Chinese Pinyin English 我不明白 Wǒ bù míngbái I don’t understand. From the title of this blog you may wonder whether this blog is about understanding the Chinese language or understanding the Chinese people. In English the word Chinese could refer to either. It is unclear. 不清楚 (Bù qīng chǔ). Actually, to really understand the people…
Considering getting a Chinese tattoo? 小心 – xiǎo xīn – Be careful Written Chinese can be quite beautiful. In fact, Chinese calligraphy is one of the four great arts that were required anciently of accomplished Chinese scholar-gentlemen. Usually spoken of together they are: 琴棋書畫 – qín qí shū huà Chinese Pinyin Meaning 琴 qín qín…
One of the hardest things for non-native Chinese speakers is learning to read, not only because of the need to memorize characters, but because of the differences between spoken and written Chinese. There are only two written forms, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Both are character-based writing. While there is a whole lot we could…
學習閱讀中文並不難 Xué xí yuè dú zhōng wén bìng bù nán Learning to read Chinese is not difficult. I know this statement will strike some as outrageous, but I stand by it. It really is not difficult. (Which is not to say that it is easy). Admittedly, at first glance Chinese writing can be very intimidating….
When you’re learning a new language, one of the first things that you need to learn to do is to ask questions. Asking questions in about anything is one of the best ways to learn, and if you’re learning something new you are definitely going to have a lot of questions! In Chinese there are…
The following is a guest post from eChineselearning Quintessential Customs of Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 (chóng yáng jié) The date of “重阳节 (chóng yáng jié)” is September 9th of the Lunar Calendar, and in English which it is called the Double Ninth Festival. As shown in previous articles, Tomb-sweeping day, New Year’s Eve, Zhongyuan Festival…
As Chinese is a national language in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Macau, you’ll have a much easier time in your travels around Asia if you first learn Chinese. The official Chinese dialect of China and the other listed countries is Mandarin, also called “Putonghua”. More than 70% of the Chinese population speaks Mandarin,…
So you’ve been learning Chinese for awhile, and practicing your reading skills, but you need to improve your Chinese speaking skills. Many people think that improving their Chinese skills is a hopeless task because it takes so much hard work. We all know that the best way to learn and improve in your Chinese language…
If you’re just getting started with Pinyin, start with our first three posts, What is Pinyin?, Pinyin Initial Sounds, and Pinyin Final Sounds. As mentioned previously, Pinyin uses Roman letters to transcribe Chinese sounds. In Chinese, each character corresponds to one syllable (which can be one word, or part of a word). Chinese syllables consist…
If you’re just getting started with Pinyin, start with our first two posts, What is Pinyin? and Pinyin Initial Sounds RECAP: As mentioned previously, Pinyin uses Roman letters to transcribe Chinese sounds. In Chinese, each character corresponds to one syllable (which can be one word, or part of a word). Chinese syllables consist of three…
