I like Chinese Sing Along....Wo Ai Zhongguo Ren....

I have always liked this video and oldy but a goody....I also wish I could learn more Chinese....but instead, I make excuses and spend my time doing this WoW Laolongwang

Should more Australian pupils be learning Mandarin?

Should more UK Australian pupils be learning Mandarin?

I was really inspired to see this news item about dedicated students learning Chinese in England. There wasn't anything really new or outstanding about a small group of  enthusiastic students learning Mandarin.  I am sure there may be a similar project in Oz, though I have never heard of one. 

It is a pity that the majority Australian parents and students do see language learning as important.  Still it is good to know that some people (like the students and teachers in the video) do see Chinese as important to the future.

What do you think?

Should more UK pupils be learning Mandarin?

春节快到了 Chūnjié kuài dàole Chinese New Year is coming #6

Wǒ de shǔxiàng shì lóng.
你 的 属相 是龙。
Nǐ shǔ shénme?
你  属      什么？  
Wǒ shǔ niú.
我   属   牛。 
My Chinese zodiac animal sign is the dragon.
What is your Chinese zodiac animal sign?
My Chinese zodiac sign is the ox.

Now here is something you don’t see everyday…South Park theme in Mandarin

South Park Intro in Mandarin with Subtitles

South Park Intro. in Mandarin  with Subtitles
By the way South Park comes with a warning before each episode as follows;

For those who don’t know South Park….here is the original intro.

South Park Original Theme

South Park is too rude for me to watch…but I like the theme song by Primus.

Anki, Quizlet and Skritter

 
I have used Anki, Quizlet and Skritter.

Quizlet is mostly free...a paid subscription will allow you to organise groups if you have classes to teach and add pictures to the cards. There are also games in Quizlet which I enjoy too. I have used Quizlet yet it does not have spaced repetition...however it is much more fun than Anki.

Anki is fine but not as user friendly as the other two. As it is mostly free and works across platforms. It has a very large following, but usually people love it or hate it. I fit into the later category  for me it is just too much work to set up.

Personally much prefer Skritter. I have been using Skritter for about half a year now.  Skritter does have spaced repetition, allows you to learn stroke order, tones, definitions and pinyin.  Lots of fun as it has a gamification feel to the learning. You also get lots of progress reports for your learning. I bought a Wacom tablet in July this year so I could write with a stylus rather than a mouse. This helped improved my writing of hanzi significantly. Skritter for me was the program that made hanzi learning very enjoyable indeed.
Both Skritter and Quizlet are also available as Apps for iPhone and iPad. Slightly different interfaces, but have the advantage of learn anywhere.

我们爱长江 – We Love the Yangtze

In the last quarter of the last century when I was in my teens, I was a very big fan of Monty Python. On one of the albums was a song that called ‘We Love the Yangtze’, which I knew by heart. At that time I had no idea what the Yangtze was, where it is. Nor did I understand the mash up comedy that the Pythons were singing. The sketch is about Yangtze river, fish, poetry , football goalies and football barracking songs.  However, I liked Monty Python and would sing along.

So imagine my surprise when I found 长江 Cháng Jiāng (Yangtze river) in my vocabulary list for NPCR Lesson 31 new words list. 

The sketch was from the record album “Monty Python’s Previous Record” 1972.

Even better a quick visit to YouTube to find this.

Monty Python–We Love the Yangtze

Found a transcript of the sketch

Narrator[Terry Jones]:Yangtze Kiang. The Great Yellow River which from time in memorial has fascinated and tantalized the hearts and minds of men from all corners of the earth. Bob Wilson, Arsenal.

Bob[Graham Chapman]: A Wondrous river. Broad banks are swelling, home to a race of fish.

Narrator: Peter Shilton, Leicester.

Shilton[Eric Idle]:O Yangtze. O Yangtze, Beautiful river. River full of fish.

Narrator: Sprake, Leeds-united.

Spake [John Cleese]:Yangtze Kiang, river of the eastern dream. Teeming with carp and trout and perch and bream.

