You have no items in your shopping cart.
The Berenstain Bears
Even though I speak to my 5 year old son in Mandarin only, I do read a lot of books in English to him. When he was little, I used to translate all the books into Chinese as I read to him. But as he gets older and speaks more English from talking to his dad and his friends, I thought it will be a good idea to read books in English to him since it's hard to translate words that rhyme, especially those Dr. Seuss books. Before long, my son felt in love with the Berenstain Bear family. Every time we go to the library, we have to look for the ones he hasn't read, by now, he has read every single one of the books. So I'm very excited that our bookstore now carries the Berenstain Bears books in Chinese. I no longer have to try to translate them myself, and he enjoys them as much as the ones in English. What a great way to get him listening to more Chinese words and sentences.
Check out the Berenstain Bears Books in Chinese!
More books will be available soon.
Posted: Friday, February 5, 2010 Updated: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 By Ni Hao Books
Year of the Tiger
As we approach the Chinese New Year, let us from Ni Hao Books wish you a healthy and prosperous year! New Year’s Day will be on Sunday, Feburary 14th this year, and it will be the year of the Tiger.
As an ABC (American Born Chinese), my Chinese New Year's experiences were different from my wife's in some ways. We didn't have any days off and it wasn't as big of a deal for most of my non-Chinese friends, so there weren't the type of celebrations she experienced in China. However, there were many similarities: Good food, and lots of it, and the greatly anticipated "red pockets". Chinese New Year, to me, was more about getting "lucky money" more than anything else. Of course, now that I have kids of my own, I get to experience the other side, since traditionally, as a parent myself, and with friends and relatives also with children, it is our responsibilities to give out the lucky money. The experience is different in other ways as well. Today, Chinese New Year is more widely celebrated in the U.S., and many cities hold parades and festivals. There are more opportunities to experience the sights, sounds, and flavors of a traditional New Year's celebration, from the drumming of lion dances and the popping of firecrackers to the sweet cakes that I remember from my youth.
Ni Hao Books is offering all a special 5% off any purchase. Use discount code "roar" at checkout. (Expires February 28. 2010) And remember, all orders over $20 (after discount) ship free! Think of it as our "red pocket" to you. Shop Now!
Xin Nian Kuai Le!
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Posted: Thursday, February 4, 2010 Updated: Friday, February 5, 2010 By Ni Hao Books
|
Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Updated: Thursday, August 27, 2009 By Ni Hao Books
|
Posted: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 By Ni Hao Books
|
Posted: Saturday, January 24, 2009 Updated: Sunday, March 1, 2009 By Ni Hao Books
Whether you're studying for the SAT or learning a new language flashcards may not be the flashiest, but they are the classic way to learn new words, and can be made fun, even for young children. In our household, we introduce new cards periodically and quiz our 3-and-a-half year-old and his dad to see who can recognize the most Chinese characters. And it's a great way for him to pick up some more Chinese as well. We also play games with picture flashcards, which is much easier than trying to recognize Chinese characters. Our son loves it, because he gets to show off how much more Chinese he knows than his dad. He also gets a kick out of correcting his dad's pronunciation. We also tape the flashcards with Chinese characters onto corresponding things in our house. We start with simple characters such as "men" (door) and "deng" (light), then increase to more difficult ones like "dian hua" (telephone) and "dian shi" (TV). Even though our house is full of flashcards taped onto furniture, toys, and even utensils, but it's a great way to expose our son to Chinese as much as possible.
Flashcards are easy to make if you want to, and can be part of the learning activity. Just print out the Chinese characters in a big font on a piece of paper and the corresponding pinyin on another. Then cut them out and glue them onto index cards. If you want to make picture cards, it is fairly easy to find pictures online to print out as well.
Of course, if you would like to purchase flashcards, we sell them here as well. The flashcards we sell are easily organized on a plastic ring, so they can stay together, and our son enjoyed going through them. Most have colorful pictures on one side, and the pinyin, English, and Chinese characters on the other side.
Currently, all our flashcards are 20% off! Click here to view our selection. We hope you will take advantage of it and use them in fun ways to teach your children more Chinese!
Posted: Wednesday, October 1, 2008 Updated: Friday, October 24, 2008 By Ni Hao Books
"Ni Hao!" Hello! That may be the only Mandarin Chinese you know. It is probably one of the most familiar phrases in Chinese. Even the carnival hawkers at our local county fair know to yell it out at me after they recognize I'm Chinese (sometimes after yelling "Konnichiwa" unsuccessfully, though). It was probably almost all the Mandarin Chinese I knew for a long time, despite being Chinese myself. (I grew up "speaking" Cantonese, if you can call the sounds coming out of my mouth that, but that's a different topic). So here I am today with a 3 year old spouting out Mandarin like there's no tomorrow, and I'm thinking I better pick up on it, or he'll be talking to his mom about me, probably making fun of me, and I won't even know it! Maybe that's what my wife intended - her secret plan to keep control when boys outnumber girls 2 to 1 (and soon to be 3 to1). In any case, it's what we decided long ago: I would speak to him in English, and my wife would speak to him in Mandarin Chinese. It was a tip we learned from another parent to help him learn both languages and keep them separate, and for the most part it's worked out great, except that I don't really understand him 50% of the time. Of course, our son will dutifully translate what he just said to me if I ask him to. And when we went to China this past year, he was somewhat useful as my personal translator (although not surprisingly, not as useful as I hoped). So I continue to study his Chinese flash cards, so I can learn more Chinese words and try to keep up with him. Unfortunately, my brain is over 10 times older than his (gulp!) and doesn't absorb at quite the same rate. Luckily, I did take a year of Mandarin Chinese in college, but that was woefully inadequate. A young brain can absorb multiple languages in an amazing fashion, and I'm constantly in awe at how easily my son can pick up both Chinese and English so easily and keep them separate. When meeting new people, he quickly ascertains whether they speak Chinese or English, and switch to the correct language channel seamlessly. If I tell him, in English, to tell his mom something, he'll translate the message instantly and tell her in Chinese.
My wife has taught our son well, but one problem she always faced was that when it came to story time, most of the books and other materials she could find was in English. There were some sources of materials, but not too much impressed her. She wanted to read Chinese stories to him, and share the same poems and songs that she grew up with. So she was inspired to start Ni Hao Books to provide a source of Chinese books, particularly story books, picture books, DVD's, flash cards, and other materials that she found useful in not only teaching our child Chinese, but also some Chinese culture and history as well.
Chinese is used by at least 1 in 4 people on this planet, and with China growing as an economic powerhouse, it's becoming more useful to be able to speak some Chinese, and more than just "Ni Hao!". My wife even taught a Chinese immersion class in a local preschool! And more and more schools at all levels are starting to offer Chinese classes. I better get back to studying those flashcards, so I can get more right than our son the next time his mom quizzes us. In the mean time, take a look around the store, leave a comment, and enjoy! "Xie Xie!" "Thanks" for visiting and taking the time to read my meandering thoughts.
Check back here for tips and other articles about our own experiences teaching a child Chinese, as well as games and other activities you can try to help your child learn Chinese as well.
Posted: Friday, August 22, 2008 Updated: Thursday, September 18, 2008 By Ni Hao Books
