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At TouchChinese, we specialize in bringing the full classroom experience into your living room. Your online Chinese tutor sessions allow you to practice asking questions, talking your way through everyday situations and using the vocabulary and grammar you learn with real-life teachers you can trust. This helps build your confidence in speaking Chinese.

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I`m also a language learner. I`ve learned French, Spanish, and some Japanese. Then I touched on Chinese finally, which we thought to be one of the most difficult languages in the world. But actually, after more than two years in the learning process, I found that Mandarin Chinese is really not so complicated to master.

At first, don`t imagine that you are facing a monster in front of you. Once you try to understand and immerse yourself in it, you will speak it naturally and fluently to some degree. Always remember, language is just a tool for communication. Why can`t you use it?

Chinese is also quite different from English and many other Roman-letter languages. There are pronunciation and character parts. One character stands for one exact pronunciation (some of the characters include more than one pronunciation). So to learn Mandarin Chinese, you need to first lay the foundation of the pronunciation, which is called the pinyin system. Then, developing your language sense, try to turn your brain to a Chinese channel and think in a Chinese way.

1. Pronunciation

Learning the pinyin system can prove invaluable if you intend to type in Chinese on a Western keyboard.Chinese is a tonal language. If you speak with a wrong tone, then perhaps you’ll make a huge mistake and be misunderstood. During the foundation period, focus on pinyin syllables and tones, or in the future, you`ll be corrected in your pronunciation all the time.

When practicing the tones, wave your hands like the tone mark trends. The first tone is very high and level. The second tone is a rising tone, from bottom to top. The third tone is first falling down, then rising (attention: You need to pronounce a full tone but a lazy pronunciation). The fourth is a totally falling tone.
Practicing with a mirror is also a recommended way, so that you can imitate the mouth shape and tongue position.

2. Chinese Characters

In Chinese characters, you can find lots of Chinese culture and history surprisingly!
Decide whether you are going to learn traditional or simplified Chinese characters.
Traditional Chinese is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Simplified Chinese is used in mainland China and Singapore. According to your own need and situation, you can choose which one to learn. Once you decide, just keep learning, don`t change all the time. It is possible to learn both, but as a beginner you should stick to one system to avoid confusion.

Learn simple Mandarin Chinese characters first; these are most likely the “radicals” that use their meaning and pronunciation to give hints in complex characters.
Chinese is a very analytic language. This means that words, unlike German and sometimes English, for example, will not change for different cases, gender, etc. In fact, every “word” is a single syllable, sometimes combining themselves next to each other to make “compound words”.

3. Keep practicing

One learning language key is: persisting!

Half-hearted effort can`t obtain anything, particularly language. We keep forgetting all the new words and patterns. Only if we practice continuously, those tough things can be kept in mind deeply. Using your spare time, even just 15 minutes once a day is better than three hours in one week. Don’t skip a day or a few weeks just because you don’t have time. You’ll forget everything and have to start from the beginning.
If you think you grasp a lot, be sure not to just stop reviewing and studying it. You will forget what you have learned. How frustrating will it be to have to relearn things over and over because you don’t study at least four times a week.

4. Make your own language environment

Find opportunities to speak it. When you see something, just try to translate it into Chinese. If you can`t, then take a note and when you return home, check and remember it!Become language buddies with non-English speakers who are learning Chinese. No matter if it’s on the Internet or offline, find some Chinese learners to be your partners! Communicating with learners can reduce your nerve. You can also discuss how to learn mandarin with each other.Live in China a while, but don’t immerse yourself in English-speaking expat circles. Some international big cities like Shanghai are not that good as so many people are able and pleased to speak English.

5. Tools

There are a lot of very good free ebooks/videos/software on the Internet. You can download some and see which one is more suitable for you. Next time I will recommend some of them. Flashcards are very useful for learning new vocabulary, but it is equally important to practice using new words in sentences.

