how to start an essay in chinese

Improve Chinese Essay Writing- A Complete How to Guide

• Last updated: June 6, 2019
• Learn Chinese

Writing can reflect a writer’s power of thought and language organization skills. It is critical to master Chinese writing  if you want to take your Chinese to the next level. How to write good Chinese essays? The following six steps will improve Chinese essay writing:

Before You Learn to Improve Chinese Essay Writing

Before you can write a good essay in Chinese, you must first be accustomed with Chinese characters. Unlike English letters, Chinese characters are hieroglyphs, and the individual strokes are different from each other. It is important to be comfortable with writing Chinese characters in order to write essays well in Chinese. Make sure to use Chinese essay writing format properly. After that, you will be ready to improve Chinese essay writing.

Increase Your Chinese Words Vocabulary

With approximately 100,000 words in the Chinese language, you will need to learn several thousand words just to know the most common words used. It is essential to learn as many Chinese words as possible if you wish to be a good writer. How can you enlarge your vocabulary? Try to accumulate words by reading daily and monthly. Memory is also very necessary for expanding vocabulary. We should form a good habit of exercising and reciting as more as we can so that to enlarge vocabulary. Remember to use what you have learned when you write in Chinese so that you will continually be progressing in your language-learning efforts.

Acquire Grammar,Sentence Patterns and Function Words

In order to hone your Chinese writing skills , you must learn the grammar and sentence patterns. Grammar involves words, phrases, and the structure of the sentences you form. There are two different categories of Chinese words: functional and lexical. Chinese phrases can be categorized as subject-predicate phrases (SP), verb-object phrases (VO), and co-ordinate phrases (CO). Regarding sentence structure, each Chinese sentence includes predicate, object, subject, and adverbial attributes. In addition, function words play an important role in Chinese semantic understanding, so try to master the Chinese conjunction, such as conjunction、Adverbs、Preposition as much as you can. If you wish to become proficient at writing in Chinese, you must study all of the aspects of grammar mentioned in this section.

Keep a Diary Regularly to Note Down Chinese Words,Chinese Letters

Another thing that will aid you in becoming a better writer is keeping a journal in Chinese. Even if you are not interested in expanding your writing skills, you will find that it is beneficial for many day-to-day tasks, such as completing work reports or composing an email. Journaling on a regular basis will help you form the habit of writing, which will make it feel less like a chore. You may enjoy expressing yourself in various ways by writing; for instance, you might write poetry in your journal. On a more practical side of things, you might prefer to simply use your journal as a way to purposely build your vocabulary .

Persistence in Reading Everyday

In addition to expanding your view of the world and yourself, reading can help you improve your writing. Reading allows you to learn by example; if you read Chinese daily, you will find that it is easier to write in Chinese because you have a greater scope of what you can do with the vocabulary that you’ve learned. Choose one favorite Chinese reading , Read it for an hour or 2,000 words or so in length each day.

Whenever you come across words or phrases in your reading that you don’t understand, take the time to check them in your dictionary and solidify your understanding of them. In your notebook, write the new word or phrase and create an example sentence using that new addition to your vocabulary. If you are unsure how to use it in a sentence, you can simply copy the sample sentence in your dictionary.

Reviewing the new vocabulary word is a good way to improve your memory of it; do this often to become familiar with these new words. The content of reading can be very broad. It can be from novels, or newspapers, and it can be about subjects like economics or psychology. Remember you should read about things you are interested in. After a certain period of accumulation by reading, you will greatly improve your Chinese writing.

Do Essay Writing Exercise on a Variety of Subjects

As the saying goes, “practice makes perfect.” In order to improve your China Essay Writing , you should engage in a variety of writing exercises. For beginners, you should start with basic topics such as your favorite hobby, future plans, favorite vacation spot, or any other topic that you can write about without difficulty.

For example :《我的一天》( Wǒ de yì tiān, my whole day’s life  ),《我喜欢的食物》( Wǒ xǐhuan de shíwù, my favorite food  ),《一次难忘的旅行》( yí cì nánwàng de lǚxíng, an unforgettable trip  ) etc.

Generally the writing topics can be classified into these categories: a recount of an incident,a description of something/someone, a letter, formulate your own opinion on an issue based on some quote or picture etc.

Takeaway to Improve Chinese Essay Writing

Keep an excel spreadsheet of 口语(Kǒuyǔ, spoken Chinese) –书面语(Shūmiànyǔ, written Chinese) pairs and quotes of sentences that you like. You should also be marking up books and articles that you read looking for new ways of expressing ideas. Using Chinese-Chinese dictionaries is really good for learning how to describe things in Chinese.

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How do native speakers structure their essays?

When analyzing Chinese speeches or essays, I often have difficulty understanding how their the authors organized their ideas.

In North America, for example, a common template for writing an essay is the five-paragraph essay . This organizes the paragraphs and the sentences within each paragraph. Most English-language writing in academia follows a somewhat similar structure to this.

Do Chinese follow any particular structures when planning speeches or essays? Are there any ancient scholars who heavily influenced this structure?

• whoa, nice question. i really hope someone can dig up some information about this. –  magnetar Commented Dec 25, 2011 at 21:13
• 1 You might want to provide some examples. It might be that the authors really didn't follow any specific structures, either because they are very good at their job, or because they are utterly incompetent. –  Wang Dingwei Commented Dec 30, 2014 at 0:58
• 1 I have never seen a five-paragraph essay in English-speaking media. It's more like training wheels for high school writers. –  K Man Commented Nov 16, 2019 at 13:31
• very helpful, i really liked it. thank you. you helped me a lot on my essay –  verynicepost Commented Feb 22, 2021 at 13:21

2 Answers 2

The Chinese have a device called 起承转合 . First you start (起) narrating on some topic. Then you continue (承) to develop the topic with added material. Then you turn (转) the narrative, either by seeking different aspects, or creating conflicts and resolving them. Finally you conclude (合) the topic.

Often it goes like this:

It also work in poems and songs. Here is a modern example, a song by by 张玮玮, titled 《织毛衣》

This idea has its classic roots, so we can see it being used in classical poems as well. For example, 《登高》 by 杜甫, my all time favorite:

It's rather akin to the Hollywood three-act structure , where you plan the plot, develop the plot, reach the climax, then draw the happy ending.

Note that it's just one of the common devices that could be used on any type of writing. As for scientific theses, I think most of them try to follow western standards.

• also interesting to consider possible influence of 八股文 /时文 on this kind of organization... –  Master Sparkles Commented Dec 29, 2014 at 22:00
• @MasterSparkles Yeah how can we forget 八股文 ? Though it's almost certainly dead, it did have served its time. –  Wang Dingwei Commented Dec 30, 2014 at 0:23
• yup, it has a largely deserved bad rep, but it's hard to imagine that baguwen training didn't strongly influence late Qing reformers' ideas about what to replace the form with. The Wikipedia article weirdly fails to mention Dr Benjamin Elman's "A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China" - late chapters of which detail baguwen's downfall. I don't know if anyone has gone back and studied if/how that influence played out regarding teaching Chinese composition. –  Master Sparkles Commented Dec 30, 2014 at 1:02

In university I had to write quite a few essays in Chinese, they follow the same basic structure of introduction, point 1, point 2, point... conculusion.

I have also spent time correcting thesis and academic writing and it's pretty much identical to in the West.

One point about learning to write better in Chinese that my wife taught me; don't get hung up on how to write something properly in Chinese. Thing about exactly what you want to say in your native tongue (English etc.) and then think about how to translate that into Chinese rather than going for the tricky approach of trying to get your point across in Chinese.

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How to Write a Good Chinese Essay

Posted by Lilian Li 18661

For any kind of language, the essay is the most difficult thing to do in the exam. Generally speaking, writing articles is just to tell a story, after you make the story clear, the article also is finished. But it also different with speaking. A good article is like a art, is worth for people to appreciate, to taste. But how to accomplish such a good art? I think the most important thing is the three points: attitude, subject matter, emotional.

A good beginning is half done. For writing, material selection and design are not the start. The most important thing still is to adjust their mentality as well. When you decided to write, then dedicated yourself to write, not half-hearted, and your thinking nature won't be upset. Once the train of thought was interrupted, your speed will be slow and the point will be word count. So how can you write down a interesting article with a good quality? All in all, attitude is can decide the success or failure of the articles.

Subject is the biggest problem in our writing. It is from life, but not all people can observe life, experience life. The only point is to write the true things, maybe not so tortuous plots, but can write a really life. Moreover, when you get the subject, there are some tips for students to pay attention:

1. Make the topic request clear: The article should around the topic, pay attention to the demand of genre and number of words, some restrictive conditions and avoid distracting, digression.

2. Determine the center, choose the right material. To conform to the fact that a typical, novel, so it’s easy to attract the attention of people.

3. Make a good outline, determine the general, write enough words.

4. Sentence writing smooth, there is no wrong character, no wrong grammar in article.

Emotion, it is very important. If we compared an article to be a human. So emotion is his soul. Man is not vegetation, when they meet something, there must be personal thoughts and feelings. Sometimes it also tend to have their own original ideas. If you can put your own thoughts, feelings and insights into the article, then this article will be very individual.

Chinese essay is not just meaning some simple Chinese characters and make a simple sentences, it needs the Chinese grammar and sentence structure, if you don't familiar with Chinese grammar, you can learn our Chinese grammar course .

At last, adhere to write diary at ordinary times, it can practicing writing. Try to read some good articles, good words and good paragraphs with a good beginning and end. Learn to accumulate and draw lessons from them.

If you are interested in our Chinese grammar course, you can try our one online free trial , you will enjoy it.

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The Guide to Writing Your First Mandarin Essay

When you want to be able to make writing your first Mandarin essay nice and easy, it pays to put plenty of thought and effort into the preparation. As the old saying goes ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail.’ To give you plenty of food for thought we’ve put together everything you need to know to get things moving. All you need to do is work through the following steps, and you’ll be submitting your essay in no time at all.

Check you understand the basics

There are so many things you have to think about when writing an essay, particularly when it’s not in your native language. But as with any cognitively demanding task, the process for getting started is always the same. Check you understand the following basics and you’ll be heading in the right direction:

• Do you know what the question means?
• Have you made a note of the final submission date?
• Make sure you read some past examples to get a feel for what’s expected of you
• Do you understand the question that has been set?
• Do you know who you can talk to if you need advice along the way?
• Are there any restrictions on the dialect you should be aware of?

Once you can write the answers to the above down on a single side of the paper, you are ready to tackle the main part of the problem: putting pen to paper.

Set aside time to write

The chances are that you’re not going to be able to pen the entire essay in a single sitting, and that’s okay. It’s nothing to be ashamed of or to worry about, and it’s natural that you need to work across multiple days when writing your first essay.

If you want to be able to make great progress, the most important thing is sticking to a routine. You need to have consistency in your application, and you need to be able to know when you are at your most productive. It’s no good staying up late one night and then carrying on early the next morning. You’d be far better off writing for the same amount of time but on two successive afternoons. Think about how your studies fit in with the rest of your daily life, and then choose the time that seems most appropriate. If you box it off and decide it’s only for writing, you’ll be in a great routine before you even know it.