Narrator: Why is it that so many of Britain’s top goalies feel moved to by the river Yangtze. Brian Clough.

Craft [Eric Idle]: Well, I must remember, David, that these goalies, especially Wilson, and on occasion, Gordon West of Everton, are the romantics, the dreamers. The Yangtze is symbol for them, for them it’s a box, David, a temple is far as a spiritual a continuity.

Narrator: Bill Shaklee.

Shaklee [Michael Palin]: Och, it’s a river of many moods. To young goalie like a Peter Stilton, Yangtze is a beautiful river. To more seasoned goalie like Phil Parkes of Wolves, Yangtze a river bring me to of dissolution of disillusioned ambition.

I did a quick search for the lyrics…I hadn’t forgotten them honestly.

We love the Yangtze, Yangtze-Kiang,
Flowing from Yushu down to Ching-Kiang,
Passing through Chung King, Wuhan and Hoo-Kow
Three thousand miles, but it gets there somehow.
Oh! Szechuan's the province and Shanghai is the port,
And the Yangtze is the river that we all support.
We love the Yangtze, Yangtze-Kiang,
Flowing from Yushu down to Ching-Kiang,
Passing through Chung King, Wuhan and Hoo-Kow
Three thousand miles, but it gets there somehow.
Oh! Szechuan's the province and Shanghai is the port,
And the Yangtze is the river that we all support.
[clapping]
Yangtze!
[clapping]
Yangtze!
Now everyone in the early part of the 21st C can enjoy “We Love the Yangtze”.
 

But wait there’s more

I think some of the Killer Facts in this sketch are wrong.
Some of the geography in the song must be wrong.
So now I know where the Yangtze river is

Coming soon a post titled 我爱中国人。。。

I love a good Language Infographic

A collection of Language Infographics. I like to read these, though some are inaccurate. I suppose if you get some statistics and present them in a colourful and attractive way it makes and interesting read. Though I think you can emphasise and highlight some things with a clever graphic representation. Still I enjoy reading them.

Some of these I have found and blogged before...others I found on Pinterest (a pictorial aggregator / semi social networking site), for compiling some of the Language Infographics.  You may find the other things on the board interesting too.  You might find a Chinese Mandarin Learner board there too. 

Are Australians too slow to understand others?

Quite a mixed bag of language related stories this week. All saying much the same thing. It seems that government is good at producing reports about learning languages and the media is good at reporting the same information in a slightly different way. 

"The pledge from Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in his Budget reply speech last month to lift the study of foreign languages dramatically, particularly Asian languages.

He said exposure to foreign languages should begin at preschool. And he committed to having at least 40 per cent of Australian Year 12 students taking a language other than English within a decade if he wins government."

Only 12% of Australian students study a language.  Australia Education is one of the worst in the world at teaching schoolchildren second languages. We are far worse than European or Asian countries.


There is a popular argument that our students must learn to speak and write English first before starting a foreign language. Research has found that second language learning can enhance skills in their first language.


Language teaching requires specialist teachers.  To achieve Mr Abbot's universities need to train a new generation of language teachers. Australia is not isolated from the rest of the world, we need to do more than talk about language learning.


Australians too slow to understand others

Right now Australia has approximately 6700 language teachers in secondary schools. A recent survey was intended to show if there were language teacher shortages. Questions have been asked in parliament about the current supply of language teachers, the past supply of language teachers and Tony Abbott's promise of language teaching in the future. 

Dilemmas of language teacher supply

Under a Coalition Government the following would happen;

"If elected, the Coalition says it would work "urgently'' with the states to make sure at least 40 per cent of Year 12 students take a language within a decade. The proportion doing so now is about 12 per cent; about 6 per cent study one of the four Asian languages."

 Our current Federal Government has recently done the following;

"Last week school education minister Peter Garrett announced funding of $870,000 for the Asia Education Foundation to help put into practice Asian literacy elements of the national curriculum."

