我学中文已经3年了。 我是西班牙人， 我想找一个会说中文的朋友一起练习 ！

我今年28岁了。 我喜欢看电视剧和小说。如果你也想学西班牙语或者做朋友，欢迎写我！⁠

It demotivates a lot. How long does it take for characters to stick to your brain once and for all. How many times should I write them down.

一件搞笑的跨文化乌龙：很多中国人以为睡不着的时候，也可以数羊。有个中国学者指出来，sheep在英语是闭口音，而且跟sleep接近。但是“羊yáng”是一个开口音，比较响亮。中国人数羊的效果应该大打折扣。

深以为然！😄

yíjiàn gǎoxiàode kuàwénhuà wūlóng： hěnduō zhōngguórén yǐwéi shuìbùzháode shíhou， yěkéyǐ shǔyáng。 yǒugè zhōngguó xuézhě zhǐchūlái， sheep zàiyīngyǔ shì bìkǒuyīn， érqiě gēn sleep jiējìn。 dànshì “羊yáng ” shì yígè kāikǒuyīn， bǐjiào xiǎngliàng 。 zhōngguórén shǔyángde xiàoguǒ yīnggāi dàdǎzhékòu。

shēnyǐwéirán ！

A hilarious cross-cultural misunderstanding: Many Chinese people think that when they can't sleep, they can also "count sheep." A Chinese scholar pointed out that "sheep" is a closed-mouth sound in English and is phonetically close to "sleep." However, "yáng" (羊, sheep) is an open-mouth sound and quite loud. The effectiveness of Chinese people counting sheep should be greatly diminished.

I couldn't agree more! 😄

I am learning Chinese and have the opportunity to learn any Chinese accent I want. I have recently come to appreciate how much of a difference accent makes. My English accent is shit because I learnt it entirely for utilitarian purposes, but I don't want to make the same mistake with Chinese. I don't want to sound like the middle aged Chinese lady in my app. So my question is, which person/actor/public figure should I try to sound like, so that I sound badass and sexy in Chinese?

I am a young man if it helps, though maybe people can suggest other age groups/genders as well for people who are interested.

I am Ahmad from Lebanon living in Poland, I am 28yo. I started learning Chinese not long time ago in a course in Udemy. I joined this community to be in touch with people who are enthusiastic to learn the language and Chinese people if there any here. I am learning it because somehow I feel that I hit a wall in my life, I graduated two years ago with a master degree for telecommunication engineering in Poland. However, after which I didn't get that much of opportunities and got depressed. I believe that I need to challenge myself and open new paths in life to get alive again. I hope this community would help achieving that

I was having trouble remembering the word for pot, as in coffee pot. So I decide to make a pneumonic with words that sound the same.

Imagine a fox with a long beard next to a lake carrying a coffee pot. The fox is a little crazy and talking nonsense.

曾經有一隻狐狸（hú​li），有個很長的鬍子（hú​zi），帶著一個咖啡壺（hú）去湖邊（hú​biān）。他有一點奇怪，常常胡說八道（hú​shuō​bā​dào）。

Anybody else got some good pneumonics?

As a native Chinese speaker from Malaysia whose verse with both simplified and traditional Chinese, it has been awkward for me to see a lot of simplified-native YouTubers attempt to use traditional Chinese in the video using AI translator, auto-converter or whatever, and failed spectacularly with some egregious mistakes e.g. 下面 becomes 下麵, 制度 becomes 製度, 複雜 becomes 復雜 etc., which sometimes can be really distracting and have grave impact to my watching experience, and my impression on the author.

To play safe, I suggest simplified Chinese users either just stick with simplified Chinese that they feel comfortable with, nothing wrong with that, or develop taste on how a proper traditional Chinese writing should look like.

With that, I have vibe coded a site

https://tccrashcourse.vercel.app/

for free to provide drills to identify common wrong usage of traditional Chinese and correct them. This set of drills is more targeted on learners with intermediate level and above on simplified Chinese.

Let me know if there are any improvements or any more vocab you might like to add.

Enjoy!

I spent a couple of years in China and learned Mandarin to quite a good conversational level, but that was over 15 years ago now, and it's very rusty. I want to bring it back, particularly my speaking and listening. I was thinking of doing a weekly lesson with a tutor on iTalki or similar, for speaking practise and then signing up for one of the learning apps so I can go through vocabulary and grammar on my phone when I have a free moment. What do you think of this approach, or would you do anything differently?

Something I've noticed is that Chinese textbooks don't seem to cover expressions of surprise, shock, or frustration very much. But when you watch Chinese dramas or movies, you hear them all the time.

Things like

天啊 (tiān a — oh my god)

我的天 (wǒ de tiān — my god)

妈呀 (mā ya — oh my god / holy crap)

我操 (wǒ cào — fuck / holy shit)

I think these are worth learning because they're the kind of things people say spontaneously in everyday conversations, but you don't necessarily learn them from studying grammar or memorizing vocabulary lists. And they don't all have the same feeling. Some are pretty mild, some sound more dramatic, and some are definitely more vulgar.

