i'm still confused over which one i should be learning obviously, traditional is harder. which is why i think if i know it, then its easier to then recognize simplified, right?

For example, my chinese book says "Do your mother and father both work" = "Ni mama he ni baba dou gongzuo ma?" BUT "Is that your older brother" you say "Na shi ni de gege ma" -- why only use "de" in the second instance?

I can write Chinese character to pin yin by setting the language bar. But my question is, when I type Chinese character by input from pinyin, I want to show both character Chinese AND also the pinyin bellow the character?

I am currently working on a story which has got quite a few Chinese conversations in it. I need someone to translate a few English sentences into Chinese, but not Chinese pinyin (e.g. 'ni hao' and 'xie xie'). if possible, could my sentences be translated in the mainland tongue (I don’t know whether it is mandarin or Cantonese)? The sentences I need the Chinese translation are: "please help me. my head hurts." "give me food. I am hungry." "I don’t like you. Take me home." "I’m scared. take me home." "I hate you. I hate this place. I don’t want to stay here. Please take me back home." any and all help with be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

In Chinese pinyin, if I get the Chinese tones wrong, will I still be understood?

Where can I learn mandarin Chinese? Any websites or books for Chinese learning?

The word "xi" in chinese means west the word "xie" in chinese means thanks do you pronounce them the same? Xie = She

I'm just a beginner Mandarin language learner and I find Chinese so beautiful! What do you think?

I.e. a proper course or any materials; I am a beginner. Look for a low cost but excellent Chinese language programme that can take me up to a good level of Chinese language. Perhaps with options to progress further. Thank you very much!

What does “lao po da ren” in Chinese pinyin mean? Does it mean the person who is my wife?

How come in Pimsleur the phrase "keyi" or "can" gets rid of the "yi" when asking the question "Ni ke bu keyi gei wo yidiar qian?"-- is this unique to the verb "can" or is it optional to remove the "yi"?

I plan to take Chinese lessons next month, so I want to know something first about Chinese characters. Since there are now two Chinese writing systems I can learn in Chinese lessons, how much does simplified Chinese differ from traditional? Seeing as there are thousands of characters in Chinese, they couldn't have changed all of them. So how many were "simplified"? Especially ones that are seen in common usage.

I've heard that Chinese is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn. Despite that, I want to learn it. I have no idea where to start, and how to start. Do you have any recommendations on books about learning Chinese? Software? CDs? Anything? Where should I start, I suppose, is the fundamental question.

I am using Rossetta stone and the pinyin setting is not that difficult but simplified Chinese characters are difficult. Are there any tricks to learning simplified Chinese characters, I find it difficult that I can't see any patterns in it?

My friend learned 20 Chinese characters in 1 hour. 5 hours later he still can recite them, read them, and write them really fast. Does this make him a genius?

What is the difference between jia ren and jia li in Chinese? Are they interchangeable? I got this question on an online Chinese test.

Thanks! Is this right? Ni xiele zhege zi cuo or ni zhege zi xiele xuo are either of these right?

Okay, I’ve been learning Chinese for a while and I know for a fact that if I can speak the word I can read the pinyin word. Is it possible to learn Chinese characters and not understand pinyin (Which seems impossible)? Because, if you wrote, "Nǐ hǎo, nǐ jīn tiān zěn yàng?”I’d be able to read that because of the words and because of the accent tones and say, "Hello, how are you today?" Answers please.