Fans of Chinese and Mandarin
Conversational scenarios, expression techniques, and pronunciation correction exercises—focused on practical Chinese speaking skills
Unfortunately, I do not. I’ve had over three years of Mandarin lessons because I assumed it would enable me to better communicate with Chinese people. But what I have found, to my amusement, is that most of the people I know speak Cantonese or Hokkien. This seems to be the case whether they are in … Read more
Well, in my humble opinion, these two Chinese characters don’t sound too old-fashioned. 莲 means lotus and its Pinyin is lián. And in a metaphorical way, it could mean purity. That’s why in a famous essay, Ode to the Lotus, or 爱莲说 in Chinese, by Zhou Dunyi, or 周敦颐 in Chinese, a renowned neo-Confucian philosopher … Read more
The real name of Confucius is Kong Qiu (孔丘, kǒng qiū), with surname Kong (孔), and the given name (丘). In Chinese culture, it has been a tradition to add 子 (zǐ) to the surname the show respects. For example: Han Fei: 韩非子 (Hánfēi zǐ) Mencius: 孟子 (mèng zǐ) Obviously, Confucius is one of the … Read more
Probably for the same reasons that when a fictional Mr. Xǔ Zhì Qiáng (許志強) settles down in beautiful America, he goes by the name “George”: To better-assimilate into the culture and environment of his new home Because 8 out of 10 persons probably cannot figure out how the heck to correctly pronounce his name, what … Read more
Why learn Cantonese when Putonghua is used all over China? If you have a family connection for learning Cantonese then, by all means, learn Cantonese. But I would not hire a tutor and spend money to learn Cantonese, especially if it is for a nine-year old. The China of 2023 is not the China of … Read more
As far as I know, Tran is the Viet Namese transliteration of 陳 Ch’en/Chen, a very common Chinese surname. It’s properly written Trần. When I see someone named Trần, I figure they’re ethnic Chinese from Viet Nam. However, I just checked and 11% of the population of VN is named Trần, so it seems they’re … Read more
The same time I started learning English – as a young kid? For English, I remember my parents getting me a stack of Peter and Jane hardcover books. The ones that come with painted illustrations of the titular characters and go: Here is Peter. Here is Jane. Here is the horse. Peter and Jane like … Read more
It’s a beautiful name until you read it out loud. Because the word 邓思雅 sounds very similar to 等死呀 (waiting for death, ah). So, no, it’s not a good name. Try something else.
It is not a word frequently seen in names. If you don’t know, Chinese don’t have words specifically for names. We pick words (that are used for regular communication) to form names. So our names have very straightforward, easily recognizable meanings. The best way I can describe it is that our names are similar to … Read more
It’s 永. The kanji for “永(ei)”, which means long time, contains all eight techniques necessary for calligraphy. It’s called 永字八法(eiji happou). Eight Principles of Yong – Wikipedia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Demonstration of common strokes in Chinese characters The character 永 , yǒng , “forever”, “permanence” Stroke order animated (left) and in color gradation … Read more