The Major Differences Between 两(liǎng) and 二(èr)
Are you learning Chinese and struggling to differentiate between the two words for "two" - 二 and 两? Don't worry, you're not alone! Many Chinese learners find it difficult to…
Chinese Characters Learning: The “Three Drops Of Water” Radical
A radical is collection of brush strokes in Chinese that conveys a certain meaning. Radicals are combined to form characters, and recognizing a particular radical can often give you a clue as to that…
Secrets of Saying Sorry: “对不起”’s Correct Use
If you’ve ever learned even a little Chinese, you probably know the phrase “对不起(duì bù qǐ)”. In most textbooks, “对不起(duì bù qǐ)” is translated to mean “sorry,” or “I’m sorry.”…
5 Common Mistakes Chinese Learners Make
Having taught Chinese for a while, we’ve noticed a lot of common errors that English speakers make when learning Chinese. This is understandable, as Chinese has very different grammatical rules…
Cool Chinese Character Memorization Methods
It seems like every day a new app comes out that promises to help you learn characters easily. With a growing pool of research in memory and memory competitions on…
How to Master Tones without Using Tone Marks
I’ve been learning Chinese for over 10 years and one thing I’ve seen countless students struggle with is the tones. Why is it that so many Chinese language students struggle…
Meet Your Mandarin Goals for 2015 – with just 3 Months Left
I don’t mean to scare you but the last quarter of 2015 is almost upon us. 2016 is approaching fast! This got me thinking about my Mandarin studies, and how…
Chinese: A Language of Compound Words
At first glance, learning Chinese characters can seem intimidating. And it can be a difficult task, especially if you try to memorize them one by one like many teachers force…
Describing Actions with “得(de)” in Chinese: Tips and Examples
In English, you can describe an action using an adverb, for example, "I run quickly" or "I get up early." However, describing verbs with adverbs in Chinese is more complex.…