Hanbridge Mandarin Chinese Online Learning

Unlike English or other alphabetic languages, Chinese words and phrases sometimes cannot be translated as their literal meaning indicates because many Chinese characters carry more than one meaning. So I believe this is somehow frustrating when you first learn Chinese. But no worries! There is only a small number of them! And today, I will show you the five most interesting ones with no English equivalent. 1. 老外 lǎo wài When you arrived in China, this word might have been the most common Chinese word that Chinese people said when they saw you. The literal meaning of “lǎowài” is “old outside.” This word was first believed to carry a negative meaning when describing foreigners. But as time goes by, it has turned out to be a more and more positive and common word, even a cute nickname for foreigners. So next time, when Chinese people call you lǎowài, don’t get mad! 2. 吃醋 chīcù If you have a Chinese girlfriend or boyfriend, then this word might be very useful! The literal m...

The 2016 US Presidential Election has drawn worldwide attention, which arises lots of debates in China too. I believe you have already been asked who you support or whom you think will win the election. So today, let’s learn some Chinese phrases about 2016 United States Presidential Election to get you prepared in case you need to introduce it to your Chinese friend or are asked by Chinese people ‘So do you think Trump will win?’ First, let’s check out the names of the two candidates (候选人hòuxuǎnrén) of the 2016 United States Presidential Elections (美国总统大选 měiguó zǒngtǒng dàxuǎn) : Hillary Clinton 希拉里·克林顿 Xīlālǐ Kèlíndùn Donald Trump 唐纳德·特朗普 Tángnàdé Tèlǎngpǔ / Tángnàdé Chuānpǔ Usually, Chinese people will call them Xīlālǐ and Chuānpǔ for short. As always, the fight is between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, each having their own candidates. To present these two candidates of their own parties, we can use these sentences: 1. 希拉里·克林顿是 民主党 的总统候选人。 Xīlālǐ Kèlínd...

“The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.” “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?” Looks familiar? Does it trigger your childhood memory of reciting English tongue twisters? Actually, we can find the same kind of tongue twister in every language, and Chinese is no exception. The idea is to gain fluency and to be able to differentiate the sounds by reading the tongue twisters, which proves to be helpful for beginners. At the beginner stage, these groups of initials and finals are found more difficult to pronounce than the others: s - sh, j - q - x, an - ian - uan, etc. And let’s not forget the ultimate challenge for foreign learners: tones. The Chinese tongue twisters in this lesson can be very helpful for both adults and young children who want to learn Mandarin Chinese and practice good enunciation in the beginning stages of studying Chinese. 1. ‘ s - sh’: 三山屹四水，四水绕三山；三山四水春常在，四水三...

There are 387 Confucius Institutes and about 500 Confucius classrooms around the world. Besides the Chinese teachers, there are quite a lot of foreign teachers who are teaching Chinese together with their Chinese colleagues, and the local foreign teachers will be the main force of teaching staff in the future. As this demand exists, more and more foreigners are studying Chinese and looking for a job as Chinese teachers in their own country. So this article will recommend three teaching materials that can help you prepare for Chinese lessons . 1. A Practical Chinese Grammar for Foreigners (Revised edition, Beijing Language and Culture University Press) Grammar is an inescapable part of learning a language. Foreigners learning modern Chinese must have a good understanding of the characteristics of its grammar in addition to the command of pronunciation, Chinese characters (the written symbols of Chinese) and vocabulary before they can acquire a mastery of the rules of sentence struct...

As a Chinese teacher , I’ve been asked several times about the difference between the above three question particles, also called question words --- “ma”吗 , “ne”呢 , and “ba”吧 .” The truth is their differences are quite obvious once you know their usage for particular situations. 1. 吗 ‘ma’ 吗”Ma”actually has no meaning. It is just an interrogative particle used at the end of a statement to make it a yes/no question . It also symbolizes a general question. Example: Mǎ lì shì hàn yǔ lǎo shī ma? 玛丽是汉语老师吗? (Is Mary a Chinese teacher?) Nǐ rèn shí dà wèi ma? 你认识大卫吗？(Do you know David?) Jié kè yě shì měi guó rén ma? 杰克也是美国人吗？(Is Jack also American?) 2. 呢 ‘ne’ 呢 “ne” means “what about...?” We put “ne” at the end of a sentence following the topic to raise a question. Wǒ shì zhōng guó rén, nǐ ne? 我是中国人，你呢？(I’m Chinese, what about you?) Wǒ yǒu liǎng gè mèi mèi, nǐ ne? 我有两个妹妹，你呢？(I have two younger sisters, what about you?) Shàng hǎi hěn dà, Běijīng ne?上海很大，北京呢？(Shanghai is very big...

