If I asked you to think about words that had the character dragon in them in Chinese, you’d probably think of words like a dragon boat, a dragon fruit, and you’d be purrfectly right. But today, we’re here to talk about unusual dragon words. Words in Chinese you’ll be surprised to learn there’s a dragon in! So without further ado, here are unexpected words that contain the character dragon in

The following Chinese words, quite surprisingly, all have dragons in them. Which ones did you expect the least?

Dragon in Chinese phrase #1: Faucet

水龙头

shuǐ lóng tóu

faucet

literally: a  water dragon head

The name for faucet in Chinese is cool. It’s composed of:

水 shuǐ water
龙 lóng dragon
头 tóu head

What’s a Water-Dragon-head? Why, a “faucet” or a “tap”, of course! A little underwhelming, perhaps? Wait till you see this.

Sigh, if only all our faucets could look as dragonny as this one. Source

That’s why 水龙头 is our first word with a dragon in it!

Dragon word in Chinese #2: Boss

龙头

lóng tóu

Bicycle handlebar; boss

literally: a dragon head

In the same (water) vein, you have 龙头 which means a bicycle handlebar (as well as a faucet).
Interestingly, it also means “boss” or “chief”. That one’s easier to picture as a dragon head.

Dragon in Chinese language word #3: 龙卷 Tornado

龙卷

lóng juǎn

tornado

literally: a dragon roll

Literally dragon roll (doesn’t that make you hungry?), 龙卷 is how the Chinese say “Tornado” in their language. 龙卷 also means “Twister”.

No wonder Chinese CCTV called these nine tornados dragons.

Dragon in Mandarin word # 4: Tarragon

龙嵩

lóng sōng

tarragon

literally: dragon + lofty

Even the English name looks like it considered being a dragon, and then gave up halfway, only to come up with tarragon instead.
So way to go, the Chinese language, for being brave enough to include the word dragon in the name for tarragon in Chinese.
Yes, 龙嵩 is how to say tarragon in Chinese. You can also use 龙蒿 lóng hāo. Same dragon, same meaning.

Chinese Dragon word # 5: Lobster

龙虾

lóng xiā

lobster

literally: a dragon shrimp

Ah, the dragons of shrimp. We’re talking about lobsters, of course! Can you picture it? They are much bigger and badder than puny little shrimps!

其实我是龙
Actually, I’m a dragon

So, 龙虾 is how you say lobster in Chinese.

Two other fish and shellfish also have a 龙 in their name.

小龙虾, xiǎo lóng xiā, crayfish
The delicious, soft-water crayfish gets the name: the small dragon shrimp. They’re so yummy we can’t complain.

龙利, lóng lì, sole
Flat like a dragon? Like a dragon took a trip to 2D and became a flatfish.

Dragon word in Chinese # 6: Decrepit, senile

龙钟

lóng zhōng

senile

literally: dragon clock; dragon bell

Okay, this one isn’t so nice, and as fierce dragon lovers and protectors, we protest. But a word’s a word, so 龙钟 is a way to say someone is senile in Chinese.

How did this word come to mean “decrepit, senile”? That’s a question even the Chinese ask themselves.
Perhaps because as we age, we start to resemble a bell with droopy dragon ears that can’t hear much anything? Care to venture a guess? Let us know in the comments.

Dragon word in Mandarin #7: Queue

人龙

rén lóng

a queue of people

literally: a people dragon

When picturing a long line of people, you might think more of a snake in English. But the Chinese are all about dragons, and we love them for that.
So when you want to talk in Chinese about a large group of people waiting in line, say, in front of the post office, you can say 人龙. That literally means people dragon, and when you see the length of some queues, you have no trouble imagining why.
人龙 is a queue of people in Chinese.

Dragon in Chinese word #8: 恐龙 Dinosaur

恐龙

kǒng lóng

dinosaur

literally: fear dragon

Dinosaurs. Huge, powerful, mysterious creatures that roamed the Earth in ancient times called something close to dragons? Mm, that works for me. Fear dragons!

Is it a dragon? A dinosaur? A dragonosaur! — Concept art by Saleh Ahmad

Fun fact: most dinosaur names in Chinese have a dragon in them!

For example:
A velociraptor in Chinese is 伶盗龙, líng dào lóng.

A triceratops in Chinese is 三角龙, sān jiǎo lóng, a 3 horn dragon. Nice!

Bonus: 4 Chinese Loanwords that also have a dragon in them

Borrowed for its beautiful “long” sound, the word Dragon in Chinese is also found in these words imported from other languages:

Dragon loanword #1: Nylon

尼龙

 ní lóng

nylon (loanword)

What do you need to say nylon in Chinese? The Chinese character for a dragon, of course! Nylon in Chinese is 尼龙, ní lóng.

Dragon loanword #2: Salon

沙龙

shā lóng

salon (phonetic loanword)

Similarly, the Chinese conjured up the characters “sand” and “dragon”, for their phonetic pronunciation of the word “salon”.
Salon in Chinese is 沙龙, shā lóng.

Dragon loanword #3: Macaron

马卡龙

mǎ kǎ lóng

macaron (phonetic loanword)

Macarons can either be, depending on your viewpoint, either sweet French delicacies or yummy coconut treats. In either case, they’re sugary bliss. So much so that the Chinese decided you needed:
A horse (马), your card (卡), and a dragon (龙) to get some quickly enough. Just kidding, these characters were all borrowed for their sounds, of course, to form the word “macaron”. 马卡龙, mǎ kǎ lóng, is a macaron in Chinese.

Dragon loanword #4: Upsilon (greek letter Yu)

宇普西龙

yǔ pǔ xī lóng

Upsilon (phonetic loanword)

Lastly, Upsilon, the goatlike greek letter Yu was another excellent candidate for the character 龙. 龙 does indeed sound quite close to “Lon”.
宇普西龙, yǔ pǔ xī lóng is Upsilon in Chinese.

What did you think of these Chinese words? Unexpected to find dragons in them, right? Bet you wouldn’t have guessed all these words had a dragon in them! It shows how important dragons are in Chinese “animal culture”. So much so that they created lots of words with the Chinese character for dragon in them (128 in fact!).

Liked this article? Then you’re going to love this meowsome article on Five Words you didn’t expect to find a Cat in! Yeah, at Ninchanese, we’re all about cats, dragons, and learning Chinese.

The Nincha Team

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About Ninchanese

With Ninchanese‘s effective and personalized learning method, learning Chinese is fun and easy. You’ll stay engaged and motivated to progress until you master Mandarin Chinese.

Quick progress in Chinese at your level

Ninchanese is designed for all levels of Chinese, from beginners to advanced Chinese learners. So, whether you already have a background in Chinese or not, you will enjoy a way of learning Mandarin, both enjoyable and effective.

Ready to learn to speak Chinese? Sign up and try it now FOR FREE!

The post 8 Unexpected Words that Contain a Dragon in Chinese appeared first on Ninchanese.

Can you believe it’s already time for summer? How time flies! You’ll be soon on your long awaited holiday and doing all sorts of summer fun activities! Will you keep learning Chinese? Naw, no time for that, you think. Here’s a thought: what’s worse than having spent time learning so many Chinese characters to then forget them in less than 2 months? Nothing, right? You may be dreaming of sunshine, and being outside, rather than on your computer, using Ninchanese, but worry not! Ninchanese works great on your mobile devices. Summer is full of opportunities to speak and practice your Chinese, especially with this list of 10 fun things you can do right away to improve your Mandarin! So read on, and get ready to have lots of fun leveling up your Chinese this summer!

The first tip needs sand to be done! Let’s go to the beach, then! Well, only mentally for now…

Ninchanese is an incredible app for learning Chinese!

” I actually graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a MA in Chinese.
I’ve used Ninchanese daily, and it has helped me a lot!  “

 – Connor, Ninchanese User

Try Ninchanese, an award-winning method to learn Chinese today:

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Write Chinese characters on the beach

You’ll probably spend your holidays on the beach. What are your plans? Swimming, tanning, building sand castles? No, forget sand castles, they are so overrated. Instead, how about drawing the Chinese characters you know in the sand? Take a picture of your beautiful creations and go Instagram them with the hashtag #myninchanesesummer! We’ll pick the best pictures of characters, and you’ll get a surprise!
The beach is the perfect place to practice your Chinese writing, now you know that. It can also be a very useful place to make new friends. Come on, have you ever played beach volley?

