learn Chinese

[bp09]

Hi there,

Could anyone suggest me some good Chinese language programs either from language schools or universities. I am a beginner Chinese learner. I hope I can find a program that has good and interesting teaching.

It will be better if the program also help me with some words phrases that my job required if someday I can work in China.

Thank you..

[julino]

I've heard about Minds Abroad. The institute has good reputation for providing training on Chinese language learning.

[mr6n8]

FSI Language Courses offers courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute of the US government for diplomats.
The courses are in the public domain and are free and legal:
http://www.fsi-language-courses.net/

[bp09]

Originally Posted by julino

I've heard about Minds Abroad. The institute has good reputation for providing training on Chinese language learning.

Hi julino,
You have the url link? ...

[bk_7312]

Originally Posted by bp09

You have the url link? ...

I'm not julino but I have the link.

mindsabroad.com

It's not a program from either language schools or universities, it's a school itself.

Minds Abroad Offers an Ideal Chinese Language Learning Experience
We provide you a personalized curriculum and a world-class Chinese learning experience. Minds Abroad, offers very high quality, small Chinese classes at very low cost:

$188 (€138) for 20 hours of Chinese class per week

$288 (€212) for class plus housing and food stipend per week

$12 (€ 8.6) for one-on-one tutorial program per hour

[Jojoyee]

Some of these might be of interest:

• Free Resources for Learning Mandarin Chinese
• Free Chinese Lessons
• Chinese 101: Free online Chinese lessons for beginners

[chris.p]

Jojo

There are two forms of Chinese language, aren't there? Which is the 'national' one - which is used in Hong Kong - which in other places like Singapore.

When courses say 'learn Chinese', do they mean Mandarin or Cantonese?

[Jojoyee]

Originally Posted by chris.p

There are two forms of Chinese language, aren't there? Which is the 'national' one - which is used in Hong Kong - which in other places like Singapore.

When courses say 'learn Chinese', do they mean Mandarin or Cantonese?

In general, Mandarin refers to Standard Chinese (aka Standard Mandarin), or in a simple term, Chinese, which is the official language of mainland China, Taiwan, and one of the official languages of Singapore.

The so-called "two forms of Chinese language" refers to Chinese written language in two forms, the simplified and traditional Chinese characters. Simplified Chinese characters are standard in mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia. Traditional Chinese characters are retained in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau.

When courses say 'learn Chinese', they mean Mandarin. Cantonese is just a dialect which is popular in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.

[bk_7312]

Speaking of which, I have a small question about displaying Chinese text on Firefox. Whenever there's Chinese text to be displayed, Firefox always shows some weird boxes, I know that this has something to do with character encodings but I want to ask: Where can I get these Chinese encodings?

Thanks

[Jojoyee]

Originally Posted by bk_7312

Speaking of which, I have a small question about displaying Chinese text on Firefox. Whenever there's Chinese text to be displayed, Firefox always shows some weird boxes, I know that this has something to do with character encodings but I want to ask: Where can I get these Chinese encodings?

Probably two steps are needed:

Step 1: Install East Asian Languages for Windows

Control Panel -> Date, Time, Language and Regional Options -> Add other languages -> Install files for East Asian Languages.

Step 2: Setting "Character Encoding" on Firefox

View -> Character Encoding -> Select Unicode (UTF-8)

Hope this helps.