給所有講中文的朋友！我當時其實是邊看字幕邊唸的。

大家覺得聽起來有那個味道嗎？比較像哪個國家的腔調啊？

也歡迎大家隨時留言分享你們的想法喔，謝謝！

Here’s a short diary about my Tuesday morning, with some useful everyday Chinese expressions.

You’ll learn how to talk about your morning routine, breakfast, going to work, and the weather in Chinese.

If you’re learning Mandarin, try reading the Chinese first and see how much you can understand before checking the pinyin and English translation!

Chinese learners: How would you describe your own morning in Chinese?

This episode introduces the overall administrative divisions of China and provides an introduction to the Northeast region, along with good listening practice material in Chinese.

各位坛友大家好!

现分享一首爱情诗《别离》。欢迎大家在评论区交流指导！若蒙品阅鉴赏，非常感谢坛友们的赏阅支持！

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别 离 

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又是这样一个无奈的时分

轻轻的，吻烫你祈暖的红叶

你无雨的秋潭

藏不住那微怨的涟漪

 .

又一次沉重的捧着你

停在最真的距离

拂开你欲雨的阴霾

默读你心泉的秘密

 .

啊!盛不住的秋水漫溢

找不到一块坚实护堤

就是这样一个离风撩怀的怅晚

夏虫也知趣地静声入息

 .

今日走尽路

明日却遥期

心走浓夜月难稀

风掠雨下两依依

I have exam on 7 nov, paper based, this is last tine with 2.0 i want to pass to get my degree

Can someone share some tips?

I know 1 to 460 vocab, out of 600,

I nvr wrote any chinese chracter, just recognize and practiced

Your help will be appreciated

Thank you

Are there any apps for learning Chinese that don't treat me like a 7-year old, what with talking bears and owls teaching me and making grumpy faces when I get something wrong? Yes, I've been using Duolingo.

I switched to HelloChinese after a couple days because that comes highly recommended. I tried hard not to be overly annoyed by the elephant—at least it's less annoying than Duolingo's bear—and I was doing alright until after an exercise I got a pop-up asking me if I "wanted to pet the elephant". No kidding. I felt like uninstalling the app right away, but I figured let's postpone that for a bit while I solicit some advice on Reddit.

[Edit: I confused two apps in the above; the elephant is in Duocards, not in HelloChinese. Still, my general point remains the same, namely that various apps employ infantile mascots.]

Btw, apart from the elephant I also noticed that in at least two respects HelloChinese seems to work less well than Duolingo, namely (1) I don't think it has a level-assessment feature, so you have no choice but to start as a total novice—but do correct me if I'm wrong; and (2) it keeps on faulting my pronunciation of certain syllables when I'm absolutely sure I'm saying it right—native speakers and other apps understand me perfectly fine.

So, can anyone recommend some apps that don't look like they're designed for little children, and/or maybe help me fix or get around the shortcomings of HelloChinese that I just mentioned? Thanks.

I had GT translate

I learned a lot from our talk today.

It gave

我从今天的谈话中学到了很多。

My question is, what is 中 doing in this sentence? When I remove it and reverse-translate, it makes no difference.

Something I've noticed: learners pick up 讲究 pretty early, and almost never pick up 将就, even though they're the same two syllables a tone apart. I'm a native speaker and I only noticed this because 将就 is one of those words I use every day and have never once had to define.

jiǎngjiu (讲究) — to care about standards, to do something properly, to sweat the details. It also works as a noun: 这里面有讲究 = there's a right way to do this, there's technique behind it.

jiāngjiu (将就) — to make do. To accept something second-rate because fixing it isn't worth the trouble. 将就一下吧. 别将就.

Same syllables. One tone apart. And opposite directions: 讲究 is you raising the bar, 将就 is you lowering it.

What I find interesting is that speakers pair them constantly, as a compact way of describing how somebody lives:

该讲究的地方讲究，能将就的地方将就。

(care about the things worth caring about, make do with the rest)

生活不能将就。

(you shouldn't just make do with your life — this one has basically turned into a slogan, you see it on walls and in ads)

Two things learners usually get wrong:

First: 将就 is not 差不多. 差不多 is a judgment about degree, "about the same, close enough". 将就 is a decision to accept something worse. 这两个差不多 works. 这两个将就 does not.

Second: 将就 has a polite use that sounds like an insult if you read it literally. If you're hosting and say 今天就随便吃点，将就一下, you're being modest about your own cooking. You are not telling your guests the food is bad. Learners take it literally and then wonder why the host is apologizing over a table full of food.

English doesn't have the pair. It has particular, fastidious, meticulous on one side and make do, settle for, put up with on the other. Six words, no twin, and none of them carry that tone difference.

So: does your first language have a pair like this? Two words that sound nearly the same but sit on opposite ends of how much you care? And if you're learning Chinese, did anyone actually teach you 将就, or did you just pick it up by accident?

I did the trial for praktika, I was using it and it says you can say xyz and it actually said the Chinese, then Vietnamese and I miss you.. I took a screen recording of it, very disappointing. Obviously I didn't keep the trial.

