As a Chinese teacher, it’s always a delight for me to discover people who are able to speak Chinese, and in this case famous people. Recently the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has impressed us all with his Chinese skills by doing a Chinese Q&A at Tsing Hua University in China. Have you watched his interview…
Here is a question to think about: how intensive is ideal in learning Chinese? Or does intensity (hours put in study) matter when it comes to language learning? As a teacher, I’ve taught classes in several levels of intensities (1hr/week, 2hr/week, 6hr/week, 35hr/week, 40hr/week). The 40hr/week is Chinese trainings I have given for Berlitz‘s clients,…
Last week in the gym, I came across a woman with a tatoo “狗” on her arm. “狗(gǒu)” means dog in Chinese. The sign immediately put a smile on my face, as it seemed so hilarious to a Chinese mind to have it as a tattoo. I suppose this lady loves her dog, or dogs…
In our daily life, we always hear some frequently used phrases such as “Sure” “No problem” “You know” “Oh my god” etc. These phrases are called “口头禅 [kǒu tóu chán]”in Chinese. Don’t underestimate these phrases: they can reflect one’s personality, values and attitude about their work or life. If you always start your sentences with…
In Chinese there are many expressions and idioms coming from colors. The metaphors can lighten up the whole conversation and let you impress Chinese native speakers. In this blog, we will teach a few commonly and widely used phrases or idioms with colors. Hope they will color up your Chinese! 1. 红红火火 [hóng hóng huǒ…
家 jiā is perhaps one of the most well-known Chinese characters. It’s basic meaning “home, family” is an important element in rich Chinese culture. Today, 家 is widely used to form other words with various meanings, its original use to indicate home or family is still fundamental. How is this word come into being? In…
We come across various international brand names in our daily lives. They may be very familiar to you, yet if you hear Chinese people talking about them, you might not be able to recognize these brands so easily. This is because the majority of these names are translated from their alphabetical names into the equivalent…
A lot of westerns males want to know how to flirt with Chinese girls, well, the Chinese guys are also wondering about the exact same question. While a lot Chinese guys are not open and confident enough to talk with their female peers, the main problem of western guys is that most of the time…
One benefit of traveling in China is the great variety of vegetables you can enjoy there. Apart from the meat, vegetables (shū cài) are essential for Chinese food. There are also a good variety of vegetables in the Netherlands. Do you know how to say them in Chinese? Today we take a look at the…
Similar as many Chinese have an English name, many Chinese learners choose to have a Chinese name as well. Many popular English names have a standard equivalent in Chinese, which are translated phonetically. For your convenience, we have listed out some of the most used translation for these names. Is your name one of these…
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