中国人和老外容易发生的10大误会 5

　Top 6 送别

　　中国人表达情感的方式相对内敛。送别的时候，他们强忍泪水，吝于拥抱，种种“冷淡”表现让老外深感诧异。所以，如果你和老外送别，举止不妨洒脱奔放一些，可别让他们觉得你是“冷血动物”。

　　Like everyone else we are affectionate to our friends and relatives, but perhaps we show our affection in public less than other peoples. Maybe the whole family as well as some friends will go to the railway station or the airport to see a person off, no matter whether he/she goes abroad to study or to another province for work. This may well strike many Westerners as very moving, yet they might be puzzled when they see that nobody will hug or kiss when the time comes for saying goodbye. Friends may shake hands with the person who is leaving and parents may hold his/her hand for a long time with tears in their eyes, but with no other physical contact. In fact hugging and kissing are seldom seen in public in China, no matter what the occasion is。

Elementary: Discussing Eating

Chinese Idiom: 成千上万 chéng qiān shàng wàn

成千上万 chéng qiān shàng wàn

成千上万 chéng qiān shàng wàn

解释：形容数量相当大，达到了千、万。用来指人，物都可以。

Explanation:
Numerous amount. Thousands upon thousands. It can refer to both people and objects.

Dialogue:
A：zhèbiān rén hǎo duō a!
A：这边 人 好 多 啊！So many people here!
B：měitiān dōu yǒu chéng qiān shàng wàn de rén lái cānguān qín bīngmǎyǒng bówùguǎn.
B：每天 都 有 成 千 上 万 的 人 来 参观 秦 兵马涌 博物馆。Thousands and thousands of people come to visit the Museum of Qin Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses every day

Recommended Site: Chinese Multimedia

A：小王，你好！
B：你好，忙吗？
A：不忙，我刚下课。这是你的车吗？
B：是啊。
A：你现在用吗？
B：不用，你想用吗？
A：我用一下，行吗？
B：行。
A：谢谢，我去邮局买邮票。
B：哦，那不是我的车，我的车在这儿。

In addition to the lessons, you’ll find comprehensive lists of grammar points, vocabulary (including pronunciation audio samples), and characters (including stroke order writing practice drills).

http://www.ctcfl.ox.ac.uk/Chinese/index.html

Chinese Character Overview

This section is totally for beginners. After the 5-minute tour of this section, you will have good idea of Chinese characters, the foundation Chinese language.

Character is King

Character, the smallest meaningful unit in Chinese, is the foundation in Chinese such as word in English. Chinese characters are also often referred to Chinese symbols.

A small percentage of characters look like drawing, which are called pictogram. Centuries ago, Chinese people drew some simple paintings to show what they wanted to express.

Look at the up-right picture, could you get hint what 人 means? You may have got it already -人 means human or person (unisex). It is a simple picture of a man's side-view.

The down-right is another example, in which the character 女 means woman or female. It is a simple picture of a woman sitting in the traditional Chinese posture in ancient times.

» Tip

Not all Chinese characters are meant to look like the things they represent. Today, only 4% of the total characters are pictograms in current use.

While there are only three one-letter English words, a, I and O, one-symbol Chinese words are common. For example, the character 天 means day or sky; the symbol 空 means empty in English.

Combination of two or more characters always brings a new word. For example, 天空 means sky in English.

Character Forms

There are currently two standards for printed Chinese characters. Entire mainland China and Singapore use the Simplified Chinese characters while the Traditional Chinese characters only used in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. The following table may give you some sense.

Simplified Chinese Character	Traditional Chinese Character	English Translation
龙	龍	Dragon
风	風	Wind
马	馬	Horse
天	天	Day; Sky
月	月	Moon

You maybe have noticed that the simplified version and traditional version of the last two symbols are same. Yes, not every character has been simplified, only some complicated forms. Some characters are totally same in both forms.

As personal opinion, we strongly recommend you learn Simplified Chinese characters, because:

1. They are much easier for memory than traditional ones.
2. Keep in mind that all people from mainland China use the Simplified Chinese symbols. That means you are studying a writing system used by more than 1.3 trillion people

Important !

Focus your efforts on just one of these two forms to avoid getting confused.

