Mandarin Scholarship Taiwan » learning

Three new mock tests for TOP

kang-wei — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:17:14 +0000

If you are taking the Basic, Intermediate or Advanced Test Of Proficiency-Huayu (TOP), there are now three new mock tests available from the Language Center of Fun Jen Catholic University. They should also be available from Lucky Bookstore and participating universities.

The Mock Test for TOP-Huayu 1 (in three volumes, Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced & CDs) published by the Language Center of Fu Jen Catholic University is now available for purchase. The price is NT$320 per volume. Please call the Language Center (02-29052414, 02-29053721, 02-29052487; Ms LAI Shu Zhen/賴淑真) for more information.

輔仁大學語言中心出版華語文能力測驗模擬試題第一套(初、中、高三等含光碟)，每本僅酌收工本費新台幣320元。欲購請洽：輔仁大學語言中心 02-29052414, 02-29053721, 02-29052487 賴淑真。

Resources for Beginners Test Of Proficiency-Huayu

kang-wei — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 02:20:13 +0000

Mandarin Scholarship students who have taken the Test Of Proficiency-Huayu (TOP) would know that resources are very limited.

For the Beginner level, introduced in 2007, there is only one Mock Test booklet (2007) and a list of 800 words for beginners (2008, PDF 280kb).

In Taipei, the Mock Test booklet can be purchased at Lucky Bookstore(師大書苑).

A very good friend of mine, has used the beginners word list to write three short paragraphs similar to TOP for Beginners Reading Comprehension Part 3. If you want the answers leave a comment!

Here is the first one:

1. 今天我去___1___，看見一隻的大象，它的鼻子很___2___，眼睛又大又亮。當我摸著它___3___皮膚時，它安靜地看著我，真是可愛的___4___。

１．(A) 動物園 (B) 海邊 (C) 電影院 (D) 博物館

２．(A) 扁 (B) 圓 (C) 短 (D) 長

３．(A) 白色 (B) 黑色 (C) 灰色 (D) 棕色

４．(A) 植物 (B) 寵物 (C) 動物 (D) 玩具

The one above and two others can be downloaded here: TOP_for_Beginners_Part3 [PDF 107kb)

For more information about TOP: Test Of Proficiency-Huayu registration period starts today

Web based handwriting recognition tool at NICKU.com

kang-wei — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:33:10 +0000

Nciku is basically an online Chinese-English dictionary and is a great tool for Mandarin scholarship students. I had a look at it a while ago and came to the conclusion that it was a social networking dictionary. You can sign up and interact with others in the nciku community, as you look up new vocabulary. It didn’t appeal to me, as I thought the concept was odd and had been happily using mdbg.net.

That said, the Handwrite Characters function, or handwriting recognition tool, is brilliant! Pinyin.info recently highlighted this feature which I have used several times.

What is the handwriting recognition tool? The handwriting tool allows you to find characters by drawing them. Simply write the character, with your mouse, in the box and select the desired one from the list that appears.

If you’ve ever tried to translate a character, you will know that if you don’t know the radical it can take a very long time to work out. This tool makes short work of that problem.

How does it work?

The tool searches our character database based on the appearance of what you draw, the stroke order you use, and other factors. Even if you are unsure how exactly to write a character, the character you are looking for will most likely be included in results for you to recognize and choose from.

Does stroke order matter?
Stroke order does not matter. We will find your character even if you don’t write it perfectly.

http://www.nciku.com/

The handwriting recognition tool has been around for many years. My Chinese teacher introduced me to it a few months ago. It was part of his Chinese language Windows OS or MS word suite. Unfortunately, I run an English language version of XP and that tool is not included.

This tool/software can also be put on a PDA. A mobile handwriting recognition tool! Just the thing for long bus journeys.

Test Of Proficiency-Huayu: Registration period ends Oct 9

kang-wei — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:06:45 +0000

The registration period for the Test Of Proficiency-Huayu (TOP) closes this Thursday October 9 2008. There is still time to register.

Targeted word lists for each of the four levels are now available.

Test Date：11/1(Sat.)
Test Format：Paper-based
Test Levels：For Beginners, Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced
Test Fee：NT$1000

http://www.sc-top.org.tw/

NTNU Mandarin Training Center

kang-wei — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:54:21 +0000

國立臺灣師範大學 National Taiwan Normal University, Shi-Da, founded the Mandarin Training Center in 1956 for the study of Mandarin Chinese by foreign students.

