It seems that learning another language and speaking it on a regular basis can actually boost the performance of your brain and ward off the onset of degenerative diseases of the brain such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. (Check below for Vocabulary & Idiom Check) Numerous studies have shown that language study develops the brain’s ability to…
On Saturday, September 1, 2012, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong to protest against what many believe to be an attempt by the authorities to ‘brainwash‘ students. 120,000 HK Protesters Rallied Against Chinese Patriotism Lessons – You Tube Video It was the second mass demonstration in only two…
If you cough up, you are doing one of two things: You are either getting something out of your body by coughing or vomiting, or you are handing over or relinquishing something, often money and usually with some sense of reluctance. Examples Sentences Using Cough Up I wouldn’t go to that new restaurant if…
If you want to learn Chinese, mastering tones is of great importance. Some argue that tones are not that important, especially for a beginner, because, they say, most local Chinese speakers expect foreigners to get it wrong a lot of the time and they will grasp what you are trying to say anyway. However, if…
On July 3, 2012, Soybean Street, an educational games company from Silicon Valley in the USA, announced the launch of Animal Fun: Chinese for Kids, a new language-based gaming application that aims to make learning new languages a blast for kids of all ages. You can pick up this popular app on the ITunes store…
The idiom, beat around the bush, or as is more commonly said in the UK, beat about the bush, figuratively means to avoid saying what you really want to or should be saying. Somebody who is beating around the bush is not being clear or direct in what they are saying and they are making it difficult to…