花開 富貴 竹報 平安
Huākāi fùgùi. Zhúbào píng ān
This is the Year of the Dragon.
Mandarin learning sites
Here are some of my favourites:
http://www.mdbg.net This is a good word dictionary and can be synced with Skritter.
http://www.skritter.com/ This is a character writing website. I have done the free trial and intend to subscribe as soon as I get my bamboo tablet hooked up. You build your own vocab lists and you can import lists from partner sites like ChinesePod.
http://www.nciku.com/ Again, a dictionary but with a hand-writing input area and you can build your own word lists or share others lists.
http://ankisrs.net/ This is the download site. You can put the engine on your iPhone as well. I haven’t yet figured out how to upload files successfully. Maybe you can do it and teach me.
http://chinesepod.com/ I subscribed to this site for a year and a half. It was good to get me started.
http://www.mandarintools.com/ I occasionally go to this site but I don’t use it much.
http://english.chinese.cn/ Confucius Institute – this is the China site. My friend runs the Confucius Institute in Coquitlam.
http://eastasia.hawaii.edu/yao/icusers/ This is an on-line site that used Integrated Chinese, the most commonly used college program (used at UBC).
http://eall.hawaii.edu/yao/icfc/index.html Vocabulary trainer for Integrated Chinese
http://www.smarthanzi.net/ This is another dictionary site (German, English and French input). I have not used it yet.
http://goulnik.com/chinese/phonetics/ Chinese Phonetic characters – This site was developed by a user at ChinesePod.
http://www.chineseclass101.com This is a site like ChinesePod, but actually from NY. I used the free level for a while and liked the format and lessons.
http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/flashcards.php A Flashcard site. I used it a few times but prefer Anki.
http://www.chinese-chengyu.com/ This is a Chengyu dictionary. I haven’t used it yet but I anticipate using it in Langara level 6 and beyond.
http://www.chinesetools.eu/ Another character tool site. I haven’t used it yet.