So cheer up and let’s keep learning!

1. China might be closed, but that doesn’t mean you can’t visit other Chinese-speaking places.

Yeah, waiting for China to reopen is taking a while. But, hey, there are plenty of Chinese-speaking places in the world. The great news is that some have reopened already!

The meowsome Gardens by the Bay in Singapore are another good reason to learn Chinese – Photo by Isaac Matthew 

Did you know Singapore, for instance, has the Chinese language as one of its official languages? Plus you can travel there again.
Taiwan is slowly reopening too. There’s still a quarantine, true, but it’s being regularly shortened. Here’s to hoping there’ll be none one day soon! With the fact you can now learn in Traditional Chinese on Ninchanese, you have everything you need to get ready to go!

Related: Simplified or Traditional Chinese: which should you learn?

2. China might be far but there are plenty of occasions to speak Chinese around you.

Next to English and Spanish, Chinese is the most spoken language in the world.
So, look around you. You’re bound to find occasions to speak Chinese. To hear Chinese.
Chinatowns. Stores. People.

DC’s Chinatown is one of the many places you can go to practice speaking Chinese – Photo by Richard Tao

Go talk! There are plenty of occasions, everywhere! Just the other day, I chatted a good hour with the salespeople in a Chinese tea shop in Bangkok’s Chinatown.

Finding occasions to speak in Chinese, when you’re learning, is essential. Otherwise, you get rusty! Believe me, from experience, getting a chance to speak in Mandarin, if anything, will act as a great motivation to review what you’ve learned in Chinese so far and practice some more in Chinese!

Did you know, for instance, that Richmond, Canada has a 74% Asian population? It has the highest concentration of Chinese nationals outside of China. Why not schedule a trip there?

And if there are no real occasions where you live, go online. Learn Chinese online. Find people to talk to online. Come chat in Chinese on our Discord chat. Game in Chinese with Chinese speakers. Find yourself an online pen pal. The options are endless, you just have to go looking for them!

Related: What is the Chinese language?

3. It’s good for you from an economic point of view

What’s the downside to knowing an additional language in the job market? None, really.
What’s the downside to knowing the language spoken by one of the biggest economic powers in the world? Even more non-existent. In fact, it’s another meowsome reason to learn Chinese!

China’s brand new skyscrapers – Photo by Road Trip with Raj

From working in China to working with China, to working with Chinese people, for Chinese people, in Chinese, you have plenty of options.
Do you want to do business with China? Have Chinese suppliers?
Do you want to do translations? Interpretation?
In all those fields and many others, knowing Mandarin Chinese, and Business Chinese is a huge plus. So get your learning on!

Related: Explore the Chinese Business course on Ninchanese and get ready to do business in Chinese! 

Liking these reasons to learn Chinese so far? Here’s more!

4. It allows you to see the world from a different perspective

By learning the Chinese language, you’re opening yourself up to a different way of seeing the world, of perceiving it.

See the world differently. Photo by Yiran Ding

Learning Mandarin Chinese helps you have a different world approach. Concepts and ideas are expressed differently in Chinese.

It can be small things, like the fact you don’t “take” medicine, for instance, you “eat” it in Chinese ((You 吃药). And bigger things. For example, the Chinese sentence order is wildly different from, say, the way sentences are shaped in English.
Or the fact that you and me, we might think “I” and point to ourselves. We’re used to thinking solo. A Chinese speaker, when tasked with drawing “I”, the self, might, on the contrary, draw themselves surrounded by others. The concept of “self” is a little different in the Middle Kingdom.

It’s the little details like that that give you insights into how the Chinese people think. Personally, I find that endlessly fascinating. It’s definitely one of the reasons I’ve never stopped learning Chinese.

Plus, if expanding your understanding of cultural differences wasn’t your cup of tea, seeing the world in a different way helps you grow your critical thinking skills. With all the fake news and conspiracy theories swirling around, you (and we all) seriously need that…

5. It’s good for your brain

Learning any language is wonderful for your brain. It develops new areas of your mind and, in particular, strengthens your natural ability to focus and process information.

Learn Chinese and fire up your brain connections! – Photo by Moritz Kindler

Mandarin Chinese, with its beautiful characters and lack of alphabet? It’s like acid for the brain. In a meowsome, wonderful way. It creates in your brain all those new connections. Purrfect to form and strengthen your brain. Go for it.

