Using Chinese Synonyms

Using Chinese Synonyms is an essential reference book, specifically designed for non-native speakers of Chinese, and for teachers and other language professionals who want a user-friendly guide to the finer nuances of Chinese synonyms. It contains approximately 1700 synonyms in 316 groups. With the particular needs of non-native speakers of Chinese in mind, this invaluable book selects and explains words and phrases in everyday use, allowing students to enhance their knowledge of one of the most important and widely-spoken languages in the world. This book assists in the development of fluent, spontaneous and skilful use of Chinese synonyms.

First published in 2010. 500 Common Chinese Idioms is a unique tool for learners. Presenting the 500 most commonly used Chinese idioms or ‘chengyu’, this dictionary presents: The idiom in both simplified and traditional characters The idiom in pinyin romanisation A literal English translation and English equivalents Two suitable example sentences, plus explanations and usage notes The dictionary offers a step-by-step approach to gaining greater fluency through a grasp of the most common idioms in the language, making it the ideal resource for the intermediate learner of Chinese and for Chinese language teachers. The book is also accompanied by recordings of all 500 idioms, available free through the companion website.

This book presents a collection of original research articles that showcase the state of the art of research in corpus and computational linguistic approaches to Chinese language teaching, learning and assessment. It offers a comprehensive set of corpus resources and natural language processing tools that are useful for teaching, learning and assessing Chinese as a second or foreign language; methods for implementing such resources and techniques in Chinese pedagogy and assessment; as well as research findings on the effectiveness of using such resources and techniques in various aspects of Chinese pedagogy and assessment.

This book constitutes the refereed selected papers from the 14th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2013, held in Zhengzhou, China, in May 2013. The 68 full papers and 4 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 153 submissions. They are organized in topical sections covering all major topics of lexical semantics; lexical resources; corpus linguistics and applications on natural language processing.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 16th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop, CLSW 2015, held in Beijing, China, in May 2015. The 64 regular and 4 short papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 248 submissions. They are organized in topical sections named: lexical semantics; lexical resources; lexicology; natural language processing and applications; and syntax.

A dictionary of the 500 most frequently used words in the Chinese language, this instructive reference provides meaning and grammatical explanations for the use of each word. Based on a scientific study that concludes that learning a language can be achieved by mastering its most used words, the text acts as both a traditional dictionary and a teaching guide to the world's most widely-spoken language. Each entry is presented in both Chinese characters and roman letters, with pinyin transcription. This book also includes an introduction to the Chinese language and a pronunciation guide.

Learning Chinese can be frustrating and difficult, partly because it's very different from European languages. Following a teacher, textbook or language course is not enough. They show you the characters, words and grammar you need to become proficient in Chinese, but they don't teach you how to learn them! Regardless of what program you're in (if any), you need to take responsibility for your own learning. If you don't, you will miss many important things that aren't included in the course you're taking. If you study on your own, you need to be even more aware of what you need to do, what you're doing at the moment and the difference between them. Here are some of the questions I have asked and have since been asked many times by students: How do I learn characters efficiently? How do I get the most out of my course or teacher? Which are the best learning tools and resources? How can I become fluent in Mandarin? How can I improve my pronunciation? How do I learn successfully on my own? How can I motivate myself to study more? How can I fit learning Chinese into a busy schedule? The answers I've found to these questions and many others form the core of this book. It took eight years of learning, researching, teaching and writing to figure these things out. Not everybody has the time to do that! I can't go back in time and help myself learn in a better way, but I can help you! This book is meant for normal students and independent language learners alike. While it covers all major areas of learning, you won't learn Chinese just by reading this book. It's like when someone on TV teaches you how to cook: you won't get to eat the delicious dish just by watching the program; you have to do the cooking yourself. That's true for this book as well. When you apply what you learn, it will boost your learning, making every hour you spend count for more, but you still have to do the learning yourself. This is what a few readers have said about the book: "The book had me nodding at a heap of things I'd learnt the hard way, wishing I knew them when I started, as well as highlighting areas that I'm currently missing in my study." - Geoff van der Meer, VP engineering "This publication is like a bible for anyone serious about Chinese proficiency. It's easy for anyone to read and written with scientific precision." - Zachary Danz, foreign teacher, children's theatre artist About me I started learning Chinese when I was 23 (that's more than eight years ago now) and have since studied in many different situations, including serious immersion programs abroad, high-intensity programs in Sweden, online courses, as well as on the side while working or studying other things. I have also successfully used my Chinese in a graduate program for teaching Chinese as a second language, taught entirely in Chinese mostly for native speakers (the Graduate Institute for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University). All these parts have contributed to my website, Hacking Chinese, where I write regularly about how to learn Mandarin.

A Thematic Dictionary of Contemporary Chinese is a unique resource for intermediate to advanced students of Chinese. The dictionary presents 9,000 words organized thematically in 300 different subject areas. These themes cover the vocabulary necessary for daily use and for conducting meaningful conversations with native Chinese speakers on a variety of topics, from politics to business, and from hobbies to education. Each vocabulary item is annotated with the most frequent collocations allowing learners to improve their fluency by storing new vocabulary in larger linguistic units. Cultural and linguistic tips enable learners to grasp the vocabulary more effectively and increase their awareness of Chinese culture embedded in the language. Review exercises are provided throughout to ensure learners have ample opportunity to practice the new material. This is a great resource for both independent study and classroom use and will be of interest to students and teachers of Chinese alike. For further understanding of Chinese expressions, students are encouraged to read 500 Common Chinese Proverbs and Colloquial Expressions and 500 Common Chinese Idioms.