BBC - Real English AND Chinese

minazhu

May 05, 2008, 07:44 PM posted in General Discussion

I just sorta stumbled upon the China section of bbc.co.uk . It's actually a brilliant additional tool for learning Chinese. I'm sure most of you already know the site ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/china/learningenglish/askaboutbritain/index.shtml ), I mean, hey, it's the BBC. (But sometimes I'm just an ignorant American...) Certainly, using  on a regular base it can do wonders for our Chinese. The articles are intermediate to advanced. In addition to that, you can find several podcasts (with accompanying transcripts) teaching English, with explanations in Mandarin (a bit like an inverted ChinesePod).

I recommend native speakers of Chinese (who Real English is actually intended for...duh) to give it a try. There's a wealth of infos available on the UK. You've got to put up with the accents, though. (Just kidding. I hope Brits don't take offense, I'm quite fond of British accents.) You can also learn quite a few common or colloquial expressions, plus some slang. 

Quote:

"John: In Real English, we look at words and phrases that have recently become part of the English language.

Feifei: 在我们的《地道英语》节目中，我们将学到一些现代英式英语的新词汇和新说法。

John: Today's new phrase is 'veg out'.

 ....

Feifei: 我明白了， 'veg out' 除了可以表达在一天紧张的工作后回家休闲放松的意思之外，还可以用来形容那些一天到晚什么都不做，逍遥自在享受生活的人。 "

If my post comes across a bit...um... unstructured: my apologies. I'm pretty sick, and the effect of the medicine I took is giving me the creeps. And I just spent 7 hours hunched over Arabic grammar books (that's not what caused my condition, mind you.) 

Mina, Las Cruces (NM)