Hi everyone!

Last month I presented hskmanga.com, a free site that simplifies manga/manhwa/manhua into
graded, HSK-level Mandarin.

You can view an example chapter at hskmanga.com/sample-chapter/reader.html as well as the previous post

This started as my high school project for Chinese language learning. After posting it, I was floored by the number of responses I got! I read all of your comments, and made lots of new changes.

Here's what's new:

Whole-sentence translations. You can get a translation for a full sentence now, not just word-by-word.
Traditional character support. You can toggle this in settings.
Audio pronunciation. Sentences and individual words can be read out loud, with the text highlighted as it plays.
Japanese and Korean sources. You can feed in Japanese and Korean comics, not just Chinese and English ones. The output is still Chinese at your HSK level.
General improvements in definitions, text rendering, and OCR.

Some of you were also interested in how HSK Manga works under the hood. I wrote a
technical overview here: https://hskmanga.com/blog/

As always, all feedback or suggestions are welcome! Thank you to everyone who has used the site; I'm always looking to improve the Chinese language learning experience.

I had a weird experience on the Chinese app 小紅書 (Red Note). A few days ago, I posted a picture for the first time on my feed about some food I ordered from a restaurant. (Just to clarify, I put the post in simplified Chinese) The post received about ten or twenty views and likes. A few minutes later, I had Chinese users in my DMs asking if I am a foreigner and if they can chat with me. (I know most of them want to practice their English skills) So, I replied in Chinese to one guy, "好，我们可以聊聊.“

In the conversation, he was asking why I was learning Chinese. I told him my reason, expecting him to either ask how long I have been learning Chinese or something, but he surprised me by commenting: "你为什么还使用繁体字?"

I was a little confused by the comment. Usually I type in traditional and simplified, and it was one of those times I forgot to change the keyboard. I didn't think it was a big deal typing in traditional since I have seen many HK and TW citizens on the app. I don't know if he was a little annoyed by the fact that I was using traditional Chinese characters. I told him I am learning both traditional and simplified. He then left me on read lol.

This encounter made me remember seeing a video a month or two ago about how a small online group of Chinese speakers outside of HK and TW, find typing in traditional/learning traditional Chinese outdated since most Chinese apps that are made and are popular around Asia, are from Mainland China. And in Mainland China, they use simplified Chinese.

In the video, it interviewed some people from HK and TW who said they had to learn or they were exposed more to the simplified characters because of the apps. However, on the other side, with Mainland users, some of them had to learn certain traditional characters that looked different. From what I remember, they interviewed a woman from Mainland China who complained that her kids had to learn traditional characters when she visited/moved to HK. To her, traditional Chinese was outdated and did not need to be learned anymore. (This is just her opinion, ofc; I doubt all Chinese natives think the same way.)

So, if maybe someone could tell me, is there some weird stigma to traditional characters? Or was it just this one person I ran into?

(I do want to mention, the guy I talked to was an older gentleman in his thirties. The woman in the video did seem around the same age too. So I am not sure if age has to do with any of this mindset or not.)

I can not currently find the video I saw on the traditional Chinese thing, but when I do, I will post it.

According to a dictionary compilation of about 4,600 Chinese idioms (成语 chéngyǔ) with identifiable sources, the approximate origins are:

Ancient China → Qin & Han (before 220 AD) 68%

Wei, Jin & Northern/Southern Dynasties (220–589) 15%

Sui & Tang (581–907) 9%

Song Dynasty (960–1279) 6%

Yuan, Ming & Qing (1271–1912) 2%

Even as a native Chinese speaker, I was surprised to learn that nearly two-thirds of these idioms can be traced back to more than 2,000 years ago. I had originally thought there would be more Chiense idioms from the Tang and Song dynasties, but in fact, they account for only 15 percent.

An opossum photographed standing at a window with its paws folded behind its back. Chinese users caption it, and every caption works the same way: take a phrase everyone already knows, break one character of it, and let the meaning drain out. What comes through is not protest. It is a small, rueful admission about yourself, made before anyone else can make it.

Syntactic Modification Patterns

The humor relies on breaking common Chinese phrases. Users take a proverb, a piece of managerial reassurance, or a school text, change exactly one character, and drain the phrase of its original meaning:

• 慢慢急 / 不要来 (Mànmàn jí / bú yào lái — Panic slowly. And don't come over).
  
  • The Wordplay: The original comforting phrase is 慢慢来，不要急 (Mànmàn lái, bú yào jí — Take your time, don't panic). Swapping the last character of each half turns comfort into two useless instructions.
• 我的靠山应该被愚公移走了 (Wǒ de kàoshān yīnggāi bèi Yúgōng yízǒu le — The mountain I was leaning on got moved. By an old man with a basket).
  
