About ChinesePod

ChinesePod is the longest-running Mandarin Learning tool. With over 4,000 audio and video lessons at six different skill levels there is something to study for everyone. Read our blog for useful tips & tricks, as well as cultural insights that'll enrich your understanding of the Mandarin language.

Posts by :

So Who is This Grace Wong? And Why Are We Seeing Her All Over ChinesePod?

So Who is This Grace Wong? And Why Are We Seeing Her All Over ChinesePod?

I am Grace Wong, and I’m thrilled to be with you here on ChinesePod! I work mostly in the customer service area, but recently several people have suggested I take a more active role and even try to get in front of the camera.  So, I have decided to get out front and center so that I can become more involved with ChinesePod. I’m so excited!

I’ve always enjoyed learning online with CPod and I can’t wait to get know all of you in the ChinesePod community better. One of my new responsibilities as Community Manager will be to help host and setup MeetUps around the globe.  We will have our first one in North Florida and then will be rolling them out in other areas throughout the year.  Feel free to email me directly at Grace@chinesepod.com or message me in the forum if you would like to have one in your area.

So, let me tell you a little about me.  I was born in America, but my mother’s parents are from Hunan and Tainan.  My dad is from West Virginia. My mom fell in love with my Dad and he whisked her away to American and then came me!

I was born in the USA but my heart is in China!  My favorite thing to do there is eat! I love food – It’s a big motivator for me. One time my godmother bribed me with 粽子zòngzi to get me to let her pull my tooth out!

Hmmm.. looking back at my childhood the most vibrant memories I have involve piano and art – and FOOD!

I fought against the piano. I have many not-so-happy-memories of the piano with me throwing a fit on the piano bench, tears on the keys and the book thrown on the floor. Thankfully my parents saw my love of art and allowed me to quit the tortuous piano lessons.  It wasn’t expected of a Chinese mother to support her daughter’s pursuit of art, especially over the piano. I was fortunate to have been heard and encouraged.

Anywho…

Fast forward many years later, I went to college and majored in Fine Arts and minored in Chinese and Photography. Chinese has always been a part of my life, but it wasn’t until college that I fell in love with it. Chinese was so obtainable and I love being around people from China or who chose to learn this language. I’ve been committed to the language ever since. Check out this video of the Five W Questions in Chinese!

I have spent years teaching Chinese to children and adults alike. My first opportunity teaching the language was with adopted children from China. I was so impressed how their parents made it a priority for these kids to learn to speak their native tongue.  Then I created crash courses for companies which set up offices in Asia or had business in China.

I enjoyed teaching children and adults alike.  As an elementary school teacher, I established the Chinese program at my school! It’s amazing to see the drive these young children have to pursue this language on their own. I attacked Chinese much as I did the piano when I was a child – it wasn’t an activity I was jumping up and down to do. I can’t quite pinpoint what it was that I didn’t enjoy about it, however now that I’m all grown up, I realize I want to demystify Chinese and show everyone what an accessible language this is!  

All of my mom’s family are still in Asia.  While I wish we were closer, it has given me the opportunity to travel there often to visit. What a wonderful culture, steeped in tradition and history!

My family in Asia is so precious to me and I consider it my second home. I always cry as I leave my family there and wish I could stay longer.

 

I have traveled to the far east annually throughout my adult life and every time I go, I unlock new mysteries.  I am excited about many more trips to come and the new cultural experiences to be had.

I can’t wait to do our ChinesePod meetups all around the world with subscribers like you!  

Thanks for being part of the ChinesePod Community!  I look forward to hearing from you!

 

 

How to Say I Love You in Chinese

How to Say I Love You in Chinese

Saying “I love You” in Chinese is not as simple a translation as you might think. In English it is very common for people to use the word “love” in many different ways. We say things like, “I love your shoes” or “I love eating nachos at a football game.”  When we say “I love . . . this or that,” we are using it in a way that expresses our strong liking for some object.

 

“I love you” is probably heard the most when Valentine’s Day 情人节快乐 (qíng rén jié kuài lè) is approaching. There are hearts everywhere, red coloring on everything and even diamond commercials on TV non-stop!  But our romantic expression of the word ‘love’ is when we really capture the essence of what the word actually means. Saying “I love you” is our way of showing a deep affection for the person to whom we are sharing our feelings.

 

The reason for the big lead up to this point of how we say I love you in Chinese is to show the reason you can’t simply Google translate “I love you” and get the correct Chinese expression. Of course, we can do this and Google will show us 我爱你 (Wǒ ài nǐ). But, if you were in China and you said this to someone, they would probably look at you like you were a little crazy.

3 Ways Chinese Parents Show Us “I love you” is Over-rated

Source: Wikimedia Commons

The real way to say I love you in Chinese would be 我喜欢你 (Wǒ xǐhuān nǐ). Literally translated, this would mean I like you. Our Valentine’s Day Sweetheart might not feel so special if we said this to them in English, but in Chinese it makes perfect sense.

 

Jay Chou’s Simple Love is an example of the influence American culture has had on the world, including China. You could definitely get away with saying 我爱你 (Wǒ ài nǐ) to a loved one in China. We just want to be sure to give you an insight into the more appropriate way to say I love you in China.

