For my friends who are trying to teach both Mandarin and Cantonese to their children, you no longer have to choose! (Not that you ever did.) Mandonese is an online forum (remember those?) that according to their site, is designed to be a place where parents who want to teach their kids Mandarin and Cantonese can discuss, share information and find useful information.
The site was created when Andrew Tsai, the site creator and owner, started re-learning his Mandarin and Cantonese after he had his daughter. Tsai couldn’t find many resources from the perspective of an English speaker to help him, so as all entrepreneurial folks are apt to do, he created his own.
Mandonese seems to be a relatively new site but has a decent amount of activity. It doesn’t have a ton of members yet, but hopefully that will change the more people know and hear about it. I’m always a fan of sharing useful sites and communities. In fact, I had originally wanted Mandarin Mama to have a forum similar to this site, but now that one exists, why reinvent the wheel? I far prefer to use something already made and ready-to-use versus create something myself! (This character trait is what seriously limits my entrepreneurial spirit. Truthfully, I just want other people to take my ideas and make something for me to throw my money at.)
From even my cursory explorations, I have found several new websites and blogs. Plus, many of the main contributors have sites of their own that I have started to check out. (I am quite the online stalker.) Topics range from children and adult learning materials, to cartoons and DVDs, to buying and selling books and educational materials. Currently, most members seem to be from the UK, but they don’t seem to discriminate since they let me join, too.
Now, I tend to be a joiner, but I have definitely found that with forums such as these, the measure you give is the measure you receive. I know many of us prefer to be online stalkers, but remember that if everyone were like that, we wouldn’t be able to find any information at all. So, please, for my own selfish interests, go to Mandonese. Join. Participate. Tell other people about it. For the children. Think of the children!!
Have a great weekend, friends!