Of course, this idea isn’t completely unheard of and is actually a relatively common practice amongst many language learners. Coming from someone who enjoyed watching Chinese TV shows in her free time, it isn’t as simple as just watching TV. There is a bit of planning and work that must happen for it to actually improve your Chinese.

It is best to choose the right TV show – one that uses vocabulary that is appropriate for your level – and to use the right method, depending on what you want to achieve. Chinese TV shows can help improve your Chinese listening, speaking, reading and vocabulary if used appropriately.

In this article, we introduce how you can use Chinese TV shows to improve different areas of your Chinese learning.

Listening

Practicing listening can be quite difficult, especially considering the many dialects and accents that you can encounter when talking to native Chinese speaker. When practicing listening with strictly audio-based content, speed, accent, and lack of vocabulary all become obstacles to understanding and render the whole process inefficient and boring. The added visual aspect of TV shows helps to solve this problem.

To practice listening while watching TV shows, there are just a few things that you need to do.

First, I would recommend using a TV show that you have already seen and understood, or at the very least, one that you are familiar with. When you already understand what is happening, it makes it easier to concentrate on what you are hearing and infer what the characters are saying.

Second, I recommend excluding any kind of subtitles from the show when you are watching it. While Chinese subtitles may seem helpful, they become a crutch for practicing your listening. It is important for you to get used to only relying on your ears.

Last, make sure to stay focused. When re-watching a TV show, it can become easy to lose focus and stop paying full attention to the audio. So, make sure to pay consistent attention, even when the characters may be saying things you don’t understand.

The fact that TV shows are an audio-visual resource makes them more conducive to building your auditory capabilities. As humans, we have a natural ability to gain meaning from body movements and facial expressions, so having those added hints while practicing makes for a more natural and enjoyable process.

Speaking and Pronunciation

The optimal way to improve one’s Chinese speaking ability is to speak to a native Chinese speaker, but that does not mean there’s no way for you to practice by yourself. Using TV shows, you can practice your speaking and pronunciation without any added pressure.

To practice speaking, it is very important to use a TV show that contains vocabulary that is at your level. I would also recommend watching with Chinese subtitles on since that would make it easier to be sure of what is being said. 

Practicing speaking and pronunciation with TV shows is very easy. You simply watch the show and when you hear a sentence you understand, repeat that sentence out loud. Be sure to mimic the character’s speech and intonation as best as you can. It may feel silly to do this at first, but as you keep doing it, you will become more familiar with Chinese speech patterns and tones, and they will come out more naturally the next time you actually speak. It goes without saying that this practice should be done in a place where you will not disturb others and will feel comfortable.

Keep in mind that this is not a replacement for your conversation practice, it is simply a way for you to improve your pronunciation and get more familiar with speaking in Chinese.

Reading

Similar to speaking, reading is better practiced with more appropriate resources like books, articles and other such materials. The language that can be read from Chinese TV shows is generally colloquial spoken language, which differs from that used in written resources. However, using TV shows to practice reading can help you get better at recognizing Chinese characters at a faster rate.

To practice reading with Chinese TV shows, you must simply watch a show with Chinese subtitles which shouldn’t be too difficult since practically all Chinese audio-visual media include subtitles. As you are watching, be sure to read the subtitles while paying attention to the audio. This will train your brain to associate the sound and meaning of the characters with their appearance.

Practicing reading with simpler more stimulating material like TV shows allows the transition into reading longer written texts to be much smoother.

Vocabulary

Acting as the building blocks of language, vocabulary can be acquired via practically every language resource. Of course, this also includes TV programs, but I would argue that TV media is one of the best resources to acquire vocabulary from. The audio-visual properties of the medium allow learners to receive visual, auditory and contextual references for every word they encounter.

When watching a TV show in Chinese, you are likely to come across many unknown words. There are a variety of practical ways to deal with such an abundance of vocabulary. I would like to offer a disclaimer that the method written below is one that I personally use and is not the only way to learn vocabulary from Chinese shows.

First, have a pen/pencil and notepad with you as you watch the show. Make sure that you have chosen a show that is appropriate for your level and only contains Chinese subtitles that you have already seen. This allows for maximum clarity with minimal distraction.

Then, enjoy the show while looking out for sentences where you understand all but one or two words. When you encounter such a sentence, write it down and look up the words you don’t understand. Doing it this way ensures that you understand the meaning of the context in and the usage of the new words, and increases the likelihood that you’ll remember them. It also allows you to enjoy the experience more rather than pausing the video at every second to write down words that you don’t know.

