Today's word of the day is 放心 (fàng xīn), which means to set one's mind at rest, rest assured, to feel relieved or to be at ease about something. Our last word of the day was 开放 (kāi fàng), which means to be open or open-minded...
Today's word of the day is 开放 (kāi fàng), which means to be open, to open up, or to be open-minded about something. Our last word of the day was 离开 (lí kāi), which means 'to leave' or 'to part from'. You'll see that the common...
Today's word of the day is 离开 (lí kāi), which means 'leave' or 'depart' Our last word of the day was 离婚 (lí hūn. You'll see that the common character between the two words is 离 (lí), which means 'to leave' or 'to part from', so...
Today's word of the day is 离婚 (lí hūn), which means 'divorce' Yep - our last word of the day was 结婚 (jié hūn) meaning 'to marry', and just a week later we're teaching you 'divorce'. 50 years ago we'd have waited at least a year...
What to learn first when learning Chinese? When learning any language, you’re confronted with a choice. What to learn first? Where to focus my attention? This is particularly true of Chinese where, due to the fact that many native speakers of western languages are so unfamiliar with...
Languages are an interesting phenomenon. Simultaneously uniform in their composition yet distinct from one another, both constricted by grammatical rules and vocabulary yet flexible enough to say whatever you want to say in whatever way you want to say it. Languages are both shaped by, and...
Learning tones. What’s the secret? For many learners of Chinese, the very idea of ‘tones’ can be enough to scare them away. If you’re thinking, are Chinese tones difficult? You’re not alone. Indeed, many Chinese learners become paralysed with a toneaphobia, a phobia that, if not...
Do people speak English in China? You’ll probably have realised by now that wherever you go in the world, as an English speaker, you’re not going to encounter any communication problems. And, generally speaking, China is no different. We’ve written before about the extent to which...
Different dialects in China In a country as a big and diverse of China, there's lots of...
HSK stands for Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (汉语水平考试) literally meaning “Mandarin Level Test”. It is organized by Hanban (汉办) the part of the Chinese education ministry also in charge of the Confucius Institutes (孔子学院). [ARForms_popup id=110 desc='SIGN ME UP' type='fly' position='left' height='auto' width='800' angle='90' bgcolor='#7cd653' txtcolor='#FFFFFF' ] Whether...
Is Chinese really the most difficult language in the world? Ever heard that Chinese is the most difficult language in the world to learn? On the contrary, Chinese is both a beautifully logical and surprisingly simple language to master. *Most* Chinese words are composed by two...
[ARForms_popup id=110 desc='SIGN ME UP' type='fly' position='left' height='auto' width='800' angle='90' bgcolor='#7cd653' txtcolor='#FFFFFF' ] Where to start? In a country as rich in history as it is in cultural traditions, food and landscape, the reasons to come to China are endless. If you ever ask any of...
[ARForms_popup id=110 desc='SIGN ME UP' type='fly' position='left' height='auto' width='800' angle='90' bgcolor='#7cd653' txtcolor='#FFFFFF' ] Coming to China was the best decision we ever made. The only regret? Not coming sooner! Interning in China is the perfect place to make yourself stand out from the rest when it...
[ARForms_popup id=110 desc='SIGN ME UP' type='fly' position='left' height='auto' width='800' angle='90' bgcolor='#7cd653' txtcolor='#FFFFFF' ] With close to one billion native speakers Mandarin Chinese is the second most widespread language in the world, exceeded only by English. What’s more, it’s actually not as difficult as you think! While...