Mandarin Proficiency Test

The most widely used Mandarin proficiency test is 

the 汉语水平考试 or HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi). 

The test is used for proficiency certification that 

may be required by Chinese universities and 

professional organizations.

According to The Examiner, China is planning a new 

version of the HSK, although I have heard that the 

"new HSK" has been in use for at least a year now.

Nonetheless, the Examiner article contains some

 interesting comments about the nature of the 

exam and its application in daily life:

"If you pass Level 3 and immerse yourself

in Beijing for months, you will have no problem

interacting with the locals," said Mr Zhou. "

But even if you obtain Level 6, if you are not

soaked in a conducive language environment,

you most probably will still struggle to converse

or read Chinese newspapers."

There are six levels to the HSK, and each level consists 

of a writing test and a speaking test. Level One candidates 

must know 150 words, while the Level Six tests expects a 

knowledge of more than 5,000 words. You can read more 

about the HSK requirements at this link

:http://english.hanban.org/node_8002.htm

Nǐ Hǎo - 你好 - Hello

Nǐ Hǎo - 你好 - Hello

Audio links are marked with ►

►nǐ hǎo - Saying "Hello" in Mandarin Chinese

Learn how to greet people in Mandarin Chinese.

The literal translation of nǐ hǎo - 你好 is "you good". 
Nǐ - 你 means "you" and hǎo - 好 means "good".

Nǐ - 你 is the informal form of "you" and is used for 
greeting friends and associates. The formal form of "hello" 
is ►nín hǎo - 您好. Notice that the formal "you" is 
nín - 您.

Use nín hǎo - 您好 when speaking to:

• Superiors
• People in authority
• Elders

Use nǐ hǎo - 你好 when speaking to:

• Friends
• Colleagues
• Children

China & Taiwan

The use of nín hǎo - 您好 is more common in 
Mainland China than in Taiwan. The informal nǐ hǎo - 
你好 is the most common greeting in Taiwan, no matter 
what the rank of the person you are addressing.

How Are You?

You can extend nǐ hǎo - 你好 by adding the 
question particle ►ma - 嗎/吗. The question particle 
ma can be added to the end of sentences and phrases 
to change them from statements to questions.

The literal translation of nǐ hǎo ma? - 你好嗎?/
你好吗? is "you good?" which means "how are you?"

Nǐ hǎo ma? - 你好嗎?/你好吗? should only be said
 to close friends or family members. It is not a common 
greeting for associates or strangers.

The answer to nǐ hǎo ma? - 你好嗎?/你好吗?
 can be:

• hěn hǎo - 很好 - very good
• bù hǎo - 不好 - not good
• hái hǎo - 還好/还好 - so so

Two Sets of Chinese Characters

You may be wondering why there are two Chinese 
versions of nǐ hǎo ma - 你好嗎/你好吗 and hái hǎo -
 還好/还好. The first version is traditional characters 
which are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and many
 overseas Chinese communities. The second version is 
simplified characters, the official writing system in 
Mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia.

东西 Dongxi

Dongxi 

The Mandarin word for "thing" or "things" is dōngxi. It is made up of two characters: dong means "east" and xi means "west".

When these two characters are used together, dongxi can mean "east and west", but more commonly they refer to things in general.

Example:

Nèi gè dà de dōngxi shì shénme?
What is that big thing?


Traditional Characters:
那個大的東西是什麼?
Simplified Characters:
那个大的东西是什么?

Wǒ yào qù mǎi dōngxi.
我要去買東西｡
我要去买东西｡
I am going shopping. (I am going to buy things.)


Nèi gè dà de dōngxi shì shénme?
那個大的東西是什麼?
那个大的东西是什么?
What is that big thing? (or "those big things")