China has a long history and is rich in natural beauty, ancient culture and exciting cities to visit. You can see magnificent mountains and rivers, interesting animals and plants, numerous historical sites, traditional Chinese opera, music and dance, and architecture ranging from classical Chinese to late 19th and early 20th century Russian to post-modern skyscrapers. And then there are China's many different cuisines! So, to make traveling in China easier, here are some helpful phrases. English Pinyin/ Characters Travel- Going Somewhere Hello Nǐ hǎo 你好。 Could you please tell me where Happy Valley is? Qǐngwèn huānlè gǔ zài nǎlǐ 请问欢乐谷在哪里？ How much is the ticket? Ménpiào duōshǎo qián 门票多少钱？ Hotel I need a single room/double room. Wǒ yào yīgè dān rén fáng/shuāngrén fáng 我要一个单人房/双人房。 I am going to check out now Wǒ xiànzài yào tuì fángle 我现在要退房了。 Transportation Where is the metro/taxi station? Dìtiě zhàn/dí shì zhàn zài nǎ'er? 地铁...

We have shared Chinese names for girls before, and today we are going to share Chinese names for boys. Chinese parents choose names for their kids very carefully, always involves group discussion and superstitious consideration. At different time periods, parents’ preferences for names have changed with fashion. If you want to give your kid a Chinese name , you can choose either one of the characters or two characters from the list. Generally speaking, most Chinese parents choose names by the following principles: meaning, special significance, family connection, and sound. Most Chinese names are made up of three Chinese characters . The family name always comes first, and the last two characters are the given name. But sometimes you can find a four-character name for few peoples’ family names is made up of two characters. The following 10 words are the most used in China for a boy, and various combinations come with them. 1. 宇 yǔ : Literally means the edge of the roof, later ...

Generally, a Chinese name is composed of two or three characters, like Li Ling or Li Lingling. The first is the surname followed by the given name. 1. The name should be melodious The name as it is read it should produce a sweet sound. As the Chinese believe that a poor name will create interference in life because it will make a bad impression on others. So we always take care to the name. Many Chinese like to use reduplicated words for a name, like Huang Lingling, Li Fangfang, Qin Xiaoxiao, etc.. 2. Avoid homonyms Homonyms are words that have the same sound or spelling but have different meanings. So parents need to take care to avoid putting two words together that may create a troublesome meaning. Examples include Wu Limao (rude) and Wei Cong (feeding insects). 3. The Chinese horoscope Parents often consider the horoscope to name their babies. which corresponds to the baby's birth date to select a name. They will consult the coordination of yin and yang, the five e...

Learn to speak Mandarin Chinese Online has many benefits, among which, the best part is you can speak wherever and whenever you want, especially for people with busy schedule. With commitment and daily practice online it is certainly possible to successfully master the language. There are many methods to learn Mandarin online, such as video clips, audio files and virtual classroom with real teachers, among which, the virtual classroom is highly recommended for its being flexible, effective and fun! Once you enter our website, a Chinese tutor recommended for you by our course consultant can fit most your lifestyle, which will definitely improve your speaking skill . On the platform of our online course, the chart can help you monitor your progress with instant feedback. Therefore your learning process can be tracked over times. Online analytics make it easy for you to track progress, identify weaknesses and view lesson notes and feedback from your teacher. It is a universal acknowledg...

There are a lot of language books on the market. It’s not easy for a student to choose a suitable book for learning a language. Today i will recommend a very useful grammar books for learning Chinese. Sometimes in life, it’s not everyone can have a teacher when you are studying, so a good book is the beginning of success. As we know grammar is the framework of a language. Once you know how to understand and use the grammar of a language, you just need to accumulate the vocabulary and put the word with the right grammar structure, then you can master this language very well. <<外国人实用汉语语法>> : The English name is A Practical Chinese Grammar for Foreigners . This book already had 20 years history. At the same time, it is also constantly revised in accordance with the needs of the learners in improving constantly in order to better help everyone to learn Mandarin grammar and understand Chinese better. There are 10 chapters in this book. Chapter 1 is an introduction. It...

While learning Chinese have become hugely popular around the world, more and more people are trying to learn Chinese, and many celebrities also learn to say a few words of Chinese, seem to learn Chinese is a very fashionable thing, but learning Chinese is not an easy thing, I think only strong motivation and sufficient interest can prompt you to overcome many difficulties and successfully acquire Chinese language. Why do so many people choose to study the Chinese language? Because learned Chinese, you can get a lot of really good benefit, now I will list the benefits of learning Chinese one by one. Benefit 1: Learning Chinese, be helpful for your business The benefit draws people here and runs them there. The biggest motivation to learn Chinese is doing business with Chinese people. China's economy has been developing in the growth, huge population and consumption potential, in the process of doing business with Chinese, if can use Chinese Mandarin communicate with Chinese pe...

