You would need to say: Tā hěn měi. In English that translates to “She is ‘very’ beautiful” but in Chinese the hěn has a lighter meaning so it’s needed for this sentence to make any sense.
It depends on the context. For “I’m very good” you don’t use the shi4 and just literally say “I very good”. But if you were saying “I’m American” you would need the shi4 in there.
You’ll get the feel as you see more examples in later lessons.
I’m very curious to find out what: Holland a.k.a The Netherlands is and ‘I’m Dutch’ (not to be mistaken with I am Deutsch…;-) that always seems to be tricky…;-)
I’m happy to say that the Vocabulary section above has been updated with all the countries you asked for with Simplified, Traditional characters and Audio! So pick your favorite country and learn how to pronounce it. These countries are also now part of the Word-bank.
I’m revisiting these erlier lessons and realize that I don’t know my contry name in chinese. If I would like to say “I am from Norway” will it be in this way then? In this exampel but here you don’t use “guó =国” for country
wǒ láizì nuówēi should be like this in chinese 我来自挪威 or could I also say it in this way “wǒ shì cóng nuówēi = 我是从挪威”
Philippines is Fèilǜbīn in Mandarin. To learn how to say it, click on the Vocabulary link above to hear the pronunciation of many countries. To say someone is Filipino, you just add a rén at the end so a Filipino would be a Fèilǜbīnrén.
Dear Adam, Thanks indeed for your website, it is immense help. Would you please tell us how to say – India, Indian, Yemen, Yemeni. Best Regards Josemon.
If you go to the Vocabulary page above, and click on “Next” a couple of times in the vocabulary section, you will see India translated as Yìndù. A person from India then becomes an Yìndùrén.
Similarly, Yemen is Yěmén while a Yemeni would be Yěménrén
Russia is Éluósī. You may also hear it as Éguó. If you click on the Vocabulary link above, and click on Next a couple of times, you will see both versions in the Supplementary vocabulary (red).
For a Russian person, just add rén giving Éluósīrén or Éguórén.
Hieee,,,, i love this site…. ! I had been looking for chinese learning classes in my country [India] . The only classes held here are in the embassy. But then I found this site. :D..
How would you say Falkland Islands, Falkland Islander and Kelper (this last name comes from the enormous amount of sea kelp surrounding the Islands)? xie xie.
Falkland Islands would be Fúkèlán qúndǎo (福克兰群岛 / 福克蘭群島), which literally means “Falkland group of islands.” So a Falkland Islander would be a Fúkèlán qúndǎorén.
As for Kelper, assuming the Chinese person you were talking to understood the context, it might be Hǎidàirén (海带人/海帶人) which literally means “Kelp person.”
Hi,
I’m having trouble in the sentence-building section. I can’t seem to drag the words into the right spot ; they refuse to stay there. What can I do?
Hi again,
Don’t need an answer anymore as I’ve figured out the problem. Just needed to wait for the boxes to move ( patience !) and make room for the new word before letting go of the mouse. Thanks for creating such a great website for learning Chinese.
Michelle
Adam I Enjoy learning chinese from your website. But If I were to take my own notes how can I then implement the diferent tones in the spelling, with a normal keyboard?
Also I would like to ask how I wold say: “I am Danish I come from Denmark”
How would you say Argentine Republic / Argentina and Argentinian? I’ve been practising with these podcasts and it’s really smooth and easy, congrats for the site.
I know I already asked this in a long time before but could you please tell me how to say and write Angola in chinese ?
And could you please add it to the list?
Sorry Adam, I already saw my comment and your answer.
But, still, could you add it on the list?? I feel bad if you do not add my country to the list.
How would you feel if your country was not on the list?
Congratulations on completing the course! After lesson 420, I recommend you use the newclo.com website. There are additional features there such as the built-in dictionary, My Articles and My Vocabulary section. The idea is that you can look for articles and even other podcasts on the internet, add them to your section and add the new vocabulary from them. This way you can continue your learning using our tools but using content that interests you. Let me know if you find these tools useful.