By the end of an episode, you’ll surely have a whole list of new words and example sentences noted down. Whether you choose to further study those words is completely up to you, but the process alone is already a good way to expand your vocabulary.

Now, having taken all of this in, I’m sure that your approach to watching Chinese audio-visual media will be at least a little bit different. While Chinese TV shows may be a versatile and practical tool for your Chinese learning journey, it’s important to keep in mind that the key point of using them for language learning is to have fun in the process. The methods listed above should be taken as informative guidelines of how a Chinese show can help you to improve your Chinese skills rather than strict rules to follow whenever you sit down to enjoy your favourite show. Just remember to have fun as you explore Chinese language and culture through television!

For a list of suggestions of Chinese TV shows (click here)

For many other Chinese learning resources (click here)

The post Learning Through the Screen: How Chinese TV can Become Your Chinese Teacher appeared first on .

BEGINNER

Aim: To understand basic conversations

At the beginner stage, learners generally would know a limited range of vocabulary and sentences. Therefore, to avoid confusion caused by having too many extra words and complicated sentence structures, it’s suggested that learners focus mainly on understanding the words and phrases that they have learned.

Tip 1: Audio learning

Audio learning is especially useful in balancing your ability between reading and listening. When learning new words, learners usually start with reading, while the listening part may be neglected. So, we suggest that you learn with both textbooks and audio. You can start with listening to the text once and then reading it to learn the new words. Listen to the audio once more, this time without reading the text. Understand the context of the sentence to ensure all is understood. Repeat this method whenever new text comes by, and in time, your listening skills will certainly improve.

Apart from textbooks, you can also perform your own audio learning with other materials of your learning level. For example, in LingQ, all their texts are accompanied by recorded audio which you can add to your playlist. In addition, an English translation is also provided. In Edugora, most courses are made for beginners, in which users are taught sentence by sentence. As the courses all come with a short video, it allows you to watch and listen as many times as you like. In MandarinBean, you can access all HSK levels of listening materials for free, which include Chinese transcription with pinyin, English translation, and vocabulary flashcards. The topics also vary from daily life news to business, from fun stories to Chinese idioms origins.

Tip 2: Real-life one-on-one practice

To further enhance your listening skills, practice is essential. As a beginner, being able to practice the content you’ve learned would build a stronger base for improving your listening. Therefore, we suggest you find a native speaker who knows your level well, and together, you can conduct practice conversations. It could be a friend, your tutor, or a language exchange partner. The format can be simple Q&A, in which your partner will ask simple questions and you respond accordingly. This can be a fun and engaging exercise while giving you a taste of putting your knowledge into real-life conversations.

Related Reading: Chinese for Beginners: Your Comprehensive Guide to Mastering Mandarin

INTERMEDIATE

Aim: To understand general topics

As an intermediate learner, you should possess knowledge covering wider and more general topics. Therefore, it’s time to make sure your listening skills are also up to that level. Apart from continuing to follow the above tips for beginners, we have other tips specifically tailored for intermediate learners.

Tip 1: Watch Chinese videos and shows with subtitles

At this point, you may want to get away from purely text-based studying, right? It’s a good idea to now learn from things that are close to daily living. Why not try to watch Chinese shows, movies, or video clips, with the help of subtitles? It’s suggested that you first watch the full video once to gain an understanding of the whole story, then choose the parts you particularly enjoyed the most, and watch it again, but this time without looking at the subtitles. This will not only hone your listening skills, but you may be able to learn some new words and phrases.

To search for Chinese videos, check out Viki, which provides free Chinese TV dramas and movies with both Chinese and English subtitles. On the other hand, CNTV could also be a good platform. Videos are filmed mainly for educational purposes, yet they show real-life situations and have English subtitles.

Tip 2: Step into real-life situations

Apart from shows and videos, why not try real-life scenarios? At this time, you should already be able to comfortably handle some simple Chinese-speaking settings, such as restaurants or shops. If you’re not living in China, find out if there’s a Chinatown within your area, where most people would use Chinese to communicate. Being physically in a Chinese-speaking environment is a very direct and effective way to practice your listening.

