{"product_id":"2940014037181","title":"A Beginner\u0026#x2019;s Guide To Learning Chinese","description":"For many years now, the world has been insisting that everyone\u003cbr\u003eshould speak English. But across the world, countries have provided\u003cbr\u003etheir young with initiatives to learn other languages also. Yet in\u003cbr\u003erecent months, Americans have now come to realize that there is now\u003cbr\u003ea need for people to able to speak languages that are more\u003cbr\u003especialized. Certainly the fact is that one language which many\u003cbr\u003eschools are now considering including within their curriculum’s, not\u003cbr\u003ejust in the USA, but around the world is Chinese.\u003cbr\u003ePresently, 1.3 billion people speak Chinese around the world, and of\u003cbr\u003ethis, 885 million speak Mandarin (the official language of China),\u003cbr\u003ewhich also happens to be the most dominant dialect. Currently in the\u003cbr\u003eUSA, only 24,000 students (Grades 7 through to 12) are actually\u003cbr\u003estudying this language, but their numbers are steadily growing.\u003cbr\u003eHowever, the biggest problem that many educators in the US are\u003cbr\u003efacing when it comes to expanding their Chinese programs, is finding\u003cbr\u003epeople who are actually qualified to teach it. There are only a few\u003cbr\u003eUniversities in the USA which offer programs to allow people to train\u003cbr\u003eand gain their teacher’s certification in teaching the Chinese\u003cbr\u003elanguage. One University (George Mason) included a program which\u003cbr\u003ewould allow people to gain their teacher’s certificate for teaching\u003cbr\u003e3\u003cbr\u003eA Beginner’s Guide To Learning Chinese\u003cbr\u003eMandarin, and a total of 2 people enrolled on the course. This is\u003cbr\u003ewhere exchange courses come in useful, and are very critical to\u003cbr\u003ehelping ensure that this language, along with Arabic, can be taught in\u003cbr\u003eUS schools.\u003cbr\u003eHowever for those that are interested in learning the Chinese\u003cbr\u003elanguage, you will find it can be very difficult. So you need to be\u003cbr\u003eprepared to spend a good deal of your spare time, as you will find it\u003cbr\u003ewill take some time to learn. However, through this book, we hope to\u003cbr\u003eprovide you with some useful information that will help you to learn\u003cbr\u003eChinese.\u003cbr\u003e4\u003cbr\u003eA Beginner’s Guide To Learning Chinese\u003cbr\u003eChapter 1 –\u003cbr\u003eSome Simple Facts Regarding\u003cbr\u003ethe Chinese Language\u003cbr\u003eToday, the most standard form of Chinese that is spoken is known as\u003cbr\u003eStandard Mandarin, which is based on a dialect spoken in Beijing. It\u003cbr\u003eis also the official language now used by the people of China, as well\u003cbr\u003eas those in Taiwan, and one of 4 official languages spoken by those\u003cbr\u003epeople from Singapore.\u003cbr\u003eAlso, you will find that this language has now become one of the six\u003cbr\u003eofficial languages used by the United Nations.\u003cbr\u003eAnother standard language that is spoken by Hong Kong and Macau,\u003cbr\u003ewhich are also part of China, is Standard Cantonese.\u003cbr\u003eBut in this book, we will be looking closely at how to learn Standard\u003cbr\u003eMandarin.\u003cbr\u003eMost of the dialects now spoken by the Chinese people will often\u003cbr\u003econsist of words spoken by their ancestors, back when China was\u003cbr\u003emade up of various different ethnic groups.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was only after these groups had come together under the Chinese\u003cbr\u003eempire, did they start to unite the languages that they spoke.\u003cbr\u003eHowever, as the Chinese use a standard formal written language, no\u003cbr\u003ematter what dialect they speak, often people will regard these dialects\u003cbr\u003eas being equal. But in fact, they are like any other country, their own\u003cbr\u003eindividuals; they just use a standardized form of writing.\u003cbr\u003eIt was during the latter part of the 19th Century that Beijing Mandarin\u003cbr\u003ebecame the more standard form of Chinese language to be use. But\u003cbr\u003eit was at this time many Chinese did speak variations of Mandarin,\u003cbr\u003ethough they were very limited.\u003cbr\u003eHowever, things changed when the education system in China was\u003cbr\u003ebased on Standard Mandarin, and was to be used as the language\u003cbr\u003efor carrying out instructions. Today, nearly every person in mainland\u003cbr\u003eChina speaks Mandarin.\u003cbr\u003eIt is important to note that the various different dialects of spoken\u003cbr\u003eChinese use tones. Some areas of China (in the North) will only use\u003cbr\u003eas many as 3 tones, while in Southern China, they can use between\u003cbr\u003e6 or 10 tones as they speak.\u003cbr\u003eToday, more and more people are looking to learn Mandarin in the\u003cbr\u003eWestern hemisphere of the world. Up until about 10 years ago, it was\u003cbr\u003e6\u003cbr\u003eA Beginner’s Guide To Learning Chinese\u003cbr\u003eproving to be extremely difficult to find someone who could teach\u003cbr\u003eothers this language.\u003cbr\u003eToday, there are quite a number of schools across the US, and\u003cbr\u003eacross the rest of the world, where this language is now being taught.\u003cbr\u003eBack in 1991 there were only 2,000 people taking China’s official\u003cbr\u003eChinese language proficiency test, and this figure had risen to\u003cbr\u003e117,660 by 2005. In fact, the Ministry of Education in China believe\u003cbr\u003ethat there are over 30 million people around the world who are\u003cbr\u003elearning Mandarin...","brand":"99 \u0026cent; eStore, save to buy more","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47152840474864,"sku":"2940014037181","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014037181_p0.jpg?v=1763603644","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014037181","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}