I find these lessons excellent! However, I am having trouble following the increased speed of the stroke order on the vocabulary page (英 and onwards). Is there a way to slow it down? Yet I don’t mind a gradual increase in speed as the lesson no. progresses. Other than that, I find these lessons very helpful.
hi! i love your podcasts. how do you say norway or norwegian? and is it like canada with a chinese word who resembles the english word or does it have a meaning? c:
There are actually two ways to say New Zealand depending on who you’re talking to:
Xīnxīlán (新西兰) for someone in China and Niǔxīlán (紐西蘭) for someone in Taiwan.
Thanks so much! and would Nepali (the language) be Níbóěrwén?
This is such a great learning facility! Is there a part of the premium program that explains the parts of the characters because I’ve noticed that some look like two characters put together and I was wondering what each individual part meant.
Yes that’s correct. We do indeed have a premium section on new characters. Here is an example: http://www.chinesetrack.com/lesson-003-pinyin If you click on the “New Characters” link in the middle, you can see the stroke order of all new characters taught in each lesson. You can also click on a character to find its meaning and see what other words in the course it occurs in.
Hi, I’m a little disappointed because the front page said that these lessons were taught in Taiwanese mandarin, and the dialect I’m hearing sounds like Beijinghua. I’m looking to learn mandarin with a Taiwanese accent so I thought this website was the miracle I was looking for :/
The speakers we use are all indeed from Taiwan, so definitely no Beijinghua here. We do mention erhua in a couple of lessons, but in general we try to keep a neutral stance (which means trying to avoid Taiwanese Mandarin as well).
Hi,
I love all of the pdf files you include! Is there anyway to modify the character practice pdfs to include stroke order? That’s really important, isn’t it?
Thanks for a really great beginner site though!
Yes, stroke order is crucial! We show the animated stroke order on the web site in the New Characters section of each lesson. The idea is to refer to that initially, then try practicing on your own using the PDF.
If you follow this approach for every lesson you should find yourself not having to refer to the stroke order animations in later lessons, as you’ll slowly figure out the rules on your own. So we’d rather put them separate from the PDFs, so you only have to refer to them if necessary.
Keep sending us such feedback though, as it’s very useful to us!
Stroke order is important because when characters were first used, people used paintbrushes to write them. So the character looked very different if you used the wrong brush stroke order.
In this day and age, even when writing with pen, native speakers can tell by looking at your characters whether you used the proper stroke order or not.
I was just reading the character worksheet (all characters) and notices you had put 家and 加 what is the difference between the two….when would you use each of them? Is one of them specifically for da jia hao? and the other only used in a ‘family’ context? Thanks.
A quick question…the pinyin jia seems to be used for both “family” and the verb “to add”. Pronounced the same, but different characters. Is this correct?
This isn’t Chinese-related, but I thought I should point it out anyway… England & Britain aren’t interchangeable, England is the country of England; Britain is the countries of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. ‘Great Britain’ and ‘United Kingdom’ ARE interchangeable, however. Sorry to be a pedant!
Actually, even violetcloutman’s definition leaves something to be desired. (Great) Britain strictly does not include any part of Ireland, and so it only covers Scotland, England and Wales. The official title of the UK is “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. Of course, just to confuse things, many people from Northern Ireland like to refer to themselves as “British”.
大家好！I am an Italian living in The Netherlands and learning Chinese! 😉 I have a question: what if we’d translate “The Low Lands” in Chinese instead of transliterating the WRONG “Holland” (two tiny but rich Provinces in NL)? Would it sound something like 低国？
Black = individual characters
Purple = individual characters that also function as words on their own
Green = multi character words from current lesson
Red = supplementary vocabulary that wasn’t taught in the lesson
In general, you should focus on the purple and green ones. Study the black and red for a deeper understanding
How do you say Colombia in Mandarin?
Gēlúnbǐyà (哥伦比亚)
da jia hao?
How do you say Israel in Chinese?
xie xie 😉
Yǐsèliè (以色列)
Ni hao.
How do you say Mexico?
xie xie
Mòxīgē (墨西哥). We love this by the way – keep them coming!
How would you say Brazil and Portugal?
Brazil = Bāxī (巴西)
Portugal = Pútáoyá (葡萄牙)
By the way, we’re adding all the countries you request to the Premium notes which are available for everyone to see at: http://www.chinesetrack.com/lesson-003-pinyin
Scroll down to the bottom to see the list of countries. If your country is not there, request for it here.