ADVANCED

Aim: To understand a wide range of topics

When you’ve reached the advanced level, you should be able to interact with people easily under normal daily circumstances without any problem with listening. To improve further, you might want to focus your learning on a specific topic of interest, like your professional scope. What you’re doing is looking to expand your Chinese usage to a broader set of topics, where richer listening skills are required.

Tip 1: Get immersed in the Chinese environment

To do so, it’s highly recommended that you immerse yourself in a completely Chinese-speaking environment for a certain period of time. Relocating to China is a good option, and the trip can last from a couple of weeks to even years. Being fully immersed in China means you’re passively listening to Chinese being spoken daily, where you are exposed to all sorts of scenarios, ranging from buying groceries and renting apartments, to looking for jobs. Meanwhile, you’re exposed to native speakers who may even become new friends. In this way, you will get loads of opportunities to practice Chinese listening.

Tip 2: Join Chinese seminars of your interests

Aside from traveling to China, if you’re seeking to expand language skills to a more specific scope, such as your professional field or a topic of your interest, we recommend that you join relevant seminars, webinars, talks, or conferences that are conducted in Chinese. As the content discussed would be entirely related to your chosen specialty, you’ll get a great opportunity to enhance your listening ability within these areas. It works best if these events could be attended regularly, which helps to maintain your level.

Listening is often an overlooked skill when learning a language. A learner can end up focusing too much on reading texts and speaking the language, that he forgets that listening can also enhance his overall language skills. There is a saying that goes, “When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.” Such is the same with learning Chinese. Chinese listening practice really matters! If you listen, you will certainly learn new things, and your language skills will improve much faster.

Related resources:

• Speaking practice guide
• Chinese characters guide
• Chinese reading guide
• Chinese pronunciation guide

The post Chinese Listening Practice Guide for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Learners appeared first on .

I must admit that I wasn’t one of the kids that liked to sing at school and for a long time avoided using songs in my teaching. But I can’t argue with the fact that I still remember all the words of the songs I was taught in German as an 11-year-old and, after seeing how powerfully they work in the classroom, I have had to re-evaluate my opinion.

There is so much that you can unpack from any given song when learning yourself or teaching others and so many activities that can come from this style of learning. In this article, I’m going to show examples of what you can do with Chinese songs (I do not own the YouTube video or claim copyright on the activities that are based on it).

Chinese Song Lyrics

It goes without saying that you can study a Chinese song’s lyrics. In addition to helping you learn new vocabulary, it’s a good idea to isolate phrases which could be used in other contexts. This is a really good way to build up a repertoire of phrases that one can say with grammatical accuracy because the tune of the song makes it less likely that you will drop words out, add words, or get them in the wrong order.

Some tips: Play with the speed settings in Youtube. You can slow the video down so that you can understand and follow the song better.

You can practice the Chinese vocabulary and phrases with online tools like Quizlet. You can also print them out and turn them into fridge magnets that you can practice pairing up on the fridge. There are many other things you can surely do – just use your imagination!

Further Related Vocabulary

The song you use to learn can be used as a springboard from which you can go down one or more paths to learn further language. For example, when I taught the song “The Wheels on the Bus” in Chinese, I had a five-year-old boy who was very keen to learn the names of the parts of the bus. So, for the next lesson I put together activities which taught and practiced these. The song made the student go further into learning new vocabulary, which was learned within the context and visuals of the original song, making the memory links stronger.

Differentiation (for teachers)

This is one of the current buzzwords in education. In basic terms, it is about teachers responding to individual students’ learning styles, interests, and readiness while planning the lesson. Running with the student’s desire to learn the parts of the bus is an example of this. If you are taking the students’ age, ability, and interests into account while planning the lesson, and possibly adding extra activities for the more able students, you will find that they engage more fully.

Follow-up Activities

The possibilities for more activities are endless and depend on the age and stage of the learner(s). You can do craft activities, card games, board games, running games, video making, Pictionary, etc. as the means to make learning more interesting and fun.

Retell

Retelling the story or content of the song in your own words is a good way to improve your speaking, even if it is still not perfect right away. This is a good way to learn sentence connectors which make a story or conversation flow well.

Choosing the Right Songs

From personal experience, I would say that in a classroom setting students from 5 to 11 years old enjoy doing kids’ songs. Ages 12 – 15 do not appreciate kids’ songs but are usually keen to study Disney songs or simple pop songs. For adults who don’t mind kids’ songs, these are still extremely useful because they often deal with everyday real-life situation that kids need to learn about – thus they contain phrases and vocabulary which are useful for adult language learners’ everyday lives.