The Business Chinese Test Introduction(BCT)商务汉语考试

The Business Chinese Test Introduction(BCT)商务汉语考试 I. BCT BCT is a state-level standard test established to assess the Chinese proficiency of non-native speakers engaged in business activities. BCT is developed by Peking University under the entrustment of the Office of Chinese Language Council International. BCT assess the Chinese proficiency of non-native speakers engaged in business activities. Practicability and communication are the main features of the test. II. Test object Non-native speakers III. Benefits BCT serves various institutions and individuals which want to assess the business Chinese proficiency of relevant personages. The main benefits are: (1)Provide a reference basis for the employers to assess the business Chinese proficiency of relevant personnel when making such decisions as personnel employment, selection and promotion. (2)Help relevant teaching and training institutions to certify the students' business Chinese proficiency in recruitment and class division. (3)Assess the teaching and training effect of relevant teaching units and training institutions. (4)Provide a certificate of the business Chinese proficiency for those who seek jobs or want to be promoted. (5)Help Chinese learners to further develop their own business Chinese ability. IV. Administration The Office of Chinese Language Council International has full authority to lead BCT and award certificates. BCT is an authoritative test of the state and awards "Business Chinese Test Certificate". BCT is held on the Chinese mainland and overseas regularly every year. V. Levels and standards BCT has a total of five levels to describe the business Chinese proficiency of the examinees, namely: Level 1 Incapable of communication in Chinese in business environments. Level 2 Capable of basic communication in Chinese in business environments. Level 3 Capable of fairly effective communication in Chinese in business environments. Level 4 Capable of fairly skillful communication in Chinese in business environments. Level 5 Capable of appropriate communication in Chinese in business environments. VI. Points and certificate BCT consists of BCT（listening•reading） and BCT（oral•writing）two independent tests. Examinees can sit for one or both of them. The score for each specific skill (listening or reading or speaking or writing) is 0-500 points; Each level consists of 100 points.The total score for listening and reading constitutes the overall score of BCT(listening • reading)ranging from 0 to 1000 points. So do the overall score of BCT(speaking • writing). Levels Score for specific skill Total score 1 0-100 0-200 2 101-200 201-400 3 201-300 401-600 4 301-400 601-800 5 401-500 801-1000  All examinees can receive a test report even if they only attend test in line with requirements. If the total score for listening and reading comes to 201-400 points, Level 2 "BCT Certificate (listening•reading) will be awarded; If the total score for speaking and writing comes to 201-400 points, Level 2 "BCT Certificate (speaking•writing) will be awarded. So do Level3,Level4 and Level5 certificates. There is no Level1 certificate in BCT. The test report is valid for a two-year period starting from the test date. VII. Consultation and services Test Section of Office of Chinese Language Council International and BCT R&D office of Peking University provide consulting services regarding BCT to domestic and overseas personages. Tel:86-10-88026478 Fax:86-10-88026479 Email:kaoshi@hanban.edu.cn Website:http://www.hanban.edu.cn For other questions, please consult with Peking University's BCT R&D Office: Tel:86-10-62758874 Email:service@bcthome.cn Website:http://www.bcthome.cn

Chinese Mini-test: 公寓 (Beginner)

Beginner Level 初级 (chūjí)

“我在公司附近租了一间公寓。I rent an apartment near the company where I work.”

Do you know the Chinese Pinyin for “公寓 apartment” in this sentence?

A. gōngyù

B. gōngyuán

C. yùyán

D. gōngzhǔ

List of Chinese Radicals

The Chinese radical (Chinese: 部首) is an essential element of the Chinese dictionary. The list of Chinese radicals is a rough equivalent of a Chinese "alphabet". Every Chinese character is classified under a radical and characters with the same radical are sorted by the number of strokes (Simplified Chinese: 画; Traditional Chinese: 畫) used in writing them. The number of strokes varies between 1 and 17. Characters belonging to a particular radical are in turn listed on the basis of the number of additional strokes. Note that the number of strokes is not always clear to the untrained eye. There have been several systems of radicals in use at various times during the history of the Chinese language. The following describes the Unicode system of radicals, which is based on the traditional 214 radicals of the Kangxi dictionary. The main difference between the Unicode and the Kangxi radicals is that the Unicode system has been extended to classify both simplified and traditional Chinese characters, as well as characters which are used only in Japanese or Korean. 1  Stroke Chinese Radicals: 一 丨 丶 丿 乙/乚 亅/了 2 Stroke Chinese Radicals: 二 亠 人/亻 儿 入 八 冂 冖 冫 几 凵 刀/刂 力 勹 匕 匚/匸 十 卜 卩 厂 厶 又 讠 阝 3 Stroke Chinese Radicals: 艹 口 囗 土 士 夂 夕 大 女 子/孑 宀 寸 小 尢 尸 屮 山 川/巛 工 己 巾 干 幺 纟 广 廴 廾 弋 弓 彐/彑 彡 彳 忄 扌 氵 犭 辶 门 饣 马 4 Stroke Chinese Radicals: 心 戈 户 手 支 攴 攵 文 斗 禸 斤 方 无 日/曰 月 木 欠 止 歹 殳 毋 比 毛 氏 气 水 火/灬 爪 父 片 牙 牛 犬 王 礻 贝 长 韦 风 飞 见 车 5 Stroke Chinese Radicals: 玄 玉 瓜 瓦 甘 生 用 衤 田 疋 疒 癶 白 皮 皿 目 矛 矢 石 示 禾 穴 立 鸟 龙 钅 6 Stroke Chinese Radicals: 竹 米 糸 缶 网 羊 羽 老 而 耒 耳 聿 肉 臣 自 至 臼 舌 舟 艮 色 虍 虫 血 行 衣 西 页 齐 7 Stroke Chinese Radicals: 角 言 谷 豆 豕 豸 赤 走 足 身  辛 辰 邑 酉 釆 卤 里  龟 8 Stroke Chinese Radicals: 金 阜 隶 隹 雨 青 非 鱼 齿 黾 9 Stroke Chinese Radicals: 骨 面 革 韭 音 食 首 香 鬼 10 Stroke Chinese Radicals: 高 髟 鬲 11 Stroke Chinese Radicals: 鹿 黄 麻 12 Stroke Chinese Radicals: 黍 鼎 黑 黹 13 Stroke Chinese Radicals: 鼓 鼠 14 Stroke Chinese Radicals: 鼻

