One of the things that makes life in China so interesting is the sheer diversity of people you meet on a daily basis. If you've spent any amount of time in China, you've undoubtedly run into one or more of these colorful characters... Beijing Taxi Driver 北京的哥侃爷 Hometown: Beijing Favorite Drink: Cheap green [...]
You Call it Lurking, I Call it Web-Based Learning Note: This article is the second in a two-part series. If you haven't seen part 1, we suggest you read that first. Hopefully, we've convinced you that if you're learning Chinese, all that time you spend staring at pictures of other people's avocado toast [...]
Essential Chinese Phrases for the Social Media Addict Admit it: you checked your newsfeed this morning before you even got out of bed. You pick your meals based on how good you think they'll look on Instagram. And yes, you even browse Twitter when going number 2. If these symptoms sound familiar, your [...]
What to sing at Chinese KTV If you have been to China, you know how much Chinese people love KTV. Karaoke offers the perfect atmosphere to spend a fun night with friends, but surprisingly, you might also be asked to join a KTV night by your boss, client, or business partner! For foreigners, [...]
Don't Homophone It In Last week we introduced you to the occasionally frustrating but always fascinating world of Chinese homophones. This week we're back with five more funny, sassy and potentially embarrassing Chinese homophones you definitely need to know! And of course, our helpful suggestions for how to ensure you don't get them mixed [...]
Conquering your Homophone-phobia Let's face it, learning Chinese is a constant lesson in humility. While studying a foreign language is never easy, Chinese sometimes appears to have been specifically designed to trip up hapless foreigners. And when it comes to spoken Chinese, one of the most difficult aspects is undoubtedly homophones, or words that [...]
A Quick Guide to China's Most Important Holiday The Chinese New Year, known in Chinese as chūnjié 春节 (literally "Spring Festival") is fast approaching. Since it follows the traditional Chinese lunar calendar it's also sometimes known as the Lunar New Year. This is why every year it falls on a slightly different date according to the [...]
(Chinese) Words with Friends Welcome to the fourth and final week of our Chinese starter kit series. If you've been following along since the beginning, we'd like to congratulate you on your perseverance. You may have given up on your resolutions to drink less and exercise more, but at least you're making progress [...]
Grammarly, Chinese Edition Welcome back to our third week of the Chinese starter kit! If you’ve been following along with this series, you should now be familiar with the two of the more unique aspects of Chinese, namely pinyin, and tones. Now let’s take a look at how grammar functions in Chinese. Broadly [...]
Tones, Tones, Tones Congrats! You’ve finished week one of our Chinese Starter Kit. With your pinyin foundation laid down, you’re feeling pretty good and getting the hang of things. This is the week we start really getting down to business, with tones! This week with tones we’ll continue with our course and apply [...]
