Month: July 2016

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) This is Mandarin Weekly #80, links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

If you enjoy Mandarin Weekly, please share it with your fellow students of Chinese, and with your teacher! This newsletter will always be completely free of charge.

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Tour words

Want to learn some basic words for touring around China? Here is a short video with some of the basics:

https://www.chineseclass101.com/2016/07/21/chinese-words-of-the-week-with-yinru-for-intermediate-learners-17-tourism/

Twitter: @chineseclass101

A day in the park

One of my favorite activities when traveling in China is to go to a public park: Not only are older people often dancing or singing, but it’s generally a quiet, green space with relatively few people. Here are some great words to describe public parks, and what people do there:

http://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/a-day-in-the-park/

Twitter: @ChineseLanguage

5 ways to say “cannot”

How do you say “I cannot”? Chinese have five ways, as we see here in the latest video from chelseabubbly.wordpress.com:

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

Twitter: @Chelseabubbly

Using 多 as “multi-“

The word 多 can be used in a few ways, but one of them is analogous to the “multi-” prefix in English, as these examples show:

http://www.decodemandarinchinese.com/learn-better/formula-of-duo

Twitter: @DecodeChinese

Getting help from strangers

Lost in China? You might need to ask someone for help. How can you do that in Chinese?

http://www.digmandarin.com/get-help-from-strangers-in-china.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Chinese math

How do you express different mathematical ideas in Chinese? This vocabulary list is particularly useful for those of us in the sciences and engineering:

http://allaboutchinese.tumblr.com/post/147881359940/allaboutchinese-%E6%95%B0%E5%AD%A6%E7%AC%A6%E5%8F%B7%E8%A1%A8-mathematical-symbols

How many?

How do you use 几 (jǐ) to ask number-related questions? This video from EChineseLearning.com offers many examples, and then a quiz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A07fitHavI

Twitter: @ECLSchool

Big bike crash

What can we learn from a huge pedestrian-bicycle accident in China? Some vocabulary, as well as some street-crossing skills, as we hear from LearnChineseNow.com:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3dLOKiNOFs

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

Classic novels

There are four classic Chinese-language novels, whose content and language permeate the language to the present day. LearnChineseNow.com provides us with some background and vocabulary from these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGe0wtjgak0

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

Wedding etiquette

Invited to a Chinese wedding? Great! What should you do when you’re there, and what can you expect? This article will tell you:

https://www.writtenchinese.com/the-6-etiquettes-of-a-traditional-chinese-wedding-ceremony/

Twitter: @WrittenChinese

How do you practice?

All of us (presumably) practice our Chinese, even when not in class. But are you practicing the right way? This post not only suggests how to practice, but also how to identify where you’re weakest, and thus get the biggest bang for the buck:

http://www.hackingchinese.com/are-you-practising-chinese-the-right-way/

Twitter: @HackingChinese

Short story

Read (or listen to) this short story in Chinese, with characters and pinyin:

http://chinese-at-ease.com/learn-chinese-story-online-a-story-about-a-little-village/

Twitter: @ChineseAtEase

One ringy dingy

Want to use the phone in Chinese? Here are some phrases you can use to make and receive calls:

http://mandarinhq.com/2016/07/8-common-phrases-phone-calls-mandarin-chinese/

Twitter: @MandarinHQ

Books

Want to describe different types of reading materials in Chinese? Here is a short, helpful vocabulary list:

http://allaboutchinese.tumblr.com/post/147558332168/allaboutchinese-%E4%B9%A6-books

Beijing summer must-haves

In Beijing for the summer? You’re probably hot. Here are some must-have items for a Beijing summer — in Chinese, of course:

http://blog.hellochinese.cc/2016/07/19/5-things-must-summer-beijing/

Twitter: @HelloChineseApp

Popular Chinese apps

Want to use your phone like people in China do? Here are some apps that are super-popular there, which you might want to install on your phone:

http://www.duchinese.net/blog/36-ten-popular-apps-the-chinese-use-part-1

Twitter: @DuChinese

Using 把

The 把 (bǎ) character is used in a grammar pattern that many Westerners find hard to understand and use. Here are some tips for internalizing its use:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/4uchq8/when_to_use_%E6%8A%8A/

