Statistical Language Learning

INTRODUCTIONSelf-Access Language Learning (SALL) has played a prominent part in language education in universities. Its role is to foster autonomous learning among students. With the wide-spread imple

Independent learning is not a new concept for language educators but while teachers, curriculum designers and policy makers have embraced it as underpinning modern notions of education, it remains a d

The Kung Fu series, a set of learning material on the Chinese language, is the product of collaborative efforts of experts from mainland China, Hong Kong and the U.S. It aims at providing texts and ex

Learning Chinese Language and Culture is an intermediate-level textbook intended to be used throughout the entire school year and designed mainly for students who have completed introductory courses o

Evolution of language has evolved at multiple levels - from changes in the cognitive processes by which language is acquired in the individual, to language change by diffusion of acquired linguistic f

Language matters greatly in almost every aspect of human behaviour and experience. Neurally and culturally humans are powerfully equipped to acquire language and use it for a variety of cognitive and

Prof. William S-Y. Wang, an eminent linguist, has made significant contributions to the field regarding lexical diffusion, experimental phonetic studies, language simulation and modeling, and aging and language. To celebrate his 90th birthday, colleagues and friends worldwide have contributed over 30 articles to a two-volume Festschrift. The English volume includes topics such as Chinese language evolution, the relationship between language and music, and the brain processes involved in language production. This Festschrift is written by and for experienced language researchers and is also suitable for students of Chinese linguistics and those interested in Chinese culture, history, and neurology.

News under Fire: China’s Propaganda against Japan in the English-Language Press, 1928–1941 is the first comprehensive study of China’s efforts to establish an effective international propaganda system

Understanding how the Chinese writing system illustrates universal design features of writing and literacy learning, as well as how it differs from alphabetic literacy, has become one of the cutting e

Learning to Emulate the Wise is the first book of a three-volume series that constructs a historically informed, multidisciplinary framework to examine how traditional Chinese knowledge systems and gr

A number of research groups around the world have begun to study how the brain acquires and processes language, but we still know comparatively little about it. Many such groups work on very specific,

Lens on China: Intermediate and Advanced Readings on Film for Learning Chinese is an innovative textbook that uses film to teach Mandarin Chinese. It not only provides students with a non-traditional

…. to imagine a language means to imagine a form of life.––Ludwig Wittgenstein(Philosophical Investigation, 1953)Whatever specific goal motivated people who study Chinese at first eventually

The Chinese language has no tense but has aspects. It relies on aspectual particles to express how an action or state relates to the flow of time. Among all Chinese aspectual particles, le (了) is the

Ulaanbaatar beyond Water and Grass is the first book in the English language that takes the visitors to an in-depth exploration of the capital of Mongolia. In the first section of the book, M. A. Aldr

The main objective of Chinese-English Contrastive Grammar: An Introduction is to familiarize the reader with a subset of the learning difficulties and common errors in ESL/EFL pronunciation and lexico

The essays in this volume grew from a series of talks delivered in late 2010 as the Liang Qichao Memorial Lectures at the Academy of National Learning (Guoxue yuan) of Tsinghua University, Beijing.Off

Questions regarding whether a first or a second/foreign language should be used as a medium of instruction (MOI) in schools, and if yes, for whom, and when, have been enthusiastically debated in recen

ONE OF THE MOST SPOKEN DIALECTS in China, Southeast Asia, and globally, Cantonese was nevertheless deemed a local dialect enjoying little prestige among the intellectuals. Not much was recorded in official documents or gazetteers about the early history of Hong Kong. The Cantonese language and its origin remained much of a mystery until the mid-20th century when scholars started to accord it with increasing attention. Thanks to dedicated efforts of early missionaries, pedagogues, and linguists, we can now trace back the evolution of modern Cantonese since the 19th century— how differences in sounds, words, and grammar distinguish the old from contemporary speech today. In this book, Hung-nin Samuel Cheung, an acclaimed scholar on the study of Cantonese, offers profound insights to various firsthand century-old materials including language manuals, Bible translations, and maps of Hong Kong, with findings that will be useful for ongoing efforts to study the development of

Voice Therapy for Children is a bilingual instructional manual that aims to maximize speech therapy students’ and clinicians’ competence, knowledge, and effectiveness in managing pediatric voice caseloads. This is a unique text that goes beyond general descriptions of therapeutic technique and physiologic principles.Designed to serve Cantonese- and English-speaking children, this manual provides a clear and systematic overview of practical issues and clinical tips, laying out the steps and criteria for therapy programs. With detailed instructions for each voice therapy session, clinicians will find answers to questions such as How can children be kept engaged in voice therapy?How can clinicians facilitate learning and performance of voicing techniques?How can age-appropriate practice stimuli and games be selected?This manual contains detailed instructions for each voice therapy session and ready-to-use clinical materials, including picture cards for eliciting stimulus and record forms