Make Chinese-speaking friends

Chinese learning requires practicing and daring to speak Mandarin from the beginning is a great way to set your Chinese pronunciation skills on the right track. Your holiday destination a perfect occasion to do so. Depending on where you’re going, odds are there’ll be Chinese tourists there too. Don’t miss your chance! This is a perfect time to meet new people and make Chinese-speaking friends! All you have to do is go and talk to them! I know it can be scary at first, but to practice and improve your Chinese, you need to leave your comfort zone.

The first time I went to China, I was alone and felt very nervous on the plane. Traveling alone is not an easy thing to do, especially when you’re young. It’s very scary. I knew, then, I had to make friends so they could comfort me. In the plane, my neighbors were an old Chinese couple. They looked very nice. They were the perfect target! I needed to talk to them! It all started with a 你好 and then she asked me questions in Chinese about my travel. It made me feel better. I was also very happy she could understand me. I really improved both my understanding and listening skills.

So don’t be shy, and make your holiday mission to connect with Chinese people. At least, dare to say “你好”! You’ll see they’ll be glad to hear someone speaking their mother tongue and most likely open to chatting with you. Plus, your family and friends will be very impressed to see you speaking Chinese with natives.

Another tip that will impress your friends for sure and prevent you from forgetting your Chinese over the summer, playing the DJ.

Create a Chinese playlist

Be a trendsetter, play the hottest 2016 Chinese pop songs on the beach! All your friends will be impressed by your DJ skills. Playing music in Chinese will also help you improve your listening skills. I just have the best 2016 Chinese playlist you need, that should help you.
Summer holidays are also the equivalent of Chinese learning loss, therefore, listening to someone speaking Mandarin will help you not become a total stranger towards Chinese.

If you want to stay discreet on the beach and keep your hottest songs for yourself, that’s totally fair. Listening to your fave Chinese songs on repeat is great to tune your ears to sounds in Chinese. At first, the lyrics might seem incomprehensible, but you’ll be happy to see after a few listens that you now understand each lyric a lot better! Read the lyrics to the songs online and look up all the words you don’t know in our Chinese dictionary. It’ll be a fun exploration!

Summer is the perfect occasion for outdoor activities during sunny days. But, the weather can surprise us, so here’s a list of indoor activities to keep you having fun practicing your Chinese on summer rainy days.

Sing in the rain!

OK, don’t sing literally in the rain, you might get sick from that. Sing in your shower. Come on, everyone does it. Learn to sing one of those Chinese songs you’ve listened to so much outside each day and perform while showering. This is your moment, so enjoy it! Learning Chinese can be fun and done everywhere, even in your bathroom! That way, you get a perfect combo of both having trained your listening skills with Chinese songs, and having o practiced your speaking skills! Tons of songs will use the vocabulary learned on Ninchanese, it’s a good way to review these words.

If you’d rather be entertained that entertain your neighbors with your amazing voice (I’m sure it is), here’s a great way to practice Chinese while playing!

The secret tip for gamers!

Not everyone has planned to go on vacation. Or maybe you’d like to stay home having fun and resting today. Be delighted dear gamers, I’ve got the perfect tip for you to keep practicing and learning Chinese without even knowing it –well kind of. Put your video games in Chinese! You can also play online with Chinese speakers, and use the chats to practice with them. We hear it’s particularly effective to learn swear words. to practice! Isn’t it amazing? In Ninchanese, we know that a fun learning is more efficient!

If you’re not a big fan of videos games, don’t worry, I have some other amazing tips for you! There are plenty of other fun activities you can do indoors to practice your Chinese this summer, like using your TV for example!

Watch movies. But in Chinese, please!

If you love watching movies, you’ve come to the right place. But this time, for a pleasant change, watch them in Chinese! Watching movies and shows in Chinese will help you improve your listening and comprehension skills! Here are the 10 best Chinese TV shows to watch. So, what do you say? Ready for a binge-watching kind of holiday?

Or maybe you don’t want to spend all your holidays in the dark, watching TV. If you want to be more active, here’s the solution: cook!

Cook Chinese dishes!

Channel your inner chef, and pick recipes that are in Chinese, or maybe in both Chinese and English. Challenge yourself, and cook awesome dishes to surprise your friends and family! There are so many easy recipes you can do. Plus, you’ll learn so many new words about food and cooking in Chinese along the way. Here’s a recipe to a cool and easy to make Chinese delicacy, that I like to cook myself, to get you started: the super-tasty 糯米糍 nuòmǐ cí (Sticky rice balls). You can also find cooking videos in Chinese on youtube that can help you to improve both your listening and cooking skills.

Just started The Best Chinese Food Board on @pinterest! Suggestions of good Chinese recipes? https://t.co/u7VHJHaI5W pic.twitter.com/IXEhtILzVn

— Ninchanese (@Ninchanese) 16 June 2016

Cooking in Mandarin is very useful for learning Chinese, you’ll see! And when you’re going to buy the ingredients, don’t forget to say “你好” to the sellers of the shop! Seize all the opportunities to speak Chinese with natives!

The next tip on your list is also one you can share with your family.

Teach Chinese to your family

If you’re lucky enough to have siblings that are willing to learn some Chinese, then go for it! Try teaching your family a few words and sharing with them your adventures learning Chinese. If someone else in your family is also learning Chinese, you can also play games in Chinese on the way to your holiday destination. You can play Chinese learning games about guessing characters or their meanings, or challenge them to a Ninchallenge, a duel over your knowledge of learning Chinese. You’ll have arrived before you know it!

This tip is also a good way to spend some family time bonding with your parents and siblings. You’ll remember these summer holidays forever, and your Chinese will be so much improved. Your friends can also be a good help when learning Chinese , especially on social networks when they notify you. Learn how to turn those pesky notifications into sneak Chinese learning sessions in our next tip. in the following method.

Learning Chinese with Facebook

Change the language input of your Facebook account and set it in Chinese is a great way to practice using a site completely in Chinese and learning the web and computer terms in Chinese. You’ll learn new words regarding social networks, but you’ll also review ones you’ve learned with Nincha. You’ll see, it’s an interesting experience turning a tool you’re so familiar with into something a little more challenging.
And whenever you post something on Facebook, like a picture of you during the holidays, you’ll be notified in Chinese of the likes, reactions and comments! Isn’t that super cool and super sneaky?

Whether it’s on the beach, in the countryside, in another country or at home, most of us will be spending our holidays with family and friends this summer. Don’t forget to give yourself some me-time too, it’s also a good way to enjoy holidays and rest before going back to work. So, how can you prevent summer Chinese learning loss if it’s just you and your cat?

Ninchanese your cat!

Talk to your cat in Chinese, it won’t judge you, I swear! Try to teach it a few words. For instance, order your cat to bring you a coffee but in Chinese! See? There are so many things you can do with it! Practice with your cat as if you were practicing with Nincha, except your cat won’t answer you, well, I guess so…
If your cat would rather hunt than listen to you speak, you can also try speaking to yourself or speaking in front of a mirror. If you do, watch your face, your match and your body language as you speak, and try to talk for 2, 3 minutes, just like you’d be talking to a friend. Or to your cat. If you don’t know how to say something, don’t stop to look it up. Just keep going, find a different way to express yourself or change your sentence. It’s great to see what areas in speaking you’re having trouble with and need to be worked on, and to identify words you don’t know but would like to look up.

And if you want to know if your Chinese pronunciation is good, use our voice-recognition feature to get instant feedback on your speaking skills.

Final words:

From outdoor to indoors, we hope this list of summer activities will keep your holiday fun-filled and full of Chinese! You may have noticed that all these activities have one thing in common: to have you practicing and learning Chinese as much as you can this summer. Take every opportunity to do a little Chinese, whether it’s on the beach with Chinese tourists, by drawing characters in the sand or at home by listening Chinese songs and reviewing word. And remember the key to making Chinese learning enjoyable is to find a fun way to do it! You also know you’ll have Ninchanese with you, on your mobile devices, so whenever you have a few minutes, keep improving your Chinese learning online with Ninchanese. We’ll be here all summer to guide you and take care of your Chinese language learning. You can also check Ninchanese secret tips to fully enjoy the platform!

