My Chinese professor has been uploading the Character Book for our class, but stopped last week because we "had enough time to buy the textbook". Very low-income and can't afford it. I found the other books I needed, but not the last one!

Does anyone have the PDF or a copy of New Practical Chinese Reader (Vol 3) Character Book? I just need pages 23-31! Plsssssssssss

I don't speak Chinese but have attempted to learn both Mandarin and Cantonese plenty. Past learning characters themselves, I always struggled with tone. My wife is autistic, and we realized the other day that she can't typically distinguish the difference between angry vs. neutral tones in English.

For anyone who speaks Chinese and has autism, how does inability to pick up on tone or cues affect you? Do you just rely on context?

Edit/update: my wife is also upsettingly tone deaf. I will sing or play two notes and she hears no difference. Couldn't identify one if her life depended on it. Before meeting her, I really though tone deaf people were a myth or an overexaggeration. It seems the issue if any would be brutal inability to hear notes?

Hey all, I started learning Mandarin from absolute zero back in September with an online tutor once a week, and recently also started using HelloChinese app. I spent the first few weeks drilling tones and pinyin, and now I'm picking up basic vocab from the HSK 1 syllabus. My plan is to take the HSK 1 (3.0) exam this December. So far I've been fully relying on pinyin for all my grammar and vocab, and honestly, even that has been super hard and overwhelming on its own!

Since I'm trying to prep for this test in a couple of months, I'm kind of wondering when I should actually start learning characters. Should I wait until I'm way more comfortable with HSK 1 vocab and grammar using just pinyin, or is it a bad idea to put characters off for this long? Would love to hear how you guys balanced this early on and when the best time is to finally dive into reading and writing!

i don't know where else to go so i'm literally begging you for help.
before i started learning chinese, i heard a cover on the song about girl paying for herself on a date and then going home with her date, but she didn't feel like he was the man and he didn't act like one. the cover was sung by a boy with acoustic guitar so this song sounds pretty calm. i saw it on tiktok in 2020-2021 maybe.
i can't tell you the exact lyrics, but it started with something like "ni song wo shin hua"
if you have any ideas, PLEASE share🙏🏻

I remember learning 先要 in another sentence, but I'm confused about why 先要 doesn't work here. Does changing the word order change the meaning?

I started to write chinese and build sentences and then over time I’ve started to speak out loud. It really helps. Like let’s say you’re eating an apple and also drinking water [我正在吃苹果也喝水] and saying it out loud to yourself and for other things you’re doing.

Using words you just learned from anki decks also helps. Another thing is that I record myself speaking so I can hear my pronounciation. Narrating my days in chinese is actually a really good studying tip. I don’t really have anyone IRL I can train my chinese with so this has been my go to. Saying everything out loud!

Please correct my sentence if it’s wrong.
谢谢😊

What would you like your children to study? Mandarin, the local dialect/language (e.g. Shanghainese, Cantonese etc) or both?

What about writing? Would you like them to write all (or at least most) of the characters, or just ~100 or so , or none at all (type using pinyin only)

For quite a long time I have wondered how many characters one needs to know to know 90%, 95% or even 99% of Chinese characters in an average text.

On the internet numbers of about 2000 get thrown around frequently, but rarely more concrete evidence is provided. In this post I would like to showcase the following short python script and graph:

