Learn To Speak Chinese | Learn Mandarin Online

Now I know, this is a tough rule for some people. Because, most of your life, learning Chinese, you have been told to learn grammar rules. In middle school, In high school, In university, In language school, everywhere in the world; grammar, grammar, grammar. So, my first question to you is: Did it work? Was it successful?

If you are watching this TOPIC, you have studied Chinese before in school, somewhere. And probably, you focused on grammar rules. So, my question is: Can you speak Chinese easily, quickly and automatically right now? If the answers no, Why not? Because you have studied Chinese for many years already. Why can’t you speak Chinese quickly, easily and automatically, why not?

Well, it’s not your fault actually. The reason, the answer for most people is that you study grammar rules too much. You focused on, grammar rules. Why? Because your teachers told you to do this.

Why is it bad to study grammar rules? Well because, when you study grammar rules, when you focus on grammar rules, you focus on analyzing Chinese. In other words, you think about Chinese. You think about the sentence structure,  subject,  predicate, object everything.

Now for writing Chinese, that’s Okay. Why? Because when you write Chinese you have time. You can go slowly. You can write very slowly, you can think about it, you can erase your mistake, it’s okay. You don’t need to write fast. But for speaking, there is no time. You do not have time to think about rules, the sentence structure in Chinese when you listening and speaking. There is no time. Someone asks you a question, you must answer immediately. You have no time to think about propositions, you have no time to think about subject, predicate, object everything., all the stuff you learned, there is no time.

How do native speakers learn grammar? Well, I am a native Chinese speaker and I can tell you, I never studied grammar rules. Not until high school. And we studied grammar rules for writing. In college native speakers study grammar rules again, why? For writing. But for speaking, we don’t. So how do we learn grammar rules? We learn through listening. Through hearing correct grammar again and again a lot of correct grammar.

So the best way to learn Chinese grammar is through imput. Another word, Chinese coming in mostly through your ears. But reading is also okay but don’t read textbooks, don’t read grammar books. Just read easy Chinese books, easy novels. But most of all listening. Now, in the next TOPIC that you get, I will tell you exactly how to learn grammar and easy way and effortless way, without studying rules. Not just writing. But for now, for today,I want you to remember that "Do Not Study Grammar Rules" If you focus on grammar rules it will hurt your speaking. Your speak will more slowly, your understanding will be more slowly.

So if you have grammar books, throw away! Put  them in a trash, good bye grammar books. If you want, you can burn it. Burn them in a fire. Because, they are useless. They will not help you with your Chinese speaking or your Chinese learning or listening. So good bye grammar books. No more grammar rules yeaaa. That shoud make you happy.  Okay, good enough.

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服务员:
Would you like to order now?  

kě yǐ diǎn cài le ma ？
可 以点 菜了 吗 ？ 

客人:
I think I’m having some trouble here.  

wǒ yù shàng diǎn má fán le 。
我 遇 上 点 麻 烦 了 。 

服务员:
How may I help you?  

wǒ néng bāng shàng máng ma ？
我 能 帮 上 忙 吗 ？

客人:
I would love to try Chinese food， but I just can’t read the menu.  

wǒ xiǎng diǎn zhōng guó cài ，kě shì wǒ dú bù dǒng cài dān ā 。
我 想 点 中 国 菜 ，可 是 我 读 不 懂菜 单啊。

服务员:
Just point at the pictures of those you are interested in and I’ll explain them to you.  

nà nín duì shén me cài gǎn xìng qù jiù zhǐ shén me cài ，wǒ lái gěi nín yī yī jiě shì 。
那 您 对 什 么 菜 感 兴 趣 就指 什 么 菜，我 来 给您一 一 解 释 。

客人:
Good idea. Let’s try that.  

hǎo zhǔ yì ，wǒ men shì shì 。
好 主 意 ，我 们 试 试 。

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The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month,usually in February or March.As early as the Han Dynasty,it had become a festival.People will eat rice dumplings on this day.Rice dumpling in Chinese is yuánxiāo or tāngyuán.tāngyuán sounds similar with tuanyuan,which means reunion.It tastes sweet and delicious.The most important activity is watching lanterns.Diffierent kinds of lanterns are hung in the streets. Some lanterns have riddles inside.If you know the answer you can get a prize.

Some words about Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival          元宵节  yuánxiāo jié

enjoy lantern show     看灯会  kàn dēnghuì

guess lantern riddles   猜灯谜 cāi dēngmí

eat rice dumpling        吃汤圆   chī tāngyuán

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This is the traditional symbol for the forces of yin and yang, sometimes described as two fish swimming head to tail. The left half is yin and the right half is yang. Taken literally, yin and yang mean the dark side and sunny side of a hill.

People commonly think of yin and yang as opposing forces. However, it is really more appropriate to view them as complementary pairs. The Chinese believe problems arise not when the two forces are battling, but when there is an imbalance between them. Floods, divorce, or even a fire in the kitchen – all can be attributed to disharmony in the forces of yin and yang.
How does the concept of yin and yang relate to food?
A basic adherence to this philosophy can be found in ANY Chinese dish, from stir-fried beef with broccoli to sweet and sour pork. There is always a balance in color, flavors, and textures.

However, belief in the importance of following the principles of yin and yang in the diet extends further.
Certain foods have yin properties, while others have yang properties – Cooling or warm, fat or non-fat, high-calorie or low- calorie, and etc.

Almost no foodstuff is purely yin or yang – it’s more that one characteristic tends to dominate. It also reinforces that it is not so much the individual ingredients, as the the balance and contrast between ingredients in each dish, that is important. Interestingly, cooking methods also have more of a yin or yang property, as the list below demonstrates

Cooking Methods:

Types of Foods: 

Chinese food emphasizes on consuming a diet that contains a healthy balance between yin and yang. You’ll find most Chinese dishes are made of a mixture of ingredients and each meal is made up of a combination of dishes.

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