Hi all, have just seen these patterns of holes drilled into a wooden box in a former Uber Eats ghost kitchen in my neighbourhood. The groups up the top kinda look like Chinese characters, but I can’t read Chinese and Google Translate is coming up blank. Any ideas? Thank you!

this is my homework about introducing someone, pls correct if something wrong or if a hanzi is unreadable🙇🏻‍♀️ (Ignore the year inconsistency)

I am a native Mandarin speaker, I learned listening speaking and reading English, since probably the first memories I had as a child, I also travelled to US to study for a few years as an adult, and now I’m 27

I usually read English articles more than Chinese, but why sometimes I fully understand the written English but I cannot translate to mandarin to someone else, like when my friend asks what is this about, I read it and fully understand it, but if I try to translate to Chinese I get laggy and can’t fully turn the information 100% and can only convey like 80%, it’s like it’s hard to describe what it is saying in Chinese when I’m reading English.

Sometimes I feel like I can write or speak English in a more accessible way than mandarin, where some phrases or meaning I can understand , but fail to explain in mandarin, I seem to can’t find the right word for that specific thing I’m trying to convey and end up explaining like I’m telling a scenario or multiple sentences and use examples to explain and it gets tiring.

It’s frustrating for someone that has no English skill, asking me what this thing is about and I can understand it but fail to explain it properly in mandarin, then the person starts doubting my English skill.

I'm the adult version of the kid that used to sit in the library and read the dictionary for fun. I just like words.

Something I've noticed while learning Mandarin is that I am 50% more likely to remember a new character or word if I also read an explaination of the characters within it. I'm wondering if there is some kind of book, app or website that basically has characters and words, that also have the pinyin and a breakdown of the characters that make it up?

I know it might be a weird ask, but I'm in my 30s and finally learning how to learn, so I appreciate any direction I can be pointed in.

谢谢

edit: oh god I didn't even realise there were tabs for this in Pleco, thank you all!!

Learn the usage of 了

A few weeks ago I applied TOCFL home edition which they told me to search local hosts in my country but the next exam was full and the one after that is conflicting with my semester exam. I told them this in a reply but they haven’t replied for about a week now. Should I contact them again or what should I do?

Hello there! I have been studying Chinese for 9 months now (4 actively plus the rest of the time mostly practicing speaking with some Chinese friends) and I completed HSK 3 2.0. I feel quite confident with the vocabulary and the grammar, and I am not locked while speaking, listening remaining the hardest part. Until now I have been following a online pre recorded course which in my opinion was very well done, but followed the old HSK system (2.0). Rather than moving forward to HSK 4, I thought that for my interest (using Chinese for practical purposes, not for the exam), the new HSK 3.0 seems more useful. My plan was therefore to move to HSK 3.0 by catching up with the vocabulary and grammar I miss from the first three level of HSK 3.0 and then proceeding in the new system.

To practice the hanzi, I used my own decks in quizlet, and I am very confident with the words I know (both characters and pronunciation, around 800), but as the words start becoming more and more, I’d like to move to SRS using Anki (AnkiDroid, free version for Android, which seems to be working pretty well). Since my main goal now is to enrich my vocabulary, I wanted some recommendation on how to use it efficiently. I have downloaded the decks of the new HSK 3.0, and I can spend around 10 hours per week in my study (including all the parts, not only learning new words and practicing the characters). How many new words per day would you recommend to learn? Would you suggest simply setting the “new words” count in the premade decks and learn them daily, along with practicing the words I already know? For instance, something like 10 new words for the hsk2 deck, 5 new for the hsk3 deck (considering that I already have the old HSK 2.0 vocabulary up to HSK3, therefore there is a consistent overlap), and keep going until I complete HSK 3 3.0? And how many known characters to repeat daily (in total)? I am sure these numbers may be highly subjective, but considering my time budget and my level, does anyone more experienced have any tips to use Anki efficiently?

Concerning the listening, I am mostly using the stories from Mandarin Bean, though even in HSK2 level stories there are a lot of words of higher levels which I don’t know, which makes practising the listening a bit annoying and harder than (I guess) should be. I am still far from being able to watch a movie or listen to podcast in Chinese, even with subtitles, but recently I have also started putting Chinese subtitles while watching movies in my native language (Italian), which seems to be useful to improve reading faster. Any useful tips to efficiently improve the listing is welcome too!

Oh, and that’s my first post on Reddit ever, so thank you to whoever is going to spend some time reading and replying :)

Well, I decided to start learning Chinese, but I have no idea how to start. If you could give some advice to yourself in the beginning (things you would or wouldn't do), what advice would that be?

deepseek 今天崩了。DS jīn tiān bēng le. DS crashed today.

崩，山朋。朋péng，act as a partial phonetic component, for they share same finals, eng.

山shān，is the semantic, meaningful commponent. So bēng崩，originally means mountain collapse.

山崩is also euphemism for …… 😄 guess！

I'm learning HSK1/HSK2 and right now the ones that surprised me the most because of how often they are used are 上 and 下。

I am a Chinese language teacher, and I’m creating a series of slow Chinese podcasts about language learning and Chinese culture to help learners improve their listening skills.

