Phrases Which Will Impress Your Chinese Friend

Olivia Ryan December 18, 2019

Whether you are visiting China, or you are expecting a visit from Chinese friends, it is normal to want to impress them with your astonishing skills when it comes to their language.

It’s time for you to amaze. After all, as the expert writer at assignment writing services, Genista Nina says, “The limit of my language means the limit of my world.”

1. The Greeting

You can never go wrong with a pleasing greeting at the beginning of any of your conversations.

This time, instead of using the monotonous phrase “ni hao” (你好) you can now go with “Hěn gāoxìng jiàn dào nǐ” (很高兴见到你) meaning “It is great to see you”, which is a phrase much less used than the regular, boring hello.

2. Asking Questions, Instead of the Opposite

It is always easier to answer a question rather than to ask a question when it comes to communication in a foreign language. In this case, to really impress your Chinese buddies, take the brave step of asking instead of being asked.

Take your shot with simple questions like “Nǐ jīntiānguò dé zěnme yàng?” (你今天过得怎么样), meaning “How is your day going?”, or something more intriguing like “Shì shénme ràng nǐ de wénhuà bùtóng? (是什么让你的文化不同), meaning “What makes your culture different?”

Souce: https://equinoxstrategy.com/

3. Diving Deeper Into Their Culture

Something that will really dazzle your foreign acquaintances is being curious about their origin. Talk about the characteristics of their way of life, whether it is different or similar to your own.

You can accomplish this by using phrases such as the following-“Zhōngguó de shíwù gēng hǎo ma?” (中国的食物比较好吗) meaning “Is the food in China better?”

It is also important to introduce them to your own way of life in the city or country.

To achieve that start with informing them with some key information about the area you live in. For example, you can say “Wǒmen yǒu yīgè hěn bàng de bówùguǎn” (我们有一个很棒的博物馆), which means “We have a great museum.”

4. Sharing Traditions!

If your Chinese friends happen to be visiting, sharing your traditions is a vital part. A combination of manners and traditions is a great choice.

To accomplish this, approach them with questions like “Nín xiǎng cháng wǒmen de chuántǒng měishí ma?” (您想尝尝我们的传统美食吗), meaning “Would you like to try some of our traditional meals?”

This will be very pleasing since they are just as curious about your culture as you are about theirs.

Source: https://vidyasury.com/

5. Learn to Compliment

Compliments are the easiest way to someone’s heart. Try to make compliments as personal as possible, to reveal the fact that you are not complimenting them just to impress them.

There are a few ways you can do this. For instance say “Wǒ hěn xǐhuān nǐ de yīfú” (我很喜欢你的衣服), which means “I like your clothes very much.” To add the cherry on top, add “Nǐ zài nǎlǐ mǎi de.?” (你在哪里买的?) meaning “Where did you buy it?” so they know you are really interested.

Source: https://www.istockphoto.com/

6. The Goodbyes

“Goodbyes” are just as important as “Hello’s”. Leave a good impression by proving that you can maintain your excellent communication, from beginning to end. Bid your foreign acquaintance’s goodbye by making sure you leave the desire in them to come again.

Your goal will be reached with few of the following phrases:

“Zhè jǐ tiān hái hǎo ma?” (这几天还好吗？) – “How are these days?”

“Yǒu kòng zàilái..” (有空再来) – “Come again when you have time.”

“Duō bǎozhòng, bǎochí liánxì.” (多保重，保持联系) – “Take care and keep in touch.”

Learning to exchange information in multiple languages is not only going to impress your Chinese friends but will expand your own limits and knowledge. As Federico Fellini said, “A different language is a different vision of life.”

