biglittleluobo

[biglittleluobo]

😈😈😈 D A R K C U I S I N E 😨😨😨

大家好！

Have you ever eaten anything ... unusual ... dark ... twisted ... sprung from the mind of a chef determined to leave their mark on society, for better or for worse?

I have.

At least, that's what some of my friends called this meal when I posted it to my WeChat moments! XD

I give you:

黑暗料理 (hēiàn liàolǐ) – literally "dark cuisine" 😱😱

And what, you ask, was the cuisine in question? Why, none other than:

皮蛋香菜披萨 (pídàn xiāngcài pīsà) – thousand-year egg and cilantro pizza (or "century egg" and "coriander" if you prefer), fresh from the Pizza Hut at a 万达 mall!!

What do you think? Is this pizza an abomination or a stroke of genius?

We were told this was an new offering that they were seeking feedback on (read "experimental"), and as someone who enjoys both cilantro and preserved eggs, I just had to try. It was certainly an experience!

See you next time! 下次见！

#vocab #mandarin vocab #mandarin #chinese language #mandarin chinese #chinese #language learning #chinese vocab #mandarin langblr #chinese langblr #langblr #chinese phrases #dark cuisine #黑暗料理

[biglittleluobo]

萝卜's Essential Chinese Characters #2

大家好！

Hello again for another round of essential Chinese characters! When I was in China, we took a lot of taxis. They’re everywhere, reasonably priced, and fast. While you can call for a ride-share type service using a Chinese navigational app like 高德地图 (I like to read it as “above average maps" XD), it’s usually pretty convenient to just hail one on the street. How do you know which ones are available though? I’ll tell you how, you read the sign! Here’s what you need to know:

空车 (kōngchē) – literally “empty car”, meaning it’s available!

有客 (yǒukè) – literally “have guest/customer”, meaning you should catch the next one!

The funny thing about this is that while these two phrases seem to be fairly universal, the colors they show up as differ from location to location. So while in Chengdu 空车 is in red (see the picture), and 有客 is in green, these colors were flipped in other cities! So there’s no easy catch-all in terms of colors, you do have to read!

I felt a bit weird taking pictures of active taxis while abroad, so I just found the above picture online (source). This taxi looks a bit older, though it still has the classic green of Sichuan!

See you next time! 下次见！

P.S. Fun fact about license plates in China: the first two characters refer to the province and city where the car was registered. So in the above picture, you can see that this license plate is 川A meaning that it is from Sichuan (四川) city "A", which in this case is the capital Chengdu! It's quite fun looking at the cars driving around and see where everyone has come from, especially during a holiday time like Chinese New Year!

#vocab #mandarin vocab #mandarin #chinese language #mandarin chinese #chinese #language learning #chinese vocab #mandarin langblr #chinese langblr #langblr #essential characters #空车 #有客

[biglittleluobo]

I discovered I have more to add! Here's a few more tendencies:

The "guo" sound in Sichuanese is pronounced as "gui" (more specifically kinda like "gway"/"gwei")! I have no idea why this is, but it seems to be a specific case for the "guo" sound. So for example, if you want to say "China" you would not pronounce 中国 as zhōngguó but rather as zōngguì (or perhaps zōnggwěi). Don't forget about dropping the "h" in "zh"!

Relatedly, the "e" sound in characters pronounced like "re", "ze", "de" often gets streeeettched out to be more like "ei". So you would get "rěi" "zěi" "děi" and so on. Since they get stretched I often imagine them as 3rd tones. This is separate from the other tendency for the "e" sound to sometimes get changed to an "o", such as in the example in the original post of 可以 being pronounced as "kǒyǐ"

There is a special Sichuanese suffix that is pronounced as "ol". So far I only know two examples that both start with "j" so that part may not be universal. The first example is that the 觉 in 觉得 is not pronounced jué, but rather as jól. In fact, in classic Sichuanese fashion, the 得 also gets converted to a děi so in total 觉得 is pronounced "jólděi". The other example is that the word for foot 脚 (jiǎo) is pronounced jǒl.

Allegedly Sichuanese is not too difficult to parse for native speakers, but there are so many differences it's amazing if that's the case! Will add more if/as I recall them :)

萝卜's Beginner Guide to Sichuanese!

大家好！

Welcome to the first in an unofficial series of posts where I will share the (very large) amount of new vocab, cultural experiences, and topics that I was introduced to while spending ~5 weeks in China!

