A Beginner’s Experience of Chinese Tones
Please note that this article uses Simplified Chinese characters, which some devices may not be able to support. Click here to access a version of the article which uses Pinyin instead.
你好！ The other day I was watching a film with my parents – Hidden Strike. You may have heard of it, it’s on Netflix, and, at time of writing, it’s ranked in the top 20. There’s an interesting scene in the film, where it emerges that one of the protagonists, a stereotypical-looking action antihero, played by WWE wrestler John Cena, can speak Chinese. His new-found companion, played by martial arts legend Jackie Chan, then asks him where he learned to speak the language. Cena replies “上海市，死人安排公司” – In Shanghai, at the funeral parlour. Continue reading
8 Tools to Learn Chinese More Easily
There are more than 1.2 billion Chinese language speakers worldwide. Chinese businesses are expanding, they are going global and you very often deal with Chinese speaking people, be it a construction site or a corporate office of an MNC. Because of this, you may have your reasons for wanting to know this language, be it personal or occupational.
Maybe you just want to learn it just in case you need it in future for your personal and professional growth, or maybe you have a long trip planned to China.
Regardless of your motives, there are some very popular online and mobile resources you can use to make your journey to learn Chinese easier for professional or personal reasons. Let’s review the best tools. Continue reading
Motivational Tips for Mandarin beginners
CHINESE and MANDARIN are becoming popular languages for people all over world to learn these days.
The most common question that beginners of these languages have, is “How can I learn Mandarin quickly and easily?”
Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day. Learning any language takes patience, persistence, time and creating smart learning strategies to suit your style of learning.
Here are some useful tips for beginners: Continue reading
6 tips to keep Mandarin learners motivated!
With over one billion Mandarin speakers in the world today, Mandarin is an important and popular language to learn in the UK today in order to stay connected with the outside world, especially with Brexit looming. But as is well-known, Mandarin is one of the more difficult languages to learn. Most people spend a lot of time on it just to learn a little bit, that is why people often give it up. Here are some tips to help you make learning Mandarin easier. Hopefully they will help you stay motivated. Continue reading
Chinese New Year!
The biggest Chinese Festival, Chinese New Year is upon us! This year is the year of the Rooster, the tenth animal in the zodiac. The celebrations begin the night of the 27th January which is called SAN SHI and they last until February 15th. The night of the 27th January is the time when Chinese people have a big meal with the whole family. At midnight Chinese families eat dumplings as well see off the last day of the year and welcome the first day (28th of January) of the new Chinese year. This the happiest time for all Chinese people all over the world.
Here are some key words in Mandarin relating to the festival: Continue reading
Mandarin Christmas phrases
With Christmas almost here, maybe those people who are learning Chinese would like to learn a few Christmas-related words? Here are some seasonal greetings and festive words in Mandarin:
- 圣诞节 sheng dan jie: Christmas
- 圣诞快乐 sheng dan kuai le: Merry Christmas
- 圣诞老人 sheng dan lao ren: Father Christmas
- 驯鹿 xun lu: reindeer
- 雪橇 xue qiao: sleigh
- 烟囱 yan cong: chimney
- 圣诞树 sheng dan shu: Christmas tree
- 圣诞袜 sheng dan wa: Christmas stockings
- 圣诞礼物 sheng dan li wu: Christmas presents
- 烤火鸡 kao huo ji: roast turkey
- 圣诞布丁 sheng dan bu ding: Christmas pudding
- 平安夜 ping an ye: Christmas Eve
- 圣诞日 sheng dan ri: Christmas Day
- 狂欢日 kuang huan ri: Boxing Day
- 新年快乐 xin nian kuai le: Happy New Year!
10 Must-know phrases for a trip to China!
A trip to China seems more and more easy to make these days, however for some people the language barrier puts them off. It is not that difficult to learn just a few important words and phrases to get by. Master some key phrases and you will get much more out of your time in China.
Here are 10 useful phrases to start you off:
数( shu ) 字( zi ) Numbers:
1). The key numbers are from 0 to 10.
0 ( 零 ) ling: zero
1 ( 一 ) yi: one
2 ( 二 ) er: two
3 ( 三 ) san: three
4 ( 四 ) si: four
5( 五 ) wu: five
6 ( 六 ) liu: six
7 ( 七 ) qi: seven
8 ( 八 ) ba: eight
9 ( 九 ) jiu: nine
10 ( 十 ) shi: ten Continue reading
Greetings in Mandarin
Greetings can help you strike up conversation with anyone and Chinese people will really appreciate your efforts to speak in their language. The following basic Mandarin greetings are very useful to know.
1. 你 ( ni ) 好 ( hao )
Hello
2. 早 ( zao ) 上 ( shang ) 好 ( hao )
Good morning
3. 下 ( xia ) 午( wu ) 好 ( hao )
Good afternoon
4. 晚 ( wan )上( shang ) 好 ( hao )
Good evening Continue reading
Tips for Mandarin Beginners (Part 4)
Tip 4: Writing
Writing is the formal way of transferring information. We use writing to record important things, such as producing poetry, literature, writing novels, magazines and newspapers. Here are some ways as to how you can improve your writing skills in Mandarin Chinese: Continue reading
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