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Thread: Learning to read and write Chinese

  1. #1
    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    Default Learning to read and write Chinese

    Does anyone from Kuala Lumpur know of any good centres where I can take up proper Chinese classes in which I can learn to read and write Chinese?

    On top of that, are there any good online resources for learning to read and write Chinese? Like starting with "one" and ending with a horrible complicated word ...


    Thanks


    Ian

  2. #2
    Senior Member Han Solo's Avatar
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    Hi Ian,

    I thought you know mandarin- seeing that you translated the first chapter of Xia Ke Xing.

    I don't know about KL, but there are some online resources in this thread.
    http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=23450

    Just promise me that you will translate more in the future when you are all fluent with mandarin.

    Han Solo
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    Quote Originally Posted by bliss
    I think they're probably at the same level as or one level below Ah Qing, which is about the level of a 2nd or 3rd generation Quan Zhen disciple.
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    Senior Member Trinie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Han Solo View Post
    Hi Ian,

    I thought you know mandarin- seeing that you translated the first chapter of Xia Ke Xing.

    I don't know about KL, but there are some online resources in this thread.
    http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=23450

    Just promise me that you will translate more in the future when you are all fluent with mandarin.

    Han Solo
    I was going to translate more to improve my Chinese too, but I don't think I dare to anymore..... All of this translation stuff scares me since some people think they are too good for others....I can't stand that...

    ABout tools, I used to know quite a bit but don't remember them all... The only one that I remember off the top of my head is zhongwen.com. I hope that will be helpful. Taking classes will be the first step, then you can expose yourself to the culture and learn it. I thought you already knew it Ian. I guess you only understand it right?
    Last edited by Trinie; 01-05-09 at 10:12 PM.
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  4. #4
    Moderator Suet Seung's Avatar
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    I actually met someone who learns to read and write Chinese through http://chinesepod.com/ and there's text material you can buy on amazon.com to learn Chinese.
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  5. #5
    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    I can read a bit, learnt from many years of reading Cantopop lyrics, Hong Kong Drunken Fist/Buddha's Palm comics and basic Chinese tuition from 8 years old to about 12. It's nowhere near as good a standard as I'd like, though.

    Xiakexing Chapter 1 was translated along these lines.

    Step 1
    Read a paragraph and identify the words I know (unlike almost everyone I know in Malaysia, I read in Cantonese).

    Step 2
    Using the words I know, read it again, and using my rather good command of spoken Cantonese, guess what the unidentified words are. If I'm lucky I'll remember it for later and will have learnt a new word.

    Step 3
    If the sentence still doesn't make sense after Step 2, whip out the dictionary and search stroke by stroke, or if I'm lucky, I'll ask a friend (and hopefully learn a new word).

    Until today, I still see more words I don't know than words I know (even after taking into account guesswork), and I'm not too happy about it. I have some plans to give Chinese tuition and it's going to be bad if I get too many words I can't read.

    I hope to start classes in Cantonese medium, and I'm drawing up a syllabus right now. I'm having difficulty in deciding which words to teach first, and which ones to teach later, though. Grouping the words according to category, or number of strokes, or whatever... so I thought going for a few classes will help me understand how a course syllabus should be organised. It's something I've always wanted to do - teach Chinese in Canto. There are so many Malaysians in Kuala Lumpur who don't speak Mandarin, and because of that single dialect difference, are unable to learn how to read Chinese at all, and can't even order food looking at a menu written in Chinese. I find it sad and unfair, and was hoping to provide people (not necessarily those who are English-speaking, but even those Canto speaking who may not be very good in English, but who can't read Chinese through lack of Mandarin upbringing) with a chance to learn Chinese (and make some cash along the way, of course).

    Of course, Mandarin is the future (even though I do get upset when waitresses in Chinese restaurants in KL cant seem to speak Canto anymore), and I'm not trying to upstage it. People who want to learn Mandarin should of course learn it - it's the future and will provide far more options in the future. All I want to do is to let those who may not want to learn Mandarin (maybe they don't need it, don't want it, or just don't know anyone who speaks it anyway, so it's redundant to them) have the chance to learn how to read a language in which they are already extremely fluent. It's unfair that someone who speaks Canto all their life with their families and friends (and who may not even speak English properly), is denied the opportunity to learn to read "charsiupao" unless they go and learn a completely new language which they don't need, finally learn to read "chashaobao" and then translate it back to "charsiupao". That's how I feel, anyway, and was hoping I could try something which I've always wanted to try. After months of trying out my own syllabus on my guineapig friends, I figured I really needed to attend some Mandarin classes to find out the optimal (or at least, an effective) sequence of words to teach.


