When you’re learning Chinese, discovering 流行用语, aka Chinese slang expressions (liú xíng yòng yǔ) is a fun and interesting way to get a deeper understanding of the language and culture. However, before diving in, it’s important to know which phrases are appropriate to use in different situations. In this article, we’ll be exploring some of the most interesting, quirky, and downright wacky slang expressions in Chinese to know in 2023, along with their meanings and how to use them in context. Prepare to spice up your Chinese vocabulary with some seriously meowy slang!

1. Chinese slang: 蒟蒻 (jǔ ruò)

First up in your collection of popular words to know is 蒟蒻, a self-deprecating slang term used to refer to oneself as a noob or a newbie.

You’ll see it often used in online gaming communities and online. If you’re a new player to a game, for instance, you might say:
我是蒟蒻，还请多多关照
Wǒ shì jǔ ruò, hái qǐng duō duō guān zhào
I’m a noob, please take care of me.

Here’s how to use this slang expression in context:
A: 你打得好烂啊，是不是蒟蒻啊？
Nǐ dǎ de hǎo làn a，shì bù shì jǔruò a?
You play so poorly, are you a newbie?

B: 没错，我才刚开始学呢。
Méi cuò，wǒ cái gāng kāi shǐ xué ne
B: Yes, I’m just getting started.

Fun fact: Look up 蒟蒻 and you’ll see pictures of konjac, that calorie-free plant that was a popular noodle substitute a while back.
How did we get to “noob” from there? Konjac in Chinese (蒟蒻 (jǔ ruò) sounds like 巨[jù] 弱[ruò], which means very weak. From there, it’s easy to picture how online, especially, this came to mean “noob”.

2. 酱紫 (jiàng zǐ)

Next up is another great buzzword to know is 酱紫.

Because it sounds very similar to 这样子, it also means “like this” or “in this way”. The difference is that you will often use it playfully or sarcastically.

For example, if someone says “你怎么不去问问他呢? (nǐ zěn me bù qù wèn wèn tā ne?) which means “Why don’t you go ask him?”, you could sarcastically respond with “酱紫啊，太感谢你的好建议了” (jiàng zǐ a, tài gǎn xiè nǐ de hǎo jiàn yì le), which means “Oh, great idea, thanks so much!”

A: 今天要开会，你怎么穿得这么随便？
Jīntiān yào kāihuì，nǐ zěn me chuān dé zhè me suí biàn？
We have a meeting today, why are you dressed so casually?

B: 酱紫不行吗？
Jiàng zǐ bù xíng ma?
What’s wrong with that?

3. Chinese slang expression: 吃瓜 (chī guā)

Meaning “to eat watermelon seeds,” you’ll find 吃瓜 (chī guā) is a meowvelous slang expression to use to describe someone who is watching a situation from the sidelines without directly getting involved. It’s often used to describe people who are gossiping or watching drama unfold without participating in it themselves.

It’s purrfect to talk about bystanders or gawkers. For example, you can say:
他们两个人吵架了，我们都在一旁吃瓜看戏。
Tāmen liǎng gè rén chǎojià le，wǒmen dōu zài yī páng chī guā kàn xì
The two of them were arguing, and we were all standing by watching and waiting to see what would happen

Or
吃瓜群众看热闹。
Chī guā qúnzhòng kàn rènao.
The crowd watches the excitement with interest.

Curious to see 吃瓜 (chī guā) used in context? Here are two dialogues using it:

A: 这个新闻真扯。
Zhège xīnwén zhēn chě.
This news is sensationalized.

B: 别说了，我们只是吃瓜群众。
Bié shuō le, wǒmen zhǐshì chīguā qúnzhòng.
Let’s not say anything, we’re just bystanders watching the drama.

Here’s another way to use this Chinese slang expression:
A: 你听说了吗？ 王老师辞职了。
Nǐ tīngshuō le ma？ Wáng lǎoshī cízhí le.
Have you heard? Teacher Wang resigned.

B: 没有，怎么回事？
Méi yǒu，zěn me huí shì ？
No, what happened?

A: 不知道，我也是刚刚在微博上看到的，咱们吃瓜看热闹吧！
Bù zhīdào，wǒ yě shì gāng gang zài Wēibó shàng kàn dào de，zánmen chīguā kàn rènao ba ！
I don’t know. I just saw it on Weibo. Let’s just watch and see what happens.

