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Congratulations that you have made the very first step to learn Mandarin!
In this book, we will share with you the technique and steps to master Mandarin
communication. You may want to speak Mandarin for daily conversation, workplace,
own interest or any specific reason. You will also discover that learning Mandarin is not
that hard and it takes 60 hours or less to speak Mandarin fluently.
It is very often that people confuse between Chinese and Mandarin. It is because
Mandarin is the primary dialect in Chinese and followed by Cantonese, Hokkien, Teo
Chew, Hakka, Fuchow and many more.
We have to define this book title very clearly as we don’t wish someone will say I can
speak Mandarin in just 1 hour, now I can say “xie xie, ni hao ma, zao an, wu an, wan an”.
No.. That is not enough for you to do daily conversation in Mandarin. When we say “You
can speak Mandarin in 60 hours”, we expect you can speak AT LEAST 80% in Mandarin,
and not just by speaking few Mandarin words.
The reason we specify 60 hours is based on our teaching experience. We have some
students who have totally no fundamental in Mandarin and yet they can speak fluent
Mandarin after 30 classes which is total of 60 hours. That is how we define 60 hours, it is
based on our experience that most people can do it!
The purpose that we write this book is because we (Vincent Ong Aik Cheng & Eng Jia
Ming) aim to help more people to master Mandarin. There are so many reasons that we
should learn Mandarin especially for Malaysians as it promotes society unity, economic
development, and increase job opportunity.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, without permission.
If your friends would like a copy of this book, you can ask him or her to download for
FREE at www.BelajarBahasaCina.com.my
First published in 2016
Published by BBC Learning Hub
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INDEX
TOPIC 1. Introduction
TOPIC 2. Why learn Mandarin?
TOPIC 3. Is Mandarin easy or hard?
TOPIC 4. What it takes to speak Mandarin?
TOPIC 5. How to pronounce han yu pin yin?
TOPIC 6. Ways to understand vocabulary and grammar.
TOPIC 7. How to construct correct sentence structure?
TOPIC 8. How to get started?
TOPIC 9. You can speak Mandarin in 60 Hours!
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TOPIC 1 : INTRODUCTION
Hi! My name is Vincent Ong Aik Cheng, I am one of the Co-Founder of BBC Learning Hub
and also a dedicated Chinese teacher. We proudly established our Belajar Bahasa Cina
learning hub beginning of May 2015. It all began when I partner with Eng Jia Ming; our
aim is to help more people to master Mandarin for their daily conversation, or in their
workplace and academic purpose. Currently we have classes in Shah Alam, Petaling Jaya,
Melaka, Putrajaya, Klang, Banting and Kuala Lumpur. We plan to expand to more
branches to help more people to master Mandarin.
There are 5 main reasons why we started teaching Mandarin.
First of all, Vincent Ong Aik Cheng was born in Indonesia and I had the opportunity to
migrate to Malaysia for education. That is exactly where I picked up my Mandarin,
which has always been an interesting language to me.
Secondly is my experience in China, particularly in Guangzhou, made me realise that
Western people can speak Mandarin very fluently; they can even crack a joke! Then I
wondered why not Malaysians?
The third reason based on research that there is around 20% of Chinese population in
Malaysia. Chinese can speak English, Malay and Mandarin. Why not non-Chinese can
speak Mandarin as well? I hope more Malaysians can pick up Mandarin to foster unity
and bonding among races.
In addition, we cannot deny the importance of Mandarin nowadays. If you can master
Mandarin, you have a competitive edge, which can be use in International business. In
fact, Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world.
Finally, we have a super effective technique to learn Mandarin. You will be able to
speak accurately, understand the vocabulary and create your own sentence right after
our first class. Without further ado, let us discuss why should you learn Mandarin and is
it easy or difficult to learn it in next topic!
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TOPIC 2 : WHY LEARN MANDARIN?
Some people said why bother to learn Mandarin when you can speak fluent English,
moreover, English is the primary and global language worldwide. Why do we bother to
invest energy and time to learn Mandarin?
First, we must first know the benefits of learning Mandarin so that our energy and time
in learning Mandarin are worthwhile, right? We list down FOUR main benefits of
mastering Mandarin:
1. International businesses - Most companies prefer to hire people who can speak more
than one language. China has become a huge market, and business leaders are looking
for people who can speak Chinese and operate successfully in a Chinese cultural
context. China play a major role in world affairs. As China now has opened up to the
West, there are opportunities for employment in all areas.
