This may seem like a weird question, but I don’t know where to look for the answer…
I’ve noticed that many sentences in my daughter’s Chinese books start with something similar to:
“Sha pong yo, …”
I have no idea what this mean… (sorry for the approximative pinyin… 
Hi Hypatia
It means “little friend” literally and it usually refers to little children.
Wow, I would NEVER have found this one out ! Thank you, it’s great to know!
What’s the proper pinyin?
Hi Hypatia
I don’t know PinYin as it wasn’t taught when I was in school then 
. But I did a search on the internet for the Pinyin for å° (little or small) æœ‹å‹ (friend) and found Xiao Peng You. Maybe someone who knows Pinyin can verify this. Sorry, I couldn’t help much.
BTW, out of curiosity, how do you know that it reads “Sha pong yo�
Hi Hypatia! If it is books, how do you know it is pronounced sha pong yo? Do you have books with cds and characters and no pinyin? It is VERY common to address children in China “xiao pengyou” or “xiao pengyoumen” (plural) esp in teaching videos etc. The tones are xiao3 peng2you (no/neutral tone on you). Often in China older men are called grandpa (yeye), women your parent’s age auntie (ayi), children “little friend” (xiao pengyou) even if they are no relation to you.
Thanks.
I’m using an audio pen so it reads the sentences for me
It’s the best investment in teaching Chinese for non-speakers!
ahh! Having one (eReadbook touchreading pen), I should have guessed that! You got the one that only comes with eight books? Do you like it? We really enjoy ours. Most of our books have pinyin though, which is helpful.
My daughter loves it. She plays with it on her own. She discovered she could get music and songs by pointing at specific spots so she does a lot of this, otherwise mostly animals and random objects. But out of the 8 book, there are only 3 picture books and we’ll run out really soon i think. Hence why i put the pen away and she requests it when she sees it.
I might have to buy the one you’ve got as it comes with many more books… anything suited to an almost 2 yo you think in the books you have?
Hi Hypatia…
I mostly tried to get books for a bit older: my son is 4.5 yrs old now and we’re into fairy tales etc like Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, The Three Little Pigs.
For a younger child like yours I’d guess:
My First Learning Package:
http://www.bigreach.ca/book_SetDetails.asp?pxilie=EC003&bookGroup=1
Children’s Picture Cards:
http://www.bigreach.ca/book_SetDetails.asp?pxilie=EC002&bookGroup=1
Fun To Read Cardboard Stories:
http://www.bigreach.ca/book_SetDetails.asp?pxilie=CP101&bookGroup=1
(I want to get these for my son. The others above are a bit young for him)
The wall maps might be fun, but a bit expensive: there are three sets of 6 large maps in the set:
http://www.bigreach.ca/book_SetDetails.asp?pxilie=EC001&bookGroup=1
Each of those pages has a video to show the book in action, and if you click the image of the book cover, you get a flash (no audio) preview of the inside of the book to see if you like it, ie if it has pinyin, english or not etc.
You can use this code: NA7447-T to get free shipping for your order from them within North America, and also $10 credit for your next purchase. If you order from them, ask them (by email, you can ask for emily) to upload the book audio files for the books you buy to your pen before they send it to you… that way you won’t be dealing with having to upload and like ours was, will be ready to go out of the package. We’re very happy with ours but more English instructions would have been helpful. Actually, I think the english instructions are here:
http://www.e-readbook.com/PsysmE.asp
hi Hypatia & Wenjonggal,
I’ve just spent the last 60 minutes looking at the Canadian and Chinese websites (gave up on the US one quickly) … it looks brilliant. What a brilliant resource!! Hopefully (if they post it to Aust) it won’t be too expensive for P&H, amazon.com only ships to US and Europe. It’s like Pandora’s box has been opened but in a very positive way. I wonder if they sell it in Asian countries outside China & Hong Kong - I’d have a greater chance of someone going to South East Asia and being able to bring it back for me than Nth America.
mtb999
Yes I know, as a Canadian, the amazon.com offers are out for me too. They’ll only ship books and dvds to Canada, and they all the books and pen “toys”. Write an email to order@bigreach.ca and ask Emily what they can do for you re shipping. As I said, they already shipped to someone in Spain who read about it on my blog. Do mention my blog: wenjonggal, or my name: Leanne, or the code I posted already, and maybe it will help you with your shipping. If they give free shipping to Canada because I am referring people, perhaps they’ll give you a deal on shipping to Australia???
I was the one in Spain who bought the reading pen from bigreach and i´m very happy with this purchase. I chose that they send me the item by surface mail, because it was the cheapest option and I was in no hurry.
Anyway it depends on the country of destination and the weight of the books you buy. I suppose there will be no problem to ship the pen to Australia too.