bomonike

How to learn the Chinese (Simplified) Mandarin language

NOTE: Content here are my personal opinions, and not intended to represent any employer (past or present). “PROTIP:” here highlight information I haven’t seen elsewhere on the internet because it is hard-won, little-know but significant facts based on my personal research and experience.

VIDEO: chinese-iceberg-970x1182.png ALPHABETICAL INDEX: apps, Art, Battles, City Names, Conversations, Compass Directions, Dates Months, Numbers, Colors 颜色 yánsè, Countries, Driving, Dynastries History, Elements 素 sù, eSIM vs VPN, Firewall, Flights, Foods, Glossary, History, HSK_exam, Idioms, Jade, Languages, LearningStrategies, Memonics, Movies, Norms, Payments, Personal possessions, Pinyin Alphabet, Provinces, Seasons, Smalltalk, Street signs, Tones, Typing Chinese, Vocabulary database Why Chinese?

Why Chinese?

Due to historical geographical limits to transportation back in the day, VIDEO: There are 300+ dialects of the Chinese language.

The Han people constitute more than 90% of the population of China. They call their language 汉语 Hànyǔ (in Pinyin). The government in China standardized to Mandarin or Pǔtōnghuà (普通话, ‘common speech’).

Mainland China uses simplified Mandarin.
Taiwan uses traditional Mandarin.

Together, Mandarin Chinese is the largest speech community in the world.

HSK & HSKK exams

Secondary students in China take the Gaokao exam to graduate. Subjects Science, Math, Chinese, English are taken on separate days for 90 to 150 minutes each. Different provinces have different versions.

The Chinese language proficiency of non-native speakers (wai guo ren) are evaluated by CLEC, the China-wide Center for Language Education and Cooperation, under the federal Ministry of Education, administers standardized HSK & HSKK exams that are the Chinese equivalent of the TOEFL or IELTS for English.

The literal translation of HSK (Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì) is:

A separate exam, the HSKK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi Kouyu) , evaluates speaking ability using audio-recording equipment.

Some Chinese cities offer “Green Cards” (permanent residency) or talent visas to foreigners who hold high-level HSK certificates.

Employers ask for “HSK成绩单 (HSK chéngjìdān)”: your HSK score report. To graduate from a university in China, undergraduate students must achieve “Intermediate” proficiency at

There’s a slang “HSK 0.5” for foreigners (lǎo wài = old outsider, yáng rén = ocean, wài guó rén = outside country person) who wing it without Chinese language proficiency.

Before 2022, version 2 of the exam had only 6 tiers. The current Version 3 2023/2024 has 9 tiers for alignment with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), which has three stages:

Beginner stage (Levels 1–3) evaluates basic daily real-world communication:

Intermediate stage (Levels 4–6) evaluates the ability to interact with native speakers discussing a wide range of topics:

The maximum score is 300 for levels 1-6.

Advanced (HSK Levels 7–9) focuses on near-native proficiency, academic research, and professional work for master’s/PhD programs:

Core HSK written tests involve typing Pinyin on a computer QWERTY keyboard without the accent marks.

In China, the HSK Level 4 fee is 750 RMB, Level 5 is 950 RMB for the core.

The HSK & HSKK can be taken several times a year, usually on weekends (often monthly or bi-monthly depending on the 考点 (kǎodiǎn): Test center), worldwide at authorized test centers in and outside China.

Applying for Chinese Government Scholarships (CSC) or Confucius Institute Scholarships (called Hanban) almost always requires a minimum HSK score.

Register at https://www.chinesetest.cn Some countries also have their own regional HSK websites managed by local Confucius Institutes or embassy branches.

The deadline for registration and payment is 10 days before the test date, which is 3 September 2026 for testing on 13 Septermber 2026.

REMEMBER: Reservations require a photo. Print the registration ticket and bring it with your passport to the test center.

Scores are typically available online about a month after taking the test, and the physical certificate is mailed shortly after. HSK certificates are valid for life.

Learning strategies

  1. Install and use translation mobile apps that use your camera. Google Translate does not require clicking a button before translating. Baidu Translate. DeepL Translate app. Apple Translate. 9.99-per-month Reverso

    $137/month Migaku enables you to learn important pictographs of street signs and directions. The Migaku app turns social content to flashcards for memorization.

  2. Install apps that work within China’s “Great Firewall”.

    Use websitepulse.com or chinafirewalltest.com or to see whether a specific websites are blocked to select cities in China (Russia, Turkey):

    blocked .com category avail.
    gmail.com, proton.me, iCloud.com, outlook.com web email tuta.com, live.com, gmx.com, mail.qq.com, mail.163.com
    pinterest media storage cloudinary
    Discord discussions ali dingtalk.com, kookapp.cn, yy.com
    Facebook.com Social Media ByteDance’s TikTok.com & douyin.com, RedNote.com,
    GitHub.com, Bitbucket source versioning Codeberg.com, GitLab.com
    Google.com, yahoo.com, Qwant (EU) search Baidu (baidu.com), Bing (cn.bing.com)
    imdb.com movie info -
    Instagram.com Photo Sharing Xiaohongshu (RED), (xiaohongshu.com)
    maps.google Navigation Amap (Gaode) (amap.com), Baidu Maps (map.baidu.com), Apple Maps (uses local data)
    office.com productivity ???
    Pinterest.com Image Sharing / Bookmarks -
    Reddit.com Q&A zhihu.com, tieba.baidu.com
    Slack coordination Bytedance feishu.cn
    Uber.com Ride Didi.com
    Telegram.com news WeChat (weixin.qq.com), DingTalk (dingtalk.com)
    Twitter/X news Sina Weibo (weibo.com), weixin.qq.com
    Douyin (douyin.com)    
    Twitch.com videogames -
    YouTube.com Video Sharing Youku, bilibili.com, Tencent: v.qq.com
    WhatsApp Messaging WeChat (weixin.qq.com), QQ (im.qq.com)
    Walmart shop amazon
    Wikipedia.com Encyclopedia baike.baidu.com, CNKI (cnki.net – academic)
    maps.google.com maps amap.com
    hostinger hosting ???