Thanks for listening!
How would you say Nicaragua and Managua?
Nicaragua = Níjiālāguā (尼加拉瓜)
Managua I believe is the capital city. Oh dear, I’ll need help on that one. Anyone out there know?
How would you say Germany (Deutschland) and Cologne (Köln)
Germany is already in the Premium list mentioned above, but I’ll list it again here:
Germany: Déguó (德国) Interestingly enough, the Chinese version is a transliteration of the German name “Deutschland:!
Cologne: Kēlóng (科隆)
How do you say Vietnamese?
[This is late, gonna be a while before i can catch up!!]
Thank you!! ^__^
Vietnam: Yuènán (越南)
Vietnamese person: Yuènánrén (越南人)
Nǐ hǎo
How do you say:
I am from Wales
I am Welsh
xiè xie
zài jiàn
Hi Simon,
1. Wǒ cóng Wēiěrshì(威尔士) lái.
2. Wǒ shì Wēiěrshìrén.
-Adam
For Amy: Managua is Mǎnàguā / 马那瓜 / 馬那瓜
Mǎnàguā seems perfectly transliterated, but if it were translated literally, my guess is that it would be something like: Horse that claws
Hey , how do you say peruvian in chinese
thanks, ciao
Hi Rodrigo,
Peru is Bìlǔ (秘鲁) so a Peruvian person would be a Bìlǔrén.
Would you say “She/he is beautiful” by:
Tā shì Měi
?
Hi Malcolm
You would need to say: Tā hěn měi. In English that translates to “She is ‘very’ beautiful” but in Chinese the hěn has a lighter meaning so it’s needed for this sentence to make any sense.
Does hen3 just replace shi4 instead adding to it?
It depends on the context. For “I’m very good” you don’t use the shi4 and just literally say “I very good”. But if you were saying “I’m American” you would need the shi4 in there.
You’ll get the feel as you see more examples in later lessons.
how do you say ecuador
Hi Ricky,
That would be Èguāduōěr (厄瓜多尔)
Ni hao everyone,
I’m very curious to find out what: Holland a.k.a The Netherlands is and ‘I’m Dutch’ (not to be mistaken with I am Deutsch…;-) that always seems to be tricky…;-)
Xie Xie!
Catherine
Hi Catherine,
The Netherlands in Chinese is He2lan2 (荷兰). I’ve added it to the Vocabulary section above. So to say “I’m Dutch” you’d say Wo3 shi4 He2lan2ren2.
-Adam
Hi everyone
I really like your podcast. Thank you so much for offering it. I hope I can use my knowledge when I will travel to Asia this summer.
Now my “country” question: Could you tell me how ‘Switzerland’ is written in Mandarin?
Have a nice weekend
Chris
Hi Chris,
Switzerland is Ruìshì (瑞士). Thanks for listening!
-Adam
I’m happy to say that the Vocabulary section above has been updated with all the countries you asked for with Simplified, Traditional characters and Audio! So pick your favorite country and learn how to pronounce it. These countries are also now part of the Word-bank.
你好!
I’m revisiting these erlier lessons and realize that I don’t know my contry name in chinese. If I would like to say “I am from Norway” will it be in this way then? In this exampel but here you don’t use “guó =国” for country
wǒ láizì nuówēi should be like this in chinese 我来自挪威 or could I also say it in this way “wǒ shì cóng nuówēi = 我是从挪威”
I look forward to your answer
regards Haakan
Hi Haakan.
As you noted, there are a couple of ways to say it.
1. Wǒ láizì Nuówēi.
2. Wǒ cóng Nuówēi lái.
In lesson 13, I go over the question and answer format for the #2 format.
Hope that helps!
-Adam
ni hao!
how do you say Filipino/Philippines in mandarin?
xie xie ni! 😀
Hello KC,
Philippines is Fèilǜbīn in Mandarin. To learn how to say it, click on the Vocabulary link above to hear the pronunciation of many countries. To say someone is Filipino, you just add a rén at the end so a Filipino would be a Fèilǜbīnrén.
Hello, how would you say Lithuania?
