simple chinese essay

How to Write a Chinese Essay

Dec 16, 2020 | Guest Blogs & Media

The more essays you write, the better you get at communicating with Chinese. To write a good essay, you first have to reach a high language mastery level.

Do you admire the students who write seamless Chinese essay? If you do, then you should know that you too can achieve this level of proficiency. In the meantime, don’t be afraid to pay for your essay if you cannot write it on your own. Online academic writers are a resource each student should take advantage of.

Here are tips to help you get better at writing essays in Chinese.

Learn New Chinese Words

The key to communicating in a new language is learning as many words as you can. Take it upon yourself to learn at least one Chinese word a day. Chinese words are to essay writing what bricks are to a building. The more words you have, the better you get at constructing meaningful sentences.

Case in point, if you’re going to write a Chinese sentence that constitutes ten words, but you don’t know the right way to spell three of those words, your sentence might end up not making sense.

During your Chinese learning experience, words are your arsenal and don’t forget to master the meaning of each word you learn.

Read Chinese Literature

Reading is the most effective way of learning a new language. Remember not to read for the sake of it; find out the meaning of each new word you encounter. When you are an avid reader of Chinese literature, nothing can stop you from writing fluent Chinese.

In the beginning, it might seem like you’re not making any progress, but after a while, you will notice how drastically your writing will change. Receiving information in Chinese helps your brain get accustomed to the language’s sentence patterns, and you can translate this to your essays.

Be extensive in your reading to ensure you get as much as possible out of each article. Remember that it’s not about how fast you finish an article, but rather, how much you gain from the exercise.

Translate Articles from your Native Language to Chinese

Have you ever thought about translating your favorite read to Chinese? This exercise might be tedious, but you will learn a lot from it. The art of translation allows you to seamlessly shift from one language’s sentence pattern into the other. The more you do this, the easier it will be for your brain to convert English sentences into Chinese phrases that people can comprehend.

You can always show your Chinese professor your translations for positive criticism. The more you get corrected, the better you will get at translation. Who knows, you might actually like being a translator once you graduate.

Final Thoughts

by Adrian Lomezzo

Adrian  Lomezzo is a freelance writer. Firstly, he has been developing as a content manager and working with different websites, and the main goal of his was to develop the content making it in the first place. Secondly,  Adrian  had a big desire to help students and adults in self-development in this field and teach them to improve their skills. As a lover of traveling, he did not want to be in one place, and became a writer who could be closer to everyone, and share precious information from the corners of the world.

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Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning mandarin, the 10 best free chinese reading resources for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners.

Reading and listening are the most important aspects of learning Chinese. Without enough input, you’re not going to perform well in other areas of the language, and lots of reading and listening will help you develop a feel for how the language is used.

Students don’t read enough, however, and when they do, many go about it the wrong way. The most common mistake is spending all reading time on intensive reading, meaning that you read relatively difficult texts and try to understand everything. Advancing in your main textbook is one example of this. The total amount of text you see in Chinese is extremely limited, which is a problem.

What you ought to do in addition to that, and in much larger quantities, is to read texts that are at or below your current level. You need breadth. You need diversity. You need to read characters and words over and over in different, meaningful contexts. You need to solidify and become more familiar with what you have already studied. You need to read more to gain fluency. You need extensive reading !

An introduction to extensive reading for Chinese learners

Below you can find an overview of the best free reading resources. They have been separated into three levels: beginner , intermediate and advanced (click the links for discussions about each level and for general advice about learning Chinese on that level).

Some of the resources listed here have premium content you need to pay for, but my evaluation for the purpose of this article is based solely on content that’s freely available. Naturally, creating good reading content, especially for beginners and intermediate learners, is not easy, so many of the best resources will inevitably cost money.

If you have some money to invest into your learning, get hold of a few graded readers ( such as Mandarin Companion, which I reviewed here ), preferably with audio, so that they can double as listening practice. I’ve written more about resources worth paying for here , but not everyone can afford to pay for their learning, so the rest of this article will focus on free content!

Please note that these are the best resources I know of and that I will update this article with better resources if I can find them. If you know of a good one I haven’t mentioned here, please leave a comment below !

Mandarin Bean

• Chinese Reading and Comprehension

M Mandarin (漫中文)

Chinese at ease, chinese reading practice (练读中文), yes chinese (中文天下), chinese tools – 40 lessons, my chinese reading, chineseskill, slowchinese (慢速中文).

• Movie subtitles

科普中国 – 十万个为什么

小故事 – 故事大全, slow chinese 每周漫闻, 知乎 – 有问题，就会有答案.

• Online novels
• Blogs and social media
• News portals

Back to free Chinese reading resources index

If you’re after listening resources instead, check out this article:

The 10 best free listening resource collections for learning Chinese

What if the Chinese reading material is too hard?

For reading to be truly enjoyable and effective as a learning tool, you need to understand almost everything you read. This enables you to pick up the things you didn’t already know without too much extra effort. Naturally, there is no magic threshold where this starts working, but generally speaking, the more you understand, the better. See the article about extensive reading I linked to above for details.

The main challenge for beginner and intermediate learners is that most texts are too difficult, so here are four ways you can scaffold your learning, meaning that you support your understanding in various ways to enable you to deal with content that is harder than you would otherwise be able to deal with.

•   Spoken text  – For people who have more problems with reading than listening, being able to hear the written text can help a lot. There are many ways of doing this. To start with, you can use the same type of resources as you do for listening provided that they have transcripts but instead focus on the written text first. Text-to-speech is also becoming better by the day and is now at a level where it actually works well for understanding. I wouldn’t dream of teaching pronunciation based on it, but it does aid understanding if that’s what you’re after.

Manga section, bookstore, train station, Shenzhen, China ” by Cory Doctorow  is licensed under  CC BY 2.0.

• Annotate the text  – There are multiple ways you can annotate the text to make it easier to understand. This includes generating custom word lists ( check Mandarin Spot ), adding pronunciation in Pinyin, Zhuyin or just tone marks ( check Purple Culture ). However, remember that you will learn what your brain processes! If you put Pinyin next to the characters, you’ll probably end up not even trying to read the characters, and so won’t learn to read characters.

This comes from this article , which also includes similar advice for listening to Chinese, so check it out if you’re interested in the full story.

8 great ways to scaffold your Chinese listening and reading

The 10 best free Chinese reading resources: Beginner

The problem is that writing this kind of content is not easy, so most of the really good resources are not free (graded readers, for example), but some are. Let’s have a look at the ten best Chinese reading resources for beginners!

Click here for advice about how to learn Chinese as a beginner

Level: Beginner , intermediate Topic: Reading , Listening Type: Resource collection

Mandarin Bean offers a large number of beginner-friendly texts that come with a recording, Pinyin you can toggle on and off, as well as a pop-up dictionary that shows you the meaning, pronunciation and HSK level of the words used. If you register and log in, you can also find exercises and translations. There are more than a hundred texts available for free, directly accessible on their website!

Sample text (HSK 2): 早点儿睡觉 (Sleep Earlier)

Chinese Reading and Comprehension (HSKreading.com)

Level: Beginner , intermediate Topic: Reading Type: Resource collection

This website contains around 100 short texts for beginners, many of them related to China or Chinese culture. While the levels aren’t very accurate (most texts are harder than they should be), it’s still a great resource. A built-in pop-up dictionary offers Pinyin and translation when you hover over a word. Each text is prefaced by a short sentence in English to give you some context and is followed by a few comprehension questions. There’s no audio.

Sample text (HSK 2): 你怎么迟到了？(Why are you late?)

Level: Beginner , intermediate Topic: Reading Type: Resource collection , Tools and apps ( iOS and Android )

The pictures are high-quality and really help with understanding, and you can even click words inside of the comics to bring up definitions, Pinyin and so on. You can toggle translations, read grammar notes and more. The only downside is that the app seems quite buggy at the moment, and some images don’t load. Still, even if you ignore the comic bit and only use the pure text version, it’s still a good reading resource for beginners!

Sample text: I’m unable to link to specific comics, but you should be able to find something you like by using the navigation screen in the app.

Still, the text is easy to access and contains the information most students want, without any frills. I also think the topics of many of the articles are quite interesting and that the number of difficult words is mostly kept at a minimum.

Sample text: 邮票的诞生 (World’s first stamp)

Level: Beginner , intermediate , advanced Topic: Reading , Listening Type: Resource collection , Tools and apps ( iOS and Android )

This is a well-designed app for iOS and Android, providing lots of easy-to-read texts on various levels. New content in the app is free, so if you check regularly, you can keep reading, but you need a subscription to access the archive of over a thousand texts. The app features a pop-up dictionary, audio and many other features.

The app is one of the best-designed reading apps I have tried! Still, you can check out many of the free lessons online on their website , which also clearly labels what is premium and what isn’t. Even if most texts are not free, the free content in Du Chinese still makes it one of the best reading resources for beginners!

If you want to access the paid content, the code HACKINGCHINESE will give you 10% off!

Sample text (elementary): The Nose

Level: Beginner , intermediate , advanced Topic: Reading Type: Resource collection

This site offers around 50 texts in simplified Chinese aimed at beginners, all of them in simplified characters. They are easy to access directly on the website with no need to create an account.

Each story comes with an introduction in English to give you some context, and for the story itself, you can toggle Pinyin and English by clicking a button. Many stories have a rough HSK level associated with them, and some of the key vocabulary outside this range is introduced before the story.

Sample text (HSK2-3): Fable: 洗衣服 – Washing clothes

This site features a wide variety of texts for beginners and intermediate learners, loosely graded by HSK level. They are written by different authors, and the style and difficulty vary greatly. On the lower levels, we’re talking about picture books with simple Chinese, but some texts rated as HSK 2-3 are actually much harder.

There probably used to be audio and pop-up definitions for the texts, but since they rely on Flash, they don’t work anymore. Still, this is still a good resource for beginners! You can always copy the text and annotate it elsewhere or use browser plug-ins to make it easier.

Sample text (HSK 2): 阳阳写字

Level: Beginner Topic: Reading , Listening Type: Resource collection , Courses and textbooks

As the name implies, Chinese Tools is mostly about tools for learners and teachers, but they also have 40 lessons for beginner students of Chinese. This is not reading practice in the sense of most other resources above, but going through simple texts like these is still worthwhile, and there aren’t than many sites that offer this completely for free.

Each lesson has several different dialogues that come with downloadable audio, vocabulary and so on. The only downside is that the website is badly organised and, to be honest, rather ugly, but don’t judge a book by its cover!

Sample lesson (number 4): Conversation 3 : What time do you have a break?

This website offers fairly few but mostly well-written texts suitable for beginners. The texts are directly displayed in your browser without the need to log in or register. A simple pop-up dictionary gives you definitions and Pinyin for words you struggle with, but there are’s no audio or other support functions.

Sample text: Going to the gym

Level: Beginner Topic: General Type: Tools and apps ( iOS and Android ), Courses and textbooks

Once you’ve worked your way through the free sections of the app, you should be ready to move on to the other reading resources shared above! As far as I know, you can’t learn reading only in this app.

More reading resources for beginners

If you want more reading resources for beginners, including paid ones, I discussed that in another article here: The 7 best Chinese reading resources for beginners

The 7 best Chinese reading resources for beginners

The 10 best free Chinese reading resources: Intermediate

When you reach the intermediate level, you’d think that finding good reading material for free would get easier, but that’s not actually the case. The market for intermediate learners is so much smaller that there really isn’t that much available for free. At this point in your learning, you could start reading Chinese written for native speakers, but it would be very slow and painful, except in some specific cases (see below).

Still, there are some good resources out there, but you need more persistence to find something that suits both your level and your interests. The word “intermediate” also covers a very broad range of learners, and it becomes increasingly difficult to assess the difficult of a text accurately.

Thus, when trying out the resources below, make sure you check a few texts before you determine that a certain resource is too hard for you!

Click here for advice about how to learn Chinese as an intermediate learner

Level: Intermediate , advanced Topic: Reading Type: Resource collection , Tools and apps ( iOS and Android )

The only downside is that the app seems quite buggy at the moment, and some images don’t load. Still, even if you ignore the comic bit and only use the pure text version, it’s still a worthwhile resource for intermediate students (I included this app for beginners as well).

Level: Intermediate , advanced Topic: Reading , Listening Type: Resource collection , Tools and apps ( iOS and Android )

Sample game: 逃出去 (Escape)

Level: Intermediate , advanced Topic: Reading , Listening Type: Resource collection

This is actually a podcast, but one that I like quite a lot and that also has transcripts for every episode, so you can think of it as a reading resource with audio! There are roughly 200 episodes available, and even if the podcast is no longer being produced, these are still worthwhile to go through. There is no support for the reading itself, so you might want to make use of the methods and tools mentioned in the introduction if you find the texts difficult.

Sample text: 73 – 锵锵三人行

Chinese at East has around 25 texts available for free for beginners. Compared to the other resources in this article, the interface is not very fancy and only consists of Chinese characters, Pinyin and English translation, all written in separate paragraphs and without being visually connected to each other. There’s no audio, either. Still, the text is easy to access, and it does contain the information most students want, without any frills. I also think the topics of many of the articles are quite interesting and that the number of difficult words is mostly kept at a minimum.

Sample text: 春节期间空城率东莞市最高 ( Spring Festival travel rush leaving big cities empty )

This site features a wide variety of texts for beginners and intermediate learners, loosely graded by HSK level. They are written by different authors, and the style and difficulty vary greatly. On the lower levels, we’re talking about picture books with simple Chinese, but some texts rated as HSK 2-3 are actually much harder. There probably used to be audio and pop-up definitions for the texts, but since they rely on Flash, they don’t work anymore. Still, this is still a good resource for beginners! You can always copy the text and annotate it elsewhere or use browser plug-ins to make it easier.

Sample text (HSK 4): 嫦娥工程

Chinese reading  practice (练读中文)

This site offers around 40 texts in simplified Chinese aimed at intermediate learners, all of them in simplified characters. They are easy to access directly on the website with no need to create an account. Each story comes with an introduction in English to give you some context, and for the story itself you can toggle Pinyin and English by clicking a button. Many stories have a rough HSK level associated with them and some of the key vocabulary outside this range are introduced before the story.

Sample text: Mythology: 《精卫填海》 from the Classic of Mountains and Seas

Free Chinese reading practice with movie subtitles

This is not a specific reading resource but more an idea of what you can read as an intermediate learner. Movie subtitles are great because they are often based on dialogues and, therefore, considerably easier than novels and short stories.

If you pair reading with the movie itself, you also have visual support for your reading. You can also extract or find the subtitles for most movies online by simply searching for the name of the movie + 字幕. You’ll likely get a .srt file, which can be opened in most text editors. While on the topic of videos, it’s worth noting that YouTube and many other video sites have transcripts and sometimes translations.

There are also extensions for browsers to help you out, such as Language Learning with YouTube for Chorme .

This is a well-designed app for iOS and Android, providing lots of easy-to-read texts on various levels. New content in the app is free, so if you check regularly, you can keep reading, but you need a subscription to access the archive of over a thousand texts. The app features a pop-up dictionary, audio and many other features. The app is one of the best-designed reading apps I have tried! Still, you can check out many of the free lessons online on their website , which also clearly labels what is premium and what isn’t. Even if most texts are not free, the free content in Du Chinese still makes it one of the best reading resources for intermediate learners!

Sample text: 为什么中国人爱喝热水

This website offers fairly few but mostly well-written texts suitable for intermediate learners. The texts are directly displayed in your browser without the need to log in or register. A simple pop-up dictionary gives you definitions and Pinyin for words you struggle with, but there’s no audio or other support functions.

Sample text: About Stephen Hawking

The 10 best free Chinese reading resources: Advanced

As was the case for the intermediate resources, difficulty can vary hugely between resources or even between texts within the same resource. Thus, don’t give up just because one article turns out to be difficult!

Click here for advice about how to learn Chinese as an advanced learner

Level: Advanced Topic: Reading Type: Resource collection

This site is provided by 科普中国 , and as the name implies, it answers why questions about everything from aliens to economics. The articles are of varying length, and while there aren’t literally 100,000 answers here, you’re still likely to find a lot of interesting reading! For even more popular science, you can, of course, also check the main site, but I think these questions are good for learners because they have a very clear purpose.

百度百科 is a collaborative encyclopedia that covers a huge range of topics, sometimes with surprising quality, even including video and in-depth discussions of topics. When searching for various things in Chinese, 百度百科 often ranks very high. For language learners, it’s interesting to note that this is true for many Chinese-related questions as well, such as the origins of idioms. Check this entry for 未雨绸缪 , for example, which comes with a video and enough information about origins to satisfy most readers, or the entry on pandas here: 大熊猫 .

This site hosts a very large number of short stories and other texts, sorted into different categories. These are of course written by native speakers for native speakers, but the reduced length makes the texts more accessible for learners. Choose a category that catches your interest and start reading! If you find authors you like, see what else they have written. Naturally, the difficulty varies a lot between different categories and different authors, so don’t give up before you’ve tried a few different ones if you find it difficult.

Level: Intermediate , advanced Topic: Reading Type: Resource collection

This is a newsletter for advanced students run by Andrew Methven. The free version includes a weekly newsletter with highlighted readings and some interesting vocabulary highlighted and discussed. While I think most of your vocabulary should be naturally absorbed by reading extensively, it’s great to receive a weekly dose of potentially useful vocabulary, presented in context and along with some reading practice. This is particularly good for getting into new topics you haven’t studied in Chinese, which is considerably easier with some handholding.

There are also extra premium features not covered by this recommendation, such as audio recordings, extra material, subscribers webinars and more, but the free weekly newsletter is enough to land Slow Chinese on this list of the best free Chinese reading resources! If you do end up subscribing, this link will give you 10% off and will also help support Hacking Chinese.

Note:  The Slow Chinese newsletter is unrelated to the old Slow Chinese podcast, which I still recommend in my best free Chinese listening resources article .

Level: Intermediate , advanced Topic: Reading , writing Type: Resource collection , social learning

This is the most popular Chinese question-and-answer site and works roughly like Quora does in English. Since everything is user-generated, quality and difficulty vary greatly, but if you like this kind of forum, it’s great for reading practice. You can also read many different answers to the same question, which makes it far more likely that you’ll recycle new vocabulary. I chose this particular question about why the sky is blue because of 李永乐老师, which I recommended for advanced students here:

Learning science in Chinese with 李永乐老师

Mylingua is a new platform that allows you to access authentic Chinese reading content from the internet, helping you pick reading material that both suits your interests and your reading ability. The service also includes various tools to make reading easier, such as a pop-up dictionary. As you read more and engage with the content, the recommendations will become more accurate. You can also import your own texts if you want!

