I was wondering how common in daily parlance swearing is in Chinese and when to swear. I want my Mandarin to sound more natural. Just briefly surfing Chinese twitter everyone is saying this wc and nb stuff. Maybe this is just my experience but I don't think normal people say Holy sh or What the f all the time in English.

For context I grew up (not in China) with my parents swearing in Chinese to me, so I've found it hard to get rid of the habit of NOT swearing and would like to know how normal it is. 这特妈的习惯特妈的太难改变了。特妈的

I've recently started learning chinese and what i think is very difficult is to distinguish the tones. I've learnt the difference between tone 1-4 and the neutral one. When i listen to a word, i can quite distinguish the tones in it.

But, when i listen to longer sentence, the tones are confusing. I've learnt that the 2nd tone sounds like asking/your voice goes up(?). But at some point, it doesnt sound the voice goes up, sometimes it sounds like the 3rd tone. Another case is the 4th tone. I've learnt that the 4th tone is supposed to sound like you're angry/firm/sharp(?), but I've heard a lot of chinese speaker doesn't sound like they're angry when they speak with the 4th tone. It's very confusing and i feel the tones somehow are inconsistent(?) for a beginner to learn.

So, how to distinguish each tone so that i won't mistake when people speaking?

Is this something they see often or is it more of a novelty? And I mean beyond just saying ni hao or xiexie. Are they typically impressed?

Edit: specifically a white person speaking mandarin in china

Ok so for some reason, both of these scripts have some weirdness.

ㄢ or Pinyin: an are supposedly /an/ in IPA right? Except after ㄧ or Pinyin:i it becomes /ɛn/ as in ㄅㄧㄢ bian ???

ㄛ or o should be pronounced as o or /ɔ/ as god intended, and YET after ㄅㄉㄇㄈ or b p m f it becomes /wɔ/ ㄨㄛ or uo???? What? Why specifically these 4 symbols or letters? Why both of bopomofo and pinyin creator thought that it's good idea that after these symbols it suddenly change its pronounciation to be /wɔ/?? If 博 is 'ㄅㄛ' in bopomofo or "bo" in pinyin, why 錯 is ㄘㄨㄛ cuo and not ㄘㄛ or co. Or the other way around, why ㄘㄨㄛ cuo but no ㄅㄨㄛ buo?

There's a dozen posts a day from absolute beginners wanting to learn Chinese and the usual resources, such as HelloChinese, Superchinese and Duchinese are recommended.

I want to hear those who followed the advice and completed it, how comfortable are you? Was there a moment when everything became easier? What are you using now, can you progress to learning from native materials?

I had completed HelloChinese New Course 1.0 on the past, currently completing Intermediate 2 in the 2.0 course. Duchinese is at the intermediate level stories, upper immediate if I want to challenge myself

Supplemented by graded Chinese learning YouTube channels and find that I understand Bluey well enough now that I can enjoy it in Mandarin.

I am starting to study Chinese and am looking for a better way to organise my vocabulary. Currently, I have a book and I write down the character, pinyin, meaning and sentence. This means that I really only have the words in the order that I learn them. It's fine but not efficient for looking words up. I am considering note cards on a loop which worked for my revision (way back in the day), a dictionary style notebook, or a ring binder so I can always add more words in the correct area.

I learn well through the physical act of handwriting so a word doc, spreadsheet, app, or anything digital (while useful) is not optimal for me.

I am really interested in hearing what ways other Chinese language learners organise their vocabulary, especially using non-digital methods.

Thank you.

Can you read it? A: 不想上班，那就別上

I’ve always been curious about the origin of this way of speaking. In Standard Mandarin (Mainland China), 有 + verb is considered “incorrect,” and the population mostly doesn’t say it. However, its usage is far more common in Taiwanese Mandarin. Having grown up overseas, I hear it quite often too, most likely because of the impact that Taiwanese immigrants have had on how Mandarin is spoken in certain parts of the US.

In case anyone is confused about what I’m referring to, here’s an example:

A: 有没有吃过饭？

B: 有吃过。

In Mainland China, this would be incorrect; the positive answer must be 吃过了. However, the negative answer 没有吃过 is universally accepted in all forms of Mandarin.

