The system of Chinese characters is a language system with the longest history, and is used by the largest population in the world. Chinese characters are something akin to an art form or a magic cubic puzzle. Many people from other countries may find Chinese characters study a formidable task. This audio will help you to get know about what Chinese characters are, and I hope this will stimulate your interest in learning Chinese.

Learning Chinese culture with Miss Zhang

Chinese characters 1

《礼记》说：“入竟而问禁，入国而问俗，入门而问讳。”这句话的意思是，到某个地方，要了解那个地方的禁忌；去某个国家，要了解那个国家的风俗习惯；上某家做客要了解那户人家的家讳。除了”避名讳“这一禁忌，中国还有很多禁忌与崇拜有关，与语言有关。本篇简单介绍了古时候的讳名和禁忌语，希望大家对此有所了解。

汉语禁忌语

This episode is talking about taboos in Chinese. From ancient times, Chinese culture has incorporated a large number of taboos. Many ancient taboos were related to religion and worship. Other taboos were related to the solar eclipse. Also, Chinese people believed that language had a mystical inherent power that could influence certain things to happen. We call it "言灵".   

Taboos in Chinese

中国文化中的谐音文化不仅是人们用来趋吉避凶，也可以在学习中去记忆一些枯燥无味的数字，比如，圆周率。故事中的老师要求学生背诵圆周率小数点后30位，这可难倒了学生。有的学生唉声叹气，死记硬背；有的学生则跑出了教室，去山上玩耍。玩耍的学生来到山上，却看见老师正在和一和尚喝酒聊天，于是学生们……

用来记忆的谐音——山巅一寺一壶酒

春节是中国传统节日中最盛大的节日，也是最重要的节日。人们会在家中张贴“福”字，也会吃“年糕”，有些地区还会贴上年画……人们利用这些谐音文化为自己在新的一年里讨个吉利。除此以外，中国传统婚姻中也保持了一些传统，这些传统有很多都蕴含着谐音文化。比如，中国的新娘子在结婚的时候，要跨过“火盆”，意味着“日子红红火火”；新人睡的被子底下塞满了花生、枣子、桂圆等食物，意味着”早生贵子“。

讨吉利的谐音——婚俗和民俗中的谐音文化

this podcast will tell you the last three types of homophones  in Chinese, which is humorous homophones, homophones of people and place names and homophones  as a memory aid. I think as a non-native Chinese speaker, you suppose to know something of Chinese culture as well as language to be able to fully appreciate and understand the nuances  implicit in the use of homophones.