Recommended Chinese Songs for Perfecting Your Accent
Everyone has that one friend, the one with the terrible Mandarin accent. They speak in a flat monotone, with no emotion and no respect to timing. It's as if they…
These Flashcards Might Help You Learn Chinese
If you’re learning Chinese, then there is almost no way to avoid flashcards short of enrolling yourself in an extremely rural elementary school and starting from scratch. You need some…
Tones Prefer Company! Part II – An exciting new audio-visual way to practice Mandarin tones
My last Digmandarin article “Tones Prefer Company!“ generated a lot of interest, prompting me to pen this follow-up. The idea that tones should not be studied in isolation, and the…
Mandarin is One of the 3 or 5 Languages You Should Learn
Mandarin is one of the 3 languages our new generation of entrepreneurs should learn, says who? Says Forbes Times! While in UK, British Council has put Mandarin in the top five…
A Fun Tip to Master Chinese Characters Smoothly
Since I have a long history of learning Chinese, I can offer some of my own learning methods as tips on how to overcome the more difficult aspects in the…
Tones Prefer Company! – A New Way to Practice Chinese Tones
When you hear someone discuss the basics of Mandarin pronunciation, they usually start with the four tones, and give an example like the famous (mā má mǎ mà). To be…
Practical Chinese for Hospital Visits
(AKA The time I broke my elbow in China) No one wants to get sick or have an accident, but it happens – and as a foreigner in China it’s…
5 Tips to Full Immersion with Mandarin
Over the years that I’ve spent learning languages, I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on apps, books, classes, courses and anything else you might be able to imagine. Some were excellent…
Why Chinese Stroke Order is Important and How to Master it
What is stroke order? The Chinese stroke order system was designed to produce aesthetically pleasing, symmetrical and balanced characters written with brush and ink on paper. It allows for the…