Both Windows 2000 and Windows XP already include Chinese support. It just needs to be turned on. Microsoft also sells versions of Windows where the interface is in Chinese.

If you already have an English of Windows 95/98/ME, then you can use a program that adds Chinese capabilities to your existing programs. Program like this include TwinBridge Chinese Partner and UnionWay for Windows and the Chinese Language Kit (CLK) for Macintosh that comes with MacOS 9. Visit the Chinese Mac Home for more on using Chinese on the Mac.

2. What are the differences between simplified and traditional Chinese characters?

Chinese characters have been evolving throughout their usage. In the 1950's, the Chinese government sped this process up by starting a program of massive character simplification with the goal of improving literacy rates. This involved replacing characters with new forms that required fewer strokes to write or combining several characters into just one form. Sources for the new simplified characters included common handwritten short forms, archaic character variants, and other characters with the same pronunciation. Simplified characters are currently used in mainland China and Singapore, while traditional characters are still in use in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and older overseas Chinese communities. In Taiwan the traditional characters are also refered to as "orthodox characters" by some.

3.What is Chinese calendar and Chinese Zodiac?

The Chinese Zodiac has twelve animals (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog, and Pig) and each year is assigned an animal.

The Chinese calendar is based on the cycles of the moon and starts on different dates in the Western calendar each year. The Chinese New Year will fall sometime in January or Feburary.

4.What are dialects?
A dialect is a variation of a particular language (for instance, British English versus American English).

Chinese has numerous dialects. Because of China's long history, these have diverged greatly, to the point that they are mutually unintelligible (speakers of one dialect can't understand speakers of another dialect). For this reason, Chinese dialects are sometimes considered separate languages, but common history and a common writing system (Chinese characters) have had a strong unifying influence.

The main dialect spoken in mainland China is Mandarin (sometimes called Putonghua). There are more people on Earth who speak Mandarin than speakers of English. Cantonese is widely spoken in Hong Kong and in many overseas Chinese communities. Taiwanese (sometimes called Hoklo) is spoken in Taiwan, in addition to Mandarin. There are are many other dialects.

5. What are tones?
In English, words are sometimes spoken with a certain intonation. Rising intonation indicates a question:
He left. [stating a fact; voice is flat]
He left? [asking a question; voice rises]
In Chinese, intonation is much more fundamental: it's part of a word's pronunciation. If your voice rises when it should have fallen, you can end up saying a completely different word (with embarrassing consequences). Linguists call Chinese a tonal language. A classic example is "Ma ma ma ma?", which means "does mother curse the horse?" (but only if you say it right!). Getting tones right is pretty tricky for English speakers learning Chinese, but it's important.

6. Is Chinese hard to learn?
Well, Chinese characters can be difficult (although learning to recognize characters is easier than memorizing how to write them). But spoken Chinese is easier to learn than you might think. Chinese grammar is very simple. English speakers sometimes complain that languages like Spanish have a complicated grammar (masculine and feminine genders, verb conjugations, etc). Well, Chinese speakers complain that way about English. Make sure you start off by practising pronunciation, because a bad pronunciation is hard to correct later. And make sure to get your tones right

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