Do you have any secret tips to keep learning Chinese during summer? Share them with us in the comments!

Pauline and

The Nincha Team

Stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Try the best way to learn Chinese today.
Ninchanese is free to use!

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The post Top 10 Fun Activities to Keep Learning Chinese This Summer appeared first on Ninchanese.

Let’s take a moment to see why we recommend adding a Chinese dictionary to your learning arsenal.

Of course,  Ninchanese is the best online Chinese dictionary, but others also have good qualities.

Why do you need a Chinese dictionary in your learning arsenal?

Imagine you’re reading a newspaper or a blog post online, and right there, in the middle of a sentence, there’s an unknown Chinese character. What are you going to do? Just leave it alone? Sometimes, unfamiliar words don’t keep you from understanding the whole sentence, but in many cases, especially in Chinese, those unknown words will be an obstacle to your understanding. So there’s only one solution: look up this evil word in a Chinese dictionary.

Chinese dictionaries are also a good help when looking up unknown words you come across when traveling. Maybe it’ll be an unfamiliar word on a street sign, in a shop, or perhaps you want to understand the menu in a restaurant.

In all those situations, you’ll be glad you have a dictionary to decipher the words that escape you, whether it’s a paper, online or offline Chinese dictionary.

Don’t you agree that it’s essential to include a dictionary in your Chinese learning arsenal?

When traveling in China or learning Chinese to understand the unknown words you run into, you’ll need one. But, of course, you can’t rely only on dictionaries to learn Chinese.  Ninchanese is here to help you learn new vocabulary in Chinese, master grammar rules, and hone your Chinese speaking and listening skills. So keep your favorite dictionary for those times you’re reading Chinese texts on the Internet, and use it wisely as a help!

Online Chinese dictionaries trump Chinese paper dictionaries

Now, maybe you’re wondering: which are the best, Chinese paper dictionaries or online Chinese dictionaries? We’ll be blunt: paper dictionaries are good, of course, but we’re 100% pro-online Chinese dictionaries. Let us tell you why.

Chinese dictionaries have evolved a lot since the invention of the first Chinese paper dictionaries. Technology has made Chinese dictionaries tremendously more accessible and has helped provide everyone with dictionaries for free.

Technology has made Chinese dictionaries tremendously more accessible and has helped a lot to provide everyone with dictionaries for free.

— Ninchanese (@Ninchanese) 26 May 2016

For those born with a computer/ phone/ tablet/ phablet in their hands, believe us, you can be grateful you don’t have to experience what it was like to look up a word or a Chinese character in a Chinese paper dictionary. Looking up a Chinese character or word the traditional way in a paper dictionary was a long process. Here’s how it works:

How to look up a Chinese character or word the traditional way

Half of the time, by the time you were done looking for the character you wanted to look up in the radical list, you’d pretty much forgotten what character you wanted to look up and why. But, of course, technology has changed that completely.

How to look up a Chinese character in a modern way

With the advent of technology, looking up a Chinese character or word has never been easier.

How? If you know the pinyin or the meaning of a word you’re looking up, you can easily find it and relieve your thirst for knowledge. And what if you don’t know anything about a character you’ve seen in a newspaper, for instance? How can you find its meaning or pinyin? Not to worry, that’s simple too: just draw it!  When you need to decipher an unknown Chinese character, you can draw it.

Some online dictionaries even offer a tool to draw the character directly with your mouse or touchpad. There’s no need to be an artist to find the character you want, and most handwriting tools aren’t too sensitive.

Some online dictionaries even offer a tool to draw the character directly with your mouse or touchpad. There’s no need to be an artist.

— Ninchanese (@Ninchanese) 26 May 2016

And if there’s no handwriting tool offered, there’s still an easy way to draw your character, thanks to your computer’s IME (Input Method Editor) or using your phone’s specific Chinese handwriting keyboard or IME.

See? Much simpler.

Many features beyond the simple translation system have also been added to English-Chinese and Chinese-English digital dictionaries to help learners improve their Chinese. For instance, in most digital dictionaries, you can also hear the word’s pronunciation, which is incredible!  Being able to listen to someone pronouncing the word correctly is excellent. Then you can repeat what you hear to get the right accent and tone instead of making up a pronunciation in your head.

Also, as you’ll see in our reviews below, in some of these online translators and dictionaries, you can find examples containing the word you’re looking for. Magic and terribly useful, right?!

Ninchanese is an incredible app for learning Chinese!

” I actually graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a MA in Chinese.
I’ve used Ninchanese daily, and it has helped me a lot!  “

 – Connor, Ninchanese User

Try Ninchanese, an award-winning method to learn Chinese today:

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Technology has helped all Chinese speakers save many hours we can spend watching brilliant cat videos instead. And because we love cats, we want you to save even more time by helping you figure out which are the best Chinese dictionaries to use.

Our review of the best free Chinese dictionaries available for Chinese learners

We’ve selected our favorite free Chinese dictionaries to help you improve in Mandarin, from online dictionaries to applications. We tested three categories of Chinese dictionaries: online Chinese dictionaries, pop-up dictionaries, and offline mobile dictionary applications. We know you’ll find one or several Chinese dictionaries for you in this selection, depending on your needs.

Fair warning: We’ve left the most complex task: picking the one that fits you best! Ready? Let’s explore these Chinese dictionaries!

Free Online Chinese Dictionaries

Online dictionaries might be for you if you like to spend time online and need to look up words. However, instead of thumbing through your paper dictionary, you have to open a new tab in your browser and look up the Chinese character’s meaning or pronunciation in pinyin!

Ninchanese Dictionary

Ninchanese dictionary has been made with Chinese learners in mind. The design is very clean and neat. It has everything you need to understand a Chinese character’s meaning and how to use it.

Pros:

• Very accurate words meanings
• The simplified and traditional form of Chinese characters
• Chinese character strokes
• Sentences examples
• Character decomposition with all key elements like Chinese components to understand the deep meaning of a character
• Compounds of character where you find other characters formed with the character
• Related words of the Chinese character to know when you’ll find the character in multiple characters

Cons:

Some words could have synonyms. But The Nincha Team update Chinese character every day. So don’t hesitate to contact us.

MDBG

MDBG is the first Chinese dictionary you come across when you google “Chinese dictionary.” MDBG focuses on being a good reference for Chinese learners by offering detailed information about characters such as pronunciation, meaning, strokes, examples, etc. They’ve become quickly popular among the Chinese learning community. Did you know MDBG is also maintaining CC-CEDICT? CC-CEDICT is an open-source database to which everyone can contribute to creating a complete Chinese to English dictionary with pronunciation in pinyin for the Chinese characters. CC-CEDICT is also used by many Chinese dictionaries such as Perapera, Zhongwen Chinese popup dictionary, Pleco, etc.

Pros:
Lots of data are provided about the characters, with:

• Stroke animations that show the characters stroke by stroke and character decomposition

• Handwriting input: you can draw characters with your mouse to look them up, and that’s pretty awesome! It’s handy when you encounter a character you neither know how to pronounce or what it means.

• Example sentences for a better understanding of how words are used in context.

• A clean interface helps you find the words you’re looking for easily.

• It has an advanced search function. You can search almost everything: single characters, words, pinyin, English, of course, and look up words by character components, Cangjie input method, and more. You can also ask for Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciation.

• A new feature is the “Lookup All Chinese Words in a Text” option, which shows the meaning of each Chinese word in a text you upload. The +: you can choose the mouse over the translation option to highlight definitions as you’re reading.

• HSK level: Next to each word, its corresponding HSK level is indicated. You can learn words that fit your HSK level, just like on Ninchanese!

Cons:

• Its basic interface. MDBG is not the most colorful and playful interface to use for sure. But, as they say, don’t judge a book by its cover, right?

• We’d love to have more extra features, but this is not the purpose of this online Chinese dictionary.

Many valuable and practical tools are brought to Chinese learners with this dictionary. MDBG is an excellent online dictionary to have by your side if you need a complete one with excellent tools.

