Mandarin Weekly #162

This is Mandarin Weekly #162, a newsletter read by more than 21,000 students of Chinese around the world. Mandarin Weekly is sent to paying subscribers every Monday, and to everyone else every Thursday.

Customize Mandarin Weekly, getting only the links that are useful to you — and also get it before everyone else! Subscribe to Mandarin Weekly Plus for a one-time fee of $15. Subscriptions help to support the servers and software needed to keep Mandarin Weekly running.

Subscribe to Mandarin Weekly Plus!

Please take advantage of our list of discounts for students of Chinese.
To receive Mandarin Weekly, sign up at MandarinWeekly.com.
Every Thursday, we go up on Facebook, at http://facebook.com/MandarinWeekly, Medium, at http://medium.com/@mandarinweekly, and Twitter, at @MandarinWeekly. Please like, share, and retweet us!
Old links from previous issues of Mandarin Weekly are sent regularly to our Facebook and Twitter pages. Follow, share, and like these links that’ll boost your Chinese learning even further.
Do you sell products or services for students of Chinese? Sponsor an issue, or insert a sponsored link into an upcoming edition. More information is here, on the MandarinWeekly.com “advertising” page.

Sponsor: 森林湖 (Sēn Lín Hú) is looking for counselors and teachers!

森林湖 (Sēn Lín Hú) is a language and culture immersion program in Minnesota, teaching Chinese to youth for over 30 years. A program of Concordia College, 森林湖 is currently accepting employment applications for Summer 2018. We’re looking for motivated, energetic and proficient Chinese speakers who are interested to work as counselors and teachers. More than half of the staff is from China, so it’s a great way to develop your language skills, get teaching experience, and have an unforgettable summer. To learn more, please visit http://www.concordialanguagevillages.org/youth-languages/chinese-language-village . To apply, please go to https://hr.cord.edu/postings/4064.

Mind your tones! Beginner Pronunciation

We all know that tones are important in Chinese. Here are some great examples of how things can get difficult or embarrassing if you get them wrong, and why you should be careful:

https://blog.hutong-school.com/chinese-homophones/

Twitter: @hutongschool

Year of the Dog Beginner Story

It’s the Year of the Dog — so here is an appropriate story to start off the year:

http://www.imandarinpod.com/hoola/index.php/podcasts/13-2009-12-02-23-35-40/3076-2018-02-18-03-36-14

Twitter: @imandarinpod

Using 而 Intermediate Grammar Video

You can make your Chinese sound far more sophisticated and expressive if you use 而。 Here’s how to do so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAf9ocrOLyk

Lantern festival All Culture

The Chinese New Year has come and gone, but the Lantern Festival is coming soon. What is it, and how can you celebrate? Here’s some useful information:

https://www.misspandachinese.com/happy-lantern-festival-closing-out-chinese-new-year-celebrations-with-a-lantern/

Twitter: @MissPandaChines

You say it’s your brithday Intermediate Story

Birthdays are happy occasions (for most), but ancient Chinese birthdays weren’t celebrated in the same way at all, as this story relates:

http://www.imandarinpod.com/hoola/index.php/podcasts/13-2009-12-02-23-35-40/3077-2018-02-20-07-31-52

Twitter: @imandarinpod

Mastering a language All Learning

Want to learn a language (e.g., Chinese)? Here are some hints for how to do so effectively. It doesn’t mean you’ll have instant success, but it’ll be easier and more satisfying:

https://medium.com/@valeriacalp/10-things-you-need-to-do-if-you-want-to-master-a-foreign-language-f22e33045c7f

Audiobook resources Advanced Reviews

Listening comprehension is important (and hard) when learning Chinese. Here are some resources you can use to improve your understanding of the spoken language:

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/chinese/2018/02/21/chinese-audiobooks-2/

Twitter: @FluentU

No tenses? Intermediate Grammar

If Chinese doesn’t have tenses, then how can you express things that happen in the past, present, and future? An explanation of how Chinese express time without tenses:

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/chinese/2018/02/21/chinese-audiobooks-2/

Twitter: @FluentU

Chinese picture books Beginner Reviews

Are you helping your children to learn Chinese? Then you might want to look at these picture books:

https://www.digmandarin.com/best-chinese-picture-books-kids.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

Big language learning mistakes All Learning

This article describes the author’s “biggest” mistake he made during 2017, regarding language learning. Learn and avoid it, too:

https://blog.glossika.com/the-biggest-language-learning-mistake-i-made-in-2017/

Guess the Chinese word Beginner Vocabulary

Many words in Chinese are (more or less) descriptions of what they’re describing. Here are a number of such words; see if you can understand the meaning without looking it up:

https://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/guess-the-chinese-word/

Twitter: @ChineseLanguage