  3. Use a mobile app to translate what appears in your laptop browser. Microsoft Translator (works in China) Audio files (podcasts, lectures) Whisper + DeepL

    • Settings
    • Quit (program)
    • 打开 Dǎkāi = open
    • 文件 = file
      • Close
      • Save
    • Edit
    • Selection
    • View
    • Window
    • Help

    Dictionary

  4. To translate two-way conversations real-time (hands-free):

    Apple iPhones come with a visual translation feature built into the camera app.

  5. If ear buds don’t give you ear pain, $398 Timekettle M4 Pro earbuds. It understands the context of entire sentences in 13 pairs of languages offline. But an internet connection helps with accuracy.

    WARNING: Most translation earbuds have a 2-5 second delay and struggle with background noise or overlapping talk among speakers.

    For two-way conversations, keep one earbud and give the other one to another person. The battery (rated “up to 6 hourse”) may not last long enough.

    NOT RECOMMENDED: For real-time speech-to-text with translation during meetings, there are E-ink tablets: $499 8.5” AINote Air2, $649 10” iFLYTEK AINote with AI Write.

    Tencent Meeting ???

  6. Learn Pinyin to pronounce Chinese names for Personal possessions. When needed, refer to the list below. Learn to pronounce foods or point to my list. Home items.

    If you are just starting out, focus on interactive pinyin charts first. They are great for learning the four tones that give Mandarin its distinctive sound. For example, the syllable “ma” can mean different things depending on whether you say it with a high, rising, dipping, or falling tone.

    Cantonese has 6 tones.

    Children in mainland China, before drawing stokes of traditional calligraphy glyphs (in a very specific sequence), first learn the Pinyin alphabet.

  7. Before traveling, sign up for automated payments, install and use mobile eSIM and VPNs so you can view YouTube videos. The Hong Kong and Macau SAR (Special Administrative Regions (特别行政区) residents do have access to western internet and separate currency and passport. Macau is the only legal gambling in China.

  8. Identify media (movies) that show Chinese glyphs and Pinyin plus the English. Reality shows and vlog bloggers have less stilted sound.

    Songs of Teresa??

    NOTE: To further language unification, the government in China requires subtitles on films.

  9. For more natural, ultimately faster learning, avoid translating individual words to focus understanding whole sentences. Learn individual words in a cluster so you better grasp context.

  10. Repeat actors’ dialog out loud to get your mouth used to the pace and pronounciation. You’ll also discover the norms, mores and idioms of Chinese culture. CityNames

    The English-subtitled 40-episode family comedy drama TV series Go Ahead! (2020) on YouTube is used by the FREE ZeroToHero 15-hour/12 video lesson intro course by an English native speaker.

  11. Record yourself mimicking the subtle tones of what performers say, then playback to compare.

  12. If you are from the US, practice converting metric to US imperial units of measure:
    • between kilometers and miles,
    • Multiply km/h by 0.6 to get mph. The standard highway speed limit is 120 km/h means 74.5 mph. On bullet trains, 300 km/h = 180 mph. 5 miles is exactly equal to 8 kilometers.
    • Divide kilojoules by 4.184 to get calories.

  13. So you can better appreciate visiting museums, learn the Dynasties so you can better understand the artwork and how historical stories interconnect.

    Watch Mandarin-language movies for the stories behind history. Legends: Shénnóng (transparent belly) invented Chinese medicine.

  14. VIDEO: Know the 10 most common radicals used to form 100 Chinese characters. They are Radicals with some resemblance to the object.

    There are 214 radicals that make up most single Chinese characters in use today. Some radicals come in more than one variant.

    Songs (listed by difficulty)

  15. Synonyms and antoynms (opposites)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yujUbIyw0j0&t=169s&pp=ugUHEgVlbi1VUw%3D%3D 19:21 The Strange Reason Chinese Doesn’t Borrow Words get 15%

  16. QUESTION: AI Voice chat like Alexa?

  17. If you are looking to pass the HSK 1 exam, learn the 500 words asked by the HSK 1 v3 exam.
    • Ximalaya - HSK 1 textbook audio - HSK 1 workbook audio.
    • Soundcloud - HSK 1 textbook audio - HSK 1 workbook audio.

  18. For the HSK 4 exam, learn the 1,000 words

  19. Learn basic conversations.

  20. Practice spaced repetition for long-term recall. Install the Anki app and load flash card content and quizzes so you spend time on what you didn’t get right. It’s free.

On Coursera Peking University course “Chinese” by Yu Bin:

  1. HSK 1
  2. HSK 2

  3. HSK 3

  4. Textbook “HSK Standard Course:

  5. Hanyu Maggie (grammar deep dives)

  6. Chinese Zero to Hero (HSK 6-9 prep)

  7. Use HelloChinese (Levels 1-3) for game-based basics learning.
  8. Use Anki or Hack Chinese every single day to memorize the specific HSK vocabulary list.

