Trek The Unknown

Before I went to china I also heard about the famous single child policy that China has. It was very interesting to talk about this subject with the people i’ve met with in China. As time passed I learned there are some ways you can have more than one child. Here are the exceptions:

1. If you live in the village and you have a girl as a 1st child, you can have another chance having a boy.
2. If both of the parents are an only child they can have 2 kids, regardless of their gender. This law now becomes relevant. The single child policy is 30 years old, so the current young generation is now getting married and having kids. China is expecting to have a generation with 2 kids familyies
3. Pay high fee - If you rich enough, you can afford another child.
4. Go abroad and have another child - solution only to people who can afford it.
5. be a villager - villagers are so poor that they have nothing to lose. So they have as many kids as they want.

The official number of people in china is around 1.3 Billion. experts say the number is much higher, something like: 1.6 Billion. I don’t know if the population is decreasing but growth is certainly slowing down.

People who are following my blog from the beginning knows I’ve studied Chinese in china for 2 months using one on one tutoring. This is by far the most efficient way to learn anything, of course.

I had limited time in china so I wanted to get the most from it. indeed, i speak and talk basic Chinese now. but, not everybody can just leave their work,home,family for 2-3 months to do it.

Internet comes to help (like in any other case in life ), with the ability to learn online. I’ve been searching for online Chinese learning web sites for quite a while, while I was in China. The most interactive web site I bumped into was ChinesePod.com. I downloaded a few lessons and they are really doing a great job. I just used the free account though. They let you download mp3 files with lessons in various learning levels. At some point I understood it’s not the optimal way for learning. In order to learn you need a person to teach you. somebody you can have a conversation with and stimulate you….

One day, I got a link from my twin sister. it was: ChineseVoice.com.They use a different method. They have a system to have a video conversation with a Chinese teacher in China! I haven’t tried it yet although I registered for a trial lesson. They have courses in different levels and you get 2 very important obvious benefits:
1. One on one tutoring (there are also options for small group studies) and…!
2. No need to fly to china.

How is that for a start?