To finish, just as a little note from a self-admitted introvert: if you have one of those quiet kids who likes to keep to themselves and doesn’t want to join in singing, you don’t necessarily have to make them join in the singing – trust me when I say that they will be processing it internally and will learn just as much as the others. If they’re anything like I was, they’ll love you for respecting their feelings. If you force them, they might resent you for doing that because it will make them feel deeply uncomfortable.

The post Learning and Teaching Chinese Language Through Song appeared first on .

MandarinBean is a new English language website that attempts to “provide Mandarin Chinese learners with easy access to study materials that are high-quality, contextual …and definitely not boring!” At a glance the website is aesthetically pleasing, clearly labeling everything and sporting bright pictures on a clean white background.

The content, all of which is accessible for free, is grouped into three levels: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. The website conveniently labels each entry with a corresponding HSK level. Beginner is made up of content from HSK Levels 1 and 2, Intermediate from HSK Levels 3 and 4 content, and Advanced from HSK Levels 5 and 6 content. As expected, each higher level brings with it more advanced vocabulary, typically longer entries, and more complex subject matters.

In addition to categorizing by HSK level, MandarinBean also employs a tag system to further group the entries. The tags used include Business & Economics, Culture, Fun, History, Lifestyle, News, Story, and Travel. These tags allow you to sort by entry topic and help you to easily find and learn about the content you’re most interested in.

With a free membership, all entries can be viewed in either simplified or traditional characters (a single click allows you to easily switch between the two). A membership also provides you access to the site’s notes, translations, and Download Center which makes all entries downloadable as PDFs in both simplified and traditional characters. The notes typically come in the form of important vocabulary from the entry and also include a link to Quizlet, allowing you to practice these new words with digital flashcards.

An additional perk from a current membership is the ability to bookmark your favorite entries, making them easily accessible from your free profile.

To this point, this website probably sounds pretty standard but there is one characteristic that makes it stand out.

Every entry includes pinyin which can be hidden from view, an audiotrack recorded by a native speaker, and a popup dictionary for each word’s english meaning. The popup dictionary is reminiscent of Perapera and really serves to expedite the learning process. It is here where MandarinBean sets itself apart from many other similar sites. The convenience and thoroughness really impressed me and definitely warrants further use.

The site still appears to be in the preliminary stage of development so between the lack of options and the clear “free” label next to my profile, I would imagine there is more to come and the creators will eventually introduce buyable add-ons.

It is here where my largest critique of the site arises: it’s just too new. With it only being a few months old, there is not a huge amount of entries in total. The amount is impressive given the brevity of MandarinBean’s existence but I was able to read through all of the Advanced content (22 entries at the time of writing) in a few hours. Especially with the assistance of the popup dictionary making up for any of my vocabulary limitations.

While not a lot in aggregate, I was very pleased with the quality of the content – some of the more advanced entries being made up by news articles, blurbs, or even accounts originally in English translated into Chinese (one example being Elon Musk’s “Five Secrets of Success for the Young.”) Overall I quite enjoyed my time using MandarinBean and look forward to them amassing more content. In my opinion this is a great supplementary source to your Mandarin learning endeavors. With practical content, a simple layout, and thorough entries, this site is an abundance of convenient that, at least for the time being, is accessible in its entirety for free.

The post MandarinBean Review: Practice Chinese Reading and Listening appeared first on .

The learning method I am recommending here will not only help you improve your Mandarin—it will help you learn any language. I call this method topic-oriented learning, since it requires that you study certain cultural topics with explanatory scenarios. This method works particularly well with adults, who (unlike children) are more likely to have difficulties picking up an authentic accent and are frequently distracted by the syntax of their mother tongue.

My students (especially my beginner-level students) also sometimes complain to me that they find it quite easy to figure out the Mandarin I teach them in class, but quite difficult to understand the words that actual Chinese people use in the real world. Why is this so? I believe it is because the teachers tend to use class content that makes use of the limited Mandarin the students already know, which means that the content may be not that idiomatic. To increase their ability to understand how real Chinese people speak, students need to study scenarios that depict actual everyday life. When adults use topics and scenarios to learn, memorize, and practice a language, they usually achieve a much higher degree of success.

