No Nonsense Newbie Tips: 会 vs. 能

After tackling 知道 vs 认识 and 觉得 vs 想, lets continue with a distinction a few readers have written inquiring about: 会 vs. 能.

Like “to know” and “to think” before it, “can” or “able” is an English word …

No Nonsense Newbie Tips:想 vs. 觉得

In the next installment of our No Nonsense Newbie Tips, lets examine another important distinction long giving Chinese learners grief.

Like “I know“, “I think” is one of the very first phrases learned when studying a foreign language…

No Nonsense Newbie Tips: 知道 vs 认识

For the first in our series No Nonsense Newbie Tips, let’s tackle the particularly thorny issue of 知道 (zhīdào) versus 认识 (rènshi). Both approximately hover around the English “to know”, but there are very important differences between the two…

By Alan Park

Presenting… Our New FluentU Demo Video!

We’re proud to present our new FluentU demo video!

(If you are having trouble watching the video above, then you can watch it here.)

We made FluentU to improve on traditional tools for language learning, which too often are …

By Alan Park

How to Say “Funny” in Chinese: 6 Common Words

There are several ways to say “funny” in Chinese. You have 好笑, 可笑,  幽默—and a few more, each with its own specific usage.

Find out all the common words that all mean “funny” in Chinese, with examples so you’ll …

By Alan Park

Chinese Words for “Fake”: 山寨 vs 盗版 vs 假冒

Eskimos have hundreds of words for “snow.”

Actually, that’s a widespread misconception. 

But what about Chinese words for “fake”? Just off the top of our heads here, you have 7:

山寨 (shān zhài)

假冒 (jiǎ mào)

盗版 (dào bǎn)

高仿 …

By Megan Eaves

Chinese Slang for “Newbie”

Whether you’re brand new to Chinese or not, you”ll find use for today’s Chinese slang word: 菜鸟 (càiniǎo) – “newbie”.

This very popular word, which also means “rookie”, refers to someone that is new or inexperienced at something. The word …