Today’s topic is: Sichuanese! 🌶️🌶️🌶️

I won’t pretend to be an expert in Sichuanese (yet, please chime in / add here if you are!), but I spent >50% of my time in the province while abroad which gave me lots of exposure. It certainly took me by surprise at the beginning! After about two weeks I started to get a better feel for it. Here’s some tips and vocab for getting started:

1. Get ready to hear 得 (“dei” pronunciation) just about everywhere, this is an essential character thrown around constantly. Most common are these three words:

要得 (yǎodei) – yes, good

没得 (módei) – no

晓得 (xiǎodei) – understand, aka 明白

Sometimes it also just randomly appears, for example 得行 (deixíng) has the exact same meaning as 行 (fine, okay)! You just gotta expect it.

2. The majority of Sichuanese people do not pronounce the “h” in sounds like “ch”, “sh”, “zh”. This makes it very tricky for a student (like me!) who still internally looks up lots of words, so any “s-” word could be a word that starts with “sh-” OR a word that just starts with “s-”. Some examples:

橙汁 (chéngzhī) as "cengzi"

这儿 (zhè’er) as “zer”

什么时候 (shénme shíhou) as “sazisihou”

是不是 (shìbùshì) as “sib’si” (with the u sound in “bu” typically omitted)

3. The “an” sound is pronounced as in the English word “can” (as opposed to the usual pronunciation which is a bit more like the “awn” sound in “yawn”). Combined with (2), this has the very cute effect of turning 吃饭 (chīfàn) into something more like “cifaan”, and is something you should expect to hear a lot in a province like Sichuan! Just be aware that this applies to every “an”-suffixed word and can sometimes totally change how you hear it. In many ways I feel like this feature makes it sound a bit reminiscent of American southern dialects.

4. There are a few other Sichuanese alternative pronunciations to be aware of:

“Hu” is often pronounced as “fu”, leading 护照 (hùzhào) to sound like “fuzao”, or 西湖 (Xīhú) as “xifu”

“R” sounds can sometimes be pronounced with a “y”, e.g. 容 (róng) as “yong”

Most tricky is that the flat 1st tone is very rare, and many characters simply have different tones than “Standard” Mandarin. As far as I can tell (and have read online), there isn’t really a systematic adjustment for this, it’s just how it is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

5. Surprisingly, though Sichuan is a southern province, there are tons of erhua around! At least here, it seems like the 儿 ends up quite merged with the original word. Some examples I heard:

米粉 (mǐfěn) as “mifer” (extremely delicious breakfast option!)

老板 (lǎobǎn) as “laober”

没得 (módei) as “moder” (apparently extremely rarely heard though)

豆花 (dòuhuā) as “douhua’er” (quite common in northern Mandarin as well)

熊猫 (xióngmāo) as “xiongmer”

And finally, a few more Sichuanese specialties!

好(多)钱 - how much does it cost, aka 多少钱 (the 多 is sometimes omitted in quick speech)

啥子 (sázi) – what, based on the casual substitute word 啥 for 什么 (also often pronounced as sáza)

闹热 (nàorè) – lively, as opposed to the usual 热闹

可以 (kěyǐ), pronounced as as “kǒyǐ”

冒菜 (màocài) – a local variant of malatang (麻辣烫）

抄手 (chāoshǒu) – (v) to fold arms up the sleeves; (四川) wonton, dumpling

稀饭 (xīfàn) – congee, 粥, literally "thin rice"

干饭 (gānfàn) – regular rice, 米饭, "dry rice" to distinguish from 稀饭

嘛 (ma) - often heard at the end of sentences, just a local sound! Not (as I understand it) generally associated with some of its other meanings (like impatience, stating the obvious, etc)

See you next time. 下次见！

#vocab #sichuan #sichuanese #sichuan dialect #mandarin #mandarin vocab #chinese language #mandarin chinese #chinese #language learning #chinese vocab #mandarin langblr #chinese langblr #langblr #chinese dialect

[biglittleluobo]

LOL gave me a pause when you popped in my recommended 🙏 cool blog btw

Haha wow! Well I’ll consider this an opportunity to attract all sorts of crowds to enjoy the love of language learning :) thanks for the kind words and the laugh!

[biglittleluobo]

萝卜's Essential Chinese Characters #1

大家好！

When spending time in China, there were several characters/words that I wasn't familiar with (as an ~HSK4 learner) yet seemed to pop up everywhere! Being so prevalent, I tried to take note of them and now can share them with you all over a series of posts! If you're planning to visit China, I hope you follow along and find these posts useful :)

Today's character is: 区 (qū)!

