Chinese basic words

The best way to learn Chinese is to practice with a Chinese companion. Don’t have one? Don’t worry. Here is the best alternative: Chat to Learn Chinese App.

Buy the poster

It will take 9 minutes to read this post but it’ll help you out in unfamiliar situations and avoid some misunderstandings when traveling in China!

Download Chinese Pinyin material on TutorMandarin for free. Don't forget to sign up for a free trial and download the Chinese learning App.

Chinese Alphabet: There is no Chinese alphabet in the sense we understand it in the West. Chinese characters are not letters (with some exceptions), Chinese characters represent an idea, a concept or an object. While in the west each of the letters of our alphabet represents a sound that generally has no particular meaning. (...)

The last skill to master in 听说读写 is writing. Logically, it only makes sense to a child to want to practise writing a certain word if he knows how to read the word and understands its meaning, isn't it? Otherwise it’s just another art piece to him. Writing will in turn enhance a child’s reading ability because the action helps him to internalise the learning of the word. There are some guidelines to follow when it comes to writing Chinese characters. They are the 笔画 and 笔顺. The strokes (笔画)…