If you’re interested on studying in a specific city, click here to find the list of cities that we have already published a specific guide.

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This article is a collection of all the articles on Chinese grammar that we’ve published here on this site.

General characteristics of the Chinese language

In this article we’ll explain what counts as so-called “Mandarin Chinese”, how many dialects are spoken in modern China, what the Chinese writing is and the word in Chinese; how Chinese phrases are usually structured will also be explained.

In the final analysis, we’ll jump into the language, starting with personal pronouns, the numbers 1 to 10. To conclude we’ll explain how to ask questions and make simple negations.

Click here to read the article on the general characteristics of the Chinese language.

Classifiers

In this article, we explain a class of grammar that we don’t have in the Italian language: so-called classifiers (as sinologists call them) or numerators (as Japanese linguists call them) that are there, even with differences, much more so in Chinese than Japanese.

In brief, classifiers (in Chinese) are inserted between the number and noun so as to formulate the numeral or quantitative constructions (10 pens, 5 books, etc). For each class of nouns, there’s an appropriate classifier that unfortunately you need to know and study.

Click here to read the article on classifiers. [Read more…]

Welcome to SDC’s Chinese level test. Before you start, it’s important that you read the instructions closely so that the test is as accurate as possible.

• Test for levels HSK1, HSK2 and HSK3: This test is especially designed to assess Chinese levels up to HSK3 (or A2 of the European Reference Framework). We are currently working on offering other tests for more advanced levels that will soon be available on our website.

• Maximum duration of one hour: Even though the majority of people can finish the test in a bit more than 30 minutes, we have limited the test time to one hour so that results are as accurate as possible (simulating an official exam). Make sure you have enough time to complete the test!

• The level test has eleven exercises: We have divided the level test into four listening exercises, three reading exercises, two grammar exercises and two writing exercises.

[Read more…]

The unstoppable progress of today’s technology has been the source of significant advances in language learning, and Chinese is no exception.

Both mobile apps and online resources have led to many possibilities for improving the effectiveness of studying. However, in this article, we are going to focus on Online Chinese lessons, which constitute a veritable revolution, as they permit access to good teachers regardless of where you are.

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Nowadays there is no shortage of free resources for learning a language: websites, apps, forums, videos, podcasts, you name it. However, many people are still looking for a more professional Mandarin course, the type of course that is generally paid. Personally, in the past few years, I have bought a few of them. Why?

There are two main reasons for that:

• Often, you must pay if you want the best resources. Think of FluentU, Yoyo Chinese or Skritter. Who would take the time to develop such a wonderful learning tools for free?

[Read more…]

Apps have turned into one of the most useful formats for learning Chinese (and any other language), as they offer an efficient way to establish knowledge and study in any place and situation.

However, today there are hundreds or even thousands of applications, and the majority of them are ineffective or even useless.

In this article, we evaluate some of the best apps for learning Chinese, depending on which aspect of the language you want to improve.

[Read more…]

Today I want to talk about the new Chinese language courses “Hacking Chinese – A practical Guide to Learn Mandarin” and Unlocking Chinese – The ultimate course for beginners created by Olle Linge, author of the well-known blog, “Hacking Chinese.”

Who is Olle Linge and what is his philosophy on learning?

Olle Linge is a Swedish young man who, after studying for almost a decade, obtained a masters degree for teaching Chinese as a second language in Taipei. Besides teaching Chinese privately and managing “Hacking Chinese”, which is in my opinion one of the two or three best websites around, Olle has also created two courses that promises to teach you how to learn Chinese.

Olle sums up his philosophy on learning through an ancient proverb:

“授人以魚，不如授人以漁.”

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” [Read more…]

This article contains a list of free resources to learn Chinese online. Click on one of the following links to “jump” directly to the section of the article that interests you most:

When we firstly published it, in June 2012, this list contained 25 resources. However, we update it every year with the best web sites and free apps that we “discover” (many of which were suggested to us by your readers).

Our goal is not to list all the free resources dedicated to learning Chinese; rather it’s to present to you the best of each of the categories listed above.

Keep reading to find a brief review and corresponding link to the web site of each resource cited.

Enjoy!

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In this article, I am going to review FluentU, a database of YouTube videos in Mandarin with subtitles (and much more).

Why?

Because I think videos are the best way to achieve “immersion” while studying a foreign language. Admittedly, talking with native people on a regular basis is even better; however, it’s not always possible and, at least when you are starting out, it’s extremely difficult.

What is immersion? And why is it so important?

You can’t learn a new language by just “studying.” In the end, mastering a language comes down to being able to communicate effectively with native speakers. The language you can learn through books is usually quite different from the spoken language, and with Chinese, the gap is even larger than with English or French, for example.

During the time I spent in China, I met many people who, after studying Chinese in their country for several years, came to China and became completely frustrated. Why? Because Chinese people were unable to understand them and, even worse, they couldn’t understand what Chinese people were saying. Even if they had good grammar and vocabulary basics, they had never been in contact with the “real” language. [Read more…]

I have been living in China for more than five years and every time I go home, people ask me:

“Isn’t it really hard to learn Chinese letters?”

To which I respond: “Not as hard as you think.”

The next question is usually:

“Do you know the whole alphabet?”

To which I don’t know what to say, so I just answer “No, not yet.”

This article is dedicated to the people that ask me these things, as well as for those who are interested in Chinese writing and don’t know where to start.

When you finish reading this article, you will have a basic idea of Chinese writing and will have learned some of these incorrectly named Chinese letters effortlessly, in such a way that you are not going to forget them easily.

If you stumbled upon this article accidentally because you want to get a tattoo with Chinese letters, wait a second, as you might still learn something and avoid getting a tattoo of something that your future Chinese girlfriend/boyfriend is going to laugh at every time they see it. [Read more…]