The Two Minutes It Takes To Read This Will Improve Your Spoken Chinese Forever
You’re busy so I’ll keep this quick. The following six tips will help you improve your spoken Chinese forever. 1. Lower...
10 North-Eastern Chinese dialect words you should know
What's an easy way to make your Chinese sound more authentic and current...? ....Drop a few regional dialect slang words into...
How (not) to inflate your social status in Chinese – 抬咖 (Tái kā)
The Chinese character - 咖 (kā) - is confusing. Depending on where it turns up, it can mean 'coffee', 'curry' or...
AI and China’s ‘stealing faces’ – 偷脸 (Tōu liǎn)
This week China celebrated World Consumer Day with its ‘3.15 Gala’ (3.15晚会) broadcast on CCTV. Some of the dodgy deals called...
Different ways to say: I’m not buying this – 不吃这一套 (bù chī zhè yī tào)
Patriotic products quoting Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi from the US-Alaska summit last week are now being sold by plucky entrepreneurs...
Different ways to offend and be offended in Chinese – 骂 (Mà)
There are many different ways to have a go at somebody, be offended or describe how angry you are in Chinese....
How to say “epic proportions” in Chinese – 史诗级 (Shǐshī jí)
This tongue-twister is how Intel’s self-inflicted brand ambassador disaster was described following a backlash from male followers, and then female followers,...
How to talk about sanctions in Chinese (制裁 – Zhìcái)
If you happen to be talking about sanctions (制裁 - Zhìcái) in Chinese this week, here are the essentials you’ll need: 制裁...
An idiom and two poems about hearing what hasn’t been said – 弦外之音 (xián wài zhī yīn)
I heard a speech recently that compared two poems, one in English by Shelley, one in Chinese by Liu Chenweng, to...
A Buddhist idiom about managing change 道高一尺 (Dào gāo yī chǐ)
Getting things done in China can be difficult. Someone in China once told me: "If you can get on in China,...