In Conversation with Ms. Christine Liubin

C.LIU BIN:No, I don't think so as Chinese is rendered in Pinyin with four intonations, and featured in Character. The pronunciation of Pinyin is complete.

SHEXPAT: Clearly different languages present different obstacles, what are the ways you would suggest to overcome these challenges to learn Chinese per se from an individual whose mother-tongue is built upon using Roman alphabets?

C.LIU BIN: The main difficulties in Chinese are pronunciation and sentence construction. In my experience it is important to know each word meaning, then combine one to another,
e.g. understand = ming2 bai2 (bright = ming2, white = bai2). Most people tend to translate Chinese literally. Apparently it doesn't work because Chinese and English have very
different word order. Actually Chinese has certain rules in grammar. e.g. Subject + time + place + verb + object.

It may take years for an English speaker to have better Chinese pronunciation. Normally Z, ZH, C, CH, S, SH, X, Q are especially harder in Chinese Pinyin. Students can be frustrated about being misunderstood. Sometimes they need to overcome the shyness or awkwardness of making any mistake. In fact practice makes perfect. A mistake is a part of study too.

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SHEXPAT: Did you feel that having majored in English Literature have made your teaching in Chinese any easier when faced with English speakers?

C.LIU BIN: I am not sure, but I think my overseas background helps me in having better understanding towards the culture gap between China and western countries. As we know Culture and language are inseparable. It makes me easier figure out what problem an English speakers may face when learning Mandarin. In some ways I was having the same problem and difficulties at the time when I was a student in England.

I often hear students complain they are too busy to learn Mandarin. I fully understand it is not easy for an adult to balance work, personal life, and study. There is no short cut to lead a road to succeed. Chinese is a language that requires at least three or four hours study every day. It's very time consuming, especially for a beginner. Learning a new language
needs passion, motivation, interest, determination and devotion.

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SHEXPAT: Most people seem to believe that learning Chinese language is essential if you want to be part of the Economic Expansion in Asia, do you think it is necessary to adapt to
the local language or do you believe in using only English as the essential means of communication as it is the Universal language?

C.LIU BIN: Actually I think English is still playing a leading role in business world. I won't say learning Chinese is a must, at least not in Shanghai as many Chinese here can speak fluent English. Foreigners even can't speak a single Chinese word can still get around in the city, but in my opinion it doesn't really mean having a flavor of living in China. As I mentioned, culture and language are inseparable. Knowing Chinese even a little bit means understanding the nation, the people, the way of thinking, and the custom. In a long term it helps in doing business with local people. In addition, Living in a country, and mixing with the people, it is the best way to learn a language.

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SHEXPAT: "Chinese for English Speakers" is a very interesting compilation of your teaching experience over the years from England, Singapore, to Shanghai today, could you share with us what inspired you to write this book?

C.LIUBIN: When I was in Singapore, I found some problems about Chinese books in market. Firstly, it is written in Chinese character not Pinyin. Apparently speaking rather than writing and reading is necessarily needed to an English speaker. Secondly, the books are not daily based. Dialogues or conversations are far beyond real life. The core of my book is to teach a foreigner the survival Chinese.

I met students who learned Chinese in university or institute before. They knew many words, even some very difficult and unusual vocabularies, but they still can't express themselves in a restaurant, or a grocery store. That's a very typical problem a foreign is facing. My objective is to make students speak a full sentence instead of a single word. That's why the sentences in my book are not tailored only for a particular situation. They can also be used in variety.

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About Ms. Christine Liu Bin

Professional Tutor / Interpreter and Author of
"Chinese for English Speakers"
Ms. Liu Bin is a native mandarin speaker majored in Foreign Trading English and English literature at the Yanjing Overseas University of Beijing and further pursued English teaching at Cambridge England in 2000. She has been a full-time Mandarin tutor more than seven years. Having moved to Singapore in 1999 with her husband, she has taken the role of teaching mandarin to corporate classes with an emphasis on the Chinese culture.
"Chinese for English Speakers" published in November of 2006 is a compilation of Ms. Liu Bin's instruction curriculum over the years, consists of eight chapters ranging from basic vocabulary to common phrases that can be easily apprehended by both beginner and intermediate avid Chinese learners.

Contact Details: Ms. Christine Liu Bin T: +86 135 8555 0586 E: christine_liubin@yahoo.com W: christin.liubin.googlepages.com

“There is no definite count of how many languages it exists, some parts of the world have yet to be
discovered, scientific finding of modern linguistics have its limitations as all great science explorations
do”. (M. Man)