Hello Vygandas,
That would be: Lì táo wǎn
Ni hao!
How is “Poland” and “Polish” in Chinese
Xiexie ni
Zaijian
Hello Jacek,
Poland is Bōlán (波兰 / 波蘭)
A Polish person is Bōlánrén while the Polish language would be Bōlányǔ.
Ni hao
Xiexie ni, but how to pronounce “-nyu”?
Zaijian
The yǔ refers to “language” so it actually becomes “Bōlán yǔ”
Ni hao
Xiexie ni
Zaijian
Hi!
How would you say Sweden and Swedish?
Hi Anna,
Sweden = Ruìdiǎn (瑞典)
Swedish person = Ruìdiǎnrén (瑞典人)
Swedish language = Ruìdiǎnyǔ (瑞典语 / 瑞典語)
ni hao Adam!
nice work you have over here! im really excited of been learning chinese.
im from Chile, how do you say that?
Xiexie ni
Ale
Hi Alejandra,
Chile is Zhìlì (智利)
Hello. Thank you for so good side. Please help me with name and prononcation of my country. Kyrghyz Republic. Regards
Hi Lisa,
Kyrghyz Republic would be Jíěrjísī Gònghéguó (吉尔吉斯共和国/吉爾吉斯共和國) where Gònghéguó means “Republic”
Hey Adam,
how do you say Greece?
Xiexie ni
Steli
Hi Steli, Greece is Xīlà (希腊 / 希臘) I have added it to the Vocabulary page above.
How do you say Chicago and Indiana?
Hi Jill,
Chicago= Zhījiāgē (芝加哥)
Indiana = Yìndìānnà (印地安纳 / 印地安納)
Hi Adam, great resource, perfect for absolute beginner like me. I’m from Estonia, Tallinn – how do you say Estonia in Chinese?
Hello Pavel and welcome!
Estonia is Àishāníyà (爱沙尼亚 / 愛沙尼亞)
Hi Adam,
Just wondering how you say ‘Ireland’ and ‘Irish’ in Mandarin.
Looking forward to catching up with the podcasts… in time!
R
Hello Ronan,
Ireland would be Àiěrlán (爱尔兰). To say Irish (as in the language), you just add a yǔ (语) at the end giving us Àiěrlányǔ (爱尔兰语).
Good luck and take your time going through the lessons!
Dear Adam, Thanks indeed for your website, it is immense help. Would you please tell us how to say – India, Indian, Yemen, Yemeni. Best Regards Josemon.
Hello Josemon,
If you go to the Vocabulary page above, and click on “Next” a couple of times in the vocabulary section, you will see India translated as Yìndù. A person from India then becomes an Yìndùrén.
Similarly, Yemen is Yěmén while a Yemeni would be Yěménrén
Hope that helps!
ni hao
How do you say Morrocan ?
xiexie
Hi Hamza,
Morocco is Móluògē, while a Moroccan would be Móluògērén
Dàjiā hǎo!
I’m Ksenia.
No one seems to mention my beautiful country Russia before.
So, how do you say Russia and Russian in chinese?
Xièxiè.
Hi Ksenia,
Russia is Éluósī. You may also hear it as Éguó. If you click on the Vocabulary link above, and click on Next a couple of times, you will see both versions in the Supplementary vocabulary (red).
For a Russian person, just add rén giving Éluósīrén or Éguórén.
Thanks!
Dàjiā hǎo!
Cuba 用 汉 语 怎 么 说？ Cuba yòng Hànyǔ zěnme shuō?
多 谢 。Duō xiè.
Hello Kevin,
Cuba is Gǔbā (古巴)
Welcome!
Hi there!
I would like to know how to say Spain ans also I´m spanish.
Thanks a lot!
Hi Isabel,
Spain is “Xībānyá”
“I am Spanish” would be “Wǒ shì Xībānyárén”
Good luck!
Hieee,,,, i love this site…. ! I had been looking for chinese learning classes in my country [India] . The only classes held here are in the embassy. But then I found this site. :D..
so,,umm,,, How do you say ‘India’ and ‘Indian’ ?
Hi Anushka,
India is Yìndù (印度) while an Indian person would be an Yìndùrén （印度人）. Thanks for listening!