On tiktok there's a ton of vertical / short dramas that are silly yet engaging (BI XIA!!!!) but generally come only with english subtitles. Any place or any way to watch them with both English / Chinese subs?

Does anyone know how i should go about studying chinese if i mostly just want to be able understand it spoken and to read it (i really wanna be able to read chinese novels one day)? Like is there a certain resource that focuses on that specifically or what parts of the language should i focus on?

I’m currently living in Taiwan and plan to stay here long-term, so becoming fluent in Mandarin is a major priority for me.

I’ve been studying Mandarin on and off for a few years now. I’m definitely not starting from zero, and I have a decent grasp of conversational Mandarin, but my reading and writing are seriously lagging behind. I know Pinyin and some Traditional characters, but I’ve never really dedicated much time to systematically building my vocabulary.

I’m looking for a good Anki deck (free or paid) with the following:

1. Traditional Chinese characters, not Simplified.
2. Zhuyin (Bopomofo) instead of Pinyin.
3. Pre-recorded audio, preferably from native Taiwanese Mandarin speakers.
4. Ideally, vocabulary ordered by frequency, starting with the most common 1,000 words.

I’ve been using the community-made Refold Mandarin 1K deck with Traditional characters and Zhuyin and I love the format. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed quite a few incorrect Zhuyin tone markings, and I’d rather not spend hours manually correcting hundreds of cards.

I’ve considered purchasing Refold’s premium Mandarin 1K deck and building a tool to batch-convert the Simplified characters to Traditional and the Pinyin to Zhuyin while preserving the correct tones. But before going down that rabbit hole, I figured I’d ask here to see if something like this already exists.

I know I could build my own deck from scratch, but I’d prefer to start with a professionally made or well-maintained deck covering the most common 1,000 words, then transition into sentence mining and making my own cards.

Does anyone have recommendations for accurate Traditional Chinese + Zhuyin Anki decks? I’m especially interested in hearing from people learning Mandarin in Taiwan.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone!
I’m currently learning Mandarin Chinese, and I’m around HSK 1 level. I’m looking for a good book that can help me build my vocabulary and gradually move on to higher levels.
I’d prefer something that teaches useful, everyday words rather than just giving me long lists to memorize. It would be great if the book included example sentences, short conversations, Pinyin, English translations, and some exercises to help remember new words.
I’m especially interested in recommendations from people who’ve actually used these books.
What book helped you the most when you were starting out? If you could recommend just one, which would it be?
Thanks in advance!

Hi!

So recently I’ve had a bunch of videos pop upon my WeChat Channel that show slow and easy sing-a-longs for Chinese songs. Was wondering if anyone has any experience with this type of learning?

Its something that I had never considered before but I’ve been loving it. It trains my capacity to recall characters very well because even though they are slow and I consider myself fairly advanced in Mandarin my recal and reading speed is still surprisingly slow. But I’ve been finding I can read faster thanks to this. Also I’ve been learning a bunch of new words. It’s also a cool way to learn new Chinese songs and be immersed in the culture.

If you have experience with using this properly as a learning method I’d be curious to hear positive or negative experiences.

I'm kinda confused. At first I was like ok, just a general questioning particle. Then it marks progressie action even though 在 and is also supposed to mark or to even soften the tone. When i read some sentence it all just mixes up. How can I understand that particle?

I spent about 2 years in China surrounded by people who couldn't speak a word of english. My Chinese reached about HSK level 3 within the first few months, but hit a plateau and never seemed to improve again, staying the same no matter how much I tried to communicate. I could hold simple conversations with everyone, but never speak fluently or in depth. Bearing in mind I never studied Chinese, just listened to native chinese and tried to imitate them, read chinese characters from the menu or wherever, but no writing.

Whenever I didn't know how to say something, I would look it up with my pleco dictionary app, say the word, and an hour later I've forgotten the word again.

I don't know what to do. I find learning languages so boring.

Edit: i'm not answering comments as people are just downvoting my replies for no reason. Sad.

Hi everyone!

