Hey everyone!

I’m going on a study abroad next month to Taichung. The program will be about 3 months studying Mandarin at the Chinese Language Center in National in Chung Hsing University. For context I’ve been studying Mandarin for a couple of years, and I’ve been placed the high intermediate-low advanced level. This will be my first time totally immersed in the language. Has anyone done a similar program at this university? What were the classes like? Any advice?

Hello! I have a question regarding A not A please. I know I can place a noun/descriptor inside the A not A structure:

你 說中文不說？

But can I place a verb and its object within it?

你想吃 中國 菜 不想？

My book, Chinese Link, only has nouns as examples.

Thank you for your time.

Diocchi is a made up name i made. What do you think of the Chinese characters i picked for the name? can any words be use as a name in Chinese language?

Hello, Brief introduction: I’m a chinese girl who can speak just the tiniest bit of chinese (like small talk and other easy things) but I’m not familiar with the writing.

Ideally I’d like to know a little bit more chinese, so that I’ll have less troubles communicating with relatives and partents etc, but I’m not too sure where to start. I’d like to buy a textbook, because I’m more familiar with learning languages through books, but other medias of learning are well accepted as well.

Any tips?

Here are some examples: https://imabi.org/table-of-contents-目次/ (Japanese)
https://sites.la.utexas.edu/persian_online_resources/ (Persian)

https://studyspanish.com/grammar (Spanish but grammar only)

I've found that every language has one of these documentation style website but I've been unable to find one for Chinese. I've found that this is the mode of learning which is most suitable for me at the initial stage of learning a language. Does anyone know a website for Chinese like these? Thank you.

Would someone break down this translation for me? 爸爸永远在我心中 . My dad had this tattoo but with my name in the beginning and I'm looking to get it done with "daddy" instead. He passed away last year and this tattoo of his was always special to me and i loved looking at it as a kid. From my research it does say "daddy forever in my heart" but I just want to make sure it's the right phrasing and everything is accurate before I put it on my body. Thanks so much!

Hi, while I can identify grammar points I've learnt in text and to a lesser extent in listening, I really struggle to use it in my everyday speech.

Any suggestions?

I was wondering if there was a resource that was 100s example sentences for a given grammar point. Alternatively, 100s of practice questions for a given grammar point. I feel like I need a big volume of examples to get more familiar with each grammar point and to a certain extent get them in to my mouths muscle memory.

What’s the difference between the two? And when to use them?

Thank you!

Hi, I am an intermediate Chinese learner. I want to find an online Chinese-Chinese dictionary that explains the Chinese words using the Chinese language. An equivalent in English would be the Oxford dictionary for English learners. Could you please recommend me one?

When I learned English, eventually it came to a point where I would rather read the explanation of a new English word in English than look at the direct translation to my mother tongue. That habit helped me a lot in learning English. Hence, I would like to do the same for learning Chinese.

After taking down stroke ordering 🥹, let’s take down active tone practicing also!

    You may say, then, what is left? 

    Vocabulary — the core of it: 

    Characters’ components 

The idea is, in order to focus on components, we must take down distractions, such as:

    Stroke ordering, tone practicing

Why? See https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/s/msDT1GdmSd

Hi! I’m likely moving to Taipei in a few months for a minimum of a year. I would really like to learn the language while I’m there, but as I’m also there to travel and explore, I’d like to not be bound to classes every day through a school program.

I’m wondering if anyone has suggestions for a regiment to pick up Chinese as I live here. I’m pretty disciplined, so if I need to sit in a cafe for 4 hours most days to learn vocab or study, I’m open to that. I’m also open to having a tutor that could practice speaking with me. This wouldn’t be the first language I’ve learned-I also picked up Korean, but that was while I was a student.

I actually just visited Taipei and felt so helpless. I feel like once I at least hit a level where I’m able to order at cafes/have very basic convos then I’ll want to start speaking almost exclusively in Chinese to get the full immersion bonus. So if you have tips for getting over that first hump of truly knowing nothing to be like very basic, I’d love to hear that as well!