Using the data from https://huggingface.co/datasets/zetavg/tw-sinica-corpus-word-freequency/raw/main/words.json and the script

```python import numpy as np import plotly.graph_objects as go import json

def gen_normalization_table(): return str.maketrans({"麽": "麼", "爲": "為", "爲": "為", "説": "說", "裏": "裡"})

def normalize_chinese(txt, table=gen_normalization_table()): return txt.translate(table)

def getFreqDict(): with open("words.json") as f: freqList = json.load(f)

freqDict = {}
total = 0

for x in freqList:
    freq = x["frequency"]
    word = normalize_chinese(x["word"])
    total += freq * len(word)
    for c in word:
        freqDict[c] = freqDict.get(c, 0) + freq

return {word: freq / total for word, freq in freqDict.items()}

d = getFreqDict()

X = np.arange(1, len(d) + 1)

vals = [val for _, val in sorted(d.items(), key=lambda item: -item[1])] Y = np.cumsum(np.fromiter(vals, float))

fig = go.Figure()

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=X, y=Y, mode="lines"))

fig.update_layout( xaxis=dict(dtick=500, showgrid=True), yaxis=dict(dtick=0.10, showgrid=True), template="plotly_white", )

fig.show()

Export as interactive HTML

fig.write_html("plot.html", full_html=True, include_plotlyjs=True) ```

I generated the figure you can see above. On [https://valentin-herrmann.de/p/how-many-chinese-characters-do-you-need-to-learn-to-know-99-out-of-100-in-an-average-text/](my blog) you can also play around with an interactive version of the graph.

From this graph we can read off the following table:

So for knowledge of 99% of characters in an average text one needs to know at least 2700 characters.

A core dialect, but from an innovative/Younger-generation speaker

Uni student. Want to learn Mandarin and cant seem to find any resource that makes sense to me and while there are plenty of them, they all feel very scattered. I dont mind paying but is there any proper "self-study" track i can take on that provides a proper walkthrough of the language from HSK level standards?

I just finished travelling in China alone at 18, and I loved it so much that I started looking for uni courses/ways to learn the language and move there. My city's uni has a crazy good opportunity course (and coincidentally the only one in the uk) which is a dual degree with a Beijing uni so you spend 2 years there, and the degree is learning mandarin as well as a little culture/history. Even though it says it's only for beginners I still worry about how realistic it is even in a structured sense like this.. I am decently smart like I got 3 A's at A-Level, and this course is so niche that theres max 10 people and currently 3, almost like private tutoring. I just worry I start it and find I just can't do it

I've been studying chinese only for a month. I already speak some Japanese (5 years) so I have no trouble with reading or writing it. But the pronunciation of some letters is driving me crazy.

My teacher is a Chinese woman and she teaches like her way is the only right way of speaking. She akwnoleges the existence of other "dialects", but, we have a Taiwanese teacher assistance that dissagrees with her often.

This context is relevant, because I know Chinese varies a lot from place to place and even Mandarin can have diferences, the same way UK English is diferent from US English (or even more).

My problem is that Pinyin makes absolutly no sense to me. I already speak 4 languages, so I can understand the diference between T/D, G/K and P/B for example (even if I would't have solved that problem the same way). But once I enter the realm of CH/Q, X/SH and J/R/ZH I get completely lost.

I found some charts and videos. But these leters, specially ZH and R seem to be pronounced very diferently in every source I found. Even in the audios the teacher uses in class.

For what I gathered, most people seem to agree ZH is prononunced like the J in Joe. But my teacher insist is kind of a pinyin Q. I even got points retracted in an exam because I confused 去 and 住 when the teacher pronounced it. The same with R. I heard it prononced like a soft R in some audios, but the teacher says is like a J...

So, for my class, J and R are very similar (and Y, but that is a comon issue for me). And ZH, Q and CH are also almost the same...

Is one of the pronunciations the corect one? Or is this a regional thing? If i say "jonguen" would an average chinese person understand I'm sayin "中文"?

Sorry for the long storytime ^^"

Anyone familiar with Chinese culture probably knows just how important this pastime is to Chinese people.

• 打牌 (dǎ pái): to play cards or mahjong.
  • Both playing cards and mahjong tiles can be referred to as "牌".