  9. Use $120/year (7-day trial) Du Chinese to practice reading words in context as stories with audio.

  10. Use macOS app SuperTest (formerly HSK Online) provides a mock exam to practice the timing and exact format of the test. It’s repetitive, though. $15/mo or $20/mo MAX for AI essay correction.

Vocabulary database

Column Source

HSK-based learning

  1. Chinese Zero to Hero HSK 4 course is a one-time $180 USD (30 Day Money Back Gurantee) for 600+ videos (on the popular Teacheable platform), all aligned with the official HSK framework. Taking you from complete beginner to a confident intermediate level speaker.

<a target=”_blank” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOvmVE9JBIc&pp=0gcJCcQLAYcqIYzv”>10:41</a> New HSK 1 Course Workbook : Lesson 1 : 你好 (Hello) : Chinese Listening & Practice by Beginner Mandarin

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZD12JR1/ Ling Ling’s Learn Chinese Vocabulary for Beginners: New HSK Level 1 Chinese Vocabulary Book (Free Audio) - Master 500 Words in Context (NEW HSK Vocabulary Series)

paperback: $30.99

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_SAcVGFpag&

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q09_xDZHWeE&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D 10:55 Learning Mandarin Chinese in 2026 is Awesome, Actually. Yuena

Conversations

AI Conversation App:

Phone mobile eSIM vs VPN

To get a Chinese local services on the local China network to ensure glitch-free local food delivery with Chinese SMS, get a local phone number. Go to a China Unicom store with your passport. Plans may vary by store/city. VPN may be blocked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nSD4NoykX0&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D

Airalo ITCHYFEET20 & trip.com Activate after you land.

All communities in mainland China use the same toll-free standard emergency phone numbers. Be ready to give your exact address or cross streets. If you can’t speak Chinese, try to say the name of your hotel or use a landmark.

SAR (Special Administrative Regions) have their own:

“mainland” China +86
Taiwan +886
Hong Kong SAR +852
Macao SAR +853

Payments & Currency

zn-wu-coin.jpeg Renminbi (RMB) (meaning “people’s currency”) is the official ISO 4217 name of China’s currency, denominated in 元/圆 yuan (CNY) with the symbol ¥, (or CNH in Hong Kong; but abbreviated RMB for buying gold). Currently the Chinese yuan is pegged to a basket of currencies, including the US dollar, “which the Chinese call mei yuan). The largest yuan banknote is 100 yuan, followed by 50, 20, 10, 5, and one yuan. A jiao is a tenth of a yuan. The jiao is further divided into 10 fen.

1 USD was worth the highest 8.72 on May 1994, then declining gradually to 6.78 on Aug 16. So stock up!

Install both Alibaba’s AliPay & WeChat:

  1. AliPay https://mobile.alipay.com/
  2. Sign up with your mobile phone number.
  3. Go to your profile and tap on bank cards to add your international credit or debit card.
  4. Verify your identity with your passport details if prompted.
  5. Scan a QR code 二维码 Èr wéi mǎ for mobile payments.

WeChat: ???

Street signs - Getting around

Personal possessions

Arranged alphabetically:

PROTIP: Devices in the US have voltage: 120V, 60Hz, so need “Type A” US plugs with two flat parallel pins will physically fit into Chinese plugs with a “stepdown” adapter for China voltage: 220V, 50Hz. “Type B” US plugs with a round grounding pin need an adapter that converts Type B (US) to Type I (China).

References:

Home items

VIDEO

Transportation

China’s Geography and Economy explained by Glopen:

  1. North
  2. South, Central
  3. East, Northeast

350 km/hr = 217 mph G series trains are the most mordern.

Passengers are given oxygen in the the world’s highest railway 5,072 m over Tan Gu la pass between Qinghai and Lhasa, Tibet

Driving in China

An International Driving Permit (IDP) is NOT valid. You need to obtain a temporary Chinese driving license. A specialized agency Yaso Trip (which also rents RVs), can handle all the paperwork for foreign RV travelers, including temporary licenses, insurance, and permits for restricted areas. Short-term (up to 90 days): This can be processed easily for about 50 CNY, often with a traffic rules briefing and no road test. Over 90 days, you must pass the full Chinese written driving test.

Didi = Uber

Trains

China has more high-speed trains than the rest of the world, combined.

“Business class” has lie-flat seats with private screens. McDonalds and other meals can be delivered to those individual pods.

12306 train app

Provinces

zn-provinces.webp

China has 23 Provinces (省 Shěng), Municipalities, SARs. MapsofChina.com. SVG map from Wikipedia.

Province Capital City Notable For

  1. Guangdong Guangzhou Manufacturing hub, Cantonese food, Shenzhen (tech)
  2. Sichuan Chengdu Spicy food (mapo tofu), pandas, amazing landscapes
  3. Yunnan Kunming Ethnic diversity, mild climate, beautiful mountains
  4. Guizhou Guiyang Karst landscapes, Miao and Dong minority cultures
  5. Hunan Changsha Spicy food, birthplace of Mao Zedong
  6. Hubei Wuhan Yangtze River, Three Gorges Dam
  7. Henan Zhengzhou Central China, birthplace of Chinese civilization
  8. Shandong Jinan Confucius’s birthplace, big seafood, Qingdao beer
  9. Jiangsu Nanjing Wealthy, ancient capitals, rice and fish cuisine
  10. Zhejiang Hangzhou West Lake, e-commerce (Alibaba), tea (Longjing)
  11. Fujian Fuzhou Fujian cuisine, Xiamen, many Chinese emigrants
  12. Jiangxi Nanchang Poyang Lake, porcelain (Jingdezhen)
  13. Anhui Hefei Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), Hui cuisine
  14. Hebei Shijiazhuang Encircles Beijing, historical sites
  15. Shanxi Taiyuan Coal, ancient wooden temples
  16. Shaanxi Xi’an Terracotta Army, ancient Silk Road capital
  17. Gansu Lanzhou Yellow River, Gobi Desert, Lanzhou noodles
  18. Qinghai Xining Tibetan Plateau, headwaters of the Yellow River
  19. Liaoning Shenyang Heavy industry, Korean border
  20. Jilin Changchun Snow, forests, North Korea border
  21. Heilongjiang Harbin Ice Festival, Siberian tiger, cold winters
  22. Hainan Haikou Tropical island, beach resort (Sanya)
  23. Taiwan Taipei Controlled by the ROC but claimed by the PRC