Bernard Lane explains why Australia's tertiary institutes are falling behind with their foreign language policies.  Australia's Language Problem Video 

Highlights include;

• 60 or more reports of past years about language learning in Australian education.
• Policies keep chopping and changing
• Australian students do poorly in learning languages
• 12% Year 12 students are currently learning a language other than English
• Only 6% are currently learning an Asian priority language, Chinese Mandarin, Japanese, Korean and Indonesian
• Only 3% of year 12 students are learning Chinese Mandarin
• Of that 90% of those learning Chinese Mandarin are of a Chinese heritage background
• Mandarin hardly exists as a mainstream language in Australian education
• Mixed messages are being received by parents and students
• It is important to learn a language, however in schools language learning is not taken seriously.  This is confusing everyone.
• Language teachers are often running part-time language programs across different schools
• Streaming is a problem
• Students learning Chinese are often discouraged by competing with Chinese heritage speakers
• A profound cultural change is necessary to improve current language teaching

When will serious teaching of Asian languages in Australian schools happen?

What Africa can learn from China

Meanwhile in Africa...

“As one of three African countries attracting the most Chinese investment‚ South Africa is extremely privileged‚” he says. “Apart from the trading and investment potential of our relationship with China‚ we have the opportunity to learn first-hand from its success story.”

This article outlines how China had a small insular economy and has now risen to a new world power.  African nations can learn from how China boomed.

1. Chinese take long term views, setting goals and objectives that may take decades to achieve.
2. They do a lot of background work before making decisions.
3. Chinese take pragmatic but ideologically difficult decisions.

More here  What Africa can learn from China

Why study Chinese?

Why study Chinese?

Chinese Indonesians come full circle

Meanwhile in Indonesia....

Chinese Indonesians come full circle

It is incredible to think that Chinese language was banned discouraged  from 1967–1998 in Indonesia. Expressions of Chinese culture through language, religion, and traditional festivals were banned.

 "The Soeharto regime urged citizens of Chinese descent to take on Indonesian names to prove their loyalty, closed Chinese schools and imposed curbs on celebrating the culture and the learning of Mandarin.

It was only three decades later, following the riots that toppled President Suharto, that these policies were reversed.

Fourteen years on, many Chinese Indonesians are using Mandarin names and learning the language. Chinese schools, newspapers and community organizations are flourishing once more."

Chinese Indonesians come full circle

Vietnam to hire more Taiwanese teachers as interest in Mandarin grows - CNA ENGLISH NEWS

Meanwhile in Vietnam....

Vietnam to hire more Taiwanese teachers as interest in Mandarin grows

Is Sydney doing enough to attract Chinese tourists?

It seems that some in the tourism industry are preparing and encouraging Chinese tourism and business tours by having staff learn Chinese language and culture.   Is it worthwhile doing this? It is!

"...events estimated to be worth more than $90 million to the NSW economy. These events will attract about 18,500 visitors who will spend a combined 91,700 days in Sydney. About one in three of the events is from China."

"Sydney's events and tourism industry is making efforts to become ''China ready''. An increasing number of hotels, attractions and suppliers are providing Chinese language or cultural study lessons for staff, integrating Chinese language tours into their programs and rethinking menu and media options."

"On the supply side, we are working closely with industry partners to improve cultural awareness, language skills and support to service visitors' needs better."

Is Sydney doing enough to attract Chinese tourists?

Learning Chinese Will Never Be the Same: Discovering Chinese on the iPad - Houston Chronicle

Learning Chinese Will Never Be the Same: Discovering Chinese on the iPad 

 "Better Chinese, LLC launches Discovering Chinese – iPad Edition to help students conquer the challenges of learning Chinese. Targeted at middle school and high school students, Discovering Chinese combines a popular, state-adopted curriculum with the advantages of the iPad platform to create a revolutionary language-learning environment."

Separable disyllabic verbs 离合词

Apparently some verbs can be split. These are Verb + Object structures.  In English some phrasal verbs can also be split. Some English phrasal verbs.

I looked up the number in the phone book.
I looked the number up in the phone book.

