Mandarin Weekly (每周中文)

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) Welcome to the latest Mandarin Weekly, with yet more links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

Please tell your Chinese teachers, fellow students, and others about this free resource.

To receive Mandarin Weekly in your e-mail inbox every Monday, just use the subscription box on the left side at MandarinWeekly.com. Or follow us on Twitter, at @MandarinWeekly!

We’re also on Facebook, at http://facebook.com/MandarinWeekly. Please retweet and share our weekly postings, so that everyone can benefit from them!

Chinese zodiac history

More than you ever wanted to know about the Chinese zodiac, including vocabulary and the traits associated with people born in various years:

https://chinesepod.com/blog/story-of-chinese-zodiac-calendar/

Twitter: @ChinesePod

Reading the Chinese zodiac

The Year of the Monkey is one of 12 years in the Chinese cycle. How does this cycle work, and what are its parts? This posting will explain it all:

http://www.getchinesetic.com/2016/01/how-to-read-chinese-traditional-calendar.html

New Year traditions

It’s not too late to learn about New Year traditions; this post from ChinesePod tells us about some things people do in China around and on the New Year:

https://chinesepod.com/blog/chinese-new-year-traditions/

Twitter: @ChinesePod

New Year phrases

LearnChineseNow provides phrases and traditions associated with the new Year of the Monkey, including some great footage of the annual release of lanterns in Taiwan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpIqY9jzoW0

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

Monkey words, goat words

We just finished the Year of the Goat, and are starting the Year of the Monkey. What words and phrases in Chinese use the words “Goat” and “Monkey”? This posting will give you some examples:

https://teachmechinese.wordpress.com/2016/02/07/chinese-idioms-involving-goats-and-monkeys/

Learn calligraphy

Ever want to learn to write Chinese characters, perhaps using calligraphy? ChinesePod’s video introduces the art of calligraphy, teaching some Spring Festival-related characters along the way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGO0-i9W3uQ

Twitter: @ChinesePod

Question words

How do we ask questions in Chinese? The words are slightly different than what we use in English, and this posting introduces a number of them, along with examples of when to use them:

http://www.digmandarin.com/major-question-words-in-chinese.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

The story of Nian

How did Chinese New Year come to be? An ancient legend about Nian, which helps to explain many of the customs around this holiday:

http://www.getchinesetic.com/2016/02/how-chinese-new-year-came-to-be.html

The Monkey King

Happy Year of the Monkey! In this post, we learn why monkeys are considered to be positive in Chinese society:

http://speakupchinese.tumblr.com/post/139008403231/chinas-most-famous-monkey-character-%E5%AD%99%E6%82%9F%E7%A9%BA-s%C5%ABn

Twitter: @SpeakUpChinese

Monkey phrases

In honor of the Year of the Monkey, here are some Chinese phrases (in Pinyin) you can use in conversation:

http://themandarincornerblog.com/2016/02/08/do-you-know-these-chinese-phrases/

Horses and tigers

One of the first phrases that Chinese students learn is 马马虎虎 (mǎ mǎ hū hū), which means “careless” or “so-so.” Why does it have these meanings? This posting introduces the history and meaning behind the phrase:

https://mandarinfriend.wordpress.com/2016/02/10/chengyu-explanations-%E9%A9%AC%E9%A9%AC%E8%99%8E%E8%99%8E/

Yes, we can!

How do you say you can do something in Chinese? It depends on what sort of “can” you mean; there are several different words, and learning to use them right can be somewhat challenging:

http://www.digmandarin.com/translating-can-into-chinese.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Business vocabulary

Planning to business in China? Here is a list of 26 words and phrases having to do with business, which you can use to impress (or just communicate with) your Chinese colleagues and clients:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2016/02/10/business-chinese-vocabulary/

Twitter: @FluentU

Buying train tickets

Want to travel by train in China? This posting walks you through the vocabulary and sentences you’ll need, starting with the basics, and moving up to different types of seats, and presenting your ID:

http://www.duchinese.net/blog/17-how-to-buy-a-train-ticket-in-china

Twitter: @DuChinese

Africa in Chinese

How do you call African countries in Chinese? This chart will provide the answers:

http://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/african-countries-in-chinese/

Twitter: @ChineseLanguage

Your face

How do you say such body parts as “eyes,” “ears,” and “nose”? And how do you identify those characters? Here are some hints to help you out:

http://learneverydaychinese.com/2016/02/%E8%BA%AB%E9%AB%94%E9%83%A8%E4%BD%8D-eyes-nose-mouth-and-ears-in-chinese-video/

Twitter: @learnchinese88

Love in China

How do you talk about love, Valentine’s Day, and spending money on appropriate gifts in Chinese? This posting will provide you with plenty of vocabulary on the topic:

http://www.yoyochinese.com/blog/learn-chinese-valentine-day-words-tradition-romantic-celebrate

Twitter: @YoYoChinese

Show the love

How do you express love (or affection) in Chinese? Here are some useful phrases to use on the people you most care about — assuming they speak Chinese, of course:

http://ninchanese.com/blog/2016/02/11/6-ways-to-show-your-love-in-chinese/

Expressing your love

How can you tell someone that you love them on Valentine’s Day? Here are some phrases to help you out, thanks to LearnChineseNow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwdl7EB9euY

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

Finding a good teacher

If you’re learning Chinese, then you likely have (or should have) a teacher. Here are some hints for how to choose a good one:

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/things-look-for-choosing-chinese-teacher/

Twitter: @Fluent_Mandarin

Books to improve your Chinese

You’re listening to podcasts, watching videos, studying characters, and meeting regularly with your teacher. But wait! There is still some time in which you’re not learning Chinese, which you have to fill somehow! Why not get a good book that’ll help to reinforce what you’re learning? In this posting, we learn about several books (one of which I’ve been reading and enjoying) that can indeed help with your Chinese:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2016/02/10/best-books-to-learn-chinese/

Twitter: @FluentU

Day and time

Telling time (and saying the day) in Chinese is straightforward… mostly. Here’s a post that introduces the structure:

http://howtospeakonline.com/chinese/how-to-ask-and-tell-the-date.html

Building blocks

Learning characters is just the first part of reading Chinese. Then you have to combine those characters into words — which is easier and more logical than you might think. In this post by Olle Linge, we see the difference between characters and words, and how to move up from those to sentences and paragraphs:

http://mandarin.about.com/od/characters/fl/The-building-blocks-of-Mandarin-Chinese-part-2.htm

Who has a birthday?

ChineseClass101 has a short dialog and quiz about someone’s age. How are your listening skills?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6TIe6ANC4M

Twitter: @chineseclass101

Hot pot

One of my favorite parts of visiting China is eating hot pot. Why not try to make it at home? This posting provides some instructions for making your own hot pot, along with the vocabulary you’ll need to describe it in Chinese:

http://www.getchinesetic.com/2016/02/chinese-hot-pot-dish-best-served-on_6.html

Wednesday questions

The ChineseLanguage reddit has a new feature, 问题 (wèn tí) Wednesdays — ask questions that are bothering you! This week, there were already some great questions and answers:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/452u62/%E5%95%8F%E9%A1%8C_wednesday_021016/

Why are there radicals?