近年來，本港教育界大力提倡報告研習法（project-based learning）。高中的通識教育科，更將之列為公開評核項目之一。如眾所知，報告研習法的好處甚多，不但能培養學生的批判和分析能力，而且通過小型研究及資料搜集活動，可以訓練他們的自學能力、團隊合作精神，以及時間的有效分配。報告研習法的好處固然甚多，不過對於中學同學來說，也是困難重重。從構思題目、文獻回顧、到選定研究方法、設計研究、乃至

Yuan Haowen 元好問 (1190 1257) is one of the greatest Chinese poets of the past eight hundred years. He is especially famous for his poems lamenting the death and disorder that accompanied the decline, fall, and aftermath of the Jin dynasty, when the Mongols took over North China. Reading Yuan’s poems, one feels his intense pain at the demise of the dynasty and his deeply felt need to preserve the historical and cultural record of civilization as he knew it. The poems are distinguished by breadth of learning, linguistic creativity, and allusive depth. They also reveal an abiding sense of irony, and occasional self-directed wry humor.John Timothy Wixted’s treatment of 150 of Yuan Haowen’s poems distills available scholarship on the poet in Chinese, Japanese, and Western languages. The poems—lucidly introduced, interpreted, and explicated—are presented in romanization and translation as well as in the original.Some critics have justifiably acclaimed Yuan Haowen to be one of China’s greatest

Wisdom means learning to live with ambivalence and to embrace uncertaintyHelga Nowotny’s memoir provides a detailed account of her life, highlighting the challenges and triumphs of a woman who defied convention in the male-dominated field of science. From her early days in science and technology studies, where she faced bureaucratic hurdles, to her influential role in shaping the European Research Council, Nowotny offers a candid look at her career. She shares personal stories of navigating the complexities of academia and policy, revealing the uncertainties and contingencies that shaped her life and work. This memoir resonates with anyone who has pursued a path less traveled, and offers a glimpse into the resilience and ambition required to succeed in challenging environments.Future Needs Wisdom is not really a memoir, nor is it an intellectual history, nor is it entirely a personalreflection or a summative philosophy. It is, in fact, all of these things fused together: her life, her

Following the ending of the First Opium War and the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, Britain opened five treaty ports on the Chinese mainland in the cities now known as Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai, and Xiamen. Foreigners were allowed for the first time to live and work normally in these cities under the eyes of their state’s consul. In establishing this presence, consular staff and their families faced numerous challenges, including unsuitable accommodation, illness, hostile local authorities, attacks from militias and pirates, while at the same time adjusting to an unfamiliar language and culture.Henrietta Alcock (1812–1853), the first wife of the British Consul, Rutherford Alcock, was little-known until an album of sketches and watercolours depicting her life in China came to light. Acquired by the Martyn Gregory Gallery, London in the early 1990s, the works in the Alcock Album feature picturesque natural landscapes, traditional Chinese architecture, and scenes of co

The first exhaustive English-language history and analysis of the Chinese opera genre, Kunqu. In Kunqu: A Classical Opera of Twenty-First-Century China, Joseph S. C. Lam offers a holistic and interdisciplinary view of Kunqu, a 600-year-old genre of Chinese opera that has been fashionably performed inside and outside of China. The first comprehensive and scholarly book on Kunqu written in English, this book explains how and why the genre charms and signifies Chinese culture, history, and personhood. Approaching the genre from several perspectives, ranging from those of performers and producers to those of casual audiences, dedicated connoisseurs, and scholarly critics, Lam also employs a judicious blend of Chinese and international theories and methods. Herein, he establishes the significance of Kunqu not only in the sphere of Chinese music but among the cultural heritage and performing arts at a global level as well.

In The Chinese Idea of a University: Phoenix Reborn, Rui Yang conceptualizes the cultural foundations of modern university development in Chinese societies. Instead of focusing on the uniqueness of the societies, this book aims to prove that one educational purpose could be fulfilled via many paths, and that most of the characteristics the university could be found in other institutions of higher learning. Citing the practices of four selected Chinese societies, Yang opposes the existence of an impassable chasm between Chinese and Western ideas of a university and argues that it is possible to combine Chinese and Western ideas of a university. Also, this book is one of the first in English to theorize the Chinese idea of a university. It links the historical events to the present, in a context of an enormous impact of Western academic models and institutions, from the beginning of modern universities in Chinese societies to the contemporary period.

