chinese serotonin

Cartoons in Chinese  There are a lot of different methods to improve your reading and listening, and one of them is through Cartoons. Cartoons tend to use a simpler vocabulary, because for most of them their target audience are kids.  This method can help anyone, at whichever level you are, the only thing that changes is the type of cartoons that will benefit you. Where to find them You can watch them in platforms like: WeTV or IQIYI, but most of the cartoons in those platforms are Anime, which is a bit harder than normal cartoons, because their target audience is much older. If you are a beginner or intermediate learner (like me) I recommend you to watch children's cartoons, the main place where you can find them is on YouTube. Cartoons on YouTube for beginner level  Peppa Pig: This show is one of the most recommended in the Chinese learning community. The dialogues tend to be quite simple, because the plot is based in a child's life. There are two YouTube channels I rec...

 What is 部首? 部首 or also known as Chinese radicals, are the components of the Chinese characters, they are used in Chinese dictionaries and in some cases can help you figure out the meaning of unknown words. Radicals are taught in kindergarten (just like in the west we learn the alphabet) and in a way they are the base of the Chinese writing system. Why radicals can be useful as Chinese learners? This depends on your approach to learn Chinese, you can easily go through your Chinese language path without really caring about radicals. But there are some cases where radicals could quite help you, for example: if you want to learn both traditional and simplified Chinese, or if you want to understand Chinese names, but its main use is to be able to remember characters and have a more profound understanding of them. Previously I have already given my best tips to remember characters, so if you are interested on that you can check the following: How to remember characters , however those t...

Chinese Characters Chinese language has something quite especial about it; you are probably already thinking about its main difference from other languages, and it's one of the differences that make Chinese quite different from western languages. This difference I'm mentioning is the fact that it doesn't have an alphabet; instead it has characters. There is not an exact quantity of Chinese characters, it's belief that there are around 7000 different characters. But in reality only 2500 to 3500 characters are used, which is still a lot, but there's no reason to fear them, because they are actually quite interesting and filled with history. How to remember characters  The following tips come from my own experience which might work for you, but it's important to mention that everybody is different, in my case I have a good memory which has really helped me, but as I move through the intermediate level I'm starting to need more study hours. Immersion, the reason...

Practice Chinese through YouTube It's a known fact that YouTube can be quite helpful for learners all around the world, it's a great resource, but sometimes things are quite hard to find, that's why I have gathered some of my favorite YouTubers to share with all of you, some of them will be study and others will be to get immerse in the Chinese language. YouTube Channels to Learn  ShuoShuo Chinese: This is the first channel I encountered in my Chinese learning journey, her channels mainly focus in helping us to sound more native and giving us a lot of different expressions for every day, she also goes in depth in some of the grammar of the HSK. Grace Mandarin Chinese: Her Channel has a lot of variety, but the videos that I found most helpful are the ones that are about pronunciation and the sentence-final particles, in general her videos will help you clear out a lot of your doubts. Also, her recommendations are quite good, I currently use most of the podcasts she has recom...

Watching Chinese Dramas   Immersion is an important thing in your language journey, but there are different ways to get the most out of it, and it all depends on your level. Even though it would be amazing to be able to watch a Cdrama completely in Chinese It's actually quite hard and requires almost an advanced level, or a lot of time depending on the drama, but that doesn't mean we can't use them to immerse ourselves when we are on another level. Why is it important to watch shows, movies, cartoons, etc. in your target language? Sometimes it seems that watching a show or movie in Chinese might only be for enjoyment, which is quite valid. But from the perspective of learning, it's a way to see how you can use structures in conversation, understand new patterns, and finally to practice.  Beginner level  You are starting your language journey, and you want to practice Chinese through shows or cartoons, both of them are great options it only depends on what you are lookin...

Grammar in the Chinese language The grammar of a language is the base of everything that's why in most classes there is such an emphasis on it, but as you keep improving in your language journey you'll keep learning new structures and old structures will become more complex, but when you are on the breach between beginner and intermediate level things get a bit complex, because you have more and more structures but at the same time you still don't know the basic grammar, by this I mean that you still need to look them up or analyze them when you are creating a sentence. The key to just knowing these structures is to practice and to get immersed in the language, because the more you interact with the structures, the faster you will process them, and suddenly they will start to click.  How can you use writing to improve this  There are different ways to do this; some people like to create paragraphs to practice, or in my case I like describing pictures, by this I mean that I ...

How to use Manhuas to practice Chinese Improving your reading skills There are many ways to improve your Chinese skills, but when it comes to reading it's all about practice and constant immersion in the Chinese language, there are a lot of different resources that you can try like: books, articles, newspapers but the one I'm going to be focusing on this blog is practicing your reading through Manhuas (which are basically comics). Where can you find Manhuas? So there are a lot of different places where you can find them, for example if you want a physical copy you can find some on Amazon, but there's not a lot of variety, so the best options will be to read them online: there are some platforms that you can use for example: bilibili 漫画  or Webtoon , these two are both web platforms and Apps, so you can use them in the format that you prefer.  They are both free and quite easy to use, they quite similar, but the content in each one is quite different, another thing that is...