区, meaning "district", "area", "region", etc, can be found in a multitude of contexts. Some explicit examples from my experience are:

小区 (xiǎoqū) – home community, neighborhood. The apartment complexes/condos where many citizens live are usually in the form of several high-rises built around a central recreation/park area, sometimes also with a school, markets, restaurants, etc all right downstairs! Collectively, this living space is known as a 小区. You can find one of my pictures of a 小区 below!!

凉菜区 (liáng cài qū) – literally “cold dish area” aka where the cold dishes are located in a restaurant

NFC区 (NFC qū) – “near-field communication zone” aka where you should tap your card/phone to transfer information such as payment or identification

景区 (jǐngqū) – scenic area, related to the similar term 景点 (jǐngdiǎn) meaning “scenic point”

Other examples:

区号 (qūhào) – area code (literally “area number”)

城区 (chéngqū) – city district, similar to 市区 (shìqū) meaning “urban district” or “downtown”

地区 (dìqū) – local, regional, area; when used as a suffix to a city name, means “prefecture” or “county”

时区 (shíqū) – time zone

Have you encountered 区 before in your studies? Let me know if you have other favorite 区 words!

See you next time! 下次见！

(Picture of a 小区 under the cut)

#vocab #mandarin vocab #mandarin #chinese language #mandarin chinese #chinese #language learning #chinese vocab #mandarin langblr #chinese langblr #langblr #essential characters #区

[biglittleluobo]

Oh another one that came up recently! The use of 搞 (gǎo) in place of 干 (gàn)! Both characters can mean "to do" (with the 4th tone pronunciation of 干), but the use of 搞 is another regional preference.

In practice, 搞 is usually pronounced more like gào. Combining it with other Sichuanese sounds, you often hear things like:

你搞啥子 (nǐ gào sázi) – what are you doing?

你在搞啥 (nǐ zài gào sǎ) – another variant of above, but often used more like a greeting or conversation opening resembling "what's up"? In this flavor, the sǎ has extra emphasis and tends to sound more like the 3rd tone

Once you've mastered that, keep your ears open for another common variant, where sǎ is actually pronounced "hǎ". This is often said even more casually (or abruptly). For example, you tap somebody's shoulder to get their attention and they reply "ò! gàohǎ?" (哦！搞啥?), the same way you might reply "oh! what's up?"

Very fun to say! Next time you pick up the phone (or see a friend), instead of a 喂？hit 'em with a (你在) 搞啥？and enjoy the roll off the tongue :)

萝卜's Beginner Guide to Sichuanese!

大家好！

Welcome to the first in an unofficial series of posts where I will share the (very large) amount of new vocab, cultural experiences, and topics that I was introduced to while spending ~5 weeks in China!

Today’s topic is: Sichuanese! 🌶️🌶️🌶️

I won’t pretend to be an expert in Sichuanese (yet, please chime in / add here if you are!), but I spent >50% of my time in the province while abroad which gave me lots of exposure. It certainly took me by surprise at the beginning! After about two weeks I started to get a better feel for it. Here’s some tips and vocab for getting started:

1. Get ready to hear 得 (“dei” pronunciation) just about everywhere, this is an essential character thrown around constantly. Most common are these three words:

要得 (yǎodei) – yes, good

没得 (módei) – no

晓得 (xiǎodei) – understand, aka 明白

Sometimes it also just randomly appears, for example 得行 (deixíng) has the exact same meaning as 行 (fine, okay)! You just gotta expect it.

2. The majority of Sichuanese people do not pronounce the “h” in sounds like “ch”, “sh”, “zh”. This makes it very tricky for a student (like me!) who still internally looks up lots of words, so any “s-” word could be a word that starts with “sh-” OR a word that just starts with “s-”. Some examples:

橙汁 (chéngzhī) as "cengzi"

这儿 (zhè’er) as “zer”

什么时候 (shénme shíhou) as “sazisihou”

是不是 (shìbùshì) as “sib’si” (with the u sound in “bu” typically omitted)

3. The “an” sound is pronounced as in the English word “can” (as opposed to the usual pronunciation which is a bit more like the “awn” sound in “yawn”). Combined with (2), this has the very cute effect of turning 吃饭 (chīfàn) into something more like “cifaan”, and is something you should expect to hear a lot in a province like Sichuan! Just be aware that this applies to every “an”-suffixed word and can sometimes totally change how you hear it. In many ways I feel like this feature makes it sound a bit reminiscent of American southern dialects.

