Learning Basic Learning Skills Makes Your Life Best

Here is a list of problems, new students often face when starting to learn Chinese:

1. Recognizing and writing the characters.

2. How to correctly pronounce characters.

3. The Meaning of each character.

4. Finding the right character.

New technology has helped overcome these barriers offering not only a fun way to learn but more effectively and efficiently.

It is documented that there are over 80,000 Chinese characters. Luckily for us , many are rarely used today. The modern version of the language only requires the average person to know about 3,500 characters to be proficient.

The kicker is, for each English word translated into Chinese, it usually uses two or more characters. Each character is linked together, read from left to right, and is written in relation to its purpose within the content of the text.

Chinese writing comes in many different forms and styles. Some date back to very ancient times and began as pictures. Today, there are normally two forms used: simplified and traditional.

Simplified is predominately and officially used in mainland China, while the more traditional form can be found in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

So, are you ready to learn Chinese? Find out in my next post.


Did you know that the Chinese Olympic Logo is an interpreted version of the ancient character "jing" which means "capital"?

Easy Ways To Learn Chinese To Make Your Life Better

It doesn't matter what you want to learn, you must put time and effort into it. This is especially true of learning Chinese.

Here are some ideas to make the time you spend learning more effective and efficient:

1. Integrate new material with more familiar material to make your basic level of learning stronger.

2. Develop a concept map, to identify characters or groups of characters which are similar
(groups of characters should have similar meaning and in similar clusters).
a. Words which fit into the same sort of pattern.
b. Those characters which share the same sort of radical or same sort of phonetic (similar
pronunciation) components.
c. Those characters which share any other type of component that is similar.
d. Look at placing those characters together which have a shared idea, such as colors,
activities or places.

3. Create hierarchical chart to break down single characters into smaller and more meaningful
components.

4. Make a mnemonic device to help remember particular parts of your character. One way of
remembering it is through using a picture, which will suggest the characters particular
strokes.

5. After each lesson, wait 15 minutes and go back over what you just learned. Studies have
shown a quick review shortly after a lesson helps retain the lesson better.

6. Read out loud. Reading out loud is a great way to practice and helps to discover particular
words and phrases which need more work. Plus if you ever have to read out loud , you will be
better prepared.

7. Don't study for long periods of time. Study a little each day, and you will find it is easier to
learn the language (you will more likely retain what you learned this way).

8. Break up learning new vocabulary into several small sessions. You can do this while travelling
to school or work, or even when you are waiting in line to pay for your groceries.

9. The most effective way to learn Chinese characters is to memorize them. A great way is to
write them down. (Don't write the same word over and over again, write each word down once
or twice, then go to the next one. Then go through the list again until you are comfortable
with it. This helps to put the words more firmly into memory and your mind.)

10. If possible, practice with a partner. Each person read a line, like a conversation (but do
not use your books or study notes). To understand what has been said, each person reads the
response a second time in English.

11. When reading Chinese, cover the pinyin (the way it sounds) while reading the text to understand the characters better. If unsure of a character, write down notes on a separate piece of paper to refer to
later.

Developing the above habits will make learning Chinese so much easier!

How To Set Up Google AdSense To Make Your Life Better

Google AdSense is a by product of Google AdWords. Goggle AdWords are the ads you see when you search on Google and you see the ads on the right side of the page under the title, "Sponsored Links" or when you visit a site and you see the row or column that say, "Ads By Google".

Google AdSense is the means of placing the "Ads by Google" on your site to bring in some income.

Here is how you can get started:

1. Sign up for an AdSense account

It takes a couple minutes to create your user name and password. You only need one account! It is considered "black hat" or "bad" to set up more than one account and Google will boot you out if you try to set up more than one account.

2. Then you follow the instructions in the "AdSense Set-Up" tab. You can change colors and fit the look of the ads to meet your theme of your blog.

3. After you have identified the ad "look" and any variables such as a filter for ads you may not want, such as a competitor's ad.