One of the best ways to improve your Chinese reading is to learn and identify radicals in characters. But why are there radicals?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/45ierc/what_exactly_is_the_purpose_of_radicals_other/

Two ways to wear things

Chinese has two different verbs for “wearing” something, 穿 (chuān) and 戴 (dài). How do we know which to use?

https://www.reddit.com/r/learnchinese/comments/44u53t/difference_between_%E7%A9%BF_and_%E6%88%B4/

Just a little

What does 一下 (yī xià) mean,and how do you attach it to a verb?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17163/questions-about-the-meaning-and-position-of-%E4%B8%80%E4%B8%8B

It’ll definitely happen

There are a few ways to say “it’ll certainly happen,” or “it’s inevitable,” in Chinese. Here is a discussion of the differences between these terms:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17166/difference-between-%E4%B8%8D%E5%BE%97%E4%B8%8D-%E4%B8%8D%E5%85%8D-and-%E5%BF%85%E7%84%B6

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) Welcome to the latest Mandarin Weekly, with yet more links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

Please tell your Chinese teachers, fellow students, and others about this free resource.

To receive Mandarin Weekly in your e-mail inbox every Monday, just use the subscription box on the left side at MandarinWeekly.com. Or follow us on Twitter, at @MandarinWeekly!

We’re also on Facebook, at http://facebook.com/MandarinWeekly. Please share our weekly postings, so that everyone can benefit from them!

Year of the ____

We are marking the start of the Year of the Monkey. What are the other animals in the Chinese zodiac, and where do they come from?

https://www.writtenchinese.com/legend-chinese-new-year-animals/

Twitter: @WrittenChinese

Writing the zodiacal signs

Want to write the characters for all 12 animals in the zodiac? Chris from Fluent in Mandarin provides some insights:

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/how-to-write-the-12-chinese-zodiac-animal-signs/

Twitter: @Fluent_Mandarin

Learning to write

A detailed introduction to writing in Chinese; if you’re interested in getting deeper into the characters, then writing is a good way to do it:

https://sensiblechinese.com/how-to-learn-chinese-characters/

Twitter: @FluentChinese

Common grammar particles

When you learn Chinese, you quickly discover that a large number of characters come up all of the time, on their own and as part of words. Identifying these characters, and knowing how they affect the grammar of your sentences, is important — and DigMandarin provides us with a list and explanation:

http://www.digmandarin.com/commonly-used-chinese-grammar-particles.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Forgetful

An explanation of the chengyu (four-character phrase) 丢三落四 (diū sān là sì), meaning forgetful or absent-minded:

https://mandarinfriend.wordpress.com/2016/02/05/chengyu-explanations-%E4%B8%A2%E4%B8%89%E8%90%BD%E5%9B%9B/

Monkey words

It’s the Year of the Monkey, so why not learn a bunch of words that contain 猴 (hóu)?

http://www.digmandarin.com/interesting-idioms-slang-that-use-hou.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

For the birds

An introduction to a common word (and character component), 鸟 (niǎo), or bird:

http://themandarincornerblog.com/2016/02/01/what-the-hell-and-foreign-devils/

Listening challenge

It’s time for another Hacking Chinese challenge, this time listening: How much Chinese can you listen to, in order to sensitize your ears and brain to the sounds of the language?

http://www.hackingchinese.com/chinese-listening-challenge-february-10th-to-29th/

Twitter: @HackingChinese

New Year traditions

How do people celebrate Chinese New Year in China? This article provides us with a list of common traditions, as well as the vocabulary to describe them:

http://www.digmandarin.com/8-things-you-might-not-know-about-chinese-new-year.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

More New Year traditions

Not surprisingly, several blogs wrote this week with a bunch of New Year-related words and phrases. Here are some from Du Chinese:

http://www.duchinese.net/blog/16-chinese-new-year-do-s-and-don-ts

Twitter: @DuChinese

Even more New Year traditions

Here are even more explanations, vocabulary, and phrases about the New Year celebration:

http://speakupchinese.tumblr.com/post/138224129866/chinese-new-year-traditions#notes

Twitter: @SpeakUpChinese

Popular online words

A list (with explanations) of the most popular words used online in China over the last year:

http://www.getchinesetic.com/2016/01/the-10-most-popular-words-on-internet.html

New Year discussion

YoYoChinese sponsored this video hangout with Yangyang Cheng and actor Jeff Locker, in which they discuss Chinese New Year and other Chinese-related words, phrases, and ideas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnknv_NuTtU

Twitter: @YoYoChinese

Happy New Year!

Here are 25 greetings and phrases to use when wishing your Chinese friends and family well during this holiday:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2016/02/01/chinese-new-year-greetings/

Twitter: @FluentU

New Year songs

Want to sing your way through the start of the Year of the Monkey? Here are eight songs (and videos) you can listen to, and learn from:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2016/02/01/chinese-new-year-songs/

Twitter: @FluentU

The story of money

Why do Chinese parents give their children money on Chinese New Year? This story provides some background, and listening/reading practice:

http://www.echineselearning.com/blog/yasuiqian-de-gushi-the-story-of-pocket-money-on-lunar-new-years-day-beginner

Twitter: @ECLSchool

Yet more New Year phrases

It’s that time of year; here are a few more New Year-related words, phrases, and traditions:

http://www.touchchinese.com/learn-chinese-online/monkey-expressions-for-the-year-of-the-monkey.html

New Year video

ChinesePod produced a video for Chinese New Year, teaching some useful phrases and greetings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or5ekVFmQ70

Twitter: @ChinesePod

New Year shopping in Taiwan

What do Chinese people buy for their New Year celebration? This video from ChinesePod visits the Taipei holiday market:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0hsg2wQpm8

Twitter: @ChinesePod

Madame President

The new president of Taiwan is Tsai Ing-wen. How is her name pronounced? Olle Linge posts on About.com with some advice:

http://mandarin.about.com/od/pronunciation/fl/How-to-pronounce-Tsai-Ing-wen-Cai-Ying-wen.htm

How to practice

How can you improve your usage and pronunciation? The key is practice; in this discussion, experienced students of Chinese suggest ways in which a beginner (or not-so-beginner) can improve:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17132/how-can-i-get-exposure-to-mandarin-usage-and-pronounciation

Nouns and 子

How does adding 子 to another character, often used in noun words, change their meanings, if at all?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/440244/how_does_adding_%E5%AD%90_to_the_end_of_certain_nouns/

Have a seat

Is there a difference between 坐下来 (zuò xia lái) and 坐下去 (zuò xia qù)? These “resultative verb endings” can change the direction of intent, as described here:

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E5%9D%90%E4%B8%8B%E6%9D%A5-%E5%9D%90%E4%B8%8B%E5%8E%BB.3131900/

Do me a favor

How can you ask someone in China to do something for you? Two common phrases are 麻烦你 (máfan nǐ) and 请给我 (qǐng gěi wǒ), but do they mean the same thing? (The short answer: No.)

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/50869-m%C3%A1fan-n%C7%90-vs-q%C7%90ng-g%C4%9Bi-w%C7%92/

It has been a while

How do you say that it has been a while since you were at the Great Wall? A discussion of saying “it has been a while”:

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/i-havent-been-to-the-great-wall-for-a-long-time.3132954/

Did you bring it?

How do you ask someone if they have brought something? This discussion compared a few different phrases that might seem similar:

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E5%B8%A6-%E4%BA%86%E5%90%97-vs-%E5%B8%A6%E6%9D%A5-%E4%BA%86%E5%90%97-vs-%E5%B8%A6-%E6%9D%A5%E4%BA%86%E5%90%97.3133756/

Just about right

How do you say “almost” in Chinese? There are a few different words for this, with different meanings and uses:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17125/the-correct-usage-of-%E5%A4%A7%E7%BA%A6-vs-%E5%B7%AE%E4%B8%8D%E5%A4%9A

It’s all business

A short discussion of different ways to say “business” or “industry” in Chinese:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17138/%E4%BA%A7%E4%B8%9A-vs-%E4%BC%81%E4%B8%9A-vs-%E5%95%86%E4%B8%9A-whats-the-difference

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) Welcome to the latest Mandarin Weekly, with yet more links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

Please tell your Chinese teachers, fellow students, and others about this free resource.