4. There are a few other Sichuanese alternative pronunciations to be aware of:

“Hu” is often pronounced as “fu”, leading 护照 (hùzhào) to sound like “fuzao”, or 西湖 (Xīhú) as “xifu”

“R” sounds can sometimes be pronounced with a “y”, e.g. 容 (róng) as “yong”

Most tricky is that the flat 1st tone is very rare, and many characters simply have different tones than “Standard” Mandarin. As far as I can tell (and have read online), there isn’t really a systematic adjustment for this, it’s just how it is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

5. Surprisingly, though Sichuan is a southern province, there are tons of erhua around! At least here, it seems like the 儿 ends up quite merged with the original word. Some examples I heard:

米粉 (mǐfěn) as “mifer” (extremely delicious breakfast option!)

老板 (lǎobǎn) as “laober”

没得 (módei) as “moder” (apparently extremely rarely heard though)

豆花 (dòuhuā) as “douhua’er” (quite common in northern Mandarin as well)

熊猫 (xióngmāo) as “xiongmer”

And finally, a few more Sichuanese specialties!

好(多)钱 - how much does it cost, aka 多少钱 (the 多 is sometimes omitted in quick speech)

啥子 (sázi) – what, based on the casual substitute word 啥 for 什么 (also often pronounced as sáza)

闹热 (nàorè) – lively, as opposed to the usual 热闹

可以 (kěyǐ), pronounced as as “kǒyǐ”

冒菜 (màocài) – a local variant of malatang (麻辣烫）

抄手 (chāoshǒu) – (v) to fold arms up the sleeves; (四川) wonton, dumpling

稀饭 (xīfàn) – congee, 粥, literally "thin rice"

干饭 (gānfàn) – regular rice, 米饭, "dry rice" to distinguish from 稀饭

嘛 (ma) - often heard at the end of sentences, just a local sound! Not (as I understand it) generally associated with some of its other meanings (like impatience, stating the obvious, etc)

See you next time. 下次见！

#vocab #sichuan #sichuanese #sichuan dialect #mandarin #mandarin vocab #chinese language #mandarin chinese #chinese #language learning #chinese vocab #mandarin langblr #chinese langblr #langblr #chinese dialect

[biglittleluobo]

萝卜's Beginner Guide to Sichuanese!

大家好！

Welcome to the first in an unofficial series of posts where I will share the (very large) amount of new vocab, cultural experiences, and topics that I was introduced to while spending ~5 weeks in China!

Today’s topic is: Sichuanese! 🌶️🌶️🌶️

I won’t pretend to be an expert in Sichuanese (yet, please chime in / add here if you are!), but I spent >50% of my time in the province while abroad which gave me lots of exposure. It certainly took me by surprise at the beginning! After about two weeks I started to get a better feel for it. Here’s some tips and vocab for getting started:

1. Get ready to hear 得 (“dei” pronunciation) just about everywhere, this is an essential character thrown around constantly. Most common are these three words:

要得 (yǎodei) – yes, good

没得 (módei) – no

晓得 (xiǎodei) – understand, aka 明白

Sometimes it also just randomly appears, for example 得行 (deixíng) has the exact same meaning as 行 (fine, okay)! You just gotta expect it.

2. The majority of Sichuanese people do not pronounce the “h” in sounds like “ch”, “sh”, “zh”. This makes it very tricky for a student (like me!) who still internally looks up lots of words, so any “s-” word could be a word that starts with “sh-” OR a word that just starts with “s-”. Some examples:

橙汁 (chéngzhī) as "cengzi"

这儿 (zhè’er) as “zer”

什么时候 (shénme shíhou) as “sazisihou”

是不是 (shìbùshì) as “sib’si” (with the u sound in “bu” typically omitted)

3. The “an” sound is pronounced as in the English word “can” (as opposed to the usual pronunciation which is a bit more like the “awn” sound in “yawn”). Combined with (2), this has the very cute effect of turning 吃饭 (chīfàn) into something more like “cifaan”, and is something you should expect to hear a lot in a province like Sichuan! Just be aware that this applies to every “an”-suffixed word and can sometimes totally change how you hear it. In many ways I feel like this feature makes it sound a bit reminiscent of American southern dialects.

