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Learning to write Chinese is one of the hardest parts of learning the Chinese language. Chinese words are not made up of a logical, phonetic alphabet. Instead, there are thousands of characters and each character has its own form which must be memorized individually and practiced by hand consistently. Fortunately, there many free online resources to learn to write Chinese since Chinese is the number one most widely spoken language in the world. But before you begin to learn to write Chinese from online resources, there are some basic elements you should know. These elements are radicals and strokes.

Lack of an alphabet makes the Chinese character system appear a bit disorganized to the beginner level learner, there is a method to the madness. A good understanding of Chinese radicals, or any of the 214 ideographic elements used to form, categorize, and sometimes to identify Chinese characters, will help greatly. For a complete list of the 214 radicals, visit this website. For more information on radicals in general and how their role in the Chinese language, see here.

In addition to radicals, stroke order of the character you are learning is also important to memorize. Proper stroke order leads to correct form of the character you are trying to write. The Chinese written language considers balance, proportion, and form of the character to be very important. An ugly Chinese character will almost always be frowned upon. There are several basic rules to keep in mind when practicing stroke order. For a step-by-step guide to better understand stroke order, see this About.com guide. You can also refer to other Chinese-related articles for more resources.

After you’ve got the basics down, this zhongwen.com has a variety of tools to help you learn about writing Chinese. There is a section with frequently asked questions such as how foreign names are written and how Chinese words are created. There is also a link to writing Chinese characters that reviews in detail some common strokes used in the majority of the characters and the importance of stroke order.

Learning Chinese Online has many links to help with pronunciation, characters, grammar, and more. There are also guides for learning how to type Chinese online. If you can view Chinese characters, then you can also type them without installing any extra software. InputKing is an online input system that gives you all the Chinese characters with the pinyin you provide. If you know pinyin very well and are familiar with the characters by sight, this tool will be useful for you to write Chinese online quickly and accurately. Another similar tool can be found here.

When practicing writing Chinese characters, it is useful to have a character sheet handy because writing the characters within the boxes or gridlines in the sheets will help you proportion and balance your characters. For samples of character sheets that you can print and use, see this site.

Yet another great tool for learning how to write Chinese characters and strokes is Mandarin Tools.

Constant exposure by reading Chinese materials and flashcards and writing practice will steadily improve your ability to read and write Chinese characters. There is no shortcut for learning a language as complex as Chinese, but there are numerous tools ease the process and make it more fun and rewarding. For more resources and information, please visit the other Chinese-relates articles.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese and today I want to take a closer look at Cantonese and its various tones.

Cantonese is the most prevalent dialect of Chinese spoken in and around the Canton, or Guangzhou region in southeastern China. It is considered the official language of Hong Kong, Macau, and much of the Guangzhou province. It is also highly spoken by many Chinese communities in the United States, Canada, Australia, and other places around the world.

It is definitely advantageous to know Cantonese if you plan on working or studying in any of the regions mentioned above, although in most other places in China, it would be more useful to know Mandarin. Many Chinese language learners agree that Cantonese is the harder of the two to learn because Cantonese has more tones than Mandarin, although many people debate on how many tones there actually are and which romanization system should be used. Most people agree there at least 6 tones, although some systems of counting give Cantonese 9 tones. Mandarin has only 4 tones and a recognized, standard system of romanization.

In English, tonal differences are primarily used to indicate whether the speaker is trying to convey a statement, a question, or an exclamation. The rhythm of different words used in different contexts may call for different intonations. You can say a word with a different or incorrect intonation, but others will still recognize the word you are trying to say. However, in Chinese, mastering the tones is important because if the wrong tone is used, you are probably saying a completely different word than what you really meant to say. Cantonese tones are not set at specific pitches but rather at relative pitches indicated by whether your voice is falling, rising, staying level or any combination of those.

This site has wonderful audio resources for learning the Cantonese tones and the Yale Romanization of many Cantonese words. http://www.chinese-lessons.com/cantonese/soundsIndex.htm Once you become familiar with the sounds of the words and have a preliminary understanding of the different tones,  this site contains a chart that helps you remember how to distinguish among the tones. http://wenfang.wordpress.com/2007/08/16/cantonese-tones-and-how-to-remember-them/

Seven of the tones are distinguished by a difference in pitch, while two are distinguished by a difference in length.

