FluentU

Review: Learning Chinese through video with FluentU

This week FluentU (who changed their name from Fluent Fix - which personally, I liked a bit more) announced that they now have over 300 videos available for Chinese study on their site. 308, at the moment actually, and more all the time. Congratulations to the FluentU team on all that hard work!

But what's FluentU anyway, you ask? In their own words:
"FluentU is a new way to learn Chinese through authentic vi…

Chinese Grammar Wiki

Chinese Grammar Wiki: Learning Chinese grammar just got easier

AllSet Learning, the Shanghai-based language learning consultancy founded by long-time China blogger John Pasden, has just released what is surely a boon for any mandarin learners who aspire to achieve better Chinese grammar -- the Chinese Grammar Wiki.

From the AllSet Blog: Web-savvy learners of Chinese have known for some time that there’s no single comprehensive grammar resource for Chinese grammar on the e…

Dashan (Mark Rowswell) hosting a live broadcast for China Central Television in November 2006

Mark Rowswell explains why foreigners hate Dashan

I find it unlikely that there could be a foreigner in China that doesn't know the name Dashan, and there's certainly no Canadians unaware of the mystical Big Mountain of Chinese. 大山 comparisons, jokes and CCTV9 Chinese lessons have been a formative staple over the course of my time in China.

This past November the following question was posted on Quora: Why do so many Chinese learners seem to hate Dashan (Mark Row…

Brendan O'Kane

Mandarin Monday: Popup Chinese’s Brendan O’Kane lays down some learning know-how

Our Mandarin Monday interview for this week is none other than well-known blogger, podcast host and translator, Brendan O'Kane.

One of the original founders of Paper Republic, Brendan is a host of the Mandarin Chinese language learning podcast Popup Chinese, and teaches a course in Chinese-English literary translation at IES Abroad Beijing.

He also (and far too infrequently!) blogs at bokane.org (English) and 在…

John Pasden

Mandarin Monday: Sinosplice’s John Pasden offers up some Chinese advice

For this week's Mandarin Monday, we've hit up the juggernaut of Chinese learning, John Pasden.

John surely doesn't need much introduction for anyone studying Chinese. In China for more than a decade, John's been mastering the language for most of that time, including securing a masters in applied linguistics in Shanghai. He pens the popular Sinosplice blog, oversees academic content and serves as host at ChinesePo…

David Flynn

Mandarin Monday: ChineseHacks’ David Flynn doles out some learning insight

Wha?! Mandarin Monday on a Wednesday? What the hell is going on. Yeah, I screwed up and totally forgot. Hopefully a bit of mid-week mandarin is just as good though.

For the third installment in our weekly Mandarin Monday series that discusses Chinese learning we've hit up David Flynn. Dave is originally from the UK, he's been living in Taiwan and learning Mandarin Chinese for the last five years. He founded and ru…

Kellen Parker

Mandarin Monday: Sinoglot’s Kellen Parker shares some tips on learning

What follows is the second in our weekly Mandarin Monday series, that discusses Chinese learning. The series will deliver advice through interviews with long-time Mandarin learners, sharing resources and discussing learning techniques.

This week we speak to Kellen Parker, co-founder of Sinoglot, an organisation of Chinese linguistics researchers. Kellen is an American linguistics researcher who's spent the last fe…

John Beisnecker

Mandarin Monday: ChinesePod’s John Biesnecker dishes up some language advice

This is the first in a new series of posts, called Mandarin Monday, that will discuss Chinese learning. The series will deliver advice through interviews with long-time Mandarin learners, sharing resources and discussing learning techniques.

Our first guest in the series is John Biesnecker. John is an American software developer who has been in China since 2003, and has been working on his Mandarin since 2001. He,…

请讲普通话 - Please Speak Mandarin

Understanding Chinese, easier from locals or expats?

In a recent post, the Atlantic's James Fallows talks about a song and video by a group of Harvard Chinese language students. The song, "Hāfó/Harvard Welcomes You! 哈佛歡迎你!", has the American students singing in Chinese, praising their studies and teachers in Chinese Bb - Elementary Modern Chinese.

Fallows draws a good comparison between the style of song and 北京欢迎你, the song that super-saturated every inch of China i…

The back and forth of time in Chinese

If, like myself, you've ever had trouble visualizing the concept of time in Chinese with its "behind day" and "ahead day" paradoxically meaning "the day after tomorrow" and "the day before yesterday" respectively; be sure to check out "Long Time No See", a recent post on Sinoglot.

We need, in terms of understanding the metaphor, to be a little more careful with before and after. Whilst we see time as moving towa…