This is the Chinese language version of Harvard Business Review , so it is perfect for those of you who work with or are otherwise interested in management, leadership, marketing or other business-related topics. This site is the official Chinese version maintained by Harvard University.

Improve your Chinese reading skills with novels ( 全本小说网 , 努努书坊 and 好讀 )

There are many sites that offer novels and other forms of literature online, so this is not a specific resource as such. For simplified characters, check out 全本小说网 , which hosts a very large number of novels and short stories, mostly from less-known authors. For a similar site with publications in traditional Chinese, check 好讀 .

If you want to read more famous works, check out 努努书坊 , but I’m not sure about the legality of this site, so use it at your own risk. Some of the major publishers in China have their own apps where you can purchase books, but they also have some free content. Check out 起点 and 纵横 .

Chinese reading practice with blogs and social media ( 新浪博客 , 微博  and  微信 )

Again, this is not a specific recommendation but more a reminder that social media and blogs can be a great source for reading material . For simplified characters, check out  新浪博客 , 微博 and 微信 when it comes to blogging and social media in general. These platforms have hundreds of millions of active users, and their apps are ubiquitous in China.

I’m not very up-to-date when it comes to blogging in Taiwan, but Facebook is widespread, and you can check out Line for chatting, which is also a great way of combining reading and writing Chinese!

Chinese news portals for better reading comprehension

Chinese news provides a never-ending source of reading material, and provided that you are interested and maybe also know about the topic in advance, it can be manageable without near-native reading ability. There are many, many more news portals than 新浪网新闻中心 shown above, but I’m sure advanced learners will find their own favourite. For those of you who study traditional characters, check out 中廣全球資訊網 .

You can also check out certain Western media outlets that offer Chinese versions of some articles, but you should be aware that these articles have been translated from English and sometimes don’t sound very natural in Chinese. Examples are BBC and New York Times .

Honourable mentions

This is a list of resources that have previously been on the main list but have been supplanted by better alternatives. If a resource has been removed because it doesn’t qualify, such as if a resource is no longer free, it will not appear here.

• A Chinese Text Sampler: An Annotated Collection of Digitized Chinese Texts for Students of Chinese Language and Culture
• xkcd中文站: 一个关于浪漫、隐喻、数字、以及语言的线上漫画

500 learning resources sorted and tagged by level, topic and type

I have spent many years building up a huge library of resources for learning Chinese, including those mentioned in this article. If you’re looking for more reading resources or resources for other areas of learning Chinese, head over to Hacking Chinese Resources ! There, you can find articles sorted by difficulty:

• Intermediate

But also by topic:

• Chinese in context

…and more!

What are your favourite free Chinese reading resources?

This article is based on a lot of research and took dozens of hours to compile, but I’m sure that I missed good resources, and new resources might have popped up recently too. What’s your favourite free reading resource? Please leave a comment below to let me and others know! Don’t forget to mention why you like it!

41 comments

I’m curious about why you don’t mention the Defrancis reader series, Since they are so impressively organised, progressively taking you right from 你好 to 1200 characters, something like 5-10,000 combinations with built in spaced repetition and almost excess example dialogues and narratives. I’ve been reading it pretty intesively. I just finished part 1 of Beginning Chinese Reader, but I’m heading off for a 3 month trip around China/Taiwan next week speaking Mandrin, so I feel like I won’t have time or motivation to do any reading. Would you recommend taking time out for reading during conversational focused travel or could I focus soley speaking/listening with things like Chinesepod until I return. Thanks if you have the time to send back any tips!

I didn’t include those books for the same reason I didn’t include any other books, i.e. they aren’t free. I did mention graded readers, though. Regarding your other question, I think you should focus on what the environment has to offer. If you travel for a limited time, don’t waste the time on reading! You can read when you get back home, but it will be a lot harder to speak/listen in dialogues later.

I’ve really enjoyed chinesereadingpractice.com.

The site divides readings into Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. You can hover over words to get pinyin and English. Very handy.

http://www.jw.org/zh-hans/ has lots of professionally translated stuff for kids and adults. Nearly all the texts are available in audio and text version, and all of it is available for download or online viewing without any required logins. You can also browse the site in English: http://www.jw.org/en/

I have been using the Manga Rock app on my phone to kill time. It is a Manga reader with a ton of free Manga.

It has several Chinese sources, and you can filter by category. You can change the interface between several languages including English and Chinese. It is for iPhone, iPad, and Android usable.

http://www.mangarockapp.com/

If you look in the settings you can see the websites that it gets it Manga from. Going directly to the website seems a bit more intimidating tho.

http://www.imanhua.com/ http://manhua.178.com/

I would say the level is probably appropriate from lower intermediate through advanced.

ahem, that jw.org web site is the site of a religious group, the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! 🙂 (that I know of :D) But it’s worth mentioning what the site is about, otherwise people might assume it’s a Chinese learning site, and get rather confused. It does seem to have a lot of texts and good quality audio, and the texts are in easy-to-understand language.

I thought the site was for Chinese learning, started reading an article titled “魔鬼撒但真的存在吗？”, and began to feel a bit strange. (Spoiler: the article hedges a little, but does conclude 许多人都看出魔鬼撒但真的存在 so be careful!).

Sorry if I should have mentioned site content, I just added it because you can get listening practice and reading practice at the same time with professionally translated material. Site claims to have quality content in over three hundred languages. Also, there’s new content every couple weeks, which is more than I can say for a site like mandaread.

There’s nothing wrong with adding content as long as it’s about learning Chinese and not illegal! Using one’s interests/beliefs to learn a language is usually very good, but of course things should be labelled properly so that others know what to expect. This is true of all resources, not just this case. 🙂

Your event for November “reading Chinese” was a wonderful idea. I only wanted to read two hours a day, but now I’m addicted to reading the Chinese texts you suggested. I can’t get enough!

Thank you so much for all of this free content. I remember when I embarked upon learning Chinese. There was an overwhelming plethora of content out there but I couldn’t see any structure to it. After many many months of plowing through the endless material, Youtube, Advice sites, Blogs, Courses I thought it was not going to happen and was just about to stop. I then happened upon some quality material that was able to guide me into structuring my own Chinese course. Realising the way to learn first was the alphabet along with the tones. Then I started building on words using about sometimes 5-7 resources some I’d use more than others. I’ve also joined QQ.com and I talk to native Chinese which helps. Instinctively I knew I couldn’t just use one or two resources as too many thing would be left out. I’ve now got into a rhythm and enjoying it but I always knew I needed to start reading and watching CTV. I’ve just started watching Chinese TV and am able to pick out some words although still at basic level. I now thought I needed to start reading but couldn’t find any free content that was useful for me. This has finally rounded my learning 360 degrees as was deficit by 45 degrees. I didn’t want t spend any money at this moment because one can get carried away. I’ve been there and realised it hasn’t helped. Thank you for this material and those in the comments also. I feel very optimistic about learning Chinese and everything that has been said about the way one will feel etc is very true. Luckily for me, my instincts told me this is all natural and this is what you should be doing. Perhaps I may just blog when I acquire a certain level of expertise. xie xie ni.

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十万 means 100,000 not 10,000 … if you really wanna be “literal” about not being “literal” 😀

Good catch! 🙂 I have fixed it!

Hello Olle,

For advanced learners, I have found reading news articles on websites such as the BBC news in Chinese, or articles in Chinese on Wikipedia etc. etc. invaluable for learning vocabulary for talking about international matters, rather than just China-orientated materials. We don’t always want to read about all things Chinese. Sometimes we may want to read about Western topics in Chinese. I might want to read about Pablo Picasso in Chinese, for example. To do this I use the Chrome browser with the Perapera extension to check the meaning of characters I don’t know.

A really good app for reading on advanced level that I’ve been using is “One 一个”. It’s run by the Chinese author 韩寒, and offers, among other things, short stories by a bunch of different authors. There’s a lot of everyday philosophy, which I enjoy a lot. It’s free, and I think you can download it for both Android and iPhone. They do have a website ( http://wufazhuce.com/ ), it’s not great, but can be used for sending texts to an e-reader, or if you really prefer reading on the computer.

Thank you for the recommendation! I’ve put it on my list of resources to check out.

Great list! I’d add maayot to it which I’ve been using alongside DuChinese. Both work great and have quite different kind of content.

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Everyday Chinese Listening & Reading Practise https://youtu.be/B6AKeHP1IKo

I noticed that you posted a number of links recently! I appreciate help with finding new resources, but I think you might convince more people (including myself) to check them out if you write something about them. Simply saying “podcsast: [link]” is not really enough, as there are literally hundreds of podcasts. What podcast is it? what makes it extra useful for students?

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This is so cool, I love it! Free Chinese reading resources are very helpful & useful for mandarin teacher like me, it provide reading with appropriate vocabulary according to students proficiency level. Thank you,

Glad you found it helpful! I compiled the list at least partly so that teachers have a convenient way to recommend good reading content without having to spend all the effort collecting resources themselves. If you find anything you think should be on the list, don’t hesitate to let me know!

I guess this question is about a prerequisite skill to reading. In a nutshell, I’m looking for the best word to describe the process of looking at a Chinese sentence and then tokenizing all of its hanzi into words. ⬆️ It first appears to be a trivial question. But when I am talking with others about the process, I would like to know which word they commonly use. This is so I just have to type one word maybe a few dozen times, instead of a paragraph that illustrates what I’m talking about.

你的眼睛真漂亮. 你, 的, 眼睛, 真, 漂亮.

你的眼睛是什么颜色的? 你, 的, 眼睛, 是, 什么, 颜色, 的?

你的眼睛很美. 你, 的, 眼睛, 很, 美.

玩手机对眼睛不好. 玩, 手机, 对, 眼睛, 不, 好.

我的眼睛很干. 我, 的, 眼睛, 很, 干.

⬆️ Is there a common English & Chinese word used to describe that process? Thanks in advance.

Yes, this is called “word segmentation” in English. In Chinese, this is 分词/分詞, but note that this also means “participle”, so most normal people know this word from English grammar, not for the completely different meaning “word segmentation”. But if you want to talk about these issues or find papers about them, these are probably the best terms to use. Also note that you probably need to qualify your search if you want more linguistic aspects of this because lots of the stuff you’ll find is about computer science and how to do word segmentation automatically, which is a notoriously difficult problem.

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How should I use audio with readers? If there is an accompanying audio track with a reader, should I read and listen at the same time, or is that going to be detrimental to reading and I should just read? I use an OCR text-to-speech pen currently with my readers for quickly looking up words when I’m stumped. But if I can go faster just listening and reading, I’d rather do that.

I’m a heritage learner with mandarin and cantonese backgrounds, with perfect pronunciation, and with listening I can easily make out the sound of every word when native speakers with regional accents are conversing, including talking over each other. So I don’t really care about using audio to listen better.

Hi Rei! Great question! I’ll address this in an upcoming Q&A podcast episode, but it’ll probably be in a month or two, so instead of letting you wait for that, I wrote down some quick thoughts. It would be interesting to hear what you think about this later when you’ve seen how this works out for you!

Here’s my preliminary answer:

I think there’s merit in both approaches, so you should use both methods in parallel. Since you already know the spoken language, listening while reading will allow you to focus on different things than reading only will. For example, you will strengthen the link between the spoken and written form of words. You will also be able to focus on higher-level reading processes, such as understanding the structure of the text, interpreting its meaning and the like, since you spend less time on lower-level reading processes such as decoding characters and word segmentation. You will therefore be able to deal with more difficult texts compared to when you only read. See this week’s article/episode about scaffolding for more about this . However, for any of this to improve your reading, you need to make sure that you are focusing on the written language and not just listening, because if you aren’t focusing, it will do little for your reading ability.

Still, reading is reading, and having spoken audio is a type of scaffolding. If you always use it, you might not develop the skills you need to read without the scaffolding. Lower-level processes are very important when reading, so if you bypass them too much because you hear the same information spoken aloud, you will not develop them enough to become a proficient reader. For example, segmenting a sentence into words is easy if you hear the audio and know what the sentence means, but if you don’t have that support, it’s much harder. If you never practise doing this because you always hear the spoken version, you will struggle to read without listening at the same time.

It’s hard to say how much you should do each, but I’m inclined to say that you should use audio when you tackle texts that are relatively difficult for you. This will enable you to read a broader range of texts, which is great. Most of your reading should be done with texts you can read without too much scaffolding , and if you don’t need to listen in parallel, don’t do it. So short answer: Do both, but don’t rely on scaffolding, such as listening at the same time, too much, especially not when you can understand the texts well enough without it, and if you can’t, read simpler texts!

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Hey Olle, Just getting back to you on this. I think you’re right about the scaffolding and I think about this in relation to motivation as well. I’ve found that I start out with the audio just to get going and once I have enough momentum in a section, I’ll just go ahead and read on my own, especially when I’m realizing I’m reading ahead of the audio. I’m also noticing that I take in more of the sentence when I’m listening to the audio whereas I’m still looking at characters and character combinations when I’m reading. So I think switching back and forth generally works.

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The Guide to Writing Your First Mandarin Essay

When you want to be able to make writing your first Mandarin essay nice and easy, it pays to put plenty of thought and effort into the preparation. As the old saying goes ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail.’ To give you plenty of food for thought we’ve put together everything you need to know to get things moving. All you need to do is work through the following steps, and you’ll be submitting your essay in no time at all.

Check you understand the basics

There are so many things you have to think about when writing an essay, particularly when it’s not in your native language. But as with any cognitively demanding task, the process for getting started is always the same. Check you understand the following basics and you’ll be heading in the right direction:

• Do you know what the question means?
• Have you made a note of the final submission date?
• Make sure you read some past examples to get a feel for what’s expected of you
• Do you understand the question that has been set?
• Do you know who you can talk to if you need advice along the way?
• Are there any restrictions on the dialect you should be aware of?

Once you can write the answers to the above down on a single side of the paper, you are ready to tackle the main part of the problem: putting pen to paper.

Set aside time to write

The chances are that you’re not going to be able to pen the entire essay in a single sitting, and that’s okay. It’s nothing to be ashamed of or to worry about, and it’s natural that you need to work across multiple days when writing your first essay.

If you want to be able to make great progress, the most important thing is sticking to a routine. You need to have consistency in your application, and you need to be able to know when you are at your most productive. It’s no good staying up late one night and then carrying on early the next morning. You’d be far better off writing for the same amount of time but on two successive afternoons. Think about how your studies fit in with the rest of your daily life, and then choose the time that seems most appropriate. If you box it off and decide it’s only for writing, you’ll be in a great routine before you even know it.

Clear space so you can focus

As well as having time to write each day, you need a place to write too. The world is full of distractions (most of them are digital and social) so that means you’re going to want to keep yourself to yourself, and your phone in a different room. It might seem a little boring or uncomfortable at first, but you need to practice the habit of deep work. It’s what will allow you to create the most in the shortest time — ideal if you want to have plenty of time leftover to spend doing the other things that matter to you.

Have a daily word count in mind

Telling yourself that you want to write an essay today is one thing, but if you’re really going to push yourself to stick to your goal then you need to get quantitative. If you have a word count in mind that you need to hit, then it will prevent you from giving up and throwing in the towel the minute you start having to think and concentrate more than feels normal. Just like working out in the gym, it’s the temporary moments of extra effort that really drive the big differences. It’s when you’ll see the biggest improvement in your writing ability, and the lessons you teach yourself will stay with you for years to come. Ideal if you want to become a fluent Mandarin writer, as well as an engaging face-to-face speaker.

Read widely to provide context

When you’re immersed in an essay it can be all too easy to become blinkered and fail to pay attention to everything else that’s going on around you. Of course, you want to be focused on the task at hand, but you don’t want to be single-minded to the point of ignoring other great learning resources that are just a click away.

Reading widely is one of the best ways to improve your essay writing because it exposes you to techniques and approaches used by the best of the best. You’re not expected to be able to instantly write like a native speaker after an hour of reading. But what you will be able to do with consistent application is build up confidence and familiarity with written Mandarin. Over time this will reflect on the quality and depth of your writing as you gradually improve and take onboard lessons you’ve learned.

Take a break before you proofread

Last but not least, you need to remember that essay writing is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s all about taking the time to get things written before you hand them in, not racing through to try and finish on time. If you want to get the most out of your writing you need to take a day off between finishing your draft and proofing it. That way your brain will have had plenty of time to reflect on the work you’ve produced, and you’ll be able to spot many more little mistakes and places for improvement than you would if you proofed right away.

Final Thoughts

Writing Mandarin is a challenging task that will test your language skills and make you think hard about how to apply what you’ve learned so far. It might be slow going to begin with, but that’s great as it means you’re pushing your limits and building on your existing skills. If you want to be able to master Mandarin, you need to persevere and stay the course. Once you do, you’ll start to improve a lot faster than you expect.

By Diana Adjadj | A Super Chineasian

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Improve Chinese Essay Writing- A Complete How to Guide

• Last updated: June 6, 2019
• Learn Chinese

Writing can reflect a writer’s power of thought and language organization skills. It is critical to master Chinese writing  if you want to take your Chinese to the next level. How to write good Chinese essays? The following six steps will improve Chinese essay writing:

Before You Learn to Improve Chinese Essay Writing

Before you can write a good essay in Chinese, you must first be accustomed with Chinese characters. Unlike English letters, Chinese characters are hieroglyphs, and the individual strokes are different from each other. It is important to be comfortable with writing Chinese characters in order to write essays well in Chinese. Make sure to use Chinese essay writing format properly. After that, you will be ready to improve Chinese essay writing.

Increase Your Chinese Words Vocabulary

With approximately 100,000 words in the Chinese language, you will need to learn several thousand words just to know the most common words used. It is essential to learn as many Chinese words as possible if you wish to be a good writer. How can you enlarge your vocabulary? Try to accumulate words by reading daily and monthly. Memory is also very necessary for expanding vocabulary. We should form a good habit of exercising and reciting as more as we can so that to enlarge vocabulary. Remember to use what you have learned when you write in Chinese so that you will continually be progressing in your language-learning efforts.

Acquire Grammar,Sentence Patterns and Function Words

In order to hone your Chinese writing skills , you must learn the grammar and sentence patterns. Grammar involves words, phrases, and the structure of the sentences you form. There are two different categories of Chinese words: functional and lexical. Chinese phrases can be categorized as subject-predicate phrases (SP), verb-object phrases (VO), and co-ordinate phrases (CO). Regarding sentence structure, each Chinese sentence includes predicate, object, subject, and adverbial attributes. In addition, function words play an important role in Chinese semantic understanding, so try to master the Chinese conjunction, such as conjunction、Adverbs、Preposition as much as you can. If you wish to become proficient at writing in Chinese, you must study all of the aspects of grammar mentioned in this section.