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Learning Chinese

From research, we found some common mistakes made by many Chinese learners. We have listed some we consider serious one below. If you any happen to you, you’d better recover it.
Think knowledge as skill

Let’s take swimming as an analogy. Suppose you read a book on swimming to learn how to swim. Even after you have gone through the book and had professional knowledge on swimming, you are not able to swim. Why? Because swimming is not a kind of knowledge; instead, it is a kind of skill as well as Chinese language. Practice is not only the core of skill learning, but also the efficient way to turn the knowledge into application. You should learn how to use what you have learned through practice.
Believe in instant learning

I have no faith in some advertisements with slogan ‘learn Chinese in ten days’. Lots of learners fall into their traps, wasting time and money. Every serious learner should realize that no pain, no gain. There is no short-cut to learn Chinese, only existence of good way or poor way. For example, it is not good to recite a Chinese word by the way of dictating it as it only trains your eyes and hand. The good way is to keep your eyes on the word, write the words down and read it loudly as to improve your speaking and listening skills.
Use pinyin as character

I have read an article saying pinyin will soon take the place of Chinese characters in China. How ridiculous it is! There are only about 1700 syllables in Chinese and every character is single-syllable. There are more than 80,000 Chinese characters. What does that mean? It means that same pinyin leads to many different characters. So I strongly recommended that serious learner do not rely on pinyin too much, it is only used to indicate Standard Mandarin pronunciation. As an intermediate learner, you’d better read some books with no pinyin. If you encounter any Chinese symbol without knowing its pronunciation, consult this character in dictionary by radical and stroke method.
Lack of systematic learning

There are too many learning materials on the market. It is good as you will have more choices, but it will cause some problem. Some learners switch from one set of textbook to another frequently. The best way is to concentrate on a suitable set of text-book and have some other reading, listening materials as supplements.

Have not made any of above mistakes? congratulations! Go ahead. But keep in mind, always try to avoid them.

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

"It's a Small World" Advise from Amit Gilboa

After the interview with Xiao An An from "it's a Small World", we have Amit here to give us some in-sight of how he had learned Mandarin. Here is a mail from him.

Hi Cheuk,

Sorry it took me a while to respond.

Here are a couple of tips from my experience:

1) Immersion is truly the best way. If I had a choice between learning 1 hour a week for a year or learning for 50 hours in one week - definitely I would choose the latter. I think that when you focus on the language instead of constantly switching gears from one language to another, that's when you really improve.

2) As much as possible, practice. Don't wait for opportunities to talk with native speakers. Talk to yourself in Chinese. When sitting on the bus, try to translate advertisements from English into Chinese. When counting things to yourself, try in Chinese instead of English. The more you use it, the more fluently it will flow.

3) For more advanced students, try watching Chinese shows. Even if using subtitles, try to catch words in Chinese. Best to use shows where people speak slowly (the news is not a good option as they usually speak very fast) and clearly (generally women speak more clearly) and also avoid historical dramas because they use the equivalent of shakesperean language.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Amit

Tips from Xiao An An in Learning Mandarin

Do you remember about the Channel 8 TV variety show "It's a small world" 国记交意所 where foreigners speak amazingly good Mandarin?

Recently we at DJH Chinese Courses had an interview over email with one of the "students" Xiao An An from Romania. He shared with us some of his experience and tips in learning Mandarin.





hey Cheuk,

Nice to meet you here, sorry for the late reply, I've been caught up in quite a few things lately.
Congratulations on your course, teaching Chinese is a tough job and requires a lot of patience and hard work.

Well, my Mandarin came from a lot of work I put into formal study in the beginning, then from having a chinese gf and lastly from putting myself forcefully in the middle of strange situations.

I would say, in the beginning study every day, for maybe 2 hours at least, writing characters, pronouncing them and try to recognize them as self-testing. Now iPhone have this capability so you can keep all your words on the phone.

Hope this is helpful. A





Thanks Xiao An An for sharing with us. I guess 一份耕耘，一份收获, only hard work will pay for good result. We hope our students will benefit from the advice and we wish all the best for Xiao An An in his career.