4. 搞笑 (gǎo xiào)

搞笑 means “funny” or “humorous” and is often used to describe comedic content. For example, if you watch a funny video on Chinese social media, you might say “这个视频真的太搞笑了” (zhè ge shì pín zhēn de tài gǎo xiào le), which means “This video is really funny.”

A: 这个视频好搞笑啊！
Zhè ge shìpín hǎo  gǎoxiào le
This video is so funny!

B: 我也觉得，笑得我肚子疼。
Wǒ yě jué de xiào de wǒ dùzi téngI think so too, I laughed until my stomach hurt.

Think about who you’re talking to when using this Chinese-language expression: 搞笑 gǎo xiào could be considered somewhat informal and may not be appropriate in certain professional or formal settings.

5. The popular expression: 神犇 (shén bēn)

You use the slang term 神犇 (shén bēn) to describe someone extremely talented or skilled in a particular area. Imagine, if you know someone who is a talented musician, you might say to brag about them to your friends “他真是一个音乐神犇” (tā zhēn shì yī gè yīn yuè shén bēn). That means “He’s a real musical genius.”

Here’s how you can use this slang expression in context:

A: 他真的是个神犇，什么都会。
Tā zhēn de shì gè shénbēn，shénme dōu huì
He’s really a genius, he can do anything.

B: 是啊，我都有点佩服他了。
Shì a， wǒ dōu yǒu diǎn pèi fú tā le。
Yeah, I’m starting to admire him.

Fun fact: 神 means “god”. And because the character 犇 contains three times the character “牛” (cow”), and something “牛” is awesome in Chinese, this expression 神犇 took on the meaning of “十分牛”, that is to say, “extremely good”, to the point of being “god-like”.

6. Celebrate with the buzzword 撒花 (sā huā)

Want to celebrate something? Then, 撒花 (sā huā) is the expression you’ll want to use. It’s similar to saying “hooray” or “yay” in English.

So, for instance, if you’re told your friend won the lottery or another piece of good news, you might respond with 撒花 (sā huā!), which means “Hooray!”

A: 我通过了考试，撒花！
Wǒ tōngguò le kǎoshì，sāhuā！
I passed the exam, celebrate with me!

B: 恭喜恭喜，要好好庆祝一下！
Gōng xǐ gōng xǐ ， yào hǎo hǎo qìng zhù yī xià
Congratulations, we should definitely celebrate!

7. 摸鱼 (mō yú)

摸鱼 (mō yú) is a slang term you use to describe someone who is slacking off or goofing off. You’ll find it particularly handy to describe a situation where someone is not working hard or as diligently as they should be.

For example, if your colleague at work in China is taking a long break and not doing their work, you might say:
他今天一直在摸鱼
Tā jīntiān yīzhí zài mōyú
He’s been slacking off all day.

Here’s how you can use this popular expression in context:
A: 你最近在忙什么呢?
Nǐ zuì jìn zài máng shén me ne?
What have you been busy with lately?

B: 最近上班太累了，经常摸鱼。
Zuì jìn shàng bān tài lèi le, jīng cháng mō yú
I’ve been really tired at work lately, so I’ve been slacking off a lot.

8.双倍奉还 (shuāng bèi fèng huán)

双倍奉还 is an idiom in Chinese that means “to pay back twice as much” or “to retaliate with double the force.” It’s often used to describe situations where someone has been wronged or hurt and is seeking justice or revenge. For example, if someone steals from you, you might say “我一定让他双倍奉还” (wǒ yī dìng ràng tā shuāng bèi fèng huán), which means “I will make him pay back twice as much.”

This expression can also be used in a playful way, such as when someone gives you a gift or does something nice for you. In this case, you might say “谢谢你的礼物，我会双倍奉还的” (xiè xiè nǐ de lǐwù, wǒ huì shuāng bèi fèng huán de), which means “Thank you for your gift, I will repay you doubly.”

Here’s another dialogue showing you how to use this expression:

A: 你欠我的钱，什么时候还？
Nǐ qiàn wǒ de qián，shén me shí hou huán
A: You owe me money, when will you pay me back?

B: 不用急，我会尽快还你，双倍奉还。
Bù yòng jí，wǒ huì jǐn kuài hái nǐ，shuāng bèi fèng huán.
Don’t worry, I’ll repay you as soon as possible, with double the amount.

A cultural note on slang expressions in Chinese

Slang expressions are an important part of the Chinese language and culture. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced learner, using slang is a great way to connect with native speakers, add some personality to your language skills, and maybe even score a few laughs along the way.