Keep a Diary Regularly to Note Down Chinese Words,Chinese Letters

Another thing that will aid you in becoming a better writer is keeping a journal in Chinese. Even if you are not interested in expanding your writing skills, you will find that it is beneficial for many day-to-day tasks, such as completing work reports or composing an email. Journaling on a regular basis will help you form the habit of writing, which will make it feel less like a chore. You may enjoy expressing yourself in various ways by writing; for instance, you might write poetry in your journal. On a more practical side of things, you might prefer to simply use your journal as a way to purposely build your vocabulary .

Persistence in Reading Everyday

In addition to expanding your view of the world and yourself, reading can help you improve your writing. Reading allows you to learn by example; if you read Chinese daily, you will find that it is easier to write in Chinese because you have a greater scope of what you can do with the vocabulary that you’ve learned. Choose one favorite Chinese reading , Read it for an hour or 2,000 words or so in length each day.

Whenever you come across words or phrases in your reading that you don’t understand, take the time to check them in your dictionary and solidify your understanding of them. In your notebook, write the new word or phrase and create an example sentence using that new addition to your vocabulary. If you are unsure how to use it in a sentence, you can simply copy the sample sentence in your dictionary.

Reviewing the new vocabulary word is a good way to improve your memory of it; do this often to become familiar with these new words. The content of reading can be very broad. It can be from novels, or newspapers, and it can be about subjects like economics or psychology. Remember you should read about things you are interested in. After a certain period of accumulation by reading, you will greatly improve your Chinese writing.

Do Essay Writing Exercise on a Variety of Subjects

As the saying goes, “practice makes perfect.” In order to improve your China Essay Writing , you should engage in a variety of writing exercises. For beginners, you should start with basic topics such as your favorite hobby, future plans, favorite vacation spot, or any other topic that you can write about without difficulty.

For example :《我的一天》( Wǒ de yì tiān, my whole day’s life  ),《我喜欢的食物》( Wǒ xǐhuan de shíwù, my favorite food  ),《一次难忘的旅行》( yí cì nánwàng de lǚxíng, an unforgettable trip  ) etc.

Generally the writing topics can be classified into these categories: a recount of an incident,a description of something/someone, a letter, formulate your own opinion on an issue based on some quote or picture etc.

Takeaway to Improve Chinese Essay Writing

Keep an excel spreadsheet of 口语(Kǒuyǔ, spoken Chinese) –书面语(Shūmiànyǔ, written Chinese) pairs and quotes of sentences that you like. You should also be marking up books and articles that you read looking for new ways of expressing ideas. Using Chinese-Chinese dictionaries is really good for learning how to describe things in Chinese.

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This is fascinating article, thank you!

Thank you so much for sharing this type of content. That’s really useful for people who want to start learning chinese language. I hope that you will continue sharing your experience.

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Category: Beginner

Fable: 洗衣服 – washing clothes.

• Post author By Kendra
• Post date July 19, 2020
• 17 Comments on Fable: 洗衣服 – Washing clothes

In this quick lesson about judging others, we learn that those who live in dirty glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. HSK 2-3.

• Tags Myths & Fables

Short Story: 海上和床上 – On the sea and in bed

• Post date June 25, 2020
• 23 Comments on Short Story: 海上和床上 – On the sea and in bed

This dialogue between a man and a sailor drives home a quick life lesson: there’s risk in anything you do, so there’s no point in trying to avoid danger entirely. HSK 2-3.

• Tags Children's Stories

Children’s Story:《两条彩虹》Two rainbows

• Post date June 16, 2020
• No Comments on Children’s Story:《两条彩虹》Two rainbows

In this cutsey-face story intended for kindergarteners, Grandma Bear (熊奶奶 – xióng nǎi nai) comes down with an illness that can only be cured by seeing a rainbow (彩虹 -cǎi hóng), and Uncle Frog (青蛙大叔 – qīng wā dà shū) jumps in to make it happen. HSK 2-3.

Fable: 郑人买履 – A man from the State of Zheng buys shoes

• Post date June 15, 2020
• 1 Comment on Fable: 郑人买履 – A man from the State of Zheng buys shoes

A not-too-bright fellow heads to the market to buy a pair of shoes. Includes a beginner’s introduction to classical Chinese. HSK 3.

Children’s Story: 完美的弓 – The perfect (archery) bow

• Post date June 11, 2020
• 2 Comments on Children’s Story: 完美的弓 – The perfect (archery) bow

A man tries to make his treasured hunting bow (弓 gōng) even more perfect than it already is, but learns an obnoxious life lesson instead. HSK 3-4.

Story behind the idiom: 狐假虎威 – Using powerful connections to intimidate others

• Post date June 5, 2020
• 5 Comments on Story behind the idiom: 狐假虎威 – Using powerful connections to intimidate others

In this HSK 3-4 story, a crafty fox (狐狸 hú li) escapes being eaten by playing a cunning trick on a mighty tiger (老虎 lǎo hǔ).

• Tags Idioms

Story behind the idiom: 邯郸学步 – Making oneself ridiculous by slavishly imitating others

• Post date June 3, 2020
• No Comments on Story behind the idiom: 邯郸学步 – Making oneself ridiculous by slavishly imitating others

A young man tries to copy the way people walk in the city of Handan (邯郸), but only succeeds in making a fool of himself. HSK 3-4.

Short story: 《卜妻为裤》Buzi’s wife makes a pair of pants

• Post date June 1, 2020
• 3 Comments on Short story: 《卜妻为裤》Buzi’s wife makes a pair of pants

A gentleman named Buzi (卜子) asks his wife (卜妻) to make him a new pair of pants (裤子), but he doesn’t give her very clear instructions. HSK 3-4.

Communist folk tales: 《朱德的扁担》- Zhu De’s Carrying Pole

• Post date May 28, 2020
• No Comments on Communist folk tales: 《朱德的扁担》- Zhu De’s Carrying Pole

Zhu De (朱德) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People’s Liberation Army (解放军), also called the Red Army (红军). This popular revolutionary story highlights his willingness to toil alongside the rank and file soldiers. HSK 3-4.

• Tags Biography , Politics & Communism

Communist songs: 《东方红》- The East is Red

• Post date May 26, 2020
• 6 Comments on Communist songs: 《东方红》- The East is Red

This song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer’s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong’s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing.

• Tags Politics & Communism

Children’s Story: 最可口的食物 – The most appetizing meal

• Post date May 22, 2020
• 4 Comments on Children’s Story: 最可口的食物 – The most appetizing meal

One picky little horse doesn’t appreciate the food he is served, until he sees what everyone else is eating. Upper-beginner, bordering on intermediate, HSK 4.

Children’s Story: 有学问的儿子 – The Learned Son

• Post date May 20, 2020
• No Comments on Children’s Story: 有学问的儿子 – The Learned Son

In this short story, a garden rake (草耙 – cǎo pá) teaches one stuck-up kid a lesson in humility. HSK 3-4.

Fable: 天堂里的自由 – Freedom in Heaven

• Post date May 18, 2020
• 13 Comments on Fable: 天堂里的自由 – Freedom in Heaven

A little thrush (画眉 huà méi) trades one cage (笼子 lóng zi) for a bigger one, and doesn’t much like the upgrade. Suitable around HSK 3.

Story Behind the Idiom: 画蛇添足 – The dangers of showing off

• Post date May 14, 2020
• No Comments on Story Behind the Idiom: 画蛇添足 – The dangers of showing off

This is the first 成语 backstory I recall reading in class. It’s about a guy who can’t help but flaunt his superior skill in front of others, and the nasty surprise he gets as a result. This is upper-beginner, HSK 4.

Story Behind the Idiom: 盲人摸象 – To only partially understand something

• Post date May 12, 2020
• 5 Comments on Story Behind the Idiom: 盲人摸象 – To only partially understand something

This story is believed to have originated from a Buddhist sutra, the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra 《大般涅槃经》, donated to us by the content team over at Du Chinese. A challenge for HSK 2, should be smoother for HSK 3.

Children’s Stories: 《胆小先生》Mr. Coward

• Post date May 8, 2020
• 6 Comments on Children’s Stories: 《胆小先生》Mr. Coward

Mr. Coward’s home is invaded by mice, but he doesn’t have the gumption to do anything about it. Or does he? This little story will be comfortable at HSK 3-4.

Famous poetry: 《咏鹅》Ode to Geese by Luo Binwang

• Post date May 6, 2020
• No Comments on Famous poetry: 《咏鹅》Ode to Geese by Luo Binwang

This well-known nursery jingle that Chinese kids learn in kindergarten was written 1400 years ago, by Tang Dynasty poet Luo Binwang , who, in the tradition of great artists everywhere, did some jail time for dissing the reigning empress. You don’t get much sense of Luo’s rebellious side in this short poem, though – it’s about geese, and that’s about it.

• Tags Poetry

Essay:《帮忙》 Helping Out

• Post date May 4, 2020
• 3 Comments on Essay:《帮忙》 Helping Out

In this one-paragraph read (HSK 2-3), Little Brother wants to help dad get ready to leave the house, but his contribution falls flat.

• Tags Essays

Children’s Stories: 《西红柿女孩》Tomato Girl

• Post date April 30, 2020
• 2 Comments on Children’s Stories: 《西红柿女孩》Tomato Girl

Poor little Mile (米乐) is so shy (害羞 – hài xiū), she never speaks, and her face turns bright red whenever someone speaks to her. This story is upper-beginner, will be a reasonably comfortable read at around HSK 4, and a do-able read at HSK 3 with a bit of effort.

Children’s Story: 《老爷爷的帽子》The Old Man’s Hat

• Post date April 28, 2020
• 3 Comments on Children’s Story: 《老爷爷的帽子》The Old Man’s Hat

Aw, reciprocity. An old man does a kindness for a little bird, and he receives a kindness in return.

Grammar , Vocabulary

Useful Chinese Essay Phrases  

  July 8, 2020

By   Ellen

Nowadays, many international students have decided to study abroad, and China has become a highly popular destination. In universities, essay writing is a basic skill and the “Academic Writing” lectures are always attracting many students to attend.

Here we have summarized some “all-purpose” phrases and sentences which hopefully you would find useful.

Chinese Essay Phrases Used in Abstracts

The abstract should explain the purpose, method, results, and conclusion of your research, also highlighting the new ideas that you proposed; and do remember to keep your language concise while writing. The purpose of the abstract is to conclude and summarize the main contents of your essay so that the reader could have a brief understanding without having to read the entire paper. Chinese abstracts are usually around 200 characters.

Research Background, Significance, and Current Situation

Extremely useful/badly needed/affecting people’s lives (1-2 sentences)

Proposing the Object of Study 

Played a very important role (1-2 sentences)

Purpose of the Study or Study Aim

The role of A in B, perhaps remains to be seen (1 sentence)

Research Methods and Results

Through what means/technique/experiment we achieved what result (several sentences)

Research Results

The phenomenon of A in B, shows what the function of B is, theoretical and applied value (1-2 sentences)

via Pixabay

Chinese Essay Phrases: Main Body

The main body includes the introduction and the main text. The introduction section could use similar phrases that we have just listed, focusing on research objects and purposes. The main text should include research methods, research results, and discussion. Writers should keep their sentences to the point and avoid rambling, also avoid using too much subjective perspective discourses, which shouldn’t be used as arguments as well.

Theoretical Basis, Approaches, and Methods

To express opinions, to emphasis, transitional expressions, chinese essay phrases: conclusion.

At the ending section of the paper, the writer should provide an objective summary, list out the future research objectives and directions, and perhaps look into the future. Keep optimistic even if your experiment results were negative.

Research Impact and Value

There you go. We hope this article helps you write amazing essays. Best of luck!

Ellen is a language specialist from China. She grew up in the US and received a master’s degree from the St Andrews University of UK. The multicultural experiences attributes to her understanding of the differences and similarities between the English and Chinese language. She currently works as an editor specialized in Language learning books.

related posts:

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15 must-watch chinese movies for language learners, best chinese music playlists on spotify, get in touch.

IB Chinese A (Lit) EE examples

Filter exemplars, 嚴歌苓的《陸犯焉識》如何通過敘述視角、敘述線索和敘述結構揭示中國知識分子的精神歸宿.

Chalk Academy

Printable Chinese Writing Worksheets

If the thought of writing Chinese characters freaks you out, you aren’t alone! Learning Chinese requires tons of practice for children and adults alike. As you gradually develop muscle memory, try to be patient with the writing process and make it as enjoyable as possible. I hope that our printable Chinese writing worksheets can help, and keep scrolling for more tips that have motivated our family along the way.

Decades ago, I learned how to write Chinese characters in middle school and promptly forgot. Then, a few years ago, I started learning again with the best study buddy – my daughter! This time, the process has been much more positive .

Chalk Academy is reader-supported. Some of the links are affiliate links. When you buy something through an affiliate link, we may earn a very small commission at no additional cost to you. More details here .

When to use Chinese writing worksheets

The order of learning a second language generally follows the first language. Just as a baby learns to observe, listen, and talk first, a solid verbal language foundation sets the stage for written language learning. This is especially true with children.

Keep in mind that learning to write is much, much slower than other aspects of language. However, many adults learn to read and write while learning to understand and speak Chinese. While writing can help absorb information into long-term memory, it shouldn’t bog you down from the other parts of language.

In modern times, despite the benefits of handwriting, we don’t need to write Chinese physically. We can still communicate via texting and typing while avoiding writing altogether. So, if you’re learning Chinese as a second language, keep this in mind as you consider your language goals among other life priorities.

What kids should do before using Chinese worksheets

When teaching young children how to write, you might want to wait before using printable Chinese worksheets.

Build fine motor skills and confidence

First and foremost, fine motor skills are the prerequisite to writing. To strengthen pencil grasp, everyday activities like picking up small objects and collecting treasures at the park prepare children for future writing.

Giving kids room to scribble and doodle without worrying about being “correct” also prepares their confidence with using paper.

Explore Chinese stroke order

Without any pressure, kids can learn basic strokes with Chinese stroke order flashcards . A fun and popular strategy is to let kids use their fingers to draw words on sand or in a salt writing tray .

Discover the special meaning of handwriting

If Chinese writing worksheets are the sole exposure to writing, then learning can be quite dreadful. Don’t make this mistake!

Instead, the focus should be on the purpose of handwriting – the way it connects people and brings us closer.

Surprise your child with a special handwritten note in Chinese on their door or lunchbox. Have fun making special handmade Christmas cards or playing tic-tac-toe for writing practice .

Explore this : How I Taught My Child 1000 Chinese Characters as a Non-Fluent Speaker

Blank versus grid Chinese writing worksheets

There are 3 main types of Chinese writing worksheets:

• Blank squares
• 田字格 (Field Grid Paper) The shape of the grid guidelines looks like the Chinese character for field 田.
• 米字格 (Rice Grid Paper) The shape of the grid guidelines looks like the Chinese character for rice 米.

Some learners get distracted by dotted guidelines and need the freedom of a blank square. Others may find the background lines helpful for figuring out where to put each part of the Chinese character. We prefer blank or field grid Chinese writing worksheets.

7 Quick tips for a positive Chinese writing experience

Learn chinese writing with a study buddy.

What better way to encourage a child to practice writing if I also work on it?  God knows I need to improve, too!  

So, if you’re learning with your child, have “mommy and me” or “daddy and me” Chinese writing worksheets. One stack for you and another for your kid! Your actions speak louder than any advice you give to your child.

Small, frequent doses

Write the same Chinese word only a few times, but repeat it every few days for retention.

Writing the same Chinese word for an entire page can be sooooo boring!

Bigger is better for beginners!

Use big writing grids!  Even as an adult learner, I prefer the large writing grids to the standard small size.  It’s much easier to see each stroke, especially for more complex Chinese characters .

Freedom of utensil choice

Let your child choose her writing utensil of choice! The standard pencil is convenient for erasing and making corrections. But if your child likes certain colors or glittery pens, why not let them enjoy it while writing Chinese?

Grade with hearts and smiles

Rather than “grading” writing, my daughter’s self-assessment is by drawing a “heart” or “smiley face” next to the character that looks best. This is an uplifting strategy that you can try in any language! Many thanks to our Chinese teacher for this wonderful idea.

Encourage your child or student to reflect on their work and develop self-awareness without being judged. 

Relax while writing Chinese

Take breaks so the shoulders, arms, hands, and wrists can relax and stretch.  I used to journal a lot during high school, and that, coupled with piano practice, resulted in severe wrist tendonitis.

So let’s teach our children to have healthier habits starting from a young age!

Printable Blank Chinese writing worksheets for kids and adults, too! ( 田字格 | Field Grid Paper)

Choose the grid size that works best for your learning needs!

• Extra small

If you want to save paper, consider putting these printable Chinese worksheets in these reusable dry-erase pockets .

What if your child hates Chinese writing worksheets?

The good news is that Chinese writing worksheets are not the end-all, be-all of learning Chinese.

Besides the pictures in this article, my children have rarely used the Chinese writing worksheets I created.

We’ve had fun painting Chinese characters on magic water calligraphy cloths .

We’re huge fans of dictation, copywork, and progress over perfection.

And no matter your child’s age or developmental stage, remember that the fundamental purpose of language is connection.

Chinese writing worksheet generator websites

Want to make personalized Chinese worksheets? Check out these websites:

• Paid: Arch Chinese , Hanzi Grids
• Free: Chinese Worksheet Generator

More tips for learning Chinese writing

EXPLORE : Chinese Writing Activities That Make Learning Fun for Kids

DISCOVER : Fun Ways to Teach Chinese Stroke Order Rules

PLAY : Tic-Tac-Toe Games for Chinese Writing Practice

LEARN : Fun Ways to Practice Reading and Writing with Handmade Cards

Dr. Betty Choi is a Harvard-trained pediatrician and mother on a mission to connect families through language and play. Chalk Academy was inspired by her trials and triumphs with relearning a heritage language and raising bilingual children in a monolingual community. Dr. Choi's advice has been featured in Healthline, Parents, The Atlantic, and VeryWell.

Hi all, Does anybody know about Chinese font (simplified) that has dotted lines? I am looking for a Chinese font (simplified) that has dotted lines, (like KG Primary Dots), so children can trace the lines.

