Resource for Chinese characters

[Woodson]

Run across a Chinese character and not sure of it pronunciation? Or not sure on the actual writing of a Chinese character? This is the site for you. It is a Cantonese site, not pinyin.

www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/Canton/

[David Wong]

Anybody know of good resources to learn Chinese (mandarin)? There is so much stuff out there ...and it's difficult to sift through all that stuff.

I really would like to learn the language.

[Woodson]

I gather you mean to speak. The Vancouver School Board's course is a good start. The key, however, is to use it often which shouldn't be a problem in Vancouver given the large number of immigrants from Mainland China.

[southsloper]

vancouverwong said:

Anybody know of good resources to learn Chinese (mandarin)? There is so much stuff out there ...and it's difficult to sift through all that stuff.

I really would like to learn the language.

Hi D***d, the New Westminster School Board continuing ed catalog lists a course "Chinese:Mandarin Introduction" that runs for 8 Tuesdays 7-9pm starting Jan. 24th at NWSS (10th Ave & 8th St). Probably a 15-20 min drive from your house, a little shorter time for me. I came across it a few weeks ago, considered registering for it, but haven't as of yet, and it may be full by now. I'd like to learn as well maybe we can collaborate

Also, check out www.chinesepod.com, they do nearly daily podcasts that last about 10 minutes each. They started a while ago, so there is a good backlog of these little lessons to go through if you're interested. The podcasts are free, you can subscribe (fee based) for additional learning help tools like transcriptions, access to their learning centre, etc. Comes from Shanghai.

There's an interesting blog kept by one of the instructors too, he posted this article on his blog about Cantonese from the LA Times which you'll find interesting and should be able to identify with, like me. The full article is at this link: www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cantonese3jan03,0,7885274,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Ah-Goo-Cheng.

[David Wong]

That Chinesepod is tres cool. Thanks! The other link goes nowhere...i guess these news items quickly get 'de-linked'.

My preference is to try learn on-line...as it's difficult to get to evening/ weekend classes for me. I remember coming across a french lesson site once upon a time that actually contained audio files that allowed the viewer to listen to how the word is actually pronounced.

Any recommendations of such audio sites?

[David Wong]

oops! I just found audio files on the chinesepod site. MP3 files...and they work too! Guess it's time for me to learn a word a day.

[southsloper]

vancouverwong said:

oops! I just found audio files on the chinesepod site. MP3 files...and they work too! Guess it's time for me to learn a word a day.

Heh, let me know if you want all the podcasts (to today at least) on a CD or something. I've been subscribing to the podcasts since quite early on. You can drop by one day or I'll drop it off at your place maybe.

Unca Al.

ps. The LA Times article link seems to stop at the comma after "jan03" so you can't just click on it on this forum. I tried using the "Insert Hyperlink" Add Tag function on the board here but it still "broke" at the comma, so just select the entire path string & do a copy and paste into your browser. It worked for me when I did that just now.

[David Wong]

Anyone out there seen any good books/references on the origins of Chinese characters (Etymology)? i did a google search, and there's way too much junk while trying to sift through it all.

Recommendations anyone?

[twoupman]

You may be interested in Chinese Characters by Dr. L. Wieger, SJ and another one (which refers back to Wieger) is Analysis of Chinese Characters by GD Wilder & JH Ingram.