The 9 tones are given names that describe in a general way what they sound like:

• Tone 1- High Falling
• Tone 2- Low Falling
• Tone 3- Mid Rising (also called High Rising)
• Tone 4- Low Rising
• Tone 5- Mid Level
• Tone 6- Low Level
• Tone 7- High Level
• Tone 8- Mid level
• Tone 9- Low level

The system of counting that gives Cantonese 9 tones is a conservative one. A more westernized understanding or view of the Cantonese dialect will give it only 6 tones, which in reality represents how many significant contrastive distinctions a Chinese language learner would need to know before being able to speak Cantonese. Many dictionaries seem to reflect the 6 tone system, so at the minimum, students are expected to understand and know the 6 tones introduced here at this website: http://cantonese.ca/tones.php.

One last thing to note if you are a beginning learner of Cantonese tones is that there are symbols that correspond to the different tones to help you recognize what tone you should use with the word. These symbols are also covered briefly at http://cantonese.ca/tones.php.

Language and language literacy are two different aspects of a particular language. When we talk about language, we generally tend to refer to the spoken aspect i.e. speech. When someone says that he or she knows the language it is assumed that they can understand and speak the language. Whereas when we say language literacy we are not only covering the spoken word but also the written as well and very obviously reading what is written. The two are mutually exclusive and speaking a language, but not able to read or write in it is not termed as language literacy.

Literacy is more about representing the spoken language in to symbols, what are known as alphabets. The alphabets are combined together to form the symbols for the spoken word. In this way any language is recorded and ideas and thoughts communicated across on paper or more and more in electronic medium.

UNSECO defines literacy as the “ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.”

Language literacy is considered to be a very important aspect of the language itself and is seen to affect a nation’s economic progress as well. There are many developing third world nations where language is obviously spoken but the literacy rates are very low. Very few people in those segments know how to write in the language they speak and understand the written word. Governments all over the world spend enormous amounts of effort and money on literacy drives as literacy is directly equated to a nation’s progress.

Language literacy also helps in language acquisition especially second language acquisition. Learning to speak a language and gaining proficiency in it can be done in a much better way if the language can also be read by the learner. Reading the language not only helps in the language acquisition but also brings forth proper usage of structure, rules and grammar. Literacy in a particular language increases the self-esteem and confidence of the learner.

The Journal of Language and Social Psychology is an online and publish media devoted to the field of language study and psychology. It is published by SAGE (www.sage.com), an international publisher of journals, research papers and books. The journal started its first issues in the year 1996. The current editor for Journal of Language and Social Psychology is Howard Giles (associated with University of California, Santa Barbara, USA).

The main focus of the journal explores the social aspects and implications of language in society. It is the only journal devoted to this aspect of language and psychology. The journal has international authorship and derives its data not only from English language articles but also from other languages.

Articles in the journal are sourced from a wide range of disciplines that overlap language and social psychology. These include not only psychology and linguistics but also other disciplines such as sociology, cognitive science, communication and anthropology. The journal covers the latest theories and research in the overlapping aspects of language, mind and society by publishing full length articles, research notes, conferences, courses and debates on the subject.

The journals in-depth coverage is in a wide range of areas such as: linguistic factors and ageing, language vitality, social factors in bilingualism, language attitudes, sexual talk, languages of the mass media, gender and language, language and emotion, verbal and non-verbal linkage, language planning, conversation interaction, intergroup communication etc.

The journal is published every quarter in the months of March, June, September and December. These can be subscribed for E-Access as well as print access. The journal also occasionally publishes special issues based on topics that have suddenly gained popularity or of special interest. Usually these topics have guest editors who are specialists/experts in the field that is being published. These experts give a knowledgeable and balanced analysis of the subject in hand. The journal is considered to be the only international forum that provides a meeting point between social psychology and language.

Up till now I’ve have been talking about first language acquisition and second language acquisition and the various theories surrounding it. These theories basically postulate the possible ways in which a human being learns a language.

Psychology of language is the study of a combination of psychology and neurobiological factors that influence the acquisition of a language. It is also known as the field of Psycholinguistics. One of the most important aspects in psycholinguistics is to understand how the brain processes language. Due to advances in research, psycholinguistics uses a combination of neuroscience, cognitive research, biology and information theory.

Psycholinguistics applies cognitive science to understand the process that makes it possible to generate grammatically correct meaningful sentences, following the rules of grammar (grammatical structures) and vocabulary. It is an interdisciplinary science overlapping various other fields. There are subdivisions within the science that are based on the various components of human language. For example neurolinguistics uses non-invasive techniques to study the neurological workings of the brain.

