Back on track

I’m pleased to say that I have returned and will continue to aid you in your effort to learn Chinese.

Contrary to what one reader suspected, I didn’t get abducted (;-) ), a bit unlike a man in the neighbourhood, who was detained and not seen again since. Admittedly, he threatened to assassin our country’s leading political figures during the Olympic opening ceremony. He must have been in a drunken stupor, because he did so in front of a group of soldiers, one of whom, to his demise, understood the Wu-dialect.

Quite a lot of distractions, both positive and negative ones, account for my unexpected, long absence.

Our two-year-old daughter Meiyu 美玉 has taken up erhu classes, I feel so proud of her.

My mother lost her false teeth and father tripped over a sewing machine, so I had to procure quite a lot of money within little time, because I mustn’t use up either our savings or rely on my husband, because he had to invest a lot into his company recently. His willingness to take a risk has paid off (literally), though. He will return to see his family for six weeks. I still can’t quite believe it. I hope he won’t squander too much money buying gifts for us, that’s always a little scary (and embarrassing, if the new qipao is somewhat tight).

Immense grief fills my heart whenever I give English classes for workers because one of my students, a female factory worker who’s only a few years older than me, is not present. She died in an accident at work, leaving behind her 5-year-old daughter and her husband who is dying of a lung disease. I feel as if my insides have been torn apart, because I know the family well. I have no idea what to do to help them. I consider an adoption of the little one, if we work hard we can afford it, but I don’t know anything about official regulations…It is deeply troubling, but no one dares despair.

I don’t think I have slept more than four hours per night for several weeks. I’m sure the world will look much brighter as soon as I’ve had enough sleep.

See you on Monday, and good luck with your studies.

Accents – Your help required!

I’m planning to produce a series of podcasts introducing the various accents found in China and in other Chinese-speaking countries/areas. So if you are a native speaker and would like to be featured or if you know somebody (friends, tutors, co-workers, students, relatives…) with a distinct accent, please send me an email/ post a comment. All they need is internet access and a microphone.

It all depends on your collaboration!

Love is…

I have a few anecdotes to share, I hope you don’t mind the fact that you won’t learn too many characters from them. However, you will learn something about the characteristics of this country.

Just when I had sat down on a low wall with a cone of fruit ice cream in one hand and the wrist of my child in the other, I noticed two girls standing in front of plaque, chatting animatedly in what I think was French.

Suddenly – I had already turned my attention away from them – they approached me and sat down next to me. A slightly awkward silence followed. Then, the older of the girls spoke up: “请问， 社会主义是什么?”* I wasn’t sure whether I had understood her correctly so I asked her to tell me again: “请你再说一边啊.”** She complied. Still confused, I replied “社会主义是Socialism的意思.”*** “Oh. —You speak English?” “A little.” Stunned silence. Then: “But what exactly is Socialism?”

Oh my.

* Qing3wen4, she4hui4zhu3yi4 shi4 shen2me? Excuse me, what is “Socialism”?

** Qing3 ni3 zai4 shuo1 yi1bian1 a. Please say it once again.

*** She4hui4zhu3yi4 shi4 “Socialism” de yi4si. It means “Socialism”.

Bog-Standard Roadkill

Sometimes I’m not sure at all whether people coming to China actually know that the country they’re going to live in is neither some jungle outpost nor a squeaky clean western colony.

I get to hear the most mind-boggling remarks from the foreigners I meet, whether they are students of mine or mere acquaintances.

I don’t get insulted easily, talk like this simply amuses me and makes me wonder how the PRC is portrayed abroad. I hope you don’t think I’m prejudiced or trying to bash laowais. I beg you not to misunderstand me and be offended, instead I’d like you to laugh alongside me.

Example 1:

Just this morning, one of the people I tutor, an expat’s wife, mentioned her utmost surprise about the fact that there are ROADS in China. Um, duh. We’ve been familiar with the concept of streets for quite a while now…

Example 2:

For the umpteenth time, one of my friends complained to me how backwards “we” are because there are *still* squat toilets in China. I’m not partial to dirty toilets either, but I’m sure that everyone can get accustomed to them. Someone who has lived here for more than three years shouldn’t be blowing his top each time he has to use a squat toilet.

Example 3:

“It’s outrageous! They can’t even speak English!” This is a particular favourite of mine. I’ve overheard this kind of sentence being uttered countless times. Makes me wonder how proficient these people (usually tourists) are in Chinese. Or Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Japanese…Most of them don’t speak any foreign languages, at least they are no more successful at than the average Chinese citizen. Just a few times I went to the bother of asking them which foreign languages they actually speak. For example, one US-American answered: “Uh, I..had some German in High School” Great. Why don’t you go to Germany, then? Just to see how far you’ll come with your knowledge and how enthusiastic people are going to be there about some arrogant bloke who dares to talk down to people who are at least making an effort.

Example 4:

“They don’t even speak Chinese.” This might seem like a variation of the above, but in fact the problem is completely different. Sorry guys. Even I didn’t grow up in a standard-Chinese environment. (In fact, I’m familiar with putonghua and three regional dialects. Can’t really speak them properly, but understanding them is ok. I’m not talking about accents, though! That’s child’s play in comparison to the dialects. And yes, they are “Chinese”, it’s just that they aren’t “Mandarin”.)

