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…
从(cóng) VS 离(lí) and 向(xiàng) VS 往(wǎng): Two Commonly Confused Chinese Grammar Structures
If you’ve spent more than a year or so learning Mandarin, you’ve probably encountered the familiar predicament where you must decide whether to use 从(cóng) versus 离(lí) or向 (xiàng) versus…
When to Use “有(一)点儿” VS “(一)点儿” in Chinese
During Chinese class, whenever I ask my students, “今天上课累不累？(jīn tiān shàngkè lèi bu lèi? / Do you feel tired in class today?)”, they often answer me with the phrase ”一点儿累(yìdiǎnr…
上下(shànɡxià)？左右(zuǒyòu)？前后(qiánhòu)？- Expressing an “Approximate Number” in Mandarin
If you need to express an “Approximate Number” in terms of time, weight, age, or any other term that involves a number, there are a number of ways to do…
How to Say that Something will Happen “Soon” in Mandarin Chinese
Unlike other languages such as English, Mandarin does not change the form of its verbs to express past, present, and future tenses. Instead, there are other ways to say how…
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…
How to Express an Ongoing State or a Continuity of an Action in Chinese
In Chinese, and unlike in English, people don’t change the form of a word to express the ongoing continuity of an action or a state of being. Instead, Chinese focuses…