Preface to Chinese with Mike: Mandarin Chinese Made Fun and Easy N ho!

Id like to welcome you to my introductory level Mandarin Chinese textbook, which is best used in conjunction with my video series Chinese with Mike. This textbook introduces the lessons that I cover in each video: each chapter in the textbook corresponds to a video lesson. For the best results, I recommend previewing textbook chapters before watching the accompanying video lessons. If you choose to print the chapters, you may find that taking notes while watching the video is helpful, too. Following each chapter and video, you might find it necessary to review each chapter or video lesson once or twice or fifty times. All, of course, depends on your skills for acquiring new languages and your motivation. In the end, I dont care what you do--as long as you master the material. Ha! Let me introduce myself. My name isguess!Mike, and Ive been a college English and Chinese professor for the past six years, and Ive made it my lifes goal to convince other Americans (and anybody who speaks English, for that matter) that Chinese is not as complicated as people think. My philosophy in teaching Chinese is that this language is fun and easy to learn, and I cut through the abstruse language and jargon of most instructors and textbooks, and I explain it to you the way I wish it had been explained to me in the dozens of Chinese language classes Ive had over the years: in the easiest and most practical way there is.

Lets debunk the myths about learning Chinese:

1.

Myth #1: I have to know how to write Chinese characters if I want to learn how to speak Chinese.

You will soon learn that there is a nice little system called pnyn that you can use to write Chinese characters using the Latin alphabet, which is the one most languages (like English) use.

2.

Myth #2: I am too old to begin learning a new language.

First, I was 22 years old when I learned my first-ever Chinese word, and its probably not appropriate to tell you what that word was! Later, while I was living in China, I met several retirees who learned fluent Chinese, and over the years, Ive had plenty of older folks succeed in my Chinese classes. Youre never too young, never too old!

3.

Myth #3: Chinese is the hardest language in the world!

With the wrong instructor, I am sure it could be. However, lucky for you, youve found the right instructor who has taught hundredsmaybe thousandsof students that Chinese can be simple and fun. Heres a quick example of how Chinese can be simpler than English: Ask somebody who knows the basic sounds of the English alphabet why the word eight is pronounced as it is, based on its letters. Then ask somebody who knows the Chinese (pnyn) alphabet how the Chinese word for eight (b) is pronounced, and youll see it is more logical. The sounds are consistent! There are no irregularities!

4.

Myth #4: Only a Chinese person can teach me Chinese! Okay, so I admit Im a bit biased towards this question, considering I am an American of German-Dutch-Swiss-French ancestry, without a drop of Chinese blood in methat I know of. Once again, your success depends on the teacher. Ive had great Mandarin instructors who were Chinese, and great Mandarin instructors who were not. It all comes down to how well the instructor can explain the language. Since most of my audience speaks English (and half of my professional job is teaching English), Ill bet on myself to get the job done. P.S. Is my Chinese accent perfect? Usually. However, if you watch the Chinese with Mike video series, youll see that here and there I will slip into

an American accent to remind you that I am human. You got a problem with that? Sue me.

Friends and future students, I will stop here, but as the textbook and video series moves on, youll realize that much of what youve heard about Chinese is false. Oh yeah, and fortune cookies werent invented in China. Neither was ping pong. Nooooo way! Way. Ive heard it said that Chinese takes five years to learn well and a lifetime to master. Yeah? I can assure you that Ill cut that time in half for you because I know what you need to know to become proficient quickly. So sit back, follow my lead, and this revolutionary textbook and video series will have you speaking great Chinese before you can say Chinese rocks!