To receive Mandarin Weekly in your e-mail inbox every Monday, just use the subscription box on the left side at MandarinWeekly.com. Or follow us on Twitter, at @MandarinWeekly!

New Year traditions

Chinese New Year is about to begin, and it’s thus time for us to learn (or re-learn) the words and phrases that have to do with that festival. In this post, we learn about popular traditions among people celebrating Chinese New Year:

http://speakupchinese.tumblr.com/post/138224129866/chinese-new-year-traditions

Twitter: @SpeakUpChinese

Chinese New Year vocabulary

Written Chinese also chimes in with a vocabulary list for the Chinese New Year:

https://www.writtenchinese.com/chinese-new-year-greetings-useful-cny-words/

Twitter: @WrittenChinese

Boom! Crash! Ouch!

How do you express certain real-world sounds in Chinese? This article introduces onomatopoeia, Chinese style, with many useful words and phrases:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2016/01/27/onomatopoeia-chinese/

Twitter: @FluentU

Two ways of saying “two”

Why does Chinese have two ways to say “two,” and when is each used?

http://mandarin.about.com/od/usingnumbers/fl/Two-ways-of-saying-two-in-Mandarin.htm

Useful grammar patterns

Certain grammar patterns repeat themselves all of the time in Chinese. In this posting, we learn about two of them, “VERB 一VERB” and VERB + 来／去:

http://www.duchinese.net/blog/15-would-you-like-some-goldfish-tea

Twitter: @DuChinese

Creative ways to express love

How can you say “I love you” in Chinese? This video provides us with 13 different ways to express your affection:

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/13-ways-to-say-i-love-you-in-chinese/

Twitter: @Fluent_Mandarin

Beginner Chinese videos

Just starting to learn Chinese? Here are some videos that you can use to get a jump-start on your learning of the language:

http://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/10-beginner-chinese-videos/

Twitter: @ChineseLanguage

Saying “yes” and “no”

LearnChineseNow answers one of the most common questions asked by newcomers to Chinese: How do you say “yes” and “no”?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7kn4dB9MU0

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

A Spanish couple

Learn about an elderly Spanish couple in this story, read aloud, with characters and Pinyin:

http://chinese-at-ease.com/learn-chinese-online-one-lifetime-one-couple/

Twitter: @ChineseAtEase

Chinese pronouns

How well do you know your pronouns in Chinese? This chart and introduction from Dig Mandarin should help you to get started and/or serve as a useful reminder:

http://www.digmandarin.com/pronouns-in-chinese-characters.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

The “knife” radical

Another list of characters containing the “knife” radical:

http://allaboutchinese.tumblr.com/post/138325682029/allaboutchinese-all-about-chineses-%E9%83%A8%E9%A6%96%E7%B3%BB%E5%88%97

Top Chinese adjectives

YuTing from ChineseClass101 provides us with a video, demonstrating and pronouncing 25 common adjectives in Chinese:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZe4hH67UZw

Twitter: @chineseclass101

Where are you from?

What country are you from? That is a common question you’ll get when in China; with this list, you’ll (probably) be able to answer them:

http://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/countries-nationalities-and-languages-in-chinese/

Twitter: @ChineseLanguage

Long-distance relationships

Seeing someone special? But they live far away? In this video, ChinesePod offers us the chance to learn how to talk about such relationships in Chinese:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHHIkh6PRWM

Twitter: @ChinesePod

Tiger-related idioms

Chengyu, Chinese idoms, are an important part of learning to speak and understand Chinese. Many include tigers. In this posting, we learn about several of the more common tiger-related Chengyu:

http://www.digmandarin.com/tiger-stories-and-idioms-in-chinese.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Numbers, from 11 – 100

Want to count from 11 to 100 in Chinese? It’s surprisingly easy, as indicated in this video from ChineseClass101:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPBZqbjlU6Q

Twitter: @chineseclass101

Translating nouns

Translating from Chinese to English isn’t always so straightforward; in this posting, we get some practice trying to perform such translations:

https://mandarinwithmanu.wordpress.com/2016/01/24/nouns-are-weird-translation-exercises/

Twitter: @MandarinWManu

Famous Chinese dishes

Traveling to China? Or just want to eat authentic Chinese food? This list of famous dishes, including their characters, will help to set you straight:

http://www.learnchinesechina.com/site-content/40-blog/1688-most-famous-dishes-in-china-a-z-part#.Vq8GyD82sVd

Did learning Chinese change your life?

A discussion among people who are relatively fluent in Chinese, who tell us how knowing the language has affected their lives and careers:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/42h23m/those_whom_learnt_or_are_fluent_in_chinese_how/

Do Chinese children learn Pinyin?

Do Chinese children learn Pinyin, either before or while learning characters?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Chinese/comments/431h6n/is_pinyin_taught_in_chinese_schools/

Do native speakers know their tones?

If you ask a native speaker to identify the tones, can they do it? Does this matter for non-native speakers who are learning Chinese?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/42jgrt/do_you_think_that_most_people_who_learn_chinese/

How’s it going?

How can you ask someone how something is going? And when you do so, how which 的／得 is appropriate?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/43kilh/%E5%AD%A6%E7%9A%84%E5%BE%97%E6%80%8E%E4%B9%88%E6%A0%B7%E4%BA%86_what_does_this_exactly_mean/

Li Li Li

What is the difference between the characters 裡, 裏 and 里? All are pronounced lǐ, but are the meanings or uses different?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17089/what-is-the-difference-between-%E8%A3%A1-%E8%A3%8F-and-%E9%87%8C

Your opinion, please

What is the difference between 看法 and 想法? Both seem to mean “opinion,” but are they used in different ways?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17054/what-is-the-difference-between-%E7%9C%8B%E6%B3%95-and-%E6%83%B3%E6%B3%95

I thought so

What is the difference between 认为 (rèn wéi) and 以为 (yǐ wéi)? Both seem to mean “I thought so,” but they aren’t quite the same:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17027/what-is-the-difference-between-%E8%AE%A4%E4%B8%BA-and-%E4%BB%A5%E4%B8%BA

Beautiful and ugly behavior?

You can use 美 and 丑 to indicate that something is beautiful or ugly. But does this work for behavior, or is it limited to appearances?

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/50818-do-%E7%BE%8E-and-%E4%B8%91-often-refer-to-both-appearance-and-behavior/

Receiving

There are two ways to receive something in Chinese, and the distinction between 受 (shòu) and 收 (shōu) isn’t always obvious:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17029/what-is-the-difference-between-%E5%8F%97-and-%E6%94%B6

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) Welcome to the latest Mandarin Weekly, with yet more links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

Please tell your Chinese teachers, fellow students, and others about this free resource.

To receive Mandarin Weekly in your e-mail inbox every Monday, just use the subscription box on the left side at MandarinWeekly.com. Or follow us on Twitter, at @MandarinWeekly!