AP, it means Advanced Placement. It is provided by The College Board and used in high school. America high school student can take it as an elective course. The marks you get in AP test which can earning college credits. Normally it should take thousands of dollars to take a course at the university, but take an AP test only need $82. So it is not only can present the student's assets and capabilities, but also it is a good way to save money. That’s why now AP course are more and more popular in school. Today we are going to talk about the vocabulary for the AP Chinese. No matter which language, the vocabulary always is the most essential and fundamental part. To get enough vocabulary and know how to apply it in real world is a bottom line for students who are learning Chinese language . In general amounts of vocabularies and phrases helping a learner to get better reading and clear listening comprehension . When a learner faced the unknown words guessing the meaning of that vo...

Since worldwide language teachers’ target is to help students build proficiency and fluency, which can be accomplished in different methods with or without a universal textbook, the host community of AP Chinese Language and Culture exam does not provide a list of textbooks that meet the curricular requirements of this exam. But we do find few books that are recommended by lots of test takers as well as teachers. 1. Barron’s AP Chinese Language and Culture 2nd Edition By Yan Shen, M.A. Department of Asian Languages & Cultures, UCLA, Los Angeles Many students have been using this book almost as an official guide to this exam, and its popularity is worldwide and is recommended by a lot of AP Chinese Language and Culture teachers for the test preparation. Considering the usage of both traditional and simplified Chinese characters by test takers, this book is presented in both versions. Two complete mock exams are presented with answer keys, which enables students to have an overa...

AP Chinese language and culture course and exam include listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students should well master both spoken and written Chinese at a sophisticated level. So AP Chinese is not that easy, students should improve their Chinese level in all aspects. Listening There are two parts of listening included in AP Chinese language and culture exam. The first part, listen to the beginning of a conversation and select the appropriate continuation of the conversation. For example, A: 你是从哪个城市来的？ B: 我是从旧金山来的，你呢？ 1. 什么？你没去过旧金山？ 2. 我哪儿不想去 3. 我可不想去那儿 4. 我也是从那儿来的 To understand what they are discussing, select the appropriate reply to it. The right answer should be no.4 A：Where are you from? B: I am from San Francisco. How about you? A: So am I The second part, listen to a conversation or instruction or report and then answer some questions based on the content. There will be more than one question after a relatively long conversation or report e...

Every nation has its own traditional clothing. Traditional clothes represent the culture of the country. China has not only fifty-six ethnic groups, but also has a variety of clothing, which reflecting the rich and colorful Chinese culture. Speaking of China's traditional clothing, we must first think of the Chinese cheongsam，there is another name Qipao. The Chinese cheongsam is very beautiful traditional Chinese clothing, in particular, can be very beautiful to show a woman's body. The origin of Cheongsam’s name is very historical. The Qing Dynasty is the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history, emperors of the Qing Dynasty also known as the Manchu, the Qing dynasty women's hairstyle is called Qitou, clothes also called Qizhuang, and now the cheongsam looks pretty like Qizhuang. Now, more and more Chinese people like the Chinese dress, feel that the cheongsam shows the beauty of Chinese woman. Until 2014 the APEC meeting, China has chosen the dress as the leading lady ...

The AP Chinese Language and Culture Exam(Commonly known as AP Chinese) assesses interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational communication skills in Mandarin Chinese, as well as the knowledge of Chinese culture. The AP Chinese Exam is approximately lasts 2 hours and 15 minutes, which consists of 4 sections: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. Section I: Multiple-choice questions Part 1: Listening The Listening section is worth 25% of the total score for AP Chinese exam. To do well on this section , you should practice listening in many methods and listen to many Chinese resources. You can find lots of the resources on Internet just like Chinese radio, Chinese TV shows . Chatting with native speakers is really a good and effective way to improve both listening and speaking skills. Instead of learning by yourself, talking with some Chinese friend and ask their suggestions to choose some useful textbook, and then listen to the materials is also an excellent way to improv...

Learning Chinese is never easy. However, constant dripping wears away a stone. As long as you master the right method and practice continually, you reach success. Here are six suggestions for Chinese learners. 1. Set Goals If you know why you want to study, setting goals is easy. For example, maybe you want to travel to a Chinese-speaking country. Great! Your goal might be to learn " Survival Chinese ". Perhaps you already know many useful phrases, but you want to improve your listening skills and pronunciation. Whatever your goals are, write them down. How long do you need to study to achieve your goals? This answer is different for every student. The important thing is to be realistic. If you work 60 hours per week, then don't plan on spending another 40 hours a week studying Chinese. Start off slowly, but study regularly. Use material that is challenging, but not too difficult. Find out what works for you. After you have studied for a few weeks, adjust your stu...