Do you use emojis/emoticons when you message your friends? What emojis do you like to use the most? Emoji/emoticon in Chinese is 表情符号 [biǎo qíng fú hào], or just 表情 [biǎo qíng] for short. Chinese emojis are a little different than the emojis in the west. You can ask your Chinese friends like this: In…
Can you check into a hotel using only Chinese? In this lesson, we will learn some words and phrases which come in handy when traveling in China. Check in is called 入住 [rù zhù] in Chinese, so when you enter a hotel you can tell the 前台接待员 [qián tái jiē dài yuán](front desk receptionist) this:…
He finally did it! As you have probably heard, Leonardo DiCaprio was awarded an Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in The Revenant. Congratulations! Let’s grab this opportunity to learn how to talk about the Academy Awards in Chinese! In China, if you use the official name for the Academy Awards, 美国电影艺术与科学学院奖, a lot…
Do you want to make authentic Chinese food but have trouble reading Chinese recipes? In this lesson we learn some words and classifiers which often appear in recipes, to start our journey on becoming Chinese food experts! We will learn how to cook a simple Chinese dish called 西红柿炒鸡蛋 [xī hóng shì chǎo jī dàn]…
Do you know what the biggest online shopping site in China is? It’s not Amazon or eBay! It’s Taobao, or 淘宝网 [táo bǎo wǎng]! “淘 [táo]” here means “to pan” as in “panning for gold”, and “宝 [bǎo]” means “treasure”. So 淘宝 [táo bǎo] means “panning/searching for treasure”. It is operated by the Alibaba Group…
Are you taking the train in China and need tickets? Are you unsure how to buy train tickets in China? In this lesson, we will learn all about it. To purchase a train ticket in Mainland China, you can go to any railway station a maximum of 58 days ahead of departure. Unfortunately, in many…
Lunar New Year, also known as 春节 [chūn jié](Spring Festival), is the most important festival in China. Known in China as Chinese New Year, it is especially important because the Chinese believe that a good start will affect the entire year. Therefore, there are some things you should do during New Year’s to bring good…
Alright, we might be a bit late to the Star Wars party, but even though “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” premiered last year in the US and other countries, in China it premiered on January 9th this year. This time, we will learn how to say some classic lines from Star Wars in Chinese, and…
Our Chinese reading app Du Chinese which was previously only available for iPhone, is finally out on Android as well! You can download it from the Google Play Store. The iOS version is available from the App Store. About Du Chinese Du Chinese is a reading app which lets you quickly look up word and…
2016 is the Year of the Monkey according to the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese zodiac is not only popular in China, but also in several other East Asian countries including Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Thailand and Mongolia. Some of these countries use the lunar calendar like China, while Japan and others use the Western calendar. This…
