• Why do I always pronounce ten and four wrong? |
| You should roll up your tongue when you say "shí". You should place the tip of your tongue behind your lower front teeth when you say "sì". |
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• I'm totally frustrated with tones. Any solutions? |
| Don't panic over tones. The context will always help you. Learn tones and try to say things in a flow. That's what Chinese people do. When we speak, we're not aware of tones. |
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• I'm overwhelmed by measure words. How can I learn them well? |
| The trick is whenever you learn a new noun, learn its measure word as well. Always remember there's always a word between numbers and nouns in Chinese. |
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• When the vendor quoted me "sānbáiwǔ", I gave him 305RMB, but he wanted 350RMB. I'm confused. |
| In colloquial Chinese, the units of tens, hundreds, thousands, etc are omitted. 350 will read "sānbáiwǔ". 1,400 will read "yīqiānsì". 45,000 will read "sìwànwǔ". |
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• I always get blank looks when I first try to use my Chinese with local people. Why is that? |
| Most probably they don't even know that you're speaking Chinese. The best policy is to give them a warning " wǒ shuō yìdiǎndiǎn Pǔtōnghuà", which means "I speak a little Chinese". So they'll tune in for broken Chinese. You'll have a much better chance to be understood. |
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• Should I study characters from the beginning? |
| It depends on how ambitious you are. Most of our students concentrate on speaking only in the first course. When you focus on one thing at a time, the progress will be more satisfying. All our students start characters in the second course. |
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• How soon can I expect to be able to communicate with Chinese people? |
| The fastest learners only need a 20-week course with us. Within these 20 weeks, you learn all the basic surviving Mandarin. |
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• Is it possible for me and my 5-year-old to learn Chinese together? |
| Children learn differently from adults. We have special Mandarin program for children. |
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• Do I get a certificate after my course? |
| Yes, you do. After each course, you'll be tested, and the test result will be recorded on your certificate. |
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• I have a busy schedule. Do you offer lessons at the weekend? |
| Yes. We offer lessons from 8:00am to 9:00pm Monday to Sunday. You can come to our school or our teacher can go to your place. |
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• Do you have promotion classes? |
| Yes. Every June and December is our promotion period. Students registered in those months can have a 10% discount. |
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• I'm terrible with languages. Do you think I can learn Mandarin? |
| At our school, we don't believe there's such a thing as slow learners. Have dedication and persistence, let us take the lead. |
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• What's the best dictionary for beginners? |
| Oxford English-Chinese/Chinese-English Dictionary for Beginners is a good one. But no dictionary can beat good teachers. They will teach you the latest slang terms too new for any dictionaries. |
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