Does Mandarin pronounce its ‘R’s the same as English?
They are very similar and sometimes overlap. The most common pronunciation of English /r/ is as a labialized postalveolar approximant, [ɹ̠ʷ]. Some North American, Irish, …
What does “对牛弹琴” mean?
Dui Niu Tan Qin (对牛弹琴) is a well-known Chinese idiom/Chengyu. The idiom is very easy to understand, provided you know the corresponding 4 simple Chinese …
Is Chinese arguably the toughest language in the world for a westerner to master?
Is Chinese arguably the toughest language in the world for a westerner to master? To speak, read & write in it as good as a …
Why is “Nintendo” in Chinese called “任天堂“ (Ren tian tang) and not “宁天多” (Ning tian duo)?
In Chinese language, if Japanese have original name or brand written in kanji/Chinese characters, usually Chinese no need to change their name based on Chinese …
Is it difficult for a native Malay speaker to learn Mandarin Chinese?
1 in 5 Chinese school kids in Malaysia aren’t even Chinese Non-Chinese students comprised 18% of Chinese-language primary schools in 2016, according to Malaysia Education …
Why are Chinese characters the only extant example of a logographic writing system?
While there have been notably successful logographic writing systems, there are specific reasons why the non-phonetic Chinese characters have survived while overall the “phonetic revolution” …
What’s the difference between a modern day Chinese name and an ancient Chinese name?
The wife of the Guangwu Emperor (5 bce – 57 ce) of the Eastern Han was named 陰麗華 Yin Lihua (family name Yin, Lihua, beautiful …
How come China did not evolve to use phonetic writing systems like most other languages?
Mistaken* premise. Chinese writing *IS* phonetic (mostly), but on a syllabic level: each character simultaneously stands for an entire syllable and a complete morpheme (minimal unit of …
“She has gone to New York many times.” Is this a correct sentence?
Correct in grammar but not in phraseology. The more authentic English phraseology is:— She has been to New York many times. — (For having visited there) She has gone to …
“She is too cute”, is this sentence correct?
Most of us use these kinds of sentences “It’s too hot”, “ It’s too rough”, “It’s too high”. We don’t realize that the proper grammatical …