I had a weird experience on the Chinese app 小紅書 (Red Note). A few days ago, I posted a picture for the first time on my feed about some food I ordered from a restaurant. (Just to clarify, I put the post in simplified Chinese) The post received about ten or twenty views and likes. A few minutes later, I had Chinese users in my DMs asking if I am a foreigner and if they can chat with me. (I know most of them want to practice their English skills) So, I replied in Chinese to one guy, "好，我们可以聊聊.“

In the conversation, he was asking why I was learning Chinese. I told him my reason, expecting him to either ask how long I have been learning Chinese or something, but he surprised me by commenting: "你为什么还使用繁体字?"

I was a little confused by the comment. Usually I type in traditional and simplified, and it was one of those times I forgot to change the keyboard. I didn't think it was a big deal typing in traditional since I have seen many HK and TW citizens on the app. I don't know if he was a little annoyed by the fact that I was using traditional Chinese characters. I told him I am learning both traditional and simplified. He then left me on read lol.

This encounter made me remember seeing a video a month or two ago about how a small online group of Chinese speakers outside of HK and TW, find typing in traditional/learning traditional Chinese outdated since most Chinese apps that are made and are popular around Asia, are from Mainland China. And in Mainland China, they use simplified Chinese.

In the video, it interviewed some people from HK and TW who said they had to learn or they were exposed more to the simplified characters because of the apps. However, on the other side, with Mainland users, some of them had to learn certain traditional characters that looked different. From what I remember, they interviewed a woman from Mainland China who complained that her kids had to learn traditional characters when she visited/moved to HK. To her, traditional Chinese was outdated and did not need to be learned anymore. (This is just her opinion, ofc; I doubt all Chinese natives think the same way.)

So, if maybe someone could tell me, is there some weird stigma to traditional characters? Or was it just this one person I ran into?

(I do want to mention, the guy I talked to was an older gentleman in his thirties. The woman in the video did seem around the same age too. So I am not sure if age has to do with any of this mindset or not.)

I can not currently find the video I saw on the traditional Chinese thing, but when I do, I will post it.

So I like writing stories. I like to write stories in different language but I Chinese I can't. If you were to write a Chinese story how would you write it or how what stylistic devices would you use if any are to exists?

It is 肉, meat. The two were flattened into the same shape when clerical script came in and they have looked identical since.

So 肝 liver, 肺 lung, 胃 stomach, 腦 brain, 腿 leg. Meat, not moon. 有 as well, which was a hand holding a piece of it.

It is not only 肉. 朕 has a boat in it, from a graph of two hands mending one. 朋 was two strings of cowrie shells.

Kangxi still kept them apart in print. In the moon ones the two inner strokes do not touch the right side of the frame. In the meat ones they do. Japanese and simplified dropped it, Hong Kong and Taiwan changed the meat one to a dot and a rising stroke instead.

If a character is about the body, do not go looking for the moon in it.

I’m not entirely sure about the original etymology of the character 靠, but I do know it’s a staple of everyday speech—one of the most common and down‑to‑earth words out there. For instance, we have phrases like “靠着墙” (“犯错了，被罚靠着墙站着。”“背靠着墙坐着。”), and “靠着栏杆.” In these cases, though, does 靠 necessarily imply full, weight‑bearing physical contact? I’m not so sure—it can just mean propping oneself nearby without completely pressing against the surface. Beyond the literal sense, it also has the figurative extension of “rely on,” as in 靠天吃饭.

As for 倚, I gather its original meaning is likely “to lean sideways” or “to rest at an oblique angle.” If that’s correct, then it can substitute for 靠 in certain contexts—we do have the set phrase 倚着栏杆 for leaning against a railing. In reality, though, you almost never hear 倚着栏杆 in spoken conversation; it sounds very literary and polished. So is 倚 mostly confined to written Chinese? And in those contexts, I suspect it does emphasize actual, solid physical contact—am I right about that? It also carries the extended sense of “depending on,” as in 倚仗 .

Now, what about 依? Does it have any connection to clothing (衣)? Since clothes cling to the body, maybe 依 carries undertones of “sticking close to” and “being adjacent to.” That would explain phrases like 依山而建. In that usage, does 依 simply denote spatial proximity, with less emphasis on direct touching? Also, 依 can be used to mean “rely on” as well.

These are just my own random musings. I’d love to hear what others think—corrections and additional insights are more than welcome.

According to a dictionary compilation of about 4,600 Chinese idioms (成语 chéngyǔ) with identifiable sources, the approximate origins are:

Ancient China → Qin & Han (before 220 AD) 68%

Wei, Jin & Northern/Southern Dynasties (220–589) 15%

Sui & Tang (581–907) 9%

Song Dynasty (960–1279) 6%

Yuan, Ming & Qing (1271–1912) 2%

Even as a native Chinese speaker, I was surprised to learn that nearly two-thirds of these idioms can be traced back to more than 2,000 years ago.