Bab.la

Bab.la is a pretty good online dictionary and translator you can translate from English to Chinese and Chinese to English. As you may know, its translator offers many languages you can switch from to target your search. Moreover, this online dictionary provides the learners with all the main stuff you expect from a Chinese dictionary: translations, pronunciations, and synonyms, as well as special features, such as a phrasebook, quizzes, and more.

Pros:

• Lots of synonyms are provided whenever you look up words. That’s interesting to get to know the slight differences between the words.

• The straightforward interface makes you want to look up tons of words.

• The audio so you can hear the pronunciation of each word.

• Context sentences that show you how and when to use a particular word.

• A forum for linguistic doubts in case you need a grammar explanation. It can also be beneficial to share your Chinese learning journey with others, just like in the Ninchanese Discord community, and ask them their opinion about a topic.

• A phrasebook is divided into six sections, from travel to business. This phrasebook prepares you for every situation you’re going to face in China, depending on your profile.

• Quizzes. Playing small quizzes can be a good help when learning Chinese.

Cons:

• Lack of extra tools such as stroke order explanations.

• The lack of Chinese specialization. We’d love to have more specific features for Chinese learning.

To sum up, Bab.la is a good dictionary you can rely on, especially if you want to explore language learning background, with forums in many foreign languages.

Let’s move to the last online Chinese dictionary we reviewed: Ichacha, a dictionary available in a few languages such as Japanese, Korean, French, Russian, and English. Ichacha translates all those languages into Chinese and vice-versa.

Ichacha

Ichacha looks like a paper dictionary. You get all its uses when looking up a word: from nouns to verbs. An extensive broad of examples is also provided.

Pros:

• Data mining technology is Ichacha’s strength. The use of data mining data technology to collect new and trendy Chinese words is a great plus. It’s cool stuff to know all the vocabulary used by native speakers.

• Several versions: you can access the English version and the traditional Chinese version.

• Example sentences: putting the word you’ve just learned in a context is the best way to remember it.

Cons:

• The interface is not the prettiest.

• Not easy to handle the dictionary at first. When getting started with this dictionary, you may feel lost, but it’s okay once you know your way around.

• The ads. You can get easily disturbed by the many ads displayed on the website.

Ichacha is an unconventional Chinese dictionary that makes Mandarin learning more accessible. In addition, the translation of new words adds a fantastic feature to this dictionary.

We agree that online dictionaries are a great help since they’re complete, but what if you don’t want to open a new tab in your browser to look up words? Have you ever thought of installing a popup dictionary? Chinese popup dictionaries are great complements to online dictionaries and also work as standalone. Let’s see what the best Popup Chinese dictionaries are!

Ninchanese is an incredible app for learning Chinese!

” I actually graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a MA in Chinese.
I’ve used Ninchanese daily, and it has helped me a lot!  “

 – Connor, Ninchanese User

Try Ninchanese, an award-winning method to learn Chinese today:

Start Learning Now

Free Popup Chinese Dictionaries

Popup dictionaries are handy when you’re reading a text online in Chinese and need to know the meaning of some words. Pop-up dictionaries instantly translate a word you don’t see as you hover over it. Instead, just hover over the word with your mouse, and the translation appears. Neat, huh?

Installing a pop-up dictionary

Chinese Pop-up dictionaries are usually plugins or extensions you add to your browser. Install them, activate them if needed and let the magic happen. Once activated, you’ll simply need to hover over a word in Chinese to see its pronunciation and meaning. Not all is wonderful about these plugins, but one thing’s for sure: they make reading Chinese online wonderfully easier. All you have to do is to hover a word with your mouse! Of course, we all wish we could use them on paper texts too. But, as they don’t exist (yet), here are two excellent pop-up Chinese dictionaries you can use online.

We all wish we could use them on paper texts too. But, as they don’t exist (yet), here are two excellent pop-up Chinese dictionaries you can use online.

Zhongwen Chinese popup dictionary

Zhongwen Chinese popup dictionary is available in Chrome. Once you’ve added it to your Chrome extensions, you can activate this popup dictionary extension by clicking on the little logo in the toolbar. You’ll then be ready to translate everything you want by hovering over words with your mouse!

Pros:

• The translation of expressions and loanwords.

• It identifies well whether you’re highlightings a group of words, an expression, or a single word.

• Its keyboard shortcuts: for instance, when you press the letter “g” button on your keyboard while hovering a word, you’re redirected to a wiki page explaining Chinese grammar rules related to that word. “T” takes you to Tatoeba, where you’ll see example sentences containing that word.

• The easy use of the plugin, once it’s installed, all you’ll need to do is to switch on and off the little icon to activate the pop-up dictionary or not. Easy!

Cons:

• Too useful. You can easily get addicted to this popup dictionary, which can keep you from improving your Chinese. Use it only when you need it.

• Only available on Chrome and Apple’s Safari.

• This popup dictionary doesn’t always recognize the new and trendy Chinese words because they’re not in the database.

If you hate complicated things, then this pop-up dictionary is for you! It is easy to install and use, and it’s advantageous daily.

The following pop-up dictionary we’ll talk about is PeraPera, which has different features. It’s going to be hard to choose!

Pera Pera

Perapera is available both in Firefox and Chrome. Whenever you meet a Chinese character or word you don’t know, hover your mouse over it, and Perapera will translate it for you.

Pros:

• Available in both Firefox and Chrome.

• You can save and export words to study them later. It’s a fantastic way to remember and learn the words you run into on Chinese websites.

• Multiple display options: should it display tone marks, pinyin, Zhuyin, simplified Chinese, or traditional Chinese? It’s all up to you.

Cons:

• Same as the Zhongwen Chinese popup dictionary. You can be tempted to rely on Perapera all the time and stop using your brain to read the characters you already know. That’s not the best way to learn Chinese.

• Not many keyboard shortcuts.

Pop-up dictionaries are helpful tools that will help you improve your Chinese reading skills, but make sure you also know how to manage without them! Also, don’t depend on them; it’s easy to get addicted to over-hovering!

Now that we’ve seen online Chinese dictionaries and pop-up dictionaries, you can guess what’s next: Mobile dictionary applications!

Free Mobile Chinese Dictionaries (Android and iOS)

Time to talk about mobile Chinese dictionaries. As you don’t always carry your computer with you, having a Chinese dictionary on your smartphone can be very practical, especially if you’re traveling or walking.

Another cool thing about dictionary applications is that you can usually use them offline. So when traveling, you won’t need to spend all your money on internet access to look up words. Instead, whenever you decide to go for a bit of adventure in the middle of nowhere with no Internet Connection or a foreign country, let’s say China, install one of these three dictionary apps, and you’ll be able to translate every word you need offline.

Lastly, dictionaries applications are also full of excellent extensions that can help you improve your Chinese. In this shortlist, these mobile Chinese dictionaries will become your go-to on the do Chinese resources!

Hanping (Android)

Hanping is an excellent Chinese dictionary app. The interface looks friendly with all the vivid colors. Hanping offers two versions: the Lite version, the free one, and the Pro version, which is the not-so-free one. As for the content, in addition to translations, word pronunciation, and Anki flashcards export options, you’ll find tools like handwriting recognition, multi-syllable audio recordings, search-by-radicals, home screen widgets, and vertical Zhuyin, and other valuable extensions in both the Lite and the Pro versions.

Pros:

• Dynamic search. This feature is pretty awesome, when you’re looking up words, the first result will be your target word, and the following results Hanping shows you are all started with your target word. And if you’re looking for a multi-syllable word, you will get all words that contain those characters in that order (even if other characters are in between).

• Idioms. Hanping contains many Chinese idioms useful for Mandarin learners thanks to predefined word lists containing popular expressions and words frequently used in China.

• Cantonese version: You can also download the Hanping Cantonese app using CantoDict data for those interested in Cantonese.

• It’s a popup dictionary add-on for your mobile device. A little pointer appears on your screen, and it translates words live. No matter which version you’ve downloaded (lite, pro, or Cantonese), you can use this add-on which comes separately (paid).

• Free full-screen handwriting recognition. Hanping offers handwriting recognition. This is a must-have tool for a Chinese dictionary.