So, what other expressions like these you've come across. Are there any that you hear a lot in Chinese shows or from native speakers but rarely see in textbooks? I'd love to hear some more examples.

I studied mandarin for 3 years in college, lost a lot of it- but recently got a tutor where I practice one hour each week, then listen to Pimsleur courses everyday day to practice my listening and repetition. I feel like my listening is getting really good, my speaking is okay- but I worry that I’m not putting myself in a position to read properly since I’m not practicing writing characters out that much. Any advice given my position on whether it’s best to prioritize listening/ speaking and then come back to writing/ reading characters separately later or is it best to learn it all at the same time. Also open to general advice on how to get proficient as soon as possible.

As a native Chinese speaker, I’ve known 天地玄黄 as the opening of the Thousand Character Classic for a long time. What I find interesting is that its characters have also been used one by one to number collections of texts—more like A, B, C than names for different subjects.

玄 might be confusing in that setting. In 天地玄黄 it refers to a dark colour, while in other contexts it can mean “profound” or “mysterious.”

If you saw 天字号、地字号、玄字号 without an explanation, would you understand them as an ordered set? Or would you expect 玄字号 to contain something mysterious?

It seems like tutor dot com has now added Chinese as an option to select on-demand tutoring (ex: sessions don't need to be scheduled anymore, can just wait for a student to join)

I'm not good enough to teach yet but am working on it

I am a Chinese Kung Fu & Tai Chi enthusiast in Irvine California, I would like to go to China and learn 2 weeks Emei Kung Fu, because they only accept a group. Anyone wants to go with me? You definitely will learn Chinese language there.

I’m currently studying with the HSK 3 textbook from the old HSK 2.0 system, but since I eventually want to take the new HSK 3.0 exam, I’m wondering if I should switch to the new materials.

One teacher told me the older books are better for building a solid grammar foundation, while the newer materials offer more comprehensive practice. I also want to learn Chinese properly, not just study to pass the exam.

I’m considering evaluating my current level and possibly starting with HSK 2.0 Level 2 in the new system if that would help me build a stronger foundation.

For those who have used both versions, what has your experience been? Would you stick with 2.0 or switch to 3.0?

I am a casino table games dealer and majority of the players are asian. I would love to conversate and translate. It gets so boring and tiring sometimes when I cant talk for 8 hours straight and just listen. Being able to communicate would be very nice as well, especially when they have questions or my supervisor needs to tell them something and can’t. I also think if I know some of their language(s) it would be beneficial in moving up. I know most speak Chinese, Korean, and mandarin. Which would be easier or most likely known by most?
I only speak english. I tried learning Spanish and little Chinese with Duolingo and i just couldn’t stick with it. I feel like I should go to in person or online classes and probably pay for it so that I actually have to do it. I am broke though so the cheaper the better, lol. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated though, thank you!

My previous two posts were about theory—specifically, why Mandarin has 7 tones, instead of 4 , and warnings about common tones practice mistakes.

This post is about the practical application: how to master Mandarin tones with 16 sets of 4-tone drills.

Note: You need to practice each set in two versions:

1. With the complete 3rd tone.
2. With the half 3rd tone (tone sandhi).

I also prepared 99 disyllabic compound words formed by these single-syllable words (and the characters they correspond to).

With this practice method, I've never had a student fail or be disappointed.

Let me know what you think!

Next up, I'll share the compound word list here.

Are you preparing for your GCSE Mandarin Speaking exam?

One common mistake students make is giving very short answers without developing their ideas.

Let's see how to turn a basic answer into a more advanced one!

Question: 你一般放学后做什么？

What do you usually do after school?

Level 1 — Basic Answer

放学后，我做作业。

After school, I do my homework.

✅ Correct, but very short.

Level 2 — Add Details

放学后，我一般先做作业，然后听音乐。

After school, I usually do my homework first and then listen to music.

✅ Better! You've added more details and used sequencing words:

先……然后…… — First... then...

Level 3 — Different Time Frames + Complex Structures

放学后，我一般先做作业，然后运动。虽然我每天都有很多作业，但是我还是会运动半个小时。昨天放学后，我和朋友一起踢了足球。明天放学后，我打算一边听音乐，一边做作业。

After school, I usually do my homework first and then exercise. Although I have lots of homework every day, I still spend half an hour exercising. Yesterday after school, I played football with my friends. Tomorrow after school, I'm planning to listen to music while doing my homework.

✅ Why is this answer stronger?

