Chinese learners inevitably face the dilemma of Mandarin vs. Dialects. Mandarin Chinese is what you might call the “common tongue” of China. However, dialects abound in the middle kingdom, so Mandarin is meant to be a unifying language. The closest native dialect to “standard” Mandarin is in Shijiazhuang (capital of Hebei Province), and it isRead more

The “Shhhhh” Is Super Thick   The “sh-“ in Chinese naturally sounds much thicker than in English, because it is a “retroflex” pronunciation of Mandarin. That’s a complicated way of saying that you need to take your tongue and curl it back against the roof of your mouth. Some languages do this, but English does not.Read more

Just Don’t Over-Do It!   Studying Chinese learning theory helps you notice vital aspects of the spoken language around you, and that is the key, the noticing. Noticing a principle is not the same as consciously trying to apply it. If you succeed in noticing a 1st tone, you have taken a step towards producingRead more

Alright, everyone, the video below is IMPORTANT. Other foreigners we meet in China get these syllables wrong most frequently, so when it comes to priorities when practicing, well, you’ve found number one. “Zhi Chi Shi Ri” are called “retroflex consonants,” which some languages utilize, but English and many European languages do not. These are the firstRead more

Mistakes Are Good, They Give You A Chance To Learn Here is what you’re facing: You’re starting off learning Mandarin, you don’t know much about Chinese pronunciation yet, or perhaps you’ve just finished our Pronunciation Mastery course. Your voice sounds different in your own head than it does to other people, so how do youRead more

Pinyin (more colloquially known as the “Chinese alphabet”) has 21 consonant sounds, sometimes called “initials.” The initials “J, Q & X” are very important to master, because they require a tongue position not natural for speakers of most western languages. How to say Chinese letter J? How about Q & X? This video is aRead more

Know the Rules Before You Break the Rules   Standard Mandarin you learn in your studies (principle) are often different to what you later actually experience in the real world of Chinese (reality). We make our courses with this in mind. You may be asking “why would I learn something that doesn’t apply to theRead more

OH! 哦！LETTERS “O” & “U” ARE GREAT TO LEARN TOGETHER Mandarin Chinese letter “o” is not that common when used by itself, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important to master. Sure, when used by itself, about the only usage of any consequence is saying 哦 or 噢, both ò. They are effectively just exclamations.Read more

PEE? TEA? GLEE? OH, RIGHT, CHINESE LETTER YI! Ah, some relief from the rather challenging Chinese alphabet letter E. Chinese alphabet letter YI (“i”) is a LOT easier to say, but first a note on the spelling. What’s up with that “Y”? How do you pronounce it? Trick question, you don’t. “Y” is the letter theRead more

Chinese Letter E Part 1 – Such a Hungry Letter 饿 è Chinese letter E gives everyone trouble, us included. Good news though, it is only every pronounced this way when its a simple final. Even better than that, it’s only pronounced the way Luke describes in the video when it has tones 1-4! At leastRead more