Cons:

• Only available on Android.

• The paid add-ons. You have to pay for them, but some are worth it.

Hanping also has an OCR app called Hanping Camera that uses an innovative barcode scanner style design to read Chinese text in the wild without touching your screen.

If you’re interested in Hanping but can’t decide whether or not you should get the Pro version, it depends on the extensions you want to add. The Lite version can be sufficient for some as it’s pretty complete for a free Chinese dictionary. So give the Lite version a try and see if you want to upgrade to the Pro.

Pleco (iOS & Android)

Pleco is one of the most popular mobile Chinese dictionaries. How could we not mention it in our review? This app is available both on Android and iOS, making it more accessible to everyone. What about its features? Pleco offers a comprehensive database to search from, in which you can look up words, translations, synonyms, pronunciation, stroke order, example sentences, and more. This application also gives the users the option of adding licensed Chinese dictionaries (for a fee). Let’s explore Pleco’s features in our pro and con section below.

Pros:

• Handwriting recognition. You can look up words by drawing the characters in simplified or traditional Chinese. Plus, it’s okay to get the stroke order wrong; Pleco’s recognition deals with scribbles very well.

• A screen reader to make you more familiar with Chinese words you don’t know. You can look up Chinese words everywhere on your phone by tapping on a floating button. This tool is probably one of the best on Pleco as the word analysis is very accurate.

• Its clipboard reader: copy a text you want to look up words in, go to your clipboard reader in Pleco, and you’ll be able to look up all the words you want. Great for when you’re chatting in Chinese on WeChat

• The document reader, which works like the screen reader but for files (paid add-on on IOS and Android)

• The OCR system (Optical Character Recognition) is a recent update of Pleco that allows you to instantly translate words you don’t know by using your mobile device’s camera or tapping the word on a picture. Magic! Your phone is now a Chinese learning weapon capable of translating any sign in the streets!

• The examples show you how to use the word you’ve just looked up.

• Detailed information about the word: Pleco shows you the components in the characters, the characters in the word you’re looking for, and compound words that include the character you’re looking up.

• A wide choice of dictionaries to add. If you have specific needs or just want to compare dictionaries definitions, Pleco offers several free and paying dictionaries you can add. In addition, that allows you to see more various definitions, content, explanations, and definitions on sites that provide mono-dictionaries.

• For instance, a free Cantonese version that comes with four Cantonese dictionaries, like cantonese.org.

Cons:

• Paying IOS features. Most of these incredible tools, like the screen reader, are only available for free on Android. Sorry, Apple lovers, you’ll have to pony up.

• Many extra features. Too many, perhaps? Pleco provides lots of tools for their users, which is cool, but it can be hard to keep up with all the new extensions.

Try the screen reader tool if you’re hesitating between the add-ons you can install in Pleco. Very practical when you’re exploring the web! If you have an iPhone, then Pleco is made for you!

What about other good free online Chinese dictionaries?

You may use or find other online Chinese dictionaries or applications we haven’t reviewed here.

Here are some of them:

• Line Dict, which replaced the well-loved Nciku, a now-defunct Chinese dictionary, and learning tool.
• Youdao is a well-known online dictionary and Android app that beginners can find challenging since it’s all written in Chinese. But still, it’s a handy dictionary for advanced learners.
• YellowBridge is a free online Chinese dictionary where you can find examples, and synonyms, learn about each character’s history, etc.
• Arch Chinese is an online dictionary in which you can learn the meaning and symbol of each Chinese character according to their shape and history.

Final words

We hope you’ll find this review of these eight free Chinese dictionaries helpful! We’ve selected our favorite ones from online dictionaries to applications and added their pros and cons. All you have to do now is choose the method you prefer to decipher Chinese characters and words and bury your Mandarin paper dictionary for good! The uprising of the machine starts now! Do you already have a fave Chinese dictionary? Which of these do you use the most and why? Tell everyone in the comments!

Wondering what to read next? How about knowing how many Chinese characters and words exist in Chinese and how many you should learn? We just wrote a blog post about that!

The Nincha Team

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It’s quite normal when you’re starting out in Mandarin to wonder how many characters and words are there exactly in Chinese? And then, to wonder immediately after that, just how many of those Chinese characters do I need to learn? The task may seem daunting, the number of Chinese characters that exist is enormous, but after you read this post, I can assure you that you’ll know exactly how many and how to find Chinese characters to learn. We’ll see first what the Chinese language is made of, then, how many Chinese characters you need to know and finally the amount of characters natives know.

How many characters exist in total in Chinese?

What is the Chinese language made of? Nowadays, the Chinese language is made of more than 80,000 characters, 85,568 characters to be more precise according to the Zhonghua Zihai dictionary. The 中华字海 Zhonghua Zihai dictionary contains all the Chinese characters that have ever existed, from old Buddhist texts to characters used by the Qing, Ming and Song dynasties. Such a very complete dictionary! It sounds very impressive, but you should know that a lot of the characters contained in this dictionary are actually no longer used.

So now you know that there are at least 80 000 characters in Mandarin. But it doesn’t stop there! These 80 000 characters equal many, many, more Chinese words. How does that work?
In the Chinese language, 字 zì characters also known as 汉字 hànzi (hanzi) meaning Chinese characters can be combined together to create 词 cí words. Yes, you heard right.
Single characters can be words on their own, for instance, you can use the character 手 shǒu hand if you want to talk about someone’s hand but most words in Chinese are composed of two or more characters. So if you take this character 手 for example, you can combine it with other characters to create new words like 手表 Shǒubiǎo wristwatch.

The Chinese language works in an interesting way, doesn’t it? It’s a little tricky.

This means if you “only” learned the 80,000 Chinese characters, you’d be able to understand a good number of the words you run across in a text, but not all of them. It’s often possible to guess the meaning of two characters combined together to form a new word, but often, it’s not possible, as you’ll see below.
Let’s take the characters 手 and 机 and their pinyin.

手 shǒu hand

+

机 jī machine

= 手机 shǒujī cellphone

You can easily guess the meaning of the word 手机 in simplified Chinese when you know the meaning of each individual character.

On the contrary, here’s a tougher word to crack, using the characters 上 and 手:

上 shàng above

+

手 shǒu hand

= 上手 shàngshǒu to master

See? The Chinese word 上手 made of the two characters 上 and 手 is harder to guess! And if you don’t know the characters you’ll hardly guess the word’s pronunciation.

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This is why you should master both Chinese characters and terms, to be able to understand the texts you run into in China.

So how many Chinese words are there in Chinese? That’s an even tougher question than how many Chinese characters are there. As Chinese is a living language, it’s hard to give a definite count. The Chinese language is still evolving and new terms and expressions are created every day. To give you an idea, The 汉语大词典 Hanyu Da Cidian (lit: Comprehensive Chinese Word Dictionary) is said to contain 370,000 words. Just like the 中华字海 Zhonghua Zihai dictionary for characters, a lot of the entries in the 汉语大词典 are no longer in use.

You know now how to identify Chinese characters (one syllable max) and words (one or more 字). But are you worried by the sheer quantity of words that exist in Chinese? We have some good news for you: there is no need to memorize all 80,000+ Chinese characters or 370 000 Chinese words. All you have to do is master the characters and terms which are commonly used today in the Chinese language. Conversational fluency in Chinese is within your reach and won’t take years and years of study. Relieved? I’m sure what you’re really itching to know now is: So, how many Chinese characters will I need to learn to be able to handle most texts in everyday circumstances?

How many Chinese characters do you really need to learn?

Many people are afraid of learning Chinese because of the 80,000 characters that make up the Chinese language. It seems like a lot to learn. The truth is you don’t need to know that many characters to speak Chinese. Did you really believe that Chinese natives all know 80,000 characters? Nope! Not at all. Native Chinese speakers themselves don’t know that many words and characters in Chinese! That’d be an incredible amount of terms to know. So before we move on to how many Chinese words and Chinese characters you would be required know to be considered fluent, let’s see first how many characters an average Chinese speaker knows.

