Fans of Chinese and Mandarin
Conversational scenarios, expression techniques, and pronunciation correction exercises—focused on practical Chinese speaking skills
1. Chinese language is most difficult on its tones Tones are most likely the first hurdle foreign learners come across in Chinese learning. Intuitively, it became the most complained element of the Chinese language. People often think that the native speakers spend a lot of energy on dealing with tones when we speak. It’s not … Read more
This is a Chinese idiom. Understanding a Chinese idiom requires understanding the corresponding characters and words. Characters: 耍 (shuǎ): play, display 嘴 (zuǐ): mouth 皮 (pí): skin Words: 嘴皮/嘴皮子 (zuǐ pí/ zuǐ pí zi): lips (of someone who indulges in an insincere and shallow talks) 皮子 (pí zi): skin 耍嘴皮 (shuǎ zuǐ): pay lip service … Read more
To be able to understand, you need to know the meaning of the Internet Slang in the sentence. There’s two Internet slangs: 安利 (Anli) – Anli is the Chinese name for Amway. In internet slang, the meaning is to share or to recommend. It also mean hitting the “share”. 入坑 (rukeng) – literal meaning is … Read more
Yes, in my opinion. At least that’s certainly the hardest part for me. Unfortunately getting the tone incorrect makes it a different word entirely, so then native speakers can struggle to understand what you’re trying to say. I’ve been laughed at more times than I can count at this point!
It was called Mandarin. My belief is that the word Mandarin should no longer be used because it is a remnant word from more than a century ago, in the nineteenth century. It is based on the Chinese phrase man da ren 满大人 which means “Manchu official” The standard word for standard spoken Chinese should … Read more
金煦涵 is a great name. The surname 金, which means gold, is a great choice. You will share this family name with other Jins, such as, Jin Yan, or 金焰 in Chinese, a famous actor in the Republican Era, and Jin Chen, or 金晨 in Chinese, an actress in the mainland China of nowadays. Here … Read more
Archaeology clearly confirms that the Zhou dynasty (and the earlier Shang dynasty) used primitive Chinese characters, and this is all extensively recorded in writing. Turkic writing, on the other hand, did not appear sporadically until almost a thousand years later. The Zhou dynasty (1046-256 BC) was the third Chinese slave dynasty in Chinese history, after … Read more
The word is “丈夫” or zháng fū. However, there is also “老公” or “Lao gong.” But while I’m attracted to much older men it’s hard to imagine myself ever calling a man “lao gong,” as a term of endearment as it literally means “old grandpa.” I could never bring myself to use it in any … Read more
The name Xuan exists in both Vietnamese and Chinese (putonghua) language, but they have different pronunciation and different meaning. Xuan in Vietnamese is almost certainly “Xuân”, a popular first name which means “spring” in English. The Chinese equivalent is 春 in Chinese (pinyin: chun). Xuan, in pinyin, can be 宣 (meaning: proclaim/declare), a Chinese last … Read more
Shaking hands comes from Europe, the days of knights (isn’t English strange? the days of knights, not the days of nights). Knights disdained the left hand, calling it sinister, which means both left and evil. A weapon was held in the right hand. If we let each other clasp our right hands, our weapon hands, … Read more