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In Chinese, 4 has the similar sound with the word 死, which means “death”. Therefore, people always avoid using 4 in daily life. For example, when choosing a wedding date, you don’t want to pick a date has four in it. And there are usually no fourth floor in the building. 

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Lingo Bus’ performance at VIPKID’s annual gala show!

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Table Manners in China

In formal dinner meetings, although it may be unspoken the sitting arrangement will be based on a hierarchy, with the seat of honor saved for the oldest or the host. This person is also the one who will get to eat first. Don’t take a bite before them if you want to avoid embarrassment.

In all dining settings you need to be careful of how you use your chopsticks. Don’t repeat my mistake. Never leave your chopsticks left standing upright on a dish, in my case rice. This is how food offerings are done for the dead…

The chopstick rules go on! But here the most important ones: you can’t dig around a dish as it’s seen as ‘digging your own grave’, it’s rude to lick your chopsticks, or leave them lying whilst pointing at someone (if in doubt place them on top of your rice bowl flat next to each other).

It’s common to say thanks for a meal, you may find everyone around making toasts as you are trying to eat. As a way to say thanks you should toast the guest of honor.

Lingo Bus provides 1-on-1 100% immersive Chinese classes. Each class lasts for 25 minutes. During each class, a professional Chinese tutor (who is also a native Chinese speaker) will teach your children "face to face"! 

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China on the Map

When talking about China and Chinese Culture, what will come to your mind first? Its long history, tasty food, or the big cities like Beijing or Shanghai? But, you might have missed the fact that, geographical speaking, China is also one of the largest countries in the world. How large is it? What are some fun facts about its geographic features? This article will introduce some to you!

A geographical overview of China

China has a territorial area of 9.6 million square kilometers and an aquatic territory spanning 4.73 million square kilometers. That’s a lot of abstract numbers! So here are some comparisons to make it more relatable: it’s the third largest country, coming behind Russia and Canada. Its territorial area roughly equals to the total area of Europe excluding Russia.

It’s true that China is a very large country. But it also has a huge population, about 1.4 billion by 2017. This is nearly 19% of the whole population of the world. Therefore, the area per capita is fairly small, only 29% of the world’s average. A huge population can be an asset and a strength in many aspects. But more people also means fewer personal resources. This is why, when it comes to geographical data, China is almost always large in overall numbers, but small in per capita data.

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Famous animals native to China

When thinking about wildlife in China, there are many iconic animals that come straight to mind but with such a diverse number of ecosystems many other amazing animals get forgotten. Almost every type of habitat on earth can also be found in China, we’ve got deserts, frozen pastures, tropical rainforests, or swamps that fill with a wide range of avian species every year. There are over 40,000 kinds of plants and over 4,000 species of vertebrates in China, many of which feature predominantly in local art and literature. Like most areas of the world, some animals are at risk of extinction so don’t miss this chance to look at some of them.

Panda

Let’s get the most well known animal out of the way, the Panda! As soon as anyone says China the Panda always comes to mind. There’s good reason for it, The Giant Panda is considered one of China’s natural treasures. Although endangered many natural reserves have been set up to protect them and their environment. Pandas and other animals are followed in the film ‘Born in China’ a Disney documentary about the amazing wildlife in China, it’s a great way to introduce different Chinese ecosystems to children. Otherwise, good old Kung-Fu panda has a star studded Chinese cast and shouldn’t be too hard for children to keep up.

Yak

The Yak is both a domesticated and a wild animal, although there are fewer than 100 left in the wild and they will soon become extinct. China has many interesting minorities each with their own specific culture. Yaks are found in the Himalayan regions but in China they are also used in the north east of the country by grassland minorities, the Yak is therefore an iconic animal linked to their livelihood. Its milk is used to make yogurt, butter, and the famous milk tea of grassland communities, the Yak can also be used as a form of transportation, almost every natural product in these communities is derived from the Yak.

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Do you want to improve your Mandarin with professional Mandarin teachers online?  Check out lingo Bus! We offer Online classes from anywhere in the world.

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Three books for children learning Chinese

There’s no denying that Chinese culture is very different to that of the west, no matter how much we try to explain it sometimes the best way to introduce culture is through images. Using picture books is a great way to support Chinese language learning in young learners, so bellow you can find some popular titles. Seeing, after all, is believing!

Red Is a Dragon: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Thong, Grace Lin

This book is a mix of rhyming poems and illustrations that can only be described as culturally authentic. The story follows a girl as she discovers colors that are used as a way to introduce different aspects of Chinese culture. Readers are introduced to culturally important objects, since they may be unfamiliar with these words there is a useful glossary at the end of the book. The book also includes crafts and activities that children can create after reading the book, meaning the fun can continue long after the reading has finished. Following the same path, ‘Round is a Mooncake: Book of Shapes’ is another book by the same author and illustrator that introduces an important Chinese festival.

