Fans of Chinese and Mandarin
I studied it for four hours daily for one year, then I went to Chinese-language high school and graduated from high school (three years) where the whole curriculum was in Chinese. Then I spent 10+ years working in Chinese companies where I used Chinese and Putonghua on a daily basis.
Mandarin and Cantonese is Chinese, that’s why they are termed as Chinese, they are just different dialects from the same language, the writing is the same, when we visited HK from Taiwan, my wife wanted to buy some medicines, she went into a shop and they couldn’t understand what she was after, so she wrote … Read more
Yes, Qin Ruisi, or 秦蕊丝 is a good female name. However, if you want a great Chinese female name that sounds natural to ears of native speakers of Chinese, then I will suggest you use another given name 诗. So, this new name is Qin Ruishi, or 秦蕊诗 in Chinese. There are other people whose … Read more
Yes, there are two Chinese surnames which could mean heaven and lotus, respectively. The Chinese surname Qian, or 乾 in Chinese, could refer to Heaven, since this Chinese character represents a hexagram, ䷀, in the Book of Changes, or I Ching, or 易经 in Chinese. As you may know, an unbroken line symbolises Yang energy. … Read more
The thing about Chinese is that you never stop learning the language. I started learning Chinese when I was young. I would say I am just an average Joe when it comes to the Chinese language. I am able to read any Chinese news media generally which meant I would have at least a basic … Read more
It’s not hard. If you went back two years and told me this would be my opinion of the language now I’d laugh at how ridiculous that sounds. My notebook around the time I first began learning: Large, clear characters, spaced out. English words describing meanings are littered here and there. My notebook a few … Read more
This question is either supremely ignorant or downright malicious. Okay, everybody likes to make themselves feel superior by sneering at China, yes, yes, you are amazing, now do you feel less miserable? Oh, Chinese has many words with double meanings. I wonder if there are any languages on earth that do not have words with … Read more
Well, in my humble opinion, I would suggest Gui Jingmiao, or 桂京淼 in Chinese. The surname 桂, in a metaphorical way, could refer to the Moon, since it’s said in an ancient Chinese legend that there is a cinnamon tree on the Moon. And cinnamon is written as 肉桂 in Chinese. There are other people … Read more
The Foreign Service Institute of the US Department of State expects you will reach “General Professional Proficiency” in Chinese (either Mandarin or Cantonese) in 88 weeks, or 2200 class-hours. Both are classified as Category IV languages, along with Arabic, Korean, and Japanese. Category III languages (Thai, Ukrainian, Icelandic, etc.) are expected to take 1100 hours … Read more
One positive is that modern Chinese people can read and understand Chinese text from practically every dynasty in history. One misconception of non-Chinese speakers is that older forms of Chinese script such as oracle bone script, seal script, clerical script, and regular script are different writing systems that evolved from one another. That’s not the … Read more