always fascinating to find out how differently each of my students feel about learning the language. An extremely rich and sophisticated language, Mandarin has been considered by most people to be the hardest language to learn. A word can have 5 tones, with each meaning 10 different things, let alone the structure of the phrases, is it even possible to learn? 

In my point of view, it is definitely a language that can be challenging to learn, especially at the very beginning. When a person decides to study Mandarin, she is ready to enter a world that’s filled with symbols, signs and images, rather than letters. 
This is a unique trait about Mandarin. I highly recommend people who are considering learning Mandarin to learn the characters. There are plenty of textbooks that have not a single Chinese character in them. If you are learning for a short trip and might not be using it ever again, it make sense to have a quick result. But if you do wish to let it stick to your head, learning the characters is the way to go. 
Ask yourself “why do I want to learn?” and “how much do I want to learn?” Even if you are just learning for pleasure, it helps to be clear about your goals. 
One of the most common things I hear my students say is that: I have no talent in learning a language. Well, it’s true that we all have different talents, and having a talent means certain parts of your brain is fully cultivated. In my opinion, to be good at a language requires the most part of the brain, so sure it can be tough, but isn’t it exciting to to keep your brain active? My student Megan told me that she thinks learning Mandarin keeps her young, I do believe it has a lot to do with her native language being English, and Mandarin is so different from it. Like many people who masters several languages, she said she always try to learn with a child’s perspective, meaning that she just opens up to accept the way a language is, along side with the culture and philosophy that comes with it. I totally agree with her! 
Rules and structures is crucial to study of course, but when you did all your homework, I encourage you to just relax and participate using the language, it creates the best learning environment- even when you are just talking to yourself!

A Great Resource

  By Ling Ming | September 27, 2008 - 6:19 pm | Learn Mandarin Chinese, Recommendation Comments Off

Check out Chinesepod.com for all sorts of fun stuff. Thanks Megan for sharing!

Eight Eight Eight/ Fortune Fortune Fortune

  By Ling Ming | August 12, 2008 - 3:10 am | Learn Mandarin Chinese Comments Off

We all know that China has many many issues, but just by watching how the opening ceremony for the Olympics was designed and orchestrated, we can no longer deny that the time has come for the world to recognize the rising power of the Middle Land.

I was talking with a student of mine and we both agreed that only in a country that has so much population and such centralized power can pull off something like that. “My children were watching it with me” she said, “…and I don’t know if it ever occurred to them that it is truly valuable that they are learning Mandarin right now.” And she has seen a lot being a news anchor for the past twenty years!

People have been coming to me and saying “You must have people lining up to take lessons with you now more than ever!” What they didn’t know is that I actually only recruit and teach a controlled number of students. But I do enjoy the amount of attention the language has been given lately.

Since I was very little, the Taiwanese society or pretty much all of Asia, were obsessed with learning English. Kids from the age of 5 to 18 are forced to go to extensive after school programs to improve their English. Parents pay big money to buy English learning materials and programs for their children, hoping that they will have a better chance in the future. I can not say that whether it will be like this with Mandarin within the next five years, but we all know that this trend is unstoppable. Pretty soon parents are going to feel behind if their kids don’t have some Mandarin abilities.

Growing up in an environment that appreciates Chinese art and culture, I have to say that all this is very delightful. It will be clear for anyone who admires philosophy and beauty that a language with so much history has plenty to offer.

A Great Website

  By Ling Ming | June 28, 2008 - 6:35 pm | Learn Mandarin Chinese, Recommendation Comments Off

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/

It’s an interactive website created by BBC for Chinese learners. There are tone games, seasonal topics, audio tracks and a bunch of other stuff.

To get you started, you can check out those video clips, it’s pretty simple and educational.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/real_chinese/videos/

Recommended Textbook List

  By Ling Ming | June 15, 2008 - 2:30 am | Learn Mandarin Chinese, Recommendation Comments Off

For beginners, a good starter book:

I have been using Practical Audio Visual Chinese for about a year ever since my student Emerald showed it to me. It uses traditional characters, and I love how the book introduce sentence structures. I have used many different textbooks in the past several year, so far this is my favorite. I just realized it is actually edited by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education, isn’t that great? The down side is that it also includes the “be pe me fe” spelling system, which is rarely used anywhere else other than Taiwan, but you can just ignore that since they have Pinyin as well.

Grammatically speaking…

Basic Chinese- A Grammar and Workbook is a really powerful and condense book, so I always highly recommend this one. It is published by Routledge.

For those who don’t want to bother learning the characters…

If you are learning Mandarin because you are threaten by the rising Asian power, but the characters really get on your nerves, don’t worry, Chinese Language Learning for Foreigner is the textbook for you. It’s thin and has zero character in the book. It is entirely composed in English and Pinyin.