The Mandarin Training Center represents one of the world’s oldest and most distinguished programs for language study, attracting more than a thousand students from over sixty countries to Taiwan each year and making the Shi-Da area of Taipei one of the city’s most cosmopolitan.

[Wiki: National Taiwan Normal University]

Blogger BrettEverett has written about his experiences at NTNU’s Mandarin Training Center. It gives a great insight into what Mandarin scholarship students can expect in the way of administration and teaching methodology. It’s very important for Mandarin scholarship students to know what they want before they commit to a university. Once the scholarship is linked to that university you have to wait two semesters before you can change.

NTNU’s Mandarin Training Center hasn’t lived up to what I expected it to be. We have currently have 8 students (the max), at one point had 10 students in our class, and all of their literature says that 5-6 students is average size for the intensive classes. The difference between their regular and intensive classes are two students and one extra hour of class a day. That is, there are 10 students in a normal class and they only meet for 2 hours a day instead of 3.

I’m also disappointed in MTC’s teaching methodology. It’s focused mostly on writing. We also have to do a lot of homework outside of class. My issue with that is that writing is my weakest area. I haven’t written characters for three years now. I always use computers to do my homework, and as such have practically forgotten how to write. My classmates are 2 americans, a Chinese-Indonesian guy, 2 Japanese guys, a Japanese girl and a 16 year old Mongolian girl. I joke that the Japanese girl is a walking character dictionary. She always knows how to write whatever character we are studying.

I don’t care much for writing characters. It wastes a lot of time and I’m poor at it. I don’t have years in which to dedicate myself to writing a single character hundreds of times until it is correct. I want to work on speaking and recognizing characters. To me, being able to communicate with other people in Chinese is why I’m here. Squiggly lines don’t interest me. If it isn’t clear, I’m very unhappy with my current school situation. Of our tests and everything else we do, 20% is speaking, 20% is reading recognition and the last 60% is writing.

This is opposite of what I want for myself and is making me less and less happy as time goes on. I keep scoring poorly on the tests because I write the characters wrong. Its frustrating always asking the teacher for more time while my Japanese classmates have finished their tests and are napping while waiting for us to finish. Even though I have a scholarship from NTNU, I can’t see myself staying there in the future if the situation doesn’t improve.

National Taiwan University Mandarin Training Center

I personally equate prestigious universities/programs with inflexibility and encourage scholarship students to really do their research before they commit. I will be posting as many different experiences from different universities as I can find.

Related story:

Studying Mandarin at Shi-Da

Test Of Proficiency-Huayu registration period starts today

kang-wei — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:01:29 +0000

Test Of Proficiency-Huayu (TOP) will be held on Nov. 1st 2008. The registration period starts today Sep. 15th to Oct. 9th. The registration fee is NT$1000.

I have posted previously about my experiences with the TOP test:

TOP for Beginners May 3 2008

Test of Proficiency-Huayu: Testees left in the dark

Results in! Test of Proficiency Huayu (Mandarin) May 2008

The good news for testees is that finally, after five years, the Steering Committee for the Test Of Proficiency-Huayu (SC-TOP) has released targeted word lists for each of the four levels. I emailed SC-TOP many times complaining about the lack of resources and the Taipei Times published my letter about the issue.

I have one complaint about the word lists, there’s no Bopomofo. It seems to me to be an odd omission as almost every Mandarin student in Taiwan is required to learn it. I don’t think SC-TOP want to hear any more complaints/suggestions from me. Perhaps you could contact them and mention it!

Hopefully, with the new resources more test takers will pass the tests. Good luck!

TOP word lists

800 Chinese Words for Beginners (PDF 280kb)

Basic (PDF 280kb)

Intermediate (PDF 480kb)

Advanced (PDF 480kb)

2008 TOP schedule

	2008.05	2008.11
Registration period	3/17~4/11	9/15~10/9
deadline for rescheduling test date	4/11	10/9
Announcement date of test location	4/25	10/24
Test date	5/3	11/1
Mailing date for the score report	5/23	11/21
Period for Rescoring	5/23~7/3	11/21~1/2

Test Time

Time	Level
9:00-11:00	Basic
11:40-13:40	Intermediate
14:20-15:50/16:20	For Beginners/Advanced

