Chinese Language

NOTE: Print books can be requested through the Library's Curbside Pickup and Mail Delivery service

Language Dictionaries

Books in our Collection:

• Cambridge dictionary: English-Chinese (simplified) and English-Chinese traditional
• A frequency dictionary of Mandarin Chinese: Core vocabulary for learners <print only>
• Oxford beginner's Chinese dictionary <print only>
• Oxford picture dictionary: English-Chinese <print only>
• Tuttle concise Chinese dictionary : Chinese-English : English-Chinese, 2nd ed.
• Tuttle learner's Chinese-English dictionary, 2nd ed. - for elementary to intermediate learners, has all 3,051 vocabulary items needed for Levels A & B of the internationally recognized test of Mandarin language proficiency, Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK)

Free Sites or Apps:

• WordReference.com: has Chinese-English/English-Chinese dictionary as well as a language forum so you can ask questions and get answers
• MDBG - look up words in English, pinyin, or characters. Can input by typing or enable handwriting tool. Both simplified & traditional Chinese supported. Can listen to pronunciation
• Ninchanese - look up words in English, pinyin, or characters.
• Pleco - app for Android & iOS (free, but with in-app purchases)
• Check out some more reviews & recommendations for free online dictionaries here and here

Grammars

• Basic Chinese: A grammar and workbook
• Chinese: An essential grammar, 2nd ed.
• Chinese grammar made easy: A practical and effective guide for teachers
• Intermediate Chinese: A grammar and workbook
• Modern Mandarin Chinese grammar: A practical guide and the accompanying workbook
• Reference grammars - used more as thorough references tools to teach someone about the language and to allow users to look up specific details of a language. (as opposed to learner or pedagogical grammars which are aimed more at students learning a language, tend to be simpler, and focus more on usage of the language)
  • Chinese: A comprehensive grammar <print only>
  • A grammar of Mandarin chinese - <print and available online via HathiTrust>

General

• ABC dictionary of Chinese proverbs
• Chinese syntax in a cross-linguistic perspective
• Current issues in Chinese linguistics
• Dictionary of Chinese symbols: Hidden symbols in Chinese life and thought
• The language situation in China volume 1 and volume 2
• Learning Chinese : Linguistic, sociocultural, and narrative perspectives
• Learning Chinese, turning Chinese: Challenges to becoming sinophone in a globalised world
• The morphology of Chinese: A linguistic and cognitive approach
• New perspectives on Chinese syntax
• Research in Chinese as a second language
• Routledge encyclopedia of the Chinese language

Reading Books in Chinese:

Books in our collection:

• Advanced reader of contemporary Chinese short stories: Reflections on humanity - English and Chinese characters in parallel text. Includes vocabulary lists, grammar and usage examples, and questions for discussion.
• The lady in the painting: A basic Chinese reader - intermediate level, each chapter includes extensive vocabulary and notes on the language used in the chapter
• Routledge intermediate Chinese reader - 40 readings of different types of modern texts. Vocabulary is annotated next to text, includes short grammar explanations and notes on culture and idioms.
• Searching Omni:
  • You can use the advanced search in Omni to look for a particular author or title. Optionally, you can limit the language choice to Chinese (but the language limit is not always accurate: you may find that you still get translations of works into English)
    
  • You can also search Omni using Chinese characters, for example:
    

Other Chinese e-book sites:

• 9 awesome website to find and download Chinese e-books - gives descriptions and explanations of how to find Chinese e-books. Some offer free books, others books for purchase

Difference between Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese characters

• Differences between traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese -blog post from the Glossika language learning site gives a short and clear explanation of the differences, and what to consider when deciding which to learn.
• Traditional vs simplified Chinese: What they are and where to use them - a more detailed discussion of the differences from the FluentU language learning site

Books in our Collection

• Chinese Characters - get an overview of the Chinese writing system in this chapter from the Routledge encyclopedia of the Chinese language
• 2,000 Chinese characters : a comparison guide to traditional and simplified forms <print only>
• First 100 Chinese characters: The quick and easy method to learn the 100 most basic Chinese
• Intermediate written Chinese practice essentials: Read and write Mandarin Chinese as the Chinese do
• Learning Mandarin Chinese characters volume 1 and volume 2 - these are practice workbooks aimed at HSK level 1 & 2 respectively. Gives you stroke by stroke instructions for each character, and examples of words using each character.
• Mandarin Chinese characters made easy: (HSK Levels 1-3) Learn 1,000 Chinese characters the fun and easy way
• Reading and writing Chinese: A comprehensive guide to the Chinese writing system

Other Resources

• Arch Chinese - features include: animated tool showing how to write each character, worksheets, pre-made vocabulary lists. NOTE: while much content is free, they do have paid premium content
• Learn Chinese with Litao - Checkout his Learn Chinese Characters playlist
• Yellowbridge - this online dictionary has many features to help with learning Chinese characters including animated stroke order rules, memory games (tied to many popular textbooks

Scholarly journal articles

• Omni: our easy-to-use search tool, right on the Library home page. You can limit results by language OR
• You can search some of our other recommended databases:
  • Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) : for more linguistics related articles (e.g. grammar, syntax, morphology etc) as well as other language related aspects
  • ERIC: for articles related to teaching and learning of Chinese
  • Scholars Portal Journals: a full-text collection of thousands of scholarly journals, covers all subject areas
  • Web of Science Core Collection : Don't let the name fool you: covers social sciences topics too. You'll be able to see if other articles have cited the ones you find in your search

