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Merry Mandarin 4.4: 62,000+ Dictionary Entries and Four New East Asian Languages
Merry Mandarin 4.4: 62,000+ Dictionary Entries and Four New East Asian Languages
Merry Mandarin 4.4 is out: the dictionary has grown to over 62,000 entries, and the app is now fully available in Japanese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Tagalog.
Chinese Family Terms: The Complete Guide to Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins
Chinese Family Terms: The Complete Guide to Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins
Chinese family terms explained with diagrams: why 姑姑 and 阿姨 aren't the same word, why cousins split into 堂 and 表, and a family tree for every generation.
Chinese Business Etiquette: The Complete, Ranked Guide
Chinese Business Etiquette: The Complete, Ranked Guide
The complete guide to Chinese business etiquette: business cards, gifts, banquet seating, and hierarchy, ranked by real consequence instead of folklore.
All 46 Asian Countries in Chinese — and the Five Names China Never Had to Translate
All 46 Asian Countries in Chinese — and the Five Names China Never Had to Translate
All 46 Asian countries in Chinese with pinyin and etymology, and why Japan, Korea, and Vietnam were never transliterated the way the rest of the list was.
What It Actually Takes to Replace Five Chinese Learning Apps With One
What It Actually Takes to Replace Five Chinese Learning Apps With One
An honest audit of what Merry Mandarin does compared to Duolingo, Pleco, Skritter, and Du Chinese: the retention engine underneath it, the routine it actually recommends, and where it still loses.
Why Chinese Stroke Order Matters (It's Not About Neatness)
Why Chinese Stroke Order Matters (It's Not About Neatness)
Why Chinese stroke order rules exist: the neuroscience of writing and memory, character amnesia in native speakers, and exactly where the rule stops mattering.
Why Chinese Has Three Words for "Can" (and English Only Needs One)
Why Chinese Has Three Words for "Can" (and English Only Needs One)
会, 能, and 可以 all translate as "can," but they encode three different concepts of ability. The etymology, the linguistics, and what French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese already knew.
All 54 African Countries in Chinese — and the One Character That Ends 14 of Them
All 54 African Countries in Chinese — and the One Character That Ends 14 of Them
All 54 African countries in Chinese with pinyin, etymology, and the character that closes more country names than Europe and the Americas combined.
Chinese Listening Practice: From Zero to Native Speakers
Chinese Listening Practice: From Zero to Native Speakers
A staged, research-backed plan for building real Mandarin listening comprehension: why it's uniquely hard, shadowing, dictation, and a daily routine that actually works.