Author Archive | Alan Park

How to Speak Chinese Fluently: Top Tips for Learners of Any Level

Chinese people can’t tell that I’m not Chinese. I don’t have a natural talent for languages. I was an average student who, in first-term classes, struggled with pinyin and tones along with everyone else. What I do have is a …

5 Basic Chinese Sentence Structures to Ease You into Grammar

One of the comforts of Chinese grammar is the straightforward and logical sentence patterns. And thankfully, many of them are based on the formula you already know, such as the ever-so-reliable SVO structure. Check out these five really simple Chinese …

200+ Essential Chinese Words and Phrases Used in Daily Life (with Audio and Free PDF)

Focus on the most common Chinese words, and you’ll be able to get a solid foundation in the language. You’ll also navigate conversations faster and get better at handling different situations. This post will take you through 212 of the …

57 Best Chinese Movies of All Time [Fresh for 2024]

From martial arts action movies to offbeat comedies, Chinese movies are some of the world’s best cinema. And they’re the kind of entertainment that immerses you in the language and culture at the same time, which is a bonus for …

10 Famous Chinese Actors You Oughta Know, Plus Their Most Iconic Movies

With hit movies like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “In the Mood for Love,” Chinese actors have earned fans from all over the world. In fact, many of them are household names already, with a track …

The Chinese Grammar Structures List for Beginners: 13 Patterns to Get You Started

Basic Chinese sentence structure follows the Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) pattern. For example, we say 我爱你 (wǒ ài nǐ) — I love you in Chinese with the same sentence structure we would in English. Although basic Chinese grammar is often described as …

14 Ways to Say Hello in Chinese Like Native Speakers Do

Do you know that awkward moment that every Chinese learner experiences? When you realize that “nǐ hǎo” is actually not how native speakers say hello? If you didn’t know that, then this post is for you: Now you’ll be …

What Is Pinyin? The Complete Beginner’s Guide

I’ll let you in on a secret. Did you know you can learn to speak fluent Chinese without ever learning a single Chinese character? It’s all thanks to (hàn yǔ pīn yīn) — Hanyu pinyin, or simply — pinyin. In …

34 Interesting Chinese Idioms (Chengyu) to Improve Your Mandarin Fluency

Nothing beats the impact of a Chinese idiom delivered with precision. They say brevity is the soul of wit, after all, and those four-character phrases sure are concise. So while it isn’t strictly necessary to learn idioms as you learn …

14 Best Ways to Say Goodbye in Chinese for Any Occasion

While 再见 (zài jiàn) is the classic translation of “goodbye” in Chinese, it’s not the only way to bid others farewell. Just as there are multiple ways to say “hello” in Chinese, you can sound more advanced by using …