By the way, what do all those letters and numbers mean?
Ray
Hi Ray,
It's called Pinyin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin (saves me from having to explain it

).
The numbers (1-2-3-4) represent the tones:
http://people.wku.edu/shizhen.gao/Chinese101/pinyin/tones.htmhttp://sina.echineselearning.com/english/chinese-four-tones.htmlIt's not as complicated as it sounds like. Of course, 30 years in Taiwan makes me say that although I've met countless expats who barely know two words after 10 years living on the island.
I'm currently trying to enroll in the Lao Language Course at the National University of Laos, commonly referred to as Dongdok. I may have to wait a bit as the semester has already started.
Taike