Everyone knows 好 (Nǐ hǎo). It's the de facto greeting in Chinese, and one of the first phrases you learn when starting out. But there are other ways to say hello Chinese.

5 Chinese Greetings That Aren't Ni Hao

Love LEGO? Who doesn't, right? In this guide, I'll teach you how to talk about LEGO in Mandarin Chinese.

Talking About Your LEGO Hobby In Mandarin Chinese

Using these words you should be able to have a fair crack at reading a Chinese news article of that type.

16 words to get you started reading technology news in Chinese

If you read blogs for learning Chinese then you've no doubt seen the FluentU blog. Well, FluentU is more than a blog, it's a full-featured service for learning Chinese through web…

FluentU Review – Learn Chinese While Watching Web Videos

Idioms (成語/成语 chéngyǔ) are a special part of Chinese. In everyday boring conversation they rarely come up, but every now and again a perfect situation arises when one of these four-character gems

Book Review: 500 Common Chinese Idioms

Today I thought I’d do a write-up of James Heisig and Timothy Richardson’s Remembering the Hanzi.

Review: Remembering the Hanzi (Book 1)

Being a tonal language, Mandarin contains lots of words that have the same pronunciation, but different tone.

Mixed up Chinese tones and tips for remembering

If you find yourself getting burnt out on textbooks, and generally despise the news channels, then perhaps studying a film might be a fun alternative for learning Chinese. Most of the time it's nic...

Study Movie Dialogues for Learning Chinese

Last night while bowling with friends in Taiwan (a random spur of the moment idea for something to do), a tweet came in on my phone from Lingomi asking if anyone knew of a place to download Chinese…

The Question of Chinese Language Podcasts

If you’re planning on visiting China or Taiwan then haggling is a skill that is essential to learn.

How to haggle in Chinese – Example Sentences

Claw machines – Taiwan’s secret pastime

Taiwanese Claw Games

In the swarm of beautiful girls at ChinaJoy, breast phone girl with a mobile phone pressed against her chest, was subject to a crowd of watchers.

ChinaJoy: The “Breast-Phone Girl” Craze

Swear words are often the most versatile words in a language, and that’s no different in Chinese. In this post we’ll be looking at the word for fart. Check out the campfire scene from B…

How To Say Fart In Chinese

The Google Translate Android app has been gradually getting better and better. In addition to straight-up translations it also includes a conversation mode, handwriting recognition, voice dictation…

Free Chinese Character Recognition with Google Translate

A Recent post over on Study More Chinese asked What are the 10 most important phrases for newbies to learn?. The suggested list included phrases such as hello, how are you, good morning, excuse me,…

The top ten most useful Chinese phrases for beginners

I remember reading somewhere that the reason Chinese is so difficult to learn is the lack of reinforcement - having now been learning Chinese for 5 years I can attest to this. With English, and oth...

Vocabulary Highlighter – Firefox Language Learning Add-On

When you're learning Chinese in school or university, you will most likely first learn some form of Pinyin for a period of time before progressing on to learning and reading the Chinese characters ...

Learning Chinese – Pinyin or Zhuyin?

I can remember being amazed at the trailer for the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie on Saturday morning TV. Yes, it was right around the time that we were being promised Back to the Future…

Chinese language Ninja Turtles comic from the 1990 Taiwan movie release

The thing that attracted me to A Guide to Proper Usage of Spoken Chinese was its approach of introducing vocabulary through common mistakes, rather than just telling you this is how it is.

Review: A Guide to Proper Usage of Spoken Chinese

After taking Chinese classes for almost 4 years I decided in February that I would stop going to class and focus more on work while studying in my spare time.

5 Useful Techniques for Productive Mandarin Self Study

No matter if you’re tired from travelling or just need a pick-me-up during work at the office, there’s something that is transcends all situations – coffee! With a subject this es…

Ordering a Coffee in Chinese – Beginner Lesson with Audio

Illustrated account of Chinese Characters explores where Chinese characters come from, how they are structured, and how they have evolved.

Illustrated Account of Chinese Characters

As a continuation of our article on Chinese sentence patterns, here are 5 useful Chinese conjunctions that will help you in understanding Chinese sentence structure and how to string ideas together...

5 most useful Chinese conjunctions

This has to be up there with some of the most fun Chinese sayings – it stands out in a sentence, and will cause some puzzled reactions if you use it among people who’ve never heard it.

To Expose a Horse’s Leg – Fun Chinese Sayings

There’s one thing that Chinese isn’t short of and that’s idioms 成語 (成语 chéng yŭ). We’ll have a look at one category of idioms to do with animals.

10 Chinese Idioms to do with Animals

There’s a scam in Taiwan that goes something like this. You receive a LINE message from a desperate friend asking to borrow money for a couple of weeks.

A common LINE scam in Taiwan

If you have any familiarity with Taiwanese culture or television programming then there’s a phrase that you have undoubtedly heard people say that translates directly as “you’re s…

You’re so Motorbike – Taiwanese Slang

I think ABC Chinese Dictionary is a reliable and comprehensive little, or not so little, dictionary. While there are more comprehensive dictionaries out there, you’ll be hard pressed to find one with so much information squeezed into such a small package.

