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Learning Chinese Languages & Culture |
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Mandarin is the official spoken Chinese language widely used in many Chinese countries. Cantonese is one of the popular spoken Chinese languages. Traditional and Simplified Chinese are two forms of written Chinese. Traditional Chinese is generally used by people from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, regardless of what they speak (Mandarin or Cantonese). Simplified Chinese is generally used by people from China, regardless of what they speak (Mandarin or Cantonese). Currently the most popular children's videos that we have are: Chinese bilingual cartoons and Bilingual Big Lovely Dog. These are children's cartoons on DVDs or VCDs which are bilingual. With the push of a button, the audio can be switched from English to Mandarin Chinese, or vice versa. This is the best and most efficient way for children to learn both languages. Studies show young children, before school age, can learn multiple languages easily as long as they are exposed to them on a regular basis. For example, multiple languages can be used at home, say English by one parent and Mandarin Chinese by another parent. It is nature to hear young children switch from one language to another without hesitation when interact with different parents. Children are drawn to music and stories, At these ages, playing Chinese music or children songs for them will make an great impression for life. I also play Chinese story CDs to my daughter who enjoys the story so much and usually even tell the story details to me after listening. See... it is not hard, kids pick up language easily as long as they are exposed to it on a regular basis. Some parents work during the day and worry about not having enough time to interact with their young children to pass down the Mandarin Chinese heritage. Don't worry. You may play the story CDs while eating dinner and play the song/music CDs while kids are taking baths or riding in the cars with you
School Age Children: When children start to go to school, one language may become the only language used in school. At that time some additional supporting materials may be needed to help retain the fluency of the language which is not used in school. In the United States, bilingual (English/Mandarin Chinese) children would need some video, CDs or books to help them retain good fluency level of Mandarin Chinese. The first child in the family usually can retain more Mandarin Chinese skills as apposed to the second, third or any subsequent children. This is because the first kid usually has more opportunity to use Mandarin Chinese at home after school while interacting with Chinese parents, compared to any subsequent children who most likely interact more with elder siblings after school and hence have less opportunity to practice Mandarin Chinese at home. So supporting materials are more important to help subsequent children to learn Mandarin Chinese. It is very crucial for children to enjoy using supporting materials to learn Mandarin Chinese. With today's fast development of new technology in the entertainment industry, many electronic devices are competing for our children's attention. At the same time the technology can also make learning a language interesting. It seems materials with both audio and visual are the best to capture children's attention. There are some children's cartoons on DVDs or VCDs which are bilingual. with the push of a button, the audio can be switched from English to Mandarin Chinese, or vice versa. This so far is the best and most efficient way for children to learn both languages. It is amazing how much children can pick up while watching these kind of bilingual cartons. You may find many selections of bilingual children's movies or cartons at: Chinese Children Videos. These materials are great for kids from 3 ~9 years old.
Older Children: As children grow older, say from 9~14 years old, another type of materials become more effective. Usually age 9~14 kids may have out grown the cartoons movies. At this time Chinese TV Dramas can help a lot for their age levels because the story's pace is slow so that it is easier for children to follow and understand, as opposed to watching some commercial Mandarin Chinese movies which usually are fast pace and last only about an hour and half and finished. Quite often children are not sure what just happened in commercial movies and lose interest very quickly. Chinese TV Dramas however can serve many Chinese children much better by having many disks about one single interesting story. Many of us may think watching Chinese TV dramas is just what adults enjoy. To the contrary, my daughter picked up a lot of Mandarin Chinese by watching Mandarin TV Dramas with me. Usually, one movie usually lasts only 90 minutes for one story which flashes by very quickly. Children may not get much out of it. However, Chinese TV Dramas have many episodes about just one story, proceeding with a slower pace which is exactly what is needed by children who want to learn Mandarin Chinese. Some great selections of Chinese TV Dramas can be found at: Chinese TV dramas
What is Pinyin? Pinyin is a Romanization system used to learn how to speak in Mandarin. It transcribes the sounds of Mandarin using the western (Roman) alphabet. Pinyin is most commonly used in Mainland China for teaching school children to speak and read. It is also widely used in teaching materials designed for Westerners who wish to learn Mandarin. Pinyin system was developed in the 1950’s in Mainland China and is now the official Chinese phonetic system of China, Singapore, the US Library of Congress, and the American Library Association. Library standards allow for easier access to documents by making it easier to locate Chinese language materials. Hanyu Pinyin (Roman Pinyin) will show children how to pronounce Chinese words. Writing Chinese Characters is demonstrated stroke by stroke in many of our products. It is very easy for non-Mandarin speakers to say Mandarin by looking at the Pinyin. Hence if parents do not speak Mandarin, they can still read Chinese story books to their children in Mandarin if the books are printed with Pinyin next to Chinese characters.
It is fun to learn Chinese Character Brush Calligraphy. People believe it an art to use a brush and black ink to draw the beautiful Chinese characters. There is no more joy to see how Chinese words can be so artistic. We have a great book to show you how Chinese Calligraphy can be done: Chinese Calligraphy writing. |
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We have many Chinese books and audio/video products designed to help people in the world learn Chinese Mandarin/Cantonese and Chinese Culture. People such as American born Chinese, Chinese children adopted by English speaking families, or simply any individual who wants to learn Chinese language or culture, can get great help from the products we offer. Most of our products are geared toward children. We also have some bilingual DVD’s for adult. We are a place for children's education, entertainment, inspiration and teaching.
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