Clear space so you can focus

As well as having time to write each day, you need a place to write too. The world is full of distractions (most of them are digital and social) so that means you’re going to want to keep yourself to yourself, and your phone in a different room. It might seem a little boring or uncomfortable at first, but you need to practice the habit of deep work. It’s what will allow you to create the most in the shortest time — ideal if you want to have plenty of time leftover to spend doing the other things that matter to you.

Have a daily word count in mind

Telling yourself that you want to write an essay today is one thing, but if you’re really going to push yourself to stick to your goal then you need to get quantitative. If you have a word count in mind that you need to hit, then it will prevent you from giving up and throwing in the towel the minute you start having to think and concentrate more than feels normal. Just like working out in the gym, it’s the temporary moments of extra effort that really drive the big differences. It’s when you’ll see the biggest improvement in your writing ability, and the lessons you teach yourself will stay with you for years to come. Ideal if you want to become a fluent Mandarin writer, as well as an engaging face-to-face speaker.

Read widely to provide context

When you’re immersed in an essay it can be all too easy to become blinkered and fail to pay attention to everything else that’s going on around you. Of course, you want to be focused on the task at hand, but you don’t want to be single-minded to the point of ignoring other great learning resources that are just a click away.

Reading widely is one of the best ways to improve your essay writing because it exposes you to techniques and approaches used by the best of the best. You’re not expected to be able to instantly write like a native speaker after an hour of reading. But what you will be able to do with consistent application is build up confidence and familiarity with written Mandarin. Over time this will reflect on the quality and depth of your writing as you gradually improve and take onboard lessons you’ve learned.

Take a break before you proofread

Last but not least, you need to remember that essay writing is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s all about taking the time to get things written before you hand them in, not racing through to try and finish on time. If you want to get the most out of your writing you need to take a day off between finishing your draft and proofing it. That way your brain will have had plenty of time to reflect on the work you’ve produced, and you’ll be able to spot many more little mistakes and places for improvement than you would if you proofed right away.

Final Thoughts

Writing Mandarin is a challenging task that will test your language skills and make you think hard about how to apply what you’ve learned so far. It might be slow going to begin with, but that’s great as it means you’re pushing your limits and building on your existing skills. If you want to be able to master Mandarin, you need to persevere and stay the course. Once you do, you’ll start to improve a lot faster than you expect.

By Diana Adjadj | A Super Chineasian

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How to Become a Rockstar Chinese Writer

The importance of learning Chinese writing

Nowadays more and more people are beginning to   learn Chinese. For the most part, they are only focusing on learning how to speak Chinese. But concerning using this language, they also need to learn Chinese writing. Writing can reflect a writer’s power of thought and language organization skills. It is critical to master Chinese writing if you want to take your Chinese to the next level.

How to write good Chinese essays? The following five steps will improve your Chinese writing.

Become familiar with the Chinese Character Writing

In order to write a good Chinese essay, a fundamental step is to be familiar with Chinese characters. Chinese characters are different when you compare them to English letters. Chinese characters are hieroglyphs and   each stroke of a Chinese character is different from the next stroke. Familiarity of Chinese character writing is indispensable for anyone who wants to write nice Chinese essays.

Increase Your Vocabulary

The Chinese language includes 100,000 vocabulary words. If you want to just know the most used words you still need to learn several thousand words. A good writer needs to acquire as many words as possible. How can you enlarge your vocabulary? The best method is to listen, read and learn as much Chinese as possible. Don’t forget to apply what you have learned to your Chinese writing so that you can make continual progress.

Acquire Grammar and Sentence Patterns

Chinese grammar and   sentence patterns need to be acquired in order to improve your Chinese writing. Generally speaking, grammar consists of words, phrases and sentence structure. In terms of single words, Chinese words can be classified as lexical and functional words. In terms of phrases, Chinese phrases can be divided into CO (co-ordinate phrases), SP (subject-predicate phrases), and VO (verb-object phrases). In terms of sentence patterns, a Chinese sentence includes subject, predicate, object, adverbial, attribute and complementary. All of the above grammar points are necessary to study if you want to learn how to write in Chinese.

Persistence in Reading Everyday

Reading can broaden one’s horizon, and it can aid their writing. Reading everyday is a great way to help people learn how to have good Chinese writing ability. The content of reading can be very broad. It can be from novels, or newspapers, and it can be about subjects like economics or psychology. Remember you should read about things you are interested in. After a certain period of accumulation by reading, you will greatly improve your Chinese writing.

Do Writing Exercise on a Variety of Subjects

Practice makes perfect. Apply this proverb in Chinese writing. You need to do a lot of writing exercises to make your Chinese writing excellent. It has been suggested to begin with simple subjects, like personal hobbies, future dreams or anything else that can be understood easily. Students with more experience can write about more complicated topics like economics, politics and society. You should consider all these aspects, because doing writing exercise on a variety of subjects can help improve a person’s writing ability.

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should add some pictures to make it interesting!

Hi Deynika. Thanks for your advice, we will try to add some interesting pictures in our posts.

I love chinese writing and it is a lot interesting. Can you send a list of chinese words to improve vocabulary? Thanks

You can check out our blog, it introduces many interesting words, slang and useful expressions. In addition, we offer many video lessons to help you improve vocabulary. Hope it will help.

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Grammar , Vocabulary

Useful Chinese Essay Phrases  

  July 8, 2020

By   Ellen

Nowadays, many international students have decided to study abroad, and China has become a highly popular destination. In universities, essay writing is a basic skill and the “Academic Writing” lectures are always attracting many students to attend.

Here we have summarized some “all-purpose” phrases and sentences which hopefully you would find useful.

Chinese Essay Phrases Used in Abstracts

The abstract should explain the purpose, method, results, and conclusion of your research, also highlighting the new ideas that you proposed; and do remember to keep your language concise while writing. The purpose of the abstract is to conclude and summarize the main contents of your essay so that the reader could have a brief understanding without having to read the entire paper. Chinese abstracts are usually around 200 characters.

Research Background, Significance, and Current Situation

Extremely useful/badly needed/affecting people’s lives (1-2 sentences)

Proposing the Object of Study 

Played a very important role (1-2 sentences)

Purpose of the Study or Study Aim

The role of A in B, perhaps remains to be seen (1 sentence)

Research Methods and Results

Through what means/technique/experiment we achieved what result (several sentences)

Research Results

The phenomenon of A in B, shows what the function of B is, theoretical and applied value (1-2 sentences)

via Pixabay

Chinese Essay Phrases: Main Body

The main body includes the introduction and the main text. The introduction section could use similar phrases that we have just listed, focusing on research objects and purposes. The main text should include research methods, research results, and discussion. Writers should keep their sentences to the point and avoid rambling, also avoid using too much subjective perspective discourses, which shouldn’t be used as arguments as well.

Theoretical Basis, Approaches, and Methods

To Express Opinions

To Emphasis

Transitional Expressions

Chinese Essay Phrases: Conclusion

At the ending section of the paper, the writer should provide an objective summary, list out the future research objectives and directions, and perhaps look into the future. Keep optimistic even if your experiment results were negative.

Research Impact and Value

There you go. We hope this article helps you write amazing essays. Best of luck!

Ellen is a language specialist from China. She grew up in the US and received a master’s degree from the St Andrews University of UK. The multicultural experiences attributes to her understanding of the differences and similarities between the English and Chinese language. She currently works as an editor specialized in Language learning books.

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Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning mandarin, 20 tips and tricks to improve your chinese writing ability.

Image from The Simpsons S13E4: A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love.

Writing is an important part of learning Chinese. The written word allows us to communicate online, record our thoughts and opinions and share them with others.

Writing is also an important part of many professional applications of learning Chinese, such as communication with colleagues, partners or clients. Finally, writing is also a part of many proficiency tests.

Writing in Chinese is different compared with most other languages in that there is a dual challenge learning both to write characters and to compose text. These are two completely different skills.

In this article, I will focus on composing text. For more about learning to write characters, please read this article: My best advice on how to learn Chinese characters .

My best advice on how to learn Chinese characters

Writing as a process rather than a product

Many students and teachers treat writing as a product, putting emphasis on the text itself. This effect is often enhanced by setting a grade on a writing assignment and then moving on to the next unit.

Writing is better viewed as a process, where what you write is just a milestone on your journey towards better writing ability. This usually means that you write fewer texts, but that you work more with each one. The goal is learning, after all, not writing a certain number of characters.

It should come as no surprise that I like writing; I have spent many thousands of hours writing in a foreign language (a lot of English, much Chinese and almost no French). Naturally, this website is in English, but isn’t called “Hacking English”, so I will focus on Chinese here. I have actually published a few articles in Chinese here as well, this one about using adventure text games being the most recent one . The advice in this article is based on my own experience with writing in foreign languages, as well as reading and research into second language writing.

I have divided the writing process into three phases:

• Before writing
• During writing
• After writing

How to improve your Chinese writing ability: Before writing

• Familiarise yourself with text type and genre  – When reading, pay attention to the genre and how it works, A formal email, a shopping list and a doctoral dissertation are very different types of texts. A few questions to ask yourself are: What function does the text serve? Are there any formal characteristics of this type of text in Chinese? How is information organised in this type of text?  The answers can be different in Chinese compared with your native language. For example, writing emails is very different in different languages when it comes to how to start, end and so on. Sometimes you can find information about this online as well, so it can be worth studying a bit. I actually asked a question about this on Stack Exchange back in 2012.
• Write about topics you care about – When choosing what to write, the most important consideration is what you want to communicate to others. Writing requires concentration and effort, which is harder to muster if you feel the task is boring or meaningless. We all like different things, so it’s hard to give general advice, but topics related to your own life, your experiences and opinions are good places to start. A journal or diary is great because it provides a never-ending sequence of events to write about! If you find it hard to come up with topics, here are some suggestions: 50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind , 49 ESL Writing Topics , the Book of Questions .
• Keep it on the write level –  While you should write about things you care about, keep it realistic. As a rule of thumb, do not try to write about things you are not already reading about with some confidence and fluency. Don’t write about spaceflight if you’re not already comfortable reading about it in Chinese; stay away from writing fiction heavy on descriptions of places and events if you’re not reading such stories a already. I’ve done my fair share of writing beyond my level and it’s not worth it. You will spend many times longer on each text, but you don’t learn more. As I said before, writing is the result of learning, not the cause of it.

How to improve your Chinese writing ability: During writing

• Organise your thoughts by writing a simple outline – When it comes to writing clearly, much of the thought-process is the same no matter what language you’re writing in. It’s hard to write coherent and easy-to-read text even in your native language if you yourself only figure out what you want to say as you go along. Needless to say, it’s even harder in a foreign language! Write a simple outline before you start. This can be a handful of bullet points.
• Write a full draft, then polish – Inexperienced writers often get stuck in details immediately. What should the title be? How should it be worded? Does A make a better title than B? These things will emerge later. Instead of focusing on details from the start, write a draft first. This version is probably quite bad, relatively speaking, but fortunately, you don’t need to show this to anyone! Once you have a draft, you can go through the text again and take care of those details you skipped earlier. Choosing a title is easier after you have a draft, for example. Now that you know what the whole text is like in general, it will be much easier to work with and you also don’t feel stupid after spending one hour and having only written two sentences.

