On Learning the Standard Tones of Mandarin

Hard-core students of Mandarin Chinese will be interested in this article on the subject of teaching and learning the pronunciation of the four standard tones of Mandarin, posted on the excellent Chinese learning site Sinosplice.

Toward Better Tones in Natural Speech

Funerals in Taiwan

Check out this article in the Taiwan Journal for an interesting look at how the funeral business in Taiwan is changing, and how that is reflective of the changing beliefs in Taiwan society.

A Welcome to Chinese (And Non-Chinese) Readers

I get reports on how people come to this blog, and recently we’ve had quite a few visitors from mainland China.

I just want to send out a warm welcome and invite them, or any Chinese speaker, to post a comment or a question any time. You can write it in English or Chinese, and if you write it in Chinese, I can read both simplified and traditional characters.

And please, everyone who reads, understand something: I am an unabashed Sinophile.  I love the history, culture, art, and language of China and Taiwan. Heck, I even enjoy visiting overseas Chinese communities. When I write about cultural differences in communication, I try to be objective, but I also don’t hold back my real thoughts. If that is offensive to some, please accept my apology. It is not intentional. I have been in the trenches of business, consulting, corporate training, and education in greater China for 20 years now, and I enjoy providing a little insight into cross-cultural issues (including learning Chinese) to my readers. I welcome anyone who wants to learn more about how Westerners and Chinese people bridge the communication gap to join in the discussion here anytime.

As for my next post, I’m working on a few ideas, but am unfortunately so limited in my free time (think eight substantial projects, frequent travel, a book deadline, and a hundred details) lately that I haven’t been able to get anything finished. I’ll post something interesting soon.

Cheers,

True