Your language journey Everybody has its own path when it comes to language learning, they are all beautiful but completely different, but there are some victories that will happen in most people's language journey. It's important to care about these victories and appreciate it them because these will help you to stay motivated. My experience Up to this point I have been studying Chinese for more than 2 years and a half and I honestly love this language, but I have had my rough patch, mainly when I first started to learn Chinese. I remember that there was a moment I really wanted to quit and this happened on my third module, which was around my 4th month studying Chinese, I was feeling quite frustrated because I was not able to understand a lot of things and I felt like I was not as good as my classmates and to be honest I was not enjoying it; but one on these small victories helped me to stay motivated, and I'm so glad that I was able ...

Everything you need to know about taking the HSKK online  What is the HSKK?  The 汉语水平口考试 or also known as the HSKK is the Chinese proficiency oral exam, there are three levels: beginner, intermediate and advance, usually you take the beginner HSKK when you take the HSK 3, the intermediate level when you take the HSK 4, and the advance level from the HSK5 and up. Taking the HSKK at a test center vs at home  Usually the exam is done by computer, and from what I have read even if you go to a test center you'll do it on a computer because they need to record your answers, so in theory it doesn't matter whether you go to a test center or take it at home, not like in the HSK.  The only thing you should take into consideration is that if you take the HSKK in a test center you might get distracted by the voices of the other students that are also taking the exam, but on the positive note, in case that you have a problem, they'll likely be able to fix it easily.  Taking ...

My experience with the GoChinese books  I have been studying Chinese for 2 years and a half, an up to this moment I have been using the same books, which are: The GoChinese series. I have completed all the beginner books, and I'm currently about to finish the first intermediate book.  So, full disclosure, I don't self-study with these books. I take Chinese classes and these are the books that are used in my language school; in my case they have been a great resource to learn Chinese. Also, it's important to mention that there are two versions: one is in simplified characters and the other is in traditional characters. In theory, they are supposed to have the same content and only the writing system changes. The version I have been using is in traditional characters, so this review will be based on those.  The beginner series I have finished the beginner series, both the textbooks and workbooks; the beginner series is from the Go100 to the Go400. Each book has 10 lessons a...

Practice Chinese through Quotes and Poems There are a lot of different ways to practice your reading, but one of my favorite ways is to practice through poems, and this month is the perfect time to start using this method, as it's the most romantic month of the year, you can even dedicate some poems to your significant other or if you are like me a lonely wolf you can simply use this method to improve your language skills.  How to study through Poems?  The way to do it is relatively easy, because the language used in poems and quotes tends to be quite simple the only struggle you might encounter is with characters you don't know, you'll have to look them up, and choose the translation that fits better with the context, but apart from that it will be quite a smooth process. There are a lot of different places where you can find a poem that interests you, you can look for them  on Instagram, 小紅书, Baidu, or you can even find some poetry books, in my case I download some PDFs...

Different methods to study Chinese   There are a lot of different ways to practice a language; it can be through books, music, Apps and even through TV shows, but there are always new methods to keep improving your language skills. In this case, I'm going to be sharing one of my favorite methods, which is: practicing my language skill with recipes. This method is both efficient and delicious.  This is a great method, because you can practice your reading and listening skills, and you will learn a lot of common vocabulary. There is a variety of recipes, and the speed in which they talk is usually a lot slower than vlogs or other types of content, so it's easier to understand.  How to use recipes to practice Chinese  The first thing you need to do is find the right recipe for you, it depends on what you are looking for, if you want a challenge and complex vocabulary the best option is to choose one that is made by a chef or in a cooking show, but if you are looking for...

 Let's talk about Chinese Music As most of you already know, immersion is a big part of learning a language, and one of the easiest ways to do this is through music. But when learning Chinese, music might not be the best way to improve your pronunciation, because Chinese is a tonal language, and when singing sometimes the tones can get lost, but this doesn't mean that it's impossible to study through music; there are still multiple ways in which music can help you improve your language skills.  Methods to study through Music If you want to improve your reading, you can try reading lyrics and translating them. This can really help you with your comprehension, because lyrics tend to be filled with metaphors. I usually use short songs and the ones in which the vocabulary is familiar to me. The artist I like the most for this method is: Deca Joins, I think the vocabulary in their lyrics is relatively simple. If you want to try translating some songs, I recommend the following: ...

Simplified and traditional characters What's the difference between simplified and traditional Chinese?  Well the biggest difference is the appearance of the characters, for example:  爱, 不过, 担心, 说 these are all written in simplified Chinese, meanwhile the following are in traditional Chinese: 愛, 不過, 擔心, 說. They all have the same meaning, only their appearance and amount of strokes changes. Another thing that changes is where they are used, simplified Chinese is mainly used in mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia, meanwhile traditional Chinese it's used in Taiwan, Hong Kong (Cantonese) and Macau.  Simplified Chinese was created in 1949 to improve China's literacy rate, the amount of characters that change between both systems is around 2,000, but it is still possible to learn both.  My experience with both systems  I first started to learn Traditional Chinese and I have been learning it for around 2 and half years, then six months ago I started to learn simpli...

