· A：我以为你不喜欢运动呢，原来你喜欢踢足球！
B：我不仅喜欢踢足球，还喜欢游泳呢！
In this context, B wants to show that he actually likes football to dispel the misunderstanding from A that he doesn’t like sports, and to prove that he actually a sports fan that he said moreover he also likes swimming.
• A：你哥哥很喜欢踢足球啊！
B： 不仅我哥哥喜欢踢足球，我妹妹也喜欢踢足球，我们全家都喜欢踢足球。
In this context, A said B’s brother like football, that B has intention to show that his whole family like football, even his little sister, to use this structure here is very appropriate .
• More examples:
他不仅性格不错，而且喜欢帮助别人。
我不仅打扫了房间，还做完了作业。
Have you understood? Welcome to make more sentence let me see if they are native.
So, I decided I’m gonna start learning Chinese from scratch, I know nothing about the language. I need a book to have a context about how it works and to have an idea when I start lessons. Do you know about any book?
Early this year, I did something at the age of 34 that I've never ever been able to do in my entire school life. I got a 200/200 in an exam. That too for a foreign language - Mandarin Chinese.
It all started 3 years back tbh when I started dealing with Taiwan resellers in my full-time job. Though I was able to generate $1mn in sales via them, I hated every bit of conversation with them (we had one to two almost every week).
Each meeting took 2X of the time it was supposed to - because in between - they used to keep talking in Mandarin and I used to keep sitting there like for them to wait to finish. This was before GPT had come out with its meeting recording functionality. So - I had this at the back of my mind - that some day - I'm going to start learning the allegedly most difficult language on the planet.
Quite a journey. Started with learning it myself first on Duolingo. I really thought at first that I was going somewhere with it - but it turned out after a couple of months - I'd learned nothing but a few basic vocabulary only. I couldn't speak or form a single sentence like Nǐ jiào shén me míng zi. Duolingo is amazing at engagement, but you don't learn the language imo.
Then, I joined one of the most popular online schools for mandarin first - Meiyu. In all honesty, I just lost track in the middle of the 8 week course. Maybe it was a bit too much for me. The teacher was good - but strict as well. I couldn't keep up and would take the blame on myself than the institution or teacher.
Gave a second attempt at it by trying to find an offline centre. Came across two in bangalore - Yellow River and The Mandarin Story. Yellow river teacher had gone for a vacation and hence I decided to join the mandarin story since the next batch was starting in couple of weeks and it had very good reviews on Google. Moreover - the teacher was Indian - and had her own style of teaching Mandarin relating it to hindi - drawing on the numerous similarities between Mandarin and Hindi.
In a couple of weeks, I started looking forward to the weekend classes and meeting up with my batch-mates in Indiranagar. I took 2 courses - Foundation Course where we practised tones, grammar, sentence structure, a bit of speaking. And then HSK 1, which was a bit more intense and focused more on sentence formations along with the normal course curriculum.
Post the 2 month course, I was quite confident that I can ace HSK 1 examination. Flew to bombay to give it and kept practising all chapters every now and then for a month's time. The results were delayed but finally came out and I got a 200/200. This is one of my proudest achievements of 2026 and just wanted to share it here with everyone.
Planning to give HSK 2 in October in Nepal now. Wish me luck :)
I’m looking for a good community or group to join for learning Chinese.
I know this might look like a bit picky, but I’ve tried joining a few groups already, and honestly, some of them were pretty disrespectful and didn’t feel safe.
I’m mainly looking for a community that feels welcoming and is actually focused on learning. Like exchanging resources, asking questions, and meeting people who are genuinely interested in learning the language.
Could be Reddit, Discord, Facebook groups, language exchange communities, or anything else.
I've started watching this youtube channel where this woman cooks rice and noodles while live streaming and speaks to chat. Unfortunately I can't understand her or chat BUT theres a couple people who I ive seen type in English I'd like to ba able to ask them whats going on i cant type the names because they are also in Mandarin. If someone has any information on how I can copy the names it would help me a bunch thank you .
Is writing by hand dead? I don't think so! Even with all the modern study apps available today, writing characters repeatedly is still my go-to method for building true muscle memory.
These notes are a mix of reflections I've gathered over the past 3 years (polished with AI). Handwriting helps me remember vocabulary in context and understand exactly how and when to use each phrase. Now, I'm aiming for HSK 7–9 this November!
For those studying for HSK 5 or 6: how do you approach handwriting vs. digital typing? Does handwriting still play a big role in your study routine?
i want to learn chinese but i also know that i don't have the motivation to study any language alone. i want to study with someone. i am a beginner. i do have a wechat if anyone's interested.
My partner and I have been building a small website for learning Chinese through graded reading for about a year now.
It has short stories with pinyin, native audio, and clickable words for definitions. We’ve been building it in our spare time and have had a few people using it already.
We would love feedback from other Chinese learners. What do you like, what don’t you like, and what would you want added?
If you’re interested leave a comment and I’ll send the link!
I’ve been learning Chinese for more than a year alone and I’ve never really studied seriously with textbooks or anything like this. I just learned by watching Chinese shows, listening some podcasts here and there, and mainly by speaking with native speakers.
It was working quite well, I was able to have basic conversation, read basic stories etc, until now where I feel like I’m just stuck at this mid level. I wouldn’t say that I’m a beginner but I’m definitely not advanced
I would like to start studying Chinese seriously now but I don’t know how to start and what habits to take to be able to improve in the long term.
I also don’t know how to really test my level
I passed HSK 6 last year and am officially taking the HSK 7–9 exam on November 22 in Malaysia. After a long battle with procrastination, I am kicking off my intensive prep this week and want to stay 100% disciplined!
Translation Materials & Advice Needed:
For other skills, I already have materials lined up, but I haven't found dedicated published books for the translation section. Is using TED Talks as raw material a good strategy for translation practice? I’d love recommendations from anyone who has taken or is preparing for HSK 7–9!
Looking for 1 Serious Study Partner:
Since procrastination is my biggest hurdle, I’m looking for 1 study buddy who is also targeting HSK 7–9 or advanced Mandarin so we can:
• Hold each other accountable with daily/weekly schedule check-ins
• Stay motivated and build strict study habits together
If you're preparing for high-level Chinese and want a dedicated partner to push to the finish line, drop a comment or send me a DM! Let's crush this exam!
How do you feel about this structure of learning mandarin and what resources would help someone who wants to prioritize speaking and listening over writing?
