Easier to Download Chinese Flash Cards

Hello! You may have noticed awhile back that Scribd changed the way it works and if you wanted to download documents that were stored there, you had to sign up, upload your own document, and then you could download whatever you wanted within the 24hrs after uploading your document. You could also pay but that defeats the purpose of providing free stuff!!

Well thanks to my multi skilled husband, I've now got my own web space and have uploaded all my PDF's so that you don't have to do anything but click on the link and it will automatically open in a web page ready for you to download. I am much happier with this as I know when I want to download things off the web, I don't want to muck around so I'm sure you don't want to either.

I've updated all posts with PDF downloads in them and any in the future will be a simple click and download for you. This should make things much easier for everyone. :-)

Here's links to my previous posts with the flashcards.

Lesson 1 Flashcards
Lesson 2 Flashcards
Lesson 3 Flashcards
Lesson 4 Flashcards
Lesson 5 Flashcards

As for my lack of Chinese posts these last few months, I have to admit I'm quite distracted with baby things. This will definitely (I think!) be our last bub so I'm trying to sew and make as much as I can since it will be my last chance to make baby things for my own kids. So things will probably remain quiet in the near future with not so regular posts until I get the majority of projects crossed off my list. In saying that, we are still practicing speaking Chinese and my son's favourite music at the moment is our Chinese songs CD's. He's even memorised the words to one of the songs and sings it while he plays.

Anyway, that's about it for now. I know I really must get the rest of the flash cards up for book 1 so will try and do that before bub arrives as I'm now often not able to do much other than sit on the couch...will have to see how I go though!

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or suggestions for posts, please don't hesitate to comment!

Flash Cards for Lesson 4

Thought it was about time I made the effort to keep uploading more sets of flashcards. I have actually had them all made for months but I don't have the translation bit done on all of them and it is time consuming to get the pinyin with the tones above the letters. Please keep in mind that the translation comes from my teachers who are native Chinese speakers and have lived there for many years. They may not be exact dictionary definitions or I may only have one meaning for a word that can actually mean a number of things. These books are aimed at children (but can still be used by adults) so some definitions are simplified and could be considered 'kiddy language'.

Click on the link below to see my flash cards.

Flash Cards for Lesson 4

If you notice any mistakes or have any suggestions, feel free to comment!

333 Hanzi In A Day

The other day I stumbled across this great e-book for learning Chinese characters (hanzi). I found it while I was browsing through scribd and managed to fine the main website which had the e-book for free and a heap of other resources.

http://www.kanji-sudoku.com/

Now, when you go to the website, you will fine a heap of stuff for learning Japanese Kanji. Don't worry, you are at the right place! Most Japanese Kanji is based off Chinese characters (hanzi) and therefore, there is a large set of characters that look identical in both languages. In many cases, the meaning is also the same but I'm pretty sure the pronunciation is always different between the languages.

Pretty much everything you will want is found in the lists of links on each side of the homepage, specifically the right hand side which contains all the links for the actual downloads. The list of links on the left seems to mainly be links to pages with information on the given topic and doesn't contain the link you need to download. As this page is made primarily for Japanese Kanji, you will see that there is not too much for Chinese but what they do have seems fantastic.

You will find:

• 333 Hanzi In A Day e-book
• Chinese sudoku using numbers 1-9 in the form they are written for legal/financial documents
• 12x12 sudoku using the Chinese Zodiac characters
• Hanzi Crossword Puzzle

These are all really useful ways to practice your basic characters. I haven't tried them out yet but after having a read through the e-book, I thought it looked very practical and really made sense learning characters that were so similar. I found even in just a few minutes of looking at some characters, it really aided my memorisation of their meaning and construction.

ProVoc - Language Learning Program for Mac

The other day, my husband reminded me of this fantastic program that he used to learn Greek when he was at uni. It's called ProVoc and is only for Apple Macs. It is completely free. You download the program and then either create your own vocabulary lists or download lists that others have made. They have heaps for Chinese - some are more useful than others. A lot of people have made lists for the textbook they are using so you might find yours in there. I have ended up making my own list for my textbook.

It is so simple to use. You put in your vocabulary including translation and comments if you wish. Then you have a few different types of tests you can do to practice your words. There are also many different options for the tests so you can really vary them to suit yourself and your needs. When you are making your own vocabulary list, it really helps if you have Chinese as an option for typing on your computer. I'll explain how to set that up on a mac in another post. It's really easy. :-)

To download ProVoc, go to http://www.arizona-software.ch/provoc/download.html. You can also download a widget to practice your words too.

To download the vocabulary lists, go to http://www.arizona-software.ch/provoc/vocabulary.html?show=cn.

Hope you find this as useful as I have!

Flash Cards for Lesson 3

I'm on a roll tonight! Here's the flash cards for lesson 3. Just click on the link below and away you go!

Flash Cards for Lesson 3

If you want to know more about these flash cards, just take a look back through my posts (see links below) for previous flash cards and a little more info on what they are for and how to use them.

Flash Cards for Lesson 1 Post

Flash Cards for Lesson 2 Post

Flash Cards for Lesson 2

It's been ages since I've been on here. I've still been busy learning Mandarin...although this has had a setback over the last few months. My teacher had to go back to China for a few weeks and we had a new teacher who really put me off learning Mandarin. She stressed me out so much I didn't even want to look at any of my work. My normal teacher was meant to be back for this term however, so I was looking forward to that and was trying to motivate myself to catch up and get prepared over the holidays.

Well...my normal teacher never came back!!! :-( I'm partially annoyed and sad but our new teacher (still the same teacher I didn't like from last term) at least goes through our textbook more thoroughly (although nowhere near what she should) so I guess I am partially learning better. If only she would slow down and write the characters neater on the board so we can actually copy them down. On the plus side, we have new adult students in the class so she is focusing on them more and leaving me in peace. lol I feel so sorry for them though. She is going through stuff way too fast for them and they are so confused.

Anyway, I've decided that I can't always choose my teacher or have one that I really like so I will have to do the best with what I've got right now and just be thankful that I even have this opportunity to learn Chinese. I'm going to make the most of what I've got right now.

Ok, on to the real topic of this post. Here's the second set of flash cards for lesson 2. Just click on the link below.

Flash Cards for Lesson 2

Again, they follow the same format of the flash cards for lesson 1. Simply print them out, write the translation and pinyin on the back, laminate them if you wish, and then practice. :-)

Flash Cards for Lesson 1

Ok. So maybe sometimes I have a little too much time on my hands but I was given a sheet with flashcards for lesson 1 when I first started and I hurried home, cut them out and laminated them. Since then, I've made flashcards that match these original ones exactly and have done this for every lesson in the book.

The flashcards are very simple. They have the Chinese character on one side and on the back, it is blank. On the back of mine, I write (in pencil so it doesn't show through) the English translation, the pinyin, and then if it is hard or unusual to pronounce, the pronunciation. I get this info from my teacher. It is not found in the book which is why I recommend you find someone who speaks Chinese (a native speaker is best) to help you if you use these books.

Here's the flash cards for Lesson 1 including their translation. Just click on the link below and you can print them out for yourself. Hope you find them helpful!

Flash Cards for Lesson 1