Conquer Chinese Characters with These Easy Tips

Chinese is distinctive for its characters. When people think of China, they think of thousands upon thousands of symbols, normally amazed that people can memorize so many different icons for their language. For some it's the characters that make them want to learn Chinese, and for others the characters put them off. Here are some tips:

Flashcards:
This is a classic way to learn, and it's pretty self-explanatory. Just buy some flashcards, write a character on one side, and write the meaning and pronunciation (in Pinyin) on the other. If you want to be fancy, you can try an application called Anki. Anki bills itself as an intelligent flashcard system, and it's hard to argue it isn't. It learns your needs as your learn each card, removing cards that you've already memorized, and reintroducing them in timed intervals to make sure you don't forget them. Anki is available on Mac, PC, Android and iOS.

Organize:
So in order to be able to read Chinese, you'll need to know around 3,000 characters. That's a lot. The best way to tackle them is to do it in chunks. Start with the most commonly used characters , and then work your way up to the top. Consider breaking down the characters into groups of 15 or 20. Study those each day. If you're like most students you'll find that …Read more

As the saying goes: "it's not what you know, it's who you know".

Making personal contacts and relationships and then applying them to work in China is just as important as it is in any country. It can make or break you!

In Mandarin Chinese, we use "打交道 (dǎ jiāodào)" as a common word in our daily lives. In short, it means to "make contact with", to introduce oneself, or to "deal with" someone. In business and in socializing, everyone needs to maneuver all kinds of situations, people and problems. Learning "打交道 (dǎ jiāodào)" can help you to master everyday Chinese.

The word "打交道 (dǎ jiāodào)" can be applied to business situations when you need to "deal with" clients and make mutually beneficial negotiations.

Let's take apart 打交道 (dǎ jiāodào):

打 (dǎ) is a verb meaning to hit/strike.
交道 (jiāodào) is a noun: dealings.
打交道 (dǎ jiāodào): come into contact with; make contact with; have dealings with.

Examples of "打交道 (dǎ jiāodào)" in a sentence:

Tā hěn róngyì dǎ jiāodào.
他 很 容易 打 交道。
He is easy to deal with.

Liǎng gè chǎng jīngcháng dǎ jiāodào.
两 个 厂 经常 打 交道。
The two factories maintain frequent contacts.

A common sentence structure when using 打交道 (dǎ jiāodào) is...Read more

Quiz:

A. road
B. dealings
C. relationship
D. business
See Answer