Major Cities

TASK: pronounce the names of the largest Tier 1 cities (airports):

China is home to 59 Cultural and Natural UNESCO World Heritage Sites - tied with Italy for the most of any country on Earth.

The “Golden Triangle Tour” municipalities (直辖市) of Beijing, Xi’an, Zhangjiajie, Shanghai.

Health certificate (体检证明) – from a government-approved Chinese hospital.

Private International Insurance: You must have comprehensive medical insurance. A serious illness without insurance could bankrupt you. Options: Cigna Global, Bupa, Allianz, IMG, GeoBlue. Expect to pay 3,000 − 3,000−10,000 USD/year depending on age and coverage. Jiahui, Parkway, United Family

Flights

Searching for flights in a private browser window to prevent prices from increasing based on your search history. Flights into Taipai City (TPE) is about $900, cheaper than into the mainland.

The 12-13 hour SFO (San Francisco) across the Pacific ocean to Shanghai (PVG, SHA) is the shortest direct route to China from the US. Flights East-West take 2 hours longer due to headwinds.

✈️ Compare prices on Trip.com, Skyscanner, Momondo, and Google Flights. Set up price alerts to track drops. Consider budget-friendly airlines like airchina.com.cn, China Southern, or hainanairlines.com. Airline prices in China are centrally managed by the TravelSky system (the national GDS). So use the Qianwen App + Fliggy (Alibaba’s travel platform).

Travel on Tuesdays/Wednesdays. Book 1-3 months in advance. Travel in off-peak months like May, June, September, or November. Connecting Flights: one-stop flights via hubs like Dubai, Seoul, Tokyo, or Hong Kong are often cheaper than direct flights. Consider flying into a nearby city and taking the high-speed train. Check for flight + hotel packages, which can be cheaper than booking separately.

Taking crowds, weather, and scenery into account, the best months to travel are April, May, September, and mid-to-late October. Summers are the peak season.

假期 Jiàqī = Holidays:

Language Glossary

A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language.

A word is the smallest independent/free unit of meaning.

Among the 3,500 most commonly used Chinese characters, there are 132 component bujian.

There are about 60 pictograms (xiàng xing) depicting objects. They form single core components used to build 99% of common characters.

Ideograms (zhǐ shì) represent abstract concepts

VIDEO:

The 60 Essential Bricks: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19HeF9KnBGkfulDD_ILa3IlhQQ-9ClW7b/view?usp=sharing

Meaning block

Among Languages of the world

VIDEO: Millions of people:

  1. 929.0 - Mandarin Chinese (汉语) Hànyǔ Mandarin Pǔtōnghuà (普通话 common speech)
  2. 474.4 - Spanish
  3. 372.9 - English
  4. 343.9 - Hindi
  5. 233.7 - Bengali
  6. 232.4 - Portugese (Brazilian)
  7. 154.0 - Russian
  8. 125.3 - Japanese
  9. 92.7 - Western Punjabi
  10. 85.2 - Yu Chinese (Cantonese, etc.)

YouTube influencers on living in China:

Language History

References:

VIDEO:

Early writing were vertical and did not include punctuation marks to show end of sentences.

English translation of https://github.com/skywind3000/ECDICT provides Python code to process case-insensitive csv to SQLite and MySQL databases containing a “Free English to Chinese Dictionary Database” of 100,000 entries. From ECDICT, Oxford 3000 core vocabulary list,

Words in the traditional paper dictionary are arranged by the stroke count.

Six writings

The first chinese dictionary (Shouwen jiezi) was compiled by Xu Shen in published in Eastern Han around 100 AD. He divided letters into “6 writings” (liushu) It listed the character for “mountain” with what is now the traditional variant used in Hong Kong.

Woodblock printing was invented during the Tang dynasty around 600 AD. Around 1039-1048 AD, Bi Sheng invented movable clay type printing, which broke often. But Japanese, which used only 2,136 characters, made metal movable type using the “Ming Dynasty” font (Minchotai). Gutenberg began experimenting with printing and movable type in Strasbourg, Germany around 1430. 1454–1455: Guttenberg invention was proven a massive success with the printing of the Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible), which is considered the first major book printed using his movable type system.

In 1959, 3,624 commonly used chinese word list was defined by ZWGW.

Samuel Toddwell at MIT Each Chinese character is written using up to 62 strokes in the same order. but autocomplete 12 fundamental strokes are mapped to IBM Sinotype keyboard, plus 3 alternate numbers keys.

From “The Chinese computer” by Thomas Mulllany at Stanford In 1980 mainland China defined GB 2312 Unicode set containing 6,723 double-byte characters. In 1983, CCDOS created an add-on board to process double-byte chars. See drama “Our Times”. In 1984, Taiwan defined the Big 5 (Traditional Chinese) Character code table containing 13,060 characters, which Hong Kong adapted after HKSCS FA40-FEFE (UDA1) supplemental set. In 2000, the CJK Unified Ideographs Extension B was defined as ISO/IEC FCD 10646:2000 containing 97,000 characters so that the same Hansu input character display as different glyph for each country.

