When you learn a language, sooner or later you may discover that the textbook is full of outdated stuff and/or simplifications for kids.
For example, in real-life English you rarely hear the classic "How do you do?" The first time I came to a French-speaking city, I was told that people there don't usually say the textbook "Quelle heure est-il?", they say "Est-ce que vous auriez l'heure?"
In German... well, I haven't gotten that far in German yet :)
And today I found out that 中文 (zhōng wén, the Chinese language), which is pretty much where online Chinese lessons begin, is the beginner's version. Whereas seasoned sinologists, Shaolin monks and other Eastern sages have at least seven ways to say "the Chinese language" in their arsenal.