4. There are a few other Sichuanese alternative pronunciations to be aware of:

“Hu” is often pronounced as “fu”, leading 护照 (hùzhào) to sound like “fuzao”, or 西湖 (Xīhú) as “xifu”

“R” sounds can sometimes be pronounced with a “y”, e.g. 容 (róng) as “yong”

Most tricky is that the flat 1st tone is very rare, and many characters simply have different tones than “Standard” Mandarin. As far as I can tell (and have read online), there isn’t really a systematic adjustment for this, it’s just how it is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

5. Surprisingly, though Sichuan is a southern province, there are tons of erhua around! At least here, it seems like the 儿 ends up quite merged with the original word. Some examples I heard:

米粉 (mǐfěn) as “mifer” (extremely delicious breakfast option!)

老板 (lǎobǎn) as “laober”

没得 (módei) as “moder” (apparently extremely rarely heard though)

豆花 (dòuhuā) as “douhua’er” (quite common in northern Mandarin as well)

熊猫 (xióngmāo) as “xiongmer”

And finally, a few more Sichuanese specialties!

好(多)钱 - how much does it cost, aka 多少钱 (the 多 is sometimes omitted in quick speech)

啥子 (sázi) – what, based on the casual substitute word 啥 for 什么 (also often pronounced as sáza)

闹热 (nàorè) – lively, as opposed to the usual 热闹

可以 (kěyǐ), pronounced as as “kǒyǐ”

冒菜 (màocài) – a local variant of malatang (麻辣烫）

抄手 (chāoshǒu) – (v) to fold arms up the sleeves; (四川) wonton, dumpling

稀饭 (xīfàn) – congee, 粥, literally "thin rice"

干饭 (gānfàn) – regular rice, 米饭, "dry rice" to distinguish from 稀饭

嘛 (ma) - often heard at the end of sentences, just a local sound! Not (as I understand it) generally associated with some of its other meanings (like impatience, stating the obvious, etc)

See you next time. 下次见！

#vocab #sichuan #sichuanese #sichuan dialect #mandarin #mandarin vocab #chinese language #mandarin chinese #chinese #language learning #chinese vocab #mandarin langblr #chinese langblr #langblr #chinese dialect

[biglittleluobo]

大家好！

Hello hello! I am back from China and after a few weeks of crazy catch up at work after all my time away I am back to tumblr as well :)

I intend to start tomorrow sharing posts covering vocab and experiences I had abroad. Please look forward to it! I will try to keep them at least semi-regular :p

[biglittleluobo]

大家好！好久不见！

Sorry I’ve been away for quite some time, I’ll be gone for a little more and life has been busy preparing. Next week I’m going to China for the first time!!!! I’ll be there for around 5 weeks around Sichuan, Shanghai, and Hangzhou. I’m super excited to eat lots of food and experience the lunar new year in all of its chaos and cheer! I’m also hoping for a boost to my listening comprehension as part of my immersion, since I feel like I can usually express myself okay at this point. Time will tell…

As part of this milestone event, it also feels about time to drop Duolingo for good. Yesterday I reached a streak of 1111, which feels like a nice satisfying number. Tbh duolingo has mostly just been a counter for me for the past several months, tracking exactly how long it had been since I started learning, but I had pro anyways so I just kept it. Now that I’m just over 3 years in, it doesn’t seem worth it to keep. The lack of new content for Chinese as well as their dropping of real translators has helped me finally say it’s time to move on. It definitely was useful at the very beginning just for hammering vocab and bugging me to study, but there was sooooo much I had to learn outside of the app that I can’t imagine anyone trying to use it by itself.

Instead recently I’ve been using Du Chinese and loving it! The graded reader system is nice (I’m currently between intermediate and upper intermediate) and the topics are useful, including culture, slang, history, current events, and more! My favorite is the ability to turn any word in the stories into a flash card instantly. I was always too lazy to make my Anki by hand and just studying HSK premade decks seems a bit too dry vs learning in context, so the built in flash card + spaced repetition system works great for me. Highly recommend!!

Keep up all the good work my friends! I’ll try to be back more when I return and share some of the fun things I learned! 加油！

Wishing everyone a happy new year of the dragon! 祝大家新年快乐！恭喜发财！

#personal #long post #china #travel #lunar new year #duolingo #du chinese

[biglittleluobo]

Oops Beryllium (Be, 铍) and Boron (B, 硼) were missing from the original post but now have been added! Take every chance you can to enjoy Chinese periodically 😎

🧑‍🔬🧑‍🔬🧪🧪 Chemical elements (化学元素) 🥼🥼⚗️⚗️

I have learned something amazing which is that the Chinese word for sodium (Na) is … 钠 (nà)! If only they all matched like that!!