Just remember, these phrases can be playful and interesting, as long as you use them appropriately and stay aware of their nuances and connotations. While these phrases can be tons of fun, it’s important to be aware of their connotations and usage contexts so that you can use them with confidence and respect. When in doubt, for instance, exercise discretion, and check what setting you’re in. In professional and formal settings, particularly, it’s advisable to err on the side of caution and use more neutral language.

And once you have that in mind, especially when you’re with friends you trust, purrfect! Give these slang expressions a try in a safe space, with your friends, so they can tell you without being shocked if you screwed up using a word! Go ahead and start using these phrases in your daily life, impress your friends with your cool Chinese slang, and don’t forget to have fun with it!

On that note, there you have it, folks! We hope you’ve enjoyed this wild ride through some of the most popular and fun slang expressions in Chinese to know in 2023.

And one more thing…

If you want to continue learning Chinese with authentic and entertaining content, then you’ll love Ninchanese.

With Ninchanese, you get a complete method to learn Chinese, which has you speaking, reading, writing, and more in Chinese. What’s more, whether you’re a beginner or an advanced learner, there’s content your level on Ninchanese and plenty more!

Start using Ninchanese on the web, with your computer or tablet, or on your phone with the Android app.

Enjoy!

Sarah &

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 8 Fun Chinese Slang Expressions to Impress Your Friends in 2023 appeared first on Ninchanese.

Why go dark?

Dark mode is a darker theme for Ninchanese, purrfect to put you in a Halloween mood.

Not only is dark mode a little scary, it’s also been proven to be more restful for your eyes. Dark mode is believed to be more relaxing because it uses less light. Thanks to that, you’ll find it improves overall your learning experience.

Depending on the type of screen you have, it can even consume less energy than an all-white mode does. Better for the eyes, and it could even help the planet a little? What’s not to like?

So give it a try!

How do I turn on Dark Mode?

You’ll find the option to turn Dark Mode ON in your settings (see this FAQ page for the complete walkthrough). And if you prefer the classic white mode, then toggle it back to “classic”. It’s as simple as that!

Here’s Dark Mode in action:

To compare, Ninchanese’s classic, original, mode:

Brighter, don’t you think? Which do you like best?
So, head to your settings and test how it feels!

Are you going to love it too, like these meowsome users?

Let us know on the chat on Discord.

Let’s celebrate

To celebrate this new Chinese learning experience on Ninchanese, there’s a monstrous sale going on!

Treat yourself to 31% OFF all plans, with the code DARKMODE.

To enjoy this meowsome discount, all you need to do is head to https://app.ninchanese.com/subscribe, select the plan you want, and then enter the code at checkout.  Nothing scary about that!

But hurry, this sale only lasts until November 7th, 2021.

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 Dark mode is here: get ready to go dark! appeared first on Ninchanese.

In this update, we focused a lot on improving and reworking our way of dealing with Chinese characters. A lot of the work we did was behind the scenes, so you won’t be seeing a big part of the changes we’ve made. Don’t be jealous, you’ll soon be seeing the consequences and results of those background improvements! And not to worry, there’s still plenty to see in this update. Here are the changes and improvements what you can see in this update.

Waaaaay more Chinese words

Ninchanese used to be your fave Chinese learning tool, did you know it can now also be…. your go-to online dictionary? We’ve incorporated the whole CC-CEDICT database in Ninchanese for your viewing pleasure! That’s over 100, 000 Chinese characters and words you can now look up, explore and discover directly in the app.

As you can guess from this funny tweet, all sorts of words and names are now browsable in Ninchanese:

Tatatatat BATMAN ^^ 蝙蝠侠 – Biān fú xiá on @Ninchanese https://t.co/XvUzyMhRKK

— Jean-Remi (@JeanRemi_Laisne) 31 May 2016

More Chinese words to explore in Chinese meant more information to show you, so we seized this opportunity to improve the word pages for each character and word.

A detailed word page for each Chinese character and word (which you can share)

We reworked the way word pages worked to bring you more information on each word.  For a given word or Chinese character, say 猫, before the update, you could:

• Hear its pronunciation
• See its pinyin
• Read the character’s meaning(s)
• See its HSK level, when applicable
• See an animation of the stroke order
• See an example sentence for each of its meaning, when available
• Get information on the character’s composition: what components or elements is it made of?

Now, in addition to all that, when you look up a character, you can now also see:

• Simplified / Traditional form

Mandarin Chinese has two written forms: Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.

Now, on each word page, you can see and switch between the two forms. It’s a first step towards the implementation of Traditional Chinese in Ninchanese!

