Phono-semantic compound, also called semantic-phonetic compound or pictophonetic compound, is composed of two parts: one of a limited set of pictograms, often graphically simplified, which suggests the general meaning of the character, and an existing character pronounced approximately as the new target word.

Considering its size and close assocations among pictograms, ideograms and phono-semantic compounds, my forth advice would be children should use pictograms and ideograms as bases to understand and memorize phono-semantic compounds.

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How to help children learn Chinese characters? (Method 5) | June 25, 2010 7:03 pm | Comments (2)

Do you know when Mickey Mouse was first introduced into China?

It was on October 26, 1986, Sunday. Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, squeaking and squawking in Mandarin Chinese, made their debut of 104 half-hour episodes on China Central Television (CCTV), China’s state-owned TV station with exclusive nationwide broadcasting at that time. Since then, this animated character has become America’s most popular cultural ambassador to China.
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Chinese-speaking Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse speaks Chinese! | June 17, 2010 3:11 pm | Comments (6)

Spinach truly is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. Though low in calories, spinach contains high concentration of iron and calcium. It is extremely high in antioxidants, especially when fresh, steamed, or quickly boiled (see Get children eat vegetables: Spinach casserole with bacon and fresh [......]

继续阅读

chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, How to say snow pea in Chinese?, How to say spinach in Chinese?, How to say strawberry in Chinese?, How to say sweet potato in Chinese? learn chinese for free | June 11, 2010 3:34 pm | Comments (2)

As she approaches her second birthday, DD developed interest in playing the emperor in “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. She loves to strip herself into nothing but a piece of diaper, wrap herself up in blanket and walk proudly around the house. When she tried to go out, I would say “but you have no clothes on!”

She had no problem in bending over from the waist to pick something up from the floor. She didn’t have jumping in place yet, but she kept practicing and could manage one foot off the ground at a time.

She began to have less patience in sitting still and waiting for the end of stories. She was running, climbing, jumping, twirling, spinning, shouting and laughing. Put into one word, she was always in motion, full of energy.

To help run off her steam, we took her to local parks. As always, she loves to play with other kids, especially older ones. One day, she chased two big sisters in the playground and did as they did. Finally, the two sisters accepted her into the group and played with her. The other day, she easily won the hearts of two older girls and they competed with each other to play with her. And she cried when we had to leave.

This month, the most word DD said was “no”. She said “no” to anything. She pronounced “no” in such a clear and professional way that she earned the title “Miss No-no”.

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Baby’s growth, month 23 | June 3, 2010 12:28 pm | Comments (1)

I want to share these wonderful Chinese learning resources with my worldwide readers. How about I open Chinese bookstore online and sell them via the Internet? I already have a blog. Now I just need to add a database-driven shopping cart onto the website.

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I have an idea to open a Chinese bookstore online! | May 27, 2010 11:46 am | Comments (1)

Approximately 13% of the total Chinese characters are ideogrammic compounds, making it the second largest category. Considering the close assocations among pictograms, ideograms and ideogrammic compounds, my forth advice would be children should use pictograms and ideograms as bases to understand and memorize ideogrammic compounds.

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How to help children learn Chinese characters? (Method 4), How to help children learn Chinese characters? (Part 4) | May 21, 2010 3:39 pm | Comments (2)

It looks like there are more vegetables and fruits starting with the letter p. Besides pea, potato, peach and pear, pumpkin, papaya, pineapple and plum all start with the letter p. Here is the tutorial on how to say pumpkin, papaya, pineapple and plum in Chinese. [......]

chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, How to say papaya in Chinese?, How to say pineapple in Chinese?, How to say plum in Chinese?, How to say pumpkin in Chinese? learn chinese for free | May 13, 2010 12:51 pm | Comments (2)

DD was doing great during her twenty two months. She could easily kick a big ball forward without falling. She didn’t have problems in turning corners when running around the living room.

She was delight in using her ever-more-dexterous fingers to build a tower of eight cubes, and opened my zipped purse with no problem. She could wash and dry her hands, after a messy playing with the water.

Unlike a typical 22-month-old whose vocabulary consists of about 20 words, DD could say a few Chinese words and a couple of English words. This month she added daddy in English and grandpa in Chinese into her vocabulary. But she understood many more words than she could pronounce—she could identify a number of pictures by pointing. And she understood and followed a two-step oral command, unwillingly sometimes.

She continued to show affection to her teddy bear, little dolly, and toys. She also freely kissed and hugged us, though sometimes rejected to give M hugs and kisses when she didn’t get her way. Overall, she was a kind, loving and sweet little one.

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Baby’s growth, month 22 | May 3, 2010 2:06 pm | Comments (4)

According to the US State Department, Chinese ranks among the toughest languages in the world for English speakers, requiring 2200 hours of study for minimal proficiency.

Therefore, it makes perfect sense for learners to start with the simplest Chinese characters, for example, pictograms, which are stylised drawings of the objects they represent (see How to help children learn Chinese characters? (Method 2))

Besides pictograms, a lot of ideograms are the simplest Chinese characters. Also called simple indicatives or simple ideographs, ideograms express an abstract idea through an iconic form. They either modify existing pictographs iconically, or are direct iconic illustrations.
In another word, ideograms are more like graphical representations of abstract ideas. [......]

How to help children learn Chinese characters? (Method 3) | April 30, 2010 1:39 pm | Comments (4)

Overall, My First Book of Mandarin Chinese Words offers a good start to expose Chinese language to young bilingual learners. [......]

Book review: My First Book of Mandarin Chinese Words | April 24, 2010 7:14 pm | Comments (1)