News & Magazine Sources

We subscribe to a number of databases that have the full text of magazines, newspapers, and and other news sources from around the world

• Factiva full text news from around the world. Some important notes for finding material in Chinese
  • To find the most resources you need to search using Chinese characters. If you search using English words results are more limited because only extra information such as subject terms are in English. The full text of the news items are in Chinese
  • Note that the default date limit is "in the last 3 months", so change as needed
  • You can choose one or more specific sources to search, example:
    
  • OR You can choose to search news sources from one or more cities, countries, or regions. Either type in a city/region or choose using the geographic options:
  • Very important: Remove the default language= English and add language = either Chinese- simplified or Chinese- traditional
    
• Nexis Uni - To find the most resources you need to search using Chinese characters. If you search using English words results are more limited because only extra information such as subject terms are in English. The full text of the news items are in Chinese. You can then filter results to specific regions or specific sources. All dates are included by default
• Press Reader - access over 5000 newspapers and magazines from over 100 countries. 90 day backfile only. Language or country can be selected from the menu on the left, and then subcategories by topic. There are almost 300 titles in Chinese (majority are in Simplified)
  
• BBC News in Chinese
• The Chairman's Bao - specifically for language learners,has graded news stories based on HSK level. NOTE: limited free content, they have paid Premium content. Can read in simplified or traditional, with or without pinyin, you can adjust size and spacing between words and you can listen to the article being read and follow along.

Our Collection:

• Do a Keyword search in Omni for a specific title or by topic.
• Once you get your results, limit the "Resource Type" to "videos" . (NOTE: you will probably have to click on the "Show More" to see the video options)
• Limit the language to Chinese
• If you only want to see videos available via online streaming, limit the "Availability" to "Available online"
• You can request physical DVDs through our Curbside Pick-up service.
  

• We also have a few streaming video databases you can search:
  • Audio Cine - popular commercial films. Use the Filter option to find films that have Mandarin subtitles or Mandarin audio (just a few)
  • Criterion on Demand - not many Chinese language films here, but if you click on the (small!) "Click here to activate all search menus" link you can search China as the country of origin.
  • Films on Demand
  • Kanopy - films not already part of our collection can be requested

Other Video Sources

• YouTube: you can find a vast amount of free Mandarin language videos. Don't forget you can use the YouTube settings to slow down the speed. Some channels that might be of interest:
  • ChinesePod - have some channels for traditional, some for simplified. Can choose from 5 levels of lessons, and various themed playlists
  • Learn Chinese Now - playlists include basic Mandarin, grammar guides, and the hot words series that each focus on a single word
  • Mandarin Corner - variety of playlists, from very HSK level directed vocabulary, to the Walk Around videos that follow the host out walking around, street conversations etc.
  • Yoyo Chinese - beginner and intermediate series of videos, plus grammar videos and their Chinese on the Street series of videos
• YouKu: an all Chinese video streaming service. (If you use Chrome as your browser, you can set it to translate into English so you can explore the categories more easily)
• Your favourite video streaming service, for example:
  • Netflix: just search "Chinese" and you'll get a large selection of TV shows and movies with audio in Mandarin. They mostly seem to have only have English subtitles though, no Mandarin subtitles
  • Prime Video: search "Chinese". You'll find some Chinese language shows/movies with English subtitles but may also find English language movies or shows that have been dubbed( i.e. Mandarin audio) with English and/or Mandarin subtitles.

Listening to music and following along with lyrics, can be a great way to improve your language skills, especially with pronunciation. Listening to audio podcasts is another way to get your ear familiar with rhythm, tone, flow of a language

General sources & Podcasts:

• With so many podcasts out there, how to choose? Here is a list of 25 recommended podcasts with detailed descriptions to help you decide
• Chinese Voices Project - recordings of young, native speaking Beijingers on variety of topics. Can make customized flashcards for vocabulary study, can listen and read along
• Voice of America News podcasts in Chinese
• Radio Taiwan International - for more advanced learners. When you select a specific news story, look for the headphone icon to listen to the audio. Note that the accompanying transcript will be in Chinese-traditional characters.
• Ottawa Public Library: Mango Audio and text, each language course consists of 100 lessons. You must use your Ottawa Public library username and password to access Mango (anyone who lives in the city of Ottawa can get a free username and password, contact your local branch )
  • The OPL has many other language learning resources: browse by going to their advanced search screen, search "Chinese" and limit Collections to "adult language learning"

Music & Lyrics:

• MusicAcrossAsia - Mandarin - often have lyrics of songs in Mandarin, pinyin, and English, as well as articles on music topics
• Chinese Music and Lyrics - for each song you can view the video, with English translation and Chinese lyrics in characters.
• Youtube: keyword search a song, artist, or the word "Chinese"with the word "lyrics" to find lyric videos. Don't forget you can use the YouTube settings to slow down the speed. A couple of examples:
  • Theme song from Disney live action Mulan (has Mandarin lyrics, but you can also turn on the English subtitles)
  • Jay Chou- Mojito - lyrics in Mandarin, pinyin, English, and Indonesian

Curate your own playlist, or discover curated playlists of Chinese language music using your preferred way of listening to music, here are some examples:

• Top 10 Chinese HipHop artists playlist - YouTube playlist
• Spotify : C-pop Bops 2020. You don't need to pay for a Spotify account, the free version will just have ads added.
• Tune in: Top 40 & Pop- lists a number of Chinese radio stations you can stream live