• Don’t make your text more complicated than you have to –  Some students (including my past self) try to write more advanced Chinese than they can handle, thinking that throwing in more advanced words will impress people ( chengyu is a good example of this ). This almost never works and is generally a bad idea. Your goal should be to use to write as clearly as possible, using language you already know. This is also what the receiver will care about. Even on a proficiency exam, using difficult words just for the sake of it will not raise your score, especially if you use them incorrectly.  Advanced readers are also very sensitive to uneven writing, so if your level is at the lower-intermediate, occasionally throwing in very hard words will just show that you used a dictionary and don’t really know what you’re doing. Teachers of all languages can testify to how easy it is to see through this, even if students (especially kids) are baffled by how easy the teacher can tell.

• Use double translation if you want to be sure you’ve found the right word – This is when you look up a word in Chinese, then feed the result back to the dictionary and translate back to your native language. If the result seems reasonable, it’s probably the word you’re looking for. Let’s say you want to translate “beam”, as in “beam of light”. You look it up and get 横梁. You put it in your text and causes great confusion, some amusement and a bit of frustration for your Chinese teacher. If you had translated it back to English, you would have seen that 横梁 means “beam; transom; crossgirder; girder” .

How to improve your Chinese writing ability: After writing

Towards better writing ability in Chinese

This article contains tips and tricks I have collected over my 20+ years of writing in a foreign language. These are insights I wish I would have come to earlier, but that I hope will help you on your quest for better writing ability in Chinese.

This is also the advice that I give to students in the university courses I teach that focus on writing, all collected in one place with easy references to further reading. I realise that there’s more here than most of you probably bargained for, but as should be clear by now, I not only love to write, I also love writing about writing!

What’s your best tips for writing in a foreign language? Do you have any other tips beyond what I mention here? What advice would you offer other people who have just started writing in Chinese? Leave a comment below!

Editor’s note:  This article was written in February 2021 and replaces several old articles with partially overlapping content. Comments from these other articles have been moved here.

12 comments

I can have great joy writing in whatever language. The issue is normally to sit down and do it.

I agree that it’s best to write about what you care about, but have once fallen in the trap of writing about something that I cared about too much for an English exam. The structure of my story came apart from wanting to but too much into the article.

If you want to say a lot about a certain topic but can’t due your level of the language, it can be frustrating.

I’m currently on a roll with my Lang-8 entries about San Francisco/California botany. It’s very easy to get specific (I can talk about one species of plant per entry), and some people seem to be interested in the topic, especially since it’s very easy for me to add personal touches (for example, when I talked about lupines, I uploaded some photos my father took of the lupines growing in my family’s backyard). I could make many, many entries about this topic (for example, I might make a follow-up entry about the lupines explaining WHY they are in the backyard).

Sounds great! Seems like an inexhaustible source of topics. I was on a roll with more than one entry per day for a while, but then… I stopped. I’ve been doing other things, but writing sentences now and then should be possible.

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If you asked me what is one of the tedious and frustrating things about Chinese, I would say it’s how some words (but not all) can act as verbs, adjectives AND nouns, and how any given dictionary would fail to mention this or give examples of its different uses.

Take the word 轰动 for example.

My ABC dictionary says it’s an adjective (stative verb) but then goes on to define it as: “cause a sensation; make a stir”.

My PlC dictionary gives these two examples: 轰动全国 — cause a sensation throughout the country 全场轰动 — make a stir in the audience (or in the hall) Hmm…I wonder why the position of 轰动 is switched in both of these very similar constructions?

CC dictionary says it means “to cause a sensation”.

Finally, my ADS dictionary, says it’s a Noun and means “sensation”.

Now, accepting for a moment that 轰动 can be all three (verb, adjective, and noun), why doesn’t each dictionary state this simple fact?

–Daniel

Chinese, like English, often allows the grammatical identify to be defined by context. And in other cases, we add a suffix to mark a change in grammatical function.

In English, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs do use suffices to migrate a root word and in some cases to clarify role (which seems to originate from Latin).

A noun such as ‘work’ is also the verb ‘work’, whereas ‘working’ or ‘worked’ can be adjectives. And a verb such as ‘do’ can become a noun infinite ‘to do’ or noun gerund ‘doing’

All those suffix shifts are extremely difficult to the Chinese learner of English. Being able to not bother with them may actually be an eventual blessing.

There are words in Chinese that tend to be strictly one function — mostly conjunctions and prepositions.

I heartily agree with all of these tips (even as I admit that I sometimes stray from them myself out of frustration or because I’m pressed for time).

I try to cultivate curiosity about connotations and Chinese vocabulary, and let myself get sucked into Wikipedia, so that I can get myself into good habits. I find Wikipedia an excellent source both for the types of words which are often not in dictionaries, examples of words being used in context, and more detailed explainations of a word than most dictionaries provide.

It’s also exciting on the rare occasion I find a Chinese word/phrase/chengyu which describes exactly what the original writer expresses in English, but more concisely and elegantly.

Regarding #4, I tend to do a lot of double translation to verify both meaning and usage. Relying solely on translation from Chinese to English without verification by going from English to Chinese can lead to technically correct translation that is still a bit odd.

In any event, the need to spend so much time with dictionaries can be a bit tedious and daunting, and a struggle at first. But it is well worth it.

Feels a bit weird to respond to your comment six years later, but I have now updated the article and included double translation as well! It’s something I often recommend students doing and I should of course have mentioned it in the old article as well. Thanks for reminding me about it, even if it took me many years to actually do something about it! 🙂

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Olle, how do you feel about intermediate/advanced learners writing their outlines or drafts in their native language and then moving to Chinese? Is there research that suggests when this is/isn’t helpful, or when it might be time to move on from this habit, and how?

I doubt there is direct research that can conclusively answer this question, but I see no problem with writing an outline in one’s native language. We’re talking about few words that aren’t going to influence sentence structure or word choice once you get down to actually writing the text. If it’s easier to arrive at a clear structure by doing so in your native language, then do that!

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How can I write a good Chinese essay?

Like any essay, a good piece of Chinese writing is above all one which flows and sounds natural. Here are some quick and simple tips for achieving this.

• Use connectives in your writing.

These are some useful ones that are often seen in native Chinese essays...

In addition/also:

However/but:

For example:

• Use ‘chengyus' (idioms).

These are very commonly used in Chinese writing and will give your essay a sense of fluency and flair. Be careful to make sure you fully understand the meaning of the idiom and the context in which it can be used before using it in your work.

Here are some useful ‘chengyus' that can be used in a variety of contexts in an essay...

显而易见: evident, obvious (‘the issue here is obvious’) 首屈一指: top notch, second to none (‘this hospital’s health care is top notch’) 耳熟能详: well known, talked about (‘such as the well known product..’) 成千上万: innumerable, many (‘many rural workers have migrated to the cities’)

• Say the sentence out loud first.

To make an essay sound more natural and less like an English sentence that has been directly translated into the Chinese equivalent, I find it helpful to sometimes say a sentence out loud before writing it, or to think how a native speaker would phrase it.

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9 Tips to Improve Your Chinese Composition Writing

• Primary School Chinese Composition

Composition writing is a challenging but key part of the Chinese examination, as it constitutes 20% of the PSLE Chinese grade. Many students struggle with this task as their Chinese proficiency is lacking.

Aiming for a better composition score? Check out our tips below on how to excel in your Chinese composition.

But before you go on reading… You might want to download a pdf copy of this article as it is quite long!

Click the blue download button, enter your email, and the pdf file will be delivered to your inbox! (Remember to check spam!)

Click here to Download

Tip 1: Learn From Past Mistakes

Your past compositions are precious; don’t throw them out! Analyse your mistakes, and identify two to three areas you need to work on. If you have multiple areas to work on, prioritise the ones that will lead to the biggest gain in marks (e.g. between writing out of point and confusing homophones, fix the content issue first as that is more major).

Here are some common mistakes and recommendations on how to address them.

Tip 2: Determine the Theme of Your Composition

Be it the introduction, the body, or the conclusion, your composition should revolve around a theme. Never let your content not go out of point (离题), or your marks will suffer greatly.

Always start by analysing the picture or title to determine the theme. For example, if the title is “这件事改变了我(2023 St Nicholas’ Prelims)”，the central idea would be about an incident and how it has changed you as a person. Generally, it is easier for students to deviate from the theme for title-based compositions, especially if they do not plan their story.

That said, picture compositions can be tricky too: A few themes may be possible as it depends on how you choose to conclude the story (picture 6). For instance, in 2020’s PSLE, an old lady who was counting money at the bus stop fell down unexpectedly. Her notes were strewn all over the floor. Picture 5 shows two schoolgirls helping the old lady up while a youth was trying to pick up the lady’s belongings. Was he planning to steal the money? Or was he a kind-hearted youth trying to help pick up the notes? You need to write in a way consistent with the theme you have chosen.

Tip 3: Choose Your Question Wisely

Consider whether the picture composition (看图作文) or title-based composition (命题作文) is more manageable for you.

There are a few things to consider:

• How well do you understand the pictures? Do you have the appropriate vocabulary to describe key events and details depicted in the pictures? How complex are the pictures? E.g. does the location change multiple times?
• How well do you understand the key phrase in the title? For instance, if the title is “一件让我印象最深刻的事”, ensure you understand the meaning of 印象 and 深刻if you decide to write this particular question.
• Which question do you resonate most with? Do you have any personal experience similar to that in the pictures/what you plan to write for the title-based composition? If so, you will find it easier to complete the essay.

Remember you only have fifty minutes, so play to your strengths and make a decision within the first three minutes. Do not change your mind thereafter, or you will not have sufficient time to complete your composition!

Tip 4: Choose The Correct Point of View

For picture compositions, do not write in the first person if the character is not present in all pictures. In such instances, no matter whose perspective you adopt in your writing, there will be gaps in the story (the narrator cannot be all-knowing). Thus, you should write in the third person.

For title-based compositions, pay attention to the wording. Titles such as “这件事让我明白了耐心的重要(PSLE 2022)” and “一份我最珍惜的礼物(PSLE 2021)” must be written in the first person.

Tip 5: Plan Before You Write

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Before you start writing, craft an outline of your story. This need not be in prose form. It can be simply key words that give you clarity on your story structure. Whilst the stronger ones can wing it without a written plan (they usually have the plan in their heads), everyone else should refer to a plan while writing. The time spent making a written plan should be no more than five minutes, but it goes a long way in enhancing efficiency in your composition writing.

For picture-based compositions, your plan should at least cover the following:

• Introduction (开头)
• Conclusion (结尾)

For title-based compositions, use the guiding questions to help you plan.

For example, for 一份我最珍惜的礼物 (PSLE 2021), the outline could be:

Introduction （开头）

• Describe the present you cherish the most. What is it? Describe its appearance. How is it special?