Thanks!

Hi all, I'm looking for a workbook to help me get into learning Chinese again. I've been using TofuLearn and HelloChinese as well. I'm still HSK1 since I didn't do the best job keeping up with my dailies; I like the routine of using pen and paper so I thought a workbook might help.

Any suggestions? Thank you!

I love challenging myself to find the closest translation for proverbs - which naturally requires understanding it, but also understanding context and translating it into something used in a similar context.

Below are 5 proverbs that I've picked up and I've translated them into the closest colloquial AmE (American English) equivalents. I'm 80-90% confident in their accuracy, but feel free to let me know if I'm way off.

恰如其分 Just right (the goldilocks story with the porridge that's not too hot or too cold comes to mind)

盛情难却 How can I refuse? (after someone offers something)

以邻为壑 Sweep problems under the rug (literally use your neighbor as sewage drain)

静观其变 Be a fly on the wall (to observe things silently)

顾此失彼 Unable to multitask

I am interested in learning Cantonese to speak with the older generation in my family. But it seems like resources for Mandarin are easier to find than resources for Cantonese. Can I use Mandarin textbooks to help me learn Cantonese? I know the Pinyin will be incorrect, but the Hanzi are the same between Mandarin and Cantonese right? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Do you know any programs like Korean YBM for example, where you get an option to get classes a few times a week in the evenings? I'd like to travel to China for a few months and get to know the culture more, learn physically with the natives and other peeps and do some tourism in my free time:).

Do you have any experiences or recommendations? Is it viable to apply for a student visa? Thanks!

How do you pronounce the characters written in brown? I recognize them but i dont know the pinyin for some. Thanks in advance!

Hi I am learning Chinese and use qq music and it used to let me pay for the membership but now weixin pay says my card is not supported so I didn't know if anybody knew of a way to fix this so I can continue to learn with the music and other media on there or if there is a good alternative for listening that's like qq music

It translates roughly as “to decline the prostitute/escort you have been offered and to request a substitute”.

Thank you for your help with this weird and wonderful question.

Alright so, just for a bit of backstory/context: I grew up in a predominantly English speaking family, but my school curriculum made me take Chinese. My Chinese knowledge, which was subpar at best came from vocab memorization and what little the school textbook taught us.

Bad thing is, I wasn't told (or at least, I don't remember being taught) the actual basics of Chinese. I don't know the grammar structure, I don't know how to decipher the meaning of words I don't know, and I especially don't know how to study Chinese.

Fast forward to today, and my nationals are coming up in about a month. I know how to do the actual questions (ie: the format), but whenever I try to do comprehension, I can never quite figure out the passage.

Additionally, when I do 作文, I can't quite think of the words I need, which is definitely not helped by the fact that my mind thinks insanely descriptively and convoluted when it comes to English essays.

TLDR: I know most basic vocab, but grammar structure and figuring out meanings from the word's components elude me. If it helps, I'm learning simplified Chinese.

Thank you for any help or directions you can provide!!

我是日文使用者，上週開始學習普通話。所以漢字很簡單，但有時單詞有不同的意義，所以我必須小心。聲調很難，但自從我不再主動學習聲調並開始模倣中國人後，我的發音和聽力都進步了很多，所以我很高興。

Hi all

I have learned Japanese a while now and want to tip my toes into the next language. I have learned Japanese from English which is my second language and seen a huge improvement in my English so i want to ad a language to help to advance my Japanese,

Im interesting in learning Mandarin in the order of the HSK. And have my eyes on "スタンダードコース中国語 -中国語の世界標準テキスト-1" (the standard course 1) But it is always out of stock. Is there any other good/better book recommendation for HSK1 in Japanese?

Thanks in advance!

So recently I got a graded reader but no audio with it. I had the text, then I thought lets try this AI voice thing....

