I’m lucky to have done a fair bit of traveling in and around China. Twice now I’ve stayed the maximum length allowed on my tourist visa, and that’s not even …
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Chinese Pronunciation: It’s Not Just Tones
There you are: wandering through an unfamiliar Chinese town, lost and alone. It’s a scorching summer day. Your phone is out of battery. You’re staying at a nice hotel in …
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Who’s afraid of Chinese Tones?
For people that haven’t studied the language, rumors of the four Chinese tones are passed around like ghost stories at a campfire. “If you say one word wrong nobody will …
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Mandarin Vs Cantonese
If you’re from North America, you might be forgiven for thinking that Chinese can be divided into Mandarin vs Cantonese. Although there are quite a few more Chinese varieties to …
3 Min read
An American Saying Thank You in Chinese
Thank you is the first word I learn in any new language. It’s kind of a collection I have for myself; without consulting any notes I can come up with …
4 Min read
Just How Many Chinese Dialects Are There?
No matter where you are in your Chinese learning journey, you’ll definitely have noticed the huge variety of “dialects” that all fall under the term “Chinese.” This is a huge …
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Break it Down: Chinese Radicals for Beginners
Chinese is a language that has no alphabet, which can be daunting for the Chinese learner. Instead there are characters, over 50,000 of them. However, if you want to learn …
Learning Chinese Through Comprehensible Input
My name is Ryan Arp. As Steve Kaufmann recommends in his Youtube videos: words, words, and more words!
I originate from a small farming community in Iowa. During my time (I am 26 years old now) at the University of Iowa, I befriended lots of foreign Chinese undergraduate students; it was through them that I was introduced to Chinese culture and, of course, the Chinese language.
1 Min read