Mainland china defined Standard, Traditional, and Variant characters while Taiwan defined Orthodox and Variants. About 2,500 characters were simplified in mainland China, some based on cursive script characters which existed earlier. That’s the case for the word cloud (yun) and love (ai).

Hong Kong defines its own HKSCS (Supplementary Character Set) every 4 years.

Videos:

apps

At home in America, on internet browsers such as Google Chrome, I keep open all the time one of these pronunciation websites where I paste words I copy Chinese from other tabs:

  1. Forvo for Mandarin
    https://forvo.com/search/%E5%88%9D%E4%B8%80/ (初一)

    Click the blue dot with the triangle to hear the pronounciation.

    Observe the “REGULATED BY 国家语言文字工作委员会 民事服务局”

Typing Chinese

Chinese uses characters. The pronunciation of a character includes a syllable and a tone. Tone is the use of pitch to distinguish lexical or grammatical meanings.

zn-mobile-keyboard.png To set up the Pinyin Keyboard for use by other apps on your computer:

On Windows:

  1. Click the Start Menu and go to Settings.
  2. Go to Time & language > Language & region.
  3. Under “Preferred languages,” click Add a language.
  4. Search for Chinese (Simplified, China) and click Next, then Install.
  5. Once installed, click the three dots next to it (or click the language) and select Language options.
  6. Under “Keyboards,” click Add a keyboard and choose “Microsoft Pinyin”.
  7. To switch: Press Windows Key + Spacebar to cycle through your languages. Look for the abbreviation “CH” or a Chinese character in your taskbar.

On macOS:

  1. Open System Settings (or System Preferences).
  2. Search or scroll down the left menu to Keyboard
  3. At the “Text Input” (or “Input Sources”) section, click “Edit” of Input Sources for a pop-up.
  4. Click the “+” button at the lower-left for a pop-up of keyboards.
  5. Search for “Chinese, Simplified” at the left and select it.
  6. On the right side, choose “Pinyin - Simplified”, then click Add to dismisss the pop-up.
  7. Click “Done” to dismiss the pop-up menu.
  8. Click the red “x” at the upper-left to dismiss the Keyboard pop-up menu.
  9. To switch from within any app: in your top menu bar, click the (A) flag icon, click “Pinyin” or or press Control + Spacebar.

On iPhone/iPad:

  1. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard.
  2. Tap Keyboards > Add New Keyboard…
  3. Find Simplified Chinese and tap it.
  4. Turn off “Show Predictions” if you don’t want the English keyboard to try and autocomplete Chinese words (or leave it on, it’s personal preference).
  5. To switch: Tap the Globe icon on your keyboard.

On Android mobile:

  1. Go to Settings > System > Languages & Input > On-screen keyboard.
  2. Select your current keyboard (usually Gboard).
  3. Tap Languages > Add keyboard.
  4. Find Chinese (Simplified) > Pinyin and download/enable it.
  5. To switch: Tap the Globe icon on your keyboard.

Pinyin Alphabet

VIDEO: The Pinyin alphabet 拼音 (Literally: spelled sounds) was created in 1958 (as ISO 7098-1982) to help pronounciation, not as a whole language like Japanese Romaji text. Pinyin enables Chinese to be typed into QWRTY typewriters used throughout the world.

Alternately, the Zhuyin alphabet is used by Taiwan since 2009 (not covered here). There is also IPA used by academics.

  1. After you have installed the Chinese keyboard

  2. To type an accented vowel, hold down the base vowel letter (a,e,i,o, or u, with or without pressing shift for upper case) until a small menu with accent options appears (e.g., 1: è, 2: é, 3: ê, 4: ë):

    mac-a-diacriticals-544x108.png
    Then click the accent you want or press the corresponding number key (e.g., press 2 for á,é,etc.).

    zn-tone-keys.png

    Alternately: Use the “Option Key” Method (Fastest for Touch Typists and the traditional Mac method where you do not have to hold the keys down at the same time: a two-step process:

    • Acute (´): Press Option + E, then type the letter (e.g., é)
    • Grave ():** Press **Option+ (the key right above the Tab key), then type the letter (e.g., è)
    • Circumflex (^): Press Option + I, then type the letter (e.g., ê)
    • Umlaut/Trema (¨): Press Option + U, then type the letter (e.g., ü) To type Ü with an umlaut diacritical, type v – when the consonant is N or L.
    • Cedilla (¸): Press Option + C (this types ç immediately without needing to press C again)
    • + Tilde (~): Press Option + N, then type the letter (e.g., ñ)

    Alternately, use the Mac Character Viewer for rare symbols by pressing Control + Command + Spacebar (or go to Edit > Emoji & Symbols in the top menu bar). In the search box at the top right, type the name of the accent (e.g., “acute” or “umlaut”). Double-click the character you want to insert it into your text.

    PROTIP: Type an apostrophe between syllables for multiple-syllable words such as the city Xi’an (西安). Typing xian without the apostrophe would incorrectly yield the single word 先 or 仙.

  3. If an autocomplete option is offered, press Spacebar to select the top choice. If not, press a number or press arrow keys to select another option.

Pinyin Pronounciation

“Pinyin” which defines how Chinese is pronouced.

