Mandarin Chinese in Harpenden - Mei Wenti

23/01/2022

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

Jing Tsu describes the vast problems posed in fitting a language without an alphabet to a typewriter keyboard

06/11/2019

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.

Chinese characters are written with specific stroke orders to minimize hand movement and make the characters more beautiful.

29/08/2019

Try something different this Autumn!
Beginners Chinese - starting Sept 2019

28/01/2019

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

16/10/2018

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:

10/10/2018

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:

A story of life, love and a curious death.

17/09/2018

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

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...

15/09/2018

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’

09/09/2018

How to pronounce pinyin

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.

08/08/2018

Try something different this Autumn!