Hi Betty, Thank you so much for all your resources! I find myself coming back to your website time and time again to inspire myself on my journey to teach my children Chinese/Cantonese as well.

This is a resource for the previous comments who are looking for a free website to generate a worksheet. I hope it is okay to post this here: https://chinese.gratis/tools/chinese-grid/ The user inputs however many characters they want, then select how many boxes and what style of grid. It doesn’t include stroke order, and I think the character’s are a bit off centered, but it is free. Hope that helps!

Hi Evonne! Thank you so much for the recommendation! Blessed New Year to your family!

Nice information. Seems need to pay to use Arch website worksheet. Any free ones to generate writing worksheet ??

Do you need a paid subscription to Arch Chinese to generate writing worksheets?

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Introduce Yourself in Chinese with Self-Introduction Speech Examples

How to introduce yourself in chinese.

It is not difficult to introduce yourself in Chinese language as they are fixed answers which you memorise about yourself. However, it is not that easy to be able to understand all the variations of questions asked. Therefore, in this article, you will also learn about various ways of questioning and response, so you know they mean the same thing and handle the Chinese self-introduction with ease.

For a start, I have prepared three articles below with audio on self-introduction speech examples, changing the variation of replies in Chinese for beginners when you introduce yourself in Mandarin. The questions and answers will revolve around: –

① Chinese Greetings and Pronouns ② Your Name and Surname ③ Your Age ④ Your Country and Nationality ⑤ Your Hobby and Interest ⑥ Your Relationship and Marital Status

It is always a good practice to read and listen in Mandarin to guess the meaning of the articles before looking at the English translation.

Chinese Self-Introduction Essay and Speech Samples

你们好！ 我叫芮。 其实，芮是我的姓氏。我是华人。我来自新加坡。不过，我现在居住安特卫普，比利时的一个美丽城市。我有一个英俊的比利时男友。我会说英语、华语、广东话、法语和荷兰语。现在，我和你们一样，都在学习语言。我每天要去学校上荷兰语课。

平时，在业余时间，我写博客和上网查询资料。在周末，我喜欢和我的男朋友一起骑自行车，拍照，购物和吃饭。 我最喜欢去餐馆吃中餐。我的最爱是旅行。我去过很多国家。

那你呢？请你自我介绍，告诉我平时你喜欢做些什么？请留言。

Hāi! Dú zhě men,

Nǐ men hǎo!  Wǒ jiào Ruì. Qí shí, Ruì shì wǒ de xìng shì. Wǒ shì huá rén. Wǒ lái zì xīn jiā pō. Bù guò, wǒ xiàn zài jū zhù ān tè wèi pǔ, bǐ lì shí de yī gè měi lì chéng shì. Wǒ yǒu yīgè yīng jùn de bǐ lì shí nán yǒu. Wǒ huì shuō yīng yǔ, huá yǔ, guǎng dōng huà, fǎ yǔ hé hé lán yǔ.  Xiàn zài, wǒ hé nǐ men yī yàng, dōu zài xué xí yǔ yán. Wǒ měi tiān yào qù xué xiào shàng hé lán yǔ kè.

Píng shí, zài yè yú shí jiān, wǒ xiě bó kè hé shàng wǎng chá xún zī liào. Zài zhōu mò, wǒ xǐ huān hé wǒ de nán péng yǒu yī qǐ qí zì xíng chē, pāi zhào, gòu wù hé chī fàn. Wǒ zuì xǐ huān qù cān guǎn chī zhōng cān. Wǒ de zuì ài shì lǚ xíng. Wǒ qù guò hěn duō guó jiā.

Nà nǐ ne? Qǐng nǐ zì wǒ jiè shào, gào sù wǒ píng shí nǐ xǐ huān zuò xiē shén me? Qǐng liú yán.

Hi Readers, 

How are you? I am called Rui. In fact, Rui is my surname. I am a Chinese. I come from Singapore. However, I am now living in Antwerp, a beautiful city in Belgium. I have a handsome Belgian boyfriend. I can speak English, Mandarin, Cantonese, French, and Dutch.

Now, I am like you, learning a language too. Every day, I go to school for my Dutch class. Usually, during my spare time, I blog and surf the internet for information. During the weekend, I like to cycle with my boyfriend, take photographs, shopping and eating. I also like going to restaurants to eat Chinese food. My favourite is travelling. I have been to many countries.

How about you? Please introduce yourself. Tell me what do you usually like to do? Please leave a message.

我的名字是彼得。 我今年27岁。 我从美国来的。 我还单身，也没有女朋友。 我会说英语和一点点西班牙语。我也在学习汉语。可是，我的中文说的不太好，还可以在进步。

我想去中国旅行。我对中国的文化和语言很感兴趣。我希望找一位中国女友。我可以向她学习中文。我也能教她英语。我很好动。平时，我喜欢做运动, 例如跑步和游泳。

Hāi! Nín hǎo!

Wǒ de míng zì shì Bǐ Dé. Wǒ jīn nián 27 suì. Wǒ cóng měi guó lái de. Wǒ hái dān shēn, yě méi yǒu nǚ péng yǒu. Wǒ huì shuō yīng yǔ hé yī diǎn diǎn xī bān yá yǔ. Wǒ yě zài xué xí hàn yǔ. Kěs hì, wǒ de zhōng wén shuō de bù tài hǎo, hái kěyǐ zài jìn bù.

Wǒ xiǎng qù zhōng guó lǚ xíng. Wǒ duì zhōng guó de wén huà hé yǔ yán hěn gǎn xìng qù. Wǒ xī wàng zhǎo yī wèi zhōng guó nǚ yǒu. Wǒ kě yǐ xiàng tā xué xí zhōng wén. Wǒ yě néng jiào tā yīngyǔ. Wǒ hěn hào dòng. Píng shí, wǒ xǐ huān zuò yùn dòng, lì rú pǎo bù hé yóu yǒng.

My name is Peter. I am 27 years old this year. I come from the United States. I am still single and also do not have a girlfriend. I speak English and some Spanish. Now, I am also learning Chinese. However, I do not speak Mandarin so well. It can still be improved.

I wish to travel to China. I am very interested in Chinese culture and language. I hope to find a Chinese girlfriend. I can learn Chinese from her. I can teach her English. I am very active. Usually, I like to exercise such as jogging and swimming.

我是爱丽丝。大家都叫我丝丝。我是加拿大人。十年前，我从加拿大搬迁到台湾工作。我学了五年的中文，现在能说一口流利的华语。我现年四十岁。 我已婚，嫁给了一位台湾人。我有两个孩子，一个儿子和一个女儿。

我的嗜好是烹饪、阅读、听音乐和教书。我是一名教师。 我会说流利的英语、华语、 法语和一点点葡萄牙语。我不太喜欢做运动。不过，我很喜欢旅行，到处走走。

Hāi! Nǐ hǎo! 

Wǒ shì Ài Lì Sī. Dà jiā dōu jiào wǒ Sī Sī. Wǒ shì jiā ná dà rén. Shí nián qián, wǒ cóng jiā ná dà bān qiān dào tái wān gōng zuò. Wǒ xué le wǔ nián de zhōng wén, xiàn zài néng shuō yī kǒu liú lì de huá yǔ. Wǒ xiàn nián sì shí suì. Wǒ yǐ hūn, jià gěi le yī wèi tái wān rén. Wǒ yǒu liǎng gè há izi, yīgè er zi hé yī gè nǚ’ér.

Wǒ de shì hào shì pēng rèn, yuè dú, tīng yīn yuè hé jiāo shū. Wǒ shì yī míng jiào shī. Wǒ huì shuō liú lì de yīng yǔ, huá yǔ, fǎ yǔ hé yī diǎn diǎn pú táo yá yǔ. Wǒ bù tài xǐ huān zuò yùn dòng. Bù guò, wǒ hěn xǐ huān lǚ xíng, dào chù zǒu zǒu.

Hello, my name is Alice. Everyone call me Si Si. I’m a Canadian. Ten years ago, I relocated from Canada to work in Taiwan. I have studied Chinese for five years. Now, I speak Mandarin fluently. This year, I am 40 years old. I am married to a Taiwanese. I have two children, a son and a daughter.

My hobby is cooking, reading, listening to music and teaching. I am a teacher. I speak fluent English, Mandarin, French and a little bit of Portuguese. I do not like so much to do sports. However, I enjoy travelling and walk around.

① Chinese Greetings and Pronouns

How to say “hello” in chinese.

For the Chinese, it is common to greet in person with  嗨！你好! It has a similar connotation as “Hello, how are you?” but not a question asked like 你好吗？ to get a response. The Chinese greeting means “ You are fine! ” Since the tone of the sentence is an exclamation mark, the other party is not expected to give a reply to 你好!

The pronouns used in the three self-introduction speech in Chinese is: –

• 读者们  |    dú zhě men |  Readers
• 你们 | nǐ men | You (Plural)
• 您 |   nín | You (Formal address of someone of a higher authority, a stranger or out of courtesy)
• 你 |   nǐ | You (Singular. Informal way and most commonly used to address among friends and people)

Whenever you see the word 们 | mén , with a pronoun, it always refers to a plural form of a pronoun. You can virtually place the Chinese plural word 们 behind any nouns, but usually for humans and animals.

② What is Your Name? Introduce Yourself in Chinese

The first sentence that most people learn is likely “What is your name?”. In a more formal setting, you can be asked to introduce yourself instead of someone asking you to say your name. Both sentences can be applied at the same time too.

How to Say “What is Your Name” in Chinese?

What is your name? Please introduce yourself OR Please self-introduced.

你叫什么名字? 请介绍一下你自己。 ( 或者 | or)  请自我介绍。

Nǐ jiào shén me míng zì? Qǐng jiè shào yī xià nǐ zì jǐ. (huò zhě) Qǐng zì wǒ jiè shào.

How to Say “What is Your Surname?” in Chinese? – Formal

Here, you can see the formal pronoun 您 | you being used asking for only the surname (family name) instead of the person’s name. The person asking for only the family name wants to address the other party as Mr, Mrs or Miss + Surname.

One example is a shop assistant serving his customer. The Chinese find it more respectful to call a person by the surname when they do not know him well or when the status is higher. However, the person replying back do not need to use 您 and may use  你 instead.

I presume that if you are a foreigner especially a Caucasian, the Chinese would not ask you this question. Next time, you can also ask  您贵姓？ to Chinese people if you meet them for the first time.

What is your surname? (Polite)

您贵姓？ Nín guì xìng?

My surname is Li. How about you?

我姓李。那你呢？ Wǒ xìng Lǐ. Nà nǐ ne?

Hi, Mr Lee. My surname is Rui. Pleased to meet you! / It is an honour to meet you!

李先生，您好。我姓芮。幸会，幸会！ Lǐ xiān shēng, nǐn hǎo. Wǒ xìng Ruì. Xìng huì, xìng huì!

How to Say “Who Are You” in Chinese?

Asking someone “Who are you?” is an abrupt and less friendly way when asking for a self-introduction. However, it has to depend on the tone used and the situation. 你是谁? can have an implied meaning of curiosity, uncertainty, suspicion or fear.

Example – You went to your friend’s house to look for her. She was not at home. The mother opened the house and saw you. She asked，“ 你是谁呀? ” Then, you have to introduce yourself in Mandarin.

Who are you?

你是谁（呀)? Nǐ shì shéi (ya)?

How to Say “My Name is … ” in Chinese?

There are three ways that you can introduce yourself with “My name is ___”.

a) I am called Rui. b) My name is Peter. c) I am Alice. Everyone calls me Si Si (nickname). You can call me Alicia or Si Si.

a) 我叫芮。 b) 我的名字是彼得。 c) 我是爱丽丝。大家都叫我丝丝。你可以叫我爱丽丝或者是丝丝。

a) Wǒ jiào Ruì. b) Wǒ de míng zì shì Bǐ dé. c) Wǒ shì Ài Lì Sī. Dà jiā dōu jiào wǒ sī sī. Nǐ kě yǐ jiào wǒ Ài Lì Sī huò zhě shì Sī Sī.

③ How Old Are You?

The first two questions are common ways to ask someone their age. You can refer to the Chinese numbers of your age.

How to Say “What is Your Age” in Chinese?

What is your age?

a) 你今年几岁了？(或者 | or)  今年你几岁了？ b) 你今年多少岁了？

a) Nǐ jīn nián jǐ suì le? (huò zhě) Jīn nián nǐ jǐ suì le? b) Nǐ jīn nián duō shǎo suì le?

How to Say “How Old are You” in Chinese?

To ask someone’s age, “How OLD” in Chinese, is not a direct translation of the English word “old”. The literal translation of “How old” would be “ 多老 “. “老” means aged, senior. Please do not ask someone “ 你多老? ” because the Chinese will never ask a person’s age this way. It is quite offensive to use the Chinese word 老 | lǎo when talking to someone.

Instead, we use the phrase “how big – 多大 ” to ask someone’s age. Note that the phrase “ 多大 ” can have an ambiguous meaning. It can directly refer to the size of the object that you are discussing and not about age. The preferred sentence is still 你今年几岁了？ when meeting someone for the first time.

How old are you?

a) 你多大年纪？ b) 你多大年龄? c) 你多大了?

a) Nǐ duō dà nián jì?  b) Nǐ duō dà nián líng? c) Nǐ duō dà le?

How to Say “How old are you” in a Formal Way?

However, it is considered abrupt and rude to ask a senior, elderly or someone respectable on their age with the sentence construction above. In a formal situation or writing, we ask people on their age with 您今年贵庚? It is more polite asking when you hold high regard for someone.

How old are you? (Formal)

您今年贵庚? Nín jīn nián guì gēng?

How to Say “Your Age” in Chinese?

It is easy to say your age in Chinese. There are not many variations. You only have to know the Chinese numbers so you can tell your age to others.

I am 35 years old this year.

我今年35岁。 Wǒ jīn nián sān shí wǔ suì.

Pardon! My Age is Confidential!

Women are more reserved and sensitive when it comes to divulging their age especially Chinese women. Looks matter to many of them and they care about how people look at them.

Many of them also spend a lot of money, time and effort to maintain their youth. They hope to give a lasting impression of looking young forever.

Therefore, if you do not know a Chinese woman long enough, refrain from asking her age as you never know how she feels about telling it to you. Maybe she is fine with the question. Or, perhaps she does not like it and would not say it frankly.

Sorry, my age is a secret. Woman‘s age is always confidential.

不好意思，我的年龄是秘密。 女人的年龄是保密的。 Bù hǎo yì si, wǒ de nián líng shì mì mì. Nǚrén de nián líng shì bǎo mì de.

④ Where Are You From?

When someone asks you “where are you from”, you can tell them either your country of origin or your nationality. It is not necessary to say both unless you have a different nationality than that of the country that you live.

How to Say ” Where are you from” in Chinese?

Where are you from? 

你从哪里来？(或者 | or) 你来自哪里？ Nǐ cóng nǎ lǐ lái? (huò zhě) Nǐ lái zì nǎ lǐ?

How to Say “Which country are you from” in Chinese?

Which country are you from?

你来自什么国家?  (或者 | or) 你从什么国家来的？ Nǐ lái zì shén me guó jiā? (huò zhě) Nǐ cóng shén me guó jiā lái de?

How to Say “What is Your Nationality” in Chinese?

How to say Nationality  国籍 | Guó jí in Chinese? Most of the time, you use the ｛name of the country + 人 ｜people｝to derive the nationality.

Which country are you from? OR Who are you?

a) 你是什么国家的人? (或者 | or) 你是什么人？ b) 你是哪里人?

a) Nǐ lái zì shén me guó jiā?  (huò zhě) Nǐ cóng shén me guó jiā lái de? b) Nǐ shì nǎ lǐ rén?

How to Say “Do You Come from (Country)” or “Are You (Nationality)” in Chinese?

Do you come from America? Are you an American?

你从美国来的吗？你是美国人吗？ Nǐ cóng měi guó lái de ma? Nǐ shì měi guó rén ma?

How to Say “Your Country and Nationality” in Chinese?

I am American, from California.

我是美国人，来自加州。 Wǒ shì měi guó rén, lái zì jiā zhōu.

I come from Germany (or) I am from Germany (Berlin).

我从德国来  (或者 | or) 我来自德国(柏林)。 Wǒ cóng dé guó lái (huò zhě) wǒ lái zì dé guó (bó lín).

I come from Italy but I am a Turk.

我来自意大利，但我是土耳其人。 Wǒ lái zì yì dà lì, dàn wǒ shì tǔ’ěr qí rén.

I am not Dutch. I am French.

我不是荷兰人。我是法国人。 Wǒ bù shì hé lán rén. Wǒ shì fà guó rén.

I do not come from England. I am Australian.

我不是从英国来的。我是澳大利亚人。 Wǒ bù shì cóng yīng guó lái de. Wǒ shì ào dà lì yǎ rén.

⑤ What Do You Like to Do? Hobby and Interest

The questions below are all referring to the same things. That is your hobbies and interests. Sometimes, the word 平时 ｜ píng shí is added and means ‘usually’. I will prepare a list of activities about hobbies and interests in the near future so you can make references to what you like to do.

How to Say “What Do You Like to Do” in Chinese?

What do you like to do?

你喜欢做(些)什么？ Nǐ xǐ huān zuò (xiē) shén me?

I like jogging and swimming.

我喜欢跑步和游泳。 Wǒ xǐ huān pǎo bù hé yóu yǒng.

How to Say “What is Your Interest” in Chinese?

What is your interest?

你的兴趣是什么？ Nǐ de xìng qù shì shén me?

My interest is surfing the net and shopping.

我的兴趣是上网和逛街。 Wǒ de xìngqù shì shàng wǎng hé guàng jiē.

How to Say “What is Your Hobby” in Chinese?

What is your hobby?

你的嗜好是什么 你的爱好是什么?

Nǐ de shì hào shì shén me? Nǐ de ài hào shì shén me?

My hobby is reading, listing to music and watching movies.

我的嗜好是。。。阅读、听音乐和看电影。 Wǒ de shì hào shì yuè dú, tīng yīn yuè hé kàn diàn yǐng.

⑥ What is Your Marital Status?

Western men looking for a Chinese girlfriend would always be happy to declare that he is single and available. He also wants to know whether they are still single and available or married. It is just an illustration and applies to anyone who wants to say about their relationship status.

How to Say “What is Your Marital Status” or “Relationship Status” in Chinese?

To be honest, I have never had anyone asked me about my marital status 你的婚姻状况是什么? except when filling up forms because it sounds too formal. Many would just ask me about my relationship status “Are you married?” or “Do you have a boyfriend?”

