In 2011 I wrote a post about Zhou Youguang, the father of the Pinyin writing system. The post was titled “Imagine Learning Chinese Without Pinyin.” Here’s what I wrote about him: For those of you who are studying or have studied Chinese (in China at least), were it not for this man, Zhouo Youguang, you […]
What Languages Are Spoken in China?
Even though I have a fairly high level of fluency in Mandarin Chinese, there are still numerous places in China where I can travel to and not be able to understand a word of what is being spoken by the locals. This map, posted at That’s Magazine, shows why. Image credit: @nick_kapur, via That’s Magazine Related Posts: Chinese […]
State Names in Chinese — Literally
When I began studying Chinese (years ago), one of the first things I wanted to learn how to do was answer the question about where I am from. That meant learning how to say Minnesota in Chinese. It is simply a phonetic translation: ming ni su da (明尼苏达). On top of that, there is Minneapolis: […]
Why Proof-reading is Hard
Now I know why I am such a terrible proof-reader! I found this frighteningly easy to read. Image credit: twitter.com/lingholic
Bilingualism is Good for the Brain
I ran across this interesting info-graphic on the Twitter feed of the good folks at Lingholic.com. It highlights how bilingualism is good for the brain. I like the idea of dimentia prevention. And the next time someone says I’m dense I’ll just tell them it’s my grey matter and that’s a good thing. Image source: https://twitter.com/lingholic Related Posts: […]
Learning Mandarin Chinese: 5 Great Ideas to Improve Your Skills
Note: This is a guest post by the good folks at the Learn Mandarin Website. They also recently interviewed me for a post on their site about effective language learning methods. Learning Mandarin Chinese can be undertaken via a wide variety of methods. Recently, we at Learn Mandarin Now spent considerable time interviewing a […]