6. Using extra help

If you can, taking at least an introductory course on Mandarin at your school or local college can be an excellent way to be confident and accurate in your pronunciation and tones. Getting the basics down can help you have a good springboard for further studies on your own. Preferably make sure the course is conducted in Mandarin and *not* in English.

Some one-on-one in Chinese class is necessary, particularly in some certain levels. Maybe you need some specific and professional opinions and ways with native Chinese teachers to help you get through the difficulties.Music/movies/TV shows are also excellent ways to build your own Chinese environment.Follow a Chinese TV show you like, or listen to Chinese music, just like the very popular Chinese cartoon Xǐ Yáng Yáng yǔ Huī Tài Láng (“Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf”). It`s very interesting and simple for us.

7. Set a goal

Sometimes you need a certain goal to go faster and longer. No matter if you’re traveling in China, having a date with someone, or applying at universities or for jobs, you just need a plan to achieve that goal. Of course, examinations are also a very good goal to guide you how to learn Mandarin very well.

For example,to take the HSK, a standardized Mandarin exam for non-native speakers.The Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì (HSK) is a Mandarin proficiency exam administered in China and abroad. There are six possible levels of achievement, the most elementary testing you on 150 words, and the most advanced testing your knowledge of up to 5000 words. The exam tests your listening, reading, comprehension, and composition skills. The cost depends on your level. The spoken part of the exam is separate.

Finally reaching the peak of Mount Zhumulangma will be a matter of lifelong pride to you. Learning a language is also this kind of process. Then there are my experience about how to learn Mandarin. What`s yours?

At TouchChinese we offer you online business Chinese courses that specifically focus on helping you build and improve your professional Chinese skills. Over the years we have helped hundreds of corporate clients with their staff’s Chinese training needs. This has provided us with a lot of valuable insight to make sure our business Chinese courses reflect the needs of the market.

These courses are available to anyone who chooses to study with an TouchChinese Private Teacher. Together with our native teacher you will get a business Chinese course that focuses specifically on your needs in order to meet your business Chinese goals.

Simple Way To Learn Business Chinese

Do you still not find the appropriate time to learn Chinese ?
TouchChinese provides an excellent way to learn business Chinese course to follow your tight schedule.

Our lessons are conducted live using Video Instant Messengers such as Skype. It is a great way to learn business Chinese with native-Chinese teachers wherever you are. You can actually see and talk with your Chinese teachers (not pre-recorded)! Our Live online business Chinese course allows individuals to reduce costs and time with the benefit of receiving the best tailor made Mandarin Chinese training service.

Benefits of Learning Business Chinese Online with TouchChinese

• Learn business Chinese course from your desk; no wasted time or money traveling to an outside training location.
• Learn Business Chinese to meet your business needs based on your own level, pace and style.
• Better understanding of Chinese business culture to help integrate into the Chinese sociality
• Highly trained tutors with extensive experience teaching Chinese as a Second Language to all levels and backgrounds.
• The lessons can be recorded and archived for you.
• Competitive pricing for 1 to 1 training

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TouchChinese can help you and your children with customized online Chinese lessons for kids, either totally beginner or advanced learner.

Simple Way To Learn Chinese For Kids

The younger your kid starts to learn Chinese, the easier it is to master the language. Our live online kids Chinese courses can help children (K-12) learn Chinese via playing games and discussing topics. We develop a personalized study plan and the Mandarin Chinese lessons for kids based on each child’s learning style and pace. We teach kids practical skills that are most useful in daily life. Moreover, we offer a variety of interesting topics that makes learning Chinese effective and fun! Learning Chinese lessons for kids at TouchChinese can be one of the best investments you make in your children’s future.

You and your children can actually see and talk with our Chinese teachers. Our kids Chinese lessons are conducted live using Video Instant Messengers such as Skype. It is a great way to learn Chinese for kids with native-Chinese teachers wherever you are. You just need the latest version of Skype (Free), an Internet connection and a headset.