Tone myths

You’ve heard that tones are important. But not everything you hear about tones is true:

http://themandarincornerblog.com/2016/01/09/5-myths-about-chinese-tones/

Living-room vocabulary

This posting shows a living room full of objects… and they’re all labeled In Chinese, along witih sample sentences that can give you a better idea of how to use each term:

http://ilovelearningchinese.com/free/study/chinese-vocabulary-with-pictures-5-living-room/

Picking up

The term “pick up” means different things in English. In this article, we learn about the differnet ways to use “pick up” in Chinese:

http://www.digmandarin.com/a-how-to-for-picking-up-in-chinese.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Cannot

Can’t do something? ChinesePod will tell you how to describe that in Chinese, asking for permission to do it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q8Mx5DgiEY

Twitter: @ChinesePod

The winner is…

Want to improve your Chinese? Want to watch more television? You can do both at the same time, by watching the Chinese game shows:

http://www.writtenchinese.com/watch-chinese-game-show-improve-mandarin/

Twitter: @WrittenChinese

Farm vocabulary

Even if you only spend time in Chinese cities, you’ll likely need or want to use some agricultural terms. In this article from DigMandarin, we get a list of useful farm-related vocabulary:

http://www.digmandarin.com/chinese-characters-about-farming-and-nature.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Speaking with grandparents

Want to improve your Chinese, and appreciation of Chinese culture? Consider speaking with, watching, or participating with Chinese grandparents, who take part in a variety of activities. This article introduces some useful vocabulary, and describes some of the activities you can expect to see:

http://speakupchinese.tumblr.com/post/137705132596/learning-mandarin-with-chinese-grandparents

Twitter: @SpeakUpChinese

More character bites

Chris is back with “Chinese character bites” — this time, with 之 (zhī) and 过 (guò):

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-41/

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-42/

Twitter: @Fluent_Mandarin

Poetry lesson

LearnChineseNow teaches a classical Chinese poem, Ascending Stork Tower:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0mttUpW1OM

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

Breakfast food

What sorts of foods do people eat in China? This blog post describes some of them, with appropriate vocabulary (and even a quiz):

http://www.echineselearning.com/blog/tasty-chinese-breakfast-stuffed-steamed-buns-and-porridge-part2

Twitter: @ECLSchool

Waiter!

Want to order food in a Chinese restaurant? Here are some sentences and vocabulary you’ll need in order to succeed, ensuring that your food will contain the appropriate level of spiciciness:

http://www.duchinese.net/blog/14-ordering-food-in-chinese

Twitter: @DuChinese

Yes, yes

One of the first things you learn when studying Chinese is that there isn’t a single word for “yes.” Why is this the case? And when do you use each version of “yes”?

www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/why-is-there-no-one-word-for-yes-in-chinese/

Song

Listen to this song, presented along with the words, Pinyin, and English translation:

http://studymorechinese.com/profiles/blogs/a-beautiful-chinese-song-translation

Animals

What are some common animals in Chinese? DigMandarin has provided us with a list:

http://www.digmandarin.com/chinese-characters-for-animals.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Making a long-term plan

You can’t learn Chinese quickly; you’ll need a long-term plan. In this posting from FluentU,we learn what you can and should do to create such a plan, and what aspects are less likely to be useful:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2016/01/18/tips-for-learning-chinese/

Twitter: @FluentU

It’s late out

What’s the difference between the characters 夜(yè) and 晚 (wǎn)? Both mean “night,” more or less, but can they be used interchangeably?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16988/what-is-the-difference-between-%E5%A4%9Cy%C3%A8-and-%E6%99%9A-w%C7%8En

Using and pronouncing 着

What does the 着 character sound like, and what is its function?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17020/how-is-%E7%9D%80-pronounced-here

Measure word for a pizza

Does pizza use 个 or 张? An interesting debate and discussion about measure words:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/4210m5/is_pizza_a_%E4%B8%AA_or_a_%E5%BC%A0_word/

I’m so sorry

How do you indicate you’re sorry in Chinese?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/42amne/how_do_you_express_the_other_versions_of_im_sorry/

Chinese continents

How do you say the names of the continents in Chinese? And are they classified the same in Chinese and in English?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16983/what-are-the-continents-according-to-chinese-schemes

Oops!

If you make a mistake in Chinese, what do you say? “Oops” is a good term in English, but does it translate?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16991/how-to-say-oops-or-other-exclamation-interjection-you-might-say-if-you-make-a

Online

How can you describe being online, or watching an online video?

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E7%BA%BF%E4%B8%8A%E7%9C%8B.3127134/

The strangest character

What’s the strangest Chinese character? It’s not a competition, but there are a lot of options to choose from:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/424r83/what_is_the_strangest_chinese_character_you_can/

Mandarin Weekly #53

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) Welcome to the latest Mandarin Weekly, with yet more links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

Please tell your Chinese teachers, fellow students, and others about this free resource.

To receive Mandarin Weekly in your e-mail inbox every Monday, just use the subscription box on the left side at MandarinWeekly.com. Or follow us on Twitter, at @MandarinWeekly!

Sentence structure

Chinese sentences have a specific structure. In this posting from Hollie at Written Chinese, we learn about simple and complex sentence structure:

http://www.writtenchinese.com/simple-guide-to-chinese-sentences-structure/

Twitter: @WrittenChinese

Chinese nouns

When we first start to learn Chinese, we assume that there are the same word categories as in other languages — nouns and verbs, for example. But it turns out that the categories aren’t identical. In this article, we learn more about nouns, and how Chinese nouns are a bit special:

https://mandarinwithmanu.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/nouns-are-weird/

Twitter: @MandarinWManu

The two uses of 让 (ràng)

The character 让(ràng) can be used in two different (and almost opposite) ways, which can be a bit confusing for Chinese learners. In this article from DigMandarin, Sarah explains the differences, with many examples:

http://www.digmandarin.com/tackling-the-two-opposite-meanings-of-rang.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Character bites

Chris, from Fluent in Mandarin, returns with more short introductions to Chinese characters: 自 (zì), 着 (zhe), and 去 (qù):

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-38/

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-39/

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-38/

Twitter: @Fluent_Mandarin

Animal sounds

Every language represents animal sounds in a different way. What do Chinese animals sound like? This article from Winnie at FluentU, will tell you:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2016/01/11/chinese-animal-sounds/

Twitter: @FluentU

Office vocabulary

Ever wonder how to describe simple office items in Chinese? LearnChineseNow provides a gentle introduction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMdgqWwmQgA

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

Hungry? Or full?

How can you indicate that you’re hungry in Chinese? Or, perhaps that you have had your fill? LearnChineseNow provides the vocabulary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD2GQHlaCDM

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

Exceptionally hungry? Or exceptionally full?

Yeah, but what if you’re really, really hungry? ChinesePod provides us with a way to make something super-strong:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvxXfVBYh9w

Twitter: @ChinesePod

On the other hand…

How can we say “on the one hand… on the other hand…” in Chinese? It’s surprisingly straightforward, as we see in this article:

https://www.languageunity.com/chinese-sentence-patterns-part-8-survival-chinese/

Complaining

We can also complain, or refer to problems, using a different construct:

https://www.languageunity.com/chinese-sentence-patterns-part-9-survival-chinese/

It’s all about the children (radical)

All About Chinese continues its list of characters based on certain radicals, this time showing us those based on 子:

http://allaboutchinese.tumblr.com/post/136997661085/allaboutchinese-all-about-chineses-%E9%83%A8%E9%A6%96%E7%B3%BB%E5%88%97

Snowman in summer

A short story about a (naïve and/or optimistic) snowman who wants to see the summer, with audio, characters, and pinyin:

http://chinese-at-ease.com/learn-chinese-online-snowman-wants-go-summer-1/

Twitter: @ChineseAtEase

The most difficult characters

Ollie Linge describes and analyzes several of the hardest-to-learn, hardest-to-remember Chinese characters:

http://blog2.skritter.com/2016/01/hacking-most-difficult-chinese.html

Twitter: @SkritterHQ

Turbocharge your Chinese learning

A list of eight tools, each of which can help to speed up your learning of Chinese:

http://www.lingholic.com/8-ways-to-dramatically-accelerate-your-chinese-learning/

Twitter: @Lingholica

The Force is still getting up

Mania over the latest Star Wars movie continues, and with it, we have the following famous lines translated into Chinese:

http://www.duchinese.net/blog/13-learn-chinese-with-star-wars

Twitter: @DuChinese

Beijing-style

How would you say that you want Beijing-style food? This discussion provides some insights:

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E9%A3%8E%E5%91%B3%E7%9A%84-%E5%B0%8F%E5%90%83%E5%BA%97.3123788/

地 and 的

These two characters are pronounced the same… almost. What is the real difference between the pronunciations, and how can we remember it more easily?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Chinese/comments/415kqu/why_is_%E5%9C%B0_differently_pronounced_from_%E7%9A%84/

Using 吧 at the end of a sentence

How do you use 吧 (ba) in Chinese? Is it considered rude or informal?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16963/proper-use-of-ba

The envelope, please

Red envelopes are a traditional way to give gifts in China. How does the phrase look and work in Chinese, and what does it really mean?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16944/what-is-%E6%8A%A2%E7%BA%A2%E5%8C%85-%E8%AE%A2%E9%98%85%E5%BC%80%E5%A5%96%E6%8F%90%E9%86%92

Another use for 是

The verb 是 (shì), before a verb, can somewhat alter the meaning of the verb. How and why, is discussed here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/41cgoy/saw_%E6%98%AFverb_for_the_first_time_and_dont_know_what/

More, please

How can we say that we want to have more of something, or add to what we have? This discussion should make that clearer:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16936/to-add-which-should-i-use-%E6%96%B0%E5%A2%9E-%E6%B7%BB%E5%8A%A0or%E5%A2%9E%E6%B7%BB

Components of 你

The 你 character is is one of the most common. This discussion quickly turned into a fascinating exposition on character components:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/50703-is-the-component-in-%E5%B0%94-from-%E5%88%80-or-%E5%8B%B9/

 

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) Welcome to the latest Mandarin Weekly, with yet more links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

It has now been one year since I started putting together Mandarin Weekly. Thanks so much to all you for your encouragement and feedback; it’s an amazing feeling to know that people around the world are enjoying this publication! Please continue to spread the word; if you know anyone else who is studying Chinese, please encourage them to subscribe to this free resource.

To receive Mandarin Weekly in your e-mail inbox every Monday, just use the subscription box on the left side at MandarinWeekly.com. Or follow us on Twitter, at @MandarinWeekly!

Du Chinese released

A new app, Du Chinese, has been released for Android; (it was previously available for iOS), and is meant to help you read Chinese more easily.

http://www.duchinese.net/blog/12-du-chinese-for-android-released

Twitter: @DuChinese

Asian country names

Planning to go to Asia? If so, then you can brush up on the Chinese names for countries in Asia, using this helpful list from Transparent Language:

http://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/chinese-names-for-asian-countries/

Twitter: @ChineseLanguage

Harps and cows

Trying to explain something complex, and the listener isn’t quite getting it? There’s a great Chinese saying that describes this situation:

http://www.echineselearning.com/blog/chinese-idiom-duiniutanqin-to-play-the-harp-to-a-cow

Twitter: @ECLSchool

Because… therefore

How do you use the common pattern 因为。。。所以 (yīn wèi … suǒ yǐ) to describe a reason and a consequence?

https://www.languageunity.com/chinese-sentence-patterns-part-6-survival-chinese/

Both this … and that

How can you say that something is “both X and Y” in Chinese? You use 又。。。又 (yòu…yòu), as demonstrated in numerous sample sentences:

https://www.languageunity.com/chinese-sentence-patterns-part-7-survival-chinese/

Remembering witih mneumonics

Trying to remember your characters? One method is mneumonics, in which you make associations between the characters and something you can remember. How helpful is it, and what techniques can you use to put this method to use?

https://www.chineseboost.com/blog/use-mnemonics/

Twitter: @ChineseBoost

Freezing to death

If you’re really cold, then you might say you’re “freezing to death,” or that it’s “deathly freezing.” Chinese has a similar expression, as described here by Rita from DigMandarin:

http://www.digmandarin.com/freezing-to-death-adjectiveverb.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Using flashcards

Many of us use flashcards to practice our reading. But what are some good strategies for using flashcards? Olie Linge provides some insights:

http://mandarin.about.com/od/How-to-learn-Mandarin-Chinese/fl/Using-flashcards-to-learn-Chinese.htm

Survival Chinese

So you’re going to China, and you need to learn some basic, “survival” Chinese before your trip? In this new video series, Alison Lau introduces some basic vocabulary that might be of use.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf5h1Am_4FTg3uOwavzgZRwYHUQkAdd1H

HSK 4

If you’re more advanced, then Alison (from the aforementioned videos) also offers some HSK4-level vocabulary, taking it apart and describing words and phrases.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf5h1Am_4FTjFRSvOOapQ78Soz4wiZs5t

Watching variety shows

Watching Chinese TV is a great way to improve your listening and vocabulary. What can you watch, though? One option is variety shows; in this post from Du Chinese, you can learn about some variety shows — both their names, and what they include.

http://www.duchinese.net/blog/11-recommended-chinese-variety-shows

Twitter: @DuChinese

Chinese character bites

Chris, from Fluent in Mandarin, is back with a variety of “Chinese character bites”, with the characters 会 (huì), 生(shēng),and 以 (yǐ):

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-35/

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-36/

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-37/

Twitter: @Fluent_Mandarin

Brush your teeth

The latest video from LearnChineseNow tells us not only how to brush our teeth in Chinese, but the words we’ll need around that activity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N2Gn7faPaA

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

Order a pizza!

Want to order pizza? Great, but can you do that in Chinese? This listening practice from ChineseClass101.com will provide you with the practice you need to get the pizza delivered:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ry1yG_KBqk

Twitter: @chineseclass101

Confucius says…

Confucius, the famous ancient Chinese scholar, is known for many sayings. Here, from Hollie at Written Chinese, are a few of them:

http://www.writtenchinese.com/10-inspirational-chinese-proverbs-from-confucius/

Twitter: @WrittenChinese

Not feeling well?

How can you describe feeling ill in Chinese? And different types of feeling unwell? LearnChineseNow has a video which will tell you how to describe your current state of affairs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0ALr813PDE

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

10 favorite words

Yuting from ChineseClass101 introduces 10 words that students have said are their favorites. Do you know all of these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbNctWQvNoQ

Twitter: @chineseclass101

Talking to the mountain

A short story, offering listening and reading practice, about a boy and a mountain:

http://chinese-at-ease.com/learn-chinese-online-the-kid-that-talks-to-the-mountain/

Twitter: @ChineseAtEase

Apple watch

Emma, from ChineseWithEmma, has bought a new Apple watch. She opens the box and starts it up, describing her experience in Chinese. Perhaps not the biggest drama around, but cetainly good listening practice for Chinese-learning nerds!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYZCPC6fhLY

Twitter: @ChineseWithEmma

Fun signs in China

If you have ever visited China, then you know that the English translations on the signs can be … challenged. (When I was in Shanghai last week, I enjoyed the sign in the subway telling visitors not to “pop off your heads” on the escalator. Here are some signs; how many can you read in Chinese, and then better understand the mistakes?

http://www.lonamanning.ca/blog/more-of-our-favorite-signs

What does the neutral tone sound like?

When we learn Chinese, we learn about the fourth tone… and then we learn about the fifth tone, which isn’t a tone, or is called the “neutral” tone. What is it, and how does it sound?

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/50603-should-the-neutral-tone-follow-the-first-tone/

Guessing the meaning

If you encounter a new word in Chinese, how can you guess its meaning?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/3zjle1/how_to_guess_the_meanings_a_new_chinese_word/

Oohs and aahs

How often are “oh” (哦) and “ah” (啊) used in conversational Chinese? And what do they mean?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/3zfhfg/chinese_modal_particles_interjections_%E5%93%A6_and_%E5%95%8A/

Don’t do that!