The ABC Chinese Dictionary – A Worthy Dead-Tree Dictionary

If you planning on studying Chinese in China or Taiwan then watching TV while you are there is essential if you’re to pick up on the local lingo and improve your listening and comprehension a…

DVR your way to better Chinese

This lesson will teach you directions in Chinese, show you how to ask for and understand directions in Chinese, and more.

Learn To Give Directions In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn the days of the week in Mandarin Chinese.

Days Of The Week In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn how sentences are formed in Mandarin Chinese.

How Sentences Are Formed In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn colors in Mandarin Chinese.

Learn The Colors In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn family members in Mandarin Chinese.

Family Members In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn food vocab in Mandarin Chinese.

Food Vocabulary In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn how to greet people in Mandarin Chinese.

How To Greet People In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn professions and careers in Mandarin Chinese.

Learn Professions And Careers In Mandarin Chinese

Here you'll a complete guide for beginners on improving and mastering Chinese grammar.

Guide To Improving And Mastering Chinese Grammar

Here you'll find the ultimate guide to learning Chinese vocabulary.

Ultimate Guide To Mandarin Chinese Vocabulary

In this lesson, you'll learn numbers in Mandarin Chinese.

Numbers In Mandarin: How To Count In Chinese

In this page you'll learn the active voice in Chinese. You'll also learn the differences that exist between the active voice in English and Chinese.

Chinese Grammar: Learn The Active Voice

In this lesson, you'll learn the articles in Chinese.

Articles In Chinese Grammar: Beginner's Guide

In this lesson, you'll learn house and furniture items in Mandarin Chinese.

House And Furniture Items In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn clothing vocabulary in Mandarin Chinese.

Clothing Vocabulary In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn meat vocabulary in Mandarin Chinese.

Meat Vocabulary In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn how to use adjectives in Mandarin Chinese.

Chinese Grammar: How To Use Adjectives

In this lesson, you'll learn how to use adverbs in Mandarin Chinese.

Chinese Grammar: How To Use Adverbs

In this lesson, you'll learn how to conjugate verbs in Mandarin Chinese.

Chinese Grammar: How To Conjugate Verbs

In this lesson, you'll learn how to use interjections in Mandarin Chinese.

Chinese Grammar: How To Use Interjections

In this lesson, you'll learn how to use possessive adjectives in Mandarin Chinese.

Chinese Grammar: How To Use Possessive Adjectives

In this lesson, you'll learn how to use verbs in Mandarin Chinese.

Chinese Grammar: How To Use Verbs

In this lesson, you'll learn the months of the year in Mandarin Chinese.

Months Of The Year In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn how to tell the time in Mandarin Chinese.

How To Tell The Time In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn body parts in Mandarin Chinese.

Learn Body Parts In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn school vocabulary in Mandarin Chinese.

Learn School Vocabulary In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn vocabulary for different kinds of stores and shops in Mandarin Chinese.

Different Kinds Of Stores And Shops In Mandarin Chinese

Conjunctions are words that join two parts of a sentence. This lesson will show you the right way to use conjunctions in Mandarin Chinese.

Conjunctions In Mandarin Chinese: A Simple Guide

In this lesson, you'll learn how to use determiners in Mandarin Chinese.

Chinese Grammar: How To Use Determiners

In this lesson, you'll learn how to use exclamations in Mandarin Chinese.

Chinese Grammar: How To Use Exclamations

In this lesson, you'll learn how to use demonstrative pronouns in Mandarin Chinese.

Demonstrative Pronouns In Chinese Grammar: A Simple Guide

In this lesson, you'll learn how to use demonstrative adjectives in Mandarin Chinese.

Demonstrative Adjectives In Chinese Grammar: A Simple Guide

Onomatopoeia is a word associated with sound of animals, people, emotions or machines. In this lesson, you'll learn some of the most important onomatopoeia in Chinese.

Onomatopoeia In Chinese: Animal And Other Mimetic Words

In this lesson, you'll learn the alphabet in Mandarin Chinese.

Learn The Alphabet In Mandarin Chinese

In this lesson, you'll learn the vowels in Mandarin Chinese.

Learn Vowels In Mandarin Chinese

Prepositions in Chinese express a relationship (movement, time or position) between different words in a sentence.

Prepositions In Mandarin Chinese: Beginner's Guide

Auxiliary verbs in Chinese work pretty much the same way as auxiliary verbs in English.

Chinese Grammar: What Are Auxiliary Verbs

Chinese is well-known for its challenging intonation which is an essential aspect of the language.  You'll learn all about Chinese intonation in this lesson.

Chinese Grammar: How To Learn Proper Intonation

Chinese nouns are one of the first things you'll cover when learning the Chinese language. Here are the most important nouns in Mandarin Chinese.

Chinese Grammar: How To Use Nouns

This lesson will teach you Chinese pronouns and how to use them.

Chinese Language Guide Blog

Author: Zoe Mei