Hanbridge Mandarin Chinese Online Learning

Since worldwide language teachers’ target is to help students build proficiency and fluency, which can be accomplished in different methods with or without a universal textbook, the host community of AP Chinese Language and Culture exam does not provide a list of textbooks that meet the curricular requirements of this exam. But we do find few books that are recommended by lots of test takers as well as teachers. 1. Barron’s AP Chinese Language and Culture 2nd Edition By Yan Shen, M.A. Department of Asian Languages & Cultures, UCLA, Los Angeles Many students have been using this book almost as an official guide to this exam, and its popularity is worldwide and is recommended by a lot of AP Chinese Language and Culture teachers for the test preparation. Considering the usage of both traditional and simplified Chinese characters by test takers, this book is presented in both versions. Two complete mock exams are presented with answer keys, which enables students to have an overa...

AP Chinese language and culture course and exam include listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students should well master both spoken and written Chinese at a sophisticated level. So AP Chinese is not that easy, students should improve their Chinese level in all aspects. Listening There are two parts of listening included in AP Chinese language and culture exam. The first part, listen to the beginning of a conversation and select the appropriate continuation of the conversation. For example, A: 你是从哪个城市来的？ B: 我是从旧金山来的，你呢？ 1. 什么？你没去过旧金山？ 2. 我哪儿不想去 3. 我可不想去那儿 4. 我也是从那儿来的 To understand what they are discussing, select the appropriate reply to it. The right answer should be no.4 A：Where are you from? B: I am from San Francisco. How about you? A: So am I The second part, listen to a conversation or instruction or report and then answer some questions based on the content. There will be more than one question after a relatively long conversation or report e...

Every nation has its own traditional clothing. Traditional clothes represent the culture of the country. China has not only fifty-six ethnic groups, but also has a variety of clothing, which reflecting the rich and colorful Chinese culture. Speaking of China's traditional clothing, we must first think of the Chinese cheongsam，there is another name Qipao. The Chinese cheongsam is very beautiful traditional Chinese clothing, in particular, can be very beautiful to show a woman's body. The origin of Cheongsam’s name is very historical. The Qing Dynasty is the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history, emperors of the Qing Dynasty also known as the Manchu, the Qing dynasty women's hairstyle is called Qitou, clothes also called Qizhuang, and now the cheongsam looks pretty like Qizhuang. Now, more and more Chinese people like the Chinese dress, feel that the cheongsam shows the beauty of Chinese woman. Until 2014 the APEC meeting, China has chosen the dress as the leading lady ...

The AP Chinese Language and Culture Exam(Commonly known as AP Chinese) assesses interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational communication skills in Mandarin Chinese, as well as the knowledge of Chinese culture. The AP Chinese Exam is approximately lasts 2 hours and 15 minutes, which consists of 4 sections: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. Section I: Multiple-choice questions Part 1: Listening The Listening section is worth 25% of the total score for AP Chinese exam. To do well on this section , you should practice listening in many methods and listen to many Chinese resources. You can find lots of the resources on Internet just like Chinese radio, Chinese TV shows . Chatting with native speakers is really a good and effective way to improve both listening and speaking skills. Instead of learning by yourself, talking with some Chinese friend and ask their suggestions to choose some useful textbook, and then listen to the materials is also an excellent way to improv...

Learning Chinese is never easy. However, constant dripping wears away a stone. As long as you master the right method and practice continually, you reach success. Here are six suggestions for Chinese learners. 1. Set Goals If you know why you want to study, setting goals is easy. For example, maybe you want to travel to a Chinese-speaking country. Great! Your goal might be to learn " Survival Chinese ". Perhaps you already know many useful phrases, but you want to improve your listening skills and pronunciation. Whatever your goals are, write them down. How long do you need to study to achieve your goals? This answer is different for every student. The important thing is to be realistic. If you work 60 hours per week, then don't plan on spending another 40 hours a week studying Chinese. Start off slowly, but study regularly. Use material that is challenging, but not too difficult. Find out what works for you. After you have studied for a few weeks, adjust your stu...

If you are learning Chinese by yourself, then good resources will be super helpful to you. Chinese learning blogs can help you learn in an easy and relaxed way. However, there are tons of such blogs so, which ones are the best? Here are ones I recommend. 1. Zhōng Wén Central You can find the most useful Chinese learning tips on this blog about Chinese grammar or Chinese characters. In addition, blogger Ryan shares his learning experiences in different language schools to help you if you are considering how to choose a school. He also provides some helpful China travel guides. 2. Hacking Chinese This blog provides the most comprehensive Chinese learning tips I have seen for every language learning level. It has detailed categories so you can find exactly what you need quickly. Every post has rich contents. 3. 中文Hacks This is a popular blog providing a variety of Chinese learning tools and advice. The categories are clear and well designed and include vocabulary, idioms, pic...

Facebook is a great place to practice your Chinese, just type in “Chinese learning” in the Facebook search box and a lot of related pages come up, but you still need some recommendations because search results are not absolutely perfect that you may miss some wonderful pages. Moreover, the page with the most Likes does not necessarily mean a better one. Thus we list ten most helpful Chinese Learning Facebook pages for you below. Note before start : Although you can view the page’s content without logging in, it is highly recommended to log in your Facebook account or create an account to like these pages. By liking a page, you can see the update in page feed in time, you’re able to interact with the page owner who probably is a native Chinese teacher as well as with other Chinese learners from around the world. 1.  Hanbridge Mandarin Facebook This is our own Facebook page where we share various Chinese language topics in a fun way, including the latest Chinese catchword, freque...