In this very first episode, I will give a comprehensive overview of the Chinese language, highlighting both its challenges and the aspects that make it surprisingly easy to learn.

Hi!

I'm learning Chinese from scratch, and even though I've been at it for two weeks, I've only just started writing my first words. I'd like to know what you think—whether I'm doing it right or what you'd suggest I improve!

I used Noteful and a brush-style pen so you can see the direction of the strokes more clearly.

(I'm sorry if my writing comes across as offensive, incorrect, or anything like that; I want to learn the language because I'm fascinated by it!)

Thanks a lot!

I’m currently exploring high-quality Chinese graded reading materials, what are the best graded reading resources you've used or recommend? either physical book or apps/digital

I just picked these up because I love floral art, but would love to know what it says! I have no clue about Chinese characters, and figured this would be the place to ask. Thanks!

I'm from Shanghai. These days, I want to make a YouTube video channel about Chinese real life. The video is added with English, German, Spanish and other mainstream subtitles. I don't know if anyone is interested?

i went through chinese school as a kid and speak/listen pretty well, but not read/write as well in chinese. i would use my old textbooks but my mom gave them away. any advice?

For context, I went to a Chinese school growing up, and was given the given name of 雪婷 (not including my surname for privacy reasons). As I've grown older, I realised that I'm trans and changed my English name into something more masculine that I'm comfortable with. However, my Chinese name is still 雪婷, which has a distinctly feminine feel to it. I've been thinking of changing the 婷 character into something with a less feminine feel, while still keeping the 雪 character as a part of the name. I thought of 雪彦, as 彦 still keeps that tie to "elegance" that 婷 has without the feminine edge, but looking it up online is only giving me Japanese name results. Does 雪彦 work as a Chinese name, or does it sound unnatural in Chinese? And if 雪彦 doesn't work, does anyone jave suggestions for a name with a similar vibe/that uses 雪 in a non-feminine way?

Last night i randomly had a vivid dream where i was learning Chinese for some reason, and when i woke up i was disappointed. So today on my day off i opened my notes and started from square 1

Is that a W excuse to start a language?

also should i know anything important? im going in mostly blind

--這樣你可以嗎? --這個……好吧。

Is it weird to visit China?

People seem to think it is strange I went to a non western country for holiday.

One thing I deeply disagree with in traditional Chinese culture is the emphasis on endurance and yielding. There's even a saying that has been passed down for a thousand years:

• 忍一时风平浪静，退一步海阔天空
  • Literally: Endure for a moment, and the wind calms and the waves settle; take one step back, and the sea and sky open wide.

Fortunately, the younger generation of Chinese people aren't buying it anymore. When faced with toxic people or situations, they don't let anything slide. In fact, they've invented and borrowed a whole set of terms to call it out.

For example:

• 自恋型人格障碍 zì liàn xíng rén gé zhàng ài
  • Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Most people are more familiar with the abbreviation: NPD. It's originally a clinical psychology diagnostic term, characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, an intense need for admiration and validation, and a lack of empathy for others.

But in Chinese internet culture, it's widely used to call out people with similar traits encountered in everyday life: like an extremely arrogant boss who needs constant flattery, a romantic partner who lacks empathy and loves putting you down, or parents who always blame and manipulate you while never reflecting on themselves.

Strictly speaking, these applications don't meet the clinical diagnostic criteria, but because NPD is such a punchy and aggressive term, people have gotten used to using it on as a label. You'll see post titles like:

• 一个家族里只要有一个 NPD，就会拖垮所有人。Yí gè jiā zú lǐ zhǐ yào yǒu yí gè NPD, jiù huì tuō kuǎ suǒ yǒu rén.
  • All it takes is one NPD in a family to drag everyone else down.

Besides NPD, there's another personality disorder that has become popular in Chinese internet culture:

• 表演型人格障碍 biǎo yǎn xíng rén gé zhàng ài
  • Histrionic Personality Disorder / HPD

Interestingly, people aren't familiar with the English abbreviation HPD this time, they know the Chinese shorthand "表演型人格" instead. Maybe it's because "表演 (performance)" carries a more obviously negative connotation, cutting straight to the point: everything this person does isn't genuine, it's purely to grab attention.

For example:

• 同事里有一个表演型人格，每次项目复盘他都要抢功，怎么办？Tóng shì lǐ yǒu yí gè biǎo yǎn xíng rén gé, měi cì xiàng mù fù pán tā dōu yào qiǎng gōng, zěn me bàn?
  • There's someone at work with a histrionic personality, he always takes credit in every project debrief. What do I do?