In elementary school, Chinese pupils are expected to learn about 2,500 characters which are the most used. Then they assimilate about 1,000 more specific ones during middle school and high school. In the end, Chinese students that have finished high school know about 4,500 characters. For reference, the Chinese government puts literacy at 2000 characters. Well-educated Chinese people know anywhere from 8,000 characters and upwards. That’s really far away from the 80,000 Chinese characters! Only specialized linguists and scholars get closer to those 80,000.

4500 to 8000 characters to know doesn’t sound too bad, right? So how many Chinese characters do YOU need to know to be considered fluent? The number of Chinese characters and words you need to know depends on many things such as your learning goal, your current fluency level or even the frequency of use of these characters.

What’s your learning goal for Chinese?

First, ask yourself what’s your goal in speaking Chinese? What are you looking to do? If you want to live in China, and simply interact in your everyday life in Chinese, a working vocabulary of 1000 words might be enough to start with. You don’t need to learn many characters to travel to China. If you need to order food, read something that’s written on a menu, call a taxi or even asking for a direction, few survival words would be enough. If you want to understand what’s going on TV, on the radio or in the newspapers, you’ll basically need to learn about 3,000 to 4,000 characters. In newspapers you’ll find about 2.500 very common Chinese characters, so knowing 3,000 characters will allow you to understand about 99% of what’s written.

Now if your goal is to be able to read a Chinese dictionary, which is a pretty advanced Chinese goal, then you’ll need to know at least 9,000 to 15,000 characters to be able to comfortably read the definitions.
Having a Chinese learning goal is essential to progress, but knowing what level you are is also very important to know what Chinese characters and terms to learn.

What’s your level?

You’ve just started learning Chinese? Then you belong to the HSK 1 level which requires learning about 150 words. You’ve just entered the world 3 in Ninchanese? Then you’re the HSK 3 level and you’ll need to learn about 300 new terms. Check your level and see how many words you have to learn according to the HSK. As there has been a renewal of the HSK exams.

The numbers of words you need to learn for the new HSK:

HSK 1: 153    –     HSK 2: 150    –     HSK 3: 300    –     HSK 4: 598    –     HSK 5: 1300    –     HSK 6: 2513

The HSK levels are important if you want to prove your Chinese skills by taking the exam, it’s also good for you to know where you are and where you’re heading to. But don’t rely on them, as some terms in the lists are sometimes quite odd, and not that useful on a daily basis.

Pick the right characters to learn: Mind the characters’ frequency

Learning every single Chinese character would be a waste of time as you’ll rarely meet some of them. Why don’t you learn the characters that are the most used in everyday life? Here’s the list of the most frequent characters. See? Currently, the most used Chinese character is 的 de of; particle. If you master the most frequent Chinese characters, you’ll be in theory able to read a newspaper, have a conversation, watch TV and so on. It just depends on how many frequent characters you decide to learn. If you digest 100 of the most common characters, you statistically should have a 42% understanding of the characters you run into.

1000 of the most frequent Chinese characters should bring you an 89% understanding of what you read.The caveat to this method is that the 11%, for instance, you won’t understand will be the characters that bring you the meaning of the sentence. Imagine being able to read everything single word in a sentence that says “I bought an XXX for cheap”. If you don’t know what XXX means, then the sentence is rather pointless isn’t? The best way to counter that is to keep expanding your Chinese vocabulary, by learning new characters, and more specific terms you’re interested in, and more specific until you’ve learned the 3000 to 4000 most frequent Chinese characters. Then, you should be familiar with the vast majority of the characters you running into.

My advice : Do a little bit of everything

Pay attention to these three steps to know what and how many characters you should learn. My best advice would be to put as a goal: master 2,500 to 3,000 characters. Therefore, you’ll be able to understand many things. When you’re HSK 4 level (world 4 in Ninchanese), you should be able to understand about 2,000 characters and terms. But how and what should you learn? In Ninchanese, we help you learn the most common and frequently used Chinese characters. So, take the road to world 4 and you’ll be on the right path to speaking Chinese like a native!

Final words:

Now that you know how many terms and characters exist in Chinese, and how many characters you need to learn, aren’t you glad you asked? You see, there’s no need to be scared of some mischievous Chinese characters! You don’t need to assimilate an entire Chinese dictionary by heart to be fluent in Chinese, just follow our advice, and you’ll soon be learning the Chinese words and characters you need to reach your goal of fluency in Chinese!

Learning words and characters is the key to reading anything you see and fitting in China! The cool thing about Chinese characters is that they are the writing system common to all forms of spoken Chinese. See, you could be learning one of the many dialects of the Chinese language (check out this page to learn more about them), you’ll still be using Chinese characters.
Let’s say, for instance, that you want to learn Cantonese, as Olly Richards did in one year, can you guess what writing system you’ll be using? That’s right, Chinese characters. No matter what spoken form of Chinese you’re learning, you’ll be using them in writing.  So it’s pretty important to learn Chinese characters and really, there’s no need to be afraid of learning them.

Just pick your main learning goal, be realistic in the number of terms and Chinese characters you want to learn based on your actual level and select the characters that are the most frequent if you want to save time and efficiently study Mandarin. We’ve already selected the words you should know in Ninchanese so learn Chinese at your own speed without thinking about what you need to learn. After all, most of the Chinese only know about 5,000 characters and we know you soon will too!

Now tell us, how many words do you think you know in simplified Chinese? Or have you stopped counting?

The Nincha Team

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There are many situations in which you want to add something to what you already have. For instance, when ordering food or buying things. Here are 5 expressions to learn so you can always say “I’ll have a…with that” in Chinese. Remember these Chinese grammar rules and speak like a native!

#1 和 – hé – And: to order easily in Chinese

One of the most useful Chinese expressions to say “I’ll have a… with that!” is definitely 和 hé and. You can use this one for almost everything, for example:

我要一杯茶和一块蛋糕。 wǒ yào yībēi chá hé yīkuài dàngāo. I want a cup of tea and a piece of cake.

See? This Chinese word can be used almost for everything and every situation. But if you want to sound more like a native in Mandarin, take a look at these other Chinese expressions than 和 to say “I’ll have a… with that”.

#2 还有 – hái yǒu- In addition

You’ve probably heard of 还有 hái yǒu in addition, which is one of the most common Chinese expressions, for sure! But be careful with 还有 hái yǒu. You can only use this expression when you want to add at least two things to what you already have.
Therefore, if all you want is rice with some chicken, you can just use 和. What if you’re thirsty? To add a glass of fruit juice to what you’ve just ordered, this is what you must say:

我要米饭和鸡肉，还有一杯果汁。 wǒ yào mǐfàn hé jīròu, hái yǒu yībēi guǒzhī. I want rice with chicken as well as a glass of fruit juice.

Using 还有 is really practical when it comes to asking for two or more things to add.

Basic Chinese expressions like 和 and 还有 are easy to use on daily basis, but still, they’re very common. Want to go from laowai to native speaker? Let’s jump to the third expression to learn how to literally say “plus”.

#3 加 – jiā – To add

The Chinese character 加 jiā to add is a convenient little bugger to know. It literally means “plus” and kind looks like a plus sign, doesn’t it?
The real mnemonic for it are the meaning components it is made of:

+

if you have the strength to open your mouth to ask, then you’ll have more “plus”… No?
It’s important to note that in Chinese grammar, the character 加 is always used as a verb, as “to add”.

Imagine you’re in a coffeeshop and you want a little sugar with your coffee, you can say:

咖啡加糖。 kāfēi jiātáng. Coffee with sugar.

Easy, right? Basically 加 works for most things you’d want to add IN something.
So want an extra egg in your noodles? 加 it !

我要一碗面条，加个鸡蛋！ wǒ yào yī wǎn miàntiáo, jiā gè jīdàn! I want an extra egg in my noodles!

Now that you’ve mastered the 加 thing, let’s go deeper! Sometimes you’ll come across other Chinese expressions like that can be added to 加 to emphasize the “plus” concept.

#4 再 – zài – Another / Some more

You’ll often meet 再 zài another next to 加 to say “I’ll have a…with that” in Chinese. 再 is always used before a verb such as 加. It also indicates the repetition: “some more”, “another”.

服务员，再加一个鸡蛋！ fúwùyuán, zài jiā yīgè jīdàn! Waiter, another egg, please!

