learn Mandarin

Here I go with the language CD’s again. I never actually finished my Thai language CD’s and I’ve already moved on to Mandarin. Then again, how much can you really learn from a CD? I found that it was easier for me to even practice the Thai that I knew while I was speaking it. But, here I am, yet again with the CD’s.

Anyway, I was wandering the aisles of the public library when I noticed the Mandarin language CD’s. I thought it would be a pretty useful and interesting language to learn, especially since I’d like to visit mainland China some day. I mean, I have a friend there but I can’t rely on her to follow me around and translate the entire time. Not to mention, with China being one of the fastest growing economies in the world, I believe this could be a powerful business tool as well. Needless to say, I picked up the CD and have been listening to it in my car sporadically.

I am also considering taking a Introduction to Mandarin course at the city college, but I need to see if it will work with my schedule first. In the meantime, I have replied to someone’s post on Craigslist for a Mandarin-English language exchange. I have yet to hear back from them.

So this has turned out to be one of my easier things, which is sort of surprising. I’m not necessarily making amazing progress, but I am improving and seem to be retaining what I learn.

I have been pretty lousy at completing things, so it’s nice to be actually moving ahead with one challenge. I’m really not sure when I can mark this complete though – I think that it will be on my list for a long time.

I’m using a fantastic book called Tuttle’s Learning Chinese Characters: HSK Level A. It uses remarkable stories as mnemonics for every single character from HSK A’s 800 hanzi.

Also I have on my Palm Pleco2.0 as a multi-purpose feature-enhanced dictionary, and still on Palm I use Supermemo to keep track of my book’s characters and review them in flashcard regularly

Finally I plan to start Livemocha.com’s free course soon enough.

This is definitely my favorite language! I love how you don’t have to conjugate verbs, I love the characters, I love the sound, everything!

So far, what I have to work with is Living Language’s Mandarin Chinese course book and dictionary, Tutle’s Chinese in a Flash flash cards, and My Chinese Coach for the DS. I’ve learned a good amount already, and I’m happy I didn’t stay afraid of its complexity for long and gave it a shot. I’d definitely recommend these things if you don’t know where to start.

As the world continues to evolve, chinese speaking skills become more and more important in business. If you have a dream of becoming an international business person, mastering this skill maybe be a decisive sptep.

Working on this everyday on the walk to and from work. I am improving!

I’m stilling listening to my ‘lesson plans’ on my walk to work in the morning. I am surprised to find that I really am picking up more then I thought I would, or perhaps I’m just remembering more then I thought I would.. Either way, it’s making me happy.

I am from India. I went to china to complete my MBA. I was looking to join some chinese learning institute. But could not find time for it. My friend Mr.Marshall Suggested me an online source www.studiochinese.com. This is the best website I found to learn chinese much quicker. They have the best of the teachers and I am very lucky to have them..

You can at Nciku.com. Nciku is the free online Mandarin/English dictionary that has won over everyone wanting to learn Chinese. With its useful study features, vast selection of word entries, and even a character recognition tool, Nciku is everything you need to sharpen your Chinese skills in an engaging way.

Whether you’re a student, expat, business professional or just a traveler, there’s something for everyone at Nciku. It’s THE Chinese learning resource for today. Check us out at www.nciku.com.

So it turns out that I do remember a little more then I thought I did.
I’m still listening to the ‘courses’ on my IPOD on the walk to work and I am happy that I can differentiate between quite a few tones. Of course I still have very very far to go, but I’m feeling increasing positive.