Similar to the ABCs being the first 3 letters of the English alphabet,”BoPoMoFo” is the first four letters (b p m f) of the “Romanized” Chinese alphabet. But ignore the “o” because they’re pronouced differently.

zn-bopomofo-1920x1080.png The alphabet for pinyin consists of 26 English letters. The letter V is only used to spell foreign names.

A syllable contains an initial and a final. The initial is the beginning consonant of a syllable, whereas the final is the simple or compound vowel of a syllable. For example, “好” is pronounced hǎo with h being the initial and ɑo being the final. The mark (ˇ) over a in ao is the tone.

To practice your tones, use:

Memonic: BoPoMoFo are “labial initials” because they involve lip (labial) movement.

Memonic: Memonic The next four are called “dental” initials are pronouced by touching the tip of your tongue to the back of your teeth.

Memonic: <a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv6WEWS_re8&t=5m2s] Gutteral initials:

Memonic: <a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv6WEWS_re8&t=[5m36s] Palatal initials:

Memonic: <a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv6WEWS_re8&t=[6m45s] Retroflex initials (roll-tongue edge sounds)

Memonic: <a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv6WEWS_re8&t=[9m4s] Dental sibilants

Memonic: <a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv6WEWS_re8&t=[10m22s] Medials:

Memonic: <a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv6WEWS_re8&t=[12m48s] Finals:

REMEMBER: Although the same letters in the English ABC alphabet are NOT pronounced the same in Pinyin. So English speakers need to un-memorize the English pronouciations associated with each letter in the ABCs.

“zh”, “ch”, “sh”

REMEMBER: Some Pinyin words have one of 23 initial consonant sounds.

REMEMBER: y and w are at the end of the list because they’re used as syallable separators.

REMEMBER: VIDEO: Each pinyin word has a tone and 24 finals (some with an umlaut above u):
zn-finals-1920x1080.png

VIDEO: REMEMBER: 16 Whole-recognition syllables: zhi, chi, shi, ri, zi, ci, si, yi, wu, yu, ye, yue, yuan, yin, yun, ying

Get your free Chinese pronunciation PDF chart at: https://bit.ly/slc-chart

Tones

Tone is specified by diacritical marks above vowel letters:

zn-tones.png

(Cantonese has 6 tones)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obeYAqRDL5E&pp=0gcJCTIB7p79v9jh Learn the 4 Chinese Tones by Sing and Learn Chinese

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITSGWi8K-Zk&list=PLv3qxksYLwDNokCz0xIMNeMlon5RR7ooU Learn to Sing Chinese Songs (Lyrics Explained) by Sing and Learn Chinese

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzZyc2BobYw sound alike questions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATtAHQQKBas https://www.youtube.com/@learnchinesenow

logographic writing system

Always write in the same sequence of strokes: chinese-seq-924x928.png Write from top left to right, top to bottom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSeInNtwvEY&pp=ugUHEgVlbi1VUw%3D%3D morse code won’t work telegraph by coversion to numbers that took months to learn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSKoWfa5Z1I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLdvTuY7OB8 New HSK 1 Course Workbook Lesson 6 : Exercises with Answers : Complete Practice & Solutions by Mandarin and Mountains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Std-ucWlfTk 10:14 Speak Chinese Now: 100 Essential Chinese Sentences for 30 Everyday Situations : Part 2 by Effortless Chinese

Seasons

Dates Months, Numbers

Instead of the European custom of unique names like “January”, Chinese reference months by number 1 to 12 and add 月 (yuè) which means “month” and also “moon” for lunar. 3rd 三月 is spoken as one fluid word. Although 一月 is technically Yīyuè (with a high, flat tone on “yi”). But in natural speech, it often changes to Yíyuè (with a rising tone) because it’s followed by another fourth-tone syllable (yuè).

VIDEO: On crowns (lieu) worn by emporors during grand ceremonies, the jade pieces hanging down are on 12 strings (chong’er) for the months of the year:

“March 15th” is 三月十五日 (Sānyuè shíwǔ rì) or 三月十五号 (Sānyuè shíwǔ hào) with 号 (hào) being more common in everyday spoken Chinese.

Compass Directions

Source: zn-compass-1155x977.png

yàng rén = lit. ocean (meaning overseas) people is the more archaic reference except for a few words:

Dynastries History

VIDEO: Xia > Shang > Zhou > Qin > Wu > Han > 3 > Jin > S&N > Tang > 5/10 > Khitan/Liao > Song > Yuan > Ming > Qing

References:

MUST WATCH: “All of China’s Dynasties in ONE Video”

VIDEO: “China’s Dynasty Names Mean More Than You Think”

Learn Chinese Now

Lecture 1, 3, 21, 23: 2024 Introduction to China’s History by MIT OpenCourseWare featuring Tristan G. Brown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW-Wcv-ieiI 53:19 CHINA: The Civilization That Reset Itself Three Times : 4K Documentary by Where on Earth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96i2RzaDEIk China’s ENTIRE Three Kingdoms Story in ONE Video 220 AD when last Han Dynasty emporor abdicated.

Qin Dynasty to Qing Dynasty (221 BCE - 1912 CE)

Tan Dynasty the golden age. 618-907 AD

https://www.netflix.com/watch/81605078?trackId=284616272 Movie: Who Rules the World (40 episodes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHBTevu_eTc&pp=ugUHEgVlbi1HQg%3D%3D 39:33 Inside The Forbidden City: Historian Explores Ancient Beijing History Hit

Why Every Chinese Name Tells a Unique Story

Famous battles in China

Top 5 Most Epic Battles in Chinese History

Ancient China’s Deadliest Battles Were Worse Than You Think:

Other countries

TRIVIA: China shares land borders with 14 countries.