Now that you have read this blog be sure to check out some of our other blog posts, such as ‘Why Laughing in Mandarin Could Get You in Trouble’ and ‘5 Great Wall Hikes For Every Beijing Tourist’

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Tone Change Rules for Common Chinese Words

ChinesePod December 12, 2019

In my previous post I talked about my first Thanksgiving dinner in China. Not only did I talk about my dining experience, but I also referred to some Chinese words that I learned along the way, such as ham( 火腿 huǒtuǐ), turkey(火鸡 huǒ jī), pizza (比萨 bǐsà), et cetera. Within the parenthesis I provide to you the Chinese character of each word, and next to each character I provide to you the pinyin. The pinyin is the way in which foreigners learn to pronounce Chinese words, and without it, learning Chinese would be much more difficult.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/

Do you notice the squiggly lines you see on top of each pinyin? They are the tone-markers to help you sound out the pinyin in the right tone! As Chinese learners, I think we can all agree that tones can be quite confusing and difficult to grasp. In addition to learning the tones, we also have to learn the tone rules. Tone rules are the rules that each tone follows when preceding or succeeding another tone.

In the beginning the tone rules might sound confusing, but with some practice you will be able to grasp it in no time. In the former paragraph I wrote the word ham (火腿 huǒtuǐ). It’s clear that the word ham has two third tones (huǒtuǐ), but when two third tones are placed together, the first word, or in this case (huǒ) will become a second tone or a rising tone and the second word (tuǐ) stays the same. Even though it will be written the same (火腿 huǒtuǐ), when saying (huǒ) you will have to say it in the second tone.

A similar pattern occurs a lot with the word bù. Even though bù is a fourth tone word, when preceding another fourth tone word, it becomes a second tone or a rising tone. A few examples are 不会（bù huì) which means unable to/will not/do not know to; 不用 (bùyòng) which means no need, and 不要（ bùyào) which means not to want to/no need to. The correct way to pronounce these words is by changing 不 (bù) into a rising tone or a second tone. At first it might seem a bit complicated, but with practice these tone changes becomes second nature.

Another word that changes its tone very often is the word 一 (yī). When 一 (yī) is followed by a fourth tone, it becomes a rising tone or second tone. Here are some examples how 一 (yī) changes its tones: 一个（yīgè）should be pronounced with 一 (yī) acting as a second tone or a rising tone. Next, we have 一样（yīyàng), the yī should be a rising tone.

At first the tone rules might seem confusing, but I promise you with enough practice, they will become second nature. It is very important to not feel overwhelmed by the tone rules, doing so will hinder your cognitive abilities. Approach the tone rules with an empty mind, in a playful manner, and you will notice that you will be able to understand them better and quicker. I hope this blog post helped some of you clarify some tone rules and give you more confidence when speaking Chinese. I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving, and happy holidays to come!!

How to Learn Chinese Characters

Ash Henson December 9, 2019

Learning Chinese characters may seem intimidating, but I have a secret technique! The key is to learn the WAY to learn Chinese Characters. I know that may sound complicated…but it’s really not! Consider this…

There are two main components to learning any language: Figuring out what to do, and then doing it! Doing it takes discipline, but it truly can be done by just about anyone. Most people that quit learning a language do so because they can’t figure out what to do. The two main difficulties people encounter when learning the Chinese language are mastering the tones and the characters. This is why the dropout rate in colleges for Mandarin as a foreign language is 4x higher than that of Spanish or French.

So let’s break it down…

For tones, start by listening and mimicking audio recordings of native speakers. This will put you way ahead of the game. Trying to go from pinyin and tone charts to correct pronunciation is a surefire way to fail.

You can’t just look at a tone chart and think you can now pronounce tones correctly.

People often think in terms of these lines and try to produce sound, rather than listening and repeating the tones. That creates a big disconnect between what they think they are saying and what they are actually saying. If you’re thinking of these “tone lines” instead of listening to actual native speaker tones, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Instead, you have to listen! Master the sounds first, then learn how to write those sounds. That applies to pinyin, bopomofo AND characters!

The fact that you are here on ChinesePod is fabulous. The authentic, conversational audio is great, but, you still have to make use of it! Owning spinach won’t bring you any health benefits; eating it will. You can make use of ChinesePod’s pronunciation tools and be sure to check out the Say it Right series!

Source: archchinese.com

That brings us to what I really want to talk about: Characters. Characters are complex enough that if you don’t understand how they work, you will probably fail. But, if you do understand how they work, you can master them. According to memory experts, like Dr. Kenneth L. Higbee, the number one rule for effective memorization is that you understand. Understand what? Understand the thing you are trying to learn. When I write, I hate repetition. But, notice that a certain word has popped up several times in this paragraph? Understand. Understand how characters actually work. That is the key.

