Archive for August, 2009
Rocket Languages – Rocket Chinese Review
Rocket Languages – Rocket Chinese Review
Want to begin speaking the Chinese language conversationally even as you learn it? Looking for a high-quality, low-risk language learning program?
Rocket Chinese is just what you’re looking for!
The Rocket Languages learning style is designed to smoothly familiarize total beginners with simple, everyday communication, and steadily providing more material and greater challenges to help you keep up the momentum and master the spoken language!
- Forget about trying to memorize simple translated phrases!
- Don’t waste time and energy painstakingly studying the mechanics of language structure!
- Start speaking the language right away! You won’t run out of material to work with until you’ve become completely fluent!
All Rocket Languages courses offer a 60-Day Money Back Guarantee – giving you more than enough time to decide if the program’s right for you!
Here’s what Rocket Chinese has to offer:
Component #1: Learn to Speak Chinese Confidently with 31 Interactive Audio Lessons
With each of the 31 Interactive Audio Lessons averaging 28 minutes in length, the 15+ hours of material contained just in this introductory component will have you confortably using the Chinese language before you’re even aware you’re learning it! Throw the audio tracks onto an mp3 player and listen to them wherever you go! Don’t forget to review the written transcripts of these lessons – although the emphasis is on becoming comfortable speaking the language, some familiarity with the written language will help you when you focus on that later on…
Component #2: Learn to Speak Chinese Naturally with 31 Language and Culture Lessons
The next component of Rocket Chinese will have you immersed in Chinese Language and Culture Lessons. You’ll develop a natural understanding of how the Chinese language works, and gain insight into the sorts of situations and language demands you’re likely to encounter in a Chinese-speaking country.
This is also where you’ll start to cut your teeth on those intimidating Chinese characters, but don’t worry, Rocket Chinese will help you get the hang of it with easy to follow videos showing how to write Chinese characters themselves, and step-by-step written explanations to boost understanding of the Chinese writing system.
Component #3: Learn Tons of Chinese Words with my fun MegaChinese Software Games
The folks at Rocket Languages understand the importance of attention, interest, and variety in mastering a foreign language. In addition to already providing a well-balanced, progressive learning style, Component 3 boasts a pair of entertaining and beneficial Chinese word games to extend what you’ve already been learning and to introduce more advanced material.
You’ll quickly build your Chinese vocabulary with MegaVocab – a stimulating word-building game that displays Pinyin, (the standard system of representing the sounds of the Chinese language in our Latin alphabet), as well as regular Chinese characters. You can also add your own words and pictures to ensure that you’ve always got room to learn more!
Use MegaAudio to improve your understanding of spoken Chinese. Select the topic or topics you want to work on and before long you’ll be able to naturally recognize more than a thousand Chinese words instantly.
Component #4: See How Much Your Chinese Has Improved!
You’ve got to be able to track your progress and correct any mistakes you’re making as you go along, which is easy with all the interactive quizzes and self-tests included throughout Rocket Chinese. You’ll be able to keep yourself from reinforcing overlooked mispronunciations and the like, and when you’re ready you can complete the Rocket Chinese Certificate Tests and get Rocket Certified! (Equivalent to the A1 and A2 levels of the Common European Frame of Reference for Languages)
Component #5: Have your own Chinese teacher, virtually “on call” 24 hours a day!
Rocket Chinese members also enjoy unlimited 24/7 access to the Rocket Chinese Learners‘ Forum, where you can have any questions you have answered by qualified, native Chinese speaking instructors.
All in all, there are enough varied components to Rocket Chinese to afford many ways to build a firm understanding of the Chinese language and developing into fluent mastery. There’s always someone available to assist you to meet your Chinese language goals, and for the one-time cost of instantly accessing everything Rocket Chinese has to offer, you’d be hard-pressed to find any language learning programs that can compete with Rocket Languages.
Be sure to read user testimonials from our testimonials section! Or simply go directly to the Rocket Chinese Official Site for more.
Rocket Chinese offers a superior system for learning the Chinese language quickly and effectively. Considering the wealth of materials and services provided, the low cost of lifetime membership makes it much more than worth it.
Even if you try it and decide that Rocket Chinese isn’t for you, the 60-Day Money Back Guarantee makes it totally risk-free to learn a foreign language more easily than you ever could before!
-Ryanethic
About the Author
Check out our FREE 6-Day Chinese Course as well as information on other Rocket Languages Courses!
Learning Russian in Kiev?
Hi,
I’m relocating to Kiev for at least 2 years. My job starts in September and I would like to go a few weeks earlier to do an russian course (I know nothing of the language). I would like to do an intensive course for those first few weeks, and then go onto once or twice a week when I start work. Does anyone have any suggestions as to good places to study?
Thanks
I got no good tips for you but it’s gonna be helluva tough to learn it.
Russian got one of hardest grammars.