介绍你最珍惜的礼物（这是什么礼物？外观如何？如何特殊？）

• How did you get this present? Who gave it to you?

你怎么得到这份礼物？是谁送的？

• Why did you get this present?

为什么会得到这份礼物？

• Why do you cherish it so much? What is its significance?

你为什么珍惜这份礼物？它有什么象征意义？

Conclusion （结尾）

• Restate how much you cherish this present. Sum up the main points in the body text (e.g. What does it represent? How did it help you grow/change your life?). 再次表明你有多珍惜这份礼物。总结一下以上的要点（如：它代表了什么？如何让你成长/对你的生活有什么积极影响？

Tip 6: Start With a Relevant Introduction

Do not memorise good introductions you have been given and use it word-for-word without thinking. There is no point in including the most beautifully worded description of the weather if the entire story happens indoors and the weather has no influence over the development of the story. Relevance is key.

Likewise, do not try to use a “one-size-fits-all” introduction, such as: “Ring!” The alarm went off…… If you must use a sound, make sure the sound is linked to some event at the story. Else, your introduction will either be excessively long, or appear irrelevant, or have logical gaps as you jumped from the alarm ringing right into the thick of the action.

Whether you start by directly describing the scene/activity (开门见山), by using a flashback, or any other method, what matters most is that your introduction is relevant to the theme.

For flashbacks, note that the ending will need to address the flashback, or bring the readers back to the present (前呼后应). This method will usually add to the word count, so it is not recommended for weaker students who may not have time to complete the essay or check their work.

Tip 7: Flesh Out Your Conclusion

Avoid a situation of having a magnificent start but a skinny end to the story (龙头蛇尾). Kudos to students who take time to craft a killer introduction. However, if the conclusion is weak and abrupt, your readers will end up feeling disappointed.

It is insufficient to simply state how the problem was resolved or what happened at the end. You should also highlight how the characters felt, what lessons the character(s) learnt, what plans they have for the future, and, the most important of them all, highlight the theme. A simple way to address the theme would be to use a relevant proverb, for example:

所谓“天下无难事，只怕有心人”，只要我们勇于挑战自己，世上就没有任何能难倒我们的事。

Tip 8: Revise for Paper 2 and Composition Writing Together

Don’t let your efforts to revise for Paper 2 go to waste! Make sure you master the terms in the textbooks. Make a list of those that are versatile enough to apply to most compositions. For example, transition phrases like “不知不觉 (unknowingly)” and “光阴似箭 (time flies)” can be used in almost any story to describe how time has passed unknowingly or quickly.

Besides mastering terms, make an effort to apply sentence structures and literary devices mentioned in the textbook in your writing. For instance, in Lesson 8 of the Primary 6 Chinese textbook, you can get insights on what similes are and reference the examples in the textbook (6B textbook, p. 23: 美美像一阵风一样冲过来。打针一点儿也不痛，就像蚂蚁轻轻咬了一下。) Even the conjunction questions in Paper 2 can come in handy, if you learn to vary your sentence beginnings by using different connectors.

Tip 9: Keep a Word Bank

Start building a Chinese vocabulary word bank if you do not already have one. Collate the good phrases  and idioms used by others. You can start noting down good phrases from the textbook and also from the comprehension passages you have completed. Browse through your classmates’ work and other model compositions and highlight away!

Examples include (bolded):

• 我准备乘坐巴士去学校时，突然下起 倾盆大雨 。
• 老师听到我们说的话后，他 怒气冲冲 地离开了教室。

For new or unfamiliar phrases, write the entire sentence down for context. Try constructing a similar sentence on your own (get someone who is proficient in Chinese to check this if you can!). Flip through the past year questions and see if you can apply this new phrase to any of the pictures/titles!

Be disciplined and make it a point to compile the phrases regularly. As your word bank grows, you will be empowered with a list of handy phrases which you can then accurately use in your compositions.

When it comes to composition writing, it takes time, practice, and patience to improve. Apply the tips we shared above, and with tenacity and perseverance, you will see the fruits of your labour. 

See more related articles and information on Writing Samurai:

• 9 Tips for PSLE Chinese Oral Exams
• 9 Exam Smart Tips for PSLE Chinese Paper 2
• Top 30 Websites and Apps for Chinese Language Learning

You might want to download a pdf copy of this article for future reference!

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How to Write a Chinese Essay

by That's Mandarin | Dec 16, 2020

As a Chinese student, learning how to write an essay in this language is very important. After all, how else are you going to express yourself? Writing is one of the ways professors use to teach this language because writing helps with the retention of information.

The more essays you write, the better you get at communicating with Chinese. To write a good essay, you first have to reach a high language mastery level.

Do you admire the students who write seamless Chinese essay? If you do, then you should know that you too can achieve this level of proficiency. In the meantime, don’t be afraid to pay for your essay if you cannot write it on your own. Online academic writers are a resource each student should take advantage of.

Here are tips to help you get better at writing essays in Chinese.

Learn New Chinese Words

The key to communicating in a new language is learning as many words as you can. Take it upon yourself to learn at least one Chinese word a day. Chinese words are to essay writing what bricks are to a building. The more words you have, the better you get at constructing meaningful sentences.

Case in point, if you’re going to write a Chinese sentence that constitutes ten words, but you don’t know the right way to spell three of those words, your sentence might end up not making sense.

During your Chinese learning experience, words are your arsenal and don’t forget to master the meaning of each word you learn.

Read Chinese Literature

Reading is the most effective way of learning a new language. Remember not to read for the sake of it; find out the meaning of each new word you encounter. When you are an avid reader of Chinese literature, nothing can stop you from writing fluent Chinese.

In the beginning, it might seem like you’re not making any progress, but after a while, you will notice how drastically your writing will change. Receiving information in Chinese helps your brain get accustomed to the language’s sentence patterns, and you can translate this to your essays.

Be extensive in your reading to ensure you get as much as possible out of each article. Remember that it’s not about how fast you finish an article, but rather, how much you gain from the exercise.

Translate Articles from your Native Language to Chinese

Have you ever thought about translating your favorite read to Chinese? This exercise might be tedious, but you will learn a lot from it. The art of translation allows you to seamlessly shift from one language’s sentence pattern into the other. The more you do this, the easier it will be for your brain to convert English sentences into Chinese phrases that people can comprehend.

You can always show your Chinese professor your translations for positive criticism. The more you get corrected, the better you will get at translation. Who knows, you might actually like being a translator once you graduate.

Final Thoughts

Writing in Chinese is as foreign as writing in any other language you’re not familiar with. Despite the unfamiliarity, however, it is possible to get better at it with practice. Read as many Chinese articles as you can and make sure you learn at least one new Chinese word each day. In no time, you’ll be at pro at writing Chinese essays.

by Adrian Lomezzo

Adrian  Lomezzo is a freelance writer. Firstly, he has been developing as a content manager and working with different websites, and the main goal of his was to develop the content making it in the first place. Secondly,  Adrian  had a big desire to help students and adults in self-development in this field and teach them to improve their skills. As a lover of traveling, he did not want to be in one place, and became a writer who could be closer to everyone, and share precious information from the corners of the world.

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Good composition phrases – A quick and easy guide

Using good composition phrases in your Chinese compo  can definitely add that wow factor into your writing. However, what kind of words or phrases qualify as good?

In this Chinese composition writing guide, we’ll cover the following:

• What is a good Chinese compo phrase
• Examples of good words and phrases that you can use in your Chinese composition
• Common mistakes that primary school kids make with these words and phrases
• What to take note of when using these words and phrases

Let’s dive right in!

What makes a Chinese composition phrase good?

Many parents and students believe that the good phrases that primary school teachers are looking out for are Chinese idioms (成语 cheng yu), classic sayings (俗语 su yu / 谚语 yan yu) and bombastic expressions.

As an ex-MOE Chinese teacher, I can tell that this is true only to a certain extent.

Think about this. Why do we want to write these so-called good phrases in our compositions in the first place?

You just want your compositions to sound more expressive and interesting, right? But this doesn’t mean they have to be complicated.

Good Chinese compo phrases can also include:

• Descriptive words and phrases
• Transitional phrases

Since there is no standard set of good words and phrases, don’t bother memorizing those so-called “good phrases” that you find in your Chinese assessment books or guide books you see at Popular bookstore. They are good resources, but memorization is too painful.

Instead, try coming up with your own unique expressions!

Sure, this takes some imagination and training. However, if you can pull it off, your Chinese composition is going to stand out from the typical model composition writings and sound much more natural!

To help you get started, here are some examples of good phrases that you can use for writing your next Chinese composition.

Good Chinese phrases for composition writing

Here are some examples of good Chinese phrases (作文好词好句) that can describe the feelings of a character in your compo!

Chinese compo phrases for happy

Chinese compo phrases for sad.

• 眼泪像断了线的珍珠似的

Phrases to describe anger in Chinese

Which of these Chinese compo word or phrases do you like?

Why should we use good words and phrases in our Chinese compositions

Good words and phrases can be helpful if you are the kind who finds yourself using the same words or phrases over and over again when you are doing your Chinese zuo wen.

Having a variety of Chinese compo phrases in your toolbox gives you the flexibility to express yourself a little differently each time.

Common misconception about good composition phrases

1. the more good phrases you use, the more impressive your compo is.

Many primary school children often make the mistake of memorizing these words and phrases without understanding.

That’s a big no-no.

Not only is memorizing painful, it kills the interest of learning in your primary school years.

If you want to use good phrases to improve your writing, you need to understand what the words and phrases mean so that you can use them correctly. Otherwise, your composition may end up sounding weird or even nonsensical.

So make sure that you really understand what each good phrase mean so that you can choose the most appropriate one to use for your writing. Being able to match the right phrase to the right situation is key to making your Chinese composition shine.

2. The more words and phrases in my compo, the merrier

Stuffing your Chinese composition with good phrases or idioms in every sentence isn’t going to impress your teachers and make you sound smart.

Instead, too many good words and phrases can make your story sound clunky and mechanical.

So here’s a tip! When it comes using descriptive words and phrases in your composition, less is more.

For example, if the characters in the story has not much emotions, focus on narrating the story clearly and be as descriptive as you can. Using the right transitional words instead of good words and phrases would help the flow of your composition.

However, if your main character is experiencing some very strong emotions, elaborate on that by using more descriptive words. You need to choose the right thing to focus on depending on the situation.

Acing your Chinese composition with/without good phrases

Throughout my decade of experience as a teacher and PSLE composition marker, I know that a good piece of writing isn’t graded based on how many good phrases are used.

Instead, it’s based on the quality of your content and your writing fluency. Being descriptive and expressive is a bonus, but if you can bring the same points across with simple words, you can ace your composition too!

So do be natural when writing, never use good phrases for the sake of using them because you have spent a lot of time learning. As long as your composition is a written in a clear and expressive manner, it’s possible to ace it!

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How to Write a Chinese Essay?

However, this is not an option.

Chinese essay writing is an important part in GCE O level Higher Chinese Language or Chinese Language exam.

