Chinese language resources?

[Gowgee]

Does anyone have any online Chinese language resources they can recommend? Would appreciate resources on pronunciation, grammar/vocabulary, hearing and reading personally, but welcome all Cantonese and Mandarin resources.

Also, has anyone done any online Chinese lessons with native speakers on the mainland via Skype etc??

Thanks!

[CFT]

Here's a Chinese character database maintained by the Chinese University of Hong Kong: http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/

You can set the site language to English or Chinese.
The romanization scheme used is Jyutping.

What I find useful is entering a Chinese char. and finding out how to pronounce something via the sound file. There is also the associated Madarin pinyin.

[Drake]

Check out your bookstore. Rosetta Stone is good, but it doesn't teach a lot of grammar or writing conventions. There's a lot of inexpensive options too, ranging from $20-$80 or so. I'd suggest getting down the basics, then cross reference on the cheap by watching Chinese movies or TV to discover the nuances.

[TenTigers]

pimsleur is a great system. They use real usage for everyday conversation, and they layer their teaching. They introduce a new word or phrase, put it in conversation, and then in the next lesson, review and add onto it. Throughout the series, they constantly bring up and incorperate the previous lessons, overlapping the material.
Pimsleur has a great Cantonese course.

[Gowgee]

Thanks for the pimsleur and Rosetta Stone suggestions - they seem good for people with a sparce knowledge of Chinese like myself!

CFT, many thanks for the Chinese character site.

Does anyone know of any online grammar sites, or any decent grammar dictionaries available at bookstores/Amazon etc?

[TenTigers]

don't go with a book, rather use a cd. Wit Cantonese especially it is important to get the proper tones, otherwise you will be saying completely different words and will never be understood. ex:dieuh ma could either be a hanging leg stance (cat stance) or F*** your mother.

[dimethylsea]

If you have never seen it.. go check out http://www.nciku.com/.

Hands down the best Chinese language resource I've found on the web.
Will translate characters or pinyin to English and vice versa, has a draw function that will help you identify characters from drawing them with your mouse, and will pronounce the Chinese in Beijing standard Mandarin. Amazingly helpful.

[Gowgee]

That is great! I'm pretty handy with Chinese characters, just got to get the pronunciation down, and http://www.nciku.com/ looks helpful.

On a related topic, I'd like to be able to ask native speakers and advanced learners questions on vocabulary and grammar. Anyone know of any good Chinese language bullletinboards/sites where you can ask questions?? I'm planning on brushing up my limited knowledge with a tutor, but would love to ask questions in English too.

Many thanks