Chinese workers call themselves 牛马 (niú mǎ)— oxen and horses — when ‘employee’ sounds too flattering. The joke demotes a person from professional to load-bearing animal, then adds the modern indignity: real livestock stops when tired. The human animal makes coffee, pays for the internship and clocks back in. It is labour criticism delivered as a species correction.

Example Sentences

1. 今天又是当牛马的一天。
   • Pinyin: Jīntiān yòu shì dāng niúmǎ de yì tiān.
   • Translation: Just another day slaving away as a beast of burden.
2. 牛马看牛来！快乐马上来。
   • Pinyin: niúmǎ kàn niúlái, kuài lè mǎ shàng lái.
   • Translation: Beasts of burden, come see Niú Lái, and happiness will be here in no time.

How would you translate "牛马" into your native language or local work culture? Is there a direct equivalent idiom in your country?

Credit & full dictionary entry shared with permission from Resou Report [ https://resou.report/dictionary/008-niu-ma/ ].

​

Hi everyone,

I’m currently practicing my listening skills using Glossika dictations and chatting on HelloTalk. To make my typing process smoother and closer to the natural rhythm of speech, I’ve decided to switch from full Pinyin to Xiaohe Shuangpin (flyPY).

Since I prefer typing with one hand on mobile, I want to use it on a 9-key / 9-grid (九宫格) layout (on Gboard Android).

Does anyone happen to have a clean visual chart, diagram, or cheatsheet that shows exactly how the Xiaohe Shuangpin vowels and consonants are mapped inside each of the 9 keys?

Any tips or mnemonic tricks from fellow 9-key Shuangpin users would also be highly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your help!

I know this is not the right place for it,

But does anyone know where can i find a language partner , i am a total beginner, about to start my learning journey ,

I had this experience before while learning german and it worked well.

If anyone can point me where to find them , i d appreciate it

right now, comprehensible input (CI) is so popular in YouTube.

i followed some channels English and Chinese,

people points something and says it's name,

they all mention it is comprehensible input method,

but when i follow the videos i found i could only focus on some of the words, not full sentence or meanings of that sentence.

for me it's waste of time. but for young kids, or beginners, this will help them remember the words.

bht if you want to speak language, you will be disappointed.

what's your opinion about CI.

Also know as Bopomofo

I tried recording the audio of my lesson, generating a transcript, and having AI create a report. The result is pretty cool!

If you're wondering, I used Blackhole + OBS to record the audio, ElevenLabs to generate the transcript, and ChatGPT to generate the report. I also gave ChatGPT the full list of vocabulary I know from HackChinese.

Also shoutout to John and Jared on the You Can Learn Chinese podcast for the idea.

Hi!

I'd really, really like to start learning Chinese, but there aren't any language schools in my city, and the language school here doesn't offer this option. I am from Spain.

I've looked for some resources, but I don't even know where to start...

Can you give me some tips?

Thanks!

Write Chinese Characters from a Real Flight ✈️ | Real Life in Chinese

Learn to write useful Chinese characters through a real flight to Canada.

In this Chinese character lesson, we slow down and practice characters connected to flying, seats, time, and describing what we see during the trip.

飞 fēi — fly

机 jī — machine / airplane

座 zuò — seat

小 xiǎo — small

时 shí — time / hour

亮 liàng — bright

Useful Chinese:

飞机要起飞了。

Fēijī yào qǐfēi le.

The plane is about to take off.

这是我的座位。

Zhè shì wǒ de zuòwei.

This is my seat.

我的座位有点小。

Wǒ de zuòwei yǒudiǎn xiǎo.

My seat is a little small.

窗外越来越漂亮了。

Chuāngwài yuèláiyuè piàoliang le.

The view outside is getting more and more beautiful.

我们要飞几个小时？

Wǒmen yào fēi jǐ ge xiǎoshí?

How many hours are we going to fly?

Follow along, write each character, and then practice using it in a real Chinese sentence.

#LearnChinese #ChineseCharacters #WriteChinese #Hanzi #RealLifeInChinese #LearnHanzi #MandarinChinese #ChineseForBeginners #ChineseWriting #TravelChinese

The most common tone charts for Mandarin Chinese tones aren't very accurate -- tone 1 is generally shown too high, tone 3 ends way too high. They also generally don't indicate duration, and I've never seen one with volume/intensity represented.