How do you indicate that something shouldn’t be done? You can use either 别 (bié) or 不要 (bú yào), but what is the difference between them?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/3zvnp0/please_explain_the_difference_in_usage_of_%E5%88%AB_and/

Most of the time

How do you indicate that “most of the time,” something is true?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16896/how-do-i-say-most-of-the-time-in-mandarin

Non-phonetic place names

Most place names in Chinese reflect the pronunciation of the place. But in some cases, the Chinese name for the location has to do with the meaning, or some other aspect. A fascinating discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/406otp/does_anyone_know_other_place_names_in_chinese/

Genderless, singular “they”

English doesn’t have a single word that reflects the idea of “he or she.” Actually, it turns out that we do; the pronoun “they” has now been given official status as a generless, singular pronoun. Does Chinese have a similar word? Or do we just reuse the existing pronouns?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/405jv2/to_translate_the_genderless_pronoun_they_to/

Choosing a Chinese name

At some point, most students of Chinese will choose a Chinese name. But what should you choose, and who should help you? What considerations should you keep in mind when choosing a name?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/403att/choosing_your_own_chinese_name_is_tough_some/

If you’re called a “Laowai,” is that bad?

The term 老外 （lǎo wài) refers to foreigners in China. Is it disrespectful or bad?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/401ovf/my_colleagues_refer_to_me_as_laowai_disrespectful/

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) Welcome to the latest Mandarin Weekly, with yet more links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

Please tell your Chinese teachers, fellow students, and others about this free resource.

To receive Mandarin Weekly in your e-mail inbox every Monday, just use the subscription box on the left side at MandarinWeekly.com. Or follow us on Twitter, at @MandarinWeekly!

Tones are not optional

You know, tones are those things that you kinda sorta remember to tack on when you’re speaking Chinese, right? Well, they shouldn’t be; they are as important to the correct pronunciation, and thus to people understanding you, as vowels, Olle Linge argues in this posting:

http://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-tones-in-mandarin-is-not-optional/

Twitter: @HackingChinese

Tone changes

Now that you’ve learned (or been reminded) that tones aren’t optional, enjoy this video from LearnChineseNow, which not only introduces the tones, but how they interact with one another:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9tk-owBn4I

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

The mouth radical

Noticing the mouth radical in many characters can help to provide its meaning. Oksana from DigMandarin provides some examples and explanations:

http://www.digmandarin.com/chinese-characters-containing-the-radical-kou.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

English phrases in Chinese

Chinese isn’t known for bringing in many words and phrases from English, but there are some. In this article, we learn about some such phrases and their possible origins:

http://www.echineselearning.com/blog/the-secret-to-speaking-chinese-easily-phrases-adopted-from-english

Twitter: @ECLSchool

Improve your Chinese, with Netflix!

Want to improve your Chinese? This article provides instructions for how to use Netflix to improve your Chinese, along with some suggested Chinese movees:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2015/12/29/chinese-movies-netflix/

Twitter: @FluentU

No wonder!

SpeakUpChinese describes how you can say “no wonder!” in Chinese, in two different forms:

http://speakupchinese.tumblr.com/post/136337823691/%E9%9A%BE%E6%80%AA-%E6%80%AA%E4%B8%8D%E5%BE%97-2-ways-to-say-no-wonder-in-mandarin

Twitter: @SpeakUpChinese

Set your goals for 2016

Planning to improve your Chinese in 2016? (If not, then why are you reading this?!?) You should try to set some goals for the year, and then for each month, as described by Hollie from Written Chinese:

http://www.writtenchinese.com/set-chinese-learning-goals-succeed-2016/

Twitter: @WrittenChinese

Happy New Year!

Happy 2016! It might be a smidgen late, but here are phrases having to do with the new year, both in general and how it’s celebrated in China:

http://learneverydaychinese.com/2015/12/new-year-is-coming-did-you-know-how-to-say-these-in-chinese/

Twitter: @learnchinese88

New Year blessings

Here are some more phrases for the start of 2016, emphasizing the blessings and best wishes you can give to people in Chinese:

http://chinese-at-ease.com/learn-chinese-online-happy-new-year-greetings-and-sayings/

Twitter: @ChineseAtEase

The Little Mermaid

The classic children’s story, in Chinese (spoken, with characters and pinyin) to help you improve your listening:

http://chinese-at-ease.com/learn-chinese-online-the-little-mermaid/

Twitter: @ChineseAtEase

Body parts

Here are some basic body parts that you should probably know in Chinese, along with the characters and some basic explanations for why they (might) look like they do:

http://www.digmandarin.com/chinese-characters-about-body-parts.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Another one

When should you use 另外 (lìng wài), and when should you use 另 (lìng)? The distinction is made clear in this article from DigMandarin:

http://www.digmandarin.com/how-to-tell-ling-wai-and-ling-apart.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Are new characters created?

If Chinese needs a new word, is a new character created for it? Or are existing characters combined to form that new word? Or both? A short, but interesting, discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Chinese/comments/3z6ol2/are_new_hanzis_still_created_regularly/

Correct tone for 为 (wei)

Is it 2nd tone, or 4th? The answer is that it’s both, with different meanings:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/50578-problems-with-%E4%B8%BA/

Who decides on the sounds of characters?

Who decides on such things? The answers here are complex, but interesting:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/3yo5zp/who_decided_how_characters_are_read/

The school bus is coming

What verb ending is appropriate to translate this idea into Chinese? The discussion here is good for anyone who is confused between 过 (guò) and 着 (zhe).

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16868/why-%E6%A0%A1%E8%BD%A6%E6%9D%A5%E4%BA%86-not-%E6%A0%A1%E8%BD%A6%E6%9D%A5%E7%9D%80-and-%E6%A0%A1%E8%BD%A6%E6%AD%A3%E6%9D%A5

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) Welcome to the latest Mandarin Weekly, with yet more links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

Please tell your Chinese teachers, fellow students, and others about this free resource.

To receive Mandarin Weekly in your e-mail inbox every Monday, just use the subscription box on the left side at MandarinWeekly.com. Or follow us on Twitter, at @MandarinWeekly!

Must-know verbs

A great video from ChineseClass101 with 25 verbs (and related vocabulary) you should know in Chinese:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsT_yxXx60c

Twitter: @chineseclass101

Verb differences

In English, we “do” homework, but in Chinese, we “write” homework. Different languages use different verbs to express the same action; here is a list of some such verbs that you should know in Chinese:

http://www.digmandarin.com/basic-verbs-that-are-different-in-chinese-and-english-part-ii.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Yes and no in Chinese

How do you say “yes” and “no” in Chinese? The answer is a bit more complex than you might think:

http://www.onlinechineselearning.com/resource/how-to-say-yes-and-no-in-chinese.html

Are there shortcuts?