What is a good way to study German?
i am taking a German class in high school where we learn of course, how to speak German. basically i need to know what the best way is to study it, to remember the words, and to remember what the words mean.
Practicing with language tapes works well. You listen to a work or sentence and then repeat it. It helps your memory and your pronunciation. Also, look at some German sites on the internet.
Is there an online site for learning french slang and idioms?
I know an excellent book that teaches French slang and colloquialisms. It’s called “Hide This French Book.” It doesn’t focus as much on slang, but it is vulgar.
However, if you just need quick reference or that’s not your thing, check this site out: http://french.about.com/library/vocab/argot/bl-argot.htm
The author lays the “argot” out nice and alphabetically, with examples and clear definitions.
Also, check out the related references:
http://french.about.com/od/slang/French_Slang_Informal_Familiar_and_Vulgar_French_Argot_franais.htm
Hope this helps you out.
The Education in the Inca Empire
1. THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
The “Ayllu” was a fundamental social group in Peru. It exists before the Inca Empire. In the first times, the Ayllu have farming lands and a chief, to whom all of the community obey. The Ayllu was like a big family with a lot of parents and cousins. In the imperial age, the Incas displace the “Sinchi” by another public official named “Curaca”, who was named directly by the Inca. This allowed him to have a great control over all the communities. The Ayllus of one region were grouped in Sections and they formed a Province. Each province had his capital. All the provinces were grouped in one of the fours “Suyos”, in which the empire was divided:
- The “Antisuyo” included the north-east.
- The “Collasuyo” was to the south-east, and occupied the upper region of the aimaras, the deep valley of the Titicaca Lake, the mayor part of Bolivia and upper lands of Argentina and the north of Chile.
- Cuzco was the Capital and center of the Empire.
- The fourth north east “Chinchaysuyo” embrace Ecuador and north part of Peru.
- The Empire received the name of Tahuantisuyo “earth of the fourth quarters”. The governors of the four quarters were part of the State Council, site in Cuzco and generally were Inca’s relatives.
The governors ordered to the “Curacas”. They have different ranks (masters) depending on the amount of men that they have under their commands. The one of more rank was the one that controls 10,000 men and the less was with 100 men. In front of little groups were the foremen, plebeians named by the governors. The racial structure was similar to a modern army, with sergeants directing small groups and officers for great groups.
2. SUPER STATE
The State manages important functions in the Inca society. The land was a property of the State, and the mayor part was governed in community. They also owned the herds of “llamas” and mines. The State protected the population from the exploitation and hunger, and of any other necessity. The habitants were well ordered, and they cannot go far from the community without permission. The nobles and priests were maintained with the people’s work. Therefore, the lands were distributed in three parts: one for the State, other for the church (priests) and the third for people.
Each person received the land in order to feed their family. The limits of the land were marked and its destruction was considered a terrible crime. The lands that were not considered communal were cultivated first. When it was the sowing or harvest time, the public employees arrived in order to advice that it was time to work in the sacred lands. The harvest obtained from the lands of the State or of the priests was stored in separated warehouses and the crow obtained was to feed the priests or the nobles.
In the pastures of highland zones, the mayor part of the llamas belong to the Government, who storage the wool. Later these were distributed between the families, in accordance with their necessities. The peasant has as its own: his house, the stable, small animals (dogs, ducks, and hens without tail) and the barn, besides the farming tools. It is very important to point out that the highland communities owned lands in coast zones and vice versa. Therefore there was no saturation of the same type of food.
The people should also realize public work (military service, high ways and bridges construction) that were called MITA. The time of the Mita was variable and could be extended during plenty of time. From this obligatory service- between the 18 and 50 years, the artists and craftsmen were excuse. The “yanaconas” were young people early separated from the Ayllus and they were used to work in the palace or in the agriculture. There was a difference with the MITA´work, which authorized the people to return to its property after they performed the work, instead of the “yanaconas” who never returned. In some occasions they were delivered for the personal service of the Curacas, and sometimes they could have the same work.
The more beautiful and intelligent girls were educated in the temples or be sacrificed. The ones that demonstrate to be more intelligent were educated to be the “Sun Virgins” priestess who has to do perpetual vows of chastity. The less beautiful, were separated to do homework’s and were called “huasipascunas” discard girls.
3. WRITING AND LITERATURE
The education in the Inca Empire was reserved to the nobles and was given in schools situated in Cuzco. They were taught mathematics and astronomy. Having in mind that the Inca economy was based in the agriculture, it is understood the importance of these sciences in order to measure the lands and calculate the changes of seasons. The amautas were commended to teach the religious, historical and political knowledge, and also the handling of the “quipus”. The rest of the people do not have access to systematic education. Nevertheless, the people in the Empire have to learn the “quechua idiom”. This was more for political interests than educational.
