Hi, I am interested in learning the Early Middle Chinese language but the problem is that there is almost no informaion about the grammar. So, I feel like learning Classical Chinese could help because their grammar might be the same. But if it isn't, pls do give some info about Early Middle Chinese grammar.

Thanks!!!

Today (Oct 23) is 霜降 shuāngjiàng, Frost's Descent, the last solar term of autumn.

降 has two readings, and they mean almost opposite things:

- jiàng = to come down (降落 landing, 降温 temperature drop)

- xiáng = to surrender (投降 tóuxiáng)

So it's shuāngjiàng. The frost comes down, it doesn't give.

The old calendar also splits 霜降 into three 5-day pentads. My favorite is the first one, 豺祭兽 chái jì shòu: jackals lay out their kill in a row before eating, like an offering. The other two are 草木黄落 (leaves turn yellow and fall) and 蛰虫咸俯 (insects dig in for winter).

I’m from Changsha, and I’ve heard the saying 霜降吃柿子: eat persimmons on this day and you won’t have a runny nose all winter. Folk wisdom, of course.

Persimmons come with wordplay, too. 柿 (shì, persimmon) sounds like 事 (shì, “things”), so 事事如意 (“may everything go your way”) becomes 柿柿如意, and 好事发生 (“may good things happen”) becomes 好柿发生. And since 霜 (shuāng, frost) sounds like 双 (shuāng, “a pair”), 好事成双 (“good things come in pairs”) can become 好柿成霜. A lot of puns for one fruit. （PS:The pictures are for reference only）

What other characters with two readings still trip you up?

I'm a freshman studying Chinese as my major in college

I'm having a hard time memorizing 汉字 and i forget it them way too easily

Ex: I've memorized some verbs yesterday and I don't remember them today

I study by learning the order of the strokes and write it repeatedly in my notebook

Does anyone have tips for me?

How do you do it how do you keep it together. So amazing.

Today I learned the days in chinese. I was reading this text in madarin companion that said ”一个周五的晚上” which translates to ”A friday night”. I could somewhat read it and spotted the ”wǔ”. I was so confused hahaha but then I learned that wǔ means friday in this context!

So 5th day (wǔ) = Friday
That means sān (three) has to be Wednesday?

I am learning Chinese. Could you tell me what opportunities might open up once I’ve learned it (in terms of work, income, or further study)? I would appreciate any advice or personal experiences you could share.

我朋友发给我a meme saying “instead of falling in love use that time to learn chinese” and I’m talking it seriously.

\- i heard 志愿 ＞ 选择 and 录取 ＞ 拒绝 in the context of school but 因为我只在学习两个月所以 I’m sticking to the simplest vocab possible for retention

\- is this font readable for you?

Like maybe a Pleco for my Mac? I've found that having a dictionary is much easier than using translation apps for certain words. Any help would be much appreciated. 我祝你们拥有美好的一天！

Shower thought

I have only been on my HSK1 journey for a little while, but today I could ask and answer questions with my teacher. I understood what she was asking and gave comprehensible answers. I know it's a small first step, but it feels like a big accomplishment and a foot in the door on my language-learning journey. :)

Hi everyone!
My university requires me to pass HSK 3 (3.0), including the mandatory speaking component, and I’m honestly quite worried about it.

I have an undiagnosed speech condition that makes it physically difficult, or sometimes impossible, for me to pronounce certain sounds correctly, particularly /j/, /z/, /zh/, and /ch/. No matter how much I try, these sounds come out differently from what I intend to say.

To explain what I mean, if you’ve ever heard someone with a cleft palate speak, you might have an idea of the kind of pronunciation difficulty I’m describing. I’m not saying I have a cleft palate, but my speech has some similar characteristics.

This isn’t because I’m a beginner in Chinese or haven’t practised enough. I experience the same difficulty in my native language, and sometimes even native speakers have trouble understanding certain words I say.

My concern is that even if I learn all the required vocabulary and grammar and know exactly what I want to say, my physical inability to produce certain sounds might affect my speaking score.

I wanted to ask:
Does anyone know how pronunciation is assessed in the new HSK 3.0 speaking component?
Are there any accommodations for candidates with speech or articulation difficulties, especially without an official diagnosis?
Has anyone with a similar condition taken HSKK or another Chinese speaking exam?
Is it possible to pass despite consistently mispronouncing certain consonants due to a physical speech limitation?
I’m willing to put in the effort to learn Chinese, but I’m scared of failing a mandatory graduation requirement because of something I physically struggle to control.
I’d really appreciate any advice or experiences. Thank you!

First time poster, polyglot here deciding to take on Mandarin as my 6th language. I've decided to NOT learn the characters, but to focus on pinyin and speech with the goal of having a basic conversation or ordering food at my local Chinese restaurant in 6-9 months. And ultimately to visit China next year. I wanted to visit this year but had to cancel for work, and hoping next year having a little bit of the language will make it more special.

Anyway I am a software engineer and with AI it's so tempting to make something for myself to make things easier but to me this is another version of procrastinating rather than actually learning the language. Though I have fallen into the trap already of making a little flashcard thing to test me on Pinyin just because another one I found that I liked was free and I'm trying to save money right now.

I use Anki religiously. And I am working through Pimsleur. Is there any other good app that you have found genuinely useful? Anything to help with Pinyin or pronunciation?

I'm indifferent about following HSK or not.

Earlier this year, I completed the HSKK Intermediate exam. The exam was conducted in a single room, with maybe 20-30 test-takers seated at individual desks. Each student was given a digital voice recorder and instructions on how to use it.

After the questions/statements were played, all the students in the classroom had to speak the answers into this digital voice recorder at the same time. Some questions required brief answers; others were longer responses.

While the questions/statements were totally fine, the auditory environment when answering was next to impossible for me. Trying to keep my thoughts and memory in line while having 20-30 people in the same room, answering the same questions in normal volume was so distracting. There was also the pressure you felt if you were one of the last people still talking into the recorder.

Is this the same format for HSKK exams everywhere around the world?

大家好!

今天我学习了 - 就要
Today I learned the word - will, shall be going to

1.今天我就要吃意大利面

2.我就要去工作

I've recently decided to really take my learning of Mandarin Chinese seriously and am feeling like I'm drowning a little.

What helps is that my husband is Chinese and each evening we go through various miscellaneous sentences and words to help broaden my word bank, knowledge and understanding of sentence structure. However, at what point have you all decided to learn to write the words you are saying?

I feel the right way is to write as you learn and to really study hard but I don't want to slow down.

How have you gained momentum? How did you understand sentence structure and did you learn to write Mandarin Chinese later or right away?

Thanks, everyone! 🫶🏻