How would you say Falkland Islands, Falkland Islander and Kelper (this last name comes from the enormous amount of sea kelp surrounding the Islands)? xie xie.
Hi Pamela,
Wow you’re really testing us here!
Falkland Islands would be Fúkèlán qúndǎo (福克兰群岛 / 福克蘭群島), which literally means “Falkland group of islands.” So a Falkland Islander would be a Fúkèlán qúndǎorén.
As for Kelper, assuming the Chinese person you were talking to understood the context, it might be Hǎidàirén (海带人/海帶人) which literally means “Kelp person.”
Hi Adam,
I would be grateful if you could tell me how to say that I come from Hungary
Budapest in Chineese.
Thanks,
Andrea
Hi Andrea,
Hungary is Xiōngyálì (匈牙利) while Budapest is Bùdápèisī (布达佩斯 / 布達佩斯).
Good luck!
Hi Adam,
would you please send me how to say Czech Republic and Czech in Chinese.
Many thanks,
Jan
Hi Jan,
The Czech country is Jiékè. If you want to specify the Czech Republic, you can say Jiékè gònghéguó (where the latter refers to “republic”).
The Czech language would be Jiékèyǔ.
Hi,
I’m having trouble in the sentence-building section. I can’t seem to drag the words into the right spot ; they refuse to stay there. What can I do?
Hi again,
Don’t need an answer anymore as I’ve figured out the problem. Just needed to wait for the boxes to move ( patience !) and make room for the new word before letting go of the mouse. Thanks for creating such a great website for learning Chinese.
Michelle
Ah, thanks Michelle!
Shouldn’t the pinyin for France be Fǎguó / Fàguó instead of Fāguó / Fàguó?
Ni Hao
Adam I Enjoy learning chinese from your website. But If I were to take my own notes how can I then implement the diferent tones in the spelling, with a normal keyboard?
Also I would like to ask how I wold say: “I am Danish I come from Denmark”
Xie Xie
Hi Ann,
Great to have you here! If you want to add tone marks to your words, you can use our pinyin tone converter on this page: http://www.chinesetrack.com/pinyin-conversion-tool
It will convert ni3 hao3 into nǐ hǎo.
I am Danish. I come from Denmark:
Wǒ shì Dānmàirén. Wǒ cóng Dānmài lái.
Let me know if you need anything else.
Ni Hao Adam,
How would you say Argentine Republic / Argentina and Argentinian? I’ve been practising with these podcasts and it’s really smooth and easy, congrats for the site.
Xiexie,
Bibiana
Hi Bibiana,
Argentina is Āgēntíng (阿根廷), while and Argentinian would be an Āgēntíngrén (阿根廷人)
Ni Hao
Wo shi Claudia
i would like to know how do you say Angola in Chinese
and how is written
also i would like to know African continent and that is all
Love both of you … thanks for having this in the internet
Zaijian
Hi Claudia,
Angola is Āngēlā (安哥拉).
Africa is Fēizhōu (非洲).
Thanks for listening!
Hiya!
I was wondering how you would say South Africa in Chinese.
Xiexie,
Andrea
Hi Andrea,
That would be Nánfēi (南非)
We actually do a whole lesson on South Africa later in the course!:
http://www.chinesetrack.com/2009/08/14/clo_376-south-africa/
Hi!
How do you say I’m from northern Italy?
Xie Xie
Max
Hi Max,
That would be:
Wǒ shì Yìdàlì běi bù de rén. (I am Italy Northern person).
zao shang hao 🙂 …
How can I say I’m from Saudi Arabia ?
Xiexie ni …
Hi HoOoMi,
You can say: Wǒ shì Shāwūdì Ālābó de rén.
Hi,
How do you say Jamaica in Chinese?
Xiexie ni
Hi Theresa,
That would be Yámǎijiā (牙买加/牙買加).
I know I already asked this in a long time before but could you please tell me how to say and write Angola in chinese ?
And could you please add it to the list?
Sorry Adam, I already saw my comment and your answer.
But, still, could you add it on the list?? I feel bad if you do not add my country to the list.
How would you feel if your country was not on the list?
Hi Claudia,
Sorry – it took a while, but we’ve added it now. 🙂
What about St Vincent and the Grenadines?
