First Mandarin Sounds

First Mandarin Sounds An Awesome Chinese Word Book Edition: Simplified Chinese. Pinyin. EnglishFirst Mandarin Sounds provides children, parents, and educators with a fun introduction to each of the thirty-seven essential sounds of the Mandarin Chinese language. First Mandarin Sounds adopts one of the most effective ways of introducing Mandarin Sounds to new, young learners - using basic sounds and playful words. Learning the first sounds and words of With vibrant illustrations, a "look & find" design, and complimentary audio support, First Mandarin Sounds will guide readers to connect accurate Mandarin sounds with some of their most commonly-used Chinese words.

My First Book of Chinese Words introduces young children to basic words and concepts in the Chinese language through colorful rhymes and beautiful imagery. It is a book that parents and young children will enjoy reading together. The Chinese words in the book are all common, everyday items, and the rhymes are informative and fun for children. The goal of My First Book of Chinese Words is to familiarize children with the basic sounds and written characters of Chinese, to introduce core concepts of Chinese culture and to illustrate the ways in which Chinese sounds differ from English ones. Teachers and parents will welcome the cultural notes at the back of the book and appreciate how the book is organized using a familiar ABC structure. Each word is presented in Chinese characters (both Simplified and Traditional) as well as Romanized Pinyin for easy pronunciation. With the help of this book, we hope more children (and adults) will soon join the more than one billion people worldwide who speak Chinese!

Learning Chinese can be frustrating and difficult, partly because it's very different from European languages. Following a teacher, textbook or language course is not enough. They show you the characters, words and grammar you need to become proficient in Chinese, but they don't teach you how to learn them! Regardless of what program you're in (if any), you need to take responsibility for your own learning. If you don't, you will miss many important things that aren't included in the course you're taking. If you study on your own, you need to be even more aware of what you need to do, what you're doing at the moment and the difference between them. Here are some of the questions I have asked and have since been asked many times by students: How do I learn characters efficiently? How do I get the most out of my course or teacher? Which are the best learning tools and resources? How can I become fluent in Mandarin? How can I improve my pronunciation? How do I learn successfully on my own? How can I motivate myself to study more? How can I fit learning Chinese into a busy schedule? The answers I've found to these questions and many others form the core of this book. It took eight years of learning, researching, teaching and writing to figure these things out. Not everybody has the time to do that! I can't go back in time and help myself learn in a better way, but I can help you! This book is meant for normal students and independent language learners alike. While it covers all major areas of learning, you won't learn Chinese just by reading this book. It's like when someone on TV teaches you how to cook: you won't get to eat the delicious dish just by watching the program; you have to do the cooking yourself. That's true for this book as well. When you apply what you learn, it will boost your learning, making every hour you spend count for more, but you still have to do the learning yourself. This is what a few readers have said about the book: "The book had me nodding at a heap of things I'd learnt the hard way, wishing I knew them when I started, as well as highlighting areas that I'm currently missing in my study." - Geoff van der Meer, VP engineering "This publication is like a bible for anyone serious about Chinese proficiency. It's easy for anyone to read and written with scientific precision." - Zachary Danz, foreign teacher, children's theatre artist About me I started learning Chinese when I was 23 (that's more than eight years ago now) and have since studied in many different situations, including serious immersion programs abroad, high-intensity programs in Sweden, online courses, as well as on the side while working or studying other things. I have also successfully used my Chinese in a graduate program for teaching Chinese as a second language, taught entirely in Chinese mostly for native speakers (the Graduate Institute for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University). All these parts have contributed to my website, Hacking Chinese, where I write regularly about how to learn Mandarin.

Learn English and Mandarin words with panda cousins Gordon and Li Li in this charming and colorful bilingual first words book! Gordon and Li Li are cousins. Li Li is from Beijing, China, and speaks Mandarin. Gordon lives in Brooklyn, New York, and speaks English. When Li Li visits Gordon for the first time, the cousins must learn to communicate using simple, everyday words. Children and caregivers can read along with Gordon and Li Li as they learn basic English and Mandarin words and their correct pronunciation. Each spread of this sturdy book spotlights a different theme, including greetings, colors, numbers, and animals! And every word features the English and pinyin spelling along with the Chinese character and the phonetic Mandarin pronunciation to help readers practice. This is an adorable and informative must-have first words book for any family who wants to get little ones excited to open the door to learning a second language -- and future language success!

A comprehensive account of the phonological history of Chinese, exploring the development of its standard phonological systems over the past 2500 years. It will be a key reference work for historical linguists and phonologists in general, as well as being of particular interest to students and scholars of Chinese/Asian languages and their history.