Century of Humiliation

During the “Century of Humiliation” for China atartin 1839, foreign powers imposed unequal treaties, extracting wealth from China during two “Opium Wars”. Hong Kong was ceded to England and Macau to Portugal. France and other Europeans got a piece of Shanghai. Since 1997 Macau has the highest per-capita income in the world. However, trauma remain in a mindset even in young people:

Visitors to China:

Unlike some other countries, China does not encourage immigration (such as for retirement past age 57) other than family reunification.

Radicals

10 radicals are used to form 100 Chinese characters as visual memonics with some resemblance to the object: VIDEO:
zn-10-radicals.png</a>

Elements:

Similarly:

https://fanyi.baidu.com/mtpe-individual/transText#/zh/en/

https://soundcloud.com/user-682871665/sets/hsk-1-textbook-audio

https://languageplayer.io/en/zh/reader/ Tap on any word for a popup dictionary.

214 radicals were in the original Kangxi list that got simplified.

Elements 素 sù

The five elements:

VIDEO: Chinese Periodic Table of Elements:
zn-periodic-1920x1080.png Does not use many phonetically borrowed words.

Funnier

Celestials

Colors 颜色 yánsè

In imperial courts, only the emporer can wear yellow and eat from yellow plates.

Color words are generally formed by taking the color name and adding the character 色 (sè), which means “color” or “look”.

Cultural Norms & Mores Taboos

Respect for the elderly: The word 老 lǎo = old is part of the word for teacher 老师 lǎoshī, lǎobǎn = boss, Lǎozǐ (the founder of Taoism and author of dào dé jīng), and lǎo 朋友 pěngyǒu = old friend. 外国人 Wàiguó rén

Ancestor worship: many setup shrines to ancestors in their home, and bow 3 times every morning in front of it.

The first British ambassador to China (Macartney) refused to bow to the Chinese emporor (1793-94), the compromise is that he take a knee.

Many Chinese believe in luck. There are Feng Sui professionals who advise on placement of furniture and even entire buildings.

When buying gifts, avoid homophones:

Press:

12:49 10 Things NOT to do in China” by Maggie Ye

Etiquette

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDClJwGDkFk&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D Dos and Don’ts of Chinese Etiquette: Things You Should NEVER Do According to Chinese Tradition!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUbAoYnCqa4&pp=ugUHEgVlbi1VUw%3D%3D 6:38 How to Eat With Chopsticks? [Learn effectively once and for all!] Somebody Asked

Foods

VIDEO: How to order food

References:

Movies

Films

For Chinese-language films with English subtitles in the U.S., these are the most useful legal streaming options:

https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/100375 Netflix Chinese-Language Movies & TV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zYOCMol08o Top 10 Best Chinese Movies of All Time on Netflix and YouTube : Mind-Blowing Chinese Movies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpgHdLHqhuw Top 10 Chinese Movies Every Cinephile Must See – Ranked

Criterion Channel — best for major auteurs and film-history picks, including Jia Zhangke and Hong Kong/Taiwanese cinema. It is available in the U.S.; use its country and director filters to find current titles.

AsianCrush — a focused Asian-film service with Chinese films and dramas, available through web, Roku, Android, and iOS. Its catalog includes titles such as Better Days.

Netflix — browse its dedicated Chinese Movies & TV category; subtitle/audio availability is title-specific, so open a film’s details before starting.

Well Go USA — a leading U.S. distributor for contemporary Chinese and other Asian films. Its Chinese-language catalog points to rental/purchase options such as Apple TV, Google Play, and YouTube.

iQIYI International / Viki / YouTube — often strongest for recent mainland Chinese dramas and some films; look for the “English subtitles” label and confirm your U.S. region before committing.

For more serious cinema, start with Jia Zhangke on Criterion. For modern, accessible drama, try Better Days on AsianCrush. Availability and subtitle tracks rotate, so search the exact title on the service before subscribing or renting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96i2RzaDEIk 15:42 China’s ENTIRE Three Kingdoms Story in ONE Video 235K views

Chinese Art

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfxftB37c5E 22:56 I Investigated Shen Yun’s HQ, Here’s What I Found… https://www.shenyun.com USE CODE: LCN2026 New York Times hit pieces Falun Gong/Dafa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StL8HFFB7Bk

14:18 China’s 5 Greatest Artworks Explained in One Video

Top 5 Greatest Paintings in Chinese History

Smalltalk

https://singandlearnchinese.com/ytvs-chuang-qian

https://singandlearnchinese.com/ytvs-yi-xiao-bu

Describe Yourself in Chinese 自我介绍

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpwviShEmbc 27:59 The Truth about Chinese Fluency by Cheer Up Chinese

Questions to answer

VIDEO:

  1. What is your name?
  2. What is your nationality?
  3. How long have you been studying?
  4. [1:00] Close enough
  5. [1:10] OK, let’s go.
  6. [1:23] I think so.