• Compounds

Compounds are single characters that contain the character you looked up as one of their components. Here’s an example with the Chinese word 是 shì.  The character 提 tí , for instance, is a compound of 是 (where 扌 is the meaning component, providing a clue to the word’s meaning and 是 is the phonetic component – it’s a stretch, but tí sounds a little close to shì)

• Words that contain that character

Modern Chinese words are usually composed of more than one character so it’s always extremely interesting to see all the words that contain the character or characters you’re looking up.

For each single or multiple characters, you search for, you can now browse a list of the words that contain this character. This includes words that begin with the character you’re looking up and words that end with the character you’re looking up. Click on any of those words to see their definition in a separate page. Useful, no?

• Idioms

The Chinese language is well known for its idiomatic expressions, idioms, the most famous of all being its 4 character idioms, the 成语, chengyu. For each character or word you look up, we now show you the idioms that contain that character or word. Pretty cool way to discover new idioms, don’t you think?

Easily look up words

Say you want to look up a word in Chinese on Ninchanese?
Here’s a tip to easily look up new words: type app.ninchanese.com (also works on ninchanese.com) like you normally would, to access your Chinese learning app. You’ll see a new indication appear: 

Instead of pressing enter, hit “tab”.  This allows you to instantly look up a word on Ninchanese in your url bar and call up its word page directly. Nifty, don’t you think? Here’s a gif to show you exactly how it works:

Share the words you love

You can now also share each page on your favorite social network. You never know. Chinese is full of funny expressions and words. Maybe you’ll run into one you want to share with your pals? Or maybe you want to save it to one of your Pinterest boards for future reference? You can now do that and it’ll look like this:

What else is new?

In addition to adding a whole dictionary to Ninchanese and greatly improving our word pages, here are a few more notable changes you may want to know about.

Improving how we deal with polyphonic words

Did you know that some words in Chinese have multiple pronunciations and meanings, but look exactly the same? These characters are called polyphonic characters (literally, words with multiple pronunciations).

We used to show you the different pronunciations and meanings of a polyphonic character in the same word page.
Now there’s a page for each pronunciation and its assorted meanings and a link to its other pronunciations so you can learn each individually. They may look the same, but they are different characters after all. Like so:

Two things to know about learning polyphonic characters:

• There’s a chance you’ll need to be learning the new meanings and pronunciations as brand new words.
• When you’re reviewing the words you’ve learned, we’ll give you a hint as to which pinyin or meaning of the polyphonic character we’re asking you about; because otherwise, you have no way of knowing which word we’re asking you about!

More on typos

We’ve also made a few small improvements in the vocabulary stages:

– The typo detector now accepts tones entered as numbers: It used to reject number marks for tones, but it no longer does. Whoot!

– Hyphens? What hyphens? You can now type words with hyphens, with or without; we figure it was too mean to get an answer counted as wrong just because you didn’t use a hyphen properly. It’s a small step towards more flexibility in the answers we accept, let’s say.

These small but useful improvements conclude our round-up of the big, visible, changes brought about by this beta update.

Rest assured, there’s a lot more coming! Like I said in the beginning, this update is monumental. Monumental mainly in that it paves the way for a lot of things to come. You’ll see; there’ll be quite a few new big things added to Ninchanese in the coming weeks/ months; things like World 5 (for advanced Chinese learners, and HSK 5 takers), and traditional characters…

Sarah, a meowsome member of:

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 More Chinese Words for Ninchanese appeared first on Ninchanese.

A big step for Nincha and Lupishu

After being a little over a year in private beta, Ninchanese, the gamified Chinese learning application, is now open to all! Ninchanese’s open beta is a huge step for Nincha and Lupishu and great news for Chinese learners around the world.

Reflecting back at everything the Nincha Team has accomplished so far with Ninchanese, two things become clear:

• We’ve come a long way from the initial Ninchanese idea and design (which originally, only covered vocabulary)

One of the very first wireframes for Ninchanese

• All this wouldn’t have happened without the help of our amazing and incredible beta testers and users. So, thank you all! Without the thousands of feedback messages sent by our beta testers, their encouragements and their showings of love for the Chinese application we were building, the Nincha Team would never be where we are today. They helped us improve the application tremendously, helped us run a successful Kickstarter campaign, and some became our first customers… We’re incredibly grateful to all of our closed beta users and for their wonderful support. You’ll always hold a special place in our hearts, Nincha learners.