You can’t just break them down into whatever parts you want. Well, you can, but you’re creating more pain and suffering for yourself. If you break 愿 yuàn “to be willing” into 厂 factory + 白 white + 小 small + 心 heart, you’ll miss the fact that it’s really 原 yuán + 心 heart/feeling! Trying to remember parts as unrelated as “factory,” “white,” “small” and “heart” while trying to tie them to the meaning “to be willing” and the sound yuàn is just a lot of extra work! As this example shows, characters are made up of parts that express sound and meaning.

Source: outlier-linguistics.com

It is understanding how they express sound and meaning that allows for learning with less mental effort. Understanding how characters express sound and meaning gives us clues. Clues that allow us to use sound and meaning to pluck our memory strings and remember how to write. It also allows us to make intelligent guesses about characters we haven’t even learned yet.

So…do you want to know how characters really work?

Most characters are made up of components. These components can have different functions, so we call them “functional components.” The three main types of functional components are form components, meaning components, and sound components. Want to know more? There’s plenty more here.

Source: outlier-linguistics.com

If you learn using functional components, you can reap benefits such as clearing up confusion caused by similar-looking components, such as 艮 vs. 良, being able to make intelligent predictions about the sounds and meanings of characters you haven’t even learned yet or improve your ability to recall a character’s form similar to a computer input method. Read on!

The problem is, you can’t tell with any certainty how a modern character works just by looking at it. That’s why we made the Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters, which is an add-on for Pleco. Our dictionary solves the “understanding” problem. Now you just have to put in the time to learn.

If you liked this blog post be sure to check out “What Exactly is Pinyin” and “5 Apps to Help You Better Integrate in China”

ChinesePod November 28, 2019

Before traveling to China last year, I thought Thanksgiving was only known in America. To my surprise, my Chinese friends were eager to know what my Thanksgiving plans were as the holiday approached. They were curious to know if I was planning on traveling, eating turkey, getting together with my American friends and watching football, or getting dinner with them or simply just going to a bar. Their eyes glistened with curiosity as I explained to them the customs and traditions that revolve around Thanksgiving dinner.

In return, they taught me some Mandarin words. First and foremost, of course: Thanksgiving (感恩节 gǎnēnjié)! Then turkey (火鸡 huǒ jī) with gravy (肉汁ròuzhī), bread (面包 miànbāo), ham (火腿huǒtuǐ), corn (玉米 yùmǐ) and mashed potatoes(土豆泥 tǔdòuní). Not only did they teach me how to say the above-mentioned foods, but they also taught me how to say my favorite Thanksgiving desserts such as pumpkin pie(南瓜派 nánguā pài) and apple pie (苹果派 píngguǒpài).

During this conversation, I emphasized the importance of gratuity, and how Thanksgiving was an opportunity to have precious moments away from all the fuzz and buzz of a busy life. Americans use this holiday to reflect on how grateful we are and to take time to be with our families. Since my Chinese friends seemed so curious and eager to know more about Thanksgiving, I decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner with them. What I had in mind was, of course, something like this:

But in reality, we had this instead:

Source: Wikipedia Commons

It was a pleasant and entertaining dinner. All types of pizzas were being passed around the table, such as pineapple pizza (菠萝比萨 bōluó bǐsà), cheese pizza (芝士披萨 zhīshì pīsà), pepperoni pizza (意大利辣香肠比萨 yìdàlì là xiāngcháng bǐsà) et cetera. My friends tried hard to cut the pizza with their chopsticks (yes chopsticks are at times provided in some western joints!), just for the sake of laughter. I asked my friends, “Why the Chinese don’t eat much turkey at all?” No one seemed to have an answer to it, so we looked it up in Baidu (the Chinese version of Google) and that is when I realized that turkeys are native to North America. And since Americans don’t export their cuisine as the French and Spanish do, there has not been much exposure to turkey in Chinese cooking. Nevertheless, we laughed until our stomachs couldn’t take it anymore. The best part of it all is that we only spoke in Mandarin! It was a truly unforgettable Thanksgiving and one that will forever be ingrained in my heart, or as the chengyu says (刻骨铭心 kègǔmíngxīn).