Then, what are the students suppose to write in an essay?   For GCE O level Chinese exam in May 2017, many parents complained about the essay questions set were too difficult ( link ).  However, this is the direction we are heading in O level Chinese and the students need to level up necessarily.

Before we even talk about what to write, we must first know what will be tested.

For GCE O level Chinese exam , essay writing is in section 2 of Paper 1.

In this section, students are expected to choose to write 1 out of 3 questions, and the 3 questions will be  in one of the following categories:

• 情景文 (Scenario essay writing)
• 说明文 (Expository)
• 议论文 (Argumentative)
• 材料作文 (Material essay writing)

Each category would need students to write the essay using different skill set. Students need to master the required skill set in order to write essays that meet the criteria.

For 情景文 , students need to use the skills of writing 记叙文 and characters descriptions ; for 说明文 , they need to use the skills of expository essay writing ;  议论文 needs the 3 key elements; as for 材料作文 , depending on the question, students will either need to use the skills for 记叙文 or 议论文 .

When students are clear with all these skills, they will find Chinese essay writing a lot more easier.  When equipped with these necessary writing skills , they will be able to focus more on acquiring their language skills.

With our help, we are confident that our students are able to master all these essential Chinese essay writing skills.

Call 97690373 today to register for our class.

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StoryLearning

Learn A Language Through Stories

How to Write in Chinese – A Beginner’s Guide

You probably think learning how to write in Chinese is impossible.

And I get it.

I’m a native English speaker, and I know how complex Chinese characters seem.

But you’re about to learn that it's not impossible .

I’ve teamed up with Kyle Balmer from Sensible Chinese to show you how you can learn the basic building blocks of the Chinese written language, and build your Chinese vocabulary quickly.

First, you’ll learn the basics of how the Chinese written language is constructed. Then, you’ll get a step-by-step guide for how to write Chinese characters sensibly and systematically .

Wondering how it can be so easy?

Then let’s get into it.

Don't have time to read this now?  Click here to download a free PDF of the article

By the way, if you want to learn Chinese fast and have fun, my top recommendation is  Chinese Uncovered  which teaches you through StoryLearning®. 

With  Chinese Uncovered  you’ll use my unique StoryLearning® method to learn Chinese through story… not rules.

It’s as fun as it is effective.

If you’re ready to get started,  click here for a 7-day FREE trial.

How To Write In Chinese

Chinese is a complex language with many dialects and varieties.

Before we dive into learning to write Chinese characters, let’s just take a second to be clear exactly what we’ll be talking about.

First, you’ll be learning about Mandarin Chinese , the “standard” dialect. There are 5 main groups of dialects and perhaps 200 individual dialects in China & Taiwan. Mandarin Chinese is the “standard” used in Beijing and spoken or understood, by 2/3 of the population.

Second, there are two types of Chinese characters: Traditional and Simplified . In this article, we’ll be talking about Simplified Chinese characters, which are used in the majority of Mainland China.

There is an ongoing politicised debate about the two kinds of characters, and those asking themselves: “Should I learn traditional or simplified Chinese characters?” can face a difficult choice.

• For more on difference between Simplified and Traditional characters read this article
• To learn more about “the debate” read this excellent Wikipedia article
• If you want to switch Simplified characters into Traditional, you might like the fantastic New Tong Wen Tang browser plugin

First Steps in Learning Chinese Characters

When learning a European language, you have certain reference points that give you a head start.

If you're learning French and see the word l'hotel , for example, you can take a pretty good guess what it means! You have a shared alphabet and shared word roots to fall back on.

In Chinese this is not the case.

When you're just starting out, every sound, character, and word seems new and unique. Learning to read Chinese characters can feel like learning a whole set of completely illogical, unconnected “squiggles”!

The most commonly-taught method for learning to read and write these “squiggles” is rote learning .

Just write them again and again and practise until they stick in your brain and your hand remembers how to write them! This is an outdated approach, much like reciting multiplication tables until they “stick”.

I learnt this way.

Most Chinese learners learnt this way.

It's painful…and sadly discourages a lot of learners.

However, there is a better way.

Even without any common reference points between Chinese and English, the secret is to use the basic building blocks of Chinese, and use those building blocks as reference points from which to grow your knowledge of written Chinese.

This article will:

• Outline the different levels of structure inherent in Chinese characters
• Show you how to build your own reference points from scratch
• Demonstrate how to build up gradually without feeling overwhelmed

The Structure Of Written Chinese

The basic structure of written Chinese is as follows:

I like to think of Chinese like Lego . .. it's very “square”!

The individual bricks are the components (a.k.a  radicals ).

We start to snap these components together to get something larger – the characters.

We can then snap characters together in order to make Chinese words.

Here's the really cool part about Chinese: Each of these pieces, at every level, has meaning.

The component, the character, the word… they all have meaning.

This is different to a European language, where the “pieces” used to make up words are letters.

Letters by themselves don't normally have meaning and when we start to clip letters together we are shaping a sound rather than connecting little pieces of meaning. This is a powerful difference that comes into play later when we are learning vocabulary.

Let's look at the diagram again.

Here we start with the component 子. This has the meaning of “child/infant”.

The character 好 (“good”) is the next level. Look on the right of the character and you'll see 子. We would say that 子 is a component of 好.

Now look at the full word 你好 (“Hello”). Notice that the 子 is still there.

• The character 好 is built of the components 女 and 子.
• The character 你 is built from 人 + 尔.
• The word 你好 in turn is constructed out of 你 + 好.

Here's the complete breakdown of that word in an easy-to-read diagram:

Now look at this photo of this in real life !

Don't worry if you can't understand it. Just look for some shapes that you have seen before.

The font is a little funky, so here are the typed characters: 好孩子

What components have you seen before?

Did you spot them?

This is a big deal.

Here's why…

Why Character Components Are So Important

One of the big “scare stories” around Chinese is that there are 50,000 characters to learn.

Now, this is true. But learning them isn't half as bad as you think.

Firstly, only a few thousand characters are in general everyday use so that number is a lot more manageable.

Second, and more importantly, those 50,000 characters are all made up of the same 214 components .

And you already know one of them: 子 (it's one of those 214 components).

The fact that you can now recognise the 子 in the image above is a huge step forward.

You can already recognise one of the 214 pieces all characters are made up of.

Even better is the fact that of these 214 components it's only the 50-100 most common you'll be running into again and again.

This makes Chinese characters a lot less scary.

Once you get a handle on these basic components, you'll quickly recognise all the smaller pieces and your eyes will stop glazing over!  

This doesn't mean you'll necessarily know the meaning or how to pronounce the words yet (we'll get onto this shortly) but suddenly Chinese doesn't seem quite so alien any more.

Memorising The Components Of Chinese Characters

Memorising the pieces is not as important as simply realising that ALL of Chinese is constructed from these 214 pieces.

When I realised this, Chinese became a lot more manageable and I hope I've saved you some heartache by revealing this early in your learning process!

Here are some useful online resources for learning the components of Chinese characters:

• An extensive article about the   214 components of Chinese characters  with a free printable PDF poster.
• Downloadable posters of all the components, characters and words.
• If you like flashcards, there's a great Anki deck here and a Memrise course here .
• Wikipedia also has a sweet sortable list here .

TAKEAWAY : Every single Chinese character is composed of just 214 “pieces”. Only 50-100 of these are commonly used. Learn these pieces first to learn how to write in Chinese quickly.

Moving From Components To Chinese Characters

Once you've got a grasp of the basic building blocks of Chinese it's time to start building some characters!

We used the character 好 (“good”) in the above example. 好 is a character composed of the components 女 (“woman”) and 子 (“child”).

Unlike the letters of the alphabet in English, these components have meaning .

(They also have pronunciation, but for the sake of simplicity we'll leave that aside for now!)

• 女 means “woman” and 子 means “child”.
• When they are put together, 女 and 子 become 好 …and the meaning is “good”.
• Therefore “woman” + “child” = “good” in Chinese 🙂

When learning how to write in Chinese characters you can take advantage of the fact that components have their own meanings.

In this case, it is relatively easy to make a mnemonic (memory aid) that links the idea of a woman with her baby as “good”.

Because Chinese is so structured, these kind of mnemonics are an incredibly powerful tool for memorisation.

Some characters, including 好, can also be easily represented graphically. ShaoLan's book Chineasy does a fantastic job of this.

Here's the image of 好 for instance – you can see the mother and child.

Visual graphics like these can really help in learning Chinese characters.

Unfortunately, only around 5% of the characters in Chinese are directly “visual” in this way. These characters tend to get the most attention because they look great when illustrated.

However, as you move beyond the concrete in the more abstract it becomes harder and harder to visually represent ideas.

Thankfully, the ancient Chinese had an ingenious solution, a solution that actually makes the language a lot more logical and simple than merely adding endless visual pictures.

Watch Me Write Chinese Characters

In the video below, which is part of a series on learning to write in Chinese , I talk about the process of actually writing out the characters. Not thousands of times like Chinese schoolchildren. But just as a way to reinforce my learning and attack learning Chinese characters from different angles.

My Chinese handwriting leaves a lot to be desired. But it's more about a process of reinforcing my language learning via muscle memory than perfecting my handwriting.

You'll also hear me discuss some related issues such as stroke order and typing in Chinese.

The Pronunciation Of Chinese Characters

The solution was the incredibly unsexy sounding… (wait for it…) “phono-semantic compound character”.

It's an awful name, so I'm going to call them “sound-meaning characters” for now!

This concept is the key to unlocking 95% of the Chinese characters.

A sound-meaning character has a component that tells us two things:

• the meaning
• a clue to how the character is pronounced

So, in simple terms:

95% of Chinese characters have a clue to the meaning of the character AND its pronunciation. 

到 means “to arrive”.

This character is made of two components. On the left is 至 and on the right is 刀.

These are two of the 214 components that make up all characters. 至 means “to arrive” and 刀 means “knife”.

Any idea which one gives us the meaning? Yup – it's 至, “to arrive”! (That was an easy one 🙂 )

But how about the 刀? This is where it gets interesting.

到 is pronounced dào.

刀, “knife” is pronounced dāo.

The reason the 刀 is placed next to 至 in the character 到 is just to tell us how to pronounce the character! How cool is that?

Now, did you notice the little lines above the words: dào and dāo?

Those are the tone markers, and in this case they are both slightly different. These two characters have different tones so they are not exactly the same pronunciation.

However, the sound-meaning compound has got us 90% of the way to being able to pronounce the character, all because some awesome ancient Chinese scribe thought there should be a shortcut to help us remember the pronunciation!

Let's look at a few more examples of how 刀 is used in different words to give you an idea of the pronunciation.

Even if sometimes:

• the sound-meaning character gives us the exact sound and meaning
• or it gets us in the ballpark
• or worse it is way off because the character has changed over the last 5,000 years!

Nevertheless, there's a clue about the pronunciation in 95% of all Chinese characters, which is a huge help for learning how to speak Chinese.

TAKEAWAY : Look at the component parts as  a way to unlock the meaning and pronunciations of 95% of Chinese characters. In terms of “hacking” the language, this is the key to learning how to write in Chinese quickly.

