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It is often considered one of the most difficult languages in the world. It has no alphabet and the characters (also called hieroglyphs) must be remembered in learning. It has five recognized Dialect Groups, meaning fifty-six dialects! Speaking this language has also four tones, sounding like a rapid series of almost identical monosyllables that could easily create confusion.
All of these seem to make it almost inaccessible for the people interested in studying it or get in contact with it.
However, Chinese is a very fascinating and interesting language, full of challenges and not the last, very important in the international relationships, between people of different categories. Chinese is a Sino-Tibetan language, the term sinophone, coinciding in analogy with anglophone or francophone, referring to the people who speak Chinese language natively, or prefer it as a medium of communication. The term sinophone is derived from by "Sinae", the Latin word for the ancient China. There is a dispute about whether linguistic groups of Chinese language should be categorized as languages or dialects. However, it is usually accepted that there are five major dialect groups within the language group of Chinese: Mandarin, Wu, Min, Yue and Hakka.
Mandarin or Simplified Chinese is the official language spoken in mainland China where is known as Pu-Tong-Hua, Taiwan (known as Guo-Yu) and Singapore (Hua-Yu). It is to retain that in Singapore is official language but not the main one. Simplified Chinese is spoken by approximately 1 billion people all over the world, starting from South Eastern Asia until other regions in the world where the Chinese population is very representative, like Australia, Mauritius, Peru, North America, etc.
In China, the Government included the present official language in 1948, after the establishment of the new People's Republic of China; one of the major tasks of the Chinese governments during the second half of the twentieth century, was to standardize the common language in order to make the written language more accessible. Mandarin was created based on Beijing dialect, being used over the years in public institutions, on the radio and television, in government agencies, in the media, and as a language of instruction in schools.
As China was during the years an important economical power in the world, it was also an attractive partner for businessmen from a lot of countries. In the last years, the economy of China has known a major development, becoming in 2008 the third largest economical power in the world, after the United States and Japan. China has been the fastest growing major nation for the past quarter of the century with an average annual GDP growth rate above 10%!
Now, you would say: "Ok, but what is the connection between the China's economical increase and Chinese translations?"
Well, the impetuous development of China's economy in the last years had as consequence the increase of businessmen's interest towards this country, in the same way! In this respect, the necessity and importance of translations from/in Chinese to English (especially) of different texts, correspondence, documents, certificates, etc, used in business relationships appeared as a very important and essential activity. Moreover, it is an important factor, very helpful in the development of relationships between businessmen all over the world that use these two languages.
There are also the ordinary people all over the world that get in contact with Chinese people, establishing different cultural, personal, friendship relationships and even marriages. Thus, in order to facilitate the communication, it appears for them the necessity of translating text, messages, personal documents, certificates, degrees, etc.
Here, intervenes the English-Chinese translators' part, but about this please read in my next article.
Click here for more information about Chinese-English translations: http://www.sparkling-markets.com/ChineseTranslations.html
Cristina Dong is an experienced translator from English to Chinese and reverse of different texts, including also personal documents! Graduate of Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU), very passionate of chinese language and culture. Do not hesitate: http://www.sparkling-markets.com/ChineseTranslations.html
Families have different styles of teaching their kids to speak both English and Chinese. For families who have one parent who can speak Mandarin-Chinese, they can opt to use the One Parent, One Language (OPOL) method. This technique prescribes that one of the parents will speak only Chinese to the children at all times, while the other parent will speak only English to kids. This should be rigidly exercised, as consistency is key. By having one parent speak a language consistently, the children will be able to pick up what language to use with a parent. Children eventually learn to speak Chinese with the Chinese-speaking parent, and English with the other parent.
In the book "7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child," Naomi Steiner shares some benefits of using the One Parent, One Language Technique to help a child learn Chinese. The main benefit of using the OPOL technique is that it encompasses all the problems encountered when learning a language. In the end, what is most notable about this technique is that it assures children of a huge total number of exposure to the Chinese language.
Consistency is a main problem in raising a child to learn Mandarin-Chinese. Some families start a child on a language, but later on, due to assorted reasons, the exposure becomes less and less. If one parent consistently talks to a child in Chinese, the child will eventually learn the language.
Also, compared to other techniques, the One Parent, One Language system is fairly simple to carry out. Upon deciding that a child will be raised bilingual, each parent can just assign to each other "You speak to her in Chinese, I speak to her in English." Some families schedule second language sessions at home. "Let's speak Chinese to each other on Tuesday nights", or weekends, or whenever. It is easier to forget when the next talk session will be.
The language boundary is very easy to see. Kids will quickly get it to speak to mom only in Chinese, and only English to Dad. More so if there are extended family living nearby or making frequent calls, and they also speak to the child in the same language as the parent does, a child can easily identify that "This is Mommy's language. This is Daddy's language."
When using the One Parent, One Language technique, children become accustomed to respond to the parent in the same language any time, any place. Other techniques may make a child hesitant or shy to answer a parent in Chinese when at home, or when they go out. With this technique, the child gets it is but natural to talk to a parent in Chinese wherever they are, who ever they are with.
It is more orderly for a child to learn two languages at the same time when Dad speaks Chinese only and mom speaks English only. Most likely, mixing languages up is less likely to occur when the child knows English is to be used for mom only and Chinese is to be used on dad only.
The OPOL system can be backed up with other language activities outside the home, such as attending Chinese camp, play dates with other Chinese-speaking playmates, etc. A Chinese-speaking baby sitter may also be of great help. If you live near a Chinese-speaking community, take your child along with you during grocery shopping, etc. so they can hear Chinese being spoken by other people as well. Introducing your child to books like Chinese Made Easy would also greatly help.
One problem that may bother parents is that kids may feel that the other parent is excluded, particularly if that parent does not understand or speak the language. One recommendation for this discomfort is for one parent to speak to the child in Chinese and request them to tell the other parent something in the other language. As the other parent responds in English, he/ she can also ask the child to involve the other parent. An example, can be "Tell Daddy what you did today." Child then proceeds to tell Daddy in Mandarin-Chinese. Dad can then ask in Mandarin-Chinese "How about Mommy? Did she enjoy the visit to the museum with you?" Then child can ask mom the question in English as well.
With consistent use, the One Parent One Language technique can be a big help to children learn both Chinese and English at the same time.
owner of the site Childbook.com that offers excellent Chinese textbooks like Kuaile Hanyu and Chinese Made Easy. Childbook.com also offers free Chinese New Year worksheets and other resources for your child to learn.