Psycholinguistics uses various methodologies in its study. The foundation for those methodologies is basically the process of lexicalisation where a meaning is converted from thought to sound (speech). Some of the methodologies are as follows:

Behavioural

This methodology mainly focuses on behavioural experiments that involve solving a lexical decision. This involves applying certain stimulus to people and measuring the time taken by them to classify the stimulus as a relevant word or not. Recently eye-tracking has also been incorporated in this methodology. Movement of eyes give a fair indication of the focus of the subject, by observing these movements during stimulus, language processing during a linguistic input is studied.

Neuroimaging

Using non-invasive techniques the brain patterns of a subject is observed during linguistic stimulus. Previously before these non-invasive techniques existed, researchers used brain surgery as a method to understand how language is processed in the brain. Whenever there was a need for brain surgery on a patient, the researchers had an opportunity to do language research. Nowadays the non-invasive techniques such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI), Positron Emission Topography (PET) and Event Related Potentials (ERP) etc are used. Each of the methods have certain advantages or disadvantages in the study.

Computational

This is the practice of developing software programs that can then later on be executed using cognitive models. The advantage of it is that it forces the theorists to be clear and precise in their hypothesis and can generate accurate predictions for even complex theories.

Nevertheless, psycholinguistics still does not answer the question of whether the ability of language and the ability to process language is innate in a person or is it learnt by interaction with others.

Mandarin and Cantonese are not the only two spoken dialects of Chinese that exist, but they are certainly the most common. Mandarin is the more widely used dialect and covers most people in mainland China, Singapore, and Taiwan. Cantonese is limited to several cities in the Guangdong province and the special administrative regions Macau and Hong Kong.

Many native speakers have found that it is easy to pick up Mandarin after knowing Cantonese and much harder the other way around. This may suggest that Cantonese overall is a harder language to learn. Fortunately, people who speak only either language can still communicate because the written language is the same.

Mandarin is a more standard and structured language, whereas standard Cantonese contains a lot of different colloquial expressions (with their written counterparts) that have become indistinguishable from the mainstream language. The pronunciation of the two are very different since Mandarin is limited to only four tones and Cantonese has many more, another reason many claim Cantonese is harder.

Because Mandarin is more widely spoken than Cantonese, attempting to learn Cantonese can also be more difficult because there are simply less training materials available. More learning materials such as podcasts, books, and classes are available in Mandarin. It is also safer to learn Mandarin rather than Cantonese because many Cantonese speakers will also know Mandarin, while the converse will not be true.

Chinese in general is a tonal language, which means that in order to convey the correct meaning, the words must be spoken at the right pitch with the accent and emphasis placed on the correct part of the word. Both Mandarin and Cantonese have a Romanization system to help English speakers understand and pronounce the sounds of Chinese characters. However, the two systems are different and practically unrelated.

While the Mandarin system, called Pinyin, is accepted internationally as the standard, Cantonese still has a variety of systems that are being developed. The most prevalent is the Yale Cantonese Romanization, but this system does not yet have recognition as the official standard.

Why even learn Cantonese at all then if Mandarin is more common and more resources and support are available for it? There are many reasons. Cantonese is still more preferred in places such as Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macau. These are more westernized places in China that are popular for sight-seeing, jobs, or even potential relocation. Cantonese also tends to be the preferred language for business in southeastern China.

In addition, Cantonese is very commonly spoken in many Chinese communities outside of China. Namely, large Cantonese communities have formed in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities in the United States, as well as in Toronto and Vancouver in Canada. Cantonese communities also number various places in Australia and the United Kingdom. And most any other Asian country such as Malaysia or Singapore will have many Cantonese speakers.

The advantages of learning either Mandarin or Cantonese or both are numerous. Deciding which one to learn will depend on what you are hoping to do with the language and where you are going. Mandarin will probably be the safer and easier bet, since to this day there has not been any Rosetta Stone software for Cantonese.

In my previous posting, I shared a brief biography of Dr. Stephen Krashen and his work on second language acquisition both in and out of the lab. Today, I’d like to take a closer look at some of his more famous ideas.

Among the numerous theories published by Dr. Krashen on SLA the prominent ones are:

• Acquisition-learning hypothesis
• Input hypothesis
• Monitor hypothesis
• Affective filter
• Natural order hypothesis

Acquisition-learning hypothesis

According to Dr. Krashen, humans develop language ability from two independent paths –  Acquisition and Learning. Acquisition is a subconscious process where the individual is not aware of how and when a new language is acquired. Both children and adults can acquire language in this way. This process is also not limited to the oral form of language but extends to the written form. Acquisition requires that there is meaningful interaction between the learner and the environment in the target language. During this period there is more focus on meaning rather than form.