From Chinese Characters To Chinese Words

First we went from components to characters.

Next, we are going from characters to words.

Although there are a lot of one-character words in Chinese, they tend to either be classically-rooted words like “king” and “horse” or grammatical particles and pronouns.

The vast majority of Chinese words contain two characters.

The step from characters to words is where, dare I say it, Chinese script gets easy!

Come on, you didn't think it would always be hard did you? 🙂

Unlike European languages Chinese's difficulty is very front-loaded.

When you first learn to write Chinese, you'll discover a foreign pronunciation system, a foreign tonal system and a very  foreign writing system.

As an English speaker, you can normally have a good shot at pronouncing and reading words in other European languages, thanks to the shared alphabet.

Chinese, on the other hand, sucker-punches you on day one… but gets a little more gentle as you go along.

One you've realised these things:

• there aren't that many components to deal with
• all characters are made up of these basic components
• words are actually characters bolted together

…then it's a matter of just memorising a whole bunch of stuff!

That's not to say there isn't a lot of work involved, only to say that it's not particularly difficult. Time-consuming, yes. Difficult, no.

This is quite different from European languages, which start off easy, but quickly escalate in difficulty as you encounter complicated grammar, tenses, case endings, technical vocabulary and so on.

Making words from Chinese characters you already know is easy and really fun . This is where you get to start snapping the lego blocks together and build that Pirate Island!

The Logic Of Chinese Writing

Here are some wonderful examples of the simplicity and logic of Chinese using the character 车 which roughly translates as “vehicle”.

• Water + Vehicle = Waterwheel = 水 +车
• Wind + Vehicle = Windmill = 风＋车
• Electric + Vehicle = Tram/Trolley = 电＋车
• Fire + Vehicle = Train = 火＋车
• Gas + Vehicle = Car = 汽＋车
• Horse + Vehicle = Horse and cart/Trap and Pony = 马＋车
• Up + Vehicle = Get into/onto a vehicle =上＋车
• Down + Vehicle = Get out/off a vehicle =下＋车
• Vehicle + Warehouse = Garage = 车＋库
• To Stop + Vehicle = to park = 停＋车

Chinese is extremely logical and consistent.

This is a set of building blocks that has evolved over 5,000 years in a relatively linear progression. And you can't exactly say the same about the English language!

Just think of the English words for the Chinese equivalences above:

Train, windmill, millwheel/waterwheel, tram/trolley, car/automobile, horse and cart/trap and pony.

Unlike Chinese where these concepts are all linked by 车 there's very little consistency in our vehicle/wheel related vocabulary, and no way to link these sets of related concepts via the word itself.

English is a diverse and rich language, but that comes with its drawbacks – a case-by-case spelling system that drives learners mad.

Chinese, on the other hand, is precise and logical, once you get over the initial “alienness”.

Making The Complex Simple

This logical way of constructing vocabulary is not limited to everyday words like “car” and “train”. It extends throughout the language.

To take an extreme example let's look at Jurassic Park .

The other day I watched Jurassic Park with my Chinese girlfriend. (OK, re -watched. It's a classic!)

Part of the fun for me (annoyance for her) was asking her the Chinese for various dinosaur species.

Take a second to look through these examples. You'll love the simplicity!

• T Rex 暴龙 = tyrant + dragon
• Tricerotops 三角恐龙 three + horn + dinosaur
• Diplodocus 梁龙 roof-beam + dragon
• Velociraptor 伶盗龙 clever + thief + dragon (or swift stealer dragon)
• Stegosaurus 剑龙 (double-edged) sword + dragon
• Dilophosaurus 双脊龙 double+spined+dragon

Don't try to memorise these characters, just appreciate the underlying logic of how the complex concepts are constructed .

(Unless, of course, you are a palaeontologist…or as the Chinese would say a Ancient + Life + Animal + Scientist!).

I couldn't spell half of these dinosaur names in English for this article. But once I knew how the construction of the Chinese word, typing in the right characters was simple.

Once you know a handful of characters, you can start to put together complete words, and knowing how to write in Chinese suddenly becomes a lot easier.

In a lot of cases you can take educated guesses at concepts and get them right by combining known characters into unknown words.

For more on this, check my series of Chinese character images that I publish on this page . They focus on Chinese words constructed from common characters, and help you understand more of the “building block” logic of Chinese.

TAKEAWAY : Chinese words are constructed extremely logically from the underlying characters. This means that once you've learned a handful of characters vocabulary acquisition speeds up exponentially.

How To Learn Written Chinese Fast

Before diving into learning characters, make sure you have a decent grounding in Chinese pronunciation via the pinyin system. 

The reason for this is that taking on pronunciation, tones and characters from day one is really tough.

Don't get me wrong, you can do it. Especially if you're highly motivated. But for most people there's a better way.

Learn a bit of spoken Chinese first. 

With some spoken language under your belt, and an understanding of pronunciation and tones, starting to learn how to write in Chinese will seem a whole lot easier.

When you're ready, here's how to use all the information from this article and deal with written Chinese in a sensible way.

I've got a systematic approach to written Chinese which you can find in detail on Sensible Chinese .

Right now, I'm going to get you started with the basics.

The Sensible Character System

The four stages for learning Chinese characters are:

Sounds technical huh? Don't worry, it's not really.

This part of the process is about choosing what you put into your character learning system.

If you're working on the wrong material then you're wasting your efforts. Instead choose to learn Chinese characters that you are like to want to use in the future.

My list in order of priority contains:

• daily life: characters/words I've encountered through daily life
• textbooks: characters/words I've learnt from textbooks
• frequency lists: characters/words I've found in frequency lists of the most common characters and words

2. Processing

This is the “learning” part of the system.

You take a new word or character and break it down into its component parts. You can then use these components to create memory aids.

Hanzicraft.com or Pleco's built-in character decomposition tool are fantastic for breaking down new characters. These will be helpful until you learn to recognise the character components by sight. These tools will also show you if there are sound-meaning component clues in the character.

Use the individual components of a character to build a “story” around the character. Personal, sexy and violent stories tend to stick in the mind best! 🙂 I also like to add colours into my stories to represent the tones (1st tone Green, 2nd tone Blue etc.)

After the “input” and the “process”… it's time to review it all!

The simplest review system is paper flashcards which you periodically use to refresh your memory.

A more efficient method can be found in software or apps that use a Spaced Repetition System, like Anki or   Pleco .

An important point: Review is not learning .

It's tempting to rely on software like Anki to drill in the vocabulary through brute-force repetition. But don't skip the first two parts – processing the character and creating a mnemonic are key parts of the process.

It isn't enough to just learn and review your words… you also need to put them into use !

Thankfully, technology has made this easier than ever. Finding a language exchange partner or a lesson with a cost-effective teacher is super simple nowadays, so there's no excuse for not putting your new vocabulary into action!

The resources I personally use are:

• Spoken – iTalki
• Written – Lang-8
• Short form written – WeChat / HelloTalk

Importantly, whilst you are using your current vocabulary in these forms of communication, you'll be picking up new content all the time, which you can add back into your system.

The four steps above are a cycle that you will continue to rotate through – all the corrections and new words you receive during usage should become material to add to the system.

To recap, the four steps of systematically learning Chinese characters are:

By building these steps into your regular study schedule you can steadily work through the thousands of Chinese characters and words you'll need to achieve literacy.

This is a long-haul process! So having a basic system in place is very important for consistency.

You can find out a lot more about The Sensible Chinese Character Learning System and how to write in Chinese here .

Top Chinese Learning Links And Resources

• Chinese Language Learning Resource List – a curated list of tools and content available online and in print to help your Chinese learning, all categorised by usage type.
• Sensible Character Learning System – the full system outlined in a series of blog articles for those who want more detail and tips on how to refine their character learning.
• 111 Mandarin Chinese resources you wish you knew – Olly’s huge list of the best resources on the web for learning Chinese

I hope you enjoyed this epic guide to learning how to write in Chinese!

Please share this post with any friends who are learning Chinese, then leave us a comment below!

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How To Learn Chinese By Yourself: My 15 Best Tricks and Techniques

Chinese can seem especially intimidating for English speakers, and even more so when you’re learning it on your own. But a solid learning plan will banish any fears or hesitations, and I’m here to tell you the steps that worked for me.

Following a step-by-step approach means you don’t need to pick and choose what to focus on blindly—I’ll walk you through the most important things to know plus resources so you can learn Chinese all by yourself.

1. Learn Pinyin and the Chinese Tones

2. set goals and a study plan, 3. start with chinese greetings, 4. learn basic sentence structure, 5. group new words by theme, 6. tackle chinese characters, 7. try mandarin courses on coursera, 8. use language apps, 9. combine your interests in learning, 10. practice with native speakers, 11. use the internet in chinese, 12. watch chinese videos, shows and movies, 13. study with music, audiobooks and podcasts, 14. record your own study material, 15. practice every day, where to learn mandarin chinese, offline resources, online resources, is it easy to learn chinese , how long does it take to learn chinese.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Pinyin is Chinese written phonetically in the Latin alphabet. It’s a fantastic invention that helps connect English speakers to the world of Chinese.

You can learn how to pronounce Chinese words by learning pinyin here . I recommend memorizing the sound of each letter in the alphabet before moving on to full words. You can also use  this pinyin guide from BBC to make sure you get it.

Additionally, I recommend printing out a pinyin chart and taping it to the front of your notebook. Here’s one from Purple Culture and one from CLI . Don’t be afraid to refer to the chart(s) for help as you continue learning!

But pinyin doesn’t only tell you the phonetic pronunciation of Chinese words—pinyin also tells you the tone of each syllable.

As you probably already know, Chinese is a tonal language . There are four tones and one neutral tone (which could arguably mean there are five tones). Here are the four tone markings:

• First tone:  lē
• Second tone: lé
• Third tone: lě
• Fourth tone: lè

Here are the four tones in context:

You can learn more about Chinese tones here . You can and should also reference videos and audio pronunciation guides, such as this video from ChineseFor.Us .

Since the way you say a word changes its meaning, pronunciation carries a much heavier weight in Chinese than in many other languages. You don’t want to be talking about a horse ( mǎ with the third tone) when you’re really referring to your mother ( mā with the first tone)—I would know because I did this!

So spend a good amount of time listening to and identifying the tones, and practice them out loud.  

Don’t move on until you have a good grasp of pinyin and tones. If you’re not a pro at using tones yet, that’s fine and totally normal. But learning pinyin and tones first will give you a solid foundation for expanding your Chinese knowledge.

Now, before you dive into vocabulary and grammar, set some Chinese learning goals and write up a study plan.

Having a solid routine that works toward realistic goals is just as important as learning vocabulary. 

So, why are you studying Chinese? What is your long-term goal? Maybe you want to…

• …talk with distant family members.
• …live in China for a year or more.
• …watch Chinese dramas without subtitles.

If you need a specific goal to aim for, use HSK character/word lists to give your learning a clear direction. Each of the exam’s levels has an associated vocab list comprised of hundreds of characters and words.