"DeFrancis's book is first rate. It entertains. It teaches. It demystifies. It counteracts popular ignorance as well as sophisticated (cocktail party) ignorance. Who could ask for anything more? There is no other book like it. ... It is one of a kind, a first, and I would not only buy it but I would recommend it to friends and colleagues, many of whom are visiting China now and are adding 'two-week-expert' ignorance to the two kinds that existed before. This is a book for everyone." --Joshua A. Fishman, research professor of social sciences, Yeshiva University, New York "Professor De Francis has produced a work of great effectiveness that should appeal to a wide-ranging audience. It is at once instructive and entertaining. While being delighted by the flair of his novel approach, the reader will also be led to ponder on some of the most fundamental problems concerning the relations between written languages and spoken languages. Specifically, he will be served a variety of information on the languages of East Asia, not as dry pedantic facts, but as appealing tidbits that whet the intellectual appetite. The expert will find much to reflect on in this book, for Professor DeFrancis takes nothing for granted." --William S.Y. Wang, professor of linguistics, University of California at Berkeley

If you are looking for a book to learn Mandarin pronunciation, look no further. Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation Crashing is the one you really need. It is designed for all levels of Mandarin learners whose mother tongue is English to get to know, improve, and eventually master Mandarin pronunciation. Six strategies are introduced in this book to ensure reaching your goal of learning Mandarin pronunciation: 1. Building a bridge between English and Mandarin pronunciations. This book identifies many similarities that Mandarin and English pronunciations share. Using these similarities between English and Mandarin pronunciations will facilitate and accelerate your Mandarin pronunciation learning process. 2. Offering text and graphic instructions and video demonstrations on Pinyin (the phonological system of Mandarin) sounds. Pronunciation is a sophisticated matter since all of the different vocal parts have to work together to accurately form certain positions and movements for a sound to be correctly pronounced. This book gives detailed text descriptions and diagrams of the vocal parts and their movements in pronouncing every Pinyin sound. Furthermore, video demonstrations for every Pinyin sound are also prepared. The Mandarin sounds that feel so alien to you can be pronounced correctly with the help of these text and graphic instructions and video demonstrations. 3. Applying enunciation-pronouncing Mandarin sounds in a clear and slow manner. Native speakers' oral fluency in their mother tongue is reached through a stage of enunciation that lasts about four to five years in infancy. One mistake many Mandarin teachers and learners often make is to teach and practice pronunciation at the normal speed of native speakers when the learners have just begun studying the language. Consequently, the crucial enunciation stage is omitted, which often leads to either wrong or thickly accented pronunciation. So, the solution to the problem is to restore the stage of enunciation. 4. Providing adequate exercises. Just like developing skills in cooking, drawing, or playing a musical instrument, gaining skills in pronunciation requires a huge amount of practice. For this reason, explanations are given as precisely as possible, and more content is dedicated to different types of exercises in this book. 5. Practicing tongue twisters. You have learned to pronounce a Mandarin sound but you cannot remember the correct pronunciation over time or pronounce the sound as smoothly as native speakers do in a conversation. This is because you have not developed muscle memory to pronounce the sound automatically. Native speakers develop muscle memory for a sound in their native language by repeating it countless times in daily conversations since birth. Foreign language learners don't have the luxury to learn the pronunciation of a new language at the pace native speakers do. The remedy is tongue twisters, which are designed to practice pronunciation in a concentrated, repetitive, and amusing way, have been proven to be a more effective way to develop your muscle memory. 6. Linking pronunciation with real-life oral communication. Medium- or advanced-level learners may have experienced that they can pronounce single Mandarin syllables well but cannot speak smoothly in real-life oral communication, e.g., having a conversation. The reason is that in real-life oral communication, the pronunciations of single syllables are lined together in a sequence, called "speech flow," like a river. In this flow, the pronunciation of a syllable may be different from the way it is pronounced by itself. The learners who lack the ability to adjust the pronunciations of syllables in a speech flow would sound awkward and even incomprehensible. The sixth strategy trains the skills of adjusting the sounds of single syllables and assembling them into a smooth flow of speech.

This book is designed for all levels of Mandarin learners whose mother tongue is English to get to know, improve, and eventually master Mandarin pronunciation. Six strategies are introduced in this book to ensure that you reach your goal of learning Mandarin pronunciation:1.Building a bridge between English and Mandarin pronunciations. 2.Offering text and graphic instructions and video demonstrations for every Pinyin sound. 3.Applying enunciation--pronouncing Mandarin sounds in a clear and slow manner for learners to follow easily. 4.Providing adequate exercises. 5.Practicing tongue twisters to develop muscle memory to pronounce Mandarin sounds automatically. 6.Linking pronunciation with real-life oral communication.

…well-written and helps you speak Chinese in no time. --FluentU.com