This article has the objective of describing the particular type of relationship that exists between the Chinese language and the everyday life of those who speak and read it.

From this close relationship, you can identify a series of “superstitions” (or customs) that are more or less strictly followed by the population of the Middle Kingdom.

In order to fully understand those relationships, we need to first consider some aspects of the Chinese language.

What are the characteristics and peculiarities of the Chinese language?

One always hears that Chinese is a strange language that is difficult to learn, especially for someone coming from a Western culture.

This is probably true in part, as every language in the world has its simple and complex aspects. [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…]

P.S. Click here to test your HSK level with our free quiz!

Premise

Before taking the time to read this guide, know that you can only really appreciate it if you’ve already reached level 5 of the HSK exam or if you’ve already attained a good level.

Consider too that you’ll have to know more than 2500/3000 words before being able to specifically work on the HSK 6. Happy studies!

Structure of the test

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Chinese writing has a fascination all its own: from the ornamental aspect, which all can appreciate even without being an expert, to the symbolic value which is exotic to us, to the long tradition that the characters bring from over two millennia of history full of meaning and even magic.

There are those who don’t consider it so much as a form of writing the words of a spoken language as much as a system for “writing the world”.

In this article I will speak to you about the rules through which this “world” is created on paper: starting from an alphabetic writing you’ll be used to, up to simple signs that indicate sounds whose combinations create the written text, while the question becomes a little more complicated for Chinese.

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Learning Chinese has become an increasingly common objective not just for future Sinologists and experts but also for neophytes in the world of business where it has become continuously more important.

There are in fact an infinite amount of resources for how to best learn this language and facilitate learning for the user in this difficult undertaking.

These days, the quickest and most intuitive are certainly the numerous mobile apps for learning a language, and when it comes to Chinese, there’s one you probably already know.

I’m talking about Pleco, the English/Chinese dictionary for iOS systems and Android for which I’ll now present a brief review.

[Read more…]

When speaking about the Chinese language, one of the most disturbing “facts” is that there is no alphabet. “So how do they do it? Is every word different? And how do they remember how it is written?”

It’s not easy to respond to these and other similar questions without understanding a little bit more about Chinese writing. In this article I will try to speak about the “alternative” system to the alphabet, that of radicals: perhaps, after having read it, you too will better understand the logic behind the Chinese language!

The smallest unit

What is the smallest unit of the Chinese language? For us it is the letter: a graphic symbol that indicates a sound (technically called a phenome). This makes English (along with Italian, Spanish, and German) an alphabetical language.

The smallest unit of the Chinese language is the syllable: this means that the characters (the units of writing that have the same function of our letters), in Chinese 汉字 (Hànzì, “Han characters”), correspond not to a single sound but to a syllable – making Chinese a syllabic language. [Read more…]

This article’s goal is to list the points that you should keep in mind before choosing Chinese classes and to give a small review of what are in our opinion the best schools in the city to learn the language.

Should I try to learn Chinese?

Before starting to look for Chinese classes, you should ask yourself whether you really want to learn Chinese. To learn Chinese, you will need to be consistent and make an extra effort compared to other languages. [Read more…]

Have you just started learning Chinese and have often heard about “Traditional Chinese” and “Simplified Chinese” and want to know what the difference is?

Do you already know the language rather well and want to know more on this particular aspect of writing?

Do you want to know how and when Chinese characters came to be simplified?

Have you studied simplified Chinese and would like to learn how to read a little of the traditional Chinese or viceversa?

In each of these cases, this article has been written just for you!

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If you search the web I’m sure you’ll find hundreds of articles written by people that was able to master Chinese language and are willing to explain how they did it. Even this website features several articles on the topic.

This article goes in the opposite direction: here you’ll find the best strategies to NOT learn Chinese. In other words, you’ll find out all the mistakes I’ve done during my six years as a Chinese learner.

If you’re looking for tips on how to learn Chinese or a successful case study, this post isn’t for you. But wait! Don’t leave us so soon! Maybe you can still learn something from my unsuccessful experience. Or at least have a laugh before going back to your pressing matters. [Read more…]

Certainly one of the most curious things about the Chinese language is the writing system, with complex characters that are fascinating, often mysterious and almost magical. If you are in some degree familiar with this language you’ll have heard this question quite often – how do you write my name in Chinese?

You will have realized though that the answer isn’t all that simple! Translating a name into Chinese presents a different challenges that make it hard to do it straight away.

First of all, the Chinese language doesn’t have an alphabet: with the exception of a few cases, each character corresponds to a syllable and not a letter/sound as in alphabetic languages. For this reason, in the majority of cases you can’t simply just “transcribe” your name using different graphic symbols, as you could do with Japanese Kana for example.

Moreover, some sounds, syllables and sound combinations don’t exist in Chinese, such as the “v” or doubles and combinations with consecutive consonants, and so the necessary syllable for writing your name may not exist. In this case you’re forced to use a syllable that “sounds like” the original but isn’t exactly equal since other than missing “sounds”, Chinese also has another bonus – tones.

Each syllable corresponds to a character, which can then be used to transliterate (or write with another alphabet) foreign names. In modern Chinese there’s a set of characters that are often used for transcribing foreign names (similar to the Japanese Katakana, which is an alphabet created just for this reason): in practice, it’s a list of characters that when arranged in a combination that feels “odd” to Chinese people, will immediately indicate that it’s a foreign term (an actual name or borrowed term). [Read more…]

Which are the best Chinese language dictionaries? What type of dictionaries are available? How do you use them? If you’ve ever asked any of these questions, this article is for you!

Why learn how to use a Chinese paper dictionary?

We’ll speak about Chinese paper dictionaries, an indispensable tool for those learning Chinese (at least at university, where cell phones and computers aren’t allowed in classes or exams). The list we’re proposing is certainly not complete, but represents a good start for starting to understand something or have an idea about which tool is best for you and your study.

Once a staple until a few years ago, lately the paper dictionary is an increasingly less-used tool in favor of digital dictionaries (electronic dictionaries, online sites, specific software, pdf/ebook dictionaries and cellphone apps).

So why should you learn how to use one? There are two basic reasons, one of a practical nature and the other, theoretical so to speak.

First of all, those who study Chinese at university will already know this: you’re not allowed to use cell phones and tablets during exams, and as a result, a paper dictionary is the only option. Alternately, there are lots of electronic dictionaries that contain one or more paper dictionaries in digital format, which could be allowed by the teacher.

On the other hand, knowing how to use a Chinese paper dictionary presupposes a knowledge of the structure of characters that can’t be neglected by those who study the language, which I will try to explain in the simplest way possible. [Read more…]

What is LingQ?

LingQ is a platform created by polyglot Steve Kaufmann, for the purpose of learning one or more languages in an interactive way.

What impressed me, compared to the many other courses that I’ve used or reviewed here on this site, is the level of interaction the platform allows, which offers sort of an “open system” for importing study material and using it the way you want.

For example, you can import an entire book in PDF, click on words you don’t know to find the meaning and pronunciation, save those words to a list of flashcards (or “LingQ”, as the platform is called), which you can then use to review the new words.

But let’s go in order… [Read more…]