Ex: 低钠酱油 (dī nà jiàng yóu) - low sodium soy sauce

Sometimes you may see the word 卤 (鹵/滷，lǔ, halogen or salt) used to describe dishes or sauces, such as 卤肉饭 (lǔ ròu fàn, braised pork rice), 打卤面 (dǎ lǔ miàn, noodles with thick gravy), 卤虾油 (lǔ xiā yóu, shrimp sauce).

Here is the first three rows of the periodic table!

Hydrogen (H) - 氢 (qīng)

Helium (He) - 氦 (hài)

Lithium (Li) - 锂 (lǐ)

Beryllium (Be) - 铍 (pí)

Boron (B) - 硼 (péng)

Carbon (C) - 碳 (tàn)

Nitrogen (N) - 氮 (dàn)

Oxygen (O) - 氧 (yǎng)

Fluorine (F) - 氟 (fú)

Neon (Ne) - 氖 (nǎi)

Sodium (Na) - 钠 (nà)

Magnesium (Mg) - 镁 (měi)

Aluminum (Al) - 铝 (lǚ)

Silicon (Si) - 硅 (guī)

Phosphorus (P) - 磷 (lín)

Sulfur (S) - 硫 (líu)

Chlorine (Cl) - 氯 (lǜ)

Argon (Ar) - 氩 (yà)

And a few more useful ones:

Iron (Fe) - 铁 (tiě)

Gold (Au) - 金 (jīn)

Silver (Ag) - 银 (yín)

Examples:

地铁 (dì tiě) - subway; short for (地下铁道, “underground iron path”)

金银 (jīn yín) - gold and silver, can be used to refer to ancient currency

穿金戴银 (chuān jīn dài yín) - to be dressed in gold (clothes) and silver (ornamentation) (idiom)

Radical practice

Notice how all of the above (except gold) have a radical based on 金 (钅, metal, gold), 气 (air, gas), or 石 (stone). Makes sense based on each element right? ;)

[biglittleluobo]

🧑‍🔬🧑‍🔬🧪🧪 Chemical elements (化学元素) 🥼🥼⚗️⚗️

I have learned something amazing which is that the Chinese word for sodium (Na) is … 钠 (nà)! If only they all matched like that!!

Ex: 低钠酱油 (dī nà jiàng yóu) - low sodium soy sauce

Sometimes you may see the word 卤 (鹵/滷，lǔ, halogen or salt) used to describe dishes or sauces, such as 卤肉饭 (lǔ ròu fàn, braised pork rice), 打卤面 (dǎ lǔ miàn, noodles with thick gravy), 卤虾油 (lǔ xiā yóu, shrimp sauce).

Here is the first three rows of the periodic table!

Hydrogen (H) - 氢 (qīng)

Helium (He) - 氦 (hài)

Lithium (Li) - 锂 (lǐ)

Beryllium (Be) - 铍 (pí)

Boron (B) - 硼 (péng)

Carbon (C) - 碳 (tàn)

Nitrogen (N) - 氮 (dàn)

Oxygen (O) - 氧 (yǎng)

Fluorine (F) - 氟 (fú)

Neon (Ne) - 氖 (nǎi)

Sodium (Na) - 钠 (nà)

Magnesium (Mg) - 镁 (měi)

Aluminum (Al) - 铝 (lǚ)

Silicon (Si) - 硅 (guī)

Phosphorus (P) - 磷 (lín)

Sulfur (S) - 硫 (líu)

Chlorine (Cl) - 氯 (lǜ)

Argon (Ar) - 氩 (yà)

And a few more useful ones:

Iron (Fe) - 铁 (tiě)

Gold (Au) - 金 (jīn)

Silver (Ag) - 银 (yín)

Examples:

地铁 (dì tiě) - subway; short for (地下铁道, “underground iron path”)

金银 (jīn yín) - gold and silver, can be used to refer to ancient currency

穿金戴银 (chuān jīn dài yín) - to be dressed in gold (clothes) and silver (ornamentation) (idiom)

Radical practice

Notice how all of the above (except gold) have a radical based on 金 (钅, metal, gold), 气 (air, gas), or 石 (stone). Makes sense based on each element right? ;)

#vocab #mandarin vocab #mandarin #chinese language #mandarin chinese #chinese #language learning #chinese vocab #chemistry #chemical elements #mandarin langblr #chinese langblr #langblr

[biglittleluobo]

纸上谈兵

纸上谈兵 (zhǐ shàng tán bīng) – literally, “to discuss military strategy on paper”

Meaning – “inflexible theory will not solve real-world issues in practice” or even as a descriptor meaning “armchair strategist”

大家好！

Welcome back everyone for another 成语 aka Chinese idiom or proverb, brought to you by yours truly, 萝卜！Today we will be learning 纸上谈兵！This is a real historical story about the Battle of Chángpíng (长平之战) during the Warring States period in ancient China but it definitely still has relevance today. I’m sure you can all imagine a time where being “book-smart” has landed someone in hot water! Let’s get to it!