Why Choose Our Chinese lessons For kids

Flexibility and Convenience

Arrange lessons that fit your own schedule and learn Chinese wherever is most convenient for your kids, without have to leave home.

One-on-one Chinese Learning

Learn Mandarin Chinese based on your children’s level, pace and style. If you have any specific request(like help with homework, prepare for a test), we will try best to meet you.

To Build Up Confidence For Kids

Young children want to communicate immediately in Chinese and are frustrated that they can’t say what they want. TouchChinese give them the opportunity to feel that from the first sessions they can ‘say a lot of Chinese and say it quickly just like adults’. Deep satisfaction that motivates does not come from having fun playing games in Chinese, but from persisting until a defined task, like know how to say “Ni hao” (means hello in Chinese), is successfully completed.

Professional Chinese Teachers

All of our teachers are experienced with teaching for kids and have received professional training in “Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.”

Sign up a free Chinese lesson for your kids – The best way to know how our service exactly works and what is the best for your kids .

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As anybody who has ever learnt in Chinese curriculum understands, it isn’t an simple language to study. Chinese is really a tonal language rich in sounds which are complicated to grasp. Also increase the situation hundreds of pictographic words which can’t be deciphered phonetically and you’ve a menu for disappointment. So perhaps which is why many Chinese curriculum in China choose to concentrate only on what students require  to go away the HSK test, namely, reading and writing.  Even though reading and writing Chinese are essential, we have observed that westerners, at least in the beginning, frequently choose a extra natural study way that concentrates on listening and speaking in order that they can study to talk as rapidly as possible. Obviously, since you get further in your studies writing and reading become  much more significant as you wish to be well-rounded and fully efficient in Chinese.

Made Your Chinese Curriculum Easier

At Touchchinese we use “Conversional Chinese 301″ as one of our core texts for foundation-level to intermediate level students. “Conversional Chinese 301″ was written specifically for western learners and it introduces Chinese characters at a much a lot more controllable fee than other Chinese language text books. Here we also will provide the E-book for you in Chinese Curriculum.

Supplemental Materials In Chinese Curriculum

Not only will you get to use exclusive textbooks in our core classes, but in our listening, salon, movie, culture, and activity classes you will be exposed to updated and diverse materials, including discussion books, TV shows, movies, games, and group activities. As a student at Touchchinese your course topics will be relevant, interactive, and fresh each class. Touchchinese also offers a lot of additional resources for students studying Chinese outside of class. We have accessible Mandarin dictionaries, software, flash cards, audio and video files, and Chinese TV shows and movies.

Here is our various Chinese course for you, all lessons will be taken online, simple and easy way.

Custom-made Chinese Course

Survival Chinese Course

General Chinese Course

Business Chinese Course

Kids Chinese Course

Travel Chinese Course

The first point that you have to concentrate is to listen well how words are pronounced with matching Chinese tones. Tone is used in the Mandarin Chinese language to express the attitude or emotions of the speaker. You’ll realize if somebody says something, declaration or command via the tones. Mandarin language uses four tones to convey the meaning of the words and Tones directly affect the meanings. We sugget the beginners when listen to audio Mandarin lessons, listen carefully and then repeatedly say Mandarin syllables until you have got the accurate pronunciation.

Here is an example to explain: why tones are so important .

Once get used you to the pronunciation and tones, you can start to learn to speak Mandarin conversation including common phrases , greetings , basic introductions,etc. To keep in mind, The most important is not only study language , live it !!

If you are still confused how to start your Mandarin Chinese learning, why not let a native speaking Chinese tutor help you ? Fortunatelly, you can learn to speak Mandarin with experienced Chinese tutor from TouchChinese at your home or offce, just only access to internet. To sign up now, you will get one live 1-on-1 free class with native tutor  !

]]> http://www.touchchinese.com/news/learn-to-speak-mandarin-guide-for-beginners.html/feed 4 http://www.touchchinese.com/resources/learn-chinese-pronunciation.html http://www.touchchinese.com/resources/learn-chinese-pronunciation.html#comments Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:51:03 +0000 admin http://www.touchchinese.com/?p=460 Why Learn Chinese Pronunciation?Why would one want to do so much for correct pronunciation of Chinese?

