Monday, November 7, 2011

Introduction

Welcome (欢迎光临) to my blog on learning Mandarin. I'm not a teacher but just an enthusiastic learner. I don't aim to teach but rather share some of my learning issues with fellow learners with the hope I can improve my Mandarin.

You will observe that I use the term "Huá yǔ" (华语) rather than "Pǔtōnghuà", "Hàn yǔ" or "Zhōng wén" to refer to the Mandarin language. This is because I live in Malaysia and this is how the Chinese here call the language. Inevitably, my discussion of learning Mandarin, although based on standard Mandarin, might also introduce some Malaysian flavours.

There will be 4 major features of this blog.

First, I will share with you my experience in learning the dialogue of a recent popular Chinese movie called "Aftershock" (唐山大地震). My aim is to understand fully all the lines spoken in this movie and increase my command of the language through increased vocabulary and understanding of sentence patterns.

Second, I will share some video flashcards that I will produce from time to time. This can be viewed or downloaded straight from Youtube. The video flashcards will have Ipod (or other mobile video sharing device) users in mind. From time to time I will also provide links to download the videos through filesharing services such as Rapidshare or Fileserve.

Third, I will share some translations of Mandarin songs I like. Hopefully we can all improve our Karaoke skills this way!

Fourth, I will post tips on learning Mandarin based on my experience. This could be a review of resources and materials or just general tips. These methods work for me but I cannot guarantee they will do the same for you so you have to decide.

I hope my efforts will improve my Mandarin generally and will benefit other Mandarin learners wherever you are.