Dim Sum for Everyone by Grace Lin

Even looking at the illustrations on this book is enough to make me hungry! The book follows a little girl as she tries to find a Dim Sum for everyone, the book is a good introduction to Chinese eating culture as readers get to see that no one has an individual dish but instead everyone shares. As an added bonus the book includes an ingredient and Dim Sum list. At the front of the book ingredients and utensils used to prepare Dim Sums are laid out. An extensive Dim Sum list can be found at the back, with not just the English name but also the Chinese translation so it can be used to increase vocabulary. As an added activity it would be fun to visit China town to try to find the Dim Sums on the book, or even look for simple recipes online and try to make some of them.

Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas by Natasha Yim, Grace Zong

Well-loved children’s stories rebranded with Chinese characteristics. If the name is not enough to give it away this is the Chinese version of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". It follows a careless Goldy Luck as wreaks havoc on the home of a family of panda bears. This book introduces cultural aspects and elements, such as day to day objects, typical Chinese foods, and important holidays. Along the same lines ‘Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young’ is the Chinese version of Red-Riding Hood, although be aware that his illustrations can be a little scary for very young readers. He also illustrates ‘Yeh Shen a Cinderella story from China’. Following this theme, Stephanie Campisi’s ‘The Ugly Dumpling’ is a fun, heartwarming Chinese version of ‘The ugly duckling’.

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Useful Phrases for Shopping in China

 China is the perfect country if you are a shopaholic! But you have to learn to speak Mandarin before you shop there, at least some phrases for shopping!

Here are some basic phrases to help you buy everything you will ever need in China.

The most important phrase, asking how much something costs!

zhè ge duō shǎo qián ？

这个多少钱？

How much does this cost?

The literal translation is ‘This how many money’! “这个” (zhè gè) is an important word to know. If you want something you just need to point and say “这个”. It was the first and most important word I learned in my first week in China.

Sometimes the shopkeepers may inflate the price, or you just think paying 200 RMB for a purse is too much. So you need to express yourself.

tài guì le

太贵了!

That’s too expensive!

This phrase is used a lot. When it’s spoken, most people often sound like they are surprised, shocked, and angry. That’s because of the fourth tone. “太” (tài) means “extremely”, “贵” (guì) is expensive and “了” (le) is used as a mark of action.

When you are out shopping you might want to try some of the pieces you are buying so here is how you ask.

wǒ kě bu kě yǐ shì yī xia ?

我可不可以试一下?

Can I try this on?

A very typical Chinese way of asking for something using the structure “我可不可以…” (wǒ kě bu kě yǐ ) meaning “May I….” and then you add what you wish to do.

You finally paid for your things but the shopkeeper still hasn’t given you a bag! This is quite normal in China as you pay for bags so if you don’t ask for one they may assume you don’t want it.

qǐng gěi wǒ gè dài zi.

请给我个袋子.

Please, may I have a bag?

 “请” (qǐng) is another good word to know, it means “please” and you can start any sentence with it to show respect.

 Turns out when you get home the clothes don’t fit you as well as you wished, so you need to go back to the shop and return them, for that you need to use this phrase.

 wǒ kě yǐ tuì le zhè ge ma ？

我可以退了这个吗？

May I please return this?

 This follows a similar pattern that we have used before. Notice the character “吗” at the end of the sentence. Any sentence that has this character at the end is a question.

For more fun Chinese topics, please go to https://www.lingobus.com/teacher-overview 

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2 Tips on how to learn Chinese

Learning Chinese is not easy. But here are two useful suggestions that can help!

Set aside some time, get support.

Although you may be busy, try to set aside some time just for Chinese learning where your whole focus in on learning the language. This can be done alone or with a tutor, which we suggest. Learning Chinese is not an easy feat, the characters must be written in the correct order, the tones said in a certain way, it’s hard to do it on your own so getting a tutor will make it easier. They are like your personal language trainer. Whilst you are at it, join some Chinese language learning groups of students at the same level as you that way you can help each other keep motivated and gain some extra knowledge.

Don't stop, use dead time.

Learning Chinese is like climbing a mountain… whilst on skis! So as soon as you stop learning, you start going downhill again. There are many apps out there that slowly build vocabulary every day, the best thing about them is that they provide 10-minute bite-sized exercises so you have no excuse to keep on top of your Chinese. This also makes it easier when you are busy and don’t have an hour to spend studying. Use up dead time and turn it into a language learning opportunity, download podcasts, watch YouTube videos, the options are endless, there are many resources out there! Or you can go to Lingo Bus to learn more Chinese!