It is always good to know the Chinese phrase ‘marital status’ for administration purpose and the different status as part of introducing yourself in Chinese to others.

What is your Marital Status?

你的婚姻状况是什么？ Nǐ de hūn yīn zhuàng kuàng shì shén me?

How to Say “Are You Single” in Chinese?

Most importantly, people want to know whether you are single or married.

Are you single? OR Are you still single?

你单身吗？( 或者 | or)  你还单身吗？ Nǐ dān shēn ma? (huò zhě) Nǐ hái dān shēn ma?

How to Say “Do You Have a Boyfriend” in Chinese?

Do you have a boyfriend?

你有男朋友吗？ Nǐ yǒu nán péng yǒu ma?

Are you seeing anybody? Do you have someone in mind?

你有对象吗？ Nǐ yǒu duì xiàng ma?

How to Say “Are You Married” in Chinese?

Are you married?

你结婚了吗？ Nǐ jié hūn le ma?

How to Say “I am Single” in Chinese?

I am single and have no girlfriend.

我单身, 也没有女朋友。 Wǒ dān shēn, yě méi yǒu nǚ péng yǒu.

I am still single but I have a boyfriend.

我还单身, 但是我有一个男朋友。 Wǒ hái dān shēn, dàn shì wǒ yǒu yī gè nán péng yǒu.

I am not married.

我未婚 ( 或者 | or) 我还没结婚。 Wǒ wèi hūn (huò zhě) Wǒ hái méi jié hūn.

How to Say “Got Engaged, Fiance and Fiancee” in Chinese?

I am engaged. He is my fiance. She is my fiancee.

我订婚了。 他是我的未婚夫。 她是我的未婚妻。

Wǒ dìng hūn le. Tā shì wǒ de wèi hūn fū. Tā shì wǒ de wèi hūn qī.

How to Say “I am Married” in Chinese?

I am married.

我已婚 (或者 | or) 我结婚了。 Wǒ yǐ hūn (huò zhě) Wǒ jié hūn le.

How to Say “I am Divorced or a Divorcee” in Chinese?

I am divorced. I am a divorcee.

我离婚了。 我是离婚者。 Wǒ lí hūn le. Wǒ shì lí hūn zhě.

How to Say “I am Separated” in Chinese?

I am in the midst of a separation.

我在分居状态中。 Wǒ zài fēn jū zhuàng tài zhōng.

How to Say “Widow” and “Widower” in Chinese?

For widows and widowers, it is not necessary to mention that. The Chinese might find it awkward to reply back. Just say that you are still single if you do not want to be too frank. After all, the Chinese are usually reserved people if you do not know them well and would not go too deep into such a topic.

I would think that not many people would say upfront that “I am a widow or widower” as it is somewhat private to use as a self-introduction in Chinese. Nonetheless, the Chinese sentences below are for information.

I am a widow. My husband passed away two years ago.

我是个寡妇。我的丈夫2年前去世了。 Wǒ shì gè guǎ fù. Wǒ de zhàng fū liǎng nián qián qù shì le.

I am a widower. My wife recently passed away due to sickness.

我是个鳏夫。我的妻子不久前病世了。 Wǒ shì gè guān fū. Wǒ de qī zi bù jiǔ qián bìng shì le.

Your Turn to Introduce Yourself in Chinese

So, now is your turn. Leave a reply to me in Chinese (or English) and tell us about yourself. 请你告诉我，平时你喜欢做些什么呢？ Take it as a practice and show us what you have learnt. I will reply back to you 🙂

How to Express Sentences with Colors in Mandarin?

How to say "admit" and "confess" in chinese 承认 chengren in mandarin, related articles.

How to Say “Master” in Chinese? 师傅 & 师父 Shifu Meaning in Mandarin

How to Say “Teacher” in Chinese? 老师 Laoshi, 教师 Jiaoshi, 导师 Daoshi in Mandarin

5 Exceptional Reasons to Learn Mandarin & Chinese Language

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my name is haleema sadia .im from india .im 18 yrs old.i love chinese culture and languagei started studying chinese from 2 months.i want to visit china as soon as possible.

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30 Easy Chinese Characters to Start Learning Mandarin

What are the easiest Chinese words you can pick up as you begin your Mandarin learning journey ?

We have them right here!

Below are some of the most basic, commonly used characters in Chinese, with the least number of character strokes.

Because they have so few strokes, these are some of the simplest words to write in Chinese. You’ll find them easy to remember as well, since some of the characters actually resemble their meaning .

Ready? Let’s get started.

3. 十 (shí) 

4. 山 (shān), 6. 小 (xiǎo), 10. 工 (gōng), 11. 门 (mén), 12. 上  (shàng), 13. 下 (xià), 15. 月  (yuè), 16. 水 (shǔi), 17. 火 (hǔo), 18. 天 (tiān), 19. 牛  (niú), 20. 木 (mù) , 21. 开 (kāi), 22. 心 (xīn) , 24. 手 (shǒu), 25. 王 (wáng), 26. 中 (zhōng), 27. 生 (shēng), 28. 羊  (yáng), 30. 男 (nán), and one more thing....

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Number of strokes: 1

English: One

The character for “one” in Chinese is simply one horizontal stroke.

Incidentally, the characters for two 二 (èr) and three 三 (sān) are also simple horizontal strokes. One, two and three are quite easy to remember, since one is one stroke, two is two strokes, etc.

One in Chinese is used in references to the singular, such as a single person 一个人 (yí gè rén) . For example:

我一个人来。 (wǒ yí gè rén lái.) — I came here by myself.

One is also used when ordering or purchasing items. For example:

我要一个。 (wǒ yào yí gè.) — I would like one.

Number of strokes: 2

English: Man

The Chinese character for “man” is two simple strokes. The character looks like a person with legs apart.

When you put two of these characters together, producing 人人  (rén rén), the meaning is “everyone .” For example:

人人都爱喝可乐。 (rén rén dōu ài hē kě lè.) — Everyone loves drinking soda.

English:  Ten

Ten in Chinese is a very versatile word. For example, 十分 (shí fēn) means “very much.”

In counting , all the teen digits use ten as the base, like so:

十一 (shí yī) — eleven

十二 (shí èr) — twelve

十三 (shí sān) — thirteen

十四 (shí sì) — fourteen

十五 (shí wǔ) — fifteen

Furthermore, 20 is 二十 (èr shí) or “two tens,” 30 is 三十 (sān shí) “three tens,” 50 is 五十 (wǔ shí) and the pattern continues like this until you reach 90, which is 九十 (jǐu shí).

But just so you know, 100 is not “ten-tens,” it’s 一百 (yī bǎi) .

Number of strokes: 3

English: Mountain

Can you tell that this character looks like a mountain range? Check out the ancient script, and you’ll see that  it has a much closer resemblance .

When combined with other characters, it means even more things related to nature and scenery. For example, when combined with the character for “water” or 水 (shǔi), you get 山水 (shān shǔi), which means “landscape.”

Therefore 山水画 (shān shǔi huà) refers to a landscape painting. The character 画 (huà) , meaning “painting” or “drawing,” looks like a little picture in a frame!

English: Big

See how the character for “big” looks like a person with arms and legs spread wide?

When we combine 大 with another character we just learned (人), we get 大人 (dà rén) meaning “adult,” or literally, “big man.” However, do note that a child isn’t called a “little man.”

You could describe a big mountain as 大山 (dà shān). This, of course, is also the name of famous Chinese-speaking comedian Mark Roswell .

University is called 大学 (dà xué),  literally “big school.”

English:  Small

Since we learned “big,” we have to learn its opposite, 小.   Can you guess what “elementary school” is in Chinese? It’s 小学  (xiǎo xué) or “little school.”

Note that 小 only refers to size. When we talk about small amounts, we say 少 (shǎo).

On another note, 小姐 (xiǎo jiě) means “lady.”

English: Mouth

The character for “mouth” looks just like an opening. Here are some common phrases that use this character:

大口 (dà kǒu) — big mouthful

出口 (chū kǒu) — exit

人口 (rén kǒu) — population

山口 (shān kǒu) — mountain pass

English: Female

This character kind of looks like a lady with her legs crossed. Check out its interesting evolution throughout history . Here are two examples of how to use this character:

美女 (měi nǚ) — pretty girl

少女 (shào nǚ) — young lady

English: Horse

The horse character resembles an animal with running legs and a long neck. It went through several iterations throughout history . Here are two more common uses of this character:

马上 (mǎ shàng) — immediately

人马 (rén mǎ) — troops, literally “men and horses”

English: Work

This I-beam character appears in many work-related terms as well. Here’s where you might see it:

工作 (gōng zuò) — job

工人 (gōng rén) — worker

木工 (mù gōng) — woodwork / carpentry

English: Door

This character does bear a striking resemblance to a doorway, doesn’t it? Here are a couple more uses of this character:

门口 (mén kǒu) — doorway

开门 (kāi mén) — open the door

English: Up

Three strokes make up this character that looks like it’s pointing up. This character also refers to attending something or going somewhere. Here’s how we use it:

上课 (shàng kè) — go to class

上班 (shàng bān) — go to work

晚上 (wǎn shàng) — in the evening

早上 ( zǎo shàng) — in the morning

爱上 (ài shàng) — fall in love; note that in Chinese, we don’t “fall” in love with someone, we love “upon” someone!

上车 (shàng chē) — get in the car

English:  Down

This simple character looks like a downward arrow. It also refers to leaving or getting off someplace.

下班 (xià bān) — get off work

下课 (xià kè) — get off class

下车 (xià chē) — get out of the car

Number of strokes: 4

English: Sun

The character for “sun” looks like a box with a line in the middle. It’s supposed to approximate the image of the sun. You might have to use a little imagination, but in the ancient bronze script, this character was more circular like the sun .

日 not only refers to the Earth’s source of light, but it also means “day.” It’s used when talking about dates, e.g. 7日 is the seventh day of whatever month you’re talking about. If you put two sun characters together (日日), it means “every day.”

English: Moon

The character for “moon” originally resembled a crescent. If you look at the oracle bone script , you’ll see what I mean.

月 not only refers to the nightly crescent, but it also means “month.” For example, 8月 7日 is how you’d write “August 7.”

You can write all the months in Chinese simply by putting a numeral (or the appropriate Chinese character if you like—either way works) in front of 月. Here are the names for January through March:

Too easy, right?

English: Water

The character for “water” resembles a drip with some splashes. It was much more watery-looking thousands of years ago .

To make use of another character we already learned (一), “one glass of water” is 一杯水 (yì bēi shǔi) . To ask for a glass of water, you could say:

请给我一杯水。 (qǐng gěi wǒ yī bēi shǔi.) — Please give me a glass of water.

English: Fire

Check out this flaming character’s evolution from the bone script version . Very cool.

One place you might see 火 is in recipes because 大火 (dà hǔo) is “big flame” and 小火 (xiǎo hǔo) is “small flame.” These will tell you the heat levels for cooking!

Here are a few more ways to use the character:

火车 (hǔo chē) — train

山火 (shān hǔo) — forest fire

English:  Sky

Notice how the shape of this character points upwards, towards the sky. Two of these characters together 天天 mean “every day” as well.

The four seasons are written as:

春天 (chūn tiān) — spring

夏天 (xià tiān) — summer

秋天 (qīu tiān) — fall

冬天 ( dōng tiān) — winter

There’s also:

今天 (jīn tiān) — today

昨天 (zuó tiān) — yesterday

明天 (míng tiān) — tomorrow

English:  Cow

This character looks like an animal with horns . Here are a couple of ways we use this character:

牛肉 (niú ròu) — beef

太牛了！ (tài niú le!) — awesome; we’re not sure what cows have to do with awesomeness, but maybe it’s kind of like “holy cow!” in English.

English:  Wood

This nature-associated character resembles a tree . Here are two examples of associated vocabulary:

木瓜 (mù guā) — papaya

木琴 (mù qín) — xylophone

English: Open

This word can also mean “to start.” We use this character in these ways:

开刀 (kāi dāo) — surgery

开工 (kāi gōng) — start work

开口 (kāi kǒu) — speak up

English: Heart

We’re not totally sure, but perhaps this character looks a little like the organ it refers to. What do you think? Here’s how to use this character:

小心 (xiǎo xīn) — be careful

开心 (kāi xīn) — happy

English: No

Although this character means “no,” we don’t usually use it by itself. We usually say 不是 (bú shì) for “no” and “not correct” or 不好 (bù hǎo) for   “no” or “not good.”

不少 (bù shǎo)  literally translates to “not few,” and so in other words means “a lot.”

English: Hand

Can you guess how this character resembles its meaning? Check out the lines in the palm of your hand! Here are more ways to use this character:

手工 (shǒu gōng) — handicraft

一手 (yī shǒu) — single-handedly / by oneself

水手 (shǔi shǒu) — sailor

English: King

Wang (王)   is a popular last name; for example 王力宏  (wáng lì hóng), or Leehom Wang, is the name of a popular singer and actor.

There’s also 王子 (wáng zǐ) , which means “prince .”

English: Center

This is an important character because it’s part of China’s name. It also looks like what it means: a line through the center of something. You’ll see this character used in these ways, among others:

中国 (zhōng gúo) — China; literally meaning “Middle Kingdom”

中文 (zhōng wén) — Chinese

中午 (zhōng wǔ) — noon

中学 (zhōng xué) — middle school

Number of strokes: 5

English: Birth

The word “birth” also refers to life and the start of something. Here are some of the many ways to use it:

生日 (shēng rì)  — birthday

一生 (yì shēng) — one’s whole life, lifetime

先生 (xiān shēng) — mister; e.g. 王先生 (wáng xiān shēng) Mr. Wang

出生 (chū shēng) — be born

生气 (shēng qì) — get angry

Number of strokes: 6

English: Sheep

Do you think this character looks like an animal with antlers ? Here’s how we use this character:

山羊 (shān yáng) — mountain sheep/goat

羊毛 (yáng máo) — fleece

English: Rice

Now for the word that refers to the food staple and the Chinese cultural icon! Here are more cases of the character for “rice”:

玉米 (yù mǐ) — corn

白米 (bái mǐ) — white rice or refined rice for eating

Number of strokes: 7

English: Boy

The character for “boy” is actually the combination of 田  (tián) for “farm” and 力 (lì) for “work,” referring to how traditionally men worked the land. You’ll see this character on the door of public washrooms.

Here are a couple more instances using this character:

男人 (nán rén) — man

男友 (nán yǒu) — boyfriend

This solid list of easy Chinese characters should get you well on your way to becoming a language superstar ! Then, you can take it a step further by using an immersive learning program like FluentU , where you can see new vocabulary written in the subtitles and used naturally in short videos.

If you want to continue learning Chinese with interactive and authentic Chinese content, then you'll love FluentU .

FluentU naturally eases you into learning Chinese language. Native Chinese content comes within reach, and you'll learn Chinese as it's spoken in real life.

FluentU has a wide range of contemporary videos—like dramas, TV shows, commercials and music videos.

FluentU App Browse Screen

FluentU brings these native Chinese videos within reach via interactive captions. You can tap on any word to instantly look it up. All words have carefully written definitions and examples that will help you understand how a word is used. Tap to add words you'd like to review to a vocab list.

Interactive Transcripts on FluentU

FluentU's Learn Mode turns every video into a language learning lesson. You can always swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you're learning.

FluentU Has Quizzes for Every Video

The best part is that FluentU always keeps track of your vocabulary. It customizes quizzes to focus on areas that need attention and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You have a 100% personalized experience.

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Mandarin Chinese Essay

Like any other language, Mandarin Chinese is also quite challenging and interesting to learn at the same time. Certain, much depends on the way you approach learning as well as teaching techniques applied by the instructor.

I has interested in Ms. Wang’s amazing and unconventional techniques to mastering Mandarin Chinese and this is one of the core reasons I agreed on attending this course in future. In fact, being in the 8 th grade at Pierre Van Cortlandt School has become a real adventure for me to enjoy because all lessons dedicated to studies languages do not involve ordinary techniques as I used to apply.

Instead of boring drill and practice, I have realized that singing pop songs and rhyming words is much more effective and exciting. Integrating music and technologies into Mandarin Chinese lessons greatly encourages learning more about the language and developing personal skills, abilities, and approaches to learning.

Besides, composing your own chants is also a great idea because it is quite creating and engaging and because it allows to memorize new sentences and vocabularies much faster. It is just like a song that you are humming and that you can get out of your head. This is why I am extremely keen on learning this course in future and apply the obtained skills to other subjects.

In my opinion, desire, interest, and realization of purpose for learning are the main underpinnings to start learning any discipline (Tovani, 2004, p. 11). Yet, the approaches that have been chosen for learning matter as well because they create a favorable climate for gaining experiences and mastering literate skills.

Learning Perspectives In Terms Of Literacy

Main students’ strengths and challenging areas in learning mandarin chinese.

While learning languages, there is a great number of vocabulary, semantics, grammatical structures that should be learnt. What is more interesting is that learning another language often implies comparison with the languages you have mastered and, therefore, the new information is always processed and acquired with particular reference to personal background and experience.

In addition, learning language is also learning more about new culture and traditions. In this respect, songs and music are exactly the ways to convey the essence of Chinese culture and ethnicity.

Besides, students seem to be fully engaged into this activity because their interest is focused not only on listening and learning new words, but also on singing and learning the new words of a popular song.

Indeed, this factor is to an extent decisive in receiving the highest results in learning Mandarin Chinese because students often lack understanding of a particular language because of the established cultural vacuum.

In fact, songs also enhance the communication between a student and a teacher that leads to building strong relations and creating a more favorable environment for learning and acquiring new knowledge.

Moreover, singing songs and producing personal rhymes advance sound-pronunciation relationships that are fundamental for successful training. With regard to the above, Zaraysky (2009) states that “if you memorize songs in a foreign language, you learn the cadence and melody of language” (p. 46).

Indeed, knowing songs is a good warming up activity because it enhances your interest about culture and you are exciting about learning more melodies. Therefore, mastery of music generates greater mastery at learning languages.

Teacher’s Evaluation of Student Performance

Assessment is an inherent component of a learning process and teacher’s task here is to be consistent in marketing students’ achievement pursuant to the material as well as approaches to learning this material being introduced.

In order to effectively assess the learning outcomes, Ms. Wang resorts to using specific verses, texts, or passages for students to read, understand, and pronounce in accordance with the rules learnt while splitting the songs into intonation and semantic patterns.

