Fans of Chinese and Mandarin
Conversational scenarios, expression techniques, and pronunciation correction exercises—focused on practical Chinese speaking skills
Well, it depends on which surname Wang you refer to. I mean, there are four Chinese surnames that could be written in Pinyin as Wang, i.e., 王, 汪, 望 and 旺. Of course, precisely speaking, 王 is written in Pinyin as wáng. 汪 is written in Pinyin as wāng. 望 and 旺 are written in … Read more
I live in China, whenever I write numbers (01234566789) on a piece of paper by hand, Chinese people are generally confused and can’t understand what I wrote. I doubt you actually live in China since a single trip to the market would show you a bunch of vendors with calculators if they don’t have computers … Read more
This would be a really fun question for me to answer. Little bit on my background. I’m Singaporean Chinese, L1 is Chinese and L2 is English, but due to my education and work, I’m L2 dominant. With respect to the topic of Chinese handwriting, I would like to quote a video I watched recently, that … Read more
This is very difficult to answer in a general, catch-all way as it depends on many variables Where you live: I lived in Shanghai when I first arrived in China. I didn’t have zero Chinese, but pretty close. I could recognise the obvious everyday characters, such as those for entrance and exit (入口，出口）and some place … Read more
This Chinese character 虚 has multiple meanings. It could mean empty and unoccupied, for instance, 座无虚席, which literally means a banquet with no empty seats and is usually used to mean full house. It could also mean humble and modest, for instance, 虚怀若谷, which means modest and open-minded. It could also mean weak in health, … Read more
No, it can’t. I mean, although some might argue that Ti could be seen as Wade-Giles version of a Chinese surname 狄, then how do we see Dao, since there are not Chinese characters which could be spelled as Dao in the Wade-Giles romanization? So, Ti Dao looks like a Pinyin version of two Chinese … Read more
I did. I was really interested in Chinese (still am) and worked like a demon. I had the advantage that I was in Taiwan, surrounded by the language. When I came to Taiwan, I didn’t know much more than 我、你、他、好、不好, but I saw people who had been here for three or four years still struggling … Read more
Yes, Chenxu Shiwen, or 陈徐诗汶 in Chinese, is a good Chinese name. Nowadays, there are Chinese people choosing to use a combination of surnames of a kid’s parents as the surname of a kid. So, when Chinese people read your name, they could infer that the surnames of your father and mother are 陈 and … Read more
Yes, you can. Move to China so you’re in the Chinese language environment. Get a tutor so they can help you learn the characters by pronouncing them for you. Pinyin is a phonetic notation system. It was invented to help with public education, where 30–40 students learn together in a classroom. They have access to … Read more
Yes. Here is my perspective as a Hàn (Chinese) Character-topic enthusiast Korean individual. Korean reading for each Hanja character: 金 Translation: Hun’dok: 1. soé [“iron”, “metal (alloy)”] 2. sŏng sshi [姓氏 = “family surname”] Ŭm’dok: 1. gŭm 2. gim Radical: (gold) 8 strokes Stroke Order: 8 strokes 姸 Translation: Hun’dok: gop da [“to be beautiful”, “to be pretty”, “to be lovely”, “to … Read more