The Most Common Mistakes Made by Chinese Language Learners

I have been teaching Chinese for over 12 years. And I have seen my Chinese language-learning students every Chinese language mistake in the book! But I have noticed over the years that there are some mistakes almost everyone makes. Chances are you are making them, too, and can easily avoid these pitfalls if you just pay a little attention and change a few of your habits.

Mistake #1

You Use a Literal Word-by-Word Translation When You Speak in Chinese
This is very common for beginning Mandarin Chinese language students. Or any person learning a new language. Instead of converting the sentence into Chinese, you simply translate each individual word. This puts the sentence into an English order. But what you need to do it is put it into a Chinese word order!

Example 1:

English: I'll work on Saturday。

I'll = 我将 (wǒ jiāng);
work = 工作 (gōngzuò);
on Saturday = 在周六 (zài zhōu liù).

English Word Order:
我将工作在周六 (Wǒ jiāng gōngzuò zài zhōu liù)。 ×
Chinese Word Order:
我将在周六工作 (Wǒ jiāng zài zhōu liù gōngzuò)。 √

Mistake #2

You Think Learning Characters Isn't That Important.
Many learners feel Chinese characters are very difficult to learn and to write. Often my students quit learning writing and just focus on their pronunciation or pinyin. They feel learning to speak Chinese/ Chinese conversation is hard enough. Usually their main focus is being able to communicate with Chinese people. And this is of course important--but eventually these students get suck.

In China, almost all visible information is shown with Chinese characters, not Pinyin. If you are in China, even you can't recognize a sign without knowing characters.

七夕节 (Qīxījié) Double Seven Festival (Chinese Valentine's Day)

Key Learning Points (Preview):
鹊桥 (quèqiáo): n. a bridge made up of magpies
七夕节 (Qīxījié) n. Double Seven Festival
中国情人节 (Zhōngguó Qíngrénjié): n. Chinese Valentine's Day

The Double Seven Festival or Chinese Valentine's Day is on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month in the Chinese calendar. Below is a story behind the festival: Zhi Nü was said to be the youngest daughter of the queen of heaven, while Niu Lang was a poor orphan cowherd who lived a poor life with an old magical cow. One day, when the seven fairies slipped out to bathe, Niu Lang met Zhi Nü by the river and asked her to stay with him. Zhi Nü agreed and they lived happily together. However, the queen of heaven was very angry. So she had Zhi Nü brought back to heaven. Seeing his beloved wife flying in the sky, Niu Lang followed Zhi Nü into heaven with the help of the magic cowhide. Just when he was about to reach Zhi Nü, the queen showed up. She pulled off her hairpin and used it to draw a line between the two. The line became the "银河 (yínhé) Silver River" in heaven. Zhi Nü went back to the heavenly workshop and continued to weave the clouds. But she was depressed and missed Niu lang very much. Eventually, the queen was moved by their love, and allowed the couple to meet once every year on the Silver River. Since then, Niu Lang and Zhi Nü meet on "鹊桥 (quèqiáo) a bridge made up of magpies" spanning the Milky Way on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of every year. It is a love story, so "七夕节 (Qīxījié) Double Seven Festival" is also called "中国情人节 (Zhōngguó Qíngrénjié) Chinese Valentine's Day."

Key Learning Points:
鹊桥 (quèqiáo): n. a bridge made up of magpies
鹊: n. magpie
桥: n. bridge

Example:
Xiāng chuán Niú Láng hé Zhī Nǚ Qīxī nà tiān zài què qiáo xiāng huì.
相 传 牛 郎 和 织 女 七夕 那 天 在 鹊 桥 相 会。
It is said that Niu Lang and Zhi Nü meet on a bridge made up of magpies on the day of the Double Seven Festival.

七夕节 (Qīxījié): n.Double Seven Festival

七夕: n. the seventh day of the seventh lunar month

Click "Read More" to learn more useful examples about Chinese Valentine's Day.