Mandarin

A 2021 Review of Youdao’s Language Translator Device Multilingual Dictionary Pen

Youdao's Dictionary Pen 3 is the most modern iteration of a smart way to increase your Mandarin learning. When I…

A Review of Zhou Xiaogeng’s “Essentials of Chinese Lexicology”

Zhou Xiaogeng's Essentials of Chinese Lexicology is a great vocabulary book for learning Mandarin. It focuses primarily on the rules…

Learning Chinese: Using the HSK

Learning Chinese: Using the HSKLearning Chinese: Using the HSK

The Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (汉语水平考试, HSK) is a standard language test in the PRC for testing levels of standard Mandarin.…

A Review of Paul Rouzer’s: A New Primer of Literary Chinese

Paul Rouzer's A New Primer of Literary Chinese is pretty much the best book of its class that I've seen.…

Common Chengyu – Part 2

I had previously written about a couple common Chengyu (成语) and decided to follow up with some more which I…

Common Chengyu – Part 1

What Are Chengyu? Chengyu (成语 – Cheng2 yu3) are fixed phrases used in Chinese which typically (but not always) consist…

Essential Browser Plugins For Learning Chinese

I wrote an article about using FOSS tools to learn Chinese, but sometimes all you have in front of you…

FOSS Software to Learn Chinese (or Basically Any Language)

Free, Open-Source Software (FOSS) is one of my passions in general, but there are some great pieces of FOSS software…

Paid Streaming Services for Learning Chinese

I want to compare a couple of paid streaming services for how efficient they are for learning Chinese. I plan…

Basic Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook – Yip Po-ching and Don Rimmington

ReviewDisclaimer] Basic Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook by Yip Po-ching and Don Rimmington is one of the first serious grammar…