Simplified 只 is lots of traditional characters

If you’re learning simplified characters, then you’ll find that 只 is used in place of several different traditional ones. Here is a description of how that happened, and when to use them:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19611/why-so-many-variations-for-traditional-%e5%8f%aa-zh%c7%90-%e8%a1%b9-%e7%a5%87-%e7%a7%96-%e9%9a%bb

Radical rooms

The radical for 屋 (wū) is a bit surprising, as described here:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19607/should-%e5%b1%8b-and-%e5%b1%85-use-radical-%e6%88%b7-instead-of-%e5%b0%b8

Radical animals

Why do some animals’ characters lack the animal radical (犭)?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19588/why-do-some-chinese-characters-for-animals-not-use-the-radical-%e7%8a%ad

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) This is Mandarin Weekly #79, links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

If you enjoy Mandarin Weekly, please share it with your fellow students of Chinese, and with your teacher! This newsletter will always be completely free of charge.

To receive Mandarin Weekly in your e-mail inbox every Monday, just use the 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.

Chinese pronouns

Pronouns are such a part of our everyday conversation, it’s easy to forget how important they are. In this post, we learn about pronouns in Chinese, including in questions:

https://www.writtenchinese.com/you-me-this-that-pronouns-in-chinese/

Twitter: @WrittenChinese

Spit it out!

Is someone hesitating, or unable to tell you what they really think? Here’s a great video from ChinesePod.com, teaching you a useful phrase (吞吞吐吐, or tūn tūn tǔ tǔ):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXQT8FF32V0

Twitter: @ChinesePod

Using 那个 like a native

那个 (nà ge) means “that,” but it can be used in a variety of other ways to make your Chinese sound more fluent. Here are some examples:

http://www.duchinese.net/blog/35-usages-of-not-found-in-textbooks

Twitter: @DuChinese

Bad friends

Don’t like the company someone is keeping? You can describe the friends as 狐朋狗友 (hú péng gǒu yǒu):

http://www.e-putonghua.com/zone/index.php/2016/07/11/slang-hu-peng-gou-you/

Two kinds of “we”

The word 咱们 (zá men) is a way of saying “we,” including the person with whom you’re speaking. It’s only used in northern China, but can help you to understand what a northerner is saying:

https://themandarincornerblog.com/2014/08/11/i-and-we-in-china/

Just passing through

The character 过 (guò) means to “pass,” but can be used along with other characters to create a variety of words:

http://www.digmandarin.com/passing-through-in-mandarin.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Days

How do we talk about days in Chinese? (That is, today vs. tomorrow, vs. many other options.) LearnChineseNow.com has a short video on the subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akFeB0cWiuM

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

Avoiding an answer

Don’t want to answer a question? Here are some ways to hedge your response, providing you with some ambiguous cover:

http://chinesefor.us/how-to-say-no-comment-in-chinese-politely/

Twitter: @chinese4us

Using native textbooks

It might seem like a great idea to improve your Chinese by reading textbooks for Chinese children. There are good and bad sides to this, as described here:

http://www.hackingchinese.com/benefits-using-%e8%af%ad%e6%96%87%e5%9c%8b%e6%96%87-textbooks-learn-chinese/

Twitter: @HackingChinese

Apps for learning

Most Chinese learners seem to use a few apps to improve their vocabulary, reading, and general comprehension. Here is a roundup of such apps:

https://www.asianlanguageschool.com/8-best-apps-chinese-language-courses-2016/

Using 也 (yě) and 还 (hái)