What Google does, is place ads on your site that are in relation to the content you have written in your posts. So, setting up blocks or filters may be beneficial.

4. After that, Google AdSense will give you code to copy and then paste into your blog. Each blog service is a little different so if you have additional questions please email me at admin@MyBestLifeNow.com and I will try to figure it out.

On Blogger they have made it really easy. Go to your http://www.yourdomain.blogspot.com/ site and click on "Customize" on the top right corner. That will open up 3 main tabs and you will be on the "Layout/page element" page. Go to the blue text "add a page element" and click. There will be a list of elements you can add.

If you want to just add the copied code from Google AdSense click "add html/java script" and paste the code there and save. If you want life to be super easy... after you have opened your AdSense account you can go to the "AdSense" page element (also located in the "Add Page Element" page and if you have your AdSense account up, it should pop open a page where you can customize the ads you want on your blog there and then click "save" and voila, you have AdSense on your page!

People often ask, "How much money can I make with AdSense?" Well, more than likely it isn't a who lot, especially in the beginning. Most who do make a lot on AdWords have multiple sites (like 1000+) to make a living at it. Those whose site is very popular may only need the one site but again their site is VERY popular.

I don't mean to discourage you, because this is a free service and over a period of time you can earn an extra $100-$200 a month. Not something to cough at especially with the rise of gas and grocery prices.

Things to remember:
1. Only open one account: Google is strict about this and will hunt you down and boot you out when they find you!
2. Google does not allow you to click on your own ads
3. Google frowns on you asking friends and family to click on your ads.
4. Good Karma: Visiting other sites and clicking on others' ads will persuade others to visit and click on your ads.

Where To Start: Learning "How To" Speak Chinese?

Okay, so after watching the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics how can you deny that China has become a power house to be sought after as a business opportunity? Chinese has become one of the most popular languages. China is extremely influential in the world’s business markets today and even more so in the future.

I know I don't have to remind you that Chinese is a very difficult language to learn. But if you have been able to master English (another very difficult language to learn) then, with some effort you should be able to learn Chinese, too.

Take Note to remember that this language is tonal. You will have to think of learning it like you would a foreign salesman or sports announcer would in English. Each word, when pronounced using the 4 different tones, will have a different meaning. Plus, you not only need to learn about the tones, you also have to learn and memorize the Chinese characters (more than 3000). [** Note to Self ** combining 2character forms another meaning]


Obliviously, the best way to learn and study a language to visit and live in the country with the language you wish to speak,called "immersing" yourself in the language and culture.

If you can, find somewhere that does exchange programs, or even a private school in China that you could attend.I can see though, how this is not an option for most...
Luckily, there are some other options and when combined can greatly influence the chance of reaching your goal to learn Chinese.

The Internet has made it extremely easy and possible to learn Chinese, without actually having to go to China to carry out their studies. Several sites on the web offer free lessons to learn Chinese. One example is
www.chinese-tools.com/learn/chinese or www.LearnChineseForFree.com

Another great way for learning the language, if you are unable to spend time in the country itself, is through finding an exchange partner, or hosting an exchange student or teacher from China.

The best way of finding an exchange partner is through your local College, School, or ESL Department. They will be able to find you a student whose native language is Chinese, and is willing to spend time with you teaching you their language.

However, you will need to reciprocate and be prepared to spend time with them teaching them how to speak your language. It is recommended to have basic familiarity with the language before looking into this. Early communication with two unfamiliar parties can be challenging!

There are also a number of groups that have been organized by such sites as Yahoo, where you can join and start to learn Chinese. One example is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alearningchineseonlineclub/

It is through these groups and forums that you will be able to post any questions you may have regarding the language, and be provided with feedback from those that either speak Chinese or those that are also learning it themselves.

The final way you may want to consider for learning to speak Chinese is through making new friends whose native tongue is this language.

Soon, you will discover just how much easier it is to learn this language when you spend time with the people whose speak it!