Let’s take the topic of “Greetings” as an example. Here are five widely-used ways to greet others in daily life:

As you can see, there are many more ways to greet other people in Chinese besides the familiar “Nǐhǎo” (which of course is the most common polite greeting). If you really want to talk like a native, think about what scenarios would be most appropriate for each of the following greetings.

1. 你干嘛去呀？(Nǐ ɡàn mɑ qù yɑ?) Imagine that you run into a fellow student on the college campus. This greeting would be most appropriate in such a situation.
2. 刚回来呀？(Gānɡ huílái yɑ) Perhaps your spouse or your roommate has come home later than usual and you are concerned about them. This would be the best greeting in this case.
3. 吃了吗？(Chī le mɑ?) If it’s near time for lunch or dinner, try using this greeting with your friends.
4. 身体还好吧？(Shēntǐ hái hǎo ba) Maybe a friend of yours has been in the hospital; this is how you would greet him or her.
5. 这么晚才下班？(Zhème wǎn cái xiàbān): In this scenario, imagine that your spouse or other family member has returned home later than usual from work and you have been worried about them.

Exploring these different scenarios should make it easier for you to distinguish the differences among the five different greetings. In addition, imagining a scenario where you need to use what you have learned to communicate with others will make your learning journey all the more efficient and satisfying.

The post Using Topics and Scenarios to Make Your Chinese Learning More Efficient appeared first on .

Download PDF Version

Email Expressions

Promise Expressions

Expectation Expressions

Asking for Discount Expressions

Download PDF Version

The post Top 100 Common Business Chinese Phrases & Expressions appeared first on .

Many people recommend foreign language learners to watch songs and movies as a less boring alternative to studying from textbooks. However, oftentimes translating the content can be quite tiresome and using subtitles results in people being lazy and reading subtitles without actually absorbing too much new knowledge.

What is FluentU?

FluentU is an innovative way to learn languages through experiencing trending media content in that language. It allows you to access the best foreign language content on the web such as movie trailers, movies, music videos, songs and inspiring talks.

How does FluentU work?

FluentU works by allowing you to pause the videos and songs and focus on specific words and sentences creating an experience that you don’t get from the regular subtitling of videos. It’s pretty much watching foreign language media content but with tools that enable you to slow it down and learn exactly what is happening in each song lyric, or frame of the video.

Assessment

Pros

• You can pause at ANY frame to hear the pronunciation, see the pinyin and characters of the word that peaks your curiosity.
• You can learn all the vocabulary before watching the video, but even this learning section has interactive videos from Chinese Media to go with each word/grammar point.
• All vocabulary and dialogue from the video and audio files are catalogued with pinyin, characters and pronunciations – great attention to detail.
• You can download the transcripts if you want to save it to your system.
• You can browse the video and audio libraries by different topics, different formats or by the difficulty of the content.
• Extensive library with over 2,300 video files and almost 500 audio files.
• You have the option to favorite media files as they browse and these are saved under the “My Content” tab to be much more easily found later on.
• Much more fun, interactive and appealing than learning from a textbook.
• Lots of content is accessible even without a VPN.
• Website design is done in a manner that makes it very simple to navigate.
• Also contains the more traditional methods of flashcard-based learning if one requires it.

Cons

• Lacks the structure of a classroom approach where new knowledge builds upon old knowledge.
• In this model, despite each video having a difficulty rating, the learning process is quite random and up to the individual’s mood/preference of videos.
• The Plus mode, which showcases the best attributes about this product costs $18 per month. Even you just want unlimited access to videos and songs, you must pay $8 per month. The free mode doesn’t seem worth it and that’s the biggest con for all you frugal readers out there.

Verdict

Overall, I’m a great supporter of this platform because it is much more appropriate for the modern learner. These days, we have all the equipment to make learning interactive rather than the rote methods of textbooks and standardized testing and FluentU capitalizes on this idea. They have also done a complete job by cataloguing all the vocab and dialogue on every video for you to be able to study it line by line. The only problem is that there is a substantial cost to get the best out of this product. If you paid the amounts they require, would you be disciplined enough to use the product without external pressure from teachers and learning programs to consistently use it?

Learn more at FluentU.

The post Reviewing FluentU: An interactive approach to learning Chinese appeared first on .

Are you having any issues in answering HSK exercises? Or are you wondering how to improve your HSK test taking skills?

When you are listening to HSK exercises, are you always unable to capture key points or complaining about lack of appropriate skills?