2. Competitive edge - Knowing Chinese may give you an edge when competing for an
important position. Do you know that employer will usually choose the candidates who
can speak Mandarin? Yes it is true, even some companies are willing to pay up
additional RM1,000 salary to employees who can speak Mandarin.
3. Most widely spoken first language in the world- Do you know that one fifth of the
planet speaks Chinese? In addition to the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan,
Mandarin Chinese is also spoken in the important and influential Chinese communities
of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, and Mongolia.
4. Stronger bonding among Malaysians - This is the reason we started BBC Learning
Hub to help people to master Mandarin (BBC = Belajar Bahasa Cina). The main
languages in Malaysia are Malay, English, Mandarin, Tamil and if Chinese can speak
English, Malay and Mandarin. Why not non-chinese can speak Mandarin as well?
Therefore, let us Belajar Bahasa Cina together and create stronger bonding among
Malaysians!
So, what is your main purpose of learning Mandarin? It must be very clear and strong
reason so that you won’t easily give up learning Mandarin. Please write down below.
________________________________________________________________________
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You must be willing to invest energy and time to learn Mandarin. To achieve something
great in this world, we must sacrifice accordingly right?
We know you must be thinking is it easy or hard to master Mandarin? Check out next
topic on our views that speaking Mandarin is actually pretty __________
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TOPIC 3 : IS MANDARIN EASY OR HARD?
In order to answer whether Mandarin is easy or hard? We have to compare Mandarin
language to other languages in the world. Every language has its own unique features
that might be regarded as hard or troublesome in some way, but we believe that
focusing on these problems is counterproductive for language learning.
If you want to learn something, you want to become friends with it, you don’t want to
regard it as an unbeatable enemy! We won’t deny that Mandarin has unique challenges
that are difficult to overcome, but try to look at Mandarin as being easy and exciting,
rather than difficult or impossible. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Here are 9 things that make Mandarin easier to learn:
1. No grammatical cases – Chinese words don’t change according to function. Police is
written the same way regardless if it’s the subject of the clause or it’s the object.
Whatever function a word has in a sentence, it generally looks the same.
2. Flexible parts of speech – For non-natives, a difficult part of learning English is to
figure out how to make a noun out of a verb or an adjective out of a verb. In Chinese,
it’s not obvious what’s an adjective and what’s a verb, they merge and float into each
other, which generally means it’s easier to understand and easier to guess how to use.
3. Particles instead of inflections – Although it’s not true that Chinese is entirely free
from inflections (such as “rain-ed”or “fox-es”), particles are used to represent such
things. A particle might indicate that an action is completed or that there is a collection
of something, but these particles are always the same and not dependent on the word
preceding it!
4. No gender –Most people who learn languages where gender is important whine
about it. German has three genders you have to learn, Swedish and French have two,
and there are few rules to help you here! In Chinese, you don’t need to bother, because
there is no such thing as grammatical gender.
5. No tenses – Chinese doesn’t distinguish between yesterday, today and tomorrow in
the same way as we do in English. Most of the time, it’s simply indicated by a word
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describing when something happens, rather than changing the structure of the sentence.
Verbs do not change their form based on when they took place.
6. Neat use of numbers – Chinese is sometimes ridiculously logical. Monday is “week
one”, Tuesday is “week two”, Wednesday “week three” and so on. Same for the months!
The number 1 is yī, 10 is shí, 11 is shí yī “ten, one”, 99 is jiǔ shí jiǔ “nine ten, nine”。
7. Logical character creation– Chinese characters aren’t random brush strokes, there is
reason behind these mysterious and beautiful symbols. It’s usually not enough to let you
guess what it means, but it is a powerful tool to help you remember.
8. Logical word creation– Words, i.e. characters put together, contain a lot more
meaning than characters. They are created in a way which is often obvious or at least
understandable for a student. Train is “fire vehicle”, train station is “fire vehicle station”.
Few words are completely arbitrary, even on the surface!
9. Sentence Structure– Majority of people find that it is hard to create proper sentence
structure. But BBC students find that it is very easy to do sentence as we have the secret
formula to construct sentences.