We all want to learn Chinese faster. But are there any shortcuts that can truly cut time off of the learning experience?

http://www.hackingchinese.com/are-there-any-shortcuts-for-learning-chinese/

Twitter: @HackingChinese

Character bites

Chris, from Fluent in Mandarin, is back with two more characters:

• http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-33/
• http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-34/

Twitter: @Fluent_Mandarin

December holiday vocabulary

Are you celebrating one or more holidays this December? Then this handy guide will tell you how to describe them in Chinese:

http://www.writtenchinese.com/how-to-say-merry-christmas-in-chinese-and-other-winter-holiday-vocabulary/

Twitter: @WrittenChinese

Christmas in China

How do people celebrate Christmas in China? Here are some vocabulary words (along with nice pictures):

http://hellochineseapp.blogspot.co.il/2015/12/what-you-need-to-know-before.html

Twitter: @HelloChineseApp

Yet more Christmas vocabulary

This video from LearnChineseNow introduces a number of useful Christmas-related vocabulary words:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiTtmGWXdB4

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

Demeaning Chinese nicknames

Would you ever call your child a dog? Or your wife a poorly-dressed woman? Probably not, but it seems that there’s a long-standing tradition of demeaning nicknames in China, documented and described in this article (which is full of related vocabulary):

http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2015/12/humility-or-insult-take-your-pick/

Twitter: @WorldOfChinese

Small shoes

If you’re shopping for shoes in Beijing, and you have big feet, don’t be surprised if you have a hard time! This article really spoke to me; I had terrible problems finding size 46 shoes in Beijing:

http://www.learnchinesechina.com/site-content/40-blog/1667-big-feet-in-beijing#.VoDfaxg2sVc

Chinese is easier than you think

Chinese has a reputation for being very difficult to learn. Is this true? At least one person things that it isn’t:

http://tysongibb.net/?p=360

Twitter: @TysonGibb

The shortest route

A short story in Chinese, read aloud with characters and pinyin for you to read, as well:

http://chinese-at-ease.com/learn-chinese-online-the-shortest-route-may-not-be-the-quickest/

Twitter: @ChineseAtEase

Improving your Chinese handwriting

Want your handwriting in Chinese to improve? Here is a roundup of the various apps and guides you can use to make it more accurate and neater:

http://www.digmandarin.com/the-best-resources-to-improve-your-chinese-handwriting.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

When can you read a newspaper?

If you have passed HSK4, does that mean you can read a newspaper Maybe, but not necessarily. Here are some experiences, along with advice, from other advanced learners:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/3yfnpc/halfway_through_the_hsk_4_vocabulary_list_yet/

Measuring accidents

The word 事故 (shì gù) means“accident.” But what measure word goes with it? The answer is a bit more complicated than you might think:

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E4%BA%8B%E6%95%85-classifier.3115208/

The 是。。。的 （shì … de) construct

This common construct in Mandarin allows us to emphasize when, where, or how something was done, as described in this discussion:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16823/what-is-the-function-of-%E6%98%AF-in-this-sentence-%E4%BD%A0%E6%98%AF%E6%80%8E%E4%B9%88%E5%AD%A6%E4%B9%A0%E8%8B%B1%E8%AF%AD%E7%9A%84

The 起来 (qǐ lái) construct

In this discussion, someone asks about 起来 following a verb, which results in an interesting discussion regarding its use:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16808/what-does-%E8%BF%99%E4%B8%AA%E4%B9%A6%E5%8C%85%E7%9C%8B%E8%B5%B7%E6%9D%A5%E4%B8%8D%E5%A4%A7-mean

“Who” as a relative pronoun

In English, we can use “who” not only when asking questions, but also in phrases, such as “the woman who was eating that ice cream cone.” How do we do that in Chinese, and do we use the word 谁 (shéi) to do so?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16796/%E8%B0%81-as-relative-pronoun

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) Welcome to the latest Mandarin Weekly, with yet more links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

Please tell your Chinese teachers, fellow students, and others about this free resource.

To receive Mandarin Weekly in your e-mail inbox every Monday, just use the subscription box on the left side at MandarinWeekly.com. Or follow us on Twitter, at @MandarinWeekly!

Improve your Chinese with Decipher Chinese and The Chairman’s Bao

In this posting on About Mandarin, Olle Linge describes two resources for improving your Chinese — The Chairman’s Bao and Decipher Chinese:

http://mandarin.about.com/od/readingmandarin/fl/Decipher-Chinese.htm

http://mandarin.about.com/od/readingmandarin/fl/The-Chairmans-Bao.htm

Another review of The Chairman’s Bao

It would seem to be review season in the Chinese world, with Chinese Musings also chiming in with a (very positive) review of The Chairman’s Bao:

http://chinesemusings.com/review-of-the-chairmans-bao-articles-written-in-simple-chinese/

Winter activities in China

In the winter, where can you go and what can you do? This article from ChinesePod describes (with charactres and pinyin) some of the uniquely winter activities you can enjoy:

https://chinesepod.com/blog/7-ways-to-take-advantage-of-china-in-the-wintertime/

Twitter: @ChinesePod

Winter activities vocabulary list

Once you have read the above liste of activities you can do in winter, read through this fuller list (with fewer explanations) of other winter activities and clothing:

http://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/chinese-winter-vocabulary/

Twitter: @ChineseLanguage

Topic-first sentences

Topic-first sentences are a standard structure in Chinese, and one that’s worth getting used to, as described by Julie on the Yoyo Chinese blog:

http://www.yoyochinese.com/blog/a-common-chinese-sentence-pattern-explained?utm_source=share&utm_medium=reddit.com&utm_campaign=12-16-15-topic-comment-structure

Twitter: @YoYoChinese

Four useful measure words

You can just use 个 (ge) for everything, but try to make your measure words more accurate, for a variety of reasons. This article introduces four that are especially useful:

http://www.digmandarin.com/4-common-chinese-measure-words.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Do you really need measure words?

This article asks if (and why) we even need measure words, and introduces some slangy combinations for two and three:

http://hellochineseapp.blogspot.com/2015/12/secret-of-measure-words-do-i-really.html

Identifying radicals for easier reading

If there’s one topic in reading Chinese that we discuss non-stop, it’s the importance of identifying radicals. In this post from DigMandarin, we see a few characters with and without the speech 讠(yán) radical, which means a character has to do with speaking:

http://www.digmandarin.com/recognize-chinese-characters-by-radicals.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

The 25 most important nouns

What nouns should you learn first? This list, from ChineseClass101.com, is a good starting point:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Z8MqdEXsw

Twitter: @chineseclass101

Star Wars quotes (in Chinese)

Lots of Chinese-related sites have been running Star Wars vocabulary over the last week. In this post, Learn Every Day Chinese provides us with translations of some of the most famous quotes from Star Wars:

http://learneverydaychinese.com/2015/12/everything-star-wars-in-chinese/

Twitter: @learnchinese88

Using 就 (jiù)

Chris from Fluent in Mandarin provides another “character bite” — this time with 就, a character with many meanings and uses:

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-32-how-to-use-jiu/

Twitter: @Fluent_Mandarin

Hacking Chinese: The book and course

Olle Linge, famous to many Chinese learners for his “Hacking Chinese” blog (among others), has released a book and video course aimed at people who want to improve their Chinese, but even more so want to get better tools for improving their Chinese:

http://www.hackingchinese.com/launching-hacking-chinese-a-practical-guide-to-learning-mandarin/

Twitter: @HackingChinese

Oh, my goodness!

How can you express that in Chinese? How about “Oh, my mother!” An introduction to this phrase, with many examples:

http://www.echineselearning.com/blog/oh-my-god-so-thats-what-wode-ma-ya-means

Twitter: @ECLSchool

Moving between simplified and traditional characters

It’s often said that you can always move from one character set to another, but how true is that, and what limitations might there be?

http://blog2.skritter.com/2015/12/simplified-and-traditional-chinese.html

Buying a computer

Get some listening practice from ChineseClass101.com, with a short story and question about buying a computer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXn5n2mWke0

Twitter: @chineseclass101

Christmas vocabulary in Chinese

China doesn’t really celebrate Christmas, but you can see decorations and hear the songs all over. (I know this, as I’m writing from Beijing right now…) What are some vocabulary and other Christmas-related items in Chinese? FluentU provides a healthy sample:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2015/12/14/chinese-christmas-traditions/

Twitter: @FluentU

Creating a Chinese font

You think that reading and writing Chinese is hard? How about creating a font that can support all of the characters? This isn’t directly related to learning Chinese, but will probably give you some perspective on how tools to support the language are created:

http://qz.com/522079/the-long-incredibly-tortuous-and-fascinating-process-of-creating-a-chinese-font/

Superhero names in Chinese

If Star Wars translations aren’t enough, how about this list of superhero names in Chinese, brought to you by Master of Mandarin:

https://masterofmandarin.wordpress.com/2015/12/20/captain-american-started-to-learn-chinese%E7%BE%8E%E5%9B%BD%E9%98%9F%E9%95%BF%E5%BC%80%E5%A7%8B%E5%AD%A6%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD%EF%BC%81/

Twitter: @MasterofM2015

Enough to drink?