Don’t worry we at Hello HSK are going to give you some tips and advice in working though the HSK exercises from Level 1 to 6 along with some useful common phrases.

So let’s first start with some tips in HSK1 listening part.

HSK 1 listening part- True or false questions based on given phrases.

In HSK1-Listening part, there are four sections. The first section is a True or False questionnaire based on five recordings,. Usually the recordings are some phrases, for example, “打电话”, “下雨了” and “她的猫” etc. To handle with these items, you will be required to:

• Be familiar with the vocabulary of HSK-1, and be able to understand these phrases and match them with the pictures. The phrase containing a consistent meaning with the picture is the right answer, while the inconsistent ones are wrong.
• You should firstly observe the pictures and get a general understanding of them in their mind. You then should listen to the recordings and choose true or false based on the contents of the pictures.

Related common phrases:

1. mā mɑ hé nǚ ér
妈 妈 和 女 儿 (mother and daughter)

Second section in HSK 1 listening-Choose right pictures based on given sentences.

The second section of HSK-1 Listening is choosing the correct one from three pictures based on the five recordings,. The contents of the listening are mostly sentences, for example, “我喜欢这个电脑”, “这个杯子太漂亮了!”,”爸爸在工作” and etc. To handle with these items, you need to:

• Firstly you should observe the pictures and identify the contents in the pictures. If the content of the pictures are articles, pay attention listening to the recordings which the articles are involved and then choose the right answer,
• If there are some characters in the picture, the examinees should take note of their behaviors and facial expressions. By knowing what they are doing or whether they are happy or not and inferring the relationships between them.

Related key words:

1.pénɡ you
朋 友 (friend)

Related common phrases:

1.bà bɑ hé mā mɑ
爸 爸 和 妈 妈 (father and mother)

Third section in HSK 1 listening-Choose the right pictures based on given dialogues.

Before the third section HSK-1 Listening begins, you should carefully observe the five pictures on the paper and infer the possible questions: Who? Where? What?

• If the question is about “谁”, the answer may be occupation, family members and or animals.
• If the question is asking about “在哪里”, then the answers can be in the hospital, school, shop, restaurant or at home.
• If the question is about “做什么”, the answers can be eating, sleeping, drinking and shopping etc. Also, the main point of a picture may be about “天气”, for example, a sun is drawn in the picture, or the persons involved are wiping sweat, wearing a scarf or holding an umbrella and so on.
• While listening to the dialogues of the third part, you can write down the key words, for instance, “米饭”, “买东西”, “电脑” and so on. Then you should associate them with the pictures to choose the right answer.

Related key words:

1.nǐ hǎo
你好（hello）

Related common phrases:

1.zěn me yànɡ
怎 么 样 （how do you like）

Fourth section in HSK 1 listening-Listen to the sentences, Choose the right answer to the questions.

During routine reviews, you should try your best to grasp the 150 vocabulary words of HSK-1, memorizing them based on some certain categories. For example, if there are certain options like “商店”, “医院”, “学校”, you may infer that this item could be asking about a place. Therefore when listening to the recordings, you should pay attention to the contents after the words like “去…”, “在…” and etc.

• You should take note of those introductory contents if the item contains options like “爸爸”, “同学”, and “朋友”,..
• You can focus your listening emphasis on “做什么” if the options contain action phrases like “学习”, “工作”, and “坐飞机”.
• Additionally, you should pay attention to the descriptions about “天气” if the options are description words such as “大雨”, “冷”, “热” and etc.
• Meanwhile, you should not only get familiar with those 150 vocabulary words, but also learn simple questions phrases. For instance, “多大了” is asking about age, and the answer usually will be “……岁”. “多少钱” is asking about price, and the answer shall be “……块”. The answer to “怎么去” can be “坐出租车”, “坐飞机”, and etc.
• The last thing to remember is that you should pay attention to the corresponding contacts between different time, persons and events. For example, “昨天上午我去学校的时候，妈妈和爸爸去看电影了”. In this sentence, you should know that, “我” is the subject of “去学校”, while “妈妈和爸爸” are the characters involved in “去看电影”.

Related key words:

1.shānɡ diàn
商 店 (shop)

Related common phrases:

1.hǎo dà
好 大 (too big)

Here are the tips we’d like to give you concerning the HSK 1 Listening part. We hope that they are useful to you. By the way, don’t forget to memorize vocabulary words since they are essential in doing HSK exercises.