Studies in Colloquial Chinese and Its History: Dialect and Text presents cutting-edge research into issues regarding prestige colloquial languages in China in their spoken forms and as well as their relationship to written forms and the colloquial literary language. These include the standard regional languages and prestige dialects of the past, the influence of historical forms of spoken Chinese on written Chinese, the history of guānhuà and the history of báihuà, proto-dialects and supra-regional common languages (koines), and their relationship to spoken dialects. The various studies in this collection focus on the dialect groups with the most substantial written tradition, including Mandarin, Wu, Min, and Cantonese, in north, central and eastern coastal, and southern China respectively. The contributors explore the histories of these dialects in their written and spoken forms, presenting a variegated view of the history and development of the regional forms, including their evoluti

亞歷山大·蒲柏（Alexander Pope, 1688-1744），十八世紀最偉大的英國詩人，《牛津名言詞典》（The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations）收載條目第二多的詩人（僅次於莎士比亞），畢生勤於著述，擅多種題材文體。學識豐贍，才氣縱橫，洞燭世態人心，作品中妙語警句俯拾即是，許多都成為了英語世界的成語，例如“Hope springs eternal”（希望之泉永不竭）、“To err is human, to forgive,divine”（犯錯是人性，寬宥是神性）、“A little learning is a dang'rous thing”（一知半解害死人）、“Damning with faint praise”（名褒實貶）、“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”（無知者無畏）。後輩詩人拜倫是對蒲柏五體投地：“無論時間或空間，哀痛或衰年，都永遠不能減損我對他的崇敬。他是偉大的諷喻詩人，規箴一切時代、一切風土、一切情感，以及生存的一切階段。他是我少時的歡樂，壯歲的志趣，或許還會成為我暮年（假使我有幸活到暮年的話）的慰藉。他的詩篇，便是人生的寶典。”蒲柏《呆廝國誌》是一部諷刺史詩，初刊於1728 年，最終版刊行於1743 年，前後歷時十五年，稱之為蒲柏畢生心血結晶，絕非過甚之辭。此詩以虛擬的“呆廝女神”為線索，鋪敘社會日趨粗鄙的頹敗進程，尖銳抨擊文藝市場化、低俗化、政治化的時弊，嬉笑怒駡，酣暢淋漓，直筆寫出一部活色生香的大不列顛墮落史，堪稱西方諷刺史詩的里程碑式巨製。這部詩作帶來莫大的聲名，同時給蒲柏招來了無數敵人，致使他餘生楚歌四面、怨謗隨身。文學史上稱許為“英語詩歌史上最引人入勝、最獨樹一幟的作品”的《呆廝國誌》，也許翻譯難度太大，直至現在牛津終於能出版給中文讀者。

A Touch of Zen is one of the first Chinese-language films to gain recognition in an international film festival (the Grand Prix at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival), creating the generic mould for the "crossover" success of Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in 2000. The film has achieved a cult status over the years but little has been written about it. This first book-length study of the classic martial arts film therefore redresses its critical neglect, and explores its multi-leveled dimensions and mysteries. One of the central features of the film is the enigmatic knight-lady (xia nü) whose quest for revenge leads her to cross paths with a poor scholar whose interest in military strategy seals their alliance. Teo discusses the psychological manifestations and implications of this relationship and concludes that the film's continuing relevance lies in its portrait of sexuality and the feminist desires of the heroine. Teo also analyzes the film's form as an action piece and the dir

Language Education in China: Policy and Experience from 1949 is unprecedented as a comprehensive study of the multilingual circumstances in China. It tracks policy changes in the learning of Chinese,

Language Education in China: Policy and Experience from 1949 is unprecedented as a comprehensive study of the multilingual circumstances in China. It tracks policy changes in the learning of Chinese,

Learning Chinese Language and Culture is an intermediate-level textbook intended to be used throughout the entire school year and designed mainly for students who have completed introductory courses o

Whereas in previous decades autonomous, self-directed or ‘independent’ learning may have been assumed to be an alternative to classroom learning, the emphasis has now shifted to the point where learne

This book provides a research-based account of how to teach and learn Chinese as a foreign language. In addition to the discussion of relevant second/foreign language research, this volume gives detai

This book provides a research-based account of how to teach and learn Chinese as a foreign language. In addition to the discussion of relevant second/foreign language research, this volume gives detai

Talk Mandarin Today is a practical guide for beginners learning Mandarin Chinese as a second language. With the busy reader in mind, each lesson aims to bring fast acquaintance to certain basic of the

The Kung Fu series, a set of learning material on the Chinese language, is the product of collaborative efforts of experts from mainland China, Hong Kong and the U.S. It aims at providing texts and ex

Learning and Teaching in the Chinese Classroom provides an essential starting point for understanding the contexts of learning and teaching in the Chinese classroom. Drawing upon recent research in Ho

Service-learning is a form of experiential education that combines academic study with community service. Learning occurs as students work with others through applying their academic knowledge to comm

e-Learning Initiatives in China provides research and application insights into e-learning in China, in the light of two drives by the Chinese Ministry of Education: to implement curriculum reform and