How can you say (or ask) whether one bottle of wine is enough? A short discussion and clarification of this topic:

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E4%B8%80%E7%93%B6%E9%85%92%E4%B8%8D%E5%A4%9F-%E6%88%91%E4%BB%AC-%E5%96%9D.3113260/

Act casual

Can we use 随便 (suí biàn) to mean “casual,” in the sense of dress for a party?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16762/how-do-you-say-an-event-will-be-casual

Struggling with tones?

You’re not alone, if you’re having problems hearing and/or remembering and/or saying tones. Some advice and suggestions from other Chinese learners:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Chinese/comments/3wzz50/struggling_with_tones/

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) Welcome to the latest Mandarin Weekly, with yet more links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

Please tell your Chinese teachers, fellow students, and others about this free resource.

To receive Mandarin Weekly in your e-mail inbox every Monday, just use the subscription box on the left side at MandarinWeekly.com. Or follow us on Twitter, at @MandarinWeekly!

Types of Chinese characters

Reading Chinese requires work, for sure. But once you understand the structure of the characters, learning new ones (and understanding even those you don’t yet know how to read) is simpler than you might think, as explained by Anna from FluentU:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2015/12/09/learn-to-read-chinese/

Twitter: @FluentU

Hair, hair everywhere

This amusing (and useful!) video from ChinesePod gives you the vocabulary you need to talk about all of the hair on your body. Yes, all of your hair, even the stuff we generally don’t discuss:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CUESNV4hzM

Twitter: @ChinesePod

Why doesn’t Chinese have an alphabet?

In this insightful article that you can show to your friends who aren’t learning Chinese (or to yourself, when you’re struggling to learn characters), Chris from Fluent in Mandarin describes why Chinese doesn’t have an alphabet, and why this isn’t necessarily a bad thing:

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/why-didnt-chinese-switch-to-using-an-alphabet/

Twitter: @Fluent_Mandarin

Location, location, location

Chinese lets us add prepositions to many words, to indicate a location relative to that word. Oksana from Dig Mandarin provides a number of examples, along with an explanation:

http://www.digmandarin.com/all-about-location-words.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Winter solstice words

Going to be in China on the winter solstice? (I will!) Here are some phrases you can use on that day (and in this season), including special foods eaten at this time of year:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2015/12/07/chinese-winter-solstice/

Twitter: @FluentU

Big and little

http://mandarin.about.com/od/characterprofiles/fl/Xiao-small-Chinese-character-profile.htm

http://mandarin.about.com/od/characterprofiles/fl/Da-big-Chinese-character-profile.htm

Chinese characters bites

Chris from Fluent in Mandarin is back with even more short takes on Chinese characters. This time, he’s looking at 时, 年, and 得:

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-29/

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-30/

http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-character-bites-31/

Twitter: @Fluent_Mandarin

Tone trainer

You can (and should) train yourself to hear the tones in Chinese. But how, short of spending lots of time with an instructor? Written Chinese offers a “tone trainer,” a program that you can use to try to identify tones:

http://www.writtenchinese.com/chinese-tone-trainer/

Twitter: @WrittenChinese

The “roof” radical

Another collection of characters from All About Chinese is out, this time with the 宀 (mián) radical, which means “roof,” and can be found in lots of characters:

http://allaboutchinese.tumblr.com/post/135030143552/allaboutchinese-all-about-chineses-radical

Chinese reading challenge

Olle Linge is back with another Hacking Chinese challenge. This time, read as much as possible:

http://www.hackingchinese.com/chinese-reading-challenge-december-10th-to-31st/

Twitter: @HackingChinese

Getting a drink

This short video from ChineseClass101 gives you some listening practice, with a short story and a question you need to answer. Can you answer it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8nHPnJAHt0

Twitter: @chineseclass101

Your schedule in Chinese

This article from Sasha at Transparent Language provides the days of the week, parts of the day, and even how to tell time in Chinese — and then a chart into which you can insert your schedule, by day and time:

http://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/your-weekly-schedule-in-chinese/

Twitter: @ChineseLanguage

Getting around in Beijing

How can you get aorund in Beijing? It’s easier than you might think (as I know from many visits to that city)! Here are some hints, as well as Chinese vocabulary words, you can use to get around:

http://www.learnchinesechina.com/site-content/40-blog/1665-getting-around-in-beijing-1665#.Vm3zt_HxY66

The four seasons

This short video from LearnChineseNow teaches the four seasons of the year in Chinese:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR5ebcee5tQ

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

Improve your listening skills

Are you finding it hard to understand Chinese when natives speak it? (Yeah — me, too!) Well, in this post at Sapore di Cina, Furio provides us with a number of recommended steps we can take to improve our comprehension:

http://www.saporedicina.com/english/how-to-improve-your-chinese-listening-skills/

Uncomfortable roots

We often like to find out the origins of Chinese characters. But what if the characters have origins that make us uneasy? A discussion, with many examples:

http://www.digmandarin.com/all-about-location-words.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Don’t make this mistake

Think that Chinese is tough? Ask the Chinese reporter who was fired for confusing two characters in an article:

http://laowaichinese.net/business-chinese-resigning-and-speech.htm

Asking questions

When I first started to learn Chinese, I was told to put 吗 (ma) at the end of a sentence, to turn it into a question. But of course, things are more complex than that; there are other question words, and they work differently:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16717/what-does-%E4%BD%A0%E8%A6%81%E4%B9%B0%E7%82%B9%E5%84%BF%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88-mean-exactly-%E5%90%97-question-vs-wh-question

I’m cold; you should put on a sweater

How can you tell someone to put on some more clothes, or thicker clothes, because of the cold weather?

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/50444-help-with-%E5%A4%9Adu%C5%8D-in-this-sentance/

The (Chinese) Force Awakens

Get some reading practice (and increase your nerd cred) by watching this Star Wars movie trailer with Chinese subtitles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn74KuHCPiI

Repeating words

When can we double a Chinese word, and how does the doubling changing the meaning?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16732/a-golden-rule-for-when-chinese-repeat-a-word-twice-x-twice-%E7%83%AD%E7%83%AD%E9%97%B9%E9%97%B9

Saying “the other”

There are several ways to say “other” in Chinese. This discussion points to the differences bewteen these dfiferent words:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16708/differences-%E5%88%AB%E7%9A%84-vs-%E5%85%B6%E4%BB%96-vs-%E5%8F%A6%E5%A4%96-other

Writing a paper

Writing a paper for class? Here’s how you can say that, and other written school assignments, in Chinese:

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/paper-essay-thesis.3109904/

Well…

In English, we often use “well” as a filler word. What is the Chinese equivalent?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/3wqyhb/is_there_an_chinese_equivalent_to_the_english/

Using 的 with a verb

In some cases, we use 的 (de) not to indicate possession, but rather to turn a verb into a noun, which we can then reference. In interesting discussion about a small word:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16700/what-role-does-%E7%9A%84-play-in-the-sentence-%E6%88%91%E4%B8%8D%E6%98%8E%E7%99%BD%E4%BD%A0%E5%88%9A%E8%AF%B4%E7%9A%84%E7%AC%AC%E4%B8%80%E5%8F%A5%E8%AF%9D