Number of Characters in Use

There are over 80,000 Chinese characters, but most of them are seldom used today. So how many Chinese characters do you need to know? For basic reading and writing of modern Chinese, you only need a few thousands. Here are the coverage rates of the most frequently used Chinese characters:

Tier of MFU Chinese Characters	Coverage Rate
Most frequently used 500 characters:	72.1%
Most frequently used 1,000 characters:	90.0%
Most frequently used 2,500 characters:	98.0%
Most frequently used 3,500 characters:	99.5%

中国人和老外容易发生的10大误会 4

Top 7 称呼

　　当外国人听到中国人称呼他们为“老外”的时候，他们心里是不高兴的，因为他们觉得自己并不老，且很健康。他们dislike being labelled as "old", being young valued above being old。

　　而当他们听到中国人管外国小孩也叫“老外”的时候，他们才明白“老”其实是对某个人的尊称，比如老张，老王。"Lao" is a commonly used term by Chinese people to address someone who is older than the speaker to show his politeness, respect and closeness. The term does not necessarily mean old age. "Lao Wai" is a colloquial term of address for foreigners。

Elementary: Are you free?

重组句子

1.十分 前来 中国的 于是 日本 派员 仰慕 考察 文化，。

2.时光 始终 友情 童年的 而过 不变 虽然 但同学之间 飞逝，。

3.学生对 中华文化的 加深 这次 认识 大会 透过 希望能 比赛，。

4.呢 看电视的 老师 你觉得 还是 好处多 学生 坏处多 提问：，？‘ ’

Please give your answer in the comment space.

Chinses for Kids Demo

I found an interesting software demo for Chinese learning for kids. Adults may find it useful too. Enjoy.

http://www.chineseforsmartkids.com/samplemovie.aspx

Ten Tips to Help Your Kids Learn Chinese

Chinese comes easily to many children, especially if they start young. Bilingualism will give them opportunities to communicate with a broader range of people around the world and serve them well throughout their lives.

Start to learn Chinese early well before your child reaches school age if possible. Language acquisition comes quite easily to children who are just learning to speak, and they can pick up more than one language simultaneously.

1. Start Simple.

Begin with 一, 二, 三 (one, two and three in Chinese) as A, B, C when you learn English. That is also the way how we Chinese learn Chinese. SinceChinese characters are basic units of Chinese language, it is naturally the beginning of learning. You may move on to simple Chinese words, simple phrases and then simple sentences step by step.

2. Be consistent.

Set aside a certain time of day, or a certain set of activities, for the Chinese learning. It does not matter what you do, reading books, singing songs or baking cookies, as long as you do it all in Chinese.

3. Learn Chinese with peers

Find out if your school system offers a Chinese-language immersion program and ask to see the curriculum.

4. Learn Chinese by practice

Encourage your child to use his Chinese, and make it clear that he does not have to be embarrassed by mistakes. Many children are afraid of looking silly, but the only way to become fluent in Chinese, same as any other language, is to speak it regularly. The more reinforcement she or he gets in Chinese language, the faster and more thoroughly she will learn it. Always remember: practice, practice, practice.

5. Choose right learning materials

Get books, videos and music in Chinese to help your kids learn Chinese. Children love interesting pictures, vivid screen and sounds to mimic. They like stories accompanied by bright, clear, realistic pictures. And of course they love rhymes. If you are familiar with Chinese yourself, read the interesting story to her.

6. Enjoy Chinese together with your kids.

Set aside part of your time to learn with them, I believe the books or the tapes are quite easy to you. After then, you will find many common topics with your kids and you both can communicate with the words or sentences you have learned quite often.

7. Demonstrate your own love of Chinese

Your kid wants to imitate you. If she or he sees Chinese books all around the house and knows that you like to settle down with one whenever you have a moment to yourself, the kid will learn those books as well. Modeling your own love of reading is more powerful than making your child sit through a rigid story time.

8. A good dictionary matters

Be sure to have a good bilingual dictionary around, especially if you are not completely fluent in Chinese language.

9. Make storytelling a part of life

Promoting reading readiness is more than reading a traditional book. While you are at the dinner table or in the car, tell stories - standards like anecdotes from your own childhood, or stories that feature your child as a central character. Make books of your child's drawings or favorite photos, and tell stories about them — or ask her to be the narrator.

10. Point out words everywhere

Wherever you see Chinese, you can show your child that word. Even the youngest toddlers quickly learn.

Source http://www.aboutchinese.info

5 Questions to Ask Before You Start to Learn Chinese

Five important questions designed for beginners to learn Chinese. Ask yourself before you make any decision to choose a proper learning method.

Do you have a general idea about Chinese?

If not, please take a short tour of Chinese 101 first.

What is your purpose of learning Chinese?

You may want to learn Chinese for travel to China, for further your business or career in China, or for exam. Also, you may want to teach your kids Chinese. Different purposes may lead to totally different learning plan including your time spent on learning, your efforts on percentage of speaking, listening, reading and writing as well as your learning method.