These two diagnostic terms aren't just useful on their own, they've also given rise to a very popular vocabulary structure:

• xx 型人格 - the xx type personality

Based on this, young people have created all kinds of similar labels to identify toxic people and express their frustrations. Some typical ones:

• 白磷型人格 bái lín xíng rén gé - "white phosphorus personality"
  • Describes someone who ignites like white phosphorus, their emotions flare at the slightest trigger, randomly bursting into excitement or sudden rage
• 反驳型人格 fǎn bó xíng rén gé - "contrarian personality"
  • Someone who loves to argue and habitually nitpick, whatever you say, their instinct is to push back, even when logic and facts aren't on their side
• 确实型人格 què shí xíng rén gé - "'That's true' personality"
  • "确实" is a common word in spoken Chinese used to agree with someone. This type of person hides their real position and passively goes along with everything, just to avoid engaging

I've put together a matching quiz using real-life conversation scenarios, see if you can figure out which label each Person B corresponds to:

Scenario 1:

• A：今天一楼食堂的红烧排骨挺好吃的！Jīn tiān yī lóu shí táng de hóng shāo pái gǔ tǐng hǎo chī de!
  • The braised pork ribs at the first-floor canteen were really good today!
• B：哪里好吃了？明明三楼食堂的排骨才好吃。Nǎ lǐ hǎo chī le? Míng míng sān lóu shí táng de cái hǎo chī.
  • What do you mean good? The ribs in the third-floor canteen are obviously better.
• A：它们明明是同一个厨师做的……Tā men míng míng shì tóng yí gè chú shī zuò de......
  • They're literally made by the same chef...
• B：那咋了？三楼更干净，在那儿吃饭更香。Nà zǎ le? Sān lóu gèng gān jìng, zài nàr chī fàn gèng xiāng.
  • So what? The third floor is cleaner, the food tastes better up there.
• A：你说的有些道理，也许环境会影响菜的口味吧。Nǐ shuō de yǒu xiē dào lǐ, yě xǔ huán jìng huì yǐng xiǎng cài de kǒu wèi ba.
  • You have a point. Maybe the environment does affect how the food tastes.
• B：谁说的？菜的口味和环境好坏有什么关系？Shéi shuō de? Cài de kǒu wèi hé huán jìng hǎo huài yǒu shén me guān xi?
  • Who says so? What does the quality of the environment have to do with how the food tastes?

Scenario 2:

• A：听说了吗？这周五下午提前下班。Tīng shuō le ma? Zhè zhōu wǔ xià wǔ tí qián xià bān.
  • Have you heard? We're leaving early on Friday afternoon.
• B：太好了！你们都跟我去喝酒，不醉不归！Tài hǎo le! Nǐ men dōu gēn wǒ qù hē jiǔ, bú zuì bù guī!
  • Amazing! Everyone's coming out drinking with me, no one goes home sober!
• A：我已经有安排了……Wǒ yǐ jīng yǒu ān pái le......
  • I already have plans...
• B：你怎么回事？是不是不给我面子！Nǐ zěn me huí shì? Shì bu shì bù gěi wǒ miàn zi!
  • What's wrong with you? Are you trying to disrespect me!
• A：你别急啊，有话好好说。Nǐ bié jí a, yǒu huà hǎo hao shuō.
  • Calm down, let's talk this through.
• B：我怎么急了？你说清楚！Wǒ zěn me jí le? Nǐ shuō qīng chǔ!
  • Who's not calm? You'd better explain yourself!

Scenario 3:

• A：这几天加班好累啊，我快受不了了！Zhè jǐ tiān jiā bān hǎo lèi a, wǒ kuài shòu bu liǎo le!
  • I've been working overtime so much lately, I can barely take it!
• B：嗯，加班久了就是会很累。En, jiā bān jiǔ le jiù shì huì hěn lèi.
  • Yeah, working long hours does make you tired.
• A：还好马上要放长假了，能喘口气。Hái hǎo mǎ shàng yào fàng cháng jià le, néng chuǎn kǒu qì.
  • At least the long holiday is coming up, I can finally catch my breath.
• B：是啊，放假可以好好躺几天。Shì a, fàng jià kě yǐ hǎo hǎo tǎng jǐ tiān.
  • Right, you can just lie around for a few days during the break.
• A：但我很想去爬山，难得秋天不冷也不热。Dàn wǒ hěn xiǎng qù pá shān, nán dé qiū tiān bù lěng yě bú rè.
  • But I really want to go hiking, autumn is the perfect time, not too cold or hot.
• B：对，做做户外运动蛮好的。Duì, zuò zuò hù wài yùn dòng mán hǎo de.
  • Right, getting some outdoor exercise is pretty good.

Feel free to leave your answers in the comments!

Of course, being able to identify toxic people and refusing to put up with them is a good thing. But these labels can also be misused.

Everyone has personality flaws, and it's pretty unfair to turn every little quirk into a personality disorder. So learn these popular expressions, but please use them with care!

If you're interested, I've been organizing all the Chinese learning posts I've shared before. You can check out the link in my profile to see the full collection. Hope it helps. Thanks!

In Teresa Teng's famous song "The Moon Represents My Heart" ("月亮代表我的心"), she always pronounces 的 as "di". (Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv_cEeDlop0)

Standard Chinese says 的 is pronounced "de" when used to indicate possession or connect adjectives to nouns. However, I notice that a lot of older native Mandarin speakers say "di" consistently and confidently (such as in the song) as if it were not a mistake.

This makes me wonder if the "di" pronunciation was once considered standard in the past or if it indicates a particular regional accent.