Tag: Mandarin

When I was at university, I decided to take up Mandarin classes in my third and fourth year. By the time I graduated, I had three semesters under my belt and wanted to continue. At first, I tried to practice Mandarin where I could — at Chinese restaurants, by seeking Chinese speakers in my ...

It was March 1984. Someone had brought green tea for the nine of us. We all were genuinely excited. Not so much about the tea, rather that we finally would learn how they actually spoke nowadays. Two of our classmates already had dropped out. They found the classics in the previous semester exceedin...

I’m going to teach you some basic mandarin here. Before we start, I’d suggest you learn how to spell it. Try to google “Pinyin”. It’s actually how people living in China or people coming from other country spells. In Taiwan, “Zhuyin” is the first priority...

My first goal was simple and attainable so that I wouldn’t get overwhelmed and eventually do a bunch of nothing. I also mixed ways to incorporate Cantonese into my life, similar to the way English is, like news, media, and daily life. I was starting to get concerned at how empty my ticks lo...

I met some students who just arrived in Taiwan. They had a specific purpose, which was to learn basic conversation in Chinese, for example, using Mandarin to buy food and have small talk to their Taiwanese friends. Some of my students told me s/he wants to get a job in the future so s/he made the ef...

Hello, language learners! As a Mandarin Chinese teacher, I’ve guided many students through the fascinating journey of learning this beautiful language. One of the unique aspects of Mandarin that often poses a challenge for learners is its tonal system. But fear not! With the right approach ...

In these quarantine days I have become very enamored of my morning walk. I do slow laps around the cul-de-sacs, dodging joggers and strollers from a six foot distance, taking deep breaths of that Florida smell—biomass, car juices, jasmine. You can laugh at me for being an old person, but I&rsq...

If you were able to chew the mandarin seed and turn it like an applesauce consistency (fluid-like consistency) before you swallow it, it will be absorb in your gut and you get the nutrient. But if you swallow it directly without chewing, you will excrete it from your body as u...

In Malaysia, language is often politicised, and among the Chinese diaspora, it is no different. Malaysian Chinese folks are divided into “English-educated*” and “Chinese-educated” groups. (* English-educated can also mean that you went to a Malaysian national school, where...

In 2023, Mandarin is the second most spoken language worldwide. As we know, Republic of China has become a country with highest population in the world with 1, 4 billion population which justifies the statistic above. Also, China aggressive expansion & rapid development may take part in spreadin...

Fresh Ponkan is a citrus fruit that is oval in shape and has a smooth, thin skin. It is a hybrid of two other citrus fruits: the mandarin and the pomelo. Ponkan is a winter fruit that is typically harvested between November and January. Ponkan is an excellent source of vitamin C, potassium, ...

One of my personal ‘bucket list’ goals of learning was learning basic Mandarin, and during 2020 I finally found the time to make it happen. Here’s a few resources I really liked to help you get started on learning! Disclaimer — I am very much a BEGINNER in Mandar...

I have found some amazing resources for learning Mandarin in the past couple years, and recently even more. Here are some of my favorites. Mandarin Companion Readers Chapter books designed for those learning Mandarin. I recommend buying these books in print form. They are about $12 each on Amazo...

Mandarin is the fruit that can be imported all-year-round from Europe, Africa, and Latin America. In Europe, Spain and Italy are the main producers. Spanish Mandarins ripe in fall, from September to May. Italy starts its harvest from October which lasts through December. Egypt and South Africa ar...

It usually falls on Lunar 3rd, 4th or 5th of February and signifies the beginning of Spring. The first character, 立, is a common word in Chinese. The literal meaning is “stand” and is opposite to “lying down”. Here in the terms 立春, the extended meaning of 立 is adop...

“Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.” — Chinese Proverb. Living in a fast-paced and ever-changing world, industrialisation and technological inventions have narrowed the proximity of countries. Language is the only barrier to overcome in order to brid...

Anyone learning Mandarin as a non-native will probably, at some stage of their learning journey, curse at how much of a pain it is. Whether you’re struggling with the tones, the pinyins, or the characters, you’re almost assured that it requires some hair-pulling moments. I though...

Learning Mandarin in African classrooms will soon be a common phenomenon as many countries are including the language in their school curriculums as they Global Institute of Chinese Language has pledged to train teachers to face the challenge of teaching this language. On top of the existing inte...

I have written before that one of the reasons why it is difficult to distinguish Cantonese and Mandarin as separate varieties of Chinese, let alone different languages, is that both are so deeply entrenched and entangled with one another in modern Hong Kong (HK) society and elsewhere ...

Learning Mandarin is difficult. After 90 hours worth of classes and nearly 2000 flashcards, I’m still struggling to even understand everyday real-life conversations. According to the Defense Language Institute (DLI), Mandarin ranks as a Level 4 foreign language, which means t...