Do children’s textbooks in Chinese any good for adult learners? 儿童中文教科书对成人学习者有好处吗？
We don’t use children’s textbooks for learning Chinese for adults. Children’s textbooks don’t contain language that is useful for an adult learner. We often experience difficult to gauge the difficulty of tasks before you have already mastered them. Some it seem hard, but are actually quite easy; others appear easy, but they are in fact very difficult.
我们不赞成成人学习中文使用儿童教科书。儿童教科书不包含对成人学习者有用的语言。在你已经掌握一个任务之前，我们经常很难去衡量一个任务的难度。有些看起来很难，但实际上却很容易;其他的人看起来很容易，但有时实际上却非常困难。
How long does it take to learn Chinese? 学习中文需要多长时间？
It really depends on your commitment level and time investment. If you go through our courses, spending 15-30 minutes each day, you will complete both the Beginner Read & Write, and Conversational Courses achieve conversational fluency in Chinese in 365 days.
这实际上取决于您的承诺水平和时间投入。如果您通过我们的课程，每天花费15-30分钟，您将完成初学者阅读和写作，会话课程将在365天内实现中文会话流利。
How is Chinese education different from North America? 中国教育与北美教育有何不同？
Chinese education focuses on strictness and precision, which improves retention. Canada & American education focuses on improving student assuredness, self-determination, and independence, which aids in comprehensive thinking.
中国教育注重严格和精确，提高留存和升学率。北美教育的重点是提高学生的自信心，自决和独立性，这有助于全面思考。
Will a Speaking Chinese-Only in the classroom improve your learning? 在课堂上只说中文会改善你的学习吗？
Some language schools have a Speaking Chinese-only rule, which means that neither students nor teachers are allowed to speak anything but Chinese on school day. The goal is to make sure that all teaching is done in Chinese and that students practise as much as possible. The problem of the rule creates weak explanations and hidden misunderstandings etc. The ideal proportions will vary depending on the student’s level of Chinese. We suggest 90% Chinese is desirable. Those approx 10% of English can really make a difference. The decreasing the amount of Chinese from 100% to 90% is not going to affect the amount of Chinese students use or are exposed.
一些语言学校有只说中文的规定，这意味着学生和老师在上学日都不允许说中文以外的任何东西。目标是确保所有教学都用中文完成，并且学生尽可能多地练习。规则的问题造成了薄弱的解释和隐藏的误解等。理想的比例将根据学生的中文水平而有所不同。我们建议90%的说中文是可取的。大约10%的说英语可以真正发挥作用。将说中文从100%减少到90%不会影响学生使用或接触的中文。
I can already read pinyin, do I really need to learn to read characters? 我已经可以读拼音了，我真的需要学习认读汉字吗？
We believe Yes! Of course. Although lots of people who find themselves for school or work often just learn to speak, many of them often regret not learning to read and write sooner. It’s much more difficult to step back and learn characters than learning them simultaneously. You will be able to speak well enough, but learning characters can actually help your spoken Chinese. It is also impossible to really get to the depth of given language without knowing how to read and write.
我们相信是的！答案是肯定的。虽然很多发现自己上学或工作的人往往只是学会说话，但他们中的许多人经常后悔没有早点学会阅读和写作。退后一步说，不先学汉字的读写，会比同时学习汉字的读写作要困难得多。学习汉字实际上可以帮助你的口语，你将能够说得更好。另外，如果不知道如何阅读和写作，不可能真正达到任何一种语言的深度。
Is it true that student should mastering listening before speaking? 学生在说话前应该掌握听力是真的吗？
This is not a question of of new learner to mastering listening before speaking, it’s about having a good understanding of what you’re going through the process. Here is commonly misunderstood the Phonetic transcription. Humans do not process the auditory signal of languages phonetically. They process phonemically.
However, by using Phonetic transcription such as Pinyin, Zhuyin or IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). This is the ideal sequence you should know.
- Identifying sounds and tones by Listening
- Pronouncing sounds and tones by Speaking
- Using sounds and tones by Phonetic transcription
As soon as you can hear the difference between certain sounds, start pronouncing them with the help of reading and writing the phonetic transcription you choose.
I want to start reading real books in Chinese at my level. How would I approach it? 我想开始阅读我现中文水平的书籍。我将如何着手？
You can try to read a native Chinese book at your level or you can try reading a translated book of written in your native language. Let’s assume you have read the book in English and like a lot. You should probably check the translation with a native speaker to make sure it is good translation in Chinese.
你可以尝试阅读与你水平相当的中文书籍，也可以尝试阅读翻译的书籍。假如你已经读过那本书的英文版，并且喜欢很多。你可能应该与讲母语的一起检查书的翻译水准，确保是个良好的中文翻译书籍。
I’ve been told I should get a Chinese name. How can I do that right? 有人告诉我，我应该找一个中文名字。我怎样才能做到这一点？
It would be great to have a Chinese name given by a teacher or friend who knows you well, but most often when a Chinese person gives a foreign person a Chinese name, they use transliteration. It means taking the first sound or syllable from your name(s) and finding an equivalent Chinese character. Many people also include their family name in their Chinese name, not just their given name.
如果老师或朋友能给你一个很了解你的名字，那就太好了，但大多数情况下，当一个中国人给外国人一个中文名字时，他们会使用音译。这意味着从你的名字中获取第一个声音或音节，并找到一个等效的汉字。许多人还会在他们的中文名字中包括他们的姓氏，而不仅仅是他们的名字。