I've been working on a project where I need to take differences between 普通話 and 國語·into consideration. If you learned from a mainland textbook and then moved to Taiwan (or the other way round), these are some of the words where the two standards actually disagree. I checked the Taiwan column against the Ministry of Education's dictionary (國語辭典, via 萌典); the mainland column is the 现代汉语词典 standard.

Word	Taiwan standard	Mainland standard	Meaning
星期	xīngqí	xīngqī	week
垃圾	lèsè	lājī	trash
研究	yánjiù	yánjiū	research
危險	wéixiǎn	wēixiǎn	dangerous
微笑	wéixiào	wēixiào	smile
擁抱	yǒngbào	yōngbào	hug
知識	zhīshì	zhīshi	knowledge
消息	xiāoxí	xiāoxi	news
攻擊	gōngjí	gōngjī	attack
突然	túrán	tūrán	suddenly
叔叔	shúshu	shūshu	uncle
品質	pǐnzhí	pǐnzhì	quality
暫時	zhànshí	zànshí	temporarily
廣播	guǎngbò	guǎngbō	broadcast
綜合	zònghé	zōnghé	comprehensive
可惜	kěxí	kěxī	what a pity
跌倒	diédǎo	diēdǎo	to fall down
侮辱	wǔrù	wǔrǔ	to insult
檔案	dǎng'àn	dàng'àn	file
夾克	jiákè	jiākè	jacket
痕跡	hénjī	hénjì	trace
企業	qìyè	qǐyè	enterprise

A few things I noticed putting this together:

• Most differences are tone only. The syllable is the same; the standards just picked a different tone.
• Many of these characters (擊, 突, 惜, 息, 叔, 跌, 夾, 識, 質, 跡) had the "entering tone" (入聲) in Middle Chinese. Mandarin lost that tone and scattered those characters across the four modern tones, and Taiwan and the mainland settled some of them differently.
• The mainland standard has more neutral tones (知識 zhīshi, 消息 xiāoxi), where Taiwan keeps the full tone.
• These are dictionary standards. Everyday speech is more mixed, so you'll hear variation. Either version is understood everywhere.
• If you're taking the TOCFL, its listening sections use the Taiwan readings; the HSK uses the mainland ones.

Which of these have you been "corrected" on?

hi! i’m a freshman who’s been planning to do an exchange year or university in china. i’ve planned out everything possible but there’s one thing i’m stuck on, actually LEARNING chinese. i googled some solutions but everything that comes up is either an ad or just useless. i’ve tried many different apps, and my school doesn’t offer chinese classes (but does offer an exchange program for juniors), so would you mind sharing with me how you learned mandarin chinese?

**if it helps anything, i also speak urdu aside from english so i can do urdu to chinese lessons too if not english to chinese

Almost all of my Chinese input comes from casual sources which you'll probably notice. More TV shows would've probably helped with this but I haven't watch many in recent years.

HSK 1-3, 1000 words: Knew all

HSK 4, 1000 words: All familiar except for 1:

售票员, but I could guess based on context.

HSK 5, 1600 words: All familiar except for 3:

门诊 ménzhěn

聘请 pìnqǐng

职工 zhígōng

HSK 6, 1800 words: All familiar except 104:

倍增 bèizēng

博览会 bólǎnhuì

不曾 bùcéng

不禁 bùjīn

不时 bùshí

不宜 bùyí

不已 bùyǐ

财物 cáiwù (I only know 财务)

采纳 cǎinà

常年 chángnián

场次 chǎngcì

出游 chūyóu

船只 chuánzhī

大洋洲 Dàyángzhōu

倒车 dǎochē (but I do know dàochē)

动听 dòngtīng

二氧化碳 èryǎnghuàtàn

发放 fāfàng

方位 fāngwèi

丰收 fēngshōu

赋予 fùyǔ

稿件 gǎojiàn

供给 gōngjǐ

工序 gōngxù

共计 gòngjì

观光 guānguāng

归还 guīhuán

海拔 hǎibá

好容易 hǎoróngyì (turns out this means 好不容易, wtf)

