Apps, cartoons,... for 4-year old to learn Mandarin

[lpsig]

Hi All,

 

I've been searching for material for my 4-year-old son to start learning Mandarin. My friend comes to play and talk with him in Mandarin for 1.5 hours everyday but we need apps as framework for their activities since this "immersion" session will last long as my son grows up. It's best to have an integrated app which can help with listening, speaking, reading and writing and provide accelerated levels of difficulty over the time, but if that is not possible, can you please suggest options that can collectively help?

 

 

I have also been looking for cartoons, series, textbooks, etc. thus, greatly appreciate your suggestions. We speak and read English, and the characters should be simplified Chinese.

 

Thanks a lot.

LPSig.

[Michael H]

There are a ton of iPad apps (and presumably also Android apps) designed to help kids learn Mandarin. I think these are mostly intended for native speakers learning to read, but can also be useful for language learners. Quality varies widely. I like the ones from Lu Feng Technologies. These consist of videos and cartoons with Mandarin (simplified or traditional) and English text. You may also be able to find similar offerings for free.

[Pokarface]

I watch this cartoon...by myself since I have no children and I'm learning Chinese.

 

都來A夢 (Traditional characters. I think they know it as 机器猫  in Mainland China, so you could find it with simplified characters as well.)

https://www.youtube.com/results?sp=EgIQAw%253D%253D&q=%E9%83%BD%E4%BE%86A%E5%A4%A2

 

I remember using this App. You can't find it on Android in the U.S. (and I'm not sure if you can find it on the App store). The App is free but you have to download it from the App developers website in certain countries.

 

 

I think it's better for your son to interact with more people in Chinese since spending more time watching cartoons might not improve his Chinese unless there is a need for him that forces him to improve. Right now it's your friend who he interacts with the most in this language, this can help if they get along very well, since I had to learn Spanish or else I wouldn't be able to speak with my grandparents.

[xyz123abc]

粉红猪 佩佩猪

 

I am currently watching this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOu2cRa82Lo

 

You can find the complete list of episodes here

http://chinesehacks.com/animation/learning-chinese-with-the-mandarin-dub-of-peppa-pig/

 

祝你好运

[character]

I suggest looking through the selection at http://www.chinasprout.com .  They seem to have the best selection of material for young learners, so it's worth looking for ideas even if you don't buy from them.

 

The 150 word level of the Rainbow Bridge Graded Reader series might be worth trying as well. Supposedly the audio for each book is available to download from the publisher's website.

[Christy]

 

xyz123abc:  粉红猪 佩佩猪

 

I am currently watching this

 

You can find the complete list of episodes here

http://chinesehacks....b-of-peppa-pig/

 

I am also watching peppa pig, but the version is different with the one xyz123abc recommended. 

The version I am watching called "小猪佩琪“：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4xYHxRIQGA&nohtml5

 

@ xyz123abc, the version you are watching seems to be Taiwanese. 

[Shelley]

I had a quick look at this http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/51190-i-built-a-chinese-site-for-my-son-to-learn-chinese/#comment-393612

 

It might be useful for you, I am not sure what ages its aimed at, but you may be able to use some of it.