Mandarin 9 Essential Chinese Words without Direct English Translations One of my favorite things about learning new languages is discovering words that do not translate directly into English, my native language. Each of these words feels like a revelation: a new way of expressing myself and thinking about the world. I enjoy the mental challenge of explaining these words
Mandarin The Ultimate Guide to Zhuyin (Bopomofo) And How to Learn It One of the biggest challenges of learning Chinese is that it does not have a phonetic alphabet. Unlike languages like English where each letter represents a sound, the Chinese writing system is not broken up into separate consonants and vowels. Instead, each character represents a word or concept, and therefore
Mandarin How to Learn Chengyu Through Chinese Zodiac Animals When learning Chinese, the idioms known as "chengyu" can be difficult to learn, memorize, and use correctly. There are hundreds and thousands of them! One of the best ways to master chengyu is to associate them with memorable things, such as the iconic animals of the Chinese zodiac.
Mandarin How to Improve Your Handwriting for Chinese Characters As a Mandarin learner, handwriting Chinese characters can be intimidating. Modern technology makes it easy to avoid manually writing out words, but penmanship remains a skill that is important to your learning. Script may not be necessarily useful to your day-to-day, but it helps you develop an understanding of Chinese
Mandarin How to Say Jia You, Lao Wai, and 4 Other Strange Chinese Translations When it comes to Chinese, strange translations are not unique. But behind those funny translations lies a language which fundamentally works differently. Each character comes imbued with meaning, and that means that longer ‘words’ which combine characters, can actually be seen in different ways.
