Learn Chinese, Fast!

What would you do if your boss asked you this?

Ni Hao!

A big Ni Hao 你好 to everyone!

First, a bit about myself: I'm a Mandarin speaker born in China, raised in Canada, living in the US, who is proficient in Mandarin, Chinese, French and Korean.

I want to share with you my secrets to speaking these languages proficiently (or at least enough so you can order at a takeout joint). But more importantly, I want to help you find your inner identity to confidently speak on - stage and off - in any language.

You see, I am actually a professional emcee whose job is to speak in front of thousands of people every day. It's not the easiest thing to do in the world, but certainly not the hardest (think of all the computer programmers whose job it is to maintain this website). There are some tricks to the trade, and some things that are inborn. I will help you master the things that you can master, and give you the confidence to the ones that you will find on your own.

So I hope you join along the journey - it will not be easy at times, but your courage will lead you through.



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From "Kung Fu" 1972:

Master Po: Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet?

Young Caine: [looking down and seeing the insect] Old man, how is it that you hear these things?

Master Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?

My First Youtube video!

Ladies and gentlemen - introducing my very first identit3a Chinese Youtube video.

Btw: the lesson that corresponds to this is here.

Enjoy!

You good, me good, everyone good - 你好， 我好， 大家好!

So we've all heard of the greeting 你好, Ni Hao. I get this a lot from non-Asian people trying to strike up a conversation with me. Although the effort is appreciated, it sounds a bit pretentious and mocking at times, depending on the way the speaker says it. 

To a natural Mandarin speaker, 你好 is usually followed by 吗? So together it would be, "你好吗?". Literally translated, it means, "You good?" Make sure the intonation is correct, because this is what makes or breaks it. 

The listener would usually respond with, "我很好", which means "I very good". Or "不太好", which means "not so good". (Normally one wouldn't say "我不好“， which literally means "I no good").

Essentially, a whole conversation could be started with 你好：(I have indicated the pronunciations with the Pin Yin and corresponding tone after each Chinese phrase).

A： 你好吗？Ni2 hao3 ma1? How are you?

B： 我很好。你呢？Wo3 hen3 hao3, ni3 ne1?. Very good and you?

A： 我也很好. Wo3 ye3 hen3 hao3. I am good as well.

B:    那就好. Na4 jiu4 hao4. That's good. 

So you see, 好 is a very important word in Chinese. Here are some useful adjectives in Chinese:

不好 ＝ not good

很好 = very good

最好 = the best

That's it for this post. Good luck with practicing 好！ 祝你好运！ Zhu4 ni3 hao3 yun4! 

Ni Hao

Hello world,

A big Ni Hao (你好) to everyone!

First off, a little about myself: I'm a Mandarin speaker born in China, raised in Canada, living in the US, who is proficient in Mandarin, Chinese, French and Korean.

I want to share with you my secrets to speaking these languages proficiently (or at least enough so you can order at a takeout joint). But more importantly, I want to help you find your inner identity to confidently speak on - stage and off - in any language.

You see, I am actually a professional emcee whose job is to speak in front of thousands of people every day. It's not the easiest thing to do in the world, but certainly not the hardest (think of all the computer programmers whose job it is to maintain this website). There are some tricks to the trade, and some things that are inborn. I will help you master the things that you can master, and give you the confidence to the ones that you will find on your own.

So I hope you join along the journey - it will not be easy at times, but your courage will lead you through.

From "Kung Fu" 1972:

Master Po: Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet?

Young Caine: [looking down and seeing the insect] Old man, how is it that you hear these things?

Master Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?