Chinese Summer Vocabulary Posted by Ayana on Jun 16, 2021
Astronomically, we still have a few days before summer will officially arrive on June 20. But it certainly feels like summer is already here – 夏天来了 (xià tiān lái le, summer is here). The phrase 夏天 (xià tiān) means summer. It ends with the noun 天 (tiān), as all of the Chinse four seasons end…
Expressing Your Emotions in Chinese Posted by sasha on Jun 7, 2021
Talking about your emotions (情绪 qíng xù) is an important and tricky part of learning a language. Some words translate well between languages, while others don’t at all. There are tons of English words for describing emotions that simply can’t be translated into Chinese, and it’s the same the other way around. In this post…
My Favorite Places in China Posted by sasha on May 25, 2021
For the past 15 months, travel has basically been on hold due to the pandemic. As people start to get vaccinated and countries announce their plans to open up, we can finally look forward to future travel again. I’ve had some of my best travel experiences ever in China, so today I’d like to share…
Rocking Out in China (Part Three) Posted by sasha on May 13, 2021
For the past few months, we’ve been taking a closer look at rock music in China. You can go back and check out Part One about Cui Jian and the sound known as Northwest Wind, as well as Part Two where we looked at Black Panther, Dreaming, and Tang Dynasty. Today we’ll continue into the…
How to Use the Chinese Character 比 (bǐ) Posted by Ayana on Apr 28, 2021
The character 比 (bǐ) is commonly used when making comparisons. The Chinese dictionary defines 比 as: 较量高低、长短、远近、好坏等 (jiào liàng gāo dī, cháng duǎn, yuan jìn, hǎo huài děng.) Which means to measure up against attributions such as height, length, distance, good or bad, etc. 比 can be translated as than, but its sentence structure is…
Chinese Weather Vocabulary Posted by sasha on Apr 22, 2021
When making small talk, one topic that always comes up is the weather (天气 tiān qì), whether you like it or not. If you can forgive me for that cheesy pun, I’ll teach you some useful Chinese weather vocabulary and phrases in this post. Seasons (季节 jì jié) winter (冬天 dōng tiān) spring (春天 chūn tiān)…
Chinese Time phrases Posted by Ayana on Apr 15, 2021
Time is the most valuable commodity. No one can create time, no one is able to buy more of it. It stands still for no one, and once it’s lost, it can never be replenished. Time is our most precious resource. We’ve already learned how to tell the time in Chinese, but talking about it…