游泳 yóuyǒng ( to swim)
化妆 huàzhuāng (to put on make-up)
排队 páiduì (to line up)
过期 guòqí (to be overdue)
罚款 fákuǎn (to fine)
打的 dǎ di   (to take a taxi)
开车 kāichē, (to drive)
住院 zhùyuàn (to go to hospital)
看病 kànbìng (to see a doctor)
发烧 fāshāo (to have a fever)
上课 shàngkè (to begin class)
开学 kāixué (to start a new school term)
睡觉 shuìjiào (to sleep)
起床 qǐchuáng (to  get up)
吃饭 chīfàn (to eat)
聊天        liáotiān    (to chat)

from New Practical Chinese Reader: Textbook Vol.3  page 16-17.

我想在咖啡馆聊天。Wǒ xiǎng zài kāfēi guǎn liáotiān. I would like to chat in the coffee shop.

我想在咖啡馆聊一会儿天。Wǒ xiǎng zài kāfēi guǎn liáo yīhuǐer tiān.  I would like to chat for a little while in the coffee shop.

她说话。 Tā shuōhuà. She talked.

她说了很长时间的话。 Tā shuō le hěn cháng shíjiān de huà。She talked for a long time.

More examples from;

 

离合词 separable disyllabic verbs a copy from New Practical Chinese Reader: Textbook Vol.3  page 16-17.

Excellent explanations and examples on Chinese Grammar Wiki Separable verb and a very extensive list List of separable verbs

MP Urges Schools To Teach Chinese

Meanwhile in New Zealand 

MP Urges Schools To Teach Chinese.

Quotes from the article.

"...schools need to "look to the future" and offer courses in Chinese as a way of boosting trade with China..."

"It is out of step that Nelson, with such a strong exporting and visitor industry, is not looking to the future and investing in Chinese language skills,"

"The economic benefit is that it [promotes] creativity and problem-solving. All those brain features are massively advantaged if you've learnt a second language."

"We have tried to promote the language and the culture through initiatives with the Confucius Society. The benefits and potential opportunities seem obvious, but parents and students seem reluctant to embrace the language."

"If we could encourage 20 students, even across a range of year levels, we would run the programme tomorrow."

Read more -->  MP Urges Schools To Teach Chinese

Difficult Chinese

Difficult Chinese

Three sites discussing the difficulty of learning Chinese. This is probably something I should not be reading right now. In one month I will have my CHIN201 exam.  My Uni. has switched to trimesters. One of the changes is that there is no 'study week', the semester ends and exams begin. So the pressure is on to 天天学中文。(study Chinese daily).

For the time being I shall not concern myself with how difficult learning Chinese is or is not.

How difficult is Chinese?

Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard
How difficult is it to learn Chinese?

Why Languages Can Make Us Smarter, Safer, and Better Looking - Global Learning - Education Week

Some important issues are discussed in the Why Languages Can Make Us Smarter, Safer, and Better Looking  from Global Learning blog.

There are two basic arguments for second language learning;


One; learning a language is good for national security and economic competitiveness (this argument is a good one for politicians and business leaders)

"this can make our nation stronger"

Two; learning a language  is good for cognitive and cultural benefits (good for those in the arts and education business and parents)

"this can make my kid smarter"

Both arguments have received media attention in the USA. There seems to be much recent research about learning the language in the early years of school (the earlier the better). It is believed that starting language learning in middle school and high school is too late and not so beneficial. 

Read more details here;  Why Languages Can Make Us Smarter, Safer, and Better Looking 

Chinese language learning in Ireland and Indonesia

Meanwhile in Ireland

"A growing number of Irish school students are expected to learn about Chinese culture and language as a result of a new programme that has been developed for Transition Year students."

New Transition Year course in Chinese culture and language 

Chinese culture and language course for Transition Year students

Chinese class will spread to 50 schools
Meanwhile in Indonesia

"Indonesians are going mad for Mandarin in record numbers as they look to give their careers a boost by taking advantage of China’s growing economic influence and its improved ties..."

Chinese language is playing a significant role in building business relations not only between the two nations (China and Indonesia), but also among business around Asia.

Chinese Challenge: More Indonesians Learning Mandarin

'via Blog this'