Speaking of my hometown 吉林Jílín in the Northeast of China, southerners will naturally think of a song called “My home is in the Northeast“, which introduces the approximate location of the northeast, the famous Songhua River, and some authentic crops. For foreign students, all they can think of maybe is Harbin, which is particularly cold, […]
By Andie Ma (马萍 Mǎ Píng) Dialect is a symbol of identity When I was a kid growing up in the city of 日照Rizhao, I was frustrated that everyone around me spoke the Chinese language in dialect. To me, people who spoke Putonghua were so fashionable and modern, they must have returned from studies in […]
The Chinese language is often called Mandarin, but where does the name Mandarin come from? Not from China, as you’ll see. China’s long history and culture attract numerous tourists from both home and abroad. Most foreign friends who come to China hear the name Mandarin a lot. Perhaps some of them are shocked by how […]
Mandarin is no longer confined to just China, as it’s increasingly spoken all across the world. In the ‘Chinese is a World Language’ series, GoEast follows some native as well as foreign Mandarin speakers. Here we have four parts: Part one is about the Chinese language used in the United States Sarah Johnson (江 淼 […]
There are many differences between the Cantonese and Mandarin language. When we talk about the Chinese language, we generally refer to Mandarin (Putonghua), the official language of China. Yet most words in the English language that originate from the Chinese language come from Cantonese, such as dim sum, wok, and lychee? Then, how come words from […]
The Chinese language is the most spoken language in the world, with 1.3 billion native speakers. It’s also one of the six official languages of the United Nations. At GoEast Mandarin, our colleagues also have first-hand experience of speaking Chinese in the Netherlands, Canada, the USA, and Chile. How many languages are spoken in China? […]
Chinese and English are the most commonly spoken languages in the world with approximately 1.2 billion speakers each. Children in China speak Mandarin and sometimes a local Chinese dialect at home. They then learn English at primary school but parents often pay for English classes at a younger age outside of school. Currently, English is […]
When you are talking about Chinese language, it might be a little confusing because there are so many names for the Chinese language, such as hànyǔ 汉语, zhōngwén 中文, pǔtōnghuà 普通话, guóyǔ 国语, huáwén 华文 and huáyǔ 华语. Why so many different names for this language in its own language?! Here are some tips to […]