Attending a big event, such as NCLC, was always something worth talking about. It was especially cool to be a speaker, even a small one as I was among all the big shots. It was a good opportunity to learn and to share some of my experience.

Occasionally I receive some good questions about learning Chinese. I never thought about publishing any until today, as it suddenly occurred to me that other people might also be interested in these questions. Below is one I received from a 79 years old grandma from Australia, Pat. 

Of all the prizes offered for contestants who participated in the Chinese Writing Contest 2021, the coolest one should be to become a published author. This is a recognition with a far reaching effect.

With the newly published book, Easy-to-Read Chinese Short Stories, Book 1, seventeen contestants have won this bragging right. Their work is now available for a wide range of audiences worldwide.

When working on Mandarin Express Intermediate Level A, at the end of each chapter, students are required to present something for at least five minutes on a topic they select. 

Over the years, there have been some amazing speeches. Two weeks ago, a particularly timely one was delivered by Nathan. There were some really good thought provoking gold nuggets there. 

SRS (Spaced Repetition Software) is quite popular among Chinese learners. It uses an algorithm that controls how frequently flashcards are shown based on how students grade themselves in previous tests. This is a learning tool. 

However, a tool is a tool. It can be both very helpful or utterly useless. All depend on how you use it. Here I’m going to share some tips on using SRS, and how you can practice recognising Chinese characters and words, taught in the Chinese Reading and Writing series, using SuperMemo cards. 

This is an inspirational story from a colleague working in a university in Trinidad & Tobago, Janine L. 

Dedicated and hardworking, she shares her past learning experiences and talks about what it took to get to where she is now.

Thanks for all the engineers, designers, coordinators, printers, couriers and the supporting staff, after overcoming countless small hiccups, finally, Complete Beginner’s Chinese Reading and Writing Course Kits just arrived. One of them is already reserved for the grand winner of this year’s Chinese Writing Contest.

A fact that all Chinese language learners will eventually learn by personal experience is the changes of tones and pitches. Shared by Tony many years ago, this hilarious recounting of his personal experience will definitely put a smile on your face, as it did to all of us. That was the reason that he wrote it down.

After the release of Mandarin audio courses of Intro Level A, Intro Level B and Basic Level A, the fourth audio course, Mandarin Express Basic Level B, is now available! Building up from the previous three courses, the topics featured in this course are more connected to our life and our experience of the world, and at the same time, English explanation is reduced to the minimum.

Train your ears with Mandarin audio lessons first, and finish with re-enforcing exercises in the Work Book. Listen better, and speak well. We’re here to help you achieve just that. The third release of Mandarin audio lessons of Mandarin Express Basic Level A is now available!

A great way to improve Chinese listening skills is to use ears to learn Chinese first, eyes second. This is especially important for beginner students who are so often baffled by all the similar tones and many look-alike pinyin words. To achieve that, audio lessons are a wonderful tool students should look into. That’s exactly what I’m currently working on. Following the previous release of Mandarin Express Intro Level A audio lessons, I’m happy to announce that Intro Level B audio lessons have just been made available!

Listening has always been a weak spot for beginner students who are learning Chinese. After they’ve learned some phrases, they experience a total blank when the same phrases are coming out from other people’s mouths. Today, I’m happy to announce that we have added one more solution to our tool kit for beginner students to develop their listening skills.

With the final video lesson of Chinese Reading and Writing 6 uploaded, all the ground work is finished, and the Complete Beginner’s Chinese Reading and Writing Course Kit now entered its final development stage. We’re excited!

A business guru once said something like this: Don’t overestimate how much you can do in one day, and don’t underestimate how much you can achieve over a year. This is so true. After a little more than twelve months of intense effort, with the final lesson of Review 6 uploaded last night, the entire video lessons of the Chinese Reading and Writing series are finally completed!

After some intense and productive weeks, I’m happy to announce that the fifth Chinese writing course is completed, uploaded, and ready for viewing. Based on the textbook Chinese Reading and Writing 5, eighteen online lessons have been released.