How to Get the Tones in Chinese Right, and then Fix Them in Your Head!
The first thing that most beginners learn in Chinese is the four tones – how the meaning of a sound changes depending on whether you say it in a flat pitch,…
The 4 Best Ways to Learn Mandarin Faster
As a fellow Mandarin-as-a-second-language student, I know first-hand how challenging it can be to learn Chinese, especially if it’s your first language other than English. Fluency can frequently seem like…
The Major Differences Between 两(liǎng) and 二(èr)
Numbers are often one of the first topics that learners tackle when starting a new language, and Chinese is no different. However, Mandarin is unique in the fact that it…
Mastering Chinese Characters Through Radicals – Understanding the Three Drops of Water Radical
A radical in Chinese is a collection of brush strokes that convey a certain meaning. Radicals combine to form characters, and recognizing a particular radical can often hint at the…
5 Common Mistakes Chinese Learners Make
Having taught Chinese for a while, we’ve noticed a lot of common errors that English speakers make when learning Chinese. This is understandable, as Chinese has very different grammatical rules…
How to Master Tones without Using Tone Marks
I’ve been learning Chinese for over 10 years and one thing I’ve seen countless students struggle with is the tones. Why is it that so many Chinese language students struggle…
Essential Mandarin Phrases for Speaking with Your Chinese Customers
As increasing numbers of Chinese nationals are traveling abroad, more and more of us are welcoming Mandarin speakers to our hometowns and workplaces as guests and clients. No longer is…
Recommended Cool Games for Mandarin Learning
Imagine if you could play a role playing game and by the end of it, you would be fluent in Chinese? Sounds stupid, right? Traditional logic states it is stupid…
Using “很 (hěn)” with Adjectives
“How do you describe something in Chinese?” This is a question that our tutors often encounter in our Chinese classes for beginners. It sounds like a basic grammar rule, but…