We could not affirm categorically that the Incas do not know how to write. Being people highly evolve, it is possible that in the quipus and in the (inscriptions ripostes) as well as in textile designs (tocapus) we could find the code of their writing. The existence of oral traditions about the Inca legends and the richness of their tales make unquestionable the existence of a kind of literature, whose expression was popularize in the drama “Ollantay”. The “Quipu” was a whole of strings, ones were principals and large, from whom little ones were hanging. The system was based on a little string from which some strings were hanging. In these strings, knots of different sizes and colors were made, and being joint or separate they have different significance. Not all the people know how to read the quipus, the quipucamayoc were the specialists in charge to read and keep them. The sons of the nobles learned in the school the reading of the quipus. By means of the quipus they could learned, for example, what important matters have occurred during the government of the previous Inca, how many people lived in a town, how much of corn or other units of food were in the storages.
In the provinces there were chroniclers that told important facts, which were transmitted orally, with the help of the quipus. There were also the haravacs, poets and inventors that will compose songs for the real parties, especially to be told during the meals.
A great deal of information about the education and culture of the Inca Empire was lost during the conquest, in view that the Spanish people, most of them without culture, only wanted gold and silver. They dedicated to pillage and kill the nobles and the people who ruled the Empire. They destroy expressions forms of culture and organization. In accordance with information of the chronics and historians when the Spanish people arrived to Cuzco the population of the Inca Empire were approximately seven millions of people. Later it was reduced to only one million of people enslavers and humiliated by the conquerors.
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About the Author
Best Videogames for Learning Mandarin Chinese?
Hail! I’m going to China in July with the Peace Corps. I’ve taken a course in basic Simplified Character Mandarin Chinese already, and am planning on doing a lot more study. But I also think it would be fun and helpful to keep working in my leisure time.
Does anyone know some fun Chinese videogames that are good for learning the language? The main requirement here is using Simplified or Traditional characters and using fairly easy-to-look-up words. As a gamer, I’m especially interested in rare, well-made Chinese games that are unique and were only released in China.
I have access to most game systems and I love console-modding and chipping, so it’s not an imposition for me to, say, order a game and a mod chip and do some sautering. Of course, Game Boy Advance or DS games are the best because I’m going to be leaving soon. I heard that DS games are not region-locked, so that Chinese games will play on an American DS? I even heard you can trade Pokemon cross language carts.
Technically…unless you want to go with the Chinese version of Leapster…none.
Buy yourself a copy of Rosetta Stone’s Mandarin Chinese.
RS is the best publisher for Language Learning on the market. However, just remember, there are something like 200 dialects of Chinese, and while the vast majority do understand Mandarin, you’d be better off learning Han if memory serves. Remember…Mandarin is the “Court” Language of China. All Official Proceedings and Documents are in Mandarin. Everyday speach on the street – outside of Bejing, say, isn’t.
Find-out where you’ll be stationed, and do some research as to the Principal Dialect of the area.
As to the Chinese games…can’t really help you. The only hand held I own is an obsolete PDA that needs a new battery pack.
Good Luck!
What can I say in Chinese when I meet Chinese women from Asian singles sites or chat rooms online?
Hi. I am interested in meeting Chinese singles on-line. What types of sayings and greetings should I say in Chinese when I meet them? Please let me know. Thank you. 
Ni hao. Qing wen, ni yong jiao ge peng you ma? (nee-how. ching when, nee yong jeeao guh pung yo ma?) The equivalent goes like this: Hello. If I may ask, can we be friends? Just a note: This is a pretty casual phrase, but still very polite. Don’t worry about asking to become friends with them first because Chinese women generally don’t like it when a guy asks them out right off the bat.
Another thing, never ever say: Wo yao chi ni de dou fu. (wo yow chier nee duh dough foo) which means “I want to eat your tofu.” This is slang for saying “I want to take advantage of you.”
Good luck 
Is it possible for a Chinese to learn Danish?Is there any Danish or anyone speaking Danish can help?
I want to learn Danish. I’m Chinese. Do u think it’s possible for me to learn Danish? I don’t plan to go to Denmark in the near future. I’m just curious about everything related to Denmark. I know that Danish is not easy to learn. And I don’t have the opportunity to speak it. It will be really difficult to start with the pronunciation. Chinese and Danish belong to different language systems.
I’m learning German now. Can my German help make it easier to start Danish learning?
Is there any Danish or anyone speaking Danish? Would u please help me ?
My E-mail address: travelight27@yahoo.com.cn
Thank you so much !
Danish pronounciation seems to be difficult for chinese, but the grammar is easy, much easier than English or German.
There are many similar words in written German, written English and written Danish, but the pronouciation is very different. If you know German and English, you will find that you can understand some written Danish, if not spoken Danish.
You might have to work a bit more on pronouciation than others, but it is definitely possible for a Chinese to learn Danish and speak it fluently.
[mage lang="" source="flickr"]online danish language course[/mage]