swallow (a type of bird) in Mandarin

The mandarin character can also mean (surname)

You might remember the meaning of the character with this easy mnemonic:

There's an injured swallow in the street, go pick it up with two hands (廾) and give him one (一) drop of water in its mouth (口). Feed it with a spoon (匕) and leave some fire kindling (灬) beside it for warmth.

Using mnemonics to remember the meaning of Chinese characters like has a huge impact on how long to learn Mandarin it takes.

You might remember the reading of the character with this useful mnemonic:

Now stop yammering (yàn) and go save that poor swallow!

Using mnemonics to remember how to understand Chinese characters like has a huge impact on how long to learn Mandarin it takes.

Reading audio

How long does it take to learn Mandarin?

Learning character like swallow (a type of bird) and the rest of the Mandarin written language can take as little as one year, or as long as a lifetime. Our Mandarin language learners find that using helpful mnemonics can aid retention of Chinese Mandarin vocabulary and characters.

Sign up to learn Mandarin vocabulary for free.

Is it easy to learn Mandarin?

Some students wonder how difficult is it to learn mandarin chinese? Learning any language takes time and hard work, but the best way to learn mandarin online is by using spaced repetition, mnemonics, and gamification to learn basic Manadarin, conversational Mandarin, business Mandarin.

Is it possible to learn Mandarin? Definitely!

Sign up to learn Mandarin vocabulary for free.

Read Chinese in a year

Build your Mandarin vocabulary with Pandanese — a website that integrates spaced repetition, mnemonics, and gamification to teach you over 6,000 Chinese characters with their hanzi and pinyin in as little as one year.

Start now for free!