Mandarin
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Duolingo adds Mandarin course to its language library
Online language learning company Duolingo has finally added a Mandarin course to its offerings. With more than one billion speakers, Mandarin is the most popular language on the planet, but it's also on one of the hardest to learn, which is why the course will prove a little beefier than its European language counterparts. English speakers will learn the language's characters as well as the four tones of Mandarin, with lessons structured by themes such as greetings, food, health and sports.
Hong Kong Pokémon fans protest over Pikachu translation
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have caused a minor international kerfuffle after deciding to reduce the number of languages it translates Pokémon games into. Back in February, the pair revealed that Pokémon Sun and Moon would be released in traditional and simplified Chinese -- the former for Hong Kong plus Taiwan, and the latter for Mainland China. But rather than keeping the three original sets of localized character names for these markets, the companies dropped Cantonese -- the main dialect of Hong Kong and many overseas Chinese folks -- and unified the Mandarin Chinese names used by the two other larger markets. The news didn't go down well with Pokémon fans in Hong Kong, and yesterday, around 20 locals staged a protest outside the Japanese consulate, with help from anti-communist political party Civic Passion. They came armed with banners demanding that Pei-kaa-jau (Pikachu's new name in Cantonese) should be restored to Bei-kaa-chyu (the original Cantonese Pikachu) for their local market.
Dragonball Online open beta with Tiawanese client
Heads up, Dragonball manga fans. Dragonball Online is now in open beta, and if you're willing to fiddle a bit with your PC gaming rig (or you're fluent in Mandarin), you can check out the game's Taiwanese client. Fansite Dbocom is providing an English translation patch for the game's UI (though you'll still be at the mercy of your Mandarin skills when it comes to NPC names, quest descriptions, and the like). Dragonball Online, which is being developed by NetMarble, takes place 216 years after the conclusion of the Dragonball manga series. Player characters are responsible for repairing various "cracks in time" while playing through a game under the creative control of original Dragonball artist Akira Toriyama. [Thanks to Scott for the tip!]
Zon: the MMO that teaches you to speak Chinese
A team of developers supported by Michigan State University and the Office of the Chinese Language Council International have spent the past few years piecing together Zon -- a browser-based virtual world wherein users can learn the Mandarin Chinese language. The game is currently in its open beta phase; you can sign up to play right now.Users create an avatar and then find themselves in a representation of Beijing International Airport. From there, they may interact with NPCs and other world objects to learn more about Chinese language and culture, as well as communicate with other players to practice their language skills. As they progress through the system, they move up in rank from Tourist to Resident, and finally to Citizen -- at which point they may create their own content for the world.We learned of Zon through the blog of Areae president Raph Koster, who had an interesting anecdote to add. During his stint at SOE, the company worked with college campuses to use EverQuest II for total immersion language education. So this is not a new idea -- just a really cool one!
