How well or how little do you know about the Mandarin vowels? Here’s the six basic vowels, called simple-vowel finals. Have a watch, and go test yourself here after that! If you missed the first three videos,...
Some time ago, a Westerner introduced himself to me as a 外人 wàirén. I thought, oh, he means 外国人 wàiguórén, and corrected him. It’s normal for foreigners to make mistakes, and in this case, given that the...
Hmm… Is kitty waiting for me at the back door? Or the behind the door? In Chinese, word order is very important. In this article I’ll attempt to deal a bit with some common words that can...
Since we’re on the topics of shopping and money (videos here and here; audio list here) on the Mandarin Weekly series, I thought it’d be apt to introduce this proverb. Scroll down for the explanation and examples. So, what...
xué xí rú nì shuǐ xíng zhōu bú jìn zé tuì 学习如逆水行舟，不进则退。 Learning is like rowing a boat upstream. If you’re not moving up, you’re drifting down. If you’ve enjoyed this, don’t forget to hit one of...
Here’s a little prelude to the upcoming Mandarin Weekly video. Have you heard of these two expressions? 1) 不大不小 bú dà bù xiǎo 2) 没大没小 méi dà méi xiǎo If you’ve learnt a little Mandarin, you probably...
Find Mandarin tone changes confusing? Here’s the cheat sheet – Mandarin Tone Sandhi Rules At A Glance! Watch the videos here for explanation and examples. If you’ve enjoyed this, don’t forget to hit one of the sharing...
I’ve been seeing this photo circulating around, and every time it never fails to make me feel like pinching the faces of these little cuties. They sure warrant a dedicated piece! What came to mind the moment...
Learn the 3R’s from a famous Chinese painter of the last century! 减少购买、重复使用、回收再造 reduce, reuse, recycle 減らす、再使用、再循環 新阿大 (xīn ādà) New for the eldest 一番目は新品 旧阿二 (jiù ā’èr) Old for the second 二番目は古着 破阿三 (pò āsān) Torn for the...
(Edited on 2014/04/27) 汉语、普通话、华语、国语、中国话、北京话、中文、华文…… Oh Mandarin! Why do you call yourself by so many names? Confused? This post hopes to help clarify! I hope this was helpful! To simplify, 中 zhōng、汉 hàn、华 huá all mean Chinese (erm,...