Hi JJ,
That would be:
Shèng Wénsēn hé Gélínnàdīng
(圣文森和格林纳丁 / 聖文森和格林納丁)
Hello very interesting! How do you Say Dominican Republic in chinese? Thanks
Hi Manuel,
That would be: Duōmǐníjiā Gònghéguó (多米尼加 共和国). It can also be shortened to just “Dominican” or Duōmǐníjiā
Thank you very much Adam enjoying your site tremendously great work….
In the Notes section (simplified version) it’s written:
“E.g. Yìndù 印度人India becomes Yìndùrén 印度人”
I guess the first 人 shouldn’t really be there…
Thanks Luís – fixed now.
Ni hao.
How do you say Trinidad and Tobago in Chinese?
Xie Xie.
Hi Faith,
Welcome to CLO! Trinidad and Tobago would be Tèlìnídá hé Duōbāgē (特立尼达和多巴哥 / 特立尼達和多巴哥)
Thank You so much Adam, I love this site 🙂 Think i’m going to go Premium 🙂
Ni hao!!
I think this web site is excellent.
But I have almost finished till lesson 420.
When could you publish the next lesson?
Hi Jun,
Congratulations on completing the course! After lesson 420, I recommend you use the newclo.com website. There are additional features there such as the built-in dictionary, My Articles and My Vocabulary section. The idea is that you can look for articles and even other podcasts on the internet, add them to your section and add the new vocabulary from them. This way you can continue your learning using our tools but using content that interests you. Let me know if you find these tools useful.
Adam
你好！
I find these lessons excellent! However, I am having trouble following the increased speed of the stroke order on the vocabulary page (英 and onwards). Is there a way to slow it down? Yet I don’t mind a gradual increase in speed as the lesson no. progresses. Other than that, I find these lessons very helpful.
谢谢你！
你好 Peacock! Thanks for the feedback – can you try out the new version of the site: http://www.newclo.com and see if the speed is also too fast there?
hi! i love your podcasts. how do you say norway or norwegian? and is it like canada with a chinese word who resembles the english word or does it have a meaning? c:
Hi Ellen! It’s Nuówēi (挪威) which is a transliteration like Canada. Norwegian would then be Nuówēirén.
Ni3 Hao3
How do you say New Zealand? and I have friends from Nepal too. How do you say Nepal?
Xie4xie ni3
Hi Hayley,
There are actually two ways to say New Zealand depending on who you’re talking to:
Xīnxīlán (新西兰) for someone in China and Niǔxīlán (紐西蘭) for someone in Taiwan.
Nepal would be Níbóěr (尼泊尔 / 尼泊爾)
Enjoy!
Thanks so much! and would Nepali (the language) be Níbóěrwén?
This is such a great learning facility! Is there a part of the premium program that explains the parts of the characters because I’ve noticed that some look like two characters put together and I was wondering what each individual part meant.
Xièxie
Hi Hayley,
Yes that’s correct. We do indeed have a premium section on new characters. Here is an example: http://www.chinesetrack.com/lesson-003-pinyin If you click on the “New Characters” link in the middle, you can see the stroke order of all new characters taught in each lesson. You can also click on a character to find its meaning and see what other words in the course it occurs in.
Enjoy!
hi … how will i say im half filipino and half chinese? thank you…
Hi Juno,
You can say: wǒ shì yībàn Fēilǜbīnrén, yībàn Zhōnggúorén.
Hi there
The flashcard test for lesson 3 doesn’t seem to be working properly. It stalls when it gets to the word “ren”.
Cheers
Hi Vicki,
Thanks – should be working now.
Hi, I’m a little disappointed because the front page said that these lessons were taught in Taiwanese mandarin, and the dialect I’m hearing sounds like Beijinghua. I’m looking to learn mandarin with a Taiwanese accent so I thought this website was the miracle I was looking for :/
Hi Marilyn,
The speakers we use are all indeed from Taiwan, so definitely no Beijinghua here. We do mention erhua in a couple of lessons, but in general we try to keep a neutral stance (which means trying to avoid Taiwanese Mandarin as well).
Hi,
I love all of the pdf files you include! Is there anyway to modify the character practice pdfs to include stroke order? That’s really important, isn’t it?