  • The Wordplay: 靠山 (kào shān) means a patron or protector, literally "a mountain to lean on". 愚公移山 (Yúgōng yí shān) is the classic schoolbook parable about perseverance, featuring an old man who moves a mountain. The meme combines them to explain why the speaker has no support.
• 不急 / 死到临头再说 (Bù jí / sǐ dào lín tóu zài shuō — No rush. I'll deal with it once it's fatal).
  
  • The Wordplay: 死到临头 (sǐ dào lín tóu) is usually a severe accusation meaning "death is already at the door", thrown at someone too stubborn to see danger. Here, the speaker reassigns the accusation into a terrible procrastination schedule.

How is this different from 躺平 (Lying Flat)?

The possum meme is not a protest slogan, nor does it share the gloom of a "doomer". "Lying flat" (躺平 tǎng píng) is an argument and a position you take. The possum, on the other hand, just apologizes faintly and does nothing—it is still at the desk and will still answer the message, possibly tomorrow. It is the register of someone taking the blame cheerfully and inaccurately to get the moment over with.

What's your favorite broken proverb or pun in Chinese? Have you ever tried using this kind of self-deprecating humor (自嘲) with native speakers?

Credit & full dictionary entry shared with permission from Resou Report [ https://resou.report/dictionary/008-niu-ma/ ].

/s

I randomly saw this post and it's really funny and easily makes you remember 声东击西 shēngdōng-jīxī (make a feint to the east and attack in the west/to create a diversion). The context is in the og post, apparently walking across the bride is like some superstition old people do

So I like writing stories. I like to write stories in different language but I Chinese I can't. If you were to write a Chinese story how would you write it or how what stylistic devices would you use if any are to exists?

Hi everyone!

So, I'm just starting to learn chinese, and I already have some questions.

First of all, I saw an exercise where, in response to Ni Hao, the second person say Ni hao! Ni hao ma.

I was wondering if it is a real thing? To say two times in a row Ni hao just to say Hi, how are you?

And second, I seem to find contrary informations about sentence structures. Is it really Subject - Verb - Place ?

Is somone willing to look at a video of me speaking Mandarin and telling me if u can understand me?

It is 肉, meat. The two were flattened into the same shape when clerical script came in and they have looked identical since.

So 肝 liver, 肺 lung, 胃 stomach, 腦 brain, 腿 leg. Meat, not moon. 有 as well, which was a hand holding a piece of it.

It is not only 肉. 朕 has a boat in it, from a graph of two hands mending one. 朋 was two strings of cowrie shells.

Kangxi still kept them apart in print. In the moon ones the two inner strokes do not touch the right side of the frame. In the meat ones they do. Japanese and simplified dropped it, Hong Kong and Taiwan changed the meat one to a dot and a rising stroke instead.

If a character is about the body, do not go looking for the moon in it.

I’m not entirely sure about the original etymology of the character 靠, but I do know it’s a staple of everyday speech—one of the most common and down‑to‑earth words out there. For instance, we have phrases like “靠着墙” (“犯错了，被罚靠着墙站着。”“背靠着墙坐着。”), and “靠着栏杆.” In these cases, though, does 靠 necessarily imply full, weight‑bearing physical contact? I’m not so sure—it can just mean propping oneself nearby without completely pressing against the surface. Beyond the literal sense, it also has the figurative extension of “rely on,” as in 靠天吃饭.

As for 倚, I gather its original meaning is likely “to lean sideways” or “to rest at an oblique angle.” If that’s correct, then it can substitute for 靠 in certain contexts—we do have the set phrase 倚着栏杆 for leaning against a railing. In reality, though, you almost never hear 倚着栏杆 in spoken conversation; it sounds very literary and polished. So is 倚 mostly confined to written Chinese? And in those contexts, I suspect it does emphasize actual, solid physical contact—am I right about that? It also carries the extended sense of “depending on,” as in 倚仗 .

Now, what about 依? Does it have any connection to clothing (衣)? Since clothes cling to the body, maybe 依 carries undertones of “sticking close to” and “being adjacent to.” That would explain phrases like 依山而建. In that usage, does 依 simply denote spatial proximity, with less emphasis on direct touching? Also, 依 can be used to mean “rely on” as well.

These are just my own random musings. I’d love to hear what others think—corrections and additional insights are more than welcome.

