Learn To Speak Chinese

Learn To Speak Chinese - She Wanted To Learn To Speak Chinese, Just Like You, But She Had A Problem, A Problem With Tones and Pronunciation!

I'm going to tell you what really happened to her. You see, we're not Chinese - and our mother tongue is not a tonal language.

In languages that are not tonal, such as English, a change in pitch may be used, for example, for sense stress, as a means of indicating size, distance, that a question is being asked or to express excitement, enthusiasm, sorrow or anxiety.

But in a tonal language, such as Chinese, changing the pitch may change the meaning of a word!

So what happened to our learner making her hate tones?

She just wanted to greet someone with a warm:

“Nǐ hǎo!” (Hello!)

What she really said, however, was:

“Niào!” (Urinate!)

If you choose to learn Chinese with my help, I don't guarantee you won't make the same mistake ;-)

But I do guarantee that I'll listen your recordings until your pronunciation is perfect!

With the '1,000 Chinese Characters' Daily Course you'll also save time by learning only what is most commonly used in Chinese.

For example, consider the following Chinese text (the characters belonging to the list of 1,000 most commonly used Chinese characters are highlighted in yellow - for the list click here):

你的生命有多宝贵？第一次世界大战期间，尽管无数人在欧洲惨遭杀害，在南极洲有人却为救生而不遗余力。英裔爱尔兰探险家欧内斯特•沙克尔顿及其同伴们乘坐的船“耐力号”撞着浮冰而沉没。沙克尔顿好不容易带领船员在南大西洋的海象岛上了岸，但这并不是个什么安全地带，他们的处境仍然险恶。沙克尔顿知道，他们要想生还，惟一的希望就是派人到南乔治亚岛的一个捕鲸站求助。这个岛距离他们1100公里，而沙克尔顿只有一条从“耐力号”抢救出来的7米长的救生艇。他们的前景实在不妙。陷于困境的船员深信沙克尔顿一定会信守诺言，搭救他们。沙克尔顿带领几个船员经过17天艰辛重重的航程，终于在1916年5月10日到达南乔治亚岛。但是由于海面情况恶劣，他们被迫在与捕鲸站方向相反的一边泊岸。这样一来，他们还得再走30公里，翻越积雪覆盖、地图上未标明的山岭，才能到达位于岛另一端的捕鲸站。在没有适当登山设备的情况下，沙克尔顿和同伴们冒着零下的严寒，克服重重艰难险阻，终于到达捕鲸站。最后，沙克尔顿救出了留在海象岛上的所有船员。他为什么付出这么大的努力去救人呢？传记作家罗朗德•亨特福德说：“他惟一的目标就是要把每一个人都活着救出来。”

The text above is composed by a total of 438 characters. 391 of them (89%), highlighted in yellow, belong to the list of 1,000 most commonly used Chinese characters - for the list click here.

English translation:

How Precious Is Your Life? WHILE countless lives were being sacrificed in Europe during World War I, amazing efforts were being made to save lives in Antarctica. Anglo-Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton and his companions suffered catastrophe when their ship, Endurance, was crushed and sunk by pack ice. Shackleton managed to get his men to a safe haven—of sorts—on Elephant Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. But they still faced extreme danger. Shackleton realized that their only hope of survival lay in sending for help from a whaling station on the island of South Georgia. That was 700 miles [1,100 km] away, and he had only a 22-foot [7 m] lifeboat that he had salvaged from Endurance. Their prospects were not good. On May 10, 1916, however, after 17 harrowing days, Shackleton and a small party got to South Georgia, but terrible sea conditions forced them to land on the wrong side of the island. They were faced with a 20-mile [30 km] trek over uncharted, snow-covered mountains to reach their final destination. Against all odds—in subzero temperatures and without proper climbing equipment—Shackleton and his companions reached their destination, and he eventually rescued all his stranded men. Why did Shackleton put forth such strenuous effort? "His one ambition," writes biographer Roland Huntford, was "to get every one of his men out alive."

List of different Chinese characters contained in the text above:

你的生命有多宝贵第一次世界大战期间尽管无数人在欧洲惨遭杀害南极却为救而不遗余力英裔爱尔兰探险家内斯特沙克顿及其同伴们乘坐船耐号撞着浮冰沉没好容易带领员西洋海象岛上了岸但这并是个什么安全地他处境仍然恶知道要想还惟希望就派到乔治亚捕鲸站求助距离公里只条从抢出来米长艇前景实妙陷于困深信定会守诺言搭几经过天艰辛重航程终年月日达由面情况劣被迫与方向相反边泊样得再走翻越积雪覆盖图未标明山岭才能位另端适当登设备下和冒零严寒服难阻最后留所付努去呢传记作罗朗德亨福说目把每都活

At www.WearYourChineseName.com you learn to speak Chinese focusing on the words that are most useful and avoiding to waste your time with something you'd never use again! So, if you want to learn to speak Chinese with my help, click here.