号召 hàozhào

后人 hòurén

化石 huàshí

汇 huì

机遇 jīyù

急切 jíqiè

极为 jíwéi

季军 jìjūn

家居 jiājū (I know 居家, I guess flipped around it's easy enough to guess)

加以 jiāyǐ

接连 jiēlián

杰出 jiéchū

进而 jìn'ér

救灾 jiùzāi

开设 kāishè

考核 kǎohé

历经 lìjīng

历年 lìnián

录制 lùzhì

描绘 miáohuì

民宿 mínsù

年度 niándù

配备 pèibèi

片刻 piànkè

评选 píngxuǎn

启事 qǐshì

前景 qiánjǐng

晴朗 qínglǎng

确立 quèlì

热议 rèyì

人为 rénwéi

仍旧 réngjiù

日前 rìqián

日益 rìyì

伤员 shāngyuán

上旬 shàngxún

少儿 shào'ér

升学 shēngxué

拾 shí

率先 shuàixiān

体积 tǐjī

田径 tiánjìng

通信 tōngxìn

退税 tuìshuì

顽强 wánqiáng

为期 wéiqī

戏曲 xìqǔ

下旬 xiàxún

显著 xiǎnzhù

现存 xiàncún

相传 xiāngchuán

新兴 xīnxīng

新颖 xīnyǐng

信赖 xìnlài

性能 xìngnéng

修订 xiūdìng

选拔 xuǎnbá

亚军 yàjūn

炎热 yánrè

眼看 yǎnkàn

一流 yīliú

一道 yīdào

一向 yīxiàng (I know this word when it means 一直, but not the "a period of time" meaning)

以往 yǐwǎng

益处 yìchu

一同 yītóng

涌现 yǒngxiàn

用人 yòngrén

游人 yóurén

犹如 yóurú

园林 yuánlín

圆满 yuánmǎn

再三 zàisān

崭新 zhǎnxīn

值班 zhíbān

株 zhū

HSK 7-9, 5600 words. Not sure as I didn't look through all 5600, but from a small sample I knew about 45%, could reasonably guess around 50% (but not familiar), and 5% would have 0 chance with even with context clues. So I'm going to assume out of 5600 words, there's around 3000 words I don't know. Keep in mind there's no separate 7, 8 or 9 test it's just 7-9 and how well you do determines your score.

So it's:

1: 0

2: 0

3: 0

4: 1

5: 3

6: 104

7-9: ~3000

Anyways, did these words make you struggle too?

When I visited my in-laws in China, I tried to explain how to set up an aquarium properly.

I wanted to explain why you shouldn't just fill a tank with water and add fish immediately. I started talking about preparing the aquarium, establishing beneficial bacteria, biological filtration and, most importantly, the nitrogen cycle.

That's when I realized how much vocabulary I was missing.

I understood the subject perfectly well in English, but explaining ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and how the nitrogen cycle works in Chinese was another story.

Most Chinese learning materials I've used focus on everyday conversations, HSK vocabulary or general reading. Specialized vocabulary is much harder to come across.

When I returned, that experience led me to work on specialized Chinese readers covering subjects like aquarium keeping, aviation and technology.

One feature I particularly appreciate is having the pinyin directly underneath the Chinese characters. Sometimes I understand a word but forget how to pronounce one of its characters. Having the pinyin there means I don't have to keep interrupting my reading to check a dictionary.

It made me realize that knowing Chinese for everyday conversations is very different from being able to explain something you're genuinely knowledgeable about.

Has anyone else experienced this when trying to discuss a hobby or technical subject in Chinese?

What subjects do you find particularly difficult to talk about in Mandarin?

What are the most efficient ways to learn Chinese?

I'm planning to get back into learning Chinese. I already know some Pinyin and a few basic words, but I want to learn about modern, effective techniques to make my learning as efficient as possible.

Right now, I'm mainly using Pleco and Anki. Are there any other apps, resources, or study methods you'd recommend for learning Chinese more efficiently?

I'd appreciate any advice, especially from people who have found effective ways to learn Chinese.

Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone!

I'm going to China to study Mandarin, and my language program starts on October 20th. I'm starting from zero, and my goal is to pass HSK 4 under the new HSK 3.0 system by the end of the academic year.

I'll be living in China, attending language classes, and hopefully getting plenty of opportunities to practice Mandarin in everyday life. I'm also ready to study consistently outside of class.

I know the new HSK 3.0 system has different requirements from the old one, so I'd like to hear your opinions.

For those who have learned Chinese or studied in China:

Is it realistic to reach HSK 4 in one academic year when starting from scratch?

•How many hours a day should I study outside of classes?

•What study methods, textbooks, or resources would you recommend?

•Has anyone here studied for HSK 4 under the new HSK 3.0 system?

My goal isn't just to pass the exam, but also to become comfortable communicating in everyday situations.

I'd really appreciate any advice or personal experiences. Thanks!

I'm planning to start learning Mandarin Chinese from the beginning, and my main goal is to prepare for the HSK exams.

I've come across two textbook series: HSK Standard Course and New HSK Course. I'm not sure which one I should commit to, especially since I want to maximize my learning efficiency and avoid switching between textbooks later.

For those who have used either series, or preferably both:

• Which one would you recommend for a beginner?
• Which has a better teaching structure and explanations?
• Which is more effective for developing vocabulary, grammar, listening, reading, and writing?
• How well does each series align with the current HSK exam system?
• Is the newer series actually better, or is HSK Standard Course still the better choice?

I'd prefer to stick to one main textbook series rather than jump between different resources.

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences and recommendations.

Thanks in advance!

Used to learn jpn for two years then made the switch to learning mandarin. Makes me realise just how unintuitive the onyomi/kunyomi system for Japanese kanji can be. Most characters in mandarin have just one reading no matter the vocab. Do y'all agree?

I know that it was a bad idea, but it was really the only thing that I was able to create a habit out of. Now, after going through all that, I have been drowning in reviews + lost most of my motivation so I want to lower my Anki time in favor of some other medium of learning.

I do scroll rednote/ watch bilibili from time to time but I still find it hard to understand what they are talking about :(. Also, my native language (Vietnamese) is pretty close to Mandarin, our borrowed vocab consists of around 30 to 40% of our daily speech (ofc with some differences, I can still sometimes identify their original counterparts tho)

Should I just keep grinding Chinese media? Also, at this level, would it be suitable for me to try out news yet? I use the 2021 HSK so I am around Hsk 4.

Hi, M23 here. I'm a CS graduate and starting my MSc in Computer Science.

Little background: I'm from a chinese family that migrated in italy around 1990, so I was born and raised in italy, because of this my italian is very good and i have a b2 in english.

The problem is that my chinese sucks. I studied chinese in China for a few months each summer when I was little, but I hated it, so I was "half-studying" (i'm a freaking idiot) and now i'm regretting it so much. The result is that my level is around second grade (elementary school) heck, maybe even lower.

My speaking is good for daily conversations, but I suck when I need to say specific words or technical words. My reading is worse than the speaking but I can understand "simple" words. My writing? Now, that sucks...

So, I wanted to ask which online course and study methods is the best for someone like me.

I want to reach a level where I can easily live in China using only Chinese and can perfectly use apps, bank apps, news app, social apps, bureaucracy things...

I feel like i'm already a bit old trying to learn such a difficult language..

Thank you for the attention

I'm curious how a Chinese speaker would perceive this name:

>韓熺受

If you encountered it with no context:

1. How would you pronounce it in Mandarin?
2. Would you immediately recognize it as a Korean/Hanja name, a Chinese name, or something else?
3. Does 韓熺受 look natural to you as a Chinese name?
4. What kind of person/background would you initially associate with the name?
5. Does the name have any particular "vibe" or impression to you?
6. Would you assume the person actually pronounces it according to Mandarin, Korean, or something else?

For context, this is my legal full name. I normally go by Jenny (珍妮).

I'm mainly interested in your first impression from the characters alone, before knowing anything about me.