These two characters have similar meanings, but are used in different contexts. Here is a (fairly exhaustive!) list of examples of when you might use each one:

http://answers.echineselearning.com/questions/2016-07/15/112234884LDXSAHLJ.html

Ordering street BBQ

When you’re in China, you can’t get away from the many stands selling food of various sorts. Here’s a dialogue that demonstrates how to order from such a stand:

http://mandarinhq.com/2016/07/ordering-street-barbecue-mandarin-chinese/

Twitter: @MandarinHQ

Fruit

A nice list of Chinese fruit, with pictures:

http://www.touchchinese.com/chinese-words/about-fruits-in-chinese.html

http://www.touchchinese.com/chinese-words/about-fruits-in-chinese-2.html

AP Chinese

Are you a US high school students planning to take the AP Chinese exam? Here is what to expect, as well as some hints on how to practice:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2016/07/13/ap-chinese-practice/

Twitter: @FluentU

Animals

Here is a short list (with rather cute drawings) of animals, with their Chinese names:

http://allaboutchinese.tumblr.com/post/147306292207/allaboutchinese-%E5%8A%A8%E7%89%A9-animal

Sing your vegetables

Here’s a short video, aimed at children, to learn the words for some vegetables in Chinese:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMt17QzA1Fo

Reading vs. seeing

There are several different ways to say “read” in Chinese; what’s the difference between them?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19579/what-is-the-difference-among-%e9%98%85%e8%af%bb-%e8%af%bb-and-%e7%9c%8b

Lending vs. borrowing

When do you use 借 （jiè） and when do you use 贷 (dài)? Don’t they both mean “borrow” or “lend”?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19544/difference-between-%e5%80%9f-and-%e8%b4%b7

Money money money

What’s the difference between saying 钱 (qián) and 金钱 (jīn qián)?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19556/what-is-the-difference-between-%e9%92%b1-and-%e9%87%91%e9%92%b1-and-%e6%ac%be

Life

The English word “life” has several meanings, which translate into different words in Chinese:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19541/difference-between-%e7%94%9f%e6%b4%bb-and-%e7%94%9f%e5%91%bd

Learning without studying

Many Chinese words for “learn” would seem to imply studying or practicing. What about learning just through life, over time?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19492/how-to-say-learn-without-involving-studying

Frequently confused characters

What characters are frequently confused? How do you distinguish between them?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/4sqay1/which_characters_do_you_often_confuse_with_each/

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) This is Mandarin Weekly #78, links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

If you enjoy Mandarin Weekly, please share it with your fellow students of Chinese, and with your teacher! This newsletter will always be completely free of charge.

To receive Mandarin Weekly in your e-mail inbox every Monday, just use the 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.

Using 在

The word 在 (zài) can be used in a variety of ways, to describe location. Here is a description of where to use it, and where you might make common mistakes:

https://www.writtenchinese.com/the-different-uses-of-zai-in-chinese/

Twitter: @WrittenChinese

The five Chinese elements

What are the traditional five elements in Chinese culture? LearnChineseNow.com provides us with insights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQN_H1LmI34

Twitter: @LearnChineseNow

Funny character associations

If you’re trying to remember characters, it’s often a good idea to make a silly or unusual association that’ll help you remember. Here are some examples:

http://www.digmandarin.com/block-headed-hula-girl-useful-silliness.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

I really have to go

How can you end a conversation in Chinese? Here are a few good ways to do so. Don’t get trapped in a conversation again!

http://mandarinhq.com/2016/07/5-ways-end-conversation-politely-mandarin-chinese/

Twitter: @MandarinHQ

Eating restrictions

When you’re in China, you might be expected to eat all sorts of things that you wouldn’t see in your own country. And even in your own country, you might have certain eating restrictions, for a vareity of reasons. How can you say, in Chinese, that your eating options are restricted?

http://chinesefor.us/eating-habits-in-chinese/

Twitter: @chinese4us

Paper vs. electronic dictionaries

What kind of dictionary should you use? And what brands are worth trying?