    Ian

  6. #6
    Senior Member Han Solo's Avatar
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    I totally understand how you feel...

    I feel really bad when i go to Penang and the waitress don't understand Hokkien. Sigh.

    I suggest that you talk to Huang Yu Shi who's also from KL and actually teaches mandarin for a living.

    Han Solo
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    Quote Originally Posted by bliss
    I think they're probably at the same level as or one level below Ah Qing, which is about the level of a 2nd or 3rd generation Quan Zhen disciple.
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    Senior Member expression's Avatar
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    Sorry I'm a bit confused: do you want to learn Mandarin or teach Mandarin? Or both?

    I grew up in HK so Cantonese is my mother tongue. Learning to speak Mandarin is not that bad - learning pinyin is the key. My spoken Mandarin improved a lot once I can read the pronunciation in a systematic way. Having a small English-pinyin dictionary also helps. But I can read and write Chinese to start with so that may make a difference.
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  8. #8
    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by expression View Post
    Sorry I'm a bit confused: do you want to learn Mandarin or teach Mandarin? Or both?

    I grew up in HK so Cantonese is my mother tongue. Learning to speak Mandarin is not that bad - learning pinyin is the key. My spoken Mandarin improved a lot once I can read the pronunciation in a systematic way. Having a small English-pinyin dictionary also helps. But I can read and write Chinese to start with so that may make a difference.
    I want to learn Mandarin so I can teach Cantonese. I can speak Cantonese really well, but can't read as well as I'd like. In Malaysia Cantonese classes do not exist, so I have to take Mandarin classes if I want to improve my knowledge of Chinese words, especially since I'm really really lost with jianti words. After I'm happy with my ability to read, I then intend to teach people how to read and write, using Canto as the medium.

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    Senior Member junny's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ian Liew View Post
    I want to learn Mandarin so I can teach Cantonese. I can speak Cantonese really well, but can't read as well as I'd like. In Malaysia Cantonese classes do not exist, so I have to take Mandarin classes if I want to improve my knowledge of Chinese words, especially since I'm really really lost with jianti words. After I'm happy with my ability to read, I then intend to teach people how to read and write, using Canto as the medium.
    How about reading the HK newspapers? The Chinese ones are written for a Cantonese-speaking audience and are in traditional script.

    http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/hk.htm (handy list)
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  10. #10
    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by junny View Post
    How about reading the HK newspapers? The Chinese ones are written for a Cantonese-speaking audience and are in traditional script.

    http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/hk.htm (handy list)
    I need to learn simplified, though, since it's the medium in Malaysia, so Mandarin classes are a must, sadly. I'll ask around - I'm sure there are tons. =)

  11. #11
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    Default Learn Chinese

    The main language of China is Mandarin. Hong Kong is Cantonese. Tawainese people speak (duh) Tawainese and Mandarin. Then you have like hundreds of other dialects from small provinces and island. I speak Mandarin which is the official language. A lot of Chinese People speak more than one dialect.

    If I was you, I would go with Mandarin because it is becoming a standard in China. (Although Cantonese is very very popular in NYC, esp in Chinatown)

    There are books at Barnes and Nobles that include audio files, if you don't want to take a class, you can try that.

    Resources-
    Learn Chinese Mandarin About.com
    Video Lessons Youtube.com
    Chinese Vocabulary Lessons

    Cheers James

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    Senior Member jiang bao's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jameschristopher View Post

    If I was you, I would go with Mandarin because it is becoming a standard in China. (Although Cantonese is very very popular in NYC, esp in Chinatown)

    Cheers James
    Sadly, that's not true anymore. In the original NYC Chinatown (manhattan), the Fujianese dialect is very popular now. You still can hear some Cantonese, but accented Cantonese as often as standard Cantonese. Perhaps it's cuz I don't understand Fujianese, but the dialect sounds really annoying to my ears. Has a nagging feel to untrained ears like mine.

    In the Flushing Chinatown you hear mostly mandarin.

    Perhaps the Chinatown in Brooklyn is more Cantonese because it seems many Cantonese folks have migrated there. I am not there enough to say for sure.
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