Author Archive | katrinatang

What could be simpler than the little verb “to be”?

A lot, as it turns out.

The good news is that the Chinese verb for “to be,” 是 (shì), isn’t irregular like it is in so many European …

Chinese grammar has a way of lulling you into a false sense of security.

No verb conjugation?

No singulars or plurals?

No gender?

Subject-verb-object word order?

Chinese grammar? Easy peasy.

That is, until you’ve built up a solid base of …

You saw the title and you’re already thinking, “hold up.”

Aren’t kids songs a bit, well, juvenile?

Not quite relevant to the life of your typical Chinese student?

Actually, I’d argue it’s the other way around.

Why Learn Mandarin

Are you tired of your usual methods of studying Chinese—too many movies, TV shows and pop songs?

Looking for something fresh that will push your Chinese to the next level as you surf the internet?

Or perhaps you’re …

I heard it again just the other day:

“I want to learn some Chinese before I visit China, but I just don’t think I can learn a tone language.”

Not one day later, I read on a local Chinese …