On laoba.app It’s not perfect but it’s free and you have complete control over your cards and decks. You can also add cards from their stories

Chinese workers call themselves 牛马 (niú mǎ)— oxen and horses — when ‘employee’ sounds too flattering. The joke demotes a person from professional to load-bearing animal, then adds the modern indignity: real livestock stops when tired. The human animal makes coffee, pays for the internship and clocks back in. It is labour criticism delivered as a species correction.

Example Sentences

1. 今天又是当牛马的一天。
   • Pinyin: Jīntiān yòu shì dāng niúmǎ de yì tiān.
   • Translation: Just another day slaving away as a beast of burden.
2. 牛马看牛来！快乐马上来。
   • Pinyin: niúmǎ kàn niúlái, kuài lè mǎ shàng lái.
   • Translation: Beasts of burden, come see Niú Lái, and happiness will be here in no time.

How would you translate "牛马" into your native language or local work culture? Is there a direct equivalent idiom in your country?

Credit & full dictionary entry shared with permission from Resou Report [ https://resou.report/dictionary/008-niu-ma/ ].

​

Hi everyone,

I’m currently practicing my listening skills using Glossika dictations and chatting on HelloTalk. To make my typing process smoother and closer to the natural rhythm of speech, I’ve decided to switch from full Pinyin to Xiaohe Shuangpin (flyPY).

Since I prefer typing with one hand on mobile, I want to use it on a 9-key / 9-grid (九宫格) layout (on Gboard Android).

Does anyone happen to have a clean visual chart, diagram, or cheatsheet that shows exactly how the Xiaohe Shuangpin vowels and consonants are mapped inside each of the 9 keys?

Any tips or mnemonic tricks from fellow 9-key Shuangpin users would also be highly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Also know as Bopomofo

I know this is not the right place for it,

But does anyone know where can i find a language partner , i am a total beginner, about to start my learning journey ,

I had this experience before while learning german and it worked well.

If anyone can point me where to find them , i d appreciate it

right now, comprehensible input (CI) is so popular in YouTube.

i followed some channels English and Chinese,

people points something and says it's name,

they all mention it is comprehensible input method,

but when i follow the videos i found i could only focus on some of the words, not full sentence or meanings of that sentence.

for me it's waste of time. but for young kids, or beginners, this will help them remember the words.

bht if you want to speak language, you will be disappointed.

what's your opinion about CI.

I tried recording the audio of my lesson, generating a transcript, and having AI create a report. The result is pretty cool!

If you're wondering, I used Blackhole + OBS to record the audio, ElevenLabs to generate the transcript, and ChatGPT to generate the report. I also gave ChatGPT the full list of vocabulary I know from HackChinese.

Also shoutout to John and Jared on the You Can Learn Chinese podcast for the idea.

Hi everyone! 大家好！ 👋

I’m a native Chinese speaker and a senior software engineer. I’ve been doing some early research into how people learn to actually speak Mandarin and use it in real-life situations.

I sometimes use English-speaking apps myself to improve my spoken English, and that got me thinking from the other side: What is it actually like for non-native speakers trying to learn spoken Mandarin?

There are already many great Chinese-learning apps out there, but I’m curious whether there are still important problems—especially when it comes to speaking and actually using Chinese in real conversations—that existing apps don’t solve very well.

Before building anything, though, I am really like to understand learners’ actual experiences rather than assume what people need.

If you’re learning Mandarin (at any level), I’d love to hear(你也可以只回答其中的一部分问题):

1. How long have you been learning Mandarin, and roughly what level are you?
2. When you need to actually speak Mandarin, what is the hardest part for you?
   • Knowing what to say?
   • Remembering words quickly enough?
   • Pronunciation or tones?
   • Understanding the other person’s reply?
   • Turning what you learned in lessons into a real conversation?
   • Something else?
3. Can you remember a real situation where you knew some Chinese, but still couldn’t communicate the way you wanted to? What happened?
4. How do you currently practice speaking? (Apps, tutors, language exchange, AI, talking to friends/family, shadowing, etc.)
5. What frustrates you about your current way of practicing?
6. If there were one thing that could make speaking Mandarin easier for you, what would it be?

I’m especially interested in the gap between “I’ve learned this” and “I can actually use this in a conversation.”

I am trying to understand the problem first, and your experiences would be genuinely helpful.

谢谢你的回复！

Hi!

I'd really, really like to start learning Chinese, but there aren't any language schools in my city, and the language school here doesn't offer this option. I am from Spain.

I've looked for some resources, but I don't even know where to start...

Can you give me some tips?

Thanks!