5 Common Chinese Interjections to Add Tonal Color -啊(a) 吧(ba) 呢(ne) 啦(la) 嘛(ma)
An interjection is an exclamation, especially as a part of speech. An example of an interjection in English would be “Ah!” or “Oh!” Many of you may already know it’s…
Business Chinese: Essential Mandarin Expressions for Online Meetings
Necessity is the mother of invention, particularly in a time when everyone is working from home. Online meeting platforms, such as Skype, Google Hangouts, and Zoom, have revolutionized the world…
Things that you should know about the Singapore PSLE Chinese Oral Exam
What is the PSLE Chinese Oral Exam? The Singapore PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination) Chinese Oral Examination makes up 25% of the PSLE Chinese Examination score (100%). There are two parts of…
Learning Through the Screen: How Chinese TV can Become Your Chinese Teacher
No matter how much I love learning Chinese, studying from a textbook can start to get boring after awhile. While the textbook’s explanations are clear, sometimes I just need to…
Chinese Speaking Practice Guide for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced learners
Being able to speak fluently and interact with native Chinese easily is the ultimate goal of many Chinese learners. However, it can also be seen as a great weakness. Based…
Learn Pinyin: illustration of the Chinese Pinyin system
There have been many tips and articles on how and why you should learn Pinyin and how necessary it is to learn Chinese. To learn Pinyin is an unavoidable stage…
Can the Chinese Actually Understand the Japanese and Korean languages?
What are the differences between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (collectively called CJK, for short)? Are Chinese characters (hànzì) the same as Japanese kanji and Korean hanja? You are not alone…
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…
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…