I've done a lot of research on this and have concluded that there's basically no in-person options for high-level Chinese learners in the region. Closest I could find was level 6 at Chong Wa, but the material doesn't look that challenging and they only meet on weekends. The Taiwanese cultural association (forget the official name) also offers topic-based one-off classes, but again, those really seem to target intermediate students. There are actual advanced classes at UW but they're comparatively very expensive if you're not already enrolled. If there's an option I've missed, please share!!

Studying Chinese is a lifelong passion of mine, but it's depressing that once you hit a certain level, there's no real options for in-person learning anymore. Outside of travel to Asia, pursuing this hobby basically just becomes another thing you do alone in front of a screen. You can hire a tutor for 1:1 classes, but it still feels lonely. Language classes are so ripe for socialization and making friends and I'm sick of doing it alone :'(

If there are any fellow advanced Chinese-language learners who would like to take classes together, please comment below or DM me, and if there's enough, we can try to hire a tutor and make a class for ourselves. For leveling, I'm imagining old HSK levels 5/6, new HSK bands 4+, or TOCFL B1+. Ideally I'd like to keep it on the higher end, since lower levels already have options in the city.

(I also posted this in the Seattle sub)

I don’t necessarily need a full lyrical translation but more just a sense of what it’s trying to convey. Would also love similar song recs!

I got this in China. Can anyone tell me what the meaning of the written character?

你好

I could use some help. My brother is getting married, and my soon to be sister-in-law is from Wuhan. I am making their signature beverages sign. What would the translation of “signature beverages” be? I want to ensure the translation does not inherently imply alcohol, as her signature drink is actually just a glass of water. :) I don’t want to ask her directly because I want it to be a surprise.

特色饮品 ?

Thank you!! 谢谢

Learning the 4-stroke phonetic root **巴 (bā)** gives you an instant shortcut for reading and writing 5 high-frequency Mandarin characters across HSK 1–4:

1. **爸 (bà — 4th Tone, 8 strokes, HSK 1)**: **父 (fù — Father radical)** on top + **巴 (bā)** on bottom → *Dad / Father* (**爸爸** bàba)
2. **吧 (ba — Neutral Tone, 7 strokes, HSK 1)**: **口 (kǒu — Mouth radical)** on left + **巴 (bā)** on right → *Suggestion / Softening Particle* (**走吧** zǒu ba — "let's go!", **好吧** hǎo ba — "all right then")
3. **把 (bǎ — 3rd Tone, 7 strokes, HSK 2)**: **扌 (Hand radical)** on left + **巴 (bā)** on right → *To Hold / Grasp / Handle / 把-disposal structure* (**把手** bǎshǒu — handle, **把门关上** bǎ mén guān shàng — close the door)
4. **爬 (pá — 2nd Tone, 8 strokes, HSK 3)**: **爪 (zhuǎ — Claw/Hand)** on left + **巴 (bā)** on right → *To Climb / Crawl* (**爬山** pá shān — climb a mountain)
5. **疤 (bā — 1st Tone, 9 strokes, HSK 4)**: **疒 (nè — Sickness/Skin frame)** wrapping top-left + **巴 (bā)** inside → *Scar* (**伤疤** shāngbā — scar)

**Stroke order tip for 巴 (4 strokes)**: 1. Top-right horizontal-turn-vertical stroke (𠃍) 2. Short inner vertical stroke (丨) 3. Middle horizontal closing stroke (一) 4. Long sweeping vertical-curve-hook stroke (乚) wrapping from top-left all the way to the bottom-right hook!

One of the fastest ways to expand your Mandarin reading and writing vocabulary is grouping phonetic-semantic compounds (**形声字 xíngshēngzì**) by their shared sound root. Here is how the single 4-stroke root **方 (fāng)** unlocks 5 essential HSK characters:

• **方 (fāng — 1st Tone, 4 strokes, HSK 2)**: Base root meaning *Square / Direction / Place* (**地方** dìfang — place, **方向** fāngxiàng — direction, **方便** fāngbiàn — convenient)
• **房 (fáng — 2nd Tone, 8 strokes, HSK 2)**: Add **户 (hù — Door/Household)** on top → *House / Room* (**房间** fángjiān — room, **房子** fángzi — house)
• **放 (fàng — 4th Tone, 8 strokes, HSK 3)**: Add **攵 (pū — Action/Tap)** on the right → *To Put / Release / Let Go* (**放心** fàngxīn — rest assured, **放假** fàngjià — have a holiday)
• **访 (fǎng — 3rd Tone, 6 strokes, HSK 4)**: Add **讠 (yán — Speech/Words)** on the left → *To Visit / Interview* (**访问** fǎngwèn — visit, **采访** cǎifǎng — interview)
• **防 (fáng — 2nd Tone, 6 strokes, HSK 4)**: Add **阝 (fù — Mound/Wall)** on the left → *To Defend / Guard / Prevent* (**防止** fángzhǐ — prevent, **防水** fángshuǐ — waterproof)

Notice how the pronunciation stays **fang** across all 5 characters — only the tone and the semantic radical change! Also watch the stroke order of **方**: 1. top dot (丶), 2. horizontal stroke (一), 3. **right-side hook stroke (𠃌) first**, and 4. left-falling sweep (丿) last!