The idiom 刮目相看 (guā mù xiāng kàn), translated as “look at a person with new eyes,” originates from a description of Lü Meng(1), the outstanding general of the Wu state in the Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms.  The Epoch Times has a nice posting on this idiom at this link:

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The words 借 (jiè), 借给 (jiègěi) and 跟…借 (gēn…jiè) in Mandarin Chinese are all used to talk about borrowing and lending.  Whilst English has separate words for “to borrow” and “to lend” , Mandarin Chinese just has 借 to cover both senses of money ( or object ) flow.  Which one it means depends on how the sentence is structured.  A nice posting on this subject is at this link:

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In Chinese grammar, the preposition 在 (zài) can sometimes appear after the verb. This can be confusing for people learning Chinese, because in many prepositions like 在 come before the verb.  See the FluentU posting on this Mandarin Chinese Grammar point here:

       http://chinesegrammar.info/structure/zai4-after-the-verb/       

The word 给 (gěi) is often used in Mandarin Chinese as a preposition meaning “for” or “to”. In other words, 给 can be used to talk about doing something for someone or to someone. One way to do this is with so-called verb-给 compounds which simply means is a verb immediately followed by 给.  A fine posting of this topic is at this link:

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FluentU has posted 10 Basic Mandarin Chinese Grammar Points at this link:

    http://chinesegrammar.info/general/beginners-basic-chinese-grammar/     

Cao Cao was a warlord and the penultimate Chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power during its final years in ancient China. Although often portrayed as a cruel and merciless tyrant, he has also been praised as a brilliant ruler and military genius who treated his officers like his family.  CCTV has a multi-part documentary on Cao Cao at this link:

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朋友们，

我要学更多中文学习。 可是我的中文是坏了。（我笑 ：－））如果你想写下来在这里，请写下来。没有人会笑。我们都可以学更多的中文！ 我先自己写下来。 我喜欢看篮球的比赛在电视上。 我的最喜欢的水果是橙子。请写下来一点！

Furio Fu has written an article in English on the "Singles Market" of People Square, Shanghai on his web page here: 

http://www.saporedicina.com/english/the-singles-market-of-people-square-shanghai/      

Various expressions are used to convey similar idioms to the well known one in English "You can not have your cake and eat it too !".  In Mandarin it is " 又要马儿跑，又要马儿不吃草" ( Yòu yào mǎr pǎo, yòu yào mǎr bu chī cǎo.) – To want a horse that both runs fast and consumes no feed.

Or another Chinese Idiom from Mencius  "魚與熊掌不可兼得" ( Yú yǔ xióng zhǎng bùkě jiān de )  – You cannot have both the fish and the…

Christina at FluentU has written a nice article on Modern Chinese Weddings at this link:    http://chinese.fluentu.com/blog/2013/09/11/modern-chinese-wedding-customs/   

how it is said in chinese to give some credit to someone?

and how to say in chinese reman to someone a success?
thank you

I have been using Skritter for nearly six months. Overall I am very very satisfied with this App. 

Skritter 9/10 

The platforms for this…

Recently a folk song named 董小姐 (Miss. Dong) is popular with youngsters in China, for it's graceful melody and Light sad lyrics. 

Translation is for reference only

董小姐

你嘴角向下的时候很美

就像安和桥下清澈的水

you are beautiful when you are thinking

just like clean water under Anhe bridge* ( which  is an old bridge in Beijing ) 

董小姐

你才不是一个没有故事的女同学

爱上一匹野马

可我的家里没有草原

这让我感到绝望

董小姐

you aren't a simple girl without…

I am an American doing my Master's Degree at University of Leeds in the UK.  I'm doing my final research paper on What Inspires Chinese Cartoonists?  Where does their inspiration come from?  If you are a Chinese cartoonist or know one, can you help me out by answering this simple survey? http://t.cn/zQ4s7l6 THANK YOU!

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We all wish we could pick up the language just a little bit faster, right? It would be so fantastic to keep moving forward every single day.

Well, I struggled for quite a long time to find a good routine for how to study. With everything else in life coming in between it can be quite tough to find that continuous progress.

Now, around 1.5-2 years after I started I have some really solid good practices :-) Here are three ways that made me move forward…

大家好！我叫凯特琳 ；) 我是俄罗斯族，来自乌兹别克斯坦 :-) 我十七岁了。 我会说俄语，英语。 还会一点儿汉语 :-)

我学汉语学了已经一年了。 每个发现了我学中文的人都问我：〝为什么？〞。以前我的回答很简单： 只是喜欢 :-)

第一次我看到汉字感觉它很神奇。我很好奇，这个汉字怎么写，怎么发音。 从此我开始了学习这个语言。

然后学中文的时候 我认识了很多中国人们，看了好多关乎中国文化的书。。。 当时才发现了我已经爱上中国了。 :-)

现在我很想去中国上大学。 为了这个目的我需要通过汉语水平考试(第6级)。 我觉得很不容易。。。 但是我还有一年多时间学习！ 要是很努力地继续学就一定会实现我的梦想 :-) 加油！:-)

P.S. 我很希望在这儿我会交很多新的朋友们 :-)  我们一起学习，互相鼓励吧 :-)

I would say the best way is to find a language partner to practice language with you, since both partner and you have the same goal- to improve the language.  

I was new in U.S.A. three years ago. I spoke limited English, although I passed so called Chinese National English Test- Level 6 . I wanted to improve my spoken language. I did research online, and luckily, I found a local nonprofit organization can help me to find a language partner. He teaches me English, and I teach…

Learning Chinese is a lot about memorization and repetition. This actually seems to be a central component of Chinese culture. In the past, scholars would memorize the Confucian classics, actually memorize entire books. Students of calligraphy would write characters thousands of times, and the repetition is not just limited to language learning. In Chinese martial arts, students practice patterns of movements thousands of times, until movements seamlessly flow into each…

The blog site Learn Chinese Weekly by Lydia Lin has this week ( and last week ) posted very interesting articles on Chinese idioms that follow the AABB pattern…