Testing Site

Area	Name of Testing Site	Address	Map
Northern	National Taiwan Normal University	Rm. 501-502 5F Bo-ai Bld., No. 129, Sec. 1, Hoping East Road, Taipei, Taiwan	Map
	Division of Continuing Education, Tamkang university	Rm. D304, D401, No.5, Lane 199, Jinhua St., Da-an District, Taipei City 106, Taiwan	Map
	Fu Jen Catholic University	Fahy Building Basement Room JSB04 & JSB16, 510 Chung Cheng Road, Hsin Chuang , Taipei County, Taiwan	Map1 Map2
Central	Feng Chia University	No.100, Wenhua Rd., Xitun District, Taichung City 407, Taiwan	Map1 Map2
Southern	Southern Taiwan University of Technology	No.1,Nantai St,Yung-Kang City,Tainan, Taiwan	Map1 Map2
Southern	Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages	Room E101, 1st floor of Zhengqi Hall, Room E201, 2nd floor of Zhengqi Hall, No.900, Minzu 1st Rd., Sanmin District, Kaohsiung City 807, Taiwan	Map1 Map2

Learn Mandarin: Bopomofo Quizlet & flashcards

kang-wei — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:53:54 +0000

Mandarin scholarship students in Taiwan generally need to learn Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ), the standard phonetic system used in Taiwan to teach Mandarin. It is also known as Zhuyin fuhao, jhuyin, Bopomo, Mandarin Phonetic Symbols and MPS! Confusing no?

I was browsing shuflies.blogspot.com, and came across a great online Bopomofo resource.

It has been setup on a Quiz based web application called Quizlet. Its stated mission:

“…to make learning vocabulary not a chore.”

The Bopomofo Quizlet has a few games which match English letters to the Bopomofo/Zhuyin symbols. It also has free Bopomofo flashcards.

There’s no audio but if you’d like to listen to Bopomofo/Zhuyin audio files visit this blog.

If you’re looking for Bopomofo learning software have a look at this post:

Learn Zhuyin fuhao/BoPoMoFo software

Online role playing game for learning Mandarin Chinese

kang-wei — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:20:42 +0000

Mandarin scholarship students who enjoy multiplayer online role playing games may be interested in Zon. I think this kind of language immersion tool is great for students who are not in Mandarin speaking environments.

The information below is from massively.com:

A team of developers supported by Michigan State University and the Office of the Chinese Language Council International have spent the past few years piecing together Zon — a browser-based virtual world wherein users can learn the Mandarin Chinese language. The game is currently in its open beta phase; you can sign up to play right now.

Users create an avatar and then find themselves in a representation of Beijing International Airport. From there, they may interact with NPCs and other world objects to learn more about Chinese language and culture, as well as communicate with other players to practice their language skills. As they progress through the system, they move up in rank from Tourist to Resident, and finally to Citizen — at which point they may create their own content for the world.

Beginning Chinese language with traditional characters

kang-wei — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 07:47:50 +0000

Mandarin scholarship students preparing to come to Taiwan may find the online Beginning Chinese Language course, from the University of California, useful because it uses traditional characters.

The emphasis in this class is on building up vocabulary and sentence patterns in communicative contexts, and building a solid foundation in pronunciation. Students will expand their ability to carry out simple conversations in Chinese on a limited range of topics.

Reading and writing (using traditional or complex characters) will be developed in conjunction with speaking and listening skills. Students will be expected to speak, read, and write all new words that appear in vocabulary lists in the main textbook unless otherwise noted by the instructor.

Sound less stupid listen to ChinesePod

kang-wei — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:50:07 +0000

Meg over at Simpson’s Paradox sums up the benefits of ChinesePod brilliantly:

“Ten minutes a day with Jenny and Ken make me sound slightly less stupid!”

Well, I think an hour a day would be better. I listen to up to three hours a day and I really do sound less stupid. Learning Mandarin has never been easier.

Her post highlights the ChinesePod affiliate program:

“Praxis Language is now running an affiliate program, and anyone with a blog, website or e-newsletter is eligible to join up. You can place an ad on your site (takes about 5 minutes), and then every time someone clicks through and signs up on ChinesePod or SpanishPod, you’ll get paid!

The program is suitable for everyone, from website hobbyists and casual bloggers, through to professional full-time affiliates. For the experienced, here are some details on the program…”

Today, ChinesePod has profiled Taipei in one of its Mandarin podcasts. It’s an intermediate lesson, sorry beginners:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/taipei

The podcast mentions the National Palace Museum. You can watch a trailer of the animated short film Adventures in the NPM here. It won “Animation of the Year” at the Tokyo International Animation Fair 2008.