What Ninchanese being in open beta means

Ninchanese in open beta means a few big changes for the application, which we’ll cover here.

Ninchanese is now freemium

Now that the app is in open beta, Ninchanese is a freemium web application. This means it’s free to use and you can easily upgrade to paid plans to get access to more features and content. For instance, all the vocabulary stages on Ninchanese are completely free, so you can easily learn all the vocabulary you need to strike conversations with Chinese native speakers, read books or take HSK tests, from level 1 to 6. To take your learning further, build sentences, work on your Chinese pronunciation and listening skills, you’ll need to subscribe.

P is for Premium

This is not the only change the open beta brings. The open beta also means: access to more content!

Access to more great content!

Four worlds to access on Ninchanese’s open beta!

The closed beta was restricted to World 1, which offered beginner (newbie) Chinese learning content. More advanced content was available, but only for those who preordered. Ninchanese going out of closed beta changes that: all four worlds are now accessible. You can therefore now easily jump to content more your level, if 你好 and introducing yourself are things you can now say in your sleep.

What else is new?

Easily accessible to everyone!

From now on, no more invites are required to enter Nincha’s fantastic world. Everyone can register on its own. So, new learners, rejoice: you can start learning Chinese on Ninchanese in a just a few clicks. Not sure how to get started? Check out our Get started page!

A new face for Ninchanese

We’re so happy to be unveiling Ninchanese’s new site!  To celebrate moving Ninchanese to open beta, we’ve also completely redesigned ninchanese.com. The site’s all-new design resembles Ninchanese, the app, a lot more than the previous one! So, dear readers, now that Ninchanese.com has shed its skin, head here to see Ninchanese’s true face.

The new Ninchanese.com site also offers plenty of resources on learning Chinese and using Ninchanese. There’s a help section, guides on how to get started in Chinese, and a lot more to explore!

More to come

In short here, in Nincha Land, we’re very proud of reaching this step and releasing Ninchanese in open beta today.

We have a lot more in store, and plenty of surprises planned, to continue on our mission of bringing Chinese learners everywhere the most adorable and efficient way to learn Chinese. So, you can count on us to continue to innovate and improve Ninchanese and we look forward to reaching lots more steps with you guys!

Have you tried Ninchanese’s beta yet? Come on over and give it a try! Show your Chinese learning friends the new website and invite them to join you in the beta!

Sarah 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!

Sign up now

The post Ninchanese is in open beta appeared first on Ninchanese.

World 4? What’s in it?

Get ready to take your Chinese to the next level with this whole new content! But be prepared, World 4 means business. It has twice as much new content as World 3: that means double the amount of new words in Chinese to learn, and over a thousand new Chinese sentences to build and say!

Who’s it for?

Are you at an intermediate level of Chinese and are looking for content that will take your Chinese to the next level? World 4 is perfect for you!

Are you learning with us in the app? Nincha learners, World 4 is the next logical step once you’ve finished World 3.

With close to 900 new words in Mandarin Chinese to learn, and nearly twice as many sentences to learn to build and say so you learn the words in context, this world will give you all the background you need to really foray into the Chinese speaking world. From the grammar structures and patterns you’ll be learning to the vocabulary you’ll be acquiring, to the themes the speaking stages cover, World 4 will equip you for China.

By the time you finish World 4, you’ll have learned over 1600 words; not bad! You’ll be able to read a modern Chinese text, a short novel or watch a Chinese or Taiwanese drama and understand most of it. You’ll be able to use the most common Chinese syntax patterns and therefore won’t be thrown off when conversing with natives by sentence structures you’ve never heard of. In short, with this new content, you’ll be ready to jump off the deep end and go live in a Chinese-speaking place! Sounds pretty meowsome, don’t you think?

What will I be learning to talk about?

World 4’s stages focus on learning useful and practical vocabulary to live, travel and work in China. These are some of the topics you’ll be learning to talk about in World 4: Rock on, tiger!

-Traveling in China: learn to confidently face any travel situation (Taxi – Bus – Train – Plane) in Chinese with World 4’s speaking stages. Yes, you will travel all over Ninchana!

– Thinking of looking for a job in China? Baimei is too and discusses job searching and interview strategies in Mandarin Chinese.

– Bargaining: Bargaining is a must in China and in Ninchana alike, and Lupishu’s learning all the bargain tips and tricks to get the best deal in Chinese.

– Going out: Life’s not all about work and shopping and Nincha’s determined to show Lupishu that.

– and plenty more to discover! This is the biggest update to date in Ninchanese and we hope you’ll love it.

