Lost in China? Here’s How to Get Help from Strangers
After making 14 trips to China and deciding to learn Mandarin, it occurred to me that there were certain Chinese phrases that could have saved me a lot of trouble…
You’re Never Too Old to Learn Chinese
When my hour-long lesson with my Chinese language teacher is over, I always feel as though my head is about to explode. Ow, ow, ow, learning Chinese is too hard,…
Chinese Characters: Are they worth learning? How do I get started?
As we all know, Chinese uses characters as the basis of its written system. This aspect makes it quite different from most other languages. This characteristic has also become a…
Chinese Pronunciation: The Complete Guide for Beginner
Chinese pronunciation is the basic part of mastering Mandarin Chinese. With this guide, you can learn Chinese pronunciation easier in a correct way.
Why does Chinese have more collective nouns than English?
One of our users recently pointed out that the translation of certain sentences in our app could be more precise. The example pointed to was: "我想喝酒(wǒ xiǎng hē jiǔ)" which…
Recognize Chinese Characters by Radicals
This week, I have picked a set of Chinese characters that may be easily confused by beginners. In the picture below, you will see six pairs of characters. The symbols…
When is it time to change your Chinese teacher?
“Teaching should be full of ideas instead of stuffed with facts.” “Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross.” There are…
Learn The Chinese Tones With Morse Code?
I want to share a teaching cue I’ve been using with my students recently that’s been great for learning how to actually produce the tones. When it comes to learning…
How to Get the Tones in Chinese Right, and then Fix Them in Your Head!
The first thing that most beginners learn in Chinese are the four tones – how the meaning of a sound changes depending on whether you say it in a flat…