When thinking about the future, language might not be the first subject that comes to mind for you. But when imagining what the world might look like 10, 20, or even 30 years from now, it is a factor we should probably consider. With shifting political landscapes, and even our environment changing beneath our feet,(…)

The ease or difficulty involved in learning another language is often a factor in which ones we choose to study. High-school students tend to go with French and Spanish for a reason: because these are easier and take less time to learn than, say Chinese, or Hungarian. But others love tackling the hard ones because(…)

Most travel guides have etiquette sections for Asia-bound travelers and would-be expats, and most of those contain situationally relevant advice for Taiwan, e.g.: Don’t stick your chopsticks standing upright in a bowl of rice, ostensibly because it resembles the incense burned at Buddhist temples. Never use your hands to beckon someone, and never gift clocks,(…)

The rookie ex-pat. Those that have lived abroad have been there: floundering, anxious, and overwhelmed. Like most jokes, it’s funny unless it’s happening to you. For the record, nearly every mistake described herein was committed by yours truly at some point in my journey; thus, I have a confident familiarity with both classes of mistakes.(…)

Whether you’re planning a short trip or a permanent move to a Mandarin-speaking country, you would be doing yourself (and ostensibly, others) a tremendous disservice by not familiarizing yourself with the basics of the language. In other words, it’s in your best interest to have – at the bare minimum – a handful of utilitarian(…)

The US election is over, and despite there still being the matter of the official electoral college vote of December 19th to make it a (dystopian) reality, it looks as though the world has got itself a new American president. We say the world, because despite the potential horrors American citizens are now facing in(…)

China holds a lot of mystique for many travellers, as an exotic Eastern land, with a completely different language, alphabet system, and culture. These differences can make it quite daunting, especially when it comes to communicating. Whether you speak Chinese or not, it is important to remember that non-verbal communication is just as important as(…)

With well over a billion native speakers, Chinese is the most-spoken first language in the world. Geographically, too, China is an immense country. It should come as no surprise, then, that there are several important regional distinctions in the Chinese language. Indeed, there’s a lot more to Chinese than just Mandarin: there are many important(…)

Heading to Beijing? Want to experience the best the city has to offer? Check out our list of what to do!

Every language has its own quirky sayings and expressions, but Mandarin has its own system of traditional idioms. They’re called chengyu and usually consist of four characters, which is why they’re often called four-character idioms. These chengyu aren’t the only idioms in Chinese, and while most come from ancient literature, they’re still common today. Although(…)