In next article, we will give some insight for HSK1 Reading part.

The post HSK1 Exam Tips and Advice on Listening Section appeared first on .

Rules for Changing Tones in Chinese

(written Chinese)

The situation when “一” (yī) needs to be a changed tone:

1. Before the 4th tone, “一” should be changed to 2nd tone（yí）.
一样： yi + yàng -> yí yang

2. Before the 1st tone, 2nd tone and 3rd tone “一” should become 4th tone.（yì)
一般： yi + bān -> yì bān

一年： yi + nián -> yì nián

一起： yi + qǐ -> yì qǐ

3. If “一” is between two verbs, it should be 5th tone.
试一试 (shì yi shì)

4. If “一” is between a verb and a measure word or between an adjective and a measure word, generally it should also be the 5th tone.
好一点 (hǎo yi diǎn)

The situation when “不” (bù) needs to be changed tone:

1. Before the 4th tone, “不” should be changed to 2nd tone.
不是：bu + shì -> bú shì

2. If it’s used as verb complement or used between two same words, it should become 5th tone.
贵不贵(guì bu guì)

The situation when 3rd-tone needs to be changed tone:

1. If an entry’s tones are double 3rd-tones, the first tone needs to be changed to 2nd tone.
很 (hěn) 好 (hǎo) -> (hén hǎo)

2. If it’s a three or more 3rd-tone entry, the basic rule is that all the 3rd tones before the last 3rd tone need to be changed to 2nd tone.

For example, the tone of “处 (chǔ) 理 (lǐ) 厂(chǎng)” which means treatment plant needs to become “chú lí chǎng”.

But sometimes, we need to analyze the structure of the word or sentence to pronounce it correctly.

However, the changing 3rd tone is a complicated case. Sometimes, it depends on how you separate the word or sentence that will decide if the pronunciation is correct or not.

Focusing on communication to learn Chinese

(Hacking Chinese)

There are many people who focus mostly on communication and very little on form. In order to be able to communicate in a language, you need certain basic knowledge, which takes longer to acquire in Chinese.

It’s all about efficiency

As we shall see, the problem isn’t really that communication isn’t a good way of learning, it’s that it’s hard to do it enough for it to work properly!

Focusing on communication as a beginner

If you focus only on communication, you run the risk of neglecting some aspects of Chinese that are actually very important. The same can be said about many other areas of Chinese, such as writing characters, pronunciation in general and perhaps also grammar and word choice.

A balanced approach

Communication is great for a number of reasons. I want a lot of communication, but I want it mixed with actual studying.

Communicate as much as possible

The fact that it’s hard to communicate doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do it. If you don’t, you’ll never learn Chinese.

Focusing on communication as an advanced learner

Once you reach an advanced level, focusing mainly on communication is the smoothest and most common method both of maintaining and expanding your ability.
You need to study and make your passive vocabulary and knowledge of grammar is equal to your active skill.
You need spaced repletion software. You need focused practice to improve and avoid fossilization.

Conclusion
I think we should use the language as much as possible, but I also think we need to study hard to overcome our weaknesses and learn more efficiently, regardless if we are beginners or advanced learners.

Comparing language courses: Private vs Group vs Online Lessons

(Study More Chinese)

Private Learning:

Pros:

• provide the perfect opportunity for quick progression due to having the sole focus of a teacher.
• devise a learning plan not only based on your language level but also to your personal learning goal.
• you pay as you learn.

Cons:

• Can be expensive.
• Lessons are usually intensive so you need to be focused at all times.
• less practice of conversational skills with a variety of people.

Group Learning:

Pros:

• Meet new people with the same interest of learning a new language.
• Improve your use of spoken language.
• The cost is cheaper.

Cons:

• Less flexible.
• You may not study as quickly as you wish.
• Travel to classes may add to your initial cost

Online Learning:

Pros:

• Online learning materials are easy to access.
• Learners have access to a variety of multimedia.
• The cost and payment cycle may be flexible.

Cons:

• You’ll need lots of motivation and determination to study alone.
• There’s the possibility that you could fall behind with your study plan.
• The lack of personal interaction presents less chance to practise your speaking skills.

How to learn to understand spoken Chinese

(Yoyo Chinese)

Three common problems with listening ability in Chinese

Problem #1 – Listening speed:

The time in between you hearing a sound and recalling its meaning is immense. Since this happens often, you’re likely to fail to understand what someone says even though you know all the words.

