Mandarin Chinese in Harpenden - Mei Wenti

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-great-chinese-puzzle-how-to-adapt-the-language-to-modern-communication-technologies

Thanks to Janet for this one

The great Chinese puzzle: how to adapt the language to modern communication technologies | The Spectator Jing Tsu describes the vast problems posed in fitting a language without an alphabet to a typewriter keyboard

The longer you spend learning Chinese the more you appreciate that you need to learn the right stroke order of Chinese characters from the very start. There are rules governing stroke order which your brain will assimilate which will eventually make the process of writing characters very much easier - if you make the effort in the first place.

Is There a Specific Stroke Order for Writing Chinese Characters? Chinese characters are written with specific stroke orders to minimize hand movement and make the characters more beautiful.

Did your head teacher lead the PE sessions at your school? Do you think we should introduce this as a warmer to your our lessons? https://youtu.be/UkaJrzd6-hw

Dancing with School Principal | Fun | China

This video was produced to help Chinese children learn English - but it works really well the other way as it focuses on the 400 most frequently used Chinese characters. It's quite long though - so take it in stages:

400 High frequency Chinese Characters part 1 (400常用高频字）

If you like podcasts you might enjoy this offering from BBC's ex China correspondent Carrie Gracie. I'm half-way through and am gripped:

Episode 1 - Secrets in the Castle, Intrigue: The Ratline - BBC Radio 4 A story of life, love and a curious death.

Have you tried the OU Chinese app? It's free and quite simple to use. You don't have to sign up for anything and the quantity of characters isn't overwhelming. Give it a go. Look on the App store (or android equivalent) for “Chinese@OU” app

Download our Chinese characters learning apps Why is an app an ideal way to learn a new language? Qian Kan, one of the team members behind the OU course Beginner's Chinese and the "Chinese Characters First Steps" (Android only) and “Chinese@OU...

On the subject of pinyin and how it came about, here’s an interesting obituary from a newspaper (I forget which one) from 2017. ‘The Father of Pinyin’

How to pronounce pinyin

Pinyin Pronunciation The six vowels in Pinyin pronunciation are listed below. They will be read in the first tone, which sounds like a sustained sung note. Please listen and repeat after me.

Try something different this Autumn!