Since starting to work my way through the Heisig method for remembering the Hanzi, I’ve been amazed at how easy it is to remember some seemingly complex characters and so it struck me as strange to realise that some of the easier characters are the ones I am having most difficult memorising.
Relatively speaking, we had a rather quiet Chinese New Year celebration here in North West London. Not a single firecracker was heard (although I did see mention of fireworks in West Hampstead on Twitter).
We spent the evening making 饺子 (jiǎozi) or dumplings, a traditional new year’s dish in the North of China. Making dumplings is [...]
Described as “WD40 for the human body,” it seems as if this magic potion can be used for just about anything. From curing mosquito bites to removing self adhesive labels, the list is endless.
You’ve probably all heard the saying “Jack of all trades, master of none” before, but if not, you probably have a good idea what it means. However, the following equivalent sayings in Chinese might require a little thought.
Mandarin (Simplified):
门门懂,样样瘟
mén méndǒng ,yàngyàng wēn
All trades known, all trades dull
Mandarin (Traditional):
樣樣通,樣樣鬆
yàngyàng tōng ,yàngyàng sōng
All trades known, all trades [...]
In my first ever guest post I attempt to recall how it was that I found myself learning Chinese.
I cannot remember the moment I decided to learn Chinese. It was not one of those decisive moments where I said to myself that I was going to learn a new language, it just kind of happened.
I [...]
I’ve recently discovered NeochaEDGE, a site which describes itself as “a daily-curated, bilingual website and discovery engine dedicated to showcasing leading-edge creative content and emerging youth culture in China.” I wouldn’t claim to be an avid follower of emerging youth culture, but I have discovered a couple of great music tracks on the site, the [...]
Without access to the full range CCTV channels I was missing out on a valuable source of real Chinese language to help me learn in my quest to learn the language. I’m sure I am not alone and so I’ve put together a quick guide to watching CCTV online on a Mac. These instructions should work on any operating system though.
