Tag: Beginner
Looking for a Chinese name but not sure which online resource to trust? As a long-time Chinese learner I tested the most popular and high ranking Chinese name generators to see if they are any good. Most of them aren’t of much use, but I found one exception.
Anyone who learns Chinese inevitably gets a lot of well-intentioned advice thrown their way. I dug into my memory and picked out the very worst advice on learning Chinese in this blog article.
Can the popular language learning app Duolingo get you to the highest levels of Chinese? Here are the reasons why you shouldn’t expect Duolingo to help you reach high level fluency in Mandarin.
How often have I heard this advice? You want to learn Chinese, then start with something simple: watch Peppa Pig in Chinese. Well, that’s what I did and here’s what I found.
How to find online Chinese lessons that are truly worth your time and money? In this blog,…
You want to know how to say ‘Chinese Language’ in Chinese? This is a in-depth guide to the name and nuances that should answer all your questions.
If you’re (self-)studying Chinese nowadays, you’ve probably never heard of John DeFrancis’ classic Chinese reader. The Beginning Chinese Reader was first published by Yale University Press in 1966 and still can be purchased today. But is it worth buying and why (not)?
You’re starting to learn Chinese? While smart learners think about their learning plan, very few ever consider their preferred learning style. Why not discover yours in the next 5 minutes?
The bad news: China won’t stop its zero-Covid policy anytime soon (or will it?). The good news: you don’t have to go to China to learn Chinese.
As if learning Mandarin isn’t difficult enough, many distractions creep into our lives and keep us from advancing towards our goals. Here are five things to downscale in order to become a more effective learner.
Learning Mandarin can be a loooong-term endeavor. Looking back on at least 8 years of learning Mandarin, there are a lot of things I wish I could have worked out earlier.
Can you learn to fly a Boeing 747 in six months? Some say you can! How about languages though?
Learning to write Chinese characters: my personal list of disastrous advice and practices that are a complete waste of time and oxygen.
Many western China doc’s are deeply rooted in prejudice and choose the moral high ground. Hardly surprising: they don’t bring any new insights. There are exceptions though…
“我的渡口” or “My Ferry” struck me as a rather slow and silent movie, conversations between country people…