If you’ve started reading this post and are wondering what Pinyin is, start with What is Pinyin? 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 elements: an initial sound,…
Are you familiar with WeChat? WeChat is one of the biggest messaging apps in China, currently boasting over a billion users. It is similar to WhatsApp, FB Messenger, LINE, etc., but with mainly Chinese users, so you can make a lot of Chinese friends if you have WeChat. When you make a new Chinese friend…
In the English language, and other Romance languages (Spanish, French, Italian, etc…) the phonetic and writing systems are tied together. Each letter in a word represents one of its sounds. It is often difficult for speakers and readers of English to learn to read Chinese because Chinese writing is a pictographic system. Chinese uses Han…
Update added by Du Chinese in May 2020: How do you say “please” in Chinese? When using it in a sentence you would use 请qǐng. When you want to say please in the sense of “please, I beg you” you could do it by saying 拜bài托tuō. In many cases where you would say please in…
Writing a story in Chinese is a great way to practice your communication skills. Storytelling dates back to cave drawings. People have always wanted to share their stories with others. There were oral histories that were passed down through generations, often through song. Eventually written language developed, of which Chinese is one of the oldest….
How do Chinese parents choose a name for their child? Traditionally, Chinese names consist of two, three of even four characters. Three is most common. The first character (or first two) is your family name or surname. The next character could be decided by your generation in the family. There would be a family pattern…
The 12 animals of the Zodiac are represented by Chinese zodiac characters. These characters represent the Chinese zodiac animals. Below, we’ll explain each animal and its character. We’ll also show you a popular and often slightly unusual idiom for each zodiac animal. Chinese Zodiac Characters The Chinese Zodiac are referred to as 生肖 (shēng xiào)….
Learn to count using Chinese numbers 1-100. Counting in Chinese is a delightfully simple task. Learning to count to 100 actually only requires you to learn 11 numbers! That’s because you only need to know the number 1-10 and the word for “hundred.” Actually after you learn those 11 words, you can count to 999…
Reading Chinese at a beginner level can take patience and effort, but with the right practice readings you can quickly improve your reading skills. You probably know how to read more Chinese than you realize. There is something powerful about reading sentences and stories in Chinese that helps you jumpstart your language learning. Try reading…
Culturally, Chinese people are not known to express love as often using words as in Western cultures. Even so, there are a number of ways to communicate how you feel in Chinese and they can be totally appropriate to use – especially if you are speaking to a boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse. Instead of just teaching…