https://zhongruige.wordpress.com/2016/07/08/in-paper-versus-electric-dictionaries-electric-wins/

Twitter: @zhongruige

Little red card

Following the Euro 2016 soccer matches? Want to tell your Chinese friends who got a red card vs. a yellow card? Here’s a full soccer vocabulary list, to talk about the games with your friends:

http://chinesefor.us/soccer-words-in-chinese/

Twitter: @chinese4us

Using cartoons

Have you considered using cartoons to improve your Chinese? It can help you in a number of ways:

http://www.hackingchinese.com/accessing-chinese-culture-cartoons/

Twitter: @HackingChinese

Colors

Know your colors in Chinese! Here is a list of popular colors, along with a few example sentences to use:

http://nihaohello.blogspot.co.il/2016/07/learn-chinese-vocabulary-for-colours.html

Online dating

Looking for a date in China? Here are some mobile apps, used by Chinese, to find true love (or just a fun time):

https://chinesepod.com/blog/7-great-chinese-dating-apps/

Twitter: @ChinesePod

Spicing it up

Here are some basic seasonings that you can put on your food, or in your cooking, in Chinese:

http://www.touchchinese.com/chinese-words/about-seasonings.html

Adding the er

When must you add the “er” sound to words in Mandarin? Is it optional, or mandatory?

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E5%B0%8F%E5%AD%A9.3200208/

Origin of Russia’s name

Why do we call Russia 俄罗斯 (E luó sī) in Chinese?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19468/why-is-russia-translated-to-%e4%bf%84%e7%bd%97%e6%96%afe-luo-si

Hacker slang

If you’re a computer user who wants to learn some hacker (i.e., hard-core user) slang, where can you go? And is it even necessary?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Chinese/comments/4rlkyy/computerhacker_slang/

Saying “ice cream”

How do you pronounce 冰淇淋 (bīng qí lín), meaning “ice cream”?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/4r14m9/ice_cream/

Westerners speaking Chinese

Do Chinese people frequently encounter Westerners who speak Chinese?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/4r2ldj/is_it_still_rareunusualnovel_for_chinese_people/

Mortgage slave

What does it mean to be a “房奴” (fáng nú ), a “mortgage slave”?

http://answers.echineselearning.com/questions/2016-07/08/144506938DOPKZLGD.html

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) This is Mandarin Weekly #77, with links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

To receive Mandarin Weekly in your e-mail inbox every Monday, just use the 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.

Talking about characters

How can you describe Chinese characters in Chinese? This might seem like a trivial problem, but it’s not; given the large number of homophones, you often need to be able to distinguish between characters. This excellent article tells you how native Chinese do it, and how you can use these techniques in your own learning:

http://www.hackingchinese.com/talk-chinese-characters-chinese/

Twitter: @HackingChinese

Forming new words

Many newcomers to Chinese are surprised to find that characters can be words, but that many words require multiple characters. How are these characters combined to form new words? Here are some general rules and explanations, with many examples:

http://www.decodemandarinchinese.com/learn-better/how-is-a-word-formed-in-modern-chinese-ii

Twitter: @DecodeChinese

Confused characters

I’m at the point in my Chinese reading in which I know enough characters to mix them up. This useful (and long!) list brings together characters that many beginners confuse, putting them next to each other so that we can see and remember the differences:

http://carlgene.com/blog/2016/06/top-258-most-commonly-confused-chinese-characters/

Twitter: @carlfordham

Phonetic components

If you’re like me, you’re constantly encountering characters you’ve never seen before. Alphabetic languages tell you how to pronounce new words, but how can you do that with characters? These secret is the phonetic component, as described here:

https://ninchanese.com/blog/2016/06/29/chinese-character-phonetic-components/

Twitter: @ninchanese

Multiple subjects

If you want to talk about more than one subject, you should be using 都 (dōu). Here is a video from EChineseLearning demonstrating how to do it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIW-WjK6vm4