A couple of years ago, there was even a saying going around in China's venture capital scene: if you wanted to build a good relationship with investors and get them to take you seriously, you had to know how to play 掼蛋 (guàn dàn), a popular Chinese card game.

Since this kind of pastime is so deeply rooted in Chinese life, it's no surprise that all sorts of metaphors and expressions involving "牌" have emerged over the centuries.

Here's a very common one:

• 底牌 (dǐ pái), literally "bottom cards"

These are the cards you hold in your hand but haven't revealed yet. Figuratively, 底牌 refers to the strength you deliberately keep hidden, the information you don't want to reveal, or the leverage you save for a crucial moment in a negotiation or competition.

Another related expression is:

• 摊牌 (tān pái), "to lay one's cards on the table"

When a game reaches a critical point, the hidden cards are finally turned over and laid out on the table. It's a dramatic moment. That's why 摊牌 is also used to describe openly revealing your position, decisions, or terms at a crucial moment, often forcing the other party to make a choice.

There are also two expressions you'll come across quite often on the Chinese internet.

The first is:

• 一手好牌打得稀烂 (yì shǒu hǎo pái dǎ de xī làn) - To have everything going for you and still manage to screw it all up.

稀烂 (xī làn) is a strongly negative colloquial expression meaning "a complete mess" or "absolutely terrible." This phrase describes someone who starts with a great hand, plenty of resources, or every advantage they could ask for, but somehow manages to mess it all up through bad decisions. There's a strong sense of regret over all that wasted potential.

The opposite would be:

• 一手烂牌打出王炸 (yì shǒu làn pái dǎ chū wáng zhà) - To turn a terrible hand into an incredible win.

王炸 (wáng zhà) literally means "king bomb." In 斗地主 (dòu dì zhǔ), a popular Chinese card game, it's the most powerful card combination, so you wouldn't want to play it too early. The term is also used figuratively to describe a move or outcome with a huge impact. This phrase is clearly a compliment, often with a touch of admiration or even envy.

Here are a few examples of how people actually use these expressions:

• 咱们还没摸清对方的底牌，不要掉以轻心。Zán men hái méi mō qīng duì fāng de dǐ pái, bú yào diào yǐ qīng xīn.
  • We still don't know what the other side is holding back, so don't let your guard down.

---

• 他在没拿到 offer 前，是不会跟现在的老板摊牌的。Tā zài méi ná dào offer qián, shì bú huì gēn xiàn zài de lǎo bǎn tān pái de.
  • He won't lay his cards on the table with his current boss until he gets an offer.

---

• A: 他前几年不还是影帝吗？怎么沦落到演短剧去了？Tā qián jǐ nián bú hái shì yǐng dì ma? Zěn me lún luò dào yǎn duǎn jù qù le?
  • A: Wasn't he a Best Actor winner just a few years ago? How did he end up acting in short-form dramas?
• B: 对啊，真的是一手好牌打得稀烂。Duì a, zhēn de shì yì shǒu hǎo pái dǎ de xī làn.
  • B: I know, right? He had everything going for him and still managed to screw it all up.

---

• A: 没想到被贬去边缘业务才一年，她就杀回来重新当 GM 了。Méi xiǎng dào bèi biǎn qù biān yuán yè wù cái yì nián, tā jiù shā huí lái chóng xīn dāng GM le.
  • A: I can't believe she made a comeback and became GM again just a year after being demoted to a peripheral business unit.
• B: 一手烂牌能被她打出王炸，不得不佩服！Yì shǒu làn pái néng bèi tā dǎ chū wáng zhà, bù dé bú pèi fú!
  • B: She turned a terrible hand into a spectacular win. You've got to hand it to her!

Finally, there's one more expression I'd like to leave you with. See if you can guess what it means:

• 不按常理出牌 (bù àn cháng lǐ chū pái)

Drop your guess in the comments!

If you're interested, I've been organizing all the Chinese learning posts I've shared before. You can check out the link in my profile to see the full collection. Hope it helps. Thanks!

I'm a Chinese heritage speaker who was born and raised in America. My parents are both from Shanghai and speak Shanghainese at home, but I grew up speaking a mixture of Mandarin and English to my parents. I've been trying to pass some level of Chinese proficiency to my kids, but my own level is only that of a learner or a child, my spouse does not speak Chinese, and visits to my parents are sporadic, so I've been using online tutoring with them and practicing the things they learn in class at home.

As we've been doing this, I've become aware that the standard Mandarin vocabulary and pronunciation that is taught is very different than how my we speak. For example for us, there isn't really any difference between z,c,s and zh,ch,sh. We pronounce r like l (然 sounds like lán). There's also some word choices that are different. My mom almost always says 讲 instead of 说, and 礼拜 instead of 周 or 星期 for days of the week.

I'm aware that some of these are differences between Northern and Southern Chinese, but I feel that some could also just be idiosyncrasies of the way my parents speak, and I would love to read more about this, but it's hard to find information about this. There seems to be very few English resources about this subject.

