What’s the importance of writing Chinese characters in the right order?
I thought the order of the strokes of Chinese characters were easy- A horizontal stroke before a vertical one; A left-falling one before a right-falling …
Can I use 黛安雅 as a chosen Chinese name or does it not make any sense?
Well, since your name is Diana Costa Paiva, I recommend you choose Bai Yana, or 白雅娜 in Chinese, as your Chinese name. 白 is a …
Why did the Chinese never adopt word spacing?
People who ask this question don’t seem to know that word spacing is quite a recent invention, and very few ancient scripts had spacing. Some …
What does “wo qu” mean in Chinese?
As a native speaker, I wouldn’t misuse this phrase, but explaining it clearly is not straightforward. “我去” (wǒ qù) is a phrase favored by people …
How does it feel like to live in China when you barely speak Chinese?
When I first came to China I was 17 years old and ready to embark on the journey of college life. In the beginning, it …
Mandarin Chinese (language): How are 帅哥 (shuaige) and 美女 (meinü) used in mainland China today?
I think the word “帅哥” (Handsome guy) and “美女” (pretty girl) are similar to American people using “honey” and “sweetie” to address strangers. They’re socially …
How did you successfully learn Chinese being a non-Chinese speaker?
Yesterday I was waiting for the elevator in the office building with my manager and a few other managers. My manager was excitedly telling me …
Why was the pinyin form of the Chinese language adopted in 1979 replacing the Wade-Giles system?
China adopted the Pinyin system in 1958 as the system for representation of pronunciation tone for Putonghua, which is Mandarin. Prior to this, Mandarin pronunciation …
Why is the Chinese language gaining global appeal?
Yes, you are right. I live in Johannesburg and can see more and more people around me learn Chinese language. They have different purposes. Some …
What are some easy-to-remember Chinese characters?
Build upon the basic elements that people already taught you. Almost everything can be understood as a combination of elements. 林 – two trees = …