#learn mandarin

音 - yīn - music, sound, tone 音乐 - yīnyuè - music 话音 - huàyīn - tone, voice 声音 - shēngyīn - sound, noise, voice

意 - yì - thought, idea, opinion 意见 - yìjiàn - view, idea, thought, opinion 意义 - yìyì - meaning, significance

竟 - jìng - finally, at last, after all 竟然 - jìngrán - unexpectedly, surprisingly 竟自 - jìngzì - unexpectedly, to one's surprise

镜 - jìng - mirror glass 镜头 - jìngtóu - camera lens 镜片 - jìngpiàn - lens 镜花水月 - jìnghuāshuǐyuè - flowers in a mirror or moon in the water (a very pretty idiom with the meaning of an illusion)

暗 - àn - dark, secret 暗暗 - ànàn - secretly 暗淡 - àndàn - dim, faint, dark 暗察明坊 - ànchámíngfāng - to investigate and understand a situation using various methods

境 - jìng - boundary, area, region 境界 - jìngjiè - boundary, a state 环境 - huánjìng - environment 入境 - rùjìng - to enter a country 出境 - chūjìng - to exit a country

韵 - yùn - rhyme, vowel 韵律 - yùnlǜ - prosody (the metrical rules such as tone patterns, rhyme, and parallelism used in poetry) 韵文 - yùnwén - a literary genre that arranges sentences according to a specific rhythm (e.g. specific types of poems such as Tang poetry, etc) 韵人韵事 - yùnrényùnshì - a charming man enjoys charming interests (an idiom meaning elegant people doing elegant things basically e.g. drinking tea under a moon, painting or playing instruments.)

谙 - ān - versed in, acquainted with 谙练 - ānliàn - skilled, proficient in something 深谙 - shēnān - to know something very well 深谙世故 - shēnānshìgù - having seen much of life, well-versed in life

韶 - sháo - originally this was name of an ancient musical piece, said to have been created during the time of Emperor Shun. Later, it's meaning changed to mean something beautiful. 韶光 - sháoguāng - beautiful 韶华似水 - sháohuásìshuǐ - time/youth passes like flowing water

黯 - àn - dark, sullen, dreary 黯淡 - àndàn - similar to 暗淡, meaning dark and gloomy 黯然失色 - ànránshīsè - to be cast into the shadows/ to be overlooked 黯黑 - ànhēi - pitch dark

喑 - yīn - mute 喑哑 - yīnyǎ - mute 万马齐喑 - wànmǎqíyīn - 10 thousand horses standing mute (an idiom meaning a situation where no one dares to speak up)

歆 - xīn - to like, admire 歆慕 - xīn mù - to admire something 歆羡 - xīn xiàn - same meaning, also means to admire something

Last updated September 5th, 2025

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Hello everyone, I wanted to share with you all some videos I have used to learn Mandarin Chinese that are geared towards children. I think it’s important to practice using children’s media, especially as an intermediate or beginner because it will create a great foundation to build off of. It also helps with listening and pronunciation because the narrators often speak very clearly and at a medium to slow pace.

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Vegetarian Wolf 不吃肉的大灰狼

by Little Chinese Learners

Very simple, beginner friendly language

Has Pinyin as CC subtitles

Very slow pronunciation

Has English subtitles

Only uses simplified characters

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Mandarin AniBooks by BookBox | Official Playlist

by BookBoxInc

12 videos

Slow and medium paced pronunciation

Has Pinyin and English as CC subtitles, but both cannot be displayed at the same time.

Only uses simplified characters

Book Box also offers many other languages. There are a few for smaller languages indigenous to India, conlangs, and few in other more popular languages that only got one or two videos.

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Little Fox Chinese

I recommend these selected playlists for intermediate learners and above, but this channel has plenty of beginner friendly videos and songs, as well as other playlists of stories I did not include. There is no Pinyin or English subtitles on any of the videos listed, but all of them have simplified Chinese subtitles except for “Journey to the West”.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 爱丽丝梦游仙境

Cinderella 灰姑娘

Journey to the West 西游记

Puss in Boots 穿靴子的猫

The Jungle Book 森林王子

The Little Mermaid 小美人鱼

Thumbelina 拇指姑娘

first the classic:

四是四，十是十， 十四是十四， 四十是四十， 他们不是四十四 (sì shì sì , shí shì shí, shí sì shì shí sì, sì shí shì sì shí, tā men bùshì sì shí sì) four is four, ten is ten, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty, they are not forty-four

and then these two specifically focused on nasal finals:

青青山上一根藤， 青藤底下挂铜铃， 风吹藤动铜铃动， 风停藤停铜铃停 (qīngqīng shān shàng yì gēn téng, qīng téng dǐ xià guà tóng líng, fēng chuī téng dòng tóng líng dòng, fēng tíng téng tíng tóng líng tíng) On a green mountain there is a vine, Under the green vine hang copper bells. The wind blows, the vine moves, the copper bells move. The wind stops, the vine stops, the copper bells stop.

I'm currently watching 《模仿犯》, so I was inspired to put together this list of essential vocab for 犯罪剧/悬疑剧/推理剧. I tend to gravitate towards dramas that fall into these genres.

I've sorted the words into categories. These were determined by vibes only. Definitions are adapted from MDBG, my loyal companion for nearly 10 years.

The Case

案子 ànzi - case / law case / legal case / judicial case

案件 ànjiàn - case / instance

办案 bàn'àn - to handle a case

破案 pò'àn - to solve a case

报案 bào'àn - to report a case to the authorities

命案 mìng'àn - homicide case / murder case

作案 zuò'àn - to commit a crime

现场 xiànchǎng - the scene (of a crime, accident etc) / (on) the spot / (at) the site

证据 zhèngjù - evidence / proof / testimony

真相 zhēnxiàng - the truth about sth / the actual facts

The Investigation

厘清 líqīng - to clarify (the facts) / clarification

线索 xiànsuǒ - trail / clues / thread (of a story)

细节 xìjié - details / particulars

痕迹 hénjì - vestige / mark / trace

追踪 zhuīzōng - to follow a trail / to trace / to pursue

追问 zhuīwèn - to question closely / to investigate in detail / to examine minutely / to get to the heart of the matter

排除 páichú - to eliminate / to remove / to exclude / to rule out

嫌疑 xiányí - suspicion / to have suspicions

怀疑 huáiyí - to doubt (sth) / to be skeptical of / to have one's doubts / to harbor suspicions / to suspect that

跟踪 gēnzōng - to follow sb's tracks / to tail / to shadow / tracking

不对劲 búduìjìn - fishy / wrong / not right

隐瞒 yǐnmán - to conceal / to hide (a taboo subject) / to cover up the truth

The Victim

被害者 bèihàizhě - victim (of a wounding or murder)

受害者 shòuhàizhě - casualty / victim / those injured and wounded

幸存者 xìngcúnzhě - survivor

失踪 shīzōng - to be missing / to disappear / unaccounted for

消失 xiāoshī - to disappear / to fade away

One character often becomes a part of several others, all of which share similar meanings.

我希望你踩在乐高上。「我希望你踩在樂高上。」

(I've also seen 踩到樂高)