I recorded with Audacity (if I had to) - tried only free stuff:

naturalreaders.com - they have like a daily 15 Minute or so limit. The recording was not so good. Had some fry. Seems that can't be removed. I believe you can adjust the speed.

https://elevenlabs.io - They allow 2500 characters and you can adjust the speed. Can D/L as MP3.

Edge Browser - I also tried the Edge browser Read Aloud function. Just paste your text in to onlinenotepad.org - speed can be adjusted. I used Audacity. With 6000 characters there was no limit. Excellent quality.

https://ttsmaker.com - have not tried, but sounds good.

http://www.ttsgpt.cn - A chinese one. Have tried only briefly. Sounds very good - I don't need the various Chinese options - but I am sure some will like them a lot (first time I see that):

https://preview.redd.it/tc0yoj7mltyc1.png?width=1015&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd7092c98914e5d4b9e985c1d20814559c78f917

Conclusion: If you have a book you like, you can (if it's not in a digital format) scan and OCR it , and let the AI talk, and you can record it.

Hope this info is of use to you.

Hello! I’m in the process of applying to colleges and I’m between two choices, both for a degree in international business with Chinese. The concern for me is which one to rank first for my application. I don’t want to study a language degree on its own, but honestly my only requirement when looking for courses was that Chinese would be included because it’s my only real passion.

College A:

2 buses from my house, 1hr 40m.

44mins in a car but I can’t drive.

Dedicated Chinese building.

Nicer campus.

Ranked better, but it doesn’t matter very much.

Harder to get into.

It offers a business major with a minor in Chinese.

I can take a placement test at the start, to begin Chinese at whatever level I’m at now already.

College B:

2 buses from my house, 1hr 20m. 

26 mins in a car.

My grandmother lives 90 seconds away.

My sister goes here and can drive, so I could get rides with her sometimes.

Easier to get into but still not ‘easy’.

I have to start studying Chinese from a beginner level, when I’ve already studied for 3+ years.

I can have a double major in Chinese and Business.

From this, it’s clear than B wins 100% of the time, but I had decided on A just for the fact that in 3rd year, the study abroad options in China are phenomenal (peking, tsinghua, fudan, zhejiang, renmin, shanghai jiaotong…) (best schools in the country/asia as a whole) whereas B only has (tongji, shantou, capital university of economics and business beijing). However, I only just discovered that in A, with these amazing options, I would have to only have a Chinese minor with 4 language and culture modules. In B I can have all the benefits, just not a *great* school in China and start from beginner level.

Is it worth just getting the minor if it means I don’t have to start from 0, and could possibly learn *more* Chinese at my level, or will I go for a major in Chinese, but where my level in Chinese won’t be matched for a while?

I’m in Ireland so the way we apply for colleges is a bit different. If I rank A ahead of B, but don’t get good enough grades for A, then I could go to B. If I rank B higher, because it has less entry requirements, if I get in, I am not offered a place in my 2nd choice (A). Realistically if I gave it my all, I could get into either one, but I got more than enough in my mock exams to get into B already so with relatively consistent work it won’t be too hard to get in. 

Everyone is telling me to go for B but I’m so so torn. Even if Chinese is a minor, will I learn more by starting at intermediate level?

Greetings,

I just started self teaching myself Mandarin. I've done this before with Spanish so I have a method that works for me. It can be challenging to do it this way but also very rewarding knowing that you are able to self motivate.

Although before I go any further with Mandarin I have a very important question......

I obviously have no clue about Chinese letters/writing so I am studying using Western style letters Ie. " Ni Hao ". Can most Chinese understand Western letters ? Is it called something specific communicating in this way ? When is it acceptable to use and not to use ? Does it have limitations if you also don't understand the Chinese characters ?

What I do is learn phrases in this manner put them on flash cards with the pronunciation spelled out phonetically underneath. It's not a perfect method but it does help me remember how to pronounce words *almost correctly.

I would appreciate any insight from more experienced learners.

