大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) This is Mandarin Weekly #94, with links and information for those of us learning Chinese.
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Advice and opinions
Intermediate How can you express your opinion in Chinese? There are many verbs and nouns, each of which expresses a slightly different idea. Here is a collection of such words, along with many examples of how and when to use them:
https://www.writtenchinese.com/what-do-you-think-giving-advice-sharing-opinions-in-chinese/
Twitter: @WrittenChinese
Passive voice
Intermediate Constructing passive sentences in Chinese typically uses the character 被 (bèi). Here are two introductions to this structure:
http://www.saporedicina.com/english/%e8%a2%ab-bei-passive-structures-chinese/
http://www.digmandarin.com/chinese-bei-structure.html
Twitter: @DigMandarin
Is that really helping?
Beginner One word can make a difference: 帮忙 (bāng máng) means to help. But 帮倒忙(bāng dào máng) means that your help is more problem than solution. This description is followed by a nice introduction to “help” in Chinese:
https://themandarincornerblog.com/2016/10/24/thanks-for-nothing/
Words fail me
Intermediate You know how sometimes people say things to you that are so shocking, stunning, or ridiculous that you’re at a loss for words? That happens in Chinese as well, and there’s a great phrase to express that:
Twitter: @Chelsea_bubbly
Doctor, doctor
Advanced China seems to be suffering from many cases of silly-name-condition-itis. In this humorous blog post, we find out about new “diseases” and “conditions” in modern China:
http://carlgene.com/blog/2016/10/random-trivia-12-interesting-conditions/
Twitter: @carlfordham
From comfortable to fluent
How do you move from comfortable use of Chinese in everyday conversations, to fluency? Olle Linge summarizes his Chinese-learning biography with suggestions for how you can achieve true fluency:
http://www.hackingchinese.com/how-i-learnt-chinese-part-7-teaching-writing-learning/
Twitter: @HackingChinese
Sounding more polite
Intermediate Want to take a rough, or commanding, edge off of your statements? Use 一下 (yī xià) after a verb, and you’ll sound more natural and friendly, as we learn in this video from LearnChineseNow.com:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0GMSQy7hnE
Twitter: @LearnChineseNow
Unexpected
Intermediate Did things turn out differently than you expected? A good phrase to know is 事与愿违 (shì yǔ yuàn wéi):
http://www.e-putonghua.com/zone/index.php/2016/10/30/idiom-12/
Twitter: @eputonghua
Measure word 包 (bāo)
Beginner A bundle. A packet. A sack. All of these terms, more or less, are covered by the measure word 包, which can be used in a variety of ways:
http://www.e-putonghua.com/zone/index.php/2016/10/29/measure-word-bao/
Twitter: @eputonghua
Chinese cinema
Want to improve your Chinese, or at least your knowledge of Chinese culture? Here is a list of must-see Chinese movies:
http://www.saporedicina.com/english/chinese-movies/
Radicals and stroke order
Beginner If you want to read Chinese well, then you’ll need to identify radicals (and non-radical components) in characters. This post introduces many popular characters and their radical forms, and also mentions stroke order:
https://www.asianlanguageschool.com/chinese-characters-radicals-stroke-order/
Twitter: @AlsSydney
Glossika review
Intermediate Many people learning Chinese, looking to further their education, turn to Glossika. Here is a review of Glossika’s Chinese lessons, with the pros and cons laid out clearly:
http://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/get-beyond-beginner-stage-language-review-glossika/
Twitter: @Fluent_Mandarin
Western food
Beginner If you’re in China, then you’re probably enjoying great Chinese food. But sometimes, you want to have some Western cuisine. How do you say your favorite Western foods in Chinese?
http://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/chinese-vocabulary-western-food/
Twitter: @ChineseLanguage
Why not just Pinyin?
Beginner When you first start to learn Chinese, you discover that you can read the language with characters (hard!) or Pinyin (much easier). So, why not just use Pinyin? Some ideas and resources on this subject:
https://chinesepod.com/blog/pinyin-just-isnt-enough/
Twitter: @ChinesePod
Using question words as pronouns
Beginner You can use “who,” “what,” and “how” words in Chinese (谁, 什么, and 怎么) as pronouns, or fillers, in your sentences, as described here:
Potay-to, Potah-to
Beginner How do you say “potato” in Chinese? There are two terms to know:
Characters vs. pinyin
Beginner Does wǔ mean “dance” or “five”? With Pinyin, it’s not so clear. But with characters, it is. But wait, what about when you’re speaking (or listening)? A discussion of two characters, pinyin, and learning to listen for context:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/599syd/noob_question_wu3_5_or_dance/
Non-simple zero
Beginner Characters for numbers are pretty simple. Why, then, is the character for zero (零) so complex?
https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/5949c9/why_didnt_%E9%9B%B6_get_simplified/
What does 子 do?
Beginner Many nouns consist of one character, followed by 子 （zi). What does this character do? Does it have any other uses?
https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/58zjdd/what_is_the_purpose_of_%E5%AD%90/
Also published on Medium.