There are several factors to consider for learning Chinese pronunciation. Maybe the most important reason would be that the native Chinese speakers appreciate correct pronunciation far more than correct grammar. That is quite reasonable, just consider what the benefit of having perfectly correct grammar is, if none of the words are understood.

Second, if you get the Mandarin pronunciation wrong from the beginning, it will be a lot harder to correct later. What adds to that point, is the fact that learning Chinese pronunciation does have a few similarities with English, but it does also have quite a few difficult differences.

The third reason is a bit softer, but not to be neglected though. When you have good Chinese pronunciation, the Chinese will commend you for speaking their language very clearly and being easy to understand, adding to your self-confidence, and encouraging you to continue extending your vocabulary and knowledge of grammar.

Chinese is a tonal language. Tones are the changes of the pitch in pronunciation of a syllable. There are 4 tones in Mandarin Chinese. Each Chinese word (character) carries a tone. Different tones carry different meanings.

Click on the Pinyin in the table below you will hear different tones.

Will your children be ready to meet and compete with the new kids on the block? To address this issue, many elementary schools throughout the U.S. have initiated programs with Mandarin Chinese for kids which helping children learn Mandarin Chinese to prepare for the world that awaits them. Compared to ten years ago, there are now three times as many Chinese language programs in the country, with up to 50 thousand children recruited in Chinese classes in elementary and secondary school, according to published reports.

Improved mental ability. Studies show that kids who are fluent in two or more languages, usually are more skilled in looking for different ways to solve problems. Since Chinese is a language that sounds way different from English, being proficient in both languages will trigger more mental associations whenever one word or phrase is thought over. Who knew learning Chinese can make people smarter?

Sensitivity to different cultures. Kids who know other languages are better able to identify with children of other races and cultures, but more especially so when the person comes from the country that the child knows the language of. Making friends with people of other cultures helps make children aware of respecting diversity. They are also able to communicate with other children and this opens their eyes to the situation of children with different backgrounds.

But… What if the school doesn’t offer Mandarin Chinese for kids?

Despite the increased popularity of making Chinese programs available for kids, many schools are either unable or unwilling to embrace a new language curriculum. Often, school systems struggle to financially support preexisting linguistic programs, much less introduce new ones like helping children learn Mandarin Chinese.

Finding qualified personnel can also be an issue. The No Child Left Behind Act requires that public school teachers be certified by an American university. Though Chinese native instructors might seem a logical choice, they cannot teach Chinese for kids in a public school without specific (and costly) accreditation.Many parents have turned to after-school tutors. Others have discovered multimedia immersion programs for children that can be used at home. Take Online 1 on 1 Chinese lessons – Kids Chinese course is also an excellent chance,Flexible,Convenient,Interesting….

Here the parents can simply choose two steps to guide your kids into interesting Chinese language world.

1. Take online lesson with native teacher, get professional guide for kids  at beginning ,  Free trial now !

2.Take practice through excellent software, Click Here!

Chinese Pinyin is a Roman-letter based system that China now uses to mark the pronunciation of Chinese characters. With four tones and pinyin, any Chinese characters can be pronounced precisely. In many cases, Pinyin is quite intuitive to English speakers with only a few exceptions. However, it can be a twist to render Pinyin in four tones for people who just start.

Pinyin is made up of 2 tables: vowel table and consonant table

Pinyin – Vowels

As you can see, most vowels are simply a combination of the 6 major vowels in the first row, which is obviously the most important part, and some special consonants.

How can you remember all this?  We are putting all these into English words with virtually the same sound for you to learn and remember in an easier way.

