This is Mandarin Weekly #160, a free newsletter read by more than 21,000 students of Chinese around the world.
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Adverbs with 然 (rán) Intermediate Grammar
The character 然, when connected to another character, provides with a number of adverbs whose meanings are easy to understand, but hard to translate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nhgIjFirIk
Twitter: @ChinesePod
Not again! Intermediate Grammar Video
Are you doing something again? Then you can use this useful and common grammar pattern:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2EN5E_fT04
Twitter: @ECLSchool
Why should kids learn Chinese? All Learning
Lots of adults are learning Chinese, but so are many children. Why? And why is that a great thing for them? Here are some reasons:
https://www.writtenchinese.com/6-reason-why-your-kids-should-be-learning-chinese/
Twitter: @WrittenChinese
Language or dialect? All Culture
There are many forms of Chinese, such as Cantonese. But should we consider Cantonese to be an independent (but related) language to Mandarin? Or is it a dialect of Chinese? This article describes some of the considerations, and the ongoing debate:
https://chinachannel.org/2018/02/06/language-or-dialect/
Twitter: @larbchina
Spring Festival vocabulary Intermediate Culture Vocabulary
It’s Chinese New Year, aka the Spring Festival! That means it’s time to dust off your festival vocabulary and use it with your Chinese friends. Here are some terms and customs to get you started:
https://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/chinese-vocabulary-for-spring-festival/
Twitter: @ChineseLanguage
Improve your vocabulary All Learning
What are some good techniques for improving your Chinese vocabulary?
http://www.chinese-breeze.com/my-personal-method-for-learning-chinese/
Tallying with Chinese Beginner Culture Characters
How do people in China tally things? They use the character 正 (zhèng), which has five strokes, as described here:
https://www.digmandarin.com/chinese-tally-mark.html
Twitter: @DigMandarin
Chinese documentaries Advanced Reviews Video
Want to improve your Chinese and your knowledge of China? Here are some documentaries you can watch four double learning:
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/chinese/2018/02/05/chinese-language-documentary/
Twitter: @FluentU
Unicycle or anatomy? All Learning
Is learning Chinese closer to learning anatomy, or to riding a unicycle? This post analyzes the different types of learning involved, and compares them with learning Chinese:
http://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-to-unicycle-learning-anatomy-and-learning-chinese/
Twitter: @HackingChinese
What do you know? Intermediate Vocabulary
There are three types of “knowing” in Chinese, and you should, well, know the difference between them:
https://themandarincornerblog.com/2018/02/04/so-you-think-you-know-this-chinese-word/
Don’t plastic me! Advanced Expressions
Young people in Taiwan have recently been using a new expression: Don’t plastic me can mean, “Don’t ignore me,” among other things:
https://medium.com/@twannotation/%E4%B9%9D%E5%B9%B4%E7%B4%9A%E7%94%9F%E7%9A%84%E5%90%B6%E5%96%8A-%E5%88%A5%E5%A1%91%E8%86%A0%E6%88%91-42eed0d9554c
Old phones Beginner Story
Have an old cellphone? Then you’ll sympathize with this story:
http://www.imandarinpod.com/hoola/index.php/podcasts/14-2009-12-02-23-37-05/3066-2018-02-06-02-42-02
Twitter: @imandarinpod
Migrant workers Advanced Story
What do you think about migrant workers? Here is a short story and discussion of the topic:
http://www.imandarinpod.com/hoola/index.php/podcasts/16-2009-12-02-23-37-52/3068-2018-02-08-10-41-51
Twitter: @imandarinpod
Something familiar Beginner Grammar
Do you know something well, then you should really learn this verb:
https://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/get-familiar-with-the-chinese-verb-%e7%86%9f%e6%82%89/
Twitter: @ChineseLanguage
Planning ahead Intermediate Vocabulary
Do you plan ahead? If so, then you might want to know the differences between several words that have to with planning and arranging:
https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/28740/difference-between-%e6%89%93%e7%ae%97-%e5%ae%89%e6%8e%92-and-%e8%ae%a1%e5%88%92
Changes Intermediate Vocabulary
How can you talk about change in Chinese? The words 变化 (biàn huà) and 改变 (gǎi biàn) aren’t quite the same, are they?
https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/28739/as-nouns-is-there-any-difference-between-%e5%8f%98%e5%8c%96-and-%e6%94%b9%e5%8f%98
Parentheses Advanced Grammar
How do you say “parentheses” in Chinese, and why are there multiple terms for them?
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E6%8B%AC%E5%BC%A7-%E6%8B%AC%E5%8F%B7.3422821/
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