After we have shared 9 main points that Mandarin is easy to learn, what is in your mind
now? Is Mandarin easy or still hard to learn?
I hope you have more understanding now on how is Mandarin compared to your
mother tongue. Now, we know the differences between Mandarin and other languages.
Can you manage to speak Mandarin in 60 hours and what it takes to speak Mandarin?
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TOPIC 4 : WHAT IT TAKES TO SPEAK MANDARIN?
If you ask “Can anyone manage to speak Mandarin in 60 hours?”
We will answer” Definitely Yes! Yes! Yes!”
After all, we know that Mandarin is not that hard compared to other languages. If you
can understand and speak English (which I am writing now), we definitely believe that
you can speak Mandarin if you have the right skill and right attitude.
What do we mean by skill?
The skill is the knowledge about Mandarin that you must possess. It includes
pronunciation (cover in Topic 5 How to pronounce han yu pin yin). vocabulary and
grammar (cover in Topic 6 Ways to understand vocabulary and grammar), and sentence
structure (cover in Topic 7 How to construct correct sentence structure). By having this
knowledge, you will master the skills of Mandarin communication.
Do you think you can speak Mandarin after you have possessed the skills? No can do!
You need one more thing which is ATTITUDE!
Have you noticed why two students who are starting to learn at the same time, enrolling
the same class and same tutor, but the results of both students are very different?
Student A can speak Mandarin after 60 hours, but student B still unable to speak
Mandarin after that.
Yes, this is our personal experience of our BBC students. Initially, we do not understand
the reason behind. But after we have done our research and get students’ feedback. We
began to understand now! Even we provide the same value and knowledge to all our
students, each student has different set of attitude! Some students are hardworking and
never skip the classes but they are too shy to speak Mandarin! Some students may skip
the classes as they have things to do at that time, but they still do BBC workbook and
take time to learn Mandarin at home!
Attitude is very important in everything we do, that is why if you add up each single
letter of A + T + T + I + T + U + D + E , it is equal to 100% which is full marks, whereby A =
1%, E = 5%, Z = 26% and so on.
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In the class, we share all the knowledge and skills to master Mandarin, in fact, we also
motivate the student in class. But the ugly truth is we can’t shape and change students’
attitude easily, it takes lots of time and effort to shape good attitude.
If you have good attitude, you can surely master Mandarin sooner or later, we can
guarantee you can speak Mandarin in 60 hours! So, next time we can offer money back
guarantee, but only limited to students who has good attitude!
In summary, good attitude means willing to put effort and invest time, perseverance,
hardworking, courage to speak out and do what it takes to master Mandarin!
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TOPIC 5 : HOW TO PRONOUNCE HAN YU PIN YIN?
Han yu means Chinese (Mandarin) while pin yin means spelling.
We have discovered that there are only 3 main steps to master Mandarin
communication.
STEP 1. Pronunciation
STEP 2. Vocabulary + Grammar
STEP 3. Sentence structure
Let’s us start with the first step: Pronunciation
Please refer to the pictures below which are the screenshot from our best selling book
“COMPLETE SYLLABUS FOR BEGINNERS”. It took us around 10 months to publish the
book and it is prepared exclusively for our students to learn Mandarin communication.
You might be wondering how can I learn the pronunciation by just reading on the
explanation. You are absolutely brilliant, that is why we have prepared the video and
audio files for every page of the book. However, we can’t send or attach the video and
audio files via this e-book. If you are interested, you can get it now at 90% discounts
(Offer for limited time only). More info: http://belajarbahasacina.com.my/bbcpackage/
In summary, there are 3 components for han yu pin yin, which are:
1. Vowels (5+1)
2. Tones (4+1)
3. Consonants (21)
You can read our explanation below on how to pronounce the han yu pin yin.
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TOPIC 6 : WAYS TO UNDERSTAND VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR
After you have mastered the pronunciation, here is the second step which is to
understand vocabulary and grammar. Mandarin vocabulary is rather straight forward
compared to English. For instance, these two vocabulary Computer 电脑 diàn nǎo,
Handphone 电话 diàn huà
These two vocabulary have the same first word. 电 diàn means electric.
脑 nǎo = brain. 电 脑 diàn nǎo literally direct translate is “electric brain”. It actually
means computer.