Such an approach to evaluating is congruent with the teaching techniques applied by a teacher and, therefore, students have easily understood the scope of the assignment.

Second approach Ms. Wang adheres to is an individualistic method of providing students with feedback on oral and writing comprehension.

It is important to use this method while assessing students’ progress because not all students can achieve similar level of progress while listening to the music and creating intonation patterns due to the different types of memory.

In order words, a teacher should identify students’ gaps to be fulfilled and focus on the strengths that each student has.

Visual Aids: Contribution and Approaches

In order to amply the effectiveness of the oral presentation, visual aids introduction is an inherent contribution to learning foreign language. In particular, using pictures, diagrams, and charts aids students to comprehend the material, increase their cultural awareness, enable interaction and communication and provide a relevant context for the language use.

In this respect, Ms. Wang makes use of Smart Board to grab students’ attention and demonstrate peculiarities of the language structure.

An interactive Smart Board encourages students greatly and help them activate their visual memory skills. Students seem to be very much interesting in using digital pens and studying specific information on their own board.

Besides, such technology provides students with more opportunities to research independently and learn new facts about Chinese culture. Finally, the software also integrate a true collaborative learning atmosphere into the classroom making lessons more engaging and captivating.

All interactive games introduced by Ms. Wang are based on the interaction between a student and a computer and between a student and a teacher. Applying to modern technologies, student can gain experience and skills in studying with the help of software, which is especially effective in the era of online technologies.

Importantly, such an approach also involves handwriting so that the teacher is able to see how well a student memorizes spelling of certain words and what problems they has in the majority of cases.

Specific Wonderings Related To Visual And Oral Literacy As Well As The Reading Process

Importance of visual and oral literacy development, best approaches for developing students’ visual and oral literacy in mandarin chinese class.

I believe it is quite smart and wise on the teacher’s part to engage technology and music into studying foreign languages because it greatly contributes to advancing students’ oral and writing literacy. To be more exact, teacher tries not only to evaluate the way new vocabulary is comprehended, but the way students are involved in the course of learning.

Ms. Wang asks students to introduce the songs that have been composed by themselves and research on the peculiarities of pronouncing particular words and sentences, and passages. Using beat and rhythm, it is important for her to teach students to pronounce words in accordance with the established beat.

Diversity of intonation patterns, as a rule, provides students with a wider range of options to practice their pronunciation and learn new techniques of memorizing the material.

Aside from music and intonation, Ms. Wang also initiates students in using technologies and applications to deepen our knowledge of learning foreign languages.

Electronic dictionaries enabling to listen to indigenous pronunciation, a number of pictures and situations attached to a particular vocabulary encourage students to learn faster and gain experience in speaking Mandarin Chinese.

Accessing Students’ Visual and Oral Literacy Skills while Studying Mandarin Chinese

Oral reporting can be a valuable contribution for student to organize, research, and delivering information to the audience. Besides, the visual aids that students provide for oral presentations also assist in promoting visual representation successfully.

Besides, using oral reports is a great activities can teachers can apply to while relating literacy skills to any subject area (Altieri, 2010, 154). Hence, students may be required to study the word etymology, or research on specific application of a word in different semantic and historical contexts.

In fact, teacher may assess not only the quality of the delivered information but the quality of presenting information to the audience. This mix will enable teacher to evaluate oral literacy from different perspectives.

In order to evaluate the writing literacy, teacher may ask student to resort to an inquiry-based approach to evaluate their critical thinking, decision-making, and problem solving skills. In this respect, the main task of the teacher lies in assessing the way students understand the actual process of inquiry.

When it comes to researching language, teacher should evaluate the quality of presented findings as well as techniques students use to present the material.

Course Readings

According to Lynn Bustle (2004), “it is almost ironic that, at a time when young people are becoming credible consumers of mass media and popular culture, curricular standards and pedagogical practices move further from real-life engagements with media to more traditional approaches to teaching and learning” (p. 417).

Interpreting this, it is crucial for students to know more about modes of the visual representation being a powerful tool for shaping their words. What is more important that the application of multiple sign system encourages event the least motivated students to re-evaluate their literate level of competences.

Referring to my particular cases, I am planning to further examine the integration of real-life experience into compiling visual aids, engagement into computer games and music while studying Mandarin Chinese. Such an approach will help me define the most effective ways to advance Mandarin literacy learning.

The concept of perception and visualization is another crucial moment that should be conceived by students if they want to effectively master the language. Anglin, Vaez, and Cunningham (2004) state, “pictures will be interpreted differently depending on the attitude taken by the eye of the beholder” (p. 866).

With respect to this, I consider it purposeful to move on with learning perception theories to understand how visualization and comprehension are connected as it can greatly enhance the learning outcomes for students studying Mandarin Chinese.

Besides visual representation of the material also helps to understand the connection between visual cognition and learning procedures, which are the foundational values for teachers and the main underpinnings for assessing students progress and development.

Collecting Information Techniques

Keeping an observation log and collecting students’ works and quiz.

In order to gather all relevant data and analyze theoretical frameworks within empirical context, I am planning to keep an observation log while studying the case. To be more exact, I will record in detail students’ classroom activities, including social interactions, games, their visual representations, as well as their attitude to the learning course in general.

The examination will be aimed at defining the correlation between the teaching approach and students’ language performance. In addition, in-depth records and notes taken will enable me understand the actual shifts occurred to students as well as additional method to be implemented to improve students’ performance.

Analysis of students’ works, quizzes, and final paper will provide me with necessary evidence about students’ progress as well as gaps that need to be fulfilled. Besides, the practical information will contribute to the existing findings and will help me explore the essence of perception theories, as presented above.

A careful consideration all working papers will also enable to track the quality of handwriting and made up statistics of the most frequently occurred grammatical, stylistic, and lexical mistakes.

Interviewing

Interviewing generates more accuracy in improving and advancing the teaching techniques. In this regard, I will resort to interviewing the teachers with the help of the questions.

In the course of the interview, I was surprised to find interesting concepts, ideas, and insights that I can further use to motivate students t learn more, to define their interests as well as problems that should be overcome.

I also found that Mr. Wang was more inclined to use a combination of visual and oral representation to strike the balance between training visual and oral perception of students. As far as I understood,

Students will also be interviewed for achieving objectivity of the research findings. The questions will also be aimed at defining the problems as well future perspectives for development. While posing questions to students, I have outlined several important assumptions.

First of all, students are more likely to memorize information when singing songs and humming particular rhythmic patterns because it is an excellent way to practice and improve pronunciation.

Second, the majority of students were exciting while using Smart Board to obtain information about the origins of works as well as semantic trees attributed to a particular morpheme.

Finally, students also testified that applying to visual and oral representation considerably simplifies the process of learning the material because it initiated them more deeply into the cultural aspects of Mandarin Chinese.

Challenges and Resources

Evidently, research findings based on the examination of students’ progress in one particular class cannot be objective and accurate enough because they refer to one class only and cannot be applied to other learning courses.

Therefore, I would like to find another class on learning the Mandarin Chinese language to outline similar perspective, compare different teaching methods, exam the main strengths and weakness of the selected class.

Nevertheless, the information I have gathered still greatly contributes to better understanding learning techniques that can be implemented and considered to developing more advanced approaches and building new teaching concepts.

As a future perspective, I will try to contact other school districts to find out available classes on Mandarin Chinese for me to research and define other perspectives for learning, teaching, and evaluating.

In whole, the potential resources for the project involve my classroom teachers, professors, students, parents, and school administrates who encourage me to investigate possible problems and strengths of the techniques used by Ms. Wang.

Despite the narrowness of the research, I have still to introduce innovative approaches to learning and I believe they are worth integrating them in other classes for studying languages.

In conclusion, I should admit that Ms. Wang’s unconventional approaches seems to be much more effective than ordinary drill and practice techniques because they are incredibly motivating and incentive providing. Indeed, students and me inclusively were deeply involved in listening to popular songs and humming known motives.

Such a technique contributes greatly to developing strong visual and aural memory with the help of integrated technologies and interactive computer games.

Beside language and literacy skills, the teacher has also managed to establish favorable communicational environment in the classroom and has encouraged students to effective socialize for sharing knowledge and experience.

The conducted interviews and gathered students’ papers also reinforced by belief about the effectiveness of the introduced approaches and, therefore, I am planning to further apply to those while teaching my students and while learning languages myself.

While examining these techniques with particular reference to the theories of visual representations, I was a bit disappointed because I had not met those approaches before addressing this classroom case study.

Besides, most of students engaged into this learning process have considerably facilitated their literate competency without challenging scaffolding because all lessons were more associated with games and adventures.

This exciting tripe fascinated me as well because I have found out much empirical data for correlating them with existing conceptual frameworks.

Reference List

Altieri, J. L. (2010). Literacy Math: Creative Connections in the Elementary Classroom. US: International Reading Association

Anglin, G. J., Vaez, H., and Cunningham, K. L. (2004). Visual Representations and Learning: The Role of Static and Animated Graphics. Visualization and Learning. 33, pp. 865-917.

Bustle, L. S. (2004). The Role of Visual Representation in the Assessment of Learning. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. pp. 416-423.

Tovani, C. (2004). Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?: Content Comprehension, grades, 6-12 . US: Stenhouse Publishing.

Zaraysky, S. (2009). Language is Music: 64 Fun and Easy Tips to Learn Foreign Languages Fast . US: Create Your World Books.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, May 6). Mandarin Chinese. https://ivypanda.com/essays/mandarin-chinese-essay/

"Mandarin Chinese." IvyPanda , 6 May 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/mandarin-chinese-essay/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Mandarin Chinese'. 6 May.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Mandarin Chinese." May 6, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/mandarin-chinese-essay/.

1. IvyPanda . "Mandarin Chinese." May 6, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/mandarin-chinese-essay/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Mandarin Chinese." May 6, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/mandarin-chinese-essay/.

• Students’ Motivation in Learning Mandarin Chinese
• Mandarin Chinese: History, Features, Structure
• Linguistic History about Mandarin
• Effect of Mandarin on spoken English
• Knowledge of Mandarin for Business People
• Optimality Theory Perspective on Beijing Mandarin Phonology
• Impact of the Mandarin Language Policy on Taiwanian Family-Based Language Practice
• Cantonese: A Distinct Chinese Dialect with Rich History and Unique Characteristics
• Mandarin: Standard Chinese Language
• Mandarin Oriental Hotel Case Study
• The Role of Contact between English and Arabic in Egypt
• Creative Ways of Teaching the Grammar
• Grammatical Paradox in English Language
• Bonds of an Individual’s Identity with Language
• Language Issues: Dialects, Terminology and Grammatical Variation

Level 1 (HSK 1+): Elementary Chinese

Level 1 unit 1 – story: my room in beijing.

 PRESENTATIONAL 

Describe Your Room in Chinese | Elementary Chinese Reading Story

Unit 1 Review 2 ▸  In this HSK 1 Elementary Chinese reading story, we will practice how to describe your room in Chinese. You will be able to say where your room is and discuss the size or it.  Listen to the story in the video lesson, answer questions and repeat after the story to practice speaking Chinese.

INSTRUCTIONS

• Listen to the story
• Repeat after the story
• Answer the given questions
• Copy the transcript both by typing and handwriting
• Practice daily until fluent

Do Practice →

Mǎkě 马可's is describing his room in Chinese.

• What country does 马可 live in?
• In what city does 马可 learn Chinese?
• How is his Chinese school and how are the teachers?
• Where is 马可’s room?
• What does he do in his room?

  Èrlíngyīqī nián liùyuè shíwǔ rì

Wǒ jiào Mǎkě, shì Měiguórén。

Wǒ bú zhù zài Měiguó, Wǒ zhù zài Zhóngguó。Wǒ zài Běijīng xuéxí Hànyǔ。

Zhè suǒ Hànyǔ xuéxiào hěndà, wǒde Hànyǔ lǎoshī hěnhǎo。

Wǒ zài Běijīng yǒu yíge fángjiān。Fángjiān búdà, hěnxiǎo。

Wǒ zài wǒde fángjiān hēchá、xuéxí。Wǒ hěn xǐhuan wǒde fángjiān。

  二零一七年六月十五日

我不住在美国，我住在中国。我在北京学习汉语。

这所汉语学校很大，我的汉语老师很好。

我在北京有一个房间。房间不大，很小。

我在我的房间喝茶、学习。我很喜欢我的房间。

  *The English translation is made to be literal for a better understanding of the Chinese sentence structures and language flow.

June 15 2017

My name is Mǎkě; am American.

I don't live in America; I live in China. I'm learning Chinese in Beijing.

This Chinese school (is) pretty big; my Chinese teacher (is) pretty good.

I have a room in Beijing. The room (is) not big; pretty small.

I drink tea and study in my room. I like my room a lot.

二零一七年六月十五日 我叫马克，是美国人。 我不住在美国; 我住在中国. 我在中国北京学习汉语。 这所汉语学校很大; 我的汉语老师很号。 我在北京有一个房间. 房间不大; 很小。 我在房间喝茶，学习. 我很喜欢我的房间。

二零二三年十月十六日 她叫关老师。她是北京人。她是住在美国的汉语老师。她在老师宿舍有一个房间。她在学校喜欢吃苹果。她在学校喜欢喝茶。她有二十个学生，她们都爱学习汉语。她学习英语法语。

马可住在中国。 他在北京学习汉语。 他的所汉语学校很大。 他的汉语老师很好。 他在北京有一个房间。 房间不大，很小。 他在他的房间喝茶，学习。 他很喜欢他的房间。

Typing Practice： 二零一七年六月十五日 我叫马可，是美国人。我不住在美国，我住在中国。我在北京学习汉语。这所汉语学校很大。我的汉语老师很好。我在北京有一个房间。房间不大，很小。我在我的房间喝茶，学习。我很喜欢我的房间。

吗可住在中国 她在北京学习汉语 他的学校很大， 她的老师很好 她的房间在北京 他喝茶，学习

二零一七年六月十五日 我叫马可，是美国人 。 我不住在美国，我住在中国。我在北京学习汉语 。 这所汉语学校很大，我的汉语老师很好。我在北京有一个房间。房间不大,很小。我在我的房间喝茶，学习。我很喜欢我的房间。

How is pronounced 零 ？”Ling” or “Liang”? Thank you Lili .

it’s pronounced Ling. Liang is this character 两。

Thank you Lili. I will go straight to the Tone Drills Course as you suggest. I have never come across half third tone.

Thank you again for these lessons. LiLi. I am sure you are going to say “Yes” to my question. But I just want to be sure. In the expression ‘Wo3 hen3 xi3 huan’ would the tones became ‘Wo2 Hen2 xi3 huan’ as happens when just two third tones follow each other? If so, the rule then is that no two 3rd tones can sit next to each other.

Hi Leonard, thanks for your question. I’m glad you noticed the micro differences among the Third Tones. You have good listening skills!

Have you checked out our Tone Drills Course ? Out of the 16 lessons, 5 of them are about the Third Tones.

When three Third Tones are together , there are basically two ways to pronounce the phrase, depending on the grammatical structure of the phrase. In the phrase 我很喜欢 wǒ hěn xǐhuan, 我 wǒ is pronounced in the Half Third Tone , 很 hěn turns into a Second Tone and then xǐ is also a Half Third Tone because it is not at the end of a sentence. When a Third Tone is at the end of a sentence, it is usually pronounced in a Full Original Third Tone.

Please check out the links, the videos have a lot of examples of phrases that have 2, 3 or even more Third Tones together.

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Survival Chinese – 99 Basic Chinese Words and Phrases for Total Beginners

Whether you are an aspiring beginner at Chinese , a seasoned traveler planning to visit China, or maybe you are looking for ways to connect with your Chinese-speaking friends , knowing the basic Chinese words and phrases can be incredibly useful. Of course, you also want to learn some survival Chinese if you work and live in China. Though you will meet some locals who can speak English, starting a conversation with them in their language will make a world of difference to your Chinese experience. 

Believe it or not, Mandarin Chinese starts out pretty easily . A few basic vocabulary words and sentence patterns will get you by in many situations. This is different from other languages such as French or German which require you to memorize chunks of grammatical technicalities – tenses, conjugations, cases, genders… before you can say even the simplest sentences.  

Whatever your reasons for learning Chinese are, we’ve got your back!

In this guide, we’re going to teach you some basic, real Chinese to help you survive in China or other Chinese-speaking countries. We chose 99 of the most essential, basic Chinese words and phrases  you’ll hear and use in daily situations and put them to a vocabulary list . We’ll take you through them one by one, telling you what they mean, how they are pronounced, when you can use them, and everything else you want to know about them. We’ll also give you 10 simple, cool Chinese phrases you can use instantly to make you sound like a native speaker already.

No doubt, knowing these basic Chinese words and phrases will help you be on the firm ground even if you’re just at the very beginning of your Chinese learning journey, but before we start in with the list, there is one thing that you should know and be aware of:

The Chinese “alphabet” is not the same as the English one (it’s phonetic though). If you’re completely new to Chinese, try familiarizing yourself with Pinyin first. Pinyin is the Mandarin romanization for pronunciation. The markings above the Pinyin indicate the tone. Pinyin will help you learn how to pronounce Chinese words properly and will make reading a lot easier.

All right! Let’s get started with our list! Trust me, these words and phrases will come in handy and give you all the right tools to interact with the locals.

Editor’s note:  before we dive in, if you’re looking for an online Chinese course for beginners, here’s the course we actually recommend:  YoyoChinese – a course taught in plain English.

Basic Greetings in Chinese

You can’t expect to start a Chinese conversation without knowing some words and phrases for greetings. Let’s start with the most basic ones.

1. Hello/Good day 你好

Pronunciation: Nǐhǎo

You may know this phrase already. “ni hao” literally means “you good”, and is used in the sense of “wishing you are good”. It’s the most basic way to greet people in Chinese (more often to strangers and nodding acquaintances than to people one is familiar with). It’s safe to use the phrase at any time of the day.

2. Hello (on the phone) 喂

Pronunciation: Wèi

Use this particular greeting instead of “ni hao” when you answer a phone call (but never use it in other situations).

3. How are you? 你好吗？

Pronunciation: Nǐ hǎo ma?

“ma” is kind of like a question marker in Chinese. If “ni hao” means “you good”, then “ni hao ma?” simply means “are you good?”. To keep the conversation going, you can use this basic Chinese question after greeting.

4. Very good 很好

Pronunciation: Hěn hǎo

You can respond with this basic phrase if someone says “ni hao ma?” to you.

5. Not so good 不太好  

Pronunciation: Bú tài hǎo

Having a rough day? Then “bu tai hao” it is!