What level you want to get to?

This question is also very important. You answer decides how much effort you need to make. If you are learning Chinese for a better job, see, you’d better know what requirement the employers usually ask for.

What is your time limitation to reach your targeted level? How long time will you spend on studying Chinese per week?

With clear time limitation and targeted level you want to reach, you may time your learning schedule reasonably. It never means that more time may bring better results, but smarter arrangement can.

Your budget of learning Chinese?

For different budget, you should choose different learning methods. If you have enough budgets, you can equip yourself with best learning supplement freely. If you have fewer budgets, you can choose self-teaching with help of necessary learning tools. But no matter how many budgets, the most important thing is persistence. There is a Chinese proverb 有志者, 事竟成 meaning "where there is a will, there is a way".

» Tip

If you plan to spend three hours per week, separate them into six 30-minute slots on different days instead of concentrating three hours in one day. This way may leave you time to refresh tomorrow’s new knowledge.

Source: http://www.aboutchinese.info

A Chinese Idiom about Snake Feet 画蛇添足

http://blog.chinesehour.com/?p=1287

画蛇添足【huà shé tiān zú 】 Adding feet to a drawing of a snake

:: to ruin the effect of something by adding something superfluous. ::

——–

An official in the ancient State of Chu gave a pot of wine to his men to celebrate the Spring Sacrifice ceremony. One of the men said: “We have only one pot of wine, and it’s only enough for one. So, let’s play for it. The first one to finish drawing a snake in the ground wins the pot of wine.”

The others agreed and started drawing their snakes in the ground.

Then, there was a winner, or so he thought. He had finished his drawing and reached for the pot of wine. But, when he saw that the others hadn’t finished their drawings, he arrogantly said to them: “How slow you are! The way you’re going, I can add feet to my snake and still win the pot of wine.”

So, he did. He added feet to his snake. But before he could finish, another man grabbed the pot of wine and said: “What snake has feet? That’s not a snake! So, I win!”

The moral of the story is that sometimes going too far can be as bad, or worse, than not going far enough.

中国人和老外容易发生的10大误会 3

Top 8 出游

　　中国人结伴出游的时候，如果买什么东西，花钱的那个人一般都会先统计有几个人，然后按照人头购买东西，即便有人之前客气地说不要，中国人还是会给他买 上一份。When a Chinese offers refreshments or drinks to his colleague, his colleague often declines the offer politely, because he doesn't want to trouble the person who offers and it also shows his politeness. Normally the person who offers still prepares or buys refreshments or drinks, and this will be expected by his colleague. Sharing food and drink when going out together is common among colleagues and friends。

　　然而和老外结伴出游，如果你客气地推说不需要某样东西，那么对方真的就不会给你买。他们觉得不给你买是尊重你的决定。Respect one's own decision, "yes" means one wants it, "no" means one doesn't, politeness is usually shown by the expression_r 'thank you' or "please"。所以，想要什么东西，就直接说出来吧，事后真诚地说声谢谢才是他们眼中的礼貌做法。

Elementary: Adding Credit to a Cell Phone

I want blah blah blah in Chinese

Vocabulary: Fruits 水果

菠萝 bō luó
pineapple

草莓 cǎo méi
strawberry

甘蔗 gān zhè
cane

哈密瓜 hā mì guā
Hami melon (a variety of muskmelon)

金橘 jīn jú
kumquat

梨 lí
pear

李子 lǐ zǐ
plum

荔枝 lì zhī
litchi fruit

芒果 máng guǒ
mango

猕猴桃 mí hóu táo
Chinese gooseberry

木瓜 mù guā

papaya

苹果 píng guǒ
apple

葡萄 pú tao
grape

石榴 shí liú
the pomegranate

柿子 shì zi
persimmon

桃子 táo zi
peach

西瓜 xī guā
watermelon

香蕉 xiāng jiāo
banana

香瓜 xiāng guā
muskmelon; also different varieties of sweet melon

杏 xìng
apricot

椰子 yē zi
coconut

樱桃 yīng táo
cherry

柚子 yòu zi
pomelo / shaddock

枣 zǎo
jujube

中国人和老外容易发生的10大误会 2

Top 9 致谢

　　中国人认为对家里人或者好朋友的帮助是one's own obligation, no need to thank or be thanked，彼此根本不必说谢谢，说了反而显得关系生分。而老外

　　对家人或者朋友的帮忙都习惯说谢谢，他们期待polite expression_rs like "please", "thank you", etc.。所以，和老外相处，千万不要吝啬“谢谢”两个字。“谢”少了只会让老外觉得你羞涩且不懂礼貌。