Chinese New Year 2017 is coming up. For many people, Chinese New Year is a religious festival as well as a lot of fun. There are many taboos during the period of Lunar New Year in according to Chinese traditions and culture. Chinese people traditionally consider a special moment or action as a bad sign or fortune. We either call is superstition or taboos. Some elder people still take them seriously. There is an old saying “To be safe than to be sorry”, it’s all up to you to believe it or not. Here is a roundup of the taboos during the Chinese New Year, which will all on Feb 8th this year. Taboos before Chinese New Year On 24th, Dec in Lunar calendar, is commonly called 小年xiǎo nián. People start to clean their houses to welcome the coming of the new year. On 25th, Dec. in Lunar calendar, do not chase after debtor in Taiwan. On 26th, Dec. in Lunar calendar, you should never give alms to someone else. On 29th, Dec. in Lunar calendar, people will make steamed bread for ancestor wor...

Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is the most important festival in China. It's a tradition that people will give New Year gifts to passing their best wishes. It is an act of respect and gratefulness in Chinese culture. However, it would be a skillful job to pick a suitable gift when you are going to visit or simply drop by someone. The presents vary a lot if you have different targeted receivers. There are many factors you need to consider for an amazing present. But there is one basic principle, which the gift can meet the receiver's need. Let's take a closer look at what is appropriate to send gifts. And your receiver would appreciate it. Popular Gifts for Chinese New Year Useful phrases and sentences when you give presents in China Useful response when receiving gifts Things You Should Not Give as a New Year Gift Popular New Year Gifts 1. 红包Hongbao (saying "Red Envelopes") Hongbao is absolutely must have gift in Chinese tradit...

3 Ways to say 红包 (Hónɡ Bāo ) Red packet, Red Envelope or simply Hongbao Origin and Significance of Hongbao There are no clear literary sources to trace the origin of the red envelope tradition. In China, during the Qin Dynasty, the elderly would thread coins with a red string. After the foundation of the Republic of China, 压岁钱 was evolved to be wrapped by red papers, since the red color symbolizes good fortune in Chinese tradition. hóng bāo 红包 was called 压岁钱yā suì qián, which initially expresses the meaning of "money suppressing evil spirits". It's a tradition that during Chinese New year, red envelopes are typically given by the married to the unmarried, most of whom are children. Because it's traditionally believed that children are easy to get hurt by evils, so people will give them 压岁钱 to protect them and allow the younger generation to spend their year peacefully and safely. The act of requesting for red packets is normally called 讨红包Tǎo Hónɡ Bāo A ...

During you staying in China, shopping is probably inevitable. You will be encountered with different kinds of shops, markets as well as shop owners of different styles. Did you hear about the story of some local Chinese shop owners charge a higher price to tourists? If you did, this totally can be avoided if you read this article! 1. Bargain ‘True or False’: - Ok to bargain in street vendors, family-owned stores and small businesses . (True) - Ok to bargain in large malls, corporate chains. (False) - Not ok to bargain on food . (at a restaurant or on the street). (True) - Not ok to bargain in small stores with ‘final price’ or ‘No bargain’ signs. (False) 2. Before buying something, please follow these steps: - Don’t buy anything at the first store: It’ necessary to compare the price in different stores, especially when you are at street markets in China. Ask around by using the phrase 多少钱 Duōshao qián? (How much is it?), you’ll have an idea of the average price and ...

Since the Moon Festival is always during or after harvest time, there’s no better time than this to celebrate the treasure and abundance of nature. Moon Festival is a time to gather with family and friends under the full moon sky while eating moon cakes, pomelo fruit, and having barbecues.   Moon Festival Vocabulary Moon Festival zhōng qiū jié 中秋节 Hou Yi Hòu Yì 后羿 Chang'e Cháng'é 嫦娥 moon cake yuè bǐng 月饼 admiring the moon shǎng yuè 赏月 reunion tuán yuán 团圆 Barbecue kǎo ròu 烤肉 pomelo fruit yòuzi 柚子 Origin of Moon Festival As with most Chinese festivals, there is a story for it, and there are many versions of the Moon Festival legend. The traditional reason is that Mid-Autumn Festival is an inherited custom of moon sacrificial ceremonies. The ancient Chinese observed that the movement of the moon had a close relationship with changes of the seasons and agricultural production. Hence, to express their thanks to the moon and celebrate the harvest, they offered a s...

If this is not the first time you ever heard of Dragon Boat Festival, you will not be surprised by the fact that during this festival people rushed to supermarkets to buy some glutinous rice wrapped by bamboo leaves, which is called “粽子 zongzi” in Chinese. So today, in order to clear your prejudice and help you know better about this traditional holiday, I will list the most important Chinese phrases about it for you. 1. 端午节 - duānwǔ Jié (Dragon Boat Festival) Chinese people celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, also called the Duanwu Festival or Double Fifth Festival, on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese lunar calendar. For example: A：nǐ zhī dào duān wǔ jié shì shén me shí hou mɑ? 你知道端午节是什么时候吗？ Do you know when is the Duanwu Festival? B: zhī dào, duān wǔ jié shì měi nián de nónɡ lì yuè hào. 知道, 端午节是每年的农历5月5号. Yes, Dragon Boat Festival is the May Fifth of lunar calendar. A: nà nǐ dǎ suɑn qù nǎ lǐ ɡuò duān wǔ jié ？ 那你打算去哪里过端午节？ Where do you plan to sp...