Learning a language is a conscious process, very similar to what is experienced when one goes to school. Knowledge in the target language and forms are consciously presented to the learner, frequently in the form of rules of the language and grammar. The process involves formal instruction, error correction and, according to Dr. Krashen, is less effective than acquisition.

Input hypothesis

Input hypothesis postulates that we acquire a language only when we receive input that we can understand and comprehend. In research this is termed as comprehensible input (CI). This is represented in a natural order hypothesis as follows:

If “i” is the current acquired linguistic competence, then we progress from “i” to “i+1” by comprehending input that contains “i+1”. The “+1” is symbolic of the new language structures and knowledge that we are ready to acquire.

Since this theory stresses on input, talking (output) is not considered to be a direct part of language acquisition. It can indirectly assist in language acquisition. When enough input is provided, there is a potential for the learner to move to i+1. Natural order and teaching order are two different things.

Monitor Hypothesis

This is partially related to the previous theory of Acquisition-learning. Here the role of the learnt aspect of language is elaborated. The learner continuously observes internally and monitors what is spoken against the learnt system. Only in acquisition does spontaneous speech occur. Otherwise before a learner speaks, he internally checks for errors, based on rules and grammar. Self correction is carried out after a learner has uttered a sentence and uses the monitor to correct it. The theory predicts that adults will initially progress faster than children, as adults will use this system during SLA.

Affective filter

Affective filter focuses on the negative aspects that can cause impediment in a learner’s ability to learn a second language. These impediments may be due to negative responses to ones environment such as self-doubt, anxiety, boredom and any other process that may interfere with the process of learning. The theory states that the impediment can be reduced by providing a low anxiety environment, sparking the learner’s interest and boosting his self-esteem.

Natural order hypothesis

Natural order hypothesis states that we acquire language in a natural predictable order. It also states that we do not know the exact order of language acquisition. Research also shows that the age, native language and target language do not matter in natural order. The learners follow four primary steps:

1. Learning words
2. Stringing words into sentences
3. Identify the words or elements that begin and end sentences
4. Identify different elements that can be re-arranged to produce a question.

There are numerous theories surrounding second language acquisition (SLA) and the study of it. One of the principal researchers in the field of SLA is Dr. Stephen Krashen.

Dr. Krashen is professor emeritus in the Rossier School of Education’s language and learning department at the University of South California. In a career spanning for more than two decades, he has researched reading and SLA. During this period he has more than 350 publications to his name. His publications have primarily been in the areas of language development, bilingual education and second language acquisition.

Some of his well known publications in SLA include the acquisition learning hypothesis, the monitor theory, the input hypothesis, the affective filter and natural order hypothesis.

Dr. Krashen is known to be a researcher and also a literary activist campaigning for the benefits of reading and is known to be one of the staunchest advocates of the school and public library system. In his home state of California, during the period of Proposition 227 (1998), when the end bilingual programs was proposed, Dr. Krashen was one of the principal opponents. He spoke to journalists and at talk shows and also posted his views in various public forums to voice his opposition to Proposition 227, coming out with research details critical of the new polices that were to be enacted. From 1998 to 2006, due various campaigns of anti-bilingual policies that surfaced all over the country, it was estimated that Dr. Krashen had submitted over 1000 letters to editors arguing against such policies.

Dr. Krashen believes in a more activist role by researches to clear misconceptions about bilingual education. In answering a question to the media about how to explain the public opposition to bilingual education, he queried “Is it due to a stubborn disinformation campaign on the part of newspapers and other news media to deliberately destroy bilingual education? Or is it the failure of the profession to present its side of the story to the press?” He also wrote that “Without a serious, dedicated and organized campaign to explain and defend bilingual education at the national level, in a very short time we will have nothing left to defend”.

Dr. Krashen gives regular talks about language and reading and says that his goal is “alert education professions about the media and their ignorance about education and reading in particular, and to spread the news about the amazing research supporting reading and libraries”. He believes that the best way to improve reading is to read.

Apart from being a well known and respected academic and researcher Dr. Krashen also holds a Tae Kwon Do black belt and is the winner of the incline press/nonsensical 100 meter dash held at Venice beach in 1978.

In my previous posting, Second Language Research, I discussed the need for SL research and its benefits in educational training and other fields. This article discusses the various theories that have evolved from the research.

