Learning Chinese, are You Motivated?

With businesses now rushing to People’s Republic of China (Mainland) and many Chinese immigrants establishing their business and life in foreign countries, the influence of Chinese culture is obvious in all the major cities of the world.

People’s Republic of People’s Republic of China (Mainland) is experiencing rapid economic transition, one built upon the back of a phenomenal “catch-up”, but which has also triggered a chain of social and cultural changes that will be on display for the world to see as we approach the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The novelty of the new Chinese immigrant speaking fluent English has worn out, and now it is the Westerners that must tackle the language barrier and avoid wearing the tag of speaking broken Mandarin Chinese. While the Chinese people overseas and at home have had to live with their notorious Chinglish, many second-generation Chinese immigrants have shed the image of the broken English and now speak as fluently as the native speakers.

There are many reasons why someone want to

learn Chinese1. Many second and third generation Chinese immigrants also want to join the club of learning Chinese, because in their swiftness to learn English, they have deserted their own mother tongue – Mandarin Chinese.

So what are the top motivations for many of us who want to learn Chinese2? We compiled some top motivations here for you:

For the businessmen/businesswomen – the savvy and culturally sensitive generation of business people realize

- the advantage of having capturing information and data from the source of origin, thus avoid the ‘Chinese Whisper’ effects. Small businesses and websites have also taken advantage of technology improvements to

For translators/interpreters – the influx of immigrants to places such as America, Australia, England and other countries now means that

- bring the research of Chinese academics to the Western world, much in the same way that Russian research has been translated and published in Western journals.

For interest groups/people – with the loosening of media and technological regulations and restrictions, the Chinese language and culture has been opened up to more interest groups than ever before. People who are fascinated by the

- trying to recover their language and culture origins, lost when they were busy trying to integrate with their new environment. Also, second/third generation migrants who have retained their language skills want to give their children a head start by teaching them the language early, and wish to let their children learn Chinese.

Some useful resources:

1) Learn Chinese Shanghai

2) AP Chinese

3) Chinese schools in Toronto

2008 Beijing Olympics – Get Information of World Travel and Beijing Olympic Games Venues

“One world One Dream,” Olympics slogan calls the world to unite in the Olympics spirit.
Olympic games are the most prestigious, and multi-sports event held in every four year. It’s thrill and excitement starts building year before it actually starts. The Summer Olympics will commence on August 8th 2008 and end on August 24th 2008. The opening ceremony will be held in Beijing National Stadium, which can accommodate 91,000 spectators and begins at 08:08: 08 P.M. as 8 is lucky number in Chinese culture. After an exhaustive ballot of International Olympic Committee, Beijing was awarded to host prestigious Olympics games, beating the likable candidates like ‘Toronto’, ‘Paris’, ‘Istanbul’ and ‘Osaka’. Athletes from round the world will compete in 302 games event in 28 games.

Olympics Games venues

2008 Beijing Olympics is going to be a magnificent and host country is all geared up. To make this event a huge success “The Government of China” has constructed 31 venues in Beijing and 5 more venues are outside Beijing in Qingdao, Hong Kong, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Qinhuangdao. Its largest architectural pieces will be the “Beijing National Stadium” earmarked for Football and Atheletics, “Beijing National Indoor Stadium” with the accomodating capacity of 19,000 spectators is for Artistic Gymnastics, Trampolines and Handball; “Beijing National Aquatics Centre” is for Swimming, Water Polo and Diving; “Olympic Green Convention Centre”; “Olympic Green”, and “Beijing Wukesong Culture and Sports Center” including 59 training centres for the atheletes.
Also in the list are, “Beijing Shooting Range Hall”, “Wukesong Indoor Stadium”, “Laoshan Velodrome”, “Shunyi Olympic Rowing- Canoing Park”, “China Agricultural University Gymnasium”, “Peking University Gymnasium”, “Beijing Science and Technological University Gymnasium” and “Beijing University of Technological Gymnasium”.

2008 Olympics sports

Total 302 gaming events will be played in 2008 beijing olympics Games in Beijing, out of which 165 men’s events, 127 women’s events and 10 mixed events will take place. This year total nine new events will be added. Some of the games to be played in Beijing Olympics are Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Diving, Soccer, Gymnastics, Handball, Judo, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Wrestling and lots more.

Torch Relay

With the theme of “Journey of Harmony,” Olympic torch relay will began on the historic grounds of Olympia, the birthplace of Olympism, where the Ancient Olympic Games took place and then torch will travel through every continent except Antarctica.

Beijing Tour

With Olympics on the cards, Beijing expects millions of spectators, coming from round the globe. Beside games, Beijing has abounding tourist attractions to offer. ‘Temple of Heaven’, ‘Tanzhe Temple’, ‘Temple of Azure Clouds’, ‘Yunju Temple’, ‘Five Pagoda Temple’, ‘Temple of The Reclining Buddha’ is some of its celebrated temples. Beautiful and manicured parks like ‘Fragrant Hills Park’, ‘Xiangshan Park’, ‘Beihai Park’ and ‘Zhongshan Park’ are the star attractions. Discos and nightclubs are perfect chill out zones and add to its raucous nightlife. With several deluxe hotels and palatial resorts: accommodation is not an issue. Shop to your heart content in posh shopping complexes and savor the taste of delectable cuisines.

Over 7 million tickets will be sold for various sporting events, so grab your ticket now and take off for an unforgettable experience, that awaits you in Beijing.

How A Web Site Became A Ticket To The 2008 Beijing Olympics

Who knew that building a web site and active online community would be the path to qualifying for the Beijing Olympic Games?

Craig Harkins, the owner and operator of Fencing.Net, recently learned that he had become one of only 5,600 members of media worldwide to earn a spot in Beijing covering the Olympic Games. The Atlantan will be going to Beijing in 2008 to report on the progress of the US Olympic Fencing Team as their members attempt to improve on the Gold and Bronze medal brought back from the 2004 Athens Games.

“When I was reporting on the Olympics in 2000, I was staying up late, using my Internet connection to view the fencing and relying on past interviews with the Olympians” said Craig Harkins. “After that, my goal was to make it to the next Olympics. When I learned that the USOC had awarded Fencing.Net a media credential for the Beijing Olympics, I did a little dance!”

Fencing.Net has been featured in the most recent publication of the United States Fencing Association and recognizedas a key site on Olympic Fencing by Yahoo!’s Olympic guide as far back as the 2000 Games. The site, found at http://www.fencing.net/ offers a wide range of information about the sport as well as up to date news, training tips, and a thriving community site where fencers can discuss the latest news and share tips and gossip.

“US Fencing is delighted to hear that fencing.net will be making the trip to Beijing. We know that the U.S. market will be provided with real-time news and interviews with the U.S. team and international athletes from across the world.” said Cindy Bent Findlay, Media Coordinator for the United States Fencing Association. “Fencing.net has taken reporting on our sport to a new level and so we look forward to more great coverage from Beijing.”

Since 1995, Fencing.Net has provided resources for beginning fencers as well as experienced fencers looking to improve their level of competitiveness in the sport. Now the company site has extended its services to help people find fencing clubs and camps in their area and to provide the necessary equipment for participation in the sport.

Harkins, who is taking a break from competitive fencing, now runs Fencing.Net as a full-time enterprise, having recently opened an online fencing equipment store at http://shop.fencing.net/.