Learn Chinese
Below are some handy resources for our teachers who wish to learn Chinese. All the sites are free, no subscription required.
Chinese Tools: www.chinese-tools.com
This site has Chinese lessons in MP3 format with the text written out in Chinese characters, PinYin and English. The character recognition lessons/practice are excellent and the mysteries of pronunciation are fully explained. The site also has ChengYu quotations (Chinese idioms), latest news pertaining to China, a collection of Chinese songs and a dictionary/annotation area.
Nciku: www.nciku.com
This site as pretty much the same as the chinese-tools site but also has am animated character of the day showing the strokes and stroke order so you can try it yourself. Has mock HSK exams to test your level and other tools to make your apprenticeship a litle easier.
ZhongWen: www.zhongwen.com
Another site dedicated to students of Chinese. You can search for characters by PinYin, English, Radical and then final strokes or by stroke count. There are also readings from well known Chinese books, a place to ‘chat’ in Chinese and a wealth of knowledge.
Dictionaries:
http://translate.reference.com/
http://www.chinese-dictionary.org/