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Chinese Language Quiz 2021 Posted by Ayana on Aug 23, 2021
Learning a second language, any language, is a journey. A journey of ups and downs, a journey in which you sometimes sprint and sometimes stand still. And although it sometimes feels like the destination is far, know that every step brings you forward. Today we will take a little break to summarize up what we…
Chinese Time Phrases: Part 2 Posted by Ayana on Aug 10, 2021
Talking about time is inevitable. Not only telling the time, but also parts of the day, order of events, speed of occurrences, etc. Here are 3 more time phrases to use in daily conversations. 一早 yì zǎo The short phrase 一早 consists of two basic Chinese characters: 一 (yī, one) and 早 (zǎo, morning)…
Chinese Vocabulary for Learning Languages Part 1 Posted by Ayana on Jul 27, 2021
According to the Ethnologue (published by SIL International), there are over 7,000 living languages worldwide: 现在全球有超过7,000种不同的语言。 Xiàn zài quán qiú yǒu chāo guò 7,000 zhǒng bù tóng de yǔyán. Nowadays, there are more than 7,000 different languages in the world. The Chinese word for language is 语言 (yǔ yán). It refers to any language. For example: 一个国家可能有几种地方语言。…
The Chinese Olympic Delegation Posted by Ayana on Jul 20, 2021
Last Wednesday, the Chinese Olympic delegation (中国奥运代表团 zhōng guó ào yùn dài biǎo tuán) for the Tokyo 2020 Games was gathered for a meeting in Beijing. The entrance of the General Administration of Sports of China, where the expedition meeting was held, was decorated with slogans. One of the slogans was: 拿道德的金牌， ná dào dé…
Chinese Summer Vocabulary: Part 2 Posted by Ayana on Jun 29, 2021
Summer is a great season (季节 jì jié). It’s a season of vacations, leisure, and entertainment. The warm weather and the light clothes fill people with energy; the shining sun and the long hours of daylight encourage people to be active. But, nothing is perfect. Even summer brings with it some inconvenience (麻烦 má fan)…
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…
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…