The following tweet by John Pasden, of Sinosplice, caught my attention a week or so ago: If it’s not immediately apparent what it means then try saying “3Q” out loud, which in Chinese would be “三Q”. The pronunciation really isn’t … Continue reading
I wish I had this to hand when starting out learning Chinese, a Pinyin pronunciation soundboard that features all pronunciation combinations and for each tone! This is extremely useful if you’re just starting out or even want to brush up … Continue reading
The first few weeks or months of learning Chinese is inevitably spent studying a phonetic alphabet that will enable you to pronounce the new words you will be learning. This process isn’t easy and presents a barrier to entry to … Continue reading
Here is a great resource from the Taiwanese Information for Foreigners website. Conversation Class lists various social situations such as greeting people, shopping and renting an apartment and more, and within each section are the common phrases that you’ll need … Continue reading
A phenomenon that is usually associated with Chinese learners of English is that of becoming “mute English”, but is also a danger to learners of Chinese, too, is if speaking and pronunciation practice is overlooked. 啞巴英語（哑巴英语） Pinyin: yǎ bā yīng … Continue reading
Improving your pronunciation is an important goal when learning a language, and due to the reliance on tones this is even more so the case for Chinese, so obviously feedback is essential if you are to improve. The problem with … Continue reading
Pinyin Dictionary for Max OSX is a simple application that does one thing well – output the pinyin for any chinese character or phrase. Depending on your learning style or needs, you should be able to work this into your … Continue reading