After you’ve determined your long-term goal, create a study plan with clearly defined short-term goals.

First, ask yourself:

• How much time do I actually have?
• How much time am I able and willing to devote to learning Chinese?

It’s good to start small, especially with a language you’ve never studied before. Consider aiming for just 15 to 30 minutes a day at first, rather than starting with a few hours.

Regardless of how busy a life you live, be realistic about how much time you can devote to Chinese. Write it down. Make that your goal each day. You can always tweak your schedule as you find out more about what works for you and what doesn’t.

Here’s a learning plan I made early on in my Chinese journey (transcribed from a stained napkin!):

Weekly Goals:

• Learn 70 new characters.
• Spend two hours listening to Chinese radio.
• Watch one episode of a Chinese TV show.
• Write one 300-character essay.
• Learn three new grammar rules.

Daily Plan:

• Monday: Write out each new character twice, and then add them to flashcard software. Finish the study with one hour of Chinese radio.
• Tuesday:  Spend 30 minutes reviewing new character flashcards, then watch a Chinese TV show episode.
• Wednesday:  Focus on grammar. Learn some new grammar rules as outlined in the goals.
• Thursday: Write a Chinese essay, then practice writing any new characters.
• Friday:  Listen to another hour of Chinese radio.
• Saturday: Test recall of new characters and grammar rules.
• Sunday:  Rest day.

It’s important to plan out exactly how much time you’ll spend doing which activities. That means you won’t get sidetracked or bored, and you’ll be on the way to completing your goals.

And keep in mind that a bad routine will stress you out, but a good routine will excite you.

Now you’re ready to learn the basics. As with any other language, being able to greet others and introduce yourself is your first priority.

Below are some of the most common words and phrases you may hear in Chinese. You don’t need to worry about the characters yet—they’re mostly here for reference.

Try reading the pinyin and pronouncing them on your own first, and then listen to the audio and see if you got it right.

• 你好 (nǐ hǎo) — Hi/Hello
• 你好吗？ (nǐ hǎo ma?)  — How are you?
• 早安 (zǎo ān) — Good morning
• 回头见 (húi tóu jiàn) — Goodbye/See you later
• 你叫什么名字？ (nǐ jiào shén me míng zì?)  — What is your name?
• 我叫… (wǒ jiào…)  — My name is…
• 我听不懂 (wǒ tīng bù dǒng) — I don’t understand
• 我不知道 (wǒ bù zhī dào) — I don’t know
• 对不起 (duì bù qǐ) — I’m sorry
• 谢谢 (xiè xie)  — Thank you
• 不客气 (bú kè qi) — No problem (used as a response to an apology or a “thank you”)
• 厕所在哪里？ (cè suǒ zài nǎ li?) — Where is the bathroom?
• 生日快樂！ (shēng rì kuài lè!)  —  Happy birthday !

One helpful tip is to learn the meanings of individual words as you go along. For example, the first word, 你好, can be broken down to 你 (nǐ) — “you” and 好 (hǎo) — “good.”

Learning individual words in phrases will make things easier since you’ll be able to see the logic and, of course, expand your vocabulary .

You can continue learning greetings and basic phrases with resources on the Chinese-Tools website or via Mandarin phrasebooks, such as those from Lonely Planet . Make sure to listen to audio examples and practice speaking with the correct tones!

By now you’ve got a good grasp on Chinese pronunciation and you’ve learned some basic vocabulary.

That means it’s time to start learning how to form sentences!

In general, simple Chinese sentence structure is very similar to English. In fact, the most basic sentence structure is the same in both languages: 

Subject + Verb + Object

Let’s take a look at some examples:

我爱你。 (wǒ ài nǐ.) — I love you.

我会说英文。 (wǒ huì shuō yīng wén.)  — I can speak English.

我吃早饭。 (wǒ chī zǎo fàn.)  — I eat breakfast.

You can learn more about basic Chinese sentence structures here . You can also learn about asking simple questions here .

Once you’ve learned about basic sentences and how to introduce yourself, learn how to introduce your family and your friends .

Then, you can learn to talk about your favorite food —while you’re at it, you might as well learn some other common foods in Chinese!

You can then learn how to order food in a restaurant . But how do you get to the restaurant? You may want to learn how to give (and receive) directions .

Nice! From just that little journey, you now know new vocabulary surrounding family, food and directions. You also know how to form sentences for making introductions, describing your favorite things and talking about places.

Picking random words to learn each day that have little correlation to one another makes them much harder to remember. Instead, learn words by themes and topics to enable yourself to flow through lessons with ease and structure.

Usually, learners feel one of two ways about Chinese characters: they’re intimidating, or they’re super cool.

In my opinion, they’re both!

Learning Chinese characters can be difficult and might easily demotivate you if you start learning them right away. Because of this, it’s extremely helpful to know basic vocabulary and grammar before you try to tackle Chinese characters.

That’s because, by this point, you’ve spent enough time with the language to know whether you want to continue dedicating yourself to it or not.

Pinyin alone means you can learn listening and speaking skills. But if you want to go further with your Mandarin studies via reading and writing—and especially if you hope to one day be fluent in Chinese —then memorizing characters is essential .

One way to begin your character-learning journey is to go back to your beginning lessons and now learn the characters of the vocabulary you already know.

You can also buy a Chinese character textbook or take a course that focuses on characters.

The “ Reading and Writing Chinese ” textbook, for instance, focuses specifically on characters and offers versions in simplified and traditional Chinese .

The book teaches 1,725 essential characters along with those required for the HSK exam . It also provides step-by-step instructions to help you master the stroke order , and empty grids for writing practice.

There are many resources out there that can break down the stroke patterns so you can practice writing more efficiently. I further recommend “Simplified Chinese Characters — Book 1″ for stroke order and “Tian Zi Ge Paper Notebook” for character writing practice.

Apps and websites are great tools for learning to associate characters with definitions and pronunciation.

If you want to go with an old-school tactic, you can create flashcards. Make one flashcard for the pinyin and its definition, then one for the character and its definition and finally, one for the character and its pinyin.

You can also label objects in your home with Chinese Post-its. It’s a great way to remember that 桌子 (zhuō zǐ) is “table” and that the characters for “window” are 窗子 (chuāng zǐ) .

Labeling actual items is a hack for beginning learners, but advanced learners can place Post-its of words, phrases, idioms and full sentences around the house as well.

Some Coursera classes can be done on your own schedule, so if you’re trying to learn Mandarin from home, it’s one of the best resources out there for online Chinese courses.

Universities in China and Taiwan use Coursera to post classes they offer online. While each course has a fee, you can apply for financial aid to help cover the costs.

Some popular Mandarin courses include:

• Chinese for Beginners — This course from Peking University tackles all the beginner concepts, from basic grammar to tones to vocabulary words.
• Mandarin Chinese for Intermediate Learners: Part 1 — Are you stuck in the weird limbo of being neither a beginner Chinese speaker nor an advanced one? This course from Shanghai Jiao Tong University is for you.
• Learn Chinese: HSK Test Preparation Specialization — If you want to pass the HSK (Chinese Proficiency Test) for levels one, two or three, this Peking University course will help you prepare.

Language apps are my personal favorite way of learning Chinese, and many of them are totally free to use!

Here are a few to get you started:

• Duolingo ( Android / iPhone ) — This free app is a classic that boasts a simple interface, self-paced study, pleasant visuals and gamified learning.
• Busuu ( Android / iPhone ) — Somewhat similar to Duolingo, you’ll get a more substantial Chinese education, for a higher price.
• Drops ( Android / iPhone ) — Known for its video-game-like features, this app is easy to use during your commute, your lunch break or any other short downtime.
• Pimsleur ( Android / iPhone ) — This audio-based program uses 30-minute lessons to help you learn Chinese by listening and repeating conversations.

Beyond learning apps, there are plenty of others that focus on a certain aspect of the language. For instance, here are our favorite pinyin dictionary apps .

Or what if you just can’t seem to remember the vocab you’ve learned? There are apps for that!

Those apps use “ spaced repetition ” to help you remember new words. Instead of reviewing a term when you’ve forgotten it, you put it on a flashcard and test yourself until you get it right once. Then, you return to the words you got wrong at set intervals until you no longer get them wrong.

Two effective and easy-to-use apps that incorporate spaced repetition are:

• Anki ( Android / iPhone ) — This spaced repetition flashcard app and website can be used for free to help make vocabulary study a no-brainer! Simply make decks of flashcards for new vocabulary and Anki will tell you when it’s time to review them.
• Memrise ( Android / iPhone ) — Another website and app, Memrise helps you learn vocab with flashcard features and multi-media resources, such as video and audio. Again, this app will let you know when you should review words so that you have the best chance of committing them to long-term memory.

It may seem like common sense, but learning Chinese through things that you find interesting will make the learning process more fun.

Don’t keep your learning so serious that it becomes a burden to you. Learning should be enjoyable, so try to match it with your interests!

If you’re big into music like I am,  use music to learn Chinese . If you love reading, check out some interesting Chinese novels .

You can get even more niche, like finding a Chinese-speaking Discord group that plays your favorite game, or a subreddit that shares recipes in Chinese.

If you haven’t yet, it’s time to start putting what you’ve learned into action.

And by that I mean: It’s time to get a language exchange partner !

Language partners are people who are learning your native language and are native speakers of your target language. So in this case, your language partner would be a Chinese speaker learning English.

By having conversations via messaging apps, video or voice calls, you’ll help each other practice the language you’re each trying to learn.

Having a language partner is an important part of your Chinese learning journey. They can help you cover more than the topics taught in class or textbooks, like Chinese slang and other expressions.

There are many places you can look for a language partner.

You can download HelloTalk or another language exchange app .  I met my Chinese language partner on HelloTalk almost two years ago, and she’s one of my best friends today!

You can also look for a Chinese conversation partner on sites like MyLanguageExchange.com or Conversation Exchange . You might also find language exchange groups near you via Facebook.

Perhaps there are Chinese-language churches or places of worship in your town or nearby. If so, try going to a religious service at a Chinese-language church to immerse yourself in the community. A religious service is a great language experience—I did this and met a wonderful woman who I still meet for tea.

Or, look up your local Chinese cultural center. In cities with a substantial Chinese or Taiwanese immigrant population, you’ll likely find one of these. Typically, there are restaurants, places to shop, services for Chinese speakers who don’t know much English and tons more.

Many Chinese cultural centers even offer Mandarin classes for free or cheap!

To start, change your smartphone’s language setting to Chinese. Instead of saying November 1, your phone will now display 11月1日 (shí yī yuè yī rì) .

This hack is great for reinforcing things like dates, times, everyday vocabulary and technology-related vocabulary.

Next, change Google’s default language to Chinese. This is a good way to practice words that are related to the internet and computers.

Changing your language to Chinese in  Google’s Account Settings means your basic Google text will change, so instead of “images” it will say 图片 (tú piàn) . It also means that your associated Gmail, YouTube and Google Play accounts will all be displayed in Chinese. Be prepared to do some trial-and-error clicking at first!