Theories of second language acquisition can be broadly classified into:

1. Behaviorist theory
2. Cognitive theory
3. Humanistic approach
4. Post modern (Constructive)

Behaviorist theory forms the basis of positive and negative feedback, body language, repetition and direct teaching. The major proponent of the basis of positive and negative feedback was B.F. Skinner who stated that “Actions followed by an immediate positive effect tend to be repeated and actions followed by an immediate negative effect tend to be discontinued”

Body language’s emphasis on association of body movement and language and also focuses on the non verbal signals that are communicated during speech. This is especially useful during the non-verbal stage of language acquisition. Repetition uses continuous training/repetition to enforce language behaviour and syntax, often through use of recordings (audio and video). Direct teaching methods are used to give out explicit instructions to students, often with a given objective and emphasis is placed on rules, sequences and facts.

Cognitive theory uses various techniques for language learning. Among them are Chomsky’s generative grammar, Krashen’s monitor model and Information processing theories. Chomsky’s generative grammar tries to define a set of rules that can predict the construction of a sentence, using a combination of words in a language. The rules will also predict the morphology of the sentence.

Krashen’s monitor model states that adults have two independent systems for developing a second language. One is subconscious acquisition and conscious learning. Monitor theory claims that subconscious learning is more important than conscious learning and conscious learning is used only as a monitor. I.e. we may have fluency in a particular language based on our interactions and what we have picked up and will use the conscious learning to alter our output before or after speaking.

Information processing theory theorizes that there are three kinds of memory: Short term memory (STM), sensory registers and long term memory (LTM). For language to be learned successfully the information may also be broken into manageable chunks of information. The language is then taught by receiving patterns, images and sounds. The STM is enhanced through memory games. LTM is enforced based on structures and concepts.

Humanistic approach takes into consideration the feelings, motivation levels and confidence of a person. It tries to instil positive emotions that help language acquisition such as self-esteem, motivation, empathy and risk taking. It also tries to dampen negative emotions such as low self confidence, anxiety and nervousness and mental inhibition.

Post modern (Constructive) takes into consideration the nature of the learner, his cultural background is considered very important. The responsibility to learn fully rests with the learner. Also the teacher is seen as a facilitator and not as an instructor.

The emphasis is more on the content and the learners own understanding of the content. There is a dynamic interplay between the facilitator and learner and both are equally involved in learning from each other. It also encourages the learners to collaborate with each other to arrive at a shared understanding. This is directly opposite to traditional competitive environment. The context in which the learning is done is also considered very important. The learning is done in the form of a complex array of facts, problems and perceptions. That is why the selection, scope and sequencing of the learning matter is very important. Students need to be continuously challenged just beyond their current ability.

UNESCO defines a second language as “Any language acquired by a person in addition to his/her mother tongue (the language learnt first as a child)”

The goals of Second Language Research or SL research are significantly different from language acquisition, which generally refers to a first language. SL research is more focused on the how of second language acquisition (SLA) itself, to improve on language teaching techniques and to improve upon and contribute towards the theory of language acquisition. SL research is interested in the psychology and sociology of learning a second language. Problems such as the difference between speech and writing are researched.

While SL research is a fairly independent stream of research, it has its roots in other disciplines such as linguistics and psychology. Many of its questions stem from child language acquisition that seeks to answer the same questions. In general it tries to find an explanation about how the mind acquires two languages and handles two different grammatical structures, exploring whether they are two completely different processes or just different aspects of the same process.

SL research data can help in showing how the brain adapts to the additional task of another language and perceives and stores data and retrieves a particular language. SL research data is also relevant to education and the need to clearly identify second language problems and learning disabilities. It can also be used for people with special needs such as Alzheimer and Down syndrome.

Since SL research became a separate stream of inquiry from the 1960’s a variety of approaches have been used in answering the question of learning a second language. Early research focused on differences between the native (first) language and second language to predict areas of difficulty for the learners. Subsequent research focused on universal grammar, capabilities that are present in any SL learning regardless of first language of the learner or the target second language.

Current developments in this research has now increasingly stressed on other factors such as motivation, age and background of the individual. Key aspects such as the environment in which the second language is being learnt, the personality and also the gender of the learner are also considered. Effects of first language on the second language learning are also taken in to consideration.

There are three factors that are taken in to consideration during SL research:

1. Describing the language: This is used to characterize the unique features of the language being learnt.
2. External factors: How does a learner get information about a language?
3. Internal factors: This is the ability, motivation and other factors that the learner uses to learn a language

SL research plays an important role in improving techniques of language education and also gives us an insight into the workings of the human brain. It has grown in importance in recent years as the world increasingly shrinks from a social and economic perspective. Many people are voluntarily learning a second language for the purpose of business, travel, and education.