Example 5:

And, finally, there are those pseudo-intellectuals why love giving lectures about propaganda but don’t realize they get their fair share of that as well.

Characters 191 – 210 : Professions

Bad news: I somehow managed to lose my only pair of glasses. It might have been nicked while I was sleeping in the bus – but who in the world steals spectacles? Anyway, today you can indulge in a list of job-related expressions. If you should happen find a pair of horn-rimmed glasses with a green frame, give me a shout.

There are a number of professions that can also serve as terms for addressing people, so instead of calling someone Mrs. Li or Mr. Wu, you could (and should, if you know their (current or former) job, because it’s more respectful) call them Teacher Li and Medical Doctor Wu. Those marked with an asterisk can be used this way. The application of the others is limited to describing a certain profession.

This time, I will try a different format: Give you the characters first and then a list of compounds. Some of the hanzi should be familiar from previous posts, I will only list their pronunciation, let’s see whether you can still remember the translations. If your job title was not amongst the expressions introduced today, leave a comment or send a mail.

学

xue2

LEARN, STUDY, -OLOGY, KNOWLEDGE. The childhood is devoted to learning – about the world and at school. The latter is represented here, a child 子 below a roof (with three chimneys, so it’s a big building – a school) Notice the similarity to 字 (zi4, character, letter) – indeed, Chinese kids spend most of their elementary school years practicing the characters, but this time at home (only one chimney), under the supervision of their strict parents. Ah, the memories… sore hands (and sore buttocks in some cases) and a head swimming with strokes and nightmares involving pink birds skilled in martial arts singing the Beijing Opera – a weird blend of television shows and popular themes of poems, which every Chinese kid has to memorize.

生

sheng1

BORN. A weed with a leaf sprouting from the side.

老

lao3

师

shi1

MASTER; SPECIALIST; TEACHER. The 帀 standard-bearer in an army (represented by the sword 刂, granted, even in China we have switched to guns) has a special, honourable duty. A master in his/her field of expertise carries the torch of wisdom.

教

jiao1/jiao4

授

shou4

GIVE; TRANSMIT; CONFER. One gives using the hands 手 (shou3), the other one receives 受 (shou4).

医

yi1

CURE; DOCTOR; MEDICINE. Someone who has taken an (Hippocratic) oath 矢 (shi3) working in a designated place (a hospital) who practices MEDICINE and tries 矢(represents an arrow) to CURE patients.

博

bo2

AMPLE, LEARNED; GAIN. You put in a certain amount of effort (十 ten) and hope the result will be greater 甫 (fu3, great) by at least a small margin 寸.

士

shi4

员

yuan2

MEMBER. In order to join an organization 囗 (wei2, represents the “confinements”), you usually have to pay a small fee 贝 (bei4, money)

工

gong1

科

ke1

家

jia1

FAMILY. In former times, domestic animals like pigs 豕 would live with the families (below stilt houses or even in adjacent pens)

记

ji4

RECORD; REMEMBER. The speak 讠 radical hints at the meaning. The 己 could be a brain convulsion.

者

zhe3

农

nong2

AGRICULTURE; FARMING. Could represent a harvesting machine, or a man with a plow.

民

min2

PEOPLE, CIVILIAN, PUBLIC. According to an etymological dictionary, this character is the picture of “The vagina of a woman from which people come”, which is a bit weird, especially seeing as this character is part of the official name of China as well as its currency. Being a biology teacher, the only remotely helpful mnemonic I can think of association “pubic” (stemming from the etymology) with “public”. Lame, I know.

业

ye4

BUSINESS; OCCUPATION; STUDY. Looks like a stack of boo

主

zhu3

电

dian4

ELECTRICAL; ELECTRICITY. Benjamin Franklin’s notorious kite, or a lightning rod.

小

xiao3

贩

fan4

TRADE; BUY AND SELL. Handing over goods in exchange 反 (“anti”, fan3) for money 贝.

傅

fu4

TEACH. ADD TO; ATTACH. A person 亻who strives for greatness 甫 (fu3, begin, great, father).

大

da4/dai4

夫

fu1

警

jing1

GUARD; WARN; AGILE. A well-respected person 敬 (jing4, honour, respect, salute) whose duty it is to guard people and make them aware (言 yan2 speak) of dangers .

察

cha3

SCRUTINISE, OBSERVE; EXAMINE.

秘

mi4

ABSTRUSE, SECRET. Grains and a crossed out heart are a really abstruse combination. Some things are so secret that divulging them would cause heartburn.

书

shu1

BOOK, DOCUMENT. A stack of files or books.

经

jing1

MANAGE, ARRANGE, REGULATE. The activity of making sure all the work 工 runs as smoothly as silk 纟(si1) over a long 久 (jiu3, long time) period of time.

理

li3

LAW; TRUTH, REASON, THEORY; RIGHT, DOCTRINE; SCIENCE. A king’s 王 decision should be based on these principles, righteousness and lawfulness should be found within 里 (li3, inside) every branch of the government.

Now, the compounds. Try to