Mandarin is such an accurate language, there’s a specific expression for every situation in which you want to add something. The last expression we’re going to introduce you is to only add things that match with what you’ve picked in a first place.

#5 配 – pèi – To match

The last but not least of the essential Chinese expressions like 和 to say “I’ll have a…with that” is 配 pèi to match. You may be wondering why you should use 配 to add something, aren’t you? Well, it’s simple!
This Chinese character is really useful when it comes to add something that matches what you already have.
What matches french fries the best ? Ketchup of course! So if you want to order fries and ketchup you can say:

我要一个中包薯条配番茄酱。 wǒ yào yīgè zhōng bāo shǔ tiáo pèi fānqié jiàng. I want a medium fry with ketchup.

Bonus: Hold the!

And if you wanted to explicitly say you wanted a coffee without sugar (not always an easy feat in China, as you’re in already-sweet-instant-coffee land), you could say:

咖啡不加糖 kāfēi bù jiātáng. I want coffee without sugar.

or even more simply you could say:

不要。 bùyào. I don’t want some.

Final words:

Chinese expressions to say “I’ll have a…with that” are definitely one of the most useful ones to know. By using these expressions to order in Chinese, all the doors will be open to you! I mean, what’s best than being able to ask everything you desire?
To be sure you’ll remember these expressions in Chinese forever, here’s a recap:

#1 和 hé and (the most basic Chinese word to add something)
#2 还有 hái yǒu in addition (for two or more things to add)
#3 加 jiā to add (only as a verb, to add something)
#4 再 zài another (before a verb, to repeat the action)
#5 配 pèi to match (to add things that match your order)

Do you know other expressions to order all you want in Chinese or funny stories about things that happened to you when ordering in Chinese? Let us know in the comments.

The Nincha Team

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Watching Chinese TV shows is a great way to improve your listening comprehension skills in Chinese. You can listen to the natives speaking (at a native speed) while having fun watching them doing crazy or awesome things. Whether you’re a sport show fan, an entertainment aficionado, or love hearing regular people sing their heart out in TV singing competitions, you’ll find something to your liking in this list of popular Chinese TV shows. What do you say ready for a Netflix and Chill in Chinese?

Ninchanese is an incredible app for learning Chinese!

” I actually graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a MA in Chinese.
I’ve used Ninchanese daily, and it has helped me a lot!  “

 – Connor, Ninchanese User

Try Ninchanese, an award-winning method to learn Chinese today:

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#1 Chinese TV Shows on Entertainment

快乐大本营 kuài yuè dàběnyíng Happy Camp

This TV Show, Happy Camp, must be the most popular amusement program in mainland China. It started in 1997 and is still running now. It doesn’t matter how old you are, in China, everyone loves this show!

This Chinese TV show stars 5 famous hosts such as 何炅Hé Jiǒng and 谢娜 Xiè Nà who play games with guests. It’s a very funny show that will have you laughing all along. Each week, the most popular and famous people of the moment are invited to play new challenges such as “catch the pig tail”. Chinese people love to watch this TV show together as they know they’re in for a good time laughing and gossiping together.

Why you should watch it: Gossip, famous Chinese celebrities, games, and jokes, what more could you ask for? This show is a perfect conversation starter with your Chinese friends to boot.

If you’re a big fan of EXO (K-pop band with a Chinese member) you can watch this episode of Happy Camp online, featuring the whole band, with English subtitles.

#2 Chinese TV Shows About Outdoor Sports

奔跑吧兄弟 bēnpǎo ba xiōngdì Running Man

Inspired by the Korean TV show “Running man”, this Chinese recent version is named 奔跑吧兄弟, literally “Hurry up brother”. It’s a show all about real outdoor sports made by 浙江卫视 zhèjiāng wèishì Zhejiang TV channel in collaboration with Korea SBS station. If you want to explore different local Chinese customs and traditions and see all kind of spots, this TV show is a good choice to watch. Each episode of the program is set in a different city and different guests are invited to join the team so they can help out the members of their team with their different sport missions.

Why you should watch it: If you’re looking for fun, sports, famous persons and funny quests then you’ve just found the Chinese TV show you need.

You can watch this Chinese TV show with Chinese subtitles for free and online on the Zhejiang TV channel on youtube or start with the first episode of Running Man, featuring the Negociator, with English subtitles.

极限挑战 jíxiàn tiǎozhàn Go fighting!

This is also an outdoor sport show but made specially for the Misters! In this show, a six-men team faces different types of outdoor extreme activities.

These six gentlemen have one objective: overcome the extreme games they are tasked to do. This TV show follows a fascinating story line and will make you laugh hard, especially since the six members of the team are Chinese famous actors.

Why you should watch it: Because you want to see how they can overcome the obstacles and win together. Team-building is powerful, right?

You can watch the first season of this awesome Chinese TV show online with English subtitles or on Shanghai TV official channel.

#3 Chinese Music TV Shows

Afraid that watching these outdoor sports shows will make you sweat? Let’s cool down with two Chinese music TV shows that will surely give you goosebumps.

我是歌手 wǒ shì gēshǒu I am a Singer

I Am a Singer is another Korean inspired TV show and revolves around a singing competition. Seven singers perform in front of an audience that decides to eliminate one singer per episode. But what is tricky in I am a Singer is that a new singer joins the show every week. The set of this Chinese TV show looks like a wrestling ring in which singers are competing to be the one that gets the most votes.

Why you should watch it: If you’re a Chinese music lover who wants to see their favorite popstars on TV, then definitely check this TV show out! .

To watch this TV show, head to the Hunan TV Official Channel (with Chinese subtitles).

中国好声音 zhōngguó hǎo shēngyīn The Voice of China

You certainly already know the American and British versions (The Voice US and The Voice UK) of this Chinese TV show.

Music lovers will definitely love this show in which unknown singers compete to reach the last round and be crowned The Voice of China.

The Voice of China is made of three rounds: a blind audition, a battle phase where candidates must sing the best they can to be saved by the audience, and live performance shows. Four musician judges only hear (and can’t see) the candidates for the first time and decide whether or not to take them in their team. The judges then each coach their teams to win the battle phase and live performance shows. Each season of the TV show goes on until the last one man standing wins the show and becomes a superstar.

Singers that come on the Voice of China differ from 我是歌手 wǒ shì gēshǒu I am a Singer singers because they are totally unknown to the audience; they’re just random people like you and me, which makes you love the (good) singers even more.

Why you should watch it: This Chinese TV show is a perfect choice for you if you want to be the first one to discover the new future popstars of China.

To access all the episodes and seasons, head to TVOCHINA official youtube channel (it’s only in Chinese).

#4 Chinese TV Shows：Love Games

More into romantic TV shows? Then check out these love games in Chinese!

为她而战 wèi tā ér zhàn Fight For Her

Are there ladies out there? We haven’t forgotten about you. Here’s a special romantic show about spreading your love.

为她而战 Fight For Her is a TV show about men fighting for their wives. This is an original Chinese mainland TV show with well-known Chinese people. The show focuses on 12 famous couples that make their entrance hand in hand and compete together through games to score points and win.
It’s really funny because you can see the husbands desperately fighting for their wives by taking risks in games which really show their true love for their women!

Why you should watch it: Gain insights into your favorite Chinese couples’ dynamics and get to know them more.

Head here to watch the show for free (with Chinese subtitles)

Single ladies, put your hands up! If Fight For Her is a little too couple for you, this Chinese TV show should please you more.

非诚勿扰 fēichéngwùrǎo You Are the One

You Are the One is all about finding true love. In each episode, men introduce themselves through short video clips. Women decide whether or not they want to get to know the men more by turning on or off the light above the gentlemen’s heads.
Love can be cruel sometimes.
Once the woman has chosen “her man”, she invites him on stage to have a talk. Then it’s the man’s turn, he can ask questions as well to get acquainted with the girl and also finally decide if the woman is or isn’t his “heartbeat girl”. If she is, then, it’s a happy ending.

Why you should watch it: Because you want people to love each other and it’s really cute how people get to know each other.

To watch some of the episodes with English subtitles you can head to this fan channel.

