Learning Chinese as an Adult VS as a Child
When I first came to China, I knew all of two words, “nǐ hǎo” (你好, “hello”), and “xièxie” (谢谢, “thanks”). It took me over three years to get from there…
How To Start Speaking Mandarin Chinese Very Quickly – An unconventional fast-track model to cut your time to fluency by 50%
About 13% of the world’s population speaks Mandarin Chinese. Have you ever wished you could speak fluent Chinese with a native speaker? You might be thinking, “I’ll memorize some Chinese…
Mastering Chinese Prepositions: When to Use 从, 离, 向 and 往
If you've been learning Mandarin for over a year, you've probably come across a situation where you have to choose between using 从(cóng) or 离(lí), or 向(xiàng) or 往(wǎng) when…
Mastering When to Use 一点儿 and 有一点儿
Learning a new language can be challenging, especially when it comes to mastering the nuances and subtleties of everyday conversation. As a Chinese teacher, I often notice my students using…
Practical Mandarin: Essential Ways to Express Approximate Numbers
When it comes to expressing approximate numbers in Mandarin, whether it's related to time, weight, age, or any other numerical term, there are various ways to convey this concept. In…
The Future Tense in Chinese: Describing Upcoming Events Without Verb Conjugation
While Mandarin Chinese grammar is often considered a unique challenge for learners, students of the language can rejoice in one aspect of grammatical simplicity: there is no verb conjugation in…
12 Chinese Proverbs About Work
This time, we are going to study 12 Chinese proverbs about Work. The Chinese people have accumulated many vivid proverbs that are thought-provoking and which reflect the attitude and point-of-view…
Chinese Translator Apps Review: the good, the bad, and the absolutely useless
A little pre-review ramble: I am located in Shanghai behind the Great Firewall, so I was not able to simply take a stroll in the Google Play Store like many…
Mastering Chinese Verb Continuity: How to Use 在, 正, 正在, and 着
When learning a new language, one of the fundamental aspects to grasp is how tense and continuity are expressed. One of the intriguing distinctions between Chinese and English lies in…