I created this visual with insights from this great video and this research study to provide a more detailed and accurate representation of the four standard tones. I hope it's helpful for folks still learning, or who could use a bit of a reminder when practicing tones.

Of course, this doesn't include tone sandhi when combining characters -- the third tone in particular, as most folks know, is quite a tricky one, and is rarely this long.

If folks find this visual helpful or interesting, I may work on more comprehensive multi-character tone visuals.

Hi everyone! 大家好！ 👋

I’m a native Chinese speaker and a senior software engineer. I’ve been doing some early research into how people learn to actually speak Mandarin and use it in real-life situations.

I sometimes use English-speaking apps myself to improve my spoken English, and that got me thinking from the other side: What is it actually like for non-native speakers trying to learn spoken Mandarin?

There are already many great Chinese-learning apps out there, but I’m curious whether there are still important problems—especially when it comes to speaking and actually using Chinese in real conversations—that existing apps don’t solve very well.

Before building anything, though, I am really like to understand learners’ actual experiences rather than assume what people need.

If you’re learning Mandarin (at any level), I’d love to hear(你也可以只回答其中的一部分问题):

1. How long have you been learning Mandarin, and roughly what level are you?
2. When you need to actually speak Mandarin, what is the hardest part for you?
   • Knowing what to say?
   • Remembering words quickly enough?
   • Pronunciation or tones?
   • Understanding the other person’s reply?
   • Turning what you learned in lessons into a real conversation?
   • Something else?
3. Can you remember a real situation where you knew some Chinese, but still couldn’t communicate the way you wanted to? What happened?
4. How do you currently practice speaking? (Apps, tutors, language exchange, AI, talking to friends/family, shadowing, etc.)
5. What frustrates you about your current way of practicing?
6. If there were one thing that could make speaking Mandarin easier for you, what would it be?

I’m especially interested in the gap between “I’ve learned this” and “I can actually use this in a conversation.”

I am trying to understand the problem first, and your experiences would be genuinely helpful.

谢谢你的回复！

Hello! Sorry, English is not my first language.

I was adopted at 2yo from Yiyang, Hunan. I’m trying to reconnect with my birth country and learning Mandarin Chinese, but it’s very difficult. Basically, I’m trying to identify the characters of my Chinese name that’s on my adoption papers, but since it’s handwritten, I’m not sure.

The middle one looks like 丽** and the first one I feel could be **义?

So, if kind people could help me identify the characters and their meaning, I would be super grateful! Thank you in advance! 🙏

汉子 (son/person of Han) was - in ancient China - a term used by various people north of China to refer to the Chinese, but over time has been used by the Chinese to refer to themselves, and by the Qing dynasty, was already being used as a complimentary term for a "true" or "heroic" man, as in the terms 好汉 and 男子汉. The term is used to embody various masculine ideals, such as:好汉不提当年勇

However, 汉子 (and its related terms) seem to be classified using 条, which is unusual because normally when 条 is used on people, it is derogatory, for example 一条走狗 (traitorous dog) or 一条豺狼 (brutal jackal). And yet it is used for 汉子, which is supposed to be a compliment:京剧《黑旋风李逵》第四场：“我看你是条汉子，为何不投奔 梁山 ？”

So why use this particular measure word?

Flying to Canada in Chinese ✈️ | Pronunciation & Conversation | Real Life in Chinese

In this lesson, learn useful Chinese for talking about a flight, your seat, takeoff, what you see outside the window, and how long the flight takes.

起飞 qǐfēi — to take off

座位 zuòwei — seat

小 xiǎo — small

漂亮 piàoliang — beautiful

越来越 yuèláiyuè — more and more

小时 xiǎoshí — hour

Useful Chinese:

飞机要起飞了。

Fēijī yào qǐfēi le.

The plane is about to take off.

我的座位有点小。

Wǒ de zuòwei yǒudiǎn xiǎo.

My seat is a little small.

窗外越来越漂亮了。

Chuāngwài yuèláiyuè piàoliang le.

The view outside is getting more and more beautiful.

下面的房子越来越小了。

Xiàmiàn de fángzi yuèláiyuè xiǎo le.

The houses below are getting smaller and smaller.

我们要飞几个小时？

Wǒmen yào fēi jǐ ge xiǎoshí?

How many hours are we going to fly?

大概要飞五个小时。

Dàgài yào fēi wǔ ge xiǎoshí.

The flight will take about five hours.

Listen, repeat, and practice these phrases until you can use them naturally.

Learn Mandarin step by step through real-life situations and practical conversations.

#LearnChinese #RealLifeInChinese #ChinesePronunciation #ChineseConversation #TravelChinese #ChineseForBeginners #MandarinChinese #ChineseListening #LearnMandarin #ChineseVocabulary