I also recommend joining Weibo . If you create an account on Weibo (a Twitter-like Chinese social media platform), you can participate in the chatter or just browse through other people’s conversations.

Write about what you had for breakfast, or your profound thoughts on the state of the world, in Chinese. And remember to engage! Practice your  vocabulary  and use the  slang words you’ve been itching to try. See if your breakfast post gets any comments. Respond. Respond to others’ posts as well.

Now that your devices are in Chinese, you can easily find tons of Chinese content from simple Google and YouTube searches.

A great option for listening practice is Chinese vlogs. Here are two fun creators:

• TiffwithMi   features Tiffanie and Michy from Singapore. You can watch them do different pranks and challenges, all in Mandarin, with subtitles in characters and English.
• Felix Chang , from Taiwan, documented his exchange student experience in the United States, so you can listen to someone speak in Chinese about things you may be familiar with—like snacks from Walmart. His Chinese videos also have characters and English subtitles.

Your next step is watching Chinese shows and Chinese movies . Whether it’s dramas or variety shows, you’ll be exposed to new Chinese characters and vocabulary.

While you should definitely pick the genre you enjoy most, I personally think that Chinese romantic comedies and light dramas make good learning tools. They often feature realistic (if overly dramatic) dialogue that’s pretty easy to follow along with.

Feeling overwhelmed by all the Chinese coming at you? That’s okay!

In that case, you can consider using an immersive learning program designed to help you consume native Chinese media like FluentU .

FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.

Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)

Try FluentU for FREE!

Exposing yourself to Chinese media is critical to your success in learning the language.

Not only is it great for improving your listening comprehension , it will also give you a deeper understanding of pronunciation and speaking rhythms. Watching Mandarin videos with subtitles will significantly improve your character recognition skills, too.

Now, you can slowly start to remove the visual component of your study materials. Your listening ability will be put to the test.

For instance, you can check out top Chinese pop songs on Spotify , or make a playlist of your favorites yourself. Choose the genre that best suits your taste to make sure you stay interested.

I do recommend watching the music video for each song you like, if there’s one available. Here are some classic Mandarin songs and their videos. You can find more on QQ Music and KuGou Music , which have comprehensive song lists.

Beyond music, there are audiobooks and podcasts in Chinese.

To make it easier, you can listen to an audiobook and read the book at the same time. I recommend starting with comics! There’s a wide range of topics and titles available on websites like Audible and Kobo , or websites geared toward kids, like Huayu World .

Podcasts are also excellent learning tools. There’s a great variety of topics, as well as numerous podcasts focused on teaching Chinese. 

Unless you’re a complete beginner, try to pick ones geared towards specific interests and Chinese culture. This will expose you to a wider range of vocabulary—words that aren’t normally covered in educational material.

For a start, try podcasts with short episodes. Stories like the ones on Chinese Folk Tales or Grandma’s Story in Chinese are especially fun and easy to listen to. A podcast like BBC News offers detailed updates on politics.

A major problem that many learners face when teaching themselves Chinese is speeding up word recognition. This method is a great way to improve this and something I still do to remember new words.

Every day, record ten Chinese words that you have recently learned, using the best pronunciation and tone possible. After each word, wait five seconds and then say the English meaning. Make a second recording of the opposites, with the English first and the Chinese five seconds later.

Play it back whenever you have time to study. The aim is to be able to remember the English meaning (or the Chinese pronunciation) before the answer is said five seconds later. Repeat this process until you can remember the words with 100% accuracy.

This will help you improve the pace of your Chinese. To keep up with real-world conversations, you’ll need to be able to recall words and form sentences at a fast rate. Practicing faster recall means you will be better prepared for the stresses of speaking Chinese with others.

Learning a language takes time.

But if you wish to become fluent, you have to stick to it and know that you’re making progress, even if you can’t always see it.

Remember that study plan you made in step two? Use it to keep you on track.

No matter how busy life gets—or if you don’t complete a single one of the goals you set for yourself— never stop practicing.

Running late in the morning? Put on some Chinese songs in the car and sing along. Waiting at the doctor’s office? Open an app and review some vocab.

A little language practice is always better than none at all.

Daily practice will help you remember what you’ve already learned, and encourage you to keep going. And the more you practice, the more it’ll become a part of your routine.

As often as you can, of course, you should commit to your planned study schedule —sitting down for about 30 minutes a day to learn.

Here are some additional tips for productive Chinese learning, so you can make the most of your study time:

• Keep all of your study materials in a quiet, undisturbed area.
• Start with picking up new words or phrases in pinyin. Practice their pronunciation out loud.
• Practice writing the characters for each word. You want to learn to associate the pinyin with its character and meaning .
• Review phrases and words from your last lesson to refresh your memory and work on any characters you were struggling with.

The key here is that once Chinese becomes a part of your life for good, you’ll see that the path to fluency really is in reach.

The most effective way is to live abroad in China or Taiwan for a good couple of months to immerse yourself in the language and culture. You could choose an intensive study program, or actually live and work there, like me.

But if that’s not feasible right now, there are many ways to learn effectively right where you are.

Chinese storybooks are a great way to learn the language, so don’t be shy about picking up children’s books . You can also find some great Mandarin textbooks out there.

Perhaps the best way to learn Chinese offline, however, is to make friends with Chinese people! That’s what I did and I can tell you that nothing substitutes face-to-face conversation. Is there a native-owned Chinese restaurant near you? Order in Chinese and chat with the staff!

As you can see, audio and video tools are abundant and often free online, and so are podcasts. Chinese television, movies and songs are phenomenal learning tools.

And if you can’t seem to find a Chinese community where you live, you could always make a friend online via a pen pal website and start chatting in Chinese. Perhaps you can upgrade to video chats before too long to still get that face-to-face practice in!

Chinese is one of the most challenging languages for English speakers because the two languages have little in common, but becoming proficient in Chinese is definitely achievable as long as you’re consistent and put in the work.

The most intimidating part of Chinese would be the tones as well as the characters. Still, you get used to the tones after a while, and the grammar is pretty straightforward!

If you’re serious about learning quickly, then you may want to read Hacking Chinese , which details methods and tricks that a Westerner has used to learn the language quickly.

You may have heard of people who have developed techniques that allow them to understand and converse in any foreign language within a short period of time—some as quickly as three months—but it took me a little longer to start having conversations in Chinese.

From my experience, even getting to the true intermediate level—the point at which you can comfortably have everyday conversations and talk about certain topics at length—will take longer than just a few months to get to.

In fact, according to the US Foreign Service Institute (FSI), Chinese is a Category IV language, meaning it takes longer to learn for English speakers. The estimate is 2,200 class hours for fluency (or at least 88 weeks of full-time study). 

And that’s a wrap! All these ways are sure-fire steps to learning Mandarin Chinese by yourself.

Remember to enjoy the journey!

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How to Write Your First Fiction Story in Chinese

by That's Mandarin | Aug 28, 2020

Writing in a second language is never easy, but when you decide to write in a complicated language such as Chinese, the challenge gets even bigger. Should that stop you? Of course not!

With a positive attitude, determination, and useful tips, you can achieve your dream of writing a fiction story. As long as you have a great story in mind and you want to transfer it on paper, you’ll be all set to start this incredible journey.

If you want to start writing your very first fiction story in Chinese, you should consider the following tips.

Improve Your Vocabulary through Reading

Photo by Chris Benson on Unsplash

Giving themselves to writing and experiencing incredibly written content is highly recommendable to writers. Even if they are not writing in a second language. When you do write in a language that is not your native, this advice gains more importance.

Reading Chinese literature will expand your vocabulary and help you to develop a more natural style of writing. Your mind will be exposed to how native speakers write, and with time, you’ll get accustomed to forming thoughts in a similar manner.

Try reading daily (even just a page or two) so that you can absorb the Chinese language consistently. If you come across a great new idiom , phrase, or word, write it down. Maybe it will be of use to you.

Create an Outline

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Writing the main points of your story (beginning, plot, conflicts, the end) will ensure that you don’t lose the essence of the story while writing.

It will bound to happen that you have to take breaks to search for phrases or words in the vocabulary. Making consistent breaks or trying to find a suitable writing style can lead to forgetting some relevant details of the story.

Whenever you have some compelling ideas, add them to your outline. You can quickly expand on them later during the writing process.

Put the Focus on Writing in the First Draft

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash  

Express your thoughts first and worry about correcting grammar later. No one’s first draft is perfect, so don’t put too much pressure on it.

Your first draft should be exactly that – a draft. That’s why the purpose of that draft should be to present your story even if it looks like a beautiful creative mess.

Putting too much focus on Chinese grammar can only get you frustrated and evoke doubts. All those mistakes can easily be corrected. Your initial writing journey should put the spotlight on your creative energy.

Let a Native Speaker Edit Your Work

Photo by Brad Neathery on Unsplash

When the writer isn’t native, finding an editor who is is a must. You might be a creative genius, but you will need someone who can make the corrections properly.

Lin Addison, a freelance writer and editor at BestWritingAdvisor explained why is it so vital that you work with a native editor when writing in your second language:

“Native speakers will spot any inconsistencies in your writing. They’ll notice if some grammatically correct sentences aren’t typically used in everyday conversation. Having a native speaker by your side will make up for any information you might not have ,” said Lin.

Write Down Your Errors

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The best way to learn is from your own mistakes. Write grammar errors in a separate document and revise them from time to time. This will help you not to make the same mistakes.

You don’t have to preoccupy yourself with reviewing these mistakes regularly. Simply writing it down will help you embed them into your memory more permanently.

When you write something down, your mind gives it more importance compared to when you hear or read something. Therefore, this can be a handy trick.

Keep a Vocabulary by Your Side

Photo by chris liu on Unsplash

Whenever you get stuck, use your vocabulary app to find the words you are looking for instantly. Don’t push yourself to remember it all when you have digital tools to help you.

Luckily, you don’t have to carry around an old-fashioned dictionary. There are lots of great apps that can serve the same purpose, just much faster and more applicable.

If you get a shot of inspiration in the park, you won’t have to worry about writing without a dictionary. The dictionary will always be by your side.

Don’t Try to Complicate It

Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash

Forcing complex sentences just to make your writing seem more “native” can hurt your writing. Better opt for a simple writing style.

Remember that the most important thing is to tell your story and be unique. Let the words come out on the paper just as they form in your mind. That raw creativity is the most beautiful form of it.

In Conclusion

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

Nothing should stop you from making your dream come true and writing your very own fiction story in Chinese. Language is never an obstacle if you are willing to work hard enough and do your best.

Hopefully, these tips can help you make this writing adventure a little less troublesome. Be led by your creativity and combine that with unbreakable willpower and your story won’t be anything less but amazing.

by  Dorian Martin

Dorian Martin  is a writer, editor, and proofreader. Even though he studied computer science, his true passion is fiction writing. Besides being a content marketing specialist and running his personal blog, Dorian writes fiction stories. Currently, Dorian works as a senior writer at an  essay writing service  where he helps students perfect their  research papers online . Dorian believes that writing fiction helps with expressing the purest form of creativity in writing.

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