Thanks so much

It's been raining tonight, last night and few nights ago. This poem fits perfectly to the season and weather.

《春曉》 孟浩然

春眠不覺曉，處處聞啼鳥。

夜來風雨聲，花落知多少。

I'm really into optimizing how I learn, I know it won't be perfect but after a few months of lots of effort and years of here-and-there work I have my system down. I'm using integrated Chinese, hello Chinese, Anki flashcards (I don't think it's spoonfed but I don't know what the packs I bought are called) du Chinese and Chinese pod, as well as watching shows with both English and Chinese subtitles since I'm still a beginner.

They all serve different, distinct purposes in my learning, but what was exciting today was to have a small aha moment that told me my system was working. I learned 周末 (weekend) from integrated Chinese pretty early on, then, yesterday, read about 周 replacing 星期 when stating days of the week in hello chinese (I started this recently so I do a lot of lessons at once to catch up to my level and barely skimmed it. I appreciate the gaps it's filling in for me though) and in listened to a Chinese pod dialogue, found myself really confused around when a speaker was describing what was clearly a date (周三，周四) the words weren't clicking, until I focused on imagining rhe pinyin and thought back to my previous lessons and it all clicked.

Having realizations like that really helps me be confident in my progress. And I wanted to share that little win!

What Chinese calls "dialects" are actually complete separate and distinct individual languages. My question is more about, taking Mandarin as a standard and just looking at how people use it, especially for members of the diaspora.

I know that within China people can tell where someone comes from based on how they speak Mandarin but I don't know if this is true for people from outside the mainland. There are SE Asian variants, for example Singapore, Malaysia, etc... in Indonesia they were not allowed to speak it but I think they can now, unless there is a new crackdown that I don't know about.

Also, what about Chinese people living in the West? Can you tell if they are from Germany or Canada or Australia based on their Mandarin accent? I know they can speak English and their English accent would give them away immediately but what if you did a blind test and asked them to speak in Chinese only, can you tell based on accent/vocabulary/Chinglish used, which overseas Chinese community they are likely from?

I have asked a clarifying question in the comments, see: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/s/lurUbgA71o

Of course there's also the Chinese disputed territories of HK, Taiwan, Macao etc... but their accents are more famous so most Chinese people would already be able to tell. I mean I guess not diaspora members, we're about as clueless as non-Chinese people. But mainland Chinese people can definitely tell from how someone speaks Mandarin if they are indeed from a Chinese disputed territory.

Hi! My best friend and I are going to separate countries soon. I’m going back to china and they’re going to the states for a while. He’s Chinese (sichuanese) and im a student who’s also learning Chinese (and sichuanese…(I feel like I’ve accumulated enough knowledge for a study guide lol)). I’m writing a letter for a goodbye and im going to write it in completely Chinese. Since he’s native, he reads faster in chinese and I thought it would be more meaningful. I’ve written letters for birthdays and stuff since this is what I do for a lot of people, but since this is my best best friend I want to put some more effort in it since it may be the last one for a long time.

I’m not very well versed in Chinese literature, poems, writing things poetically so this is where I want some help.

Does anyone have any excerpts from books/poems/popular quotes or can think of any to help me to put it in? I like pretty quotes to describe things but I only know a lot in English and they don’t translate as poetically in chinese (my Chinese is okay but not enough to do translations like this well, and not literally). I know the National curriculum makes the kids study a lot of literature so im sure he knows them when he’ll see them, but I just wanna get my thoughts across.

Any ideas would be nice!! It’s like best friend vibe, will miss you like a limb, 知己 sort of thing. Thank you :)

I've been using Duolingo for almost a year now, but I dislike their business practices and would like to shift to another app. I'd prefer one where I can be placed into my current level rather than having to go through the basics again. I just finished going through the Integrated Chinese 2 textbook in my final semester of Chinese class this year (if that helps indicate my level) and want to keep learning outside of an academic setting. Apps are preferred, but any other recommendations are certainly welcome. Thanks in advance! :)