During the Warring States period, General Zhào Shē (赵奢) famously repelled an invading Qín army while significantly outmanned, becoming a hero of the Zhào kingdom (赵国). His son, Zhào Kuò (赵括) surrounded himself with military books, reading them over and over until he could handily defeat both peers and military officers in discussions about military strategy. Consequently, Zhào Kuò developed quite a reputation as a strategic genius! (With arrogance to match!) Despite this, his father feared that he simply recited theory and lacked the flexibility required in real battle. He warned the country officials that, should his son ever lead an army, the country would suffer a great defeat. This fell on deaf ears, however, as they assumed “like father, like son”. Surely it would work out...

Later, after Zhào Shē passed away, a protracted battle was occurring at Chángpíng between the Qín and Zhào armies. Led by another famous general named Lián Pō (廉颇), the Qín army could not break through. Instead, they started a rumor: “Oh the Qín army is soooo afraid of Zhào Shē’s son, the famously brilliant strategist!!” As the rumor spread, the king of Zhào sent Zhào Kuò to replace Lián Pō, who was elated to finally get to put his knowledge to the test. Upon arrival, Zhào Kuò changed the entire strategy, much to the chagrin of the soldiers. Without a choice though, they followed his orders into battle, where all 400,000 of them were lost in battle, including Zhào Kuò!

And that’s it! Did you enjoy the story? Not a very happy ending (unless you’re from the kingdom of Qín, who did eventually unify China!) but a fitting pair to 熟能生巧 (“practice makes perfect”). It’s one thing to be book-smart, another to put it into action! While it’s good to build knowledge, don’t be afraid to hop in and start practicing whatever you want to improve! Your mind is a muscle too! 💪

Here are the other idioms that popped up in this story:

以少胜多 (yǐ shǎo shèng duō) – “using few to defeat many”, meaning “to win from a position of weakness”

哑口无言 (yǎ kǒu wú yán) – “dumbstruck and unable to reply”, meaning “left speechless” or “at a loss for words”

虎父无犬子 (hǔ fù wú quǎn zǐ) – “a lion father cannot have a dog for a son”, meaning “like father like son”, though n.b. this would exclusively be used in a positive manner! More like “with such a distinguished father, the son is sure to do well”.

听信谣言 (tīng xìn yáo yán) – “to take heed of idle chatter”

See you next time! 再见！

#成语 #chengyu #idiom #chinese idiom #纸上谈兵 #vocab #mandarin vocab #chinese vocab #language learning #chinese language #mandarin chinese #langblr #mandarinblr #mandarin langblr #mandarin #chinese

[biglittleluobo]

🌿🌕✨

外国的月亮比较圆 - “the moon is rounder in other countries”

A funny phrase I learned today, the equivalent of “the grass is always greener on the other side”!

Do you feel that way sometimes too? 🌝

#nice I’m loving this addition! #so much fun learning how other humans around the world think about the same concepts #thanks don-dake for matching the formatting too! great collab :) #this has been such a popular post too maybe I should make more of these 🤔 #mandarin #cantonese #chinese language #language

[biglittleluobo]

🌿🌕✨

外国的月亮比较圆 - “the moon is rounder in other countries”

A funny phrase I learned today, the equivalent of “the grass is always greener on the other side”!

Do you feel that way sometimes too? 🌝

#proverb #vocab #mandarin #chinese language #mandarin chinese #chinese #mandarin vocab #language learning #chinese vocab #mandarin langblr #mandarinblr #idiom #chinese idiom

[biglittleluobo]

#it is funny how we learn these structures as separate but they all kinda have the same vibe #I always think of it as more like ‘towards’ or ‘in the direction of’ #the first version translates literally #second one I imagine looking at a subject and thinking ‘I am interested in that (thing I am looking at’ #of course that can also be a concept not just physical objects #and then ‘treat’ here again is still just like the first version #the waiter ‘towards’ me is warm #also they didn’t cover the actual first use of 对 that I learned which is ‘correct’? #wild #chinese grammar #vocab #chinese language #mandarin chinese #mandarinblr

[biglittleluobo]

Punny Chinese show titles

Chinese is a great language for puns, and when I “get” puns, it makes me feel so accomplished as a learner! In the spirit of puns, today I will share three show titles that are all plays on words based on 成语 (chengyu).

