Using Topics and Scenarios to Make Your Chinese Learning More Efficient
As a Mandarin teacher, I am always delighted to observe and learn from my students. One thing I have noticed in my interactions with my students is how hard most…
For the Love of Characters! Introducing the Block-Headed Hula Girl and Other Useful Silliness
Chinese characters are beautiful, but there are just so damned many of them. And only very few are true pictographs that actually look like the thing they represent. 人 (rén) is…
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.
Differences and Similarities between 本来 (běn lái) and 原来 (yuán lái)
If you're learning Chinese, you might have heard the words "本来" (běn lái) and "原来" (yuán lái) being used in daily conversations to talk about something's original state or how…
Getting to Know the Measure Word 把 in Chinese
If you're learning Chinese, you'll come across the character 把(bǎ) early on, and it's important to understand its uses. Besides its common role in sentence structure, 把 also functions as…
Learn more “Ice” Radical Related Chinese Characters
Have you ever wondered how much the radical means in Chinese? For example, the “Ice” radical, which contains only two strokes and looks like two drops of water - 冫,…
English Idioms with Chinese Origins
Have you ever wondered where idioms come from? Well, being one of the oldest civilizations on our planet today, it is no surprise that the source of many English sayings…
Learning Chinese Characters with “Bow” Radical
One of my favorite Chinese radicals is the bow radical, 弓 (gōng). It is a very elegant character and important for it to be written in the right way. Despite…