*Note: letters in the following explanation in “…” are pronounced as in English, and those in ‘… ‘ are pronounced in Pinyin.  Also, all samples are delivered in 4 tones.

a – as the vowel in “star” without the “r” sound

o  – as the vowel in “law”

e – as the vowel in “stir”

i – as the vowel in “bit”

u – as the vowel in “food”

ϋ – as “y” in “yellow” followed by the ‘u’ above

ai – as the vowel in “bike”

ei – as the vowel in “lake”

ui – combination of ‘u’ and ‘i’, the same as word “we” in English

ao – as the vowel in “loud”

ou – as the vowel in “flow”

iu – combination of ‘i’ and ‘u’, the same as word “yew” in English

ie – combination of ‘i’ and ‘e’, as the vowel in “sierra”

ue – combination of ‘u’ and ‘e’, as the vowel in “buena”

er – combination of ‘e’ and ‘r’, as the vowel in “early”

an – as the vowel in “anchor”:

en – as the word “earn” without the “r” sound:

in – as in the word “inn”

un – as in the word “one”:

ϋn – as “y” in “yellow” followed by the English word “one”

ang – as the word “long”

eng – as the vowel in “lung”

ing – as the vowel in “England”

ong – as ‘u’ followed by the ‘ng’ as above:

Consonant Table:

For consonants, we also  put all these into English words with the same sound for you to learn and remember in an easier way.

*Note: We pronounce these consonants followed by some vowels that can help deliver the sound more clearly.  Letters in the following explanation in “…” are pronounced as in English, and those in ‘… ‘ are pronounced in Pinyin.

b – as the “b” in “book”

p – as the “p” in “pool”

m – as the “m” in “moon”

f – as the “f” in “food”

d – as the “d” in “door”

t – as the “t” in “tom”

n – as the “n” in “no”

l – as the “l” in “love”

g – as the “g” in good”

k – as the “k” in “kill”

h- as the “h” in “high”

j- as the “j” in “jeep”

q- as the “ch” in “cheese”

x- as the “sh” in “sharp”

z- as the “z” in “zero”

c- as the “ts” in “tsunami”

s- as the “s” in “sun”

r- as the “r” in “red”

zh- start with ‘j’ in “jeep”, but then end smoothly with “r” sound. The first 2 sounds in the sample voice show such move.

ch- start with ‘q’ in “cheese”, but then end smoothly with “r” sound. The first 2 sounds in the sample voice show such move.

sh – start with ‘x’ in “sharp”, but then end smoothly with “r” sound. The first 2 sounds in the sample voice show such move.

( ‘zh, ch, sh’ are similar to, but strictly different from ‘j, q, x’ respectively. However, mixing them is not a too big problem for you to be understood in China.)

y- as the “y” in “yes”

w- as the “w” in “wood”

World Expo 2010 Shanghai China will be a great event to explore the full potentials of urban life; it will be centered on innovation and interaction; it will also offer a wonderful opportunity for cross-culture dialogues.There is no doubt the Chinese people will present to the world a successful, splendid and unforgettable exposition.

Expo Shanghai Date: May 1st, 2010 to October 31st Location: Nanpu Bridge – Lupu Bridge region along both sides of the Huangpu River Theme: Better City, Better Life.

Expo Shanghai Sub-themes: Blending of diverse cultures in the city, Economic prosperity in the city, Innovation of science and technology in the city, Remodeling of communities in the city, Rural-urban Interaction.

Expo Shanghai Goal: To attract the participation of 200 countries and international organizations and 70 million visitors

Expo Shanghai Ticket: The Expo tickets will be available for purchase either during the Expo session or in advance, when tickets are purchased in advance, there are 3 different pre-sale phases available.

Official Language(Mandarin Chinese): If you are planning to come to China and attending 2010 World Expo Shanghai, it is necessary to get more or less Survival Chinese or Travel Chinese skill.

Pavilion Showcase:

China Pavilion

Australia Pavilion

Dutch Pavilion

Japan Pavilion

France Pavilion

Nepal pavilion

Russia Pavilion

Singapore Pavilion

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