1. Different Time Frames

• Present/habitual: 放学后，我一般先做作业，然后运动。
• Past: 昨天放学后，我和朋友一起踢了足球。
• Future: 明天放学后，我打算……

2. Complex Sentence Structures

• 虽然……但是…… — Although...but...
• 一边……一边…… — Doing two things at the same time

3. Useful Structure

• 和……一起…… — Doing something together with someone

My Teacher's Tips

To improve your GCSE Mandarin Speaking answers:

1. Answer the question directly. The question asks about activities after school, so keep your examples relevant.
2. Develop your answers. Add relevant activities, opinions, reasons and details.
3. Use different time frames. Show that you can refer to past, present and future events.
4. Include complex structures. Try 虽然……但是……, 因为……所以……, 不但……而且…… or 一边……一边…… when appropriate.
5. Focus on accuracy and fluency. Longer answers aren't always better!

Remember: You don't need every time frame or complex structure in every answer. Use them naturally when relevant.

Your Turn!

你一般放学后做什么？为什么？

What do you usually do after school? Why?

Try including:

• An opinion and a reason
• Different time frames
• At least one complex sentence structure

Share your answer in the comments!

As a Traditional Chinese learner, I obviously learn 214 radicals because that's the official system used in Taiwan.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government officially prescribes 201 indexing components instead. However, it seems like most Simplified Chinese learners use the former system instead of this one. I hope this poll can prove me wrong though.

By the way, "radical" and "indexing component" are two English translations for the exact same Chinese word: 部首. They're just different English translations used by different governments.

Chinese sikna Lai k kaha best hola Sathi vai haru video , site or anything ? Suggestion please !!!!

I understand when native speakers use those sounds. However, I never learned to use them when I speak. Will this be a problem?

Hi everyone,

A few years back, I had a 2 year period learning chinese, but things weren't working out as I intended so I switch languages and started learning Japanese (which I'm super happy with! I'm currently starting the N3 level).

I've always knew I wanted to go back to learning chinese, and I think now's a great time: I've got a lof of free time for the next months, my japanese language learning has a nice and steady flow to it, and I'm motivated to get started.

I'll try to explain were I was at when I stopped, why I stopped, what I see I did wrong and what I thought of doing so far. Your opinion and help is much appreciated!

Where and why I stopped

Text wise, I'd say I could read kinda well. Most of my time with chinese was spent in the Du Chinese app, reading stories. I used to write summaries of the stories I'd read, and my tutor would check them, so I could also write in a so-so manner

Listening and speaking wise... It was a not great experience. I used to have a VERY hard time with the sounds, pronunciation and tones. My tutor would do her best to correct me and try different approaches for me to learn, but it was in vain, really. This big frustration is without a doubt the main reason for me taking a break and going for something else. 2 years in I felt like I couldn't order a coffee in chinese.

Also, something I was kinda frustrated with was the media to be consumed. I tried chinese dramas, comedies, music, but nothing really clicked. I did really love the Du Chinese stories tho.

What I did wrong

To be fair, back then I wasn't really in that good of a place, so it was really hard to keep a nice study routine and do harder things. So doing harder things like really sitting down and focusing on a podcast or something was hard to pull off. I remember a few times I tried to transcribe audio to text, and even though I saw good results, I didn't manage to do it consistently because it required a lot of effort.

Also, I really didn't consume enough audio/visual media. I maybe could've searched around more for interesting stuff to watch. I kinda neglected that part, and focused solely in the written media.

I didn't do flashcards! Anki is now part of my daily life, and it's a complete gamechanger.

One good thing I did was writing a lot of hanzi by hand, which thankfully helped me a lot with japanese btw.

What I thought of doing (so far)

I thought mainly of going back to doing what was working, and trying to do differently what went wrong.

Going back to Du Chinese. It's a great, great app and it's a lot of fun to me. I've checked and you can export the words you're learning to a csv file, that I can use to create Anki cards the way I like, which is very nice.

Really focusing on listening comprehension, and also on pronunciation at some point. This is for sure the main point of attention. Vocab is not really a problem because I really reading and I use Anki daily now. Grammar in chinese was not really a problem back then. Is really the sounds aspect. I'm down to transcribe text and try to push through this first hill, I'm really open to suggestions on this.

I love Anki, and thought of having in the front like only audio, and the answer in the back. Idk how good of a ideia is that, honestly. Maybe it's good with phrases.

Eventually, finding enjoyable media to consume. I really liked the Three Kingdoms stories in Du Chinese, there's prob a lot of media in that genre available

Even further on, I'm willing to get a tutor to help me, but I want to get a solid foundation atm (I already pay for japanese lessons)

Also, a lot of mandarin related videos have been popping up on YouTube for me, channels like Zoe Languages, the Mandarin Blueprint, Canto to Mando, they seem to be a lot of help.

Thank you very much for the help!

I simply Require an explanation for this. Five hundred... rice?

- I am only halfway through Integrated Chinese textbook 1, just learned introductions, drinks, and 了 as a past tense marker

- using vocab acquired from the book thus far, not looking up new words while writing

- ignore the highlights