6. Morning! 早！

Pronunciation: Zǎo!

Forget about “zaoshang hao”. A simple “zao” is the most natural way people greet each other in the morning in China.

7. Good night 晚安

Pronunciation: Wǎn’ān

Chinese people don’t say “good afternoon” or “good evening” as often as one would in English, so let’s jump straight to “good night” – “wan’an”. Use it at the end of the day when you leave someone for the last time or when you go to bed.

8. Goodbye  再见

Pronunciation: Zàijiàn

No polite conversation can end without a good old goodbye or “zaijian”. Another parting phrase you’ll frequently hear in Chinese would be 拜拜 (báibái), a loanword from English (bye-bye) popular among young people.

Here’s a recap of the basic Chinese words and phrases you should know to greet people and say goodbye in Chinese.

Basic Chinese Words & Phrases to Express Politeness

Chinese culture is built around politeness and courtesy. The basic words of politeness can go a long way. These Chinese phrases will surely come in handy during the conversation if you don’t want to offend anyone.

9. Thank you 谢谢

Pronunciation: Xièxie

If there’s a second word to know besides “ni hao”, this would be it.

10. You’re welcome 不客气

Pronunciation: Bú kèqi

Respond with this phrase when someone says “xiexie” to you. Alternatively, you can reply with 不用谢 (bú yòng xiè) – literally “no need to thank”.

11. Please (do sth) 请…  

Pronunciation: Qǐng…

You can add this in front of a request if you want to add an extra layer of politeness.

12. May I ask… 请问…

Pronunciation: Qǐng wèn…

If you need to grab someone’s attention to ask a question, such as asking for the restroom, directions, or a similar favor, start with “qing wen”, then follow it up with what you want to ask.

13. Excuse me 不好意思

Pronunciation: Bù hǎo yìsi

“bu hao yisi” literally means “embarrassed”, that is, one is embarrassed with a situation or for having caused the situation. It’s a casual way of saying “sorry” in Chinese when the situation doesn’t really warrant a “sorry”. You can use the phrase, for instance, if you bump into someone on a crowded subway or when you need to interrupt someone.

14. I’m sorry 对不起

Pronunciation: Duìbuqǐ

When apologizing for more serious inconveniences, you can use the phrase ”dui bu qi”. Hearing a foreigner attempt to apologize in your spoken tongue will add that extra layer of respect.

15. It doesn’t matter 没关系

Pronunciation: Méi guānxi

This is normally how you respond to an apology in Chinese.

16. No problem 没问题

Pronunciation: Méi wèntí

Everything works out fine? Then “mei wenti!”

Here’s a quick summary of the basic polite words and phrases in Chinese.

Survival Chinese Words & Phrases

If you want to survive your trip to China, you’ve got to learn a few more basic words beyond the initial greeting to get you by. So, here is a list of the survival Chinese words you need to memorize right away.

Pronunciation: Wǒ

It’s important to know some basic Chinese pronouns. If it’s your first time hearing these words, then you should familiarize yourself with them as soon as you can. 

Chinese doesn’t differentiate between the subject (doer of the action) and object (undergoer of the action), so you can use “wo” for both “I” and “me”, for instance, “wo shi…” (I am…), “shi wo” (it’s me).

Pronunciation: Nǐ

“ni” refers to the singular “you” in Chinese. If you are talking to more than one person, you can use “nimen”, the plural “you” instead.

19. He/She/It 他/她/它

Pronunciation: Tā

Fun fact: while “he”, “she”, and “it” are represented by different characters , they are pronounced exactly the same in Chinese. You’ll need to rely on the context to figure out whether someone is referring to the male “ta” or female “ta” during a conversation.

(An interesting phenomenon is that Chinese people, when speaking English, often use “he” instead of “she” or the other way around by mistake, because they’ve never had to pay attention to the phonetic difference in their own language.)

20. This 这个

Pronunciation: Zhè ge

21. That 那个

Pronunciation: Nà ge

To point things out in Chinese, you can use the above two basic words (known as demonstrative pronouns). Note that people in northern China often pronounce “nà ge” as “nèi gè”. (read more on  “nèi gè” )

Pronunciation: Shì de

Pronunciation: Bú shì

Technically, Chinese doesn’t have specific words that correspond directly to “yes” and “no” when used in isolation. To answer a question properly, even the simplest one, you need some basic knowledge of Chinese grammar. (read Chinese Grammar for Beginners here )

The good news is that you can get by just using “shi de” for “yes” and “bu shi” for “no”. They may not be strictly correct, and you may even find people giggling, but you’ll be understood in most situations.

24. Good/Okay 好的

Pronunciation: Hǎo de

Respond with “hao de” when you accept someone’s request, suggestion, invitation, or when they ask for a favor and you don’t mind helping. That way, you’ll sound friendly and adorable.

Just make sure you don’t use “hao de” to replace “shi de”. (if someone asks you if you are Mr. Johnson, answering with “okay” will sound silly)

25. Not Good/Not Okay 不好

Pronunciation: Bù hǎo

If you are not in the mood, simply answer with “bu hao”. As you can probably guess, “bu” is a negation word in Chinese that makes a statement negative. (read more here )

26. Maybe 有可能

Pronunciation: Yǒu kěnéng

You may also give an ambiguous answer by saying “you keneng” – literally “there’s a possibility”.

Pronunciation: Xiànzài

It’s necessary to know some basic time words in Chinese . Since there is no so-called “tense” in Chinese, people rely heavily on time words such as “now”, “yesterday”, and “tomorrow” to differentiate whether something happens in the present, past, or future.

28. Today 今天

Pronunciation: Jīntiān

29. Yesterday 昨天

Pronunciation: Zuótiān

30. Tomorrow 明天

Pronunciation: Míngtiān

31. Restroom/Toilet 厕所

Pronunciation: Cèsuǒ

There are several ways to say “restroom” in Chinese , among which “cesuo” is the most common one. If you have a problem memorizing the entire string of words to say “where is the restroom?” in Chinese, you can simply say “cesuo?” Most people will give you the same response anyway.

32. Help! 救命！

Pronunciation: Jiùmìng!

Hopefully, you won’t have to use this phrase, but it’s necessary to know in case of unknown emergencies.

Here’s a quick recap of the words and phrases you’ll need in your next Chinese survival situation.

Basic Chinese Numbers  

The  Chinese numbers , which belong to the Indo-Arabic-based decimal system, are not difficult to learn. Their construction follows rules that will allow you to memorize them easily.

Here are the basic Chinese numbers.

Pronunciation: Yī

Pronunciation: Èr

There are actually two words that correspond to the number “2” in Chinese: “èr” and “liǎng”, and they are used for different circumstances. ( find out when to use which here )

35. Three 三

Pronunciation: Sān

Pronunciation: Sì

Numerology plays a vital role in Chinese lives. Locals lay great emphasis on the use of numbers which, according to their culture, may be considered lucky or unlucky.

The number “4” is a dreaded number in Chinese superstition and a very unlucky number. This is because it is almost homophonous with the Chinese word “sǐ” which means “death”. Chinese avoid numbers “4” and “14” when they choose phone numbers, room numbers, or select dates of ceremonies.

Pronunciation: Wǔ

Pronunciation: Liù

39. Seven 七

Pronunciation: Qī

40. Eight 八

Pronunciation: Bā  

“8” is the most favored number in China. It’s associated with wealth, luck, success, and status.

Pronunciation: Jiǔ

Pronunciation: Shí

43. One hundred 一百

Pronunciation: Yì bǎi

44. One thousand 一千

Pronunciation: Yì qiān

Once you’ve mastered the basic numbers we listed above, you’ll instantly know how to say all the other numbers. All you need is some 1st grade math. ( here is how you do it )

Below is a quick rundown of the basic Chinese numbers we’ve just covered.

Simple Chinese Phrases for Small Talk  

Now, here are a few more simple Chinese words and phrases you’ll need to lead a conversation and keep it going.

45. Have you eaten? 吃了吗？

Pronunciation: Chī le ma?

Don’t be bewildered when locals ask you “have you eaten?” or “chi le ma?”. This is not a dinner invitation. Instead, it’s a traditional way of people greeting each other in China, which is quite common among the older generation (they love it!).

Quick note: To use this greeting, you need to have a certain degree of familiarity with the Chinese speaker, as it’s most often used between friends and neighbors. Saying this to strangers will leave them befuddled.

46. I’ve eaten 吃了

Pronunciation: Chī le

The phrase “chi le ma?” is usually just used to start a conversation (similar to how native English speakers might say “How’s it going?” or “What’s up?”), the speaker may not really care whether or not you’ve had your lunch or dinner.

But in case you encounter this question, you should know how to respond. There are two ways you can do it:

If you’ve eaten – “chi le”.

47. I haven’t eaten yet 还没吃

Pronunciation: Hái méi chī

And if you haven’t – “hai mei chi”.

48. And you? 你呢？

Pronunciation: Nǐ ne?

“ni ne?” is a simple and quick way to bounce back the question that you’ve just been asked in Chinese . This is equivalent to saying “and you?” or “what about you?” in English.

49. What’s your name? 你叫什么名字？

Pronunciation: Nǐ jiào shénme míngzì?

You can use this basic phrase to ask the name of the person you’re talking to in Chinese .

Just take note that in Chinese culture, only people having a close personal relationship address each other by their full name or first name . It’s okay to use the phrase to a kid, or when you are introduced to a friend of a friend, meeting peers at school, workplace, or a party, but don’t use it on formal occasions, to your client, people who are older than you, or senior in rank than you in an organization… ask their family name instead. ( here is how to do it )

50. My name is… 我叫…

Pronunciation: Wǒ jiào…

An appropriate self-introduction starting with your name is the first step for people to know you. There are several ways you can do it. “wo jiao…” is the easiest one. This phrase means “I’m called…” literally. (read here to learn other ways of introducing your name )

51. Where are you from? 你是哪里人？

Pronunciation: Nǐ shì nǎlǐ rén?

Chinese people are always keen to know where the foreigner they are interacting with is from, so you’ll hear this all the time. Literally, the phrase means “You are where person?”.

A common variation of this question is 你是哪国人？ (Nǐ shì nǎ guó rén?) – literally, “You are which country person?”.

52. I’m from… 我是…人

Pronunciation: Wǒ shì … rén

This is how you can start answering this type of question. Try to learn your country‘s name in Chinese and slip it in the middle of the sentence.

For example,

• 我是 意大利 人 。 Wǒ shì  Yìdàlì rén . I am from Italy.

53. Nice to meet/see you 很高兴见到你

Pronunciation: Hěn gāoxìng jiàn dào nǐ

What an important phrase to learn! You can use it the first time you meet someone as well as when you meet again.

Here’s a quick summary of the simple vocabulary you need for small talk in Chinese.

Basic Chinese Phrases & Sentences to Get around

Imagine that you’re in China. What should you say when you suddenly need to ask for help? Or if you want to buy something at a local market? In this case, It’s crucial to know basic Chinese phrases and sentences so that you’ll be able to get around or cope with problems once they crop up.

We’ll start with the most basic Chinese verbs: to want (要 yào), to go (去 qù), to have (有 yǒu), to like (喜欢 xǐhuan). Basic Chinese for travelers is based on these simple verbs. Once you master the following phrases, you’ll have a good foundation for creating Chinese sentences in different circumstances.

54. Do you want (sth)… 要不要…？

Pronunciation: Yào bu yào…?

Use the phrase to ask someone whether he/she wants something.

55. I want… 我要…

Pronunciation: Wǒ yào…

This is how you can start saying what you want in Chinese. Just add the right noun at the end. You may also use this phrase to order food and drinks in a restaurant or a street stand.

• 我要 这个。 Wǒ yào  zhè ge. I want (would like) this.

56. I don’t want (sth) 我不要…

Pronunciation: Wǒ bú yào…

This is how you say you don’t want something in Chinese.

57. I want to go to… 我要去…

Pronunciation: Wǒ yào qù…

Going somewhere? Then this phrase will come in handy when you talk to taxi drivers. Simply mention your destination at the end of the sentence.

58. Do you have (sth)… 有没有…？

Pronunciation: Yǒu méiyǒu…?

You can use this phrase to ask someone whether he/she has something. This is useful if you’re in a local market or restaurant looking for something particular.

59. I have (sth) 我有…

Pronunciation: Wǒ yǒu…

This is how you can say you have something in Chinese.

60. I don’t have (sth) 我没有…

Pronunciation: Wǒ méiyǒu…

This is how you can say you don’t have something in Chinese.

61. I like… 我喜欢…

Pronunciation: Wǒ xǐhuan…

62. I don’t like… 我不喜欢…

Pronunciation: Wǒ bù xǐhuan…

Use the basic expressions “wo xihuan…” and “wo bu xihuan” to talk about your likes and dislikes.  

63. What’s this? 这是什么？

Pronunciation: Zhè shì shénme?

You may see a lot of new things that you don’t even know what they are in China – food, signs, toys, instruments, whatever! This is the phrase to use to point and ask.

64. Where is…? …在哪儿？

Pronunciation: … zài nǎr?

You can navigate your way around China town or any place in China with this basic question. Simply say the name of the place you’re looking for at the beginning.

For instance,

• 厕所 在哪儿 ？ Cèsuǒ zài nǎr ? Where is the restroom? (Literally, “Restroom is where?”)

65. How do I get to…? …怎么去？

Pronunciation: … zěnme qù?

Another useful phrase to remember for asking for directions in Chinese.

66. At what time? 什么时候？

Pronunciation: Shénme shíhou?

You can use this phrase to ask “at what time?” or “when?”. If you want to ask “what time is it?”, say 现在几点？ (xiàn zài jǐ diǎn?)

Once you’ve got the basic numbers under your belt, it’s pretty simple to learn how to tell the time in Chinese . 

67. Very pretty 很漂亮

Pronunciation: Hěn piàoliang

Chinese people love it when you compliment their country, so feel free to stroke their egos a bit with this phrase. For instance, you can say to your tour guide “Shanghai hen piaoliang” while admiring the light show on the Bund. Of you may tell a lady you are trying to impress, “Ni hen piaoliang”. Disclaimer: We make no promises about the outcome.

Below is a summary of these useful phrases and sentences to get around in China.  

Basic Chinese Words & Phrases for Shopping

Stuff the following Chinese shopping vocabulary into your pocket to gain a new cultural experience when traveling in China. Whether you are shopping for souvenirs, clothes, or food, you’ll find these basic Chinese phrases useful.

68. How much is it? 多少钱 ？

Pronunciation: Duōshǎo qián?

Now that you can understand the basic numbers in Chinese, you can use this phrase to ask the price of something at a shop or a street market in China.

69. Too expensive! 太贵了！

Pronunciation: Tài guì le!

Souvenirs, clothes, shoes, accessories, electronics, fruit…almost anything is up for haggling at a Chinese market. You are encouraged to bargain because you are most likely given the tourist price first. Impress the vendors with “Tai gui le!”

70. Make it cheaper! 便宜一点！

Pronunciation: Piányi yì diǎn!

Combine this phrase with the one above and you’re well on your way to becoming a fluent haggler in Chinese!

Here’s a recap of basic Chinese shopping vocabulary.

Basic Chinese Words & Phrases for Restaurant Dining

Who doesn’t love to eat? Explore delicious Chinese food while in China – you won’t be sorry!

Before you head over to a Chinese restaurant, equip yourself with these basic words and phrases so you can order your meal like a native Chinese speaker!

71. Waiter/Waitress 服务员

Pronunciation: Fúwùyuán

The gender-neutral word “fuwuyuan” literally means “service staff”. It can refer to waiter/waitress, attendant, steward/stewardess, shop assistant, and professionals akin to those in Chinese. It’s socially acceptable to say the word loudly in a Chinese restaurant to get fuwuyuan’s attention.

72. Please bring me… 请给我…

Pronunciation: Qǐng gěi wǒ…

Ready to order? Then use this fundamental request. The phrase breaks down to “please” – “qing”, “bring” – “gei”, “me” – “wo”. Same as English!

73. Menu 菜单

Pronunciation: Càidān

Some Chinese restaurants might have English menus – 英文菜单 (Yīngwén càidān). You can always ask if they have one by combining this word with the phrase we’ve learned earlier – “you meiyou…?”:

• 有没有英文菜单？ Yǒu méiyǒu Yīngwén càidān? Do you have an English menu?

74. Water 水

Pronunciation: Shuǐ

Don’t be surprised if the waiter brings you tea, hot lemon water, or plain hot water when you ask for “shui”. It is a Chinese tradition to serve beverages hot for expelling humidity from the body. If you want iced water, say 冰水 (bīng shuǐ).

75. Chopsticks 筷子

Pronunciation: Kuàizi

When in China, do as the Chinese do…

76. Fork 叉子

Pronunciation: Chāzi

Not a fan of chopsticks? No problem. Ask for “chazi” – “fork”. Another word you may want to know is 刀 (dāo) – “knife”.

77. Tasty 很好吃

Pronunciation: Hěn hǎochī

The Chinese people pride themselves on food. If you are impressed by the food, you can use this phrase to praise the waiter, the chef at a restaurant, or the cook at a street stand.

78. Check, please 买单

Pronunciation: Mǎi dān

Try saying this at the end of your meal.

Below is a summary of the basic Chinese restaurant vocabulary we’ve just covered.

Basic Chinese Phrases for Understanding and Clarification

The best way to improve your Mandarin Chinese skills is to get out there and make contact with native speakers. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes in the early stages of your journey.

Even if you get stuck in a situation in which you don’t know what to say, don’t worry! We’ve got you covered! Use the following basic words and phrases to navigate your way around Chinese conversations. You won’t be at a loss for a response with these ready-to-go Chinese sentences.

79. Do you speak English? 你会说英文吗？

Pronunciation: Nǐ huì shuō Yīngwén ma?

If you feel like it’s time to switch to English, you’re free to clarify whether the person you’re talking to speaks English or not. Just say “Nǐ huì shuō Yīngwén ma?”, which is used for “do you speak English?”.

Bottom line: don’t expect people to speak English in China, although some do (e.g. in shops/markets for tourists). On a street level, you have a better shot with youngsters, as English is a subject vastly taught in school (their English might come out awkward and unintelligible though since most people don’t have opportunities to practice it…)

80. I don’t understand 听不懂

Pronunciation: Tīng bù dǒng

This is a good phrase to remember as you will likely need it.

Note that “ting bu dong” implies that you don’t understand a thing that the speaker says and therefore hope him/her to spare you from the conversation. You typically use this phrase to escape a confusing or uncomfortable situation.