Twitter: @ECLSchool

Location words

Where are you now? Where are you going? Where are things located? Location words are needed to express many ideas. In this two-part series, you can learn all about how to express location in Chinese:

http://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/location-words-chinese-one/

Twitter: @ChineseLanguage

Location words

Where are you now? Where are you going? Where are things located? Location words are needed to express many ideas. In this two-part series, you can learn all about how to express location in Chinese:

http://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/location-words-in-chinese-part-two/

Twitter: @ChineseLanguage

Using 不但。。。而且

Want to express “not only X, but also Y”? You can do that in Chinese with 不但。。。而且, as demonstrated in this short video with a large number of examples:

http://chinesefor.us/chinese-sentence-structure-1601/

Twitter: @chinese4us

Using the phone

Have you ever made a phone call in Chinese? If not, here are some hints for how to start:

http://www.hanbridgemandarin.com/article/daily-chinese-learning-tips/how-to-make-and-answer-phone-calls-in-chinese/

Ordering takeout

Now that you can use the phone for basic Chinese conversations, how about making a takeout restaurant order?

http://www.learnchinesechina.com/site-content/40-blog/1740-how-to-order-food-delivery-in-china

Myths about characters

For many people studying Chinese, learning the characters is a challenge. There are so many! Maybe you should just use Pinyin (the Romanized script)? Here are some myths about characters that you might want to consider:

https://themandarincornerblog.com/2016/07/02/3-myths-about-chinese-characters/

Restaurant interview

Ever wonder what it’s like to work in a Chinese restaurant? Here’s a short interview, in Mandarin Chinese, with the Cantonese manager of a restaurant:

http://mandarinhq.com/2016/06/chat-with-a-cantonese-restaurant-manager/

Twitter: @MandarinHQ

Graduating?

This is the end of the academic year in much of the world, including in China. Here are some useful graduation-related words and phrases for you to use:

http://www.e-putonghua.com/zone/index.php/2016/06/29/new-words-collecting-graduation/

Tone colors

Pleco and many other Chinese dictionaries use colors to identify different tones. How and why should you do this, and how useful is it?

https://zhongruige.wordpress.com/2016/07/02/on-tone-colors/

Twitter: @zhongruige

Chinese tongue twisters

Every language has tongue twisters, but Chinese has some really great ones — in part, I’m sure, because so many of the sounds are similar. Here are some good ones to practice, or to get your (soon-to-be-former) friends to try:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2016/06/30/chinese-tongue-twisters/

Twitter: @FluentU

Popular Chinese dishes

Anyone who visits China quickly discovers that Western “Chinese food” is quite different from actual Chinese cuisine. Here are some popular Chinese dishes you might want to try when visiting:

http://www.echineselearning.com/blog/whats-your-dish-try-the-10-most-popular-in-china

Twitter: @ECLSchool

I need your opinion

Want to get someone’s opinion? How can you say that in Chinese? CrazyFreshChinese provides the answer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQL-X5fIOVI

Asking for forgiveness

How do you say “I’m sorry” in Chinese? There are actually many ways; this video contains 10 of them:

http://chinesefor.us/hts1601-say-sorry-chinese/

Twitter: @chinese4us

You’re so cow! (Huh?)

Want to tell someone how great they are in Chinese? A common phrase is to say they’re 太牛了 (tài niú le). Why are cows so great?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19364/where-did-the-phrase-%e5%a4%aa%e7%89%9b%e4%ba%86-come-from

It’s it true…

The phrase 难道 (nán dào) can be used to express surprise that something isn’t true:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19355/how-to-use-%e9%9a%be%e9%81%93-in-chinese-sentences

Beginnings and endings

How can you talk about the beginning of something, or the end of something? Some great examples that will come in handy:

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/19337/how-to-refer-to-beginning-middle-end-in-mandarin

Please correct me!

Speaking Chinese with a native, and want to ask them to correct your non-native language skills? Here’s how you can ask to be corrected:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/4qlosf/how_do_you_say_please_correct_me/