People words in Daily Interactions

https://quizlet.com/254931199/mandarin-chinese-flash-cards/#

PROTIP: Before registering, pick a Chinese name based on phonetics and meaning you desire and can remember. Get a chock stamp made.

by Chinese gossip:

25:34 China Travel Guide 2026: Alipay, 12306, Visa-Free & eSIM (Step-by-Step)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8F_XJyIkI The BEST Way to Master Chinese Characters (Stop Memorizing!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMXN8puYJoY Master 80% of Daily Chinese in ONE Video! (HSK 1-2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVuaXU-n07Y&pp=0gcJCckLAYcqIYzv I built a Chinese learning escape room game😲

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLkKnJ8QIGk Fun History You Must Know Before Learning Chinese

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PxWmJ2Fzss How to Learn Chinese in a Fun Way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=027MgCvbWkg Learn Chinese Through Animation : Introduce Yourself（HSK1） https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh3cxOYjjQ8&pp=0gcJCckLAYcqIYzv Chinese Daily Podcast : Describe Yourself in Chinese : 自我介绍 : Slow Chinese Podcast : HSK1–HSK2 Speak Chinese With Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOqtcqib_BA Learn Chinese Through Animation : Make Weekend Plans (HSK1-2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RmY4JNDWaQ Learn Chinese Through Animation : Shopping & Bargaining (HSK 1,2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I06FqEflKZE Learn Chinese Through Animation : Travel to the Forbidden City(HSK1-2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjfcJPjPfeY make new friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyUxomg5Oeo The Super Common Chinese Number “一”: 3 Tones, Which One to Use?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–rgWETNGmg The 11 “Easy” Sounds That Are Ruining Your Chinese Accent

best apps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w7sK2GYw54

Preply use 1:1 platform (50% off): http://preply.sjv.io/nXKmex

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQXiSGDXknA How to Actually Use AI for Language Learning (LLMs The Expert Way) @languagejones pushes https://learn.lingopie.com/languagejones using LLM with personalized TV & movie clips

online dictionary to click the speaker icon to hear a native pronunciation: (e.g., Pleco, Translate.Google.com, or YouGlish)

cantotomando masterclass copy & Paste method https://docs.google.com/document/d/19zAyAVcxxOLqVGwroq9epccT_PcwYVzT24JHTOrZ0SM/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0#heading=h.dmj2tkm6pce1

  1. To build vocabulary:

For free language exchange:

Once you have some fluency:

Apps for Daily Progress:

For Building Reading Skills:

Topics:

Language exchange Don’t use tap-and-match boring Rosetta stone Duolingo Drops Jumpspeak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXxYIuUAFkY How Are Chinese Characters Formed? : 3 Major Types Explained Everyday Hanzi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZemMzFxYIG4 Learn All the Basics of Chinese Writing Part 1 - Strokes : How to Write Chinese Characters (Hanzi) Janus Academy - Learn Chinese & Japanese

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwwTfcYFhLI How I learned Mandarin Chinese in 6 months self-taught at home 4-6 hrs/day Dr. Izzy Sealey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0uMvFqXqVk 7:41 Numbers 0–10 & Days of the Week : Chinese for Beginners Mandarin with Phoebe

idioms (成语, chéngyǔ)

From pdf:

Fluent Forever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC-0KNtkCkE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxfKGlb2pFg How to Start Writing Chinese Characters (Step by Step) Grace Mandarin Chinese

Dog breeds from China

Story of China’s most beautiful woman: https://youtu.be/_GG0meN-OQM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UYkiXT-lQ0 8:02 How to Easily Remember Chinese Characters (Without Memorizing Thousands!) mifi Chinese

Tones Sandhi

PROTIP: Unlike European languages, one cannot ask a question by turning the end of sentences into a question using rising intonation. Tone 2

TODO: Use https://www.archchinese.com/mandarin_chinese_tone_drill.html to practice Mandarin tone change rules:

  1. When a 3rd tone is followed by another 3rd tone, the first one becomes a 2nd tone. For example, 你好(nǐhǎo => níhǎo).

  2. When the character 一(one), which is a 1st tone by itself, is followed by a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd tone, it becomes a 4th tone. For example, 一些(yīxiē => yìxiē).

  3. When the character 一(one), which is 1st tone by itself, is followed by a 4th tone, it becomes a 2nd tone. For example, 一半(yībàn => yíbàn).

  4. When the character 不(no,not), which is a 4th tone by itself, is followed by another 4th tone, it becomes a 2nd tone. For example, 不要(bùyào => búyào).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATtAHQQKBas How to MASTER the Tones of Mandarin Chinese Learn Chinese Now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTc_VlEV3yY t’s Not Just Tones: Chinese ALSO Has Intonation (why robots don’t sound natural) Julesy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATtAHQQKBas How to MASTER the Tones of Mandarin Chinese by Learn Chinese Now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIP8yVcDZRI The SECRET to Perfect Mandarin Tone Pronunciation 🇨🇳

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikBI9pk84EE (Pt 2)The SECRET to Perfect Mandarin Tone Pronunciation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZY8rzG0x5I 7:45 Are You Pronouncing the Third Tone Correctly?/Tone3 combination/Mandarin pronunciation Basics#4 Chinese with Fang and Bright

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rkKJg9gRK0 10:55 Can’t Hear Chinese Tones? Here’s the Method You’ve Been Missing! Lala Chinese 啦啦的中文课

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMQQoNbjUas&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D Why Do Chinese Words All Sound the SAME?! Mandarin Blueprint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OewzOCvDYjg 6:01 Don’t Memorize Chinese Tones - Train Your Ears Instead! ShuoshuoChinese说说中文

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8F_XJyIkI 8:41 The BEST Way to Master Chinese Characters (Stop Memorizing!) Gossip Chinese

Brian Wiles

Harbin Mandarin

by AhHanzi

by Learn Chinese Now

by Jared Tells Tales

References to add

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-ugOMdynYo&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D 19:49 Why Speaking “Broken” Chinese Is The Fastest Path to Fluency Canto to Mando

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf8luHnpVS4 Kung Fu Panda