New Browser-Based MMO Teaches Mandarin Chinese

Have you ever wanted to learn Mandarin Chinese? (Yeah, me neither.) However, if you suddenly feel the urge to learn how to welcome your new Chinese overlords, researchers supported by Michigan State University and the Office of the Chinese Language Council International have a game for you. "Zon" is a browser-based virtual world, currently in beta-testing, that helps users to learn the Mandarin Chinese language.

Re:Yes, you want, too.

[QuantumG]

Just don't let them take your passport. No matter how much they say they are required to.

Re:Mandarin font?

[Adambomb]

Firefox at least:
Go to Tools, Options, then click on General on the left
click the languages... tab on the right hand side
click the down arrow where it says select a language to add
click add.
then just click the down arrow by where it says "Default character encoding" and pick the language you just installed and confirm it all with ok's.

Re:Mandarin font?

[NoobixCube]

If you're using Linux, it can be pretty easy too. Ubuntu and it's progeny have the fonts in the repositories, so you just open up your package manager and search for them. I'm sure other distros would too.

Project LRNJ

[Volanin]

There is also Project LRNJ, an RPG game that teaches you JAPANESE.
It is not browser-based, but it is available for every major OS.

Get it here! [lrnj.com]

And good luck getting rid of all those slimes!

Yes, it is.

[The Iso]

Your passport does not confer the right travel, your nationality does. Your passport is proof of nationality, and you can still prove your nationality by other means. Having your passport's number and expiration date helps. If you have an American passport, turn to page 6. You will notice that the State Department recommends making two photocopies of your passport data page.

Re:Yes, you want, too.

[ShakaUVM]

I have been learning Mandarin for the last three years. It's a lot of fun -- mainly because Chinese people give you these serious WTF? looks when you speak to them.

While the summary is kind of insulting, learning Chinese is actually a fairly pragmatic choice these days (as you rightly point out, China is making the US its bitch) and I actually think this idea of a language MMO is incredibly awesome. When I lived in San Diego and San Francisco I had no trouble finding community college Chinese classes -- but now that I live in Fresno, there's no options available.

ChinesePod is an... okay... web site, but their lessons are all over the place instead of organized in a systematic approach to teaching Chinese, and while its free, you have to pay huge amounts of money just to see what the characters used in the lessons are. It's very expensive for a free site.

Every Chinese software product I've tried sucks (especially Rosetta Stone -- it's terrible), though Fluenz looks pretty good... but I'm not willing to part with $300 bucks to support my hobby though.

Same in Beijing

[ihatewinXP]

I live in Beijing and rarely carry my passport for anything aside from a trip to the bank - but ALWAYS have a copy on me.

In three years the _one time_ I was stopped by an officer and asked for ID he was fine taking the number from a photocopy and understood my (poor) Chinese explaining I just dont want to lose the damn thing.

Same thing though with your housing permits - try not having one of those when the police come by for checks. I got a knock last week at 12:30 AM from two cops making the rounds in my building checking on listed foreigners - I have heard without the right housing permit it would have been much more than a 5 minute affair and more like a 5 day mess with my possible deportation.

Protip: carry a copy, leave the real one at home. If its that big of a mess they will gladly escort you there ;)