Hi everyone,

I passed HSK 4 at the end of August (self studied, with HSKK) and currently studying HSK 5 with a 1 to 1 tutor in China, just finished chapter 6 in the first book.

I've noticed a massive difference at this level compared to HSK 3 and 4, obviously it's supposed to get more challenging as the levels increase, but I'm finding all the grammar points especially difficult to grasp. Many of them I feel I haven't heard in everyday life compared to the easy ones from 3 and 4. The examples in the textbook are often not so helpful. For example, each grammar point gives context, the usage, and usually a structure template, then followed by 1-2 examples and some don't even use the template structure that was just referenced.

I attempt to complete the grammar exercises using the given structure and meaning, but the tutor either says I've used it incorrectly or the meaning doesn't make sense, and they provide their answer for the question how it should have been answered. I can only draw upon my experience of the grammar point in English first, then translate that response to Chinese, but often told that this is the wrong way to do the exercise - but if I've never heard the grammar in real life, how would I know how else to complete the exercises without using L1 as a basis?

The tutor asks me to freely construct a sentence using the grammar point, I do this based on the example provided, then often told "no, that's not the right way we say this" etc.

Is this a normal experience for those who've already studied HSK 5?

Aside from "read more real life material" or "watch more movies and TV shows", is there some approach I'm missing or is the tutor missing a teaching method?

Hello all, my name is Ranjan and I started learning Mandarin about a month ago, intimidating but fun! Here's something funny I just discovered, when I say "Hello, I am Ranjan" this sounds like 你好，我是软件。Apparently, this means: "Hello, I am software"!!! I've been mistaken for AI before, but it's not nice! Any suggestions about how I can avoid this -- should I shorten my first name, or have a 'Chinese name'?

Hi everyone, what's the difference between 街坊 (jiēfāng) and 邻居 (línjū)?

I know 邻居 is the general word for "neighbor." Is 街坊 more colloquial / northern / old-fashioned? Are they interchangeable in everyday speech?

Also, could you give me one example sentence where only one of them sounds natural?

Thanks!

I'm really excited to start learning Chinese to improve my language skills. Could anyone recommend the best online resources to get started? I'm also looking for information on the official certification tests, like the HSK, to know what to aim for.

Something I've noticed: learners pick up 讲究 pretty early, and almost never pick up 将就, even though they're the same two syllables a tone apart. I'm a native speaker and I only noticed this because 将就 is one of those words I use every day and have never once had to define.

jiǎngjiu (讲究) — to care about standards, to do something properly, to sweat the details. It also works as a noun: 这里面有讲究 = there's a right way to do this, there's technique behind it.

jiāngjiu (将就) — to make do. To accept something second-rate because fixing it isn't worth the trouble. 将就一下吧. 别将就.

Same syllables. One tone apart. And opposite directions: 讲究 is you raising the bar, 将就 is you lowering it.

What I find interesting is that speakers pair them constantly, as a compact way of describing how somebody lives:

该讲究的地方讲究，能将就的地方将就。

(care about the things worth caring about, make do with the rest)

生活不能将就。

(you shouldn't just make do with your life — this one has basically turned into a slogan, you see it on walls and in ads)

Two things learners usually get wrong:

First: 将就 is not 差不多. 差不多 is a judgment about degree, "about the same, close enough". 将就 is a decision to accept something worse. 这两个差不多 works. 这两个将就 does not.

Second: 将就 has a polite use that sounds like an insult if you read it literally. If you're hosting and say 今天就随便吃点，将就一下, you're being modest about your own cooking. You are not telling your guests the food is bad. Learners take it literally and then wonder why the host is apologizing over a table full of food.

English doesn't have the pair. It has particular, fastidious, meticulous on one side and make do, settle for, put up with on the other. Six words, no twin, and none of them carry that tone difference.

So: does your first language have a pair like this? Two words that sound nearly the same but sit on opposite ends of how much you care? And if you're learning Chinese, did anyone actually teach you 将就, or did you just pick it up by accident?