#5 Chinese TV Shows with Parent-child Programs

If love shows are not your cup of tea, you can definitely spend some quality family time watching parent-child Chinese TV shows. Then the whole family can have fun watching a Chinese TV show while practicing their Chinese. Good idea, right?

爸爸去哪儿 bàba qù nǎ'er Dad, Where Are We Going?

This Chinese TV show is based on the original South Korean reality show “Dad! Where Are We Going?” in which you follow the adventure of fathers taking their children on a tour in rural China. This TV show was so successful in China, that the TV show’s producers, Hunan Television adapted it into two movies, “Where Are We Going, Dad?” released in 2014 and “Where Are We Going, Dad? 2” in 2015.

Why you should watch it: Because you’ll love to see how father can bond with their children. You’ll also get a tour in China’s countryside.

You can the season 3 of “Dad! Where Are We Going?” (the only one easily available with English subtitles). You can also go and check on the Hunan TV official channel for more videos of 爸爸去哪儿 Dad! Where Are We Going?” (in Chinese with Chinese subtitles) .

爸爸回来了 bàba huílái le Dad is coming back

Dad is coming back is a TV show about famous dads that are left to care for their offspring alone for 48 hours. Their wives leaves home and the dads don’t receive any help from anyone. It’s really nice to watch those cute babies interact in games with their fathers and see how dads on their own raise their children.

Why you should watch it: Because you’ve always been wondering how famous parents raise their children. You’ll love to see them do their best to survive these 48 hours

Click here to watch the show online (in Chinese only).

Both of these programs are popular Chinese mainland TV shows. By watching this, you can take a look at how stars get along with their kids in real life.

#5 Popular Chinese TV shows on Travel

Is traveling your thing? Then we have something for you, wanderlusters. This last Chinese TV show is going to take you on a fun journey!

花儿与少年 huā er yǔ shàonián Divas hit the road season

Have you already heard the expression 穷游 qióngyóu poor tour? This expression has become a catchword in China as more and more people prefer to travel by getting lifts and staying in hostels to save money rather than splurging.

For ordinary people, taking a “poor tour” might not be a big deal but what about celebrities? In this show, you can see how Chinese famous people deal with all kinds of problems that arise from going on a “poor tour”, such as not having enough money to eat, not having an assistant surrounding them or dealing without a phone abroad. Seems interesting and funny, don’t you think?

Why you should watch it: If you want to have great fun and laugh at famous people struggling with everyday tasks, then you need to watch this show.

You’ll find these funny videos by clicking on the link (some have English subtitles).

And this concludes our selection of popular Chinese TV shows to explore! The Nincha team has provided you with a broad range of Chinese TV show types so you can find your favorites. So relax, turn on the TV (well, only if you have Chinese TV channels – go to the links we suggest otherwise)… and have a great time watching and learning with Chinese TV shows. Happy watching! You’ll love seeing how much you can improve your Chinese while watching Chinese TV online.

You can also take part in this Quora topic to know more about Chinese TV shows.

Once you watch these shows, be sure to come back and tell us which is your favorite Chinese TV show! one after you watch them? Mine’s undoubtedly is “Hurry up brother”. 🙂

Do you have a favorite TV show that we didn’t mention? Share them with us in the comments belows!

Yanjie, Pauline and 

The Nincha Team

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The post 10 Popular Chinese TV Shows to Help You Learn Chinese appeared first on Ninchanese.

It’s easy and fun to start competing in the Ninchallenge Tournament!

Now is the perfect time to start competing in the Ninchallenge Tournament. The Tournament is a fun way for Chinese Learners Learners to compete in Ninchallenges, hang out with other passionate Chinese learners and show your love of Chinese.

Have fun practicing Chinese this summer!

For the next two weeks, the Ninchallenges can be your fun way to practice your Chinese this summer! The Ninchallenges are fun one to one matches centered on your knowledge of Chinese. They’re a fantastic opportunity to have fun and practice your Mandarin Chinese as you play against other Chinese learners in the Tournament!

It is free and open to Chinese learners of all ages and skill levels. Just sign up on Ninchallenge Tournament, join a Ninchallenge or start a Ninchallenge with a friend and get started on the path toward becoming the 2015 NinChampion!

The first edition of the Ninchallenge Tournament is now officially underway, with cool prizes to win throughout the Tournament.  Players around the world have begun participating in Ninchallenges to climb their way to the top of the leaderboard!

Learn more about the Ninchallenge Tournament.

Ready to begin? Find a Ninchallenge to play!

Good luck, little dragon!

May the Chinese knowledge be with you!

The Ninchallenge Tournament is organized by Ninchanese, the gamified Chinese learning app. Ninchanese combines addictive game mechanics, cute cats and efficient Chinese learning techniques to make learning Chinese a lot of fun! The app is now in beta so sign up now for early access! Check out our trailer and stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest.

The post The Ninchallenge Tournament is now open! appeared first on Ninchanese.

Welcome to Ninchana

Disaster has struck the normally peaceful village of the Ninchas! Their precious pearl of knowledge has been stolen! Master Yocha, head of the village, sends Nincha, the lucky cat, and his new friend, a young Dragon named Lupishu, off on a journey through the Ninchana world to find their pearl.

In Ninchanese, you are the one who needs to save the Ninchas and become the dragon yourself! You play a baby dragon who needs to learn Chinese to save the Ninchas. The story in Ninchanese is an integral part of Ninchanese and every part as important as the tools implemented in the application to learn Chinese effectively.

On your journey searching for the pearl of knowledge with Nincha and Lupishu, you’ll discover a new way of learning Chinese, which is full of cats and fun. You’ll also have to face bosses. Never be afraid of them, because during the six worlds of adventure that await you, you’ll level up your Chinese by memorizing vocabulary, speaking dialogues, and understanding Chinese grammar.

How it works

Like we said in our Kickstarter campaign, “We envision the story as a tale of coming of age, full of Chinese culture and legends that rewards curiosity, thirst of knowledge, the desire to learn and to have fun.”

The story, which we want to be engaging, helps the learners discover Chinese culture and lets them feel closer to the characters . The storyline also gives the learners the chance to identify themselves as Lupishu, and see themselves grow as an adorable dragon, as they improve their Chinese and become increasingly better at Chinese.

The benefits of storytelling

The story parts are crucial for the learners: they help give them purpose. The story shows the learners (whatever their age) the path to learn Chinese and gives them a clear goal, like Lupishu: learn Chinese and recover the pearl of Chinese knowledge.

The narratives put the learners in a situation where they feel confident, gives their brains a break so they are in the right mindset and more inclined to learn something new. The storyline emotionally engages them and gives them positive emotional experiences, which contributes to increased retention. The story is also a great way to express positive feedback and celebrate progress, two crucial elements to help the learners progress and stay motivated.

For the learners, it means something to progress from one stage to another, and then to beat a Boss, guardian of the next world. It is a real indicator of progress. It drives them to achieve, so they can feel proud of themselves and confident in their ability to speak Chinese. And if their motivation to learn Chinese were to waver — they’ll want to keep going because they want to know what happens next to Lupishu and what boss they’ll be meeting next.

Here’s a teaser of the Ninchanese story:

Isn’t it amazing to find the dragon in you and level up your Chinese? Don’t hesitate then, time for you guys to save the Ninchas’ world and be a real hero in studying Chinese with Ninchanese!

If you are interested in learning more about gamification and the use of storytelling in learning, this recent article by Alice Keeler is very interesting.

Ninchanese combines addictive game mechanics, cute cats and efficient Chinese learning techniques to make learning Chinese a lot of fun! Now live on Kickstarter! The app is now in beta so sign up now for early access to the beta! Check out our trailer and stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest.

The post The science of storytelling: Why it powers your Chinese learning appeared first on Ninchanese.

Your go to inspirational sentence about education

Here’s a great motivational proverb you should remember forever. Your hardwork is the key to success, don’t rely on someone else.

Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire. William Butler Yeats.

The Nincha Team

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Your go to language learning quote

Language learning is so important for self-esteem and to develop your brain abilities.

Learning a language is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.

The Nincha Team

Stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Try the best way to learn Chinese today.
Ninchanese is free to use!

Sign up now

The post A Chinese proverb on language learning appeared first on Ninchanese.