话 huà = talk. 电话 diàn huà literally direct translate is “electric talk”. It actually means
telephone.
There are many more examples like this! There are actually many ways to understand
the vocabulary where you can use your personal story and imagination. We will explain
more of this in class. Do you know that once you have around 1000 vocabulary in your
mind, you should be able to speak Mandarin fluently !
Do you still remember what we have shared about Mandarin grammar previously? Yes,
the grammar is super easy! For instance, 了 le, means already (past tense). 着 zhe
means ing (present tense). These two words should be right after the verb.
Okay, next topic is about how do we structure the vocabulary into a proper and
meaningful sentence. Many of you may think it is rather hard to construct sentence as
the sentence sequence is different from Malay and English. Luckily we have discovered a
very simple and universal formula for you!
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TOPIC 7 HOW TO CONSTRUCT CORRECT SENTENCE STRUCTURE?
The great news for you is there is one and only formula to create correct sentence
structure. It is either STPA or TSPA, where S = Subjects (who) come at the beginning of
the sentence, T = Time (when) expressions come immediately before or after the
subject. P = Place (where) To explain where an event happened, the place expression
comes before the verb. A = Action, do something.
Let’s us give you an example to illustrate:
In this sentence, the sequence is Subject, Time and Action (STA)
Princess yesterday went to see the doctor.
gōng zhǔ zuó tiān qù kàn yī shēng
公主 昨天去看医生。
You can also use other sequence, which is Time, Subject and Action (TSA)
Yesterday princess went to see the doctor.
zuó tiān gōng zhǔ qù kàn yī shēng
昨天 公主去看医生。
Now, let us include Place into the same sentence. The place is hospital.
In this sentence, the sequence is Subject, Time, Place and Action (STPA)
Princess yesterday went to the hospital see the doctor.
gōng zhǔ zuó tiān qù yī yuàn kàn yī shēng
公主 昨天 去 医院 看医生。
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Next sentence is Subject, Time and Place (STP). Please note that go supermarket is
considered as Place, instead of Action. Action should be what Ali’s mother is doing at
supermarket and there is no mention in this sentence. Hence, there is no Action in this
sentence.
Ali’s mother go to the supermarket everyday
ā lǐ de mā ma měi tiān qù chāo jí shì chǎng
阿里的妈妈每天去超级市场
After we have learned all the 3 steps, so how to get started in learning Mandarin?
Let’s continue to read on next topic!
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TOPIC 8 : HOW TO GET STARTED?
This is indeed the one for the most important question. After we know about technique
and steps to learn Mandarin, so how are going get started now?
Generally, we can summarise into have three options for you:
First option is Do It Yourself (DIY). You can buy a Mandarin book and read it on your
own. You can also download some mobile apps to enhance learning experience. Of
course, you need to take more time and effort by learning on your own as no one to
help you when you have any question. You will have to be very committed in taking the
initiative to learn everyday, this is about attitude and we know that most of us may not
be very committed to practice everyday. In our opinion, this option is not viable unless
you are a very committed person that will invest time everyday in learning Mandarin on
your own. If you are interested to get our book, audio, video files, and online lifetime
support. You can click http://belajarbahasacina.com.my/bbcpackage/ to get BBC
Package which comprise of book, audio, video and lifetime support!
Second option is to ask your friends to teach you Mandarin. If you have good Chinese
friend, you can try to ask for his or her favour, in return you can reward your friend
something that they want. Most important criteria to look for is someone who can teach
you proper and accurate Mandarin words. We should always learn the correct way
instead of incorrect way right? In our opinion, if you have such friend who is very good
in Mandarin and he or she can teach you proper and accurate Mandarin words, you
should really go for it. You also have to make sure your friend can help you until you are
able to speak fluent Mandarin!
Third option is to attend the class from an established Mandarin centre. If you found a
Mandarin centre nearby your home and they can offer quality Mandarin class, you
should join the class because it is convenient for you to go to the class and you will learn
the systematic way as well. If you are staying in Klang Valley or Melaka area, i strongly
urge you to join BBC class. We can almost guarantee you that if you have the right
attitude, all you need is the right skills and knowledge that we will be sharing in class,
then you are able to speak Mandarin in 60 hours.
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TOPIC 9: YOU CAN SPEAK MANDARIN IN 60 HOURS!
