From our blog
News, developments and articles from Regina Coeli
What’s your name in Chinese?
Your name is often the first thing you say in a conversation. In China, though, you need to think about it for a moment. That’s because it’s common there to adapt your name. In this blog, you’ll read how that works and how to choose a Chinese name that suits you.
A full moon, a goddess and a mooncake with egg yolk
You’ve probably heard of Chinese New Year. Maybe even the dragon boat races. But the Mid-Autumn Festival? Probably not. Yet it’s one of the most important traditional celebrations in China. A festival full of symbolism, family ties, moon worship – and even poetry. It also has a beautiful link to the Chinese language.
Learning Chinese with pinyin: easier than you think
Many people are fascinated by Chinese but feel overwhelmed by the complex characters — symbols that seem more drawn than written. The Chinese language can feel like an impossible mountain to climb. Fortunately, there’s a tool that makes it much more accessible: pinyin.
Celebrating Chinese New Year
Every year, more than one quarter of the world’s population will celebrate the Chinese New Year (new is “Xin”; year is “Nián” in Mandarin pinyin). Chinese New Year -also known as the Spring Festival- is celebrated on the second new moon after the Winter Solstice and can fall anywhere between late January and the middle of February. New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest.
Learn a bit of Chinese to break the ice
If you are planning to do business in China or Taiwan, learning to speak fluent Mandarin might not be your first priority. Sometimes it can be better to first see whether you can get your foot in the door before investing in learning the language. For this reason, Regina Coeli is now offering a short Chinese culture and language course—one which will give you a good understanding of the culture and a bit of language to break the ice.
Chinese is a puzzle with clear game rules
After nineteen years of hearing the sounds of Chinese, Leo van Wuijckhuijse wanted to learn Chinese himself—at Regina Coeli, naturally, because he had already learned to speak Spanish fluently there. And although Chinese is vastly different to Spanish, it is going admirably well for him.