 

Speaking of influence, Valentine’s Day itself is something new that was introduced to China. The Chinese version of Valentine’s Day is actually called Double Seventh Festival 七夕节 (Qīxījié). It is a time of romance and is based on an ancient Chinese legend about the love between and ox herder and a basket weaver…how sweet.

 

Chinese text messages of affection might be one way you want to tell your loved one how much you 喜欢 them on Valentine’s Day. Chinese text messages also have a pretty cool way of doing so. Numbers are used in the place of characters to express meaning. It is similar to the abbreviations we have like LOL or SMH.

 

Some useful Chinese text messages for Valentine’s Day include:

Source: Wikimedia Commons

520 (wǔ èr líng) = 我爱你 (wǒ ài nǐ) “I love you.”

770 (qī qī líng) = 亲亲你 (qīn qīn nǐ) “Kiss you.”

 

880 (bā bā líng) =  抱抱你 (bào bào nǐ) “Hug you.”

 

530 (wǔ sān líng) ＝ 我想你 (wǒ xiǎng nǐ) “I miss you.”

Most importantly: SAY IT!  However you decide to say it, your loved one will appreciate the gesture!

 

Happy Valentine’s Day! 情人节快乐 (qíng rén jié kuài lè)!

Game of Thrones: Conspiracies and Theories -所有的阴谋和预测 (Suǒyǒu de yīnmóu hé yùcè)

Game of Thrones: Conspiracies and Theories -所有的阴谋和预测 (Suǒyǒu de yīnmóu hé yùcè)

Learn Chinese while ChinesePod explains the latest season finale of 权力游戏 (Quánlì yóuxì) AKA Game of Thrones. The next season won’t be until 2019, so it’s the perfect time to speculate conspiracies and theories about Season 8 第八季  (Dì bã jì).  So let’s begin!

The Chinese translation of “Game of Thrones” in Chinese is “宝座的游戏” (Bǎozuò de yóuxì). In China, it’s translated as 权力的游戏 (Quánlì de yóuxì) but countries like Taiwan it’s translated as 权力游戏 (Quánlì yóuxì).

 

Starting with the Sibling Wars兄弟姐妹战争 (Xiōngdì jiěmèi zhànzhēng)

With the Hound laying down the smack talk to the Mountain in this last episode, “You know who’s coming for you, you have always known”, the Cleganebowl is definitely on! This sibling fight to the death will be one for the ages. Besides the Cleganes, with Cersei becoming more ruthless with each episode, it’s a solid bet that Jaime by the end of the season with be both a Queenslayer and well as a Kingslayer.

 

Next we have Lady of Winterfell 临冬城公爵 (lín dōng chéng gōngjué)

Jon Snow will claim his Targaryen birthright, just before he flies into battle on the back of the dragon Rhaegal. The Northern Lords will never want to follow a Targaryen, so expect Sansa to continue to keep the title of Lady of Winterfell. There must always be a Stark at Winterfell.

 

 

 

Back to the Past! Now we have – Warg to the Past 向往昔 (Xiàng wǎngxī)

With so many lingering mysteries still remaining in the past, we need to see Bran continue to access his three-eyed raven powers. Who is the Night King? He seems to have a strong connection with both Bran and Jon, did he used to be a Stark? What do the White Walkers want? What happened at the tourney of Harrenhal where Jon’s parents first met? Unlike other greenseers in the realm, Bran has a distinct ability to change the past. It would be amazing to see him attempt to change the past only to make things worse, reminiscent of the movie The Butterfly effect.  Sam will no doubt be by his side to join the dots and provide entertainment.

 

Finally, the Continental zombie apocalypse – 行尸走肉 浩劫 (xíngshīzǒuròu hàojié)

Now that the Night King has his own dragon, he has complete freedom to fly anywhere in the 7 kingdoms and raise multiple armies. With the Lannister’s defeat of House Tyrell, how many dead bodies were left to rot? If Team Targaryen manages to defeat the initial army of the dead, they might just find another army around the corner

 

Be ready, absolutely no character will be safe. Sadly, we must wait until 2019! So let’s speculate:  Leave us a comment with your predictions.

Jobs Requiring Chinese: So You Want To Work In Chinese?

Jobs Requiring Chinese: So You Want To Work In Chinese?

This is a guest Blog post written by Frances Chan, a language-learning consultant: she helps people learn languages. Her pieces on learning languages have helped thousands of people. She most enjoys teaching language-learners how to sound more like native speakers. If you are interested in more pieces that she has written, check out her blog.

Are you keen to work in Chinese but you’re unsure of where to start looking or which jobs to research that require Chinese?

You’ve been studying Mandarin for a few years, and you want to take your China-savvy to the next level: your career. But what do you do with it? There are few straightforward applications of this language—or any human language for that matter. Learn programming, and you can become a software engineer. Learn languages, and you… ?

What’s more, hundreds of thousands of Chinese students study in Anglophone countries each year, gaining professional fluency in English in addition to their already native grasp on Chinese. Based on language abilities alone, they have an absolute advantage over you. What do you do?

As an avid language-learner keen on applying my hard-earned skills, I was curious myself. So this past month, I interviewed ten early-career professionals who’ve begun building a career out of their Chinese skills.

Read More

1 2 3