My language journey in 2021  2021 was filled with a lot of different experiences. This year I was able to immerse myself in the Chinese language in the comfort of my own home, I also discovered the importance of getting free flow immersion, and this led me to find a lot of amazing shows, podcasts and music. The best things I found for free flow immersion this year:   Artists: Gong, Shi Shi, Piggy, Waa Wei, Rainie Yang, WayV, Kun, Deca Joins, Good Band, Karencici and more. Shows: Find Yourself, Well intended love, Variations of Moonlight, Big Fish and Begonia, and the one that taught me the most: Chuang 2021 Podcasts: Chillchat Chinese, 沒在客氣, 台女又怎樣, talk to me in Chinese, and Shameless Sisters. Another thing I started to do this year, was to self-study and let's just say it was not easy, but I really enjoyed it. I self-studied for my HSK3 certificate, and it was a great experience, at the same time I started to self-study simplified Chinese and I hope to continue this in 2...

The pressure when learning a new language Learning a new language is a big commitment and something that takes times, but sometimes we can get carried away with putting certain goals to ourselves like: “I'll reach intermediate level in a year” “I'll be fluent in two years” and when you have such big goals in such a short amount of time you will constantly feel like you are not making enough progress. Short term and long term goals  There are two types of goals, short-term and long term goals; first let's talk about short term goals in my case I consider that short term goals should happen between 1 and 4 months; for this type of goal I think it's better to be something small, like completing a book or analyzing the vocabulary of a movie or even studying for a certification. As for long term goals, I like to be more flexible with the deadlines, because it's difficult to guess when you will reach it; long term goals can range from reaching fluency in a language, being...

How to choose the perfect novel or comic to learn chinese  Where to buy Chinese books  To find books written in Chinese can be a bit complicated, there are a lot of websites that are usually recommended, for example: books.Taiwan, book depository, purple culture, cypress books and more;   In my case, I opted for another option because I tried buying from books.Taiwan but for a strange reason the order never went through, I think the problem was that all of the cards I tried to pay with were from Mexican banks, so I decided to buy them from Amazon, but as you can imagine there's not a lot of variety, additionally Chinese novels, comics, etc. are hard to find in that platform, because a lot of them don't appear if you look up their title in Chinese, in my experience the way I found the most books, was by searching: the title of the book (Chinese edition), and also by searching for the author instead of the book, another thing that's important to mention is that I used the U...

I studied for only one month for the HSK3 What is the HSK Exam ?  The Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, mostly known as HSK, is a Chinese proficiency exam; currently there are 6 levels, but next year there will be up to 9 levels. How long do you have to study for the exam?  I would recommend you to study  for several months, if you usually don't have a lot of time, because it can be quite time-consuming, but if you are up to the challenge, or you are in an emergency It's possible to do it in a little over a month. As I mentioned before, it's possible to only study for a short time and have good results, but in my opinion you will need to have some previous knowledge, because learning the basics of a language takes time and practice, in my case I had already been studying Traditional Chinese for 2 years, but the curriculum I had been using was quite different to the HSK, but I already knew a lot of the grammar and some vocabulary. Resources: First, I looked up some PDFs for the HSK 3...

Learn all about 小红书 so you can use it for language immersion As I mentioned in my previous blog, immersion is a big part of learning a language, and there are a lot of different ways to be immersed in Chinese language, but my favorite one is using  小红书 also known as  RED. What is 小红书 ?  Red/ 小红书  is a social media platform filled with interesting content and amazing creators, the topics range from book recommendations to celebrities, in 小红书 you can find everything you can imagine, in my opinion it is like a mix between Instagram and Pinterest and the best part is that everything is in Chinese.  Why I use this App for language immersion I like this App, because it's all in Chinese and the content is so diverse that it helps you learn new vocabulary and even some slang, you will be able to practice your reading and listening, because there are a lot of videos and most pictures have long captions. Something that is important to know, is that you are not going ...

Learning a new language  Learning a new language is amazing, it will give you a lot of new opportunities, a new perspective and a new hobby, the best part is that there are so many languages that you can choose from, and you can learn as many languages as you want to, but as in every beautiful story you will encounter some problems, but this post is here to help you move past them. A little background on my language journey  My mother tongue is Spanish, but ever since I was little I was taught English and to be honest I never realized how much I was improving as time passed, then a little more than two years ago I started to learn Chinese, it was difficult for a while, but I overcame all of my difficulties and that was the first language in which I saw my progress, but when I got to a point where I was comfortable with my Chinese I decided to learn a new language: Korean and this is where I really started to struggle.  But why did this happened ? When I started to learn K...