How do I get access?

World 4 will be available in early access starting this Monday. To get access, you need to be part of the Ninchanese Beta and to have either: supported us on Kickstarter (backers with Yocha packs and up get access) or to pre-order.

We hope you have fun and enjoy all the new Chinese content you’ll learn!

We’re counting on you to tell us what you think of the stages, and to give us feedback on this world!

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 Ready for some serious Chinese learning? World 4 is here! appeared first on Ninchanese.

This week’s rather big update is all about your user experience learning Chinese. Thanks to your feedback, we’ve added a lot of new things in this update, including what we gave away in the title but not only! So now, you guys know what to do: experience the changes on Ninchanese and give us feedback! But first, you can read up on the improvements below.

In this week’s update, you’ll find:

A better responsive experience

We want you to be able to use Ninchanese everywhere: on your computer, on your tablet, on your phone… So making sure you can browse and use Ninchanese smoothly whatever the device you’re using is one of our priorities (I really want to use Ninchanese on my phone too!). Little by little, we’re working on improving the layout of Ninchanese on different screen resolutions. We’ve just redone some of the pages, such as the level selection screen where you choose what you’re going to do. Go on, give it a try, whip out your phone or resize the page. We guarantee it’ll look nice, whatever your screen (almost). Many more responsive improvements are coming in the next beta updates!

Improved display of the answers

Nincha put his paw down: No more displaying answers with definitions that were extremely long and tough to read, not to mention sometimes were cut-off in his vocab stages! Now, answers are displayed in a nice, numbered, orderly manner, so you can easily see what a word means, and get an idea of how many different meanings it has!

Sound plays automatically

You’ve been asking for this, and this beta update has listened. Now, when you get a word right in the vocab stages and in your reviews, it’ll play automatically! By hearing the sound more, you’ll be helping your brain make more associations and memorize the sound as well as the visual representation of the word. When you click on a block in the sentence building stage, you’ll also be able to hear the sound! Mewsic to your years, right?

A Meowsome Pop-up

You’re going to be friends with this pop-up

Perhaps this sounds familiar: you entered an answer, confident it was right, only to realize you gave the reading of the word in pinyin, rather than its meaning in English… Since the system was expecting English, your answer was counted as wrong. Well, good news, there is now a popup that gently lets you know that you entered the right word, but in the wrong language! You’ll therefore get a second chance to try again, albeit in the right language. We bet this was a major source of frustration for some. Now it’s gone. Sweet, no?
Naturally, if you get the answer wrong, no matter in what language, your answer will still be be counted as wrong.

A new help button with Nincha

Feeling a little confused about the word you just saw? Would like to have more information on it? Just hit help in the vocab stages and Nincha will take you straight to that word’s page, where you’ll be able to see the word’s stroke order, read example sentences, so you can understand how that word can be used and see how it behaves in context, and more!

Just hit Next!

Pick: go back to the selection screen or continue? You Clicked Continue? Skip selection. Go straight to the next stage. Don’t collect 20, 000. Uh, no, this is not Monopoly.  Still, we’ve added a new “next stage” button that’ll take you directly to the next stage without breaking your flow. Ain’t that cool? The next button is great when you want an uninterrupted study session in Mandarin Chinese!

New star system

As you learn words and get them right in your reviews, your memory level improves; this lets the Great Nincha Machine know you’re starting to know that word pretty well and can push back when it’ll show you the word again.
These stars were already visible in your word list, but we’ve decided to make them more visible: you can now see them in the vocab stages and in the reviews! They are an indicator of your progress and a better way to see where you are at in pushing that word in your long-term memory. We’re likely to be toying with these stars some more, so let us know what you think of them as they are now and if you see a need to improve them!

Unifying the structure

The whole structure of Ninchanese was redone and unified so that all stages work in a similar way (on our side at least) and have a unified design. It’s visually more pleasing, don’t you think? You might not see what changed that much, but believe us, it has, and these changes pave the way for a lot more, like the boss stages! Something to look forward in the near future

And a bunch more things in this beta update

In addition to all this, as usual, we’ve fixed a bunch of little stuff:

•  bug fixes: they’re spotted, they’re squashed.
• Word corrections: I corrected several words by adding some of your definition suggestions, fixing a typo here and there, and adding more example sentences. We also are gradually introducing British spelling for words, if you see any more that need British spelling, let us know in the feedback interface!
• Story fixes: there were a few typos to correct in the story, and sometimes Lupishu’s head wasn’t quite right…

These are little things we correct everyday as soon as we or you spot them, so if you see any such thing, you know what to do!