If you actually want to get the conversation rolling, then use other phrases to encourage the speaker to repeat or explain it with simpler words. (learn what you should say instead here )

81. I don’t know 不知道

Pronunciation: Bù zhīdào

Another phrase you’ll likely hear or use. You can use it just like the way you use it in English.

82. I only speak a little Chinese 我只会说一点中文

Pronunciation: Wǒ zhǐ huì shuō yìdiǎn Zhōngwén

Don’t be shy to speak Chinese. It can be intimidating trying to flex your new Chinese muscles, but the locals will surely appreciate your efforts to speak their language!

83. What does…mean? …什么意思？

Pronunciation: … shénme yìsi?

If you’re an eager learner who’s willing to ask questions, this will be the best way to get indirect  Chinese lessons  with a native speaker.

84. How do you say… in Chinese? …中文怎么说？

Pronunciation: … Zhōngwén zěnme shuō?

Curious learners can also use this phrase to ask someone how to say a particular object in Chinese. Like anything, use this moderately since you don’t want to annoy the person you’re with!

85. Please speak more slowly 请说慢一点

Pronunciation: Qǐng shuō màn yìdiǎn

If the person you’re conversing with is speaking too fast, you can ask him/her to slow down a bit using this polite request.

Here’s a rundown of the Chinese phrases you can use when you are lost during a Chinese conversation.

Basic Chinese Phrases for Special Occasions

There are various phrases in Chinese used for special occasions. The following four basic phrases are perfect for you to get off on the right foot! Use them wisely.

86. I love you 我爱你

Pronunciation: Wǒ ài nǐ

This one goes without saying in just about any language, as you can imagine.

87. I miss you 我想你

Pronunciation: Wǒ xiǎng nǐ

Missing someone? Impress him/her with this phrase!

88. Happy birthday! 生日快乐！

Pronunciation: Shēngrì kuàilè!

Free free to use this phrase to express your wishes on your Chinese friend’s birthday.

89. Good luck! 祝你好运！

Pronunciation: Zhù nǐ hǎo yùn!

“zhu ni hao yun”, the basic expression of wishing someone luck in Chinese can be commonly used throughout the day in your interactions with local folks, so it’s a great Chinese phrase to pick up and stuff in your vocabulary pocket.

Here’s a chart for a quick summary.

10 Chinese Phrases to Sound Like a Local

So far, we’ve covered quite many basic Chinese words for you to get started, but let’s just look at a few more phrases that will add much more to your ability to wield the Chinese language authentically.

90. Long time no see! 好久不见！

Pronunciation: Hǎo jiǔ bú jiàn!

“hao jiu bu jian” is probably the origin of the widespread greeting “long time no see”. Use it with someone you haven’t seen for a long time and it’ll win you some major points.

91. Awesome! 棒极了！

Pronunciation: Bàng jí le!

Being able to express your amazement with words like “awesome” and “cool” can go a long way toward having more natural conversations with others in Chinese. Just like in English, there are multiple ways to express this idea in Chinese. The most commonly used phrase is “bang ji le!” – literally – “extremely great!”.

92. Not bad/It’s all right 还行

Pronunciation: Hái xíng

The phrase “hai xing” literally means “passable”, but it’s stronger in its positive connotation in Chinese than it is in English. Some similar expressions to this are 还可以 (hái kěyǐ) – “quite okay”, 不错 (bú cuò) – “not wrong”. Though they might sound funny in English, these phrases are used commonly in Chinese for encouragement and praise.

93. Really? 真的吗？

Pronunciation: Zhēn de ma?

If someone tells you something surprising, you can respond with “zhen de ma?”.

94. No way! 不会吧！

Pronunciation: Bú huì ba!

Use this phrase when you hear something unbelievable! It’s like saying “no way!” in English.

95. Oh my God! 天哪！

Pronunciation: Tiān na!

Most Chinese don’t believe in god because of the traditional values of beliefs in Confucianism (which is a belief in a practice and not a god). To express astonishment in Chinese, simply say “tian na!”. The phrase literally translates to “oh sky!” or “oh heaven!”.  

96. Wait a minute 等一下

Pronunciation: Děng yíxià

There are lots of ways you can tell someone to wait in Chinese, from the formal to the slang. The one phrase that you can use universally is “deng yi xia”.

97. I get it 知道了

Pronunciation: Zhīdào le

The Chinese phrase “zhidao le” appears often in casual conversations. You can use this to signify that you understand or realize something. For instance, when people are explaining something to you, you understand the information and there is no need for repetition, or you can exclaim “zhidao le!” to convey joyous pride when you master a tough concept.

98. Let’s go 我们走吧

Pronunciation: Wǒmen zǒu ba

Use this phrase to signify you’re ready to leave or to prompt your companions to get going.

99. See you soon 回头见

Pronunciation: Huí tóu jiàn

The expression “hui tou jian” is a friendly, casual way to say goodbye to someone in Chinese. Use this popular phrase to end a conversation if you expect to see the person again soon.

Let’s go over the 10 basic phrases you can use to sound truly Chinese with this chart.

Next Step – Start Learning Chinese

So now you have the right keywords to help you get started on your Mandarin Chinese journey. With these basic but highly useful phrases, you’ll soon find yourself having your first conversation with a native Chinese speaker.

We also recommend you combine what you learn in this article with our other free resources:

• The Most Common, Core Chinese Words (by frequency method)
• Basic Chinese Grammar for Beginners (everything you need to know)

The beginner’s trio will make “triple” sure you know all the words and phrases you’ll hear most often, all the words you want to say, and how to put together a complete Chinese sentence with them. You would be able to form a proper conversation naturally with this combination!

If you are serious about learning Chinese , we’d highly recommend that you start with a structured online course right away , rather than spending numerous hours on Google scouring the Internet for the “best” way to learn Chinese, or reading odd bits and pieces and trying to put them together on your own. (you’ll start optimistic, but then it’ll all get overwhelming and leave you feeling frustrated in the end). Our advice to you is simple: Just start, right now, today! Pick a structured program like YoyoChinese or ChineseFor.Us that has already proven to be effective. They’ll save you tons of time and keep you on the right track for success from day one! 加油 jiāyóu! (Go! Go! Go!)

Primary 1 Chinese – A simple guide

What does my child need to know for Primary 1 Chinese? Are they able to meet the expectations of their primary school?

If you want to help your child cope better in Primary 1 , working on Chinese sentences structure should be something that’s on your list.

Besides learning how to read hanyu pinyin and Chinese characters from their textbooks, it’s important for your P1 child to be able to use these words to express themselves in Chinese through simple sentences. They can learn how to write what they say in their conversations gradually, but they do need to get the sentence structure right.

Under the P1 Chinese syllabus , chinese sentence structures are taught through oral conversation practices in school. After going through these sentence building exercises, children will then start to learn how to write simple sentences.

What kind of Chinese sentences do they write in Primary 1?

At the Primary 1 level, your child will learn how to write a sentence for a given picture. This is also known as 看图写句 (kan tu xie ju).

Here are some of the common sentence structure that’s covered:

• （谁） + 要去（哪里） + （做什么）
• （哪里）+ 有 + （什么）+ 和 + （什么）

Knowing these sentence structure in Chinese will not only help them express their thoughts better, but give them the opportunity to use the vocabulary that they’ve learnt in their P1 Chinese textbook as well. The more Chinese characters they learn, the more room they have for creativity when it comes to forming these sentences.

Once they’ve mastered the basic Chinese sentence structures, composition writing in  Primary 2 is going to be much easier for them. This also sets the stage for learning more complex Chinese sentence structures as they progress through the other primary levels.

How will your child be graded for their sentence forming skills in Primary 1?

When it comes to grading, don’t fret, Primary 1 is all about practice.

As long as your child can write a simple complete sentence that is relevant to the given picture, they’re good.

Since many children are going through a transition from hanyu pinyin to Chinese characters in P1, the Chinese characters they they write don’t all have to be 100% accurate. It’s understandable if write a hanyu pinyin or two, teachers do give them some leeway for that.

For now, keep things simple. Just get your child to use basic Chinese words to bring their point across and leave the difficult words for later.

What sentence building exercises are there for Primary 1?

Here are some practice ideas that you can do with your child to help them write better sentences:

• Rearrange jumbled words to form a proper sentence (组词成句). This practice will help to increase your child’s sensitivity towards the right sentence structures.
• Play games that encourages them to expand on simple sentences (扩展句子). This is a fun way to help your child learn the art of elaboration.
• Complete a sentence (完成句子). Say part of a sentence and let your child complete it on their own. This trains your child’s creativity and logical thinking at the same time.

What’s next?

When your child has learnt the basics of writing Chinese sentences, they’re ready to move on to form paragraphs in Primary 2 !

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Mastering Transition Phrases In Chinese: #1 Easy Guide

Are you ready to take your  Chinese  skills to the next level? Well, you’ve come to the right place! In this easy-to-follow guide, we’ll explore the world of transition phrases in Chinese and discover how they can make your conversations smoother and more natural.

Transition phrases are like the secret sauce of language learning. They help you connect your thoughts, express yourself more clearly, and make your speech sound more native-like. Trust us, once you master these phrases, you’ll impress your Chinese-speaking friends in no time!

So, let’s dive in and start mastering those transition words and phrases together!

Why Learn Chinese Transition Phrases?

The Chinese language is beautiful, and to truly sound like a native speaker, you need to master the art of smooth transitions. These phrases are the glue that holds your sentences together, making your speech flow naturally and effortlessly.

Imagine you’re telling a story or presenting an argument. In English, you’d use words like “however,” “because,” “then,” and “meanwhile” to connect your thoughts. 

Chinese has its own set of transition phrases that serve the same purpose, and they’re crucial for  sounding fluent  and polished.

Now that we’ve established the importance of learning Chinese transitional words and phrases let’s dive into our guide and start mastering them!

Types Of Chinese Transition Phrases In Chinese

Let’s explore the different types of transitions you’ll encounter. Like in English, Chinese has several categories of transition phrases, each serving a specific purpose.

Here’s a quick rundown of the main types:

These  connecting words  help you add extra information or ideas. Think of them as the Chinese equivalent of “ and ,” “ also ,” or “ in addition .”

Time And Sequence

Use time and sequence transition phrases to describe when something happens or the order of events. They’re comparable to “first,” “then,” “next,” “finally,” and “meanwhile” in English.

Cause And Effect

When you want to explain why something happened or the result of an action, cause-and-effect phrases are your friends. They’re like because, so, therefore, and as a result in English.

Contrast And Comparison

Need to show a difference or contradiction between two ideas? That’s where contrast transition phrases come in! They’re similar to “but,” “however,” and “on the other hand,” in English.

Examples And Illustrations

Sometimes, you need to provide an example or illustration to support your point. That’s where these transition phrases come in, similar to,  for example ,  such as , and  for instance , in English.

Addition Transition Phrases In Chinese

Ready to start mastering Chinese addition transition phrases? Great! These phrases help you add extra information or ideas to your sentences, making your conversations richer and more engaging. Let’s look at some common addition phrases and how to use them in context.

And, Moreover – 而且 (Érqiě)

“而且” is a super versatile and useful transition word meaning “and” or “moreover.” You can use it to add extra information or emphasize a point.

• He can speak English, and he can even speak French.
• 他会说英语，而且还会说法语。
• Tā huì shuō yīngyǔ, érqiě hái huì shuō fǎyǔ.

Additionally, In Addition – 另外 (Lìngwài)

When introducing another point or fact, “另外” is your go-to phrase. It’s like saying “additionally” or “in addition” in English.

• I like eating fruits. Additionally, I also like drinking fruit juice.
• 我喜欢吃水果，另外我也喜欢喝果汁。
• Wǒ xǐhuān chī shuǐguǒ, lìngwài wǒ yě xǐhuān hē guǒzhī.

Also – 还有 (Háiyǒu)

“还有” is another handy addition transition phrase, and it’s similar to saying  also  or  and  in English.

• I like listening to music and also watching movies.
•  我喜欢听音乐，还有看电影。
•  Wǒ xǐhuān tīng yīnyuè, háiyǒu kàn diànyǐng.

Time And Sequence Transition Phrases In Chinese

Now let’s explore some common time and sequence transition phrases in Chinese. These phrases will help you chronologically talk about events and actions or describe how things change over time.

Let’s dive in and learn these essential phrases to make your Chinese conversations flow like a breeze!

After – 之后 (Zhī Hòu)

After you learn this phrase, you’ll be able to express what happens next!

• I’ll go watch a movie after I finish eating.
•  我吃完饭之后去看电影。
•  Wǒ chī wán fàn zhī hòu qù kàn diàn yǐng.

Then – 然后 (Rán Hòu)

Then what? Use this phrase to link two actions or events.

• I’ll take a shower first, then go to bed.
•  我先洗澡，然后去睡觉。
•  Wǒ xiān xǐ zǎo, rán hòu qù shuì jiào.

Before – 以前 (Yǐ Qián)

Turn back time with this phrase and talk about things that happened before.

• I lived in Beijing before.
•  我以前住在北京。
•  Wǒ yǐ qián zhù zài Běi jīng.

Finally – 最后 (Zuì Hòu)

Finally, we’ve reached the last phrase on the list! Use this to indicate the last event or action in a sequence.

• We visited many stores, and finally bought a pair of shoes.
•  我们逛了很多商店，最后买了一双鞋子。
•  Wǒ men guàng le hěn duō shāng diàn, zuì hòu mǎi le yī shuāng xié zi.

Cause and Effect Transition Phrases In Chinese

Now that you’ve got time and sequence transitions under your belt, let’s explore cause-and-effect transition phrases. These handy phrases will help you express the reasons behind actions and the following results.

Let’s check them out!

Because – 因为 (Yīn Wèi)

Because every action has a reason, this phrase is a must-know for explaining why something happens.

• Because it rained, we canceled the picnic.
•  因为下雨，所以我们取消了野餐。
•  Yīn wèi xià yǔ, suǒ yǐ wǒ men qǔ xiāo le yě cān.

So – 所以 (Suǒ Yǐ)

So what’s the result? Use this phrase to introduce the outcome or consequence of a situation.

• He was late, so he missed the train.
•  他迟到了，所以错过了火车。
•  Tā chí dào le, suǒ yǐ cuò guò le huǒ chē.

Due To – 由于 (Yóu Yú)

Due to its formal tone, this phrase is perfect for expressing cause and effect in more serious situations.

• Due to bad weather, the flight was canceled.
•  由于天气恶劣，航班被取消了。
•  Yóu yú tiān qì è liè, háng bān bèi qǔ xiāo le.

Contrast And Comparison Transition Phrases In Chinese

Now it’s time to learn some common contrast and comparison transition phrases in Chinese. These phrases are perfect for comparing and contrasting ideas, making your conversations flow smoothly like a gentle river.

So let’s dive right in!

But – 但是 (Dàn Shì)

Ah, the classic “but”! 但是 (dàn shì) is your go-to phrase when you want to express a contrast or contradiction between two ideas. It’s like a plot twist in a movie, keeping your listener on their toes!

• I like eating chocolate, but I don’t like eating candy.
•  我喜欢吃巧克力，但是我不喜欢吃糖果。
•  Wǒ xǐhuan chī qiǎokèlì, dànshì wǒ bù xǐhuan chī tángguǒ.

Although – 虽然 (Suī Rán)

This phrase is perfect for expressing a contrast between two ideas while also acknowledging a particular fact. Think of it as the “good cop, bad cop” of transition phrases!

• Although it rained today, we still went to the park.
•  虽然今天下雨，但是我们还是去公园了。
•  Suī rán jīntiān xià yǔ, dànshì wǒmen háishì qù gōngyuán le.

In Comparison – 相比之下 (Xiāng Bǐ Zhī Xià)

Need to weigh the pros and cons of two things? 相比之下 (xiāngbǐ zhī xià) is your trusty sidekick, helping you compare and contrast like a pro.

• In comparison, I prefer eating apples rather than bananas.
•  相比之下，我更喜欢吃苹果而不是香蕉。
•  Xiāngbǐ zhī xià, wǒ gèng xǐhuan chī píngguǒ ér bùshì xiāngjiāo.

Examples And Illustrations Transition Phrases In Chinese

Lastly, we’ll explore some common examples and illustrations of transition phrases in Chinese. These phrases will help you paint a vivid picture with your words, making your conversations as colorful as a rainbow. Let’s get started!

For Example – 例如 (Lì Rú)

Need to give an example to support your point? 例如 (lì rú) is your trusty friend, always ready to provide a helping hand when you need to illustrate your ideas.

• I like all kinds of fruits, for example, apples, bananas, and grapes.
•  我喜欢各种水果，例如苹果、香蕉和葡萄。
•  Wǒ xǐhuan gè zhǒng shuǐguǒ, lìrú píngguǒ, xiāngjiāo hé pútáo.

Such As – 比如说 (Bǐrú Shuō)

When you want to give a few examples to make your point, 比如说 (bǐrú shuō) is like a magician pulling examples out of a hat, making your conversations more engaging and convincing.

• I like to eat various snacks, such as potato chips, chocolate, and cookies.
•  我喜欢吃各种零食，比如说薯片、巧克力和饼干。
•  Wǒ xǐhuan chī gè zhǒng língshí, bǐrú shuō shǔpiàn, qiǎokèlì hé bǐnggān.

Your Gateway To Fluent Chinese Conversations

As we wrap up today’s lesson on mastering transition phrases in Chinese, remember the crucial role these phrases play in making your conversations flow smoothly and naturally. They’re the secret ingredient to truly connecting with native speakers and enhancing your language skills.

Make sure to practice and incorporate these phrases into your daily language use. It’s the most effective way to see improvement and boost your fluency.

Stay inspired, and remember that every step you take brings you closer to your language goals. Keep up the great work, and happy learning!

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With the Ling app, you’ll learn vocabulary and grammar and dive deep into the culture and nuances of your target language. Say goodbye to boring textbooks and hello to an exciting, immersive learning experience. Get ready to unlock your language potential with Ling – your ultimate language-learning companion!

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2 Responses

I’m no language expert, but I’m sure you don’t say Chinese. It’s either Mandarin or Cantonese.

Hi Kevin, thank you for your comment! Chinese includes Mandarin, Cantonese, and Taiwanese. Since Mandarin is spoken by the largest number of people, native speakers usually use “Chinese” to represent Mandarin. So it is ok to use “Chinese,” “Mandarin Chinese,” or “Mandarin.” Keep in mind that if you want to refer to Cantonese, the term “Cantonese” is the correct way, not “Chinese.”

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