(1) 拳力以赴的我们

拳力以赴的我们 (quánlìyǐfù de wǒmen) was a boxing show in which celebrities/entertainers/athletes faced off in a multi-stage boxing tournament.

全力以赴 quánlìyǐfù - to do at all costs / to make an all-out effort

In the show’s title, the 全 in the chengyu has been replaced with 拳 quán, which means fist or boxing. I thought this show title was very amusing and clever when I first encountered it. It’s probably my favorite of the three.

(2) 声生不息 

声生不息 (shēngshēngbùxī) is a singing show featuring collaborations by prominent singers. The first season featured many Hong Kong singers, and the second season features many Taiwanese singers.

生生不息 shēngshēngbùxī - to grow and multiply without end

The first 生 has been replaced by 声 shēng, which means sound or voice (voice in this context). I think this chengyu is very fitting since the show features singers from the older generation, the younger generation, and in between.

(3) 声入人心

声入人心 (shēngrùrénxīn) was a singing competition show for young male singers, its distinguishing feature being the focus on classically-trained singers.

深入人心 shēnrùrénxīn - to enter deeply into people’s hearts / to have a real impact on the people

Here we see 声 shēng again, so the show’s title can be understood as “voice entering into people’s hearts.” What a perfect name for this type of show—it had some seriously amazing voices like 阿云嘎 and 周深!

#these are great! #成语 #chengyu #chinese #mandarin chinese #chinese language

[biglittleluobo]

成语故事 – 望梅止渴

望梅止渴 / wàng méi zhǐ kě

lit: "to quench one's thirst by imagining plums"

meaning: to relieve hurt / console oneself by imagining something good/illusions

生词：

部队 (部隊) / bù duì / army, troops

讨伐（討伐） / tǎo fá / to send (army) to suppress / crusade

叛军（叛軍）/ pàn jūn / rebel group/army

正直 / zhèng zhí / just when...

随身（隨身） / suí shēn / to carry (on one's person)

携带（攜帶）/ xié dài / to carry (TW pronunciation: xī dài)

喝光 / hē guāng / to drink all of, to drink up/finish

体弱（體弱）/ tǐ ruò / debility

中暑 / zhòng shǔ / heatstroke

晕倒（暈倒）/ yūn dǎo / to pass out, faint

向导（嚮導）/ xiàng dǎo / guide, escort

绕路（繞路）/ rào lù / to make a detour

饥渴（飢渴）/ jī kě / hungry and thirsty

沉思 / chén sī / to ponder, contemplate

声张（聲張）/ shēng zhāng / to disclose, make public

加把劲儿（加把勁兒）/ jiā bǎ jìn er / to make extra effort

解渴 / jiě kě / to quench thirst

仿佛（彷彿）/ as if

步伐 / bù fá / pace

故事：

东汉末年，曹操率领部队去讨伐叛军张绣。当时正值盛夏，太阳火辣辣地照着大地，将士们随身携带的水中就喝光了，行军速度越来越慢，有几个体弱的士兵还因为中暑晕倒在路边。看到这种情况，曹操非常着急，他立刻叫来向导，悄悄问他：“这附近有没有水源？”

向导摇了摇头，说：“最近的水源也在山谷的另一边，要绕路才能过去。”

曹操看了看饥渴的士兵，沉思了一会儿，对向导说：“你专心带路吧，不要声张，水的事情让我来想办法。”

说完，曹操骑马爬山一个山头，他假装向远处看了看，然后扭过头对士兵们说：“大家加把劲儿，我找到解渴的东西了！”

士兵们一听，一下子来了精神，忙问：“什么东西？”

曹操指了指前方，说：“这条路我以前曾经走过，我知道在前面不远的地方有一片梅林，梅子结得又多又大，到了那儿就可以解渴了。”

士兵们听了，口水直流，仿佛已经吃到了酸甜可口的梅子，顿时觉得没那么渴了，步伐也随之加快了。这时，曹操派人快步翻过山谷，取来水，士兵们痛快地喝足了水，又继续赶路了。

#chengyu #成语 #mandarin chinese #language learning