Before we stop rambling and let you go check out this beta update’s newest changes for yourself, one last word:
We hope you enjoy these improvements and they help you learn Chinese even better. Our commitment to bringing you an enjoyable and efficient Chinese learning experience is strong, so please, let us know what you like and don’t like, and what other features and improvements you’d like. As always, we’re looking forward to your feedback!

Enjoy learning Chinese!

The Nincha Team

With Ninchanese, enjoy learning everything you need to know to really speak Chinese! The web app is now in beta so sign up now to join the Ninchanese beta! Stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest and pre-order now to get access to the full beta!

The post The Automatic Sound, Stars and Awesome Popup Beta Update appeared first on Ninchanese.

 Upper-elementary content, here you come!

Releasing World 2 is an exciting step for us and for you Nincha learners. We’re psyched to be offering higher- level content in Mandarin Chinese on Ninchanese!

In World 2, 30+ new stages are waiting for you.  These new stages will take you from an elementary level in Chinese to upper-elementary. Meowsome, right? That’s over 200 more words and over 250 new sentences to learn. You’ll also be unlocking Part of 2 of Nincha and Lupishu’s story and help Lupishu grow.

Meowsome! How do I get access?

World 2 is currently available in early access. There are two ways to get access to world 2:

You’re one of our Kickstarter backers

If you got the Lupishu pack and above during our successful Kickstarter campaign, excellent choice. You automatically get access to World 2. Just log in to your Ninchanese account and start learning! (if you didn’t get access, contact us)

You can even exceptionally skip ahead to the first stage of World 2 without finishing World 1 if you can’t wait. (Or if World 2 is more your speed, level- wise).

You can pre-order Ninchanese

If you’re not a Kickstarter backer, you can still pre-order Ninchanese for a limited time and get early access to World 2, and the other upcoming worlds when they come out. By pre-ordering Ninchanese, you also get a one-year subscription plan when Ninchanese launches.

In both cases, we’re counting on you to have fun doing World 2 and learning new things in Chinese, and to give us feedback to make World 2 purrfect when it goes public!

It’s just a start

There are six worlds in Ninchanese, and now that we’re on a roll, we’re not stopping. World 3 is coming soon, so stay tuned!

With Ninchanese, come enjoy learning everything you need to speak Chinese! The web app is now in beta so sign up now to join the beta! Stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest and pre-order now!

The post World 2 is here! appeared first on Ninchanese.

Improved Vocabulary learning

Some of you Nincha Learners had complained about the repetitive aspect of unlocking new words to learn new vocabulary. Well, guess what? It’s been improved. Dramatically improved.

The way you unlock words is now super personal to you.

We’ve carefully taken apart our learning algorithm – which is based on the Spaced Repetition System by the way. We tell you all about the SRS here – and put it back together in a way that will make your vocabulary learning a lot smoother.

Know that word already really well? The Great Nincha Machine will notice that and quickly move on to the next word to learn.
Having a little trouble memorizing this word? Our Cat-in-the Machine system will give you a little more time with that word, to ensure you fully get acquainted with it.

Ain’t that cool? The Great Nincha Machine now fully adapts to your learning speed and to your memorization skills, so the way you learn new words corresponds exactly to you.
Your needs, your speed. You’re the one learning so that’s only normal.

Waaaaayyy better reviews

A few of you Nincha Learners wrote to me to share their sorrow in having a seemingly endless number of reviews to do each day and no relief in sight. I felt their pain. Our learning system worked but it just wasn’t good enough yet.
Well, this is all in the past, now. Thanks to the Beta, and your numerous feedback, we carefully looked and analysed the data to see where we could improve the system. The Great Nincha Machine’s review system has been completely overhauled and boy, does it rock now!

Now, you review a mix of words you’ve learned. Sometimes it’ll be easy and sometimes it won’t be as easy. Just to keep you on your toes. Don’t worry, though you won’t stay stuck – quite the opposite in fact! The whole process of reviewing the words you’ve learned is now wayyy better and you won’t see your reviews fly by.

Memory levels

Learning vocabulary is all fine and dandy but how do you know whether you really know something? By taking those words out for a spin of course.

Before you do, how about checking if you know that word a little, a lot or really really well? That’s what our new memory level stars are for. They’ll show you where you’re at when learning a word. And if you haven’t practiced this word in a while and it’s starting to slip your memory, your stars will decrease to reflect that.

Ooooh 4 and 5 stars!

Your goal now is to get each word up to 5 stars; which’ll show that you know that word really well. Don’t you love stars? I do. And there’s nothing I love more than keeping them topped up.

My Ninchanese review routine is now the following:

1. Do my reviews. 152 to do today. Woot! They’ll be finished in no time.
2. Play my Ninchallenges. I’ve reviewed all the words I needed, so I’m all revved up to play.
3. Look at the leaderboard: not that I’m gloating, but being in the top 3 is meowsomely pleasant.
4. Browse the words I’ve unlocked and stare at all my beautiful stars. It’s so satisfying to get 5 stars out of 5.
5. Do a cycle of 3 stages: vocabulary, grammar and speaking.

More changes

These changes are not related to vocab learning but here are a few other things we’ve improved:

• Yocha is now the one teaching you how to build sentences  and Baimei the one you’ll purr in Chinese with – Nincha tried to pull one on us and become the master of all the different modes. Nice try, Nincha! We therefore restored Yocha and Baimei to their rightful places. Phew!

• The leaderboards have been completely redone, so you can see in a glance what rank you’re at and who’s the top cat to overpass. They also look a little nicer, don’tcha think?

We hope these changes will help you progress even more on your Chinese learning journey!

Be sure to let us know what you think of them

Sarah and The Nincha Team

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 to the beta! Check out our trailer and stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest.

The post Kickass Vocabulary learning on Ninchanese! appeared first on Ninchanese.

Baimei, your new favorite cat to speak Chinese to!

Meet Baimei: with her, you’ll learn to meow purrfectly in Chinese!

As one of our Nincha learners put it, in our voice recognition stages, “it’s great not to have to talk to another human being”…because it’s so much better to practice speaking Chinese to a cat, right? ^^

Baimei was always supposed to be the one helping you speaking Chinese. As you may have noticed; she’s often in the dialogues, but she wasn’t actually in the interface. That was a terrible misunderstanding and it’s now been fixed.

Hello Baimei!

A new flow: it’s easier than ever to speak Chinese

Based on your feedback, our last big beta update had focused on improving Yocha’s stages and making your experience learning how sentences work on Chinese a little less intense and a lot more fun. After that, we completely reworked the content to make it  gradual and extremely progressive. The idea? Make sure Nincha’s the only teaching you new words!

Now, we took advantage of this switch to improve the dialogues, based on all you wonderful Nincha Learners’ feedback and Baimei’s demands.

See, Baimei’s likes things to be easy to use, practical and straightforward. She also carefully listened to all your feedback inputs and was able to pinpoint all the areas you wanted improvements in. Here’s what she asked us to implement, now that she is rightfully taking care of the Dialogue stages:

1. to be able to listen to a sentence again before saying it

2. to make it once you’re done saying a sentence, it moves automatically onto the next one

3. to have something that let you Nincha learners know when Baimei is ready to listen to you speak Chinese.

All wonderful ideas, of course, so we happily complied with her – and your – demands and it’s really improved the flow, we think. Do you agree?

Here’s how the dialogues work now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r64Ed4W_ygw

Can’t see the video above? View it here

Meowtastically simple to use, huh?

You listen to the sentence, then you speak. The words you’ve properly pronounced turn green. The words you mispronounced become red.

If you want to know why they became red, simply click on them and we’ll show you what Baimei heard instead.

Like this:

Can’t see the video above? View it here

Baimei also told us she couldn’t hear some users but had no way to tell them that was the case…. So we added comments to let you know what’s going on.

Sometimes the mic doesn’t pick up what you say. It happens. Now it tells you when it’s the case and nicely asks you to repeat.

Sometimes, there are issues with your Internet speed which prevent Baimei from processing what you just said and telling you if it’s correct or not: you’ll now get a little message that tells you when that’s the case. This should come in particularly handy for our Nincha Learners based in China who use a VPN and suffer from a slow connection.

Many of you had also reported there were issues with how numbers were recognized, and how some words were tough to be recognized (homophones, essentially). That’s been fixed too!

So, dear Nincha users, you know what you have to do: come on over to Ninchanese and go speak Chinese with Baimei!

We’ll be adding tweaks and little improvements here and there over the next few weeks but right now, we want to know:

What do you think of this dialogue update? Do you like it?
Let us know what you think of it, we want to know!

Purr, furr and all that good stuff,

The Nincha Team

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 to the beta! Check out our trailer and stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest.

The post Beta update: better voice recognition in Chinese appeared first on Ninchanese.