Thanks for a really great beginner site though!
🙂
Hi Christine,
Yes, stroke order is crucial! We show the animated stroke order on the web site in the New Characters section of each lesson. The idea is to refer to that initially, then try practicing on your own using the PDF.
If you follow this approach for every lesson you should find yourself not having to refer to the stroke order animations in later lessons, as you’ll slowly figure out the rules on your own. So we’d rather put them separate from the PDFs, so you only have to refer to them if necessary.
Keep sending us such feedback though, as it’s very useful to us!
Why is stroke order so important?
Stroke order is important because when characters were first used, people used paintbrushes to write them. So the character looked very different if you used the wrong brush stroke order.
In this day and age, even when writing with pen, native speakers can tell by looking at your characters whether you used the proper stroke order or not.
I was just reading the character worksheet (all characters) and notices you had put 家and 加 what is the difference between the two….when would you use each of them? Is one of them specifically for da jia hao? and the other only used in a ‘family’ context? Thanks.
Hi Christine,
You are correct that 家 is from dajia hao. The other 加 comes from the word for Canada: Jianada.
Thanks so much!
Hello, I didn’t find the name of my country on vocabulary list. So what is in Chinese Azerbaijan? Thanks in advance.
Hi Vadim,
That would be Āsàibàijiāng (阿塞拜疆). Thanks!
Hello! How do you say Venezuela? Thanks!
Hi Jolie,
That would be: Wěinèiruìlā (委内瑞拉 / 委內瑞拉)
Hello,
A quick question…the pinyin jia seems to be used for both “family” and the verb “to add”. Pronounced the same, but different characters. Is this correct?
Thanks,
Matthew
Hi Matthew,
That is correct. There’s a lot of that in Chinese (same sound, different characters).
Hi How would in say I am Australian.
XieXie
Hi Ted,
That would be “Wǒ shi Àozhōurén”
how do I check how to write the characters?
Hi there,
For actual character handwriting, you would need to check on your own.
However we do have a Typing Test activity to test your typing ability.
Hi Adam! How you say Moldova and Romania in mandarine? Xiexie ni! Uliana.
Moldova is Móěrduōwǎ (摩尔多瓦 / 摩爾多瓦)
Romania is Luómǎníyà (罗马尼亚 / 羅馬尼亞)
This isn’t Chinese-related, but I thought I should point it out anyway… England & Britain aren’t interchangeable, England is the country of England; Britain is the countries of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. ‘Great Britain’ and ‘United Kingdom’ ARE interchangeable, however. Sorry to be a pedant!
Good to know, thanks!
UK includes Northern Ireland as well; GB does not (just Wales, Scotland and England)
Good to know, thanks!
Actually, even violetcloutman’s definition leaves something to be desired. (Great) Britain strictly does not include any part of Ireland, and so it only covers Scotland, England and Wales. The official title of the UK is “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. Of course, just to confuse things, many people from Northern Ireland like to refer to themselves as “British”.
How do you say Costa Rica?
Hi there,
It’s Gēsīdá Líjiā 哥斯达黎加 (China) 哥斯大黎加 (Taiwan).
Hello. In this lesson, France is written with the wrong tone (fa is marked 4th tone, instead of 3rd).
Thanks – should be fixed now.
大家好！I am an Italian living in The Netherlands and learning Chinese! 😉 I have a question: what if we’d translate “The Low Lands” in Chinese instead of transliterating the WRONG “Holland” (two tiny but rich Provinces in NL)? Would it sound something like 低国？
Possibly, but at the end of the day, you’d have to use the term understood by other Chinese.
Hey there!
What do the different colours in the vocabulary lists mean? Some words are red, some are green, others are purple?
Black = individual characters
Purple = individual characters that also function as words on their own
Green = multi character words from current lesson
Red = supplementary vocabulary that wasn’t taught in the lesson
In general, you should focus on the purple and green ones. Study the black and red for a deeper understanding
hi there how do you say iran in chinese ?
That would be Yīlǎng (伊朗)
Ni hao. How do you say Tanzania in Chinese?
That would be Tǎnsāngníyà (坦桑尼亚 / 坦桑尼亞)