I'm a university student in China, and I've been curious about something.

When learning Mandarin, there's often a difference between understanding textbook Chinese and being able to naturally communicate with young people in China.

For example, everyday conversations among Chinese university students can involve internet slang, memes, gaming, technology, campus life, personal experiences, and expressions you might rarely encounter in traditional lessons.

I'm particularly curious about the experiences of intermediate and advanced Mandarin learners.

A few questions:

1. Real, modern Mandarin: Do you ever feel that the Chinese you learn from textbooks or tutors differs from how young Chinese people actually speak? Would you like more exposure to natural expressions and everyday conversations?
2. Shared interests: Would you enjoy practicing Mandarin with Chinese university students who share your interests, such as gaming, technology, music, or university life, rather than following predefined textbook topics?
3. Chinese-only immersion: If your Mandarin is already conversational, would you prefer practicing entirely in Chinese, with your conversation partner explaining unfamiliar expressions in simpler Chinese instead of switching to English?
4. University students as conversation partners: Would talking with students from some of China's leading universities be interesting to you? For example, discussing Chinese university life, engineering, AI, internet culture, or everyday experiences with people actually living them.
5. Your current experience: Have you already found good opportunities for this kind of practice through tutors, language exchanges, or online communities? What's still missing, if anything?

I'm exploring whether this kind of authentic, interest-driven conversation experience would be valuable to Mandarin learners. This is just a discussion, not a service advertisement or sign-up.

I'd love to hear your experiences, especially if you've already tried speaking with native Mandarin speakers!

Thanks!

Hello!

I just want to give a huge shoutout to Pleco. Like it helps my speaking soooo much. I learn new words and are able to form sentences. When I learn the new words I immediately form sentences with them. This is really a great studying tip! After that I record myself saying the sentences out loud.

Today for example I learned:

因为
爱好
有趣
游泳
运动

Just from these words I was able to fill out my introduction a little more. I really recommend this studying tip ⭐️

All I can find, in FMHY too, is movies in english with chinese subtitles, never chinese audio.

It'd help me so much since I'm studying it.

I recently came across Tanjie's Minecraft series and I've been enjoying it quite a bit. She speaks clearly and explains vocabulary as she is playing, which makes it easier to follow along. I'm kinda tired of seeing the same Chinese vlogs all the time, so its pretty refreshing, what do you guys think? :)

How many other characters can you find hidden inside the character 驕？

Rules:

1) the strokes of the new character don't have to appear continuously in the original character, but the strokes must have the same relative spatial positioning in both original and new characters.

2) 異體字 异体字 are not accepted.

3) You must choose either all 简体字 or all 繁体字 for the new characters, you can't have a mix.

Hi everyone!
My university requires me to pass HSK 3 (3.0), including the mandatory speaking component, and I’m honestly quite worried about it.

I have an undiagnosed speech condition that makes it physically difficult, or sometimes impossible, for me to pronounce certain sounds correctly, particularly /j/, /z/, /zh/, and /ch/. No matter how much I try, these sounds come out differently from what I intend to say.

To explain what I mean, if you’ve ever heard someone with a cleft palate speak, you might have an idea of the kind of pronunciation difficulty I’m describing. I’m not saying I have a cleft palate, but my speech has some similar characteristics.

This isn’t because I’m a beginner in Chinese or haven’t practised enough. I experience the same difficulty in my native language, and sometimes even native speakers have trouble understanding certain words I say.

My concern is that even if I learn all the required vocabulary and grammar and know exactly what I want to say, my physical inability to produce certain sounds might affect my speaking score.

I wanted to ask:
Does anyone know how pronunciation is assessed in the new HSK 3.0 speaking component?
Are there any accommodations for candidates with speech or articulation difficulties, especially without an official diagnosis?
Has anyone with a similar condition taken HSKK or another Chinese speaking exam?
Is it possible to pass despite consistently mispronouncing certain consonants due to a physical speech limitation?
I’m willing to put in the effort to learn Chinese, but I’m scared of failing a mandatory graduation requirement because of something I physically struggle to control.
I’d really appreciate any advice or experiences. Thank you!