Michel Thomas Mandarin Chinese Vocabulary Course

The Michel Thomas Mandarin Chinese Vocabulary course has been recorded, edited and is scheduled for release in the UK in August, 2009. It will not be sold in the North America.

Those outside of the UK may order it via Amazon.co.uk, download it from Audible.com or get it directly from the publisher, Hodder and Arnold. My understanding is that Amazon discounts it and, for North Americans, the delivery service is quite good in my own experience.

This is the third and probably the last part of a complete course. If you do the Beginner ( Foundation), Advanced and Vocabulary courses you will have the complete course for spoken Mandarin. The essential patterns and necessary vocabulary will be yours to use in any way you choose. It is basically a course in how to communicate in Mandarin.

A lot of work went into the preparation of this course. You will learn many new words, expressions and more Chinese patterns which will bring your command of spoken Mandarin to an even higher level.

It is especially geared to those who travel to Mandarin-speaking parts of the world. I use it a lot in my local interactions here in the States with Mandarin speakers. There are more and more Chinese speakers everywhere I go. Many of them speak Mandarin though it may not be their native language.

They are absolutely delighted when I speak with them in Chinese.

I hope you enjoy the course and let me know how it goes for you.

Wonderful news

Today I received news that I have been accepted as a student in the International Chinese Language Program at National Taiwan University in Taipei. This is one of the most prestigious and rigorous such programs in the world. It is a tremendous honor for me to to be in this program.

I am especially excited that this will provide me with even more training to help the many students who are learning Chinese via the Michel Thomas Mandarin Chinese language course published by Hodder ( UK ) and McGraw-Hill ( North America).

My hope is that I will learn even more to amplify and improve my teaching of Chinese.

Stay tuned for more details.

Dream Running

Today a friend told me about a wonderful experience. She runs in her dreams. It reminded me of what H.H.Lui, a teacher of Taiqichuan in Chicago, told me in the early 1970's.

Mr. Lui told me that he received one of the first business ( or economic?) graduate degrees from Harvard Yenching University in China. Subsequently he went to work as a vice president of a major bank in Shanghai. The Communists took over and barricaded the bank building. They held him and the other administrators hostage.

No one would be allowed to leave unless they "contributed" bank funds to the People's Liberation Army. After refusing to sign the papers authorizing this for several days, Mr. Lui saw the writing on the wall. He signed and fled China.

How? He was a good swimmer. He swam from mainland China to Hong Kong. When he got to Hong Kong he had nothing but the dripping clothes on his back. He earned his meager income pulling rickshaws. Then he became paralyzed with rheumatism and was no longer able to work.

Finally, after exhausting his financial resources on both Western and Asian medicine doctors someone suggested that he do Taiqichuan. He laughed at this. "Only old people do that!" However, desperation led him to finally try it. He totally recovered from his illness and eventually emigrated to the US.

At one point he was hospitalized and bedridden. He decided to do Taiqichuan while laying in bed. He allowed himself to access the feelings associated with actually doing it, seeing himself performing the movements and as many other perceptual associations as he could muster. He fully recovered in a short time.

We are all capable of experiencing anything we wish on any level possible by knowing the experience in this moment. This I know from my own experience.

As Tolstoy wrote, "The kingdom of heaven lies within."