HERE'S good news for those who dread learning Putonghua, the principal Chinese dialect An easy-to-follow and updated language package, with recordings from the well-known TV star Lousie Lee Sze-kee, will soon appear on the market.
A presenter of Radio Television Hongkong's TV programme Putonghua for three years, Lee has become a popular Putonghua teacher in the public eye. The new package, with the same name and put together by Silver Planet Production, promises to be another success.
The kit consists of two Chinese textbooks and a choice of either six recording tapes or four compact discs. It also has a special section on business communications in China.
Popularising Putonghua is a labour of love for Lee.
''I love the language. With increasing business opportunities with China, there is a greater need for local people to learn to speak it,'' Lee told Young Post.
Putonghua is actually Lee's mother-tongue. Born in the city of Tianjin in northeast China, she moved with her family to Hongkong when only four.
At that time hardly anyone, even her Putonghua teacher in school, spoke correct Putonghua. Even now many Hongkong people fail to properly pronounce words that require a rolling of the tongue, said Lee. But she gives a solution.