Problem #2 – Phonological awareness:

You need to be able to correctly distinguish the different sounds in Mandarin. Research suggests that you should try to listen to many different native speakers, not just your teacher.

Problem #3 – Vocabulary:

This isn’t a listening problem! It’s because you don’t know enough words. Expand your vocabulary by reading and listening more, preferably using text or audio that is at or slightly above your current level.

Context plays a very important role. You should strive to understand meaningful sentences said within context, because that’s the kind of listening ability you really need.

An Introduction to Cantonese

(Chinese language blog)

In Hong Kong, the official language isCantonese (广东话 – guǎng dōng huà), while the mainland and Taiwan both useMandarin (普通话 – pǔ tōng huà). Cantonese is also an official language in Macau, and it is the lingua franca of Guangdong Province.

• Mandarin is the official language of mainland China and Taiwan. Cantonese is the official language of HK and also one in Macau.
• Both are considered “Chinese language” – they use the same written language, but they are mutually unintelligible when spoken. Some people used the “the chicken talking to the duck” (鸡同鸭讲 – jī tóng yā jiǎng) to describe a Mandarin and Cantonese speaker talking to each other.
• Mandarin uses simplified Chinese characters, while Cantonese uses traditional. If you know traditional characters, it’s easy to understand the simplified ones, but not the other way around.
• Mandarin has a mere four tones compared with the six of Cantonese.
• There are tons of words and phrases unique to both Mandarin and Cantonese. For example, a large number of English words made their way into Cantonese when HK was a British colony.
• Many Chinese who have immigrated to other countries are Cantonese speakers.

As there are many more Mandarin speakers (960 million) than Cantonese (62 million), learning Mandarin will enable you to communicate with a lot more people. Mandarin is the official language of the PRC, so it is used in government offices, schools, companies, and on TV.

Basically, you’ll have much more exposure to Mandarin than Cantonese in China. Unless you’re planning on settling in Hong Kong or Macau, it’s a better idea to study Mandarin. Even if you visit these areas or decide to live there, Mandarin is commonly used and many people can understand and speak it these days.

We hope you enjoyed our selection of useful blogs for the month of September. Keep up the learning and remember that DigMandarin is here to help you find all the resources you could possibly need.

The post Monthly Digest of Chinese Learning – September 2014 appeared first on .

List of 5 Popular Songs To Learn Chinese

1. 小苹果

Little Apple (小苹果; pinyin: xiǎo píng guǒ) is a single by a group called Chopstick Brothers (筷子兄弟), released as a promotional song for the movie Old Boys: The Way of the Dragon (老男孩之猛龙过江). The music video of the song shows scenes of dancing interweaved with 4 short stories about love and romance. One of them contains elements from the legend Adam and Eve. The dance in the music video has also gained popularity in the public.

So, how do can you learn the lyrics? Some of the videos have the words subtitled in, but you can also do a quick Google search for the Chinese lyrics/pinyin and English translation.

2. 时间都去哪儿了

Where did the time go (时间都去哪儿了；pinyin: shī jiān dōu qù nǎ’er le) is a single by Zhengliang Wang (王铮亮). This song is about the unconditional love of parents. The lyrics are like a letter from a parent to his/her kid. It was performed at the 2014 Spring Festival Gala (春节联欢晚会). This song is popular because it slows people down from the stress of work to enjoy the quality time with family.

3. 倍儿爽

So Cool! (倍儿爽；pinyin: bèi’er shuǎng) is a popular song among young people. It is about the joyous and carefree lifestyle. Some says that it tries to imitate Gangnam Style. You should see for yourself.

4. 爸爸去哪儿

Where Are We Going, Dad? (爸爸去哪儿; pinyin: bà ba qù nǎ’er) is the theme song for a Chinese reality TV show broadcast on Hunan Television. The show is based on the original South Korean reality show Dad! Where Are We? It features five celebrity fathers and their children as they travel to rural places and go on camping missions. This show enjoys a high audience rating and season 2 has recently hit the screens.

5. 剑心

Heart of the sword (剑心；pinyin: jiàn xīn) is the theme song for a popular TV series called 古剑奇谭. The story derives from a video game that shares the same name.

Sing your heart out! Have fun with these songs and feel free to share your own favorites too.

The post 5 Popular Songs To Learn Chinese appeared first on .