I recently started working through James Heisig’s & Timothy W Richardson’s book – “Remembering Simplified Hanzi: Book 1, How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Chinese Characters”. I’m only 225 characters in (out of 1500) and thought I’d share with you how I’ve been finding it thus far. Well… I LOVE IT and [...]
I realise I’m probably 20 years behind the time giving my opinion about Anki – but better late than never, right? I simply have to share with you that I think Anki is a brilliant tool. In case you need to know, Anki is a flash card tool that allows you to make your own [...]
I started studying Mandarin part-time in the latter half of 2006 and finished three semester modules by the end of 2007. 2008 was a gap year spent in China teaching English at a dàxué (大学). During that year I studied little to nothing. I was “applying” what I had learned before in everyday situations – [...]
I had a mildly embarrassing moment earlier this week when a native Chinese speaker told me (although gently) to differentiate between Mandarin and Cantonese. I tend to forget about Cantonese when I speak about Chinese. Narrow-minded of me, I know… This little incident made me think of other embarrassing moments I’ve had in my Mandarin [...]
As far as I know it’s important to be aware of the different regional names / words that exist when referring to Mandarin – and even better to know which one to use when speaking to Chinese people from different countries. Certainly, here in New Zealand, it is useful to know, as I meet Chinese [...]
My interest in Mandarin and China had been in place well before I discovered my inspirational laowai(s). It is good to know that the little seed that grew into a much larger interest had been planted and nurtured by me. I can’t take all the credit though for any progress I’ve made in my studies, [...]
LOVE RSS? 
FOLLOW ON