Spending an American holiday with someone from another culture is truly special. I encourage every American who finds themself in a foreign country to have some foreign friends over for Thanksgiving dinner. Not only does it enrich your holiday experience, but you will also be able to learn things outside of a language.

I want to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving (感恩节快乐 gǎnēnjiékuàilè)!

ChinesePod’s Founding Story

ChinesePod October 10, 2019

In celebration of our 15th anniversary, we want to take a moment and look back on our origins and accomplishments. Because ChinesePod launched in 2005, many of you may not know our story. Let’s look back at how the longest-running Chinese learning platform came to be.

ChinesePod’s origin is closely tied to the evolution of the internet. In the year 2004, this new kind of internet was developing. While the world wide web has been around for several years, the earliest iteration was a one-way road with static sites—not very exciting. This changed with a newer iteration of the web, which was more interactive and dynamic. New functions allowed people to collaborate and share information with each other. This was done via blogging, social media platforms, web-based communities and podcasts.

Ken Carrol (below), an entrepreneur and educator living in Shanghai, saw that our evolving internet channels would pair well with education. Ken commented in an interview at the time saying:

“[With these new channels] there’s a billion people connected now—

so what are we going to do with this?

People’s first instinct is to communicate.”

This led to ChinesePod’s launch. The earliest podcasts were casual, engaging conversations between Ken and native Chinese speaker Jenny Zhu. They worked from a no-frills studio in Shanghai, and churned out fun content that was quickly downloaded by over a million language learners. In the first days of ChinesePod’s launch, many users asked for phrases they could use to flirt in Chinese. Ken and Jenny obliged, and proved to users that they were listening to what the community wanted. Language learners were also drawn to ChinesePod’s innovative free-form learning method, which the platform uses to this day. It’s different from the classical approach to learning a language, which has typically been tied to textbooks. ChinesePod’s free-form learning method offers of flexibility and choice, thus empowering students choose lessons that appealed to their interests or answered a particular need, or suggest new topics.

ChinesePod has continued to evolve over the past 15 years, both by responding to user’s requests, as well as adding new features. Many series prepare learners for the pragmatic parts of living in the PRC—from doing business, to making friends, to showing off KTV skills, while several series delve deep into China’s rich culture. “Dear Amber” talks about living among the Chinese on a daily level and “Poems with Pete” introduces ancient Chinese poetry and reviews what was happening in the country at the time the piece was written.

In 2015, ChinesePod expanded our lesson format to video tutorials for visual learners and cell phone apps for the user on the go. In terms of functionality on the website, our expanded intelligent search feature allows students to use the site as a dictionary, and then refers them to lessons that teach the term or phrase they want to learn. The website is now a comprehensive, fully-integrated learning platform.

ChinesePod’s greatest asset—our amazing teachers

ChinesePod has had many amazing instructors throughout the years; our teachers are fun and engaging, and super skilled in explaining the nuances of Mandarin.

Our earliest users will remember the original cast of ChinesePod lessons—John Pasden (right) and “J-dog” Jenny Zhu (left). John took us through a full seven years as academic director and podcast host. And Jenny, due to her work producing and co-hosting over 3,000 ChinesePod lessons, has been hailed as one of the most prolific Chinese teachers in the world! Amber Scorah, a pioneer on ChinesePod to explore a new lesson style, brought Chinese cultures and living-in-China close to the ears (and hearts) of tens of thousands of Mandarin learners throughout the world.

Over the past 15 years, we’ve been pleased to work with other amazing hosts like Fiona Tian, Constance Fang, Grace Wong, Jenny Wong, Alice Shih, Sissi Wang, Sophie Lee, Joe Raazt, Lyn Wang, Joy Lin, Joshua Fan, Jessica Ianniciello, and Elijah Wilcott.

As we look to the next 15 years, we’re excited about continuing to serve Chinese language learners. We have always pursued the same goal: to be the best online resource for studying Chinese. With over four thousand lessons, accessible any time, for all levels of proficiency there’s something for every student. Whether it’s wanting to get in touch with a diverse and storied culture, or getting prepared to live in China—ChinesePod is there for you.

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