In order to be able to speak fluent Mandarin in 60 hours, you have to plan your time and
topic that you want to master. In our opinion, you can segregate Mandarin vocabulary
into 15 main topics and invest 4 hours for each topic! This is how we derive you can
master Mandarin communication in 60 hours.
Topic 1 Pinyin Topic 6 Mood Topic 11 Things At Home
Topic 2 Numerals Topic 7 Activities Topic 12 Transportation &
Direction
Topic 3 Family & Friends Topic 8 Food &
Beverages
Topic 13 Holiday & Places
Topic 4 Color & Shape Topic 9 Restaurant Topic 14 Business & IT
Topic 5 Nature Topic 10 Shopping
Centre
Topic 15 Workplace & School
All the best in your learning Mandarin journey! Remember the best investment that
pays best interest is to invest in yourself. Once you already master Mandarin, you can’t
unlearn it and you will be speaking Mandarin for your lifetime, and we know that it is
worth your time and effort to learn it.
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About BBC LEARNING HUB
BBC LEARNING HUB PLT LLP0007993-LGN is established in May 2015 via
partnership between Vincent Ong Aik Cheng and Eng Jia Ming who have great
interest in helping more poeple to master Mandarin.
BBC LEARNING HUB'S MISSION
BBC Learning Hub aims to help more people to master Mandarin for daily
conversation, workplace and academic purpose.
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OUR VALUES
1.We value strong bonding among multi-ethnic, multicultural and multilingual
Malaysians.
2. We provide a dynamic and supportive community for all of our students,
embracing the full diversity of our backgrounds and experiences.
3. We build cooperative relationships with other institutions committed to the
advancement of education and lifelong learning.
OUR SERVICES
BBC Learning Hub specialises in training individuals and institutions in learning
Mandarin. Our trainers are university graduates from highly reputable institutions
and have had significant working experience in the instruction of Mandarin to
foreigners and non-Chinese. The services that we offer:
1. BEGINNER COMMUNICATION COURSE
This course is created for students who has no basic knowledge in Mandarin. We help
student to learn Mandarin from Foundation to Advanced Level. This practical course aim
to help students to understand and communicate completely in Mandarin.
Learning outcome: Able to understand and communicate completely in Mandarin for
daily conversation.
2. ADVANCED READING & WRITING COURSE
This course is for those who already master communication and now want to learn on
reading and writing. We will focus on intensive spoken Mandarin, reading as well as
writing Chinese characters.
Learning outcome: Able to communicate fluently, read and write Chinese characters.
3. PRIMARY SCHOOL
This course serves students age between 7 to 12 years old, who want learn Mandarin
for academic or practical purpose
4. VIP PRIVATE CLASS
This class is for student who prefer more privacy, more attention from tutor or intend to
master Mandarin within short period of time.
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5. ONLINE CLASS
Now you can learn Mandarin online in the most fun and easiest way possible with our
BBC tutors anytime and anywhere.
6. BBC PACKAGE
This book called “Complete Syllabus for Beginners“ is prepared exclusively for you who
want to learn Mandarin from scratch. In this package, you will receive physical book,
video, audios and enjoy lifetime support group.
7. BBC SEMINAR
This seminar is for those of you who would like to learn Mandarin fundamental in one
day. The duration is usually from 10am to 5pm (6 hours). If you would like to join the
next seminar, do subscribe our newsletter for latest update and promotion!
8. CORPORATE TRAINING
We help our corporate clients to achieve their corporate training targets by providing
top quality corporate training services and tailor-made Chinese courses to meet your
specific needs. We take care of all aspects of the training process so that corporate
clients save their time and costs.
9. SCHOOL PROGRAMMES
You can engage us to organise 2 hours seminar and weekly classes at your school,
institutions of higher learning, and kindergartens. This is operated as a partner-
programme wherein we provide the syllabus, materials and trainers to the institutions.
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Thank you so much for downloading and reading this ebook. I hope it was helpful for
you as you decide how to kickstart your learning Mandarin journey!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us :
hi@BelajarBahasaCina.com.my
Facebook page: Belajar Bahasa Cina BBC
And of course, I’d love to see you in BBC Class if you aren’t there already!
Until next time… do awesome things!
To your success,
Vincent Ong Aik Cheng & Eng Jia Ming
www.BelajarBahasaCina.com.my