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Holidays in China for Children

 Learn Chinese has become a new fashion. there are some great platforms that teach Chinese online. If you decide to learn Chinese, learning Chinese culture and what happens now in China can help you to improve your language ability. 

Today, let's take a look at what children in China do during their holidays.

Many parents see value in introducing new cultures to their children and they take this opportunity to take them abroad. Many schools also operate study abroad summer camps so that students can be introduced to American culture and improve their English whilst having fun at camp.

For those that live far from their hometown, some holidays like Spring festival or Mid-autumn festival give them plenty of time to migrate back to spend time with their distant family and share delicious food. It’s also a welcome study break for students who work hard all year.   

But holidays can also be seen as a waste of academic time, so for many students, they must spend their holidays taking extra classes either at school or with tutors to prepare for their upcoming school year. This is also because parents are busy and can’t take such a long extended period of leave.

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Reading also helps with recall as students will link those grammar structures

We also need to remember that books contain a richer and more refined form of language. Most books have been written, drafted, and re-drafted until they convey the intended meaning. Whereas when using speech, the meaning can be ambiguous in comparison to a written form, as when speaking we don’t take that much time to think before relaying the information. Relying on just spoken forms can lead to a simplified acquisition of language skills, in spoken form we could say “The weather is bad”, but in a written form we could throw in “dreadful, awful, lousy, abominable, etc” the list could go on and on.

This all makes sense if we recap the two main theories of 2LA by researchers Cambourne and Krashen. Cambourne researched and created a list of conditions that make it possible for children to learn a second language (see image one). Whereas Krashen focused more on the theoretical model, and how children learn through two different methods, acquisition (subconscious) and learning.

A program like Lingo Bus that provides books as part of their curriculum involves learners so that it can meet all of Camourne’s and Krashen’s conditions. This is all done with the student’s development in mind, as reading is an excellent aid in language acquisition and learning.

Children’s books contain more than just vocabulary, the images provided also help the reader comprehend the meaning without language skills, the images support the text in a mutual relationship. As learning is facilitated by visual cues, reading helps the brain to remember these language structures as the learner will connect an image to the word it represents.

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The Monkey King, also known as Sun Wukong

He was born from a stone atop a mountain, emerging as a determined (albeit feisty) young monkey, and, through a series of advancements and setbacks, growing into one of the Chinese mythological world’s most powerful beings.

From being assigned worthless posts in the heavens and subsequently wreaking havoc, to being imprisoned under a mountain for 500 years for his mischief and arrogance, to fighting off untold evils while accompanying a Buddhist monk on his way to India, there’s a good reason for his fictitious fame.

The Monkey King continues to influence popular culture, featuring as a very similar character in popular anime such as Dragon Ball Z (on the whole based on the Monkey King’s “Journey to the West”) and Naruto, to his likeness being captured in a Pokemon sidekick named Infernape.

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Lingo Bus is an online Chinese learning platform that focuses on children’s education ages 5 through 12. Second language learning for kids made affordable, fun, and easy!

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Chinese zodiac is an important part of Chinese culture

Even today, millions of people in China speak chinese believe these predictions and use them to make important decisions. Even if you don’t believe in Zodiac predictions, reading about them and their implications are fascinating. The Chinese zodiac follows a repeating cycle of 12 animals each with its own characteristics, traditionally they were used to keep track of important dates and years.��

The Zodiac animals come in the following order: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and finally the pig. You might have noticed that most of them are domesticated animals or animals that people might encounter daily in the past. Just like we have attributes tied to certain animals so do the animals in the Zodiac. Because of that, some animals are considered a good year and some unlucky. The zodiac can be taken so seriously that people will avoid bad years to give birth (sorry sheep) and instead plan their babies for a lucky or prestigious year like the year of the mighty dragon. 

Some amazing people have been born on the year of the dog, like one of my favorite scientists Dr. Jane Goodall, famous philosophers and politicians, including Winston Churchill, Bill Clinton, Socrates, ‘the great teacher’ Confucius, and lots of well known actresses, actors and singers, like Uma Thurman, Michael Jackson, and Mariah Carey.

Regardless of the Zodiac predictions for the upcoming year of the dog or who was born in that year, I hope this year will bring everyone lots of happiness, health, and fortune.

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The Chinese zodiac is an important part of Chinese culture, one that still plays a leading role in people’s daily life.

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There are 8 famous cuisines in China , whose attributes are based on Chinese provinces and their long and diverse cultural history.