For instance, a 2003 study found that people who speak Mandarin Chinese use both temporal lobes of their brains to understand the language.  In contrast, English speakers only use the left temporal lobe. Unlock a whole new temporal lobe!

There are plenty of other reasons for learning Mandarin that are good for your brain:

• It keeps your brain healthy. No neural network degradation for you, good person!
• It helps form good thinking patterns in your brain.
• It develops new areas of your mind and utilizes other parts of your brain.
• Some studies say it even helps with math skills!

What’s not to like?

Related: Why learn Mandarin Chinese, the language of Confucius?

6. Chinese culture and history are still very cool

You can’t visit the huge country that is China at the moment, sure. But China still has an extremely interesting history and culture you can explore from afar and learn more about.

There’s a lot to love in Chinese culture aesthetically. Photo by Sahil Pandita

From a rich culture, which led to some amazing inventions for instance, to epic historical events, there’s a lot to discover. And why not do that in Chinese directly? That’s a great reason to learn Chinese!

Related: 10 amazing inventions you didn’t know were Chinese
All you need to know about Chinese dynasties

If you like the idea of learning more about Chinese history but aren’t into history books or museums, there are many many historical C-dramas, as well as youtubers you can check out! Also, check out Ninchanese where you’ll learn Chinese culture as you learn Chinese!

Related: 8 Vloggers to watch to learn more about Chinese culture

7. Reason to learn Chinese: You gain access to a whole new world of content and culture

There’s a large quantity of high-quality Chinese-language content out there, you just need to know how to find it!

From Music to Games, to Movies, to Art, to books… there are a lot of Chinese-speaking artists to discover.

Related: 30 Chinese celebrities to know about

On TV, Cdramas and Taiwanese dramas have a lot of fans, and rightly so!

Related: 10 popular TV shows to improve your Chinese

Romantic and historical C-dramas get their fair share of fans, and  Chinese Wuxia and XianXia are also two media genres that are very popular.

Related: Platforms to watch Chinese videos.
Films to watch

Music and books

In books, there’s a lot to discover too! From Chinese classics like the JingPing Mei, or… to science fiction novels, China and Chinese-language artists have a lot to offer. Take the time to explore!

If you’re more a fan of video games, lots of great offers there too.

 8. Beautiful language Chinese characters

Mandarin Chinese is an amazing language, and its Chinese characters are endlessly fascinating.

There’s the fact Chinese is the oldest written language in the world, dating back to over 4000 years ago.

There’s the fact there’s no alphabet, and that Chinese characters are usually logical. Most Chinese characters contain components and a phonetic component. There are also many opportunities for art with Chinese characters, especially Chinese calligraphy.

In short, Chinese characters are an excellent reason to learn the Chinese language. At the very least, explore the language!
Chinese characters also enable very intriguing poetry to exist. Ever heard of the poem composed only of the sound “shi”? It has a meaning, of course, and is written using many different characters!

9. [Insert your own reason to learn Chinese]

Here’s a secret. All that matters is that you find pleasure in knowing the language.

Truth be told, you don’t need a specific good reason to keep learning a language. You need yours. All you need is to want to learn it. If the language interests you, you’re golden. No need for a huge, lofty goal. It can be a very small goal. Or even, just the fact you derive pleasure from learning and knowing the language.
So find what motivates you and keep learning! Everyone has their own reason to learn Chinese.
Whatever your reason, we’re here to help you learn Mandarin Chinese! It’s all happening on Ninchanese.

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.

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 9 meowsome reasons to still learn Chinese even though China is CLOSED appeared first on Ninchanese.

我喜欢坐火车旅行

Wǒ xǐhuan zuò huǒchē lǚxíng

I love taking the train to travel

Let’s break down the words:

• 我 – Wǒ – I, me, my. Here: I
• 喜欢 – xǐhuan –  to like, to be fond of.
• 坐  – zuò – to sit; to take
• 火车 –  huǒchē –  train
• 旅行 – lǚxíng – to travel, journey, trip. Here: to travel.
  • Here’s a tip to find 旅行 with your IME (input method editor, what allows you to type in Chinese): instead of the ü, type a v! That’s the norm in Chinese as most keyboards don’t have an easy way to type such things (with the exception of languages like French or German, that have diacritical marks like ¨ or accents).

