I'm learning English now,so I've shared many useful daily expressions on my renren page(renren.com just like myspace.com or facebook.com), I think it may help you if I translate them into Chinese! :)

Here we go:…

I just read an article in The Atlantic:

What's the Best Language-Learning Technology Out There?

In the comments many readers suggested language learners watch TV shows (often dramas) to study the target foreign language.

Does anyone have suggestions on a good show to watch to study Chinese?

In…

There are a few bars in Shanghai that all have 'Windows' in the name. They tend to attract Westerners and along with Westerners, come concerns.  

 …

“菜鸟 cài niǎo” is a popular word. Interally, it seems like some kind of bird we can eat. However it means something like rookie or newbie.

Now I'm gonna tell the story behind "菜鸟"：…

Okay so that picture is most likely a Japanese Sumo and I realize that this is a Chinese Mandarin site but what the hell, I liked the picture.…

Yesterday I did my first face-to-face language exchange, swapping English for Mandarin. My partner was fun but my Mandarin was brutal. If you have ever heard a recording of your own voice & hated it, that's how it felt.



I found an exchange partner on italki. I…

A few characters to remember for those just starting out.

口 – kŏu - means mouth, for hopefully obvious reasons :) :0 :O 口 & smaller versions of that box are often associated with…

Unfortunately this 'how to' also involves female stereotypes but, eh, what can you do?  

This character 要 - has several different meanings but this is how I remember the more dominant use as a fourth tone, yào.  Generally it means…

I have been using italki to ask random questions about Mandarin and could not resist this one.  I heard on a chinesepod(cast) that calling someone 二百五 èr bǎi wǔ (250) means idiot.

They didn't explain the story but I got a few responses below.  My favorite was provided by…

I really want more variety of fun & informal greetings to say to my 中国人同事 zhōng guó rén tóng shì。(chinese colleagues).  I started saying 'What up' due to overuse on Futurama and want an equivalent.

 …

For those of you not in China 中国 zhōng guó, there's this "fun" system introduced where you can win small amounts of money by asking for official (see: tax accountable) receipts from restaurants and the like.

On these receipts, called 发票 fā piào, there's a scratch off area on the top.  99.9% of the time it's just…

Okay so this one isn't that complicated but it has proven to be pretty memorable. It's just what I first thought when looking at the characters.

"if - in the event that" - 如果 - rú guŏ

如

I 'read' this starting with the left…

Recently I was emailing with a Chinese friend and had to cancel plans because I was sick. I said:

我感冒

wŏ găn mào - i caught a cold

Her response:

可怜的家伙，好好休息吧

kĕ lián de jiā…

Occasionally I invent my own stories to remember Chinese characters (汉字).

经 验 - jīng yàn - (and can add a 的 de on the end to make experienced adjective).

Start with second character,…