Loanwords between Cantonese and English
When you start to learn Cantonese, you will notice that there are many English loanwords like bus (巴士: baa1 si), taxi (的士: dik1 si6), cheese (芝士: ji1 si6). Since Hong Kong was British colony...
LingoCards Blog
Loanwords between Cantonese and English
When you start to learn Cantonese, you will notice that there are many English loanwords like bus (巴士: baa1 si), taxi (的士: dik1 si6), cheese (芝士: ji1 si6). Since Hong Kong was British colony...
Same Words in Spanish and Italian
Probably you have heard that Spanish and Italian are quite similar languages. It’s true that they are both Romance languages, which means they are derived from Latin. There are tons of similar vocabulary between...
4 Reasons Why Kanji is Easier than English Words
Do you think Japanese Kanji(漢字) is too complicated and hard to memorise? It’s true that there are uncountable Kanjis and each Kanji has multiple pronunciations, but there are also numerous English vocabulary. In fact,...
Simple Word in Other Languages Can Mean Different
Probably you know that we cannot translate everything to other languages. There are many untranslatable words in each languages. However, do you know that even translatable words may not have exactly the same meaning...
The Sun is Drawn in Red in Japan – Apples are Drawn in Green in France
When you are asked the color of the apple, what do you reply? In reality, there are red, green and yellow apples, but there are colors associated with the object. Most of the people...
How to Call “I” and “You” in Japanese?
Probably you learned that “I = わたし(watashi), you = あなた(anata)”. It’s correct, but not always appropriate. It’s because not only Japanese often omit the subject, but also personal pronouns are not used as often...
Reverse Order Words between Japanese and Chinese
Probably many people know that Chinese characters are used both in Japanese and Chinese, and they share uncountable vocabulary. However, do you know that many words are reversed in Japanese compare to Chinese? ...
Lesson 7. The Complete Guide of Adjectives in English
What is an adjective? Adjectives, which is one of the parts of speech, are words that used to describe nouns or pronouns. Adjectives give information about opinion, size, shape, age, color, origin, material, or...
Lesson 5. What You Need to Know about Nouns in English
What is a noun? A noun is a word that represents a person, animal, plant, place, thing, or idea. It can be either singular or plural. What are the characteristics of nouns? Nouns...
Lesson 25. Demonstrative Pronouns in Chinese
這 [这] (zhè) and 那 (nà), which are literally translated as this and that respectively, are demonstrative pronouns in Chinese. In general, we use demonstrative pronouns + 是 (shì) and followed by nouns to point...
Lesson 11. Simple Future Tense in English
What is simple future tense? Simple future tense is used to indicate things or actions that have not happened yet. As long as the time of the actions takes place later than now, they...
Lesson 9. The Complete Guide to Time in English
Knowing how to tell the time in the correct way will make you look like a native when you are visiting an English-speaking country. Recommended background: The Complete Guide of Numbers in English. Let’s...
Lesson 4. The Complete Guide about Pronouns in English
Pronouns are used to replace nouns or noun phrases in a sentence. They are used to refer a person, a thing, a group of people, or a group of things. There are different types...
Lesson 10. Simple Past Tense in English
What is simple past tense? Simple past tense is a verb tense that indicates a completed action that happened in the past. The past is all the past, it can happen in yesterday, one...
Lesson 24. Three Ways to Express Plural Nouns in Chinese
Unlike English which adds ‘s/-es’ or Indonesian which reduplicate the nouns, Chinese does not modify the nouns to express plural nouns in Chinese. So, how do Chinese turn a noun from singular into a...
Lesson 3. Using Noun Quantifiers in English
There are a lot of words that we can use to express quantity in English, such as much, many, a lot of, plenty of, a little, a few, some, any, etc. In general, the...
Lesson 17. The Complete Guide to Verb TO BE in Japanese
です (desu), which is a polite speech marker, works like the present affirmative version of the copula in Japanese. It has the closest meaning of the verb ‘to be’ or the dummy subject ‘it...
Lesson 13. Dummy Subject: Existence in English
One of the characteristics of English complete sentences is the requirement of a subject. However, if the subject is not available in the sentence, ‘there is, there are and it is’ are used to...
Lesson 2. Demonstrative Pronouns and Adjectives in English
Demonstrative words – this, that, these, those – are words that show which person or thing is being referred to. There are two types of demonstratives: demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives. Basically, demonstrative pronouns...
Lesson 23. How to Express Future Tense in Chinese
In the previous lesson, we have covered how to construct past tense and present tense sentences in Chinese. In this lesson, let’s learn how to express future tense in Chinese! Adverb of Time...