Did you know?  To say “to take the train”, the Chinese say 坐火车, which literally means “to sit (in) the train”. That actually makes a lot of sense. When you take a train, you’re sitting on the train, not driving it, so why not be specific and say that instead of just “take”? Make sure you remember. In a similar fashion, you can say  坐公共汽车 to take the bus or  坐飞机, to take a plane.

Stay tuned for more of Nincha’s adventures and travels!

Related: Nincha discovers mooncakes!

The Nincha Team

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The post Nincha travels: 坐火车 – taking the train appeared first on Ninchanese.

The best Chinese copies: One Chinese City, Nine European Towns

To get an idea of how the Chinese see and imitate Western architecture, your first stop has to be Shanghai. In 2001, the city launched an ambitious “One City, Nine Towns” plan to develop its suburbs. And then somewhere, somehow, someone decided that each of these towns should be fashioned in a European style.

There’s therefore: Swedish Town (罗店, Luodian New Town)

Does this look Swedish to you? Source: TripleFiveChina

Holland Town (高桥, Gaoqiao New Town)

There’s even a windmill in Holland Town! Photo: Triple Five China

Thames Town (泰晤士小鎮, tài wù shì xiǎo zhèn)

Cobbled streets, cottage-like housing… no doubt, this is meant to look British. Photo credit: Tripe Five China 

Italian Town (浦江, Pujiang New Town)

An Italian town is all about angles and concrete… Photo: Triple Five China

About Best Chinese copies, there’s also Fengcheng New Town, which is supposed to resemble a Spanish city, Anting, which imitates Weimar’s architecture (Germany), Zhujiajiao New Town which mixes European style with the original ancient water town; and then a slew of towns mixing various, non-descript, European styles (Fengjing, Zhoupu and Baozhen). Admittedly, most, if not all, of these new cities are urban failures. They’ve become ghost towns instead of bustling new cities that help relieve population pressure on Shanghai’s city center. But they do make for a picturesque, albeit surreal, excursion.

Paris, Chateaux and Pyramids, oh my!

After this introduction to China’s copycat movement, it’s time to move on to grander, more bizarre scenes. Because the Best Chinese copies could not exist without a copy of? A little bit of Paris Hangzhou, being only a few hours from Shanghai, can be your next stop. There you’ll discover Tianducheng, which aspires to be, in short, Paris.

Overlooking Tianducheng and the French-themed village park

Tianducheng is a very popular destination for wedding photo ops! Source (and more pictures of Tianducheng): mdnphoto.com

Live like a King

An Eiffel tower, not your thing? Fret not. You can get your French on at Beijing’s full-size Chateau Zhang Lafitte, styled after the original French Chateau Lafitte.

Hard to tell whether this is in France or in China… Source: the whamphyri

You can also find a full-size Versailles replica up north in Harbin. And if you’re near Beijing, do go explore a Chinese wine-maker’s dream Chateau, Chateau Dynasty, which was built by Dynasty Wines in Tianjin. You’ll also find a Pyramid there. Copies of 17th-century Chateaux sure seem popular in China!

Why stop at a building? Let’s duplicate a town!

Italian flair As Italy is well known for its high sense of fashion, Florentia Village, an outlet mall, located between Beijing and Tianjin, entirely fashioned itself after an Italian city. To inspire shoppers to buy more perhaps?

Austrian chalets which will never see winter snow

If you want even more “authentic” architecture, head to the province of Guangdong, where you’ll find a copy of an entire Austrian village, down to the statues. Of course, they didn’t choose any old Austrian village, they went to a UNESCO World Heritage village: Hallstatt. A village from everywhere Lastly, it’s hard to resist mentioning this Jiangsu village, which just went for everything.

This is supposed to be the Sydney Opera House.

To see a hodgepodge of copied buildings, head to Huaxi Village. This village is known because it claims to be the richest village in China and because they choose to recreate a bunch of famous buildings from around the world: the Sydney opera house, the US Capitol, the French Arc de Triomphe, the Forbidden City… A strange choice of public buildings, sure, but in keeping with the Chinese copycat architectural trend witnessed before.

Understanding the architectural copycat movement

If you want to know more about the Best Chinese copies in China, this book explores the reasons and origins of this movement, which has become somewhat of a national pastime. Heard of or seen other striking architectural copies? Let us know!

The Nincha Team

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