Mandarin

=Master a Little Mandarin....=
 * [[image:ni_hao.jpg width="256" height="163" align="center"]]

Ni hao! Hello!
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in the Allen Centre.
|| How to hold a Chinese brush || Mandarin Chinese characters are in the shape of a square and made up of strokes written **[|in a special order]**
 * [[image:P1240705-1.JPG width="383" height="257"]] || [[image:P1240702-1.JPG width="383" height="250" align="center"]] ||
 * [[image:P1240790-2.JPG width="396" height="266"]] || [[image:P1250049.JPG width="414" height="246"]] ||
 * [[image:china_brush.JPG width="374" height="251" align="center"]]

Print some **[|Chinese writing paper]** ||

Many characters are symbols representing ideas....

 * ===[[image:china.gif]]===

China: Zhöng Guó
|| ==China or The Middle Kingdom== __**Left character**__ Shows a piece of land (the world) and China is in the middle – represented by a line through the centre. __**Right character**__ The square is a piece of land; the centre represents a king 王, the small dash is the treasure or precious jewels; close the door at the bottom, you have a land with a ruler. || =Speaking Mandarin... luckily there is Pinyin!= Pinyin tells you how to speak what you write....
 * Pin** means //spell// and **yin** means //sound.//
 * || [[image:P1250461.JPG width="479" height="315"]]

Hear and see the sounds spoken [|here]
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 * || [[image:P1250462.JPG]] ||
 * || [[image:P1250463.JPG]] ||

... but you'll need to master the tones...

 * [[image:P1240698.JPG width="342" height="373"]] || [[image:P1240699.JPG width="351" height="365"]] ||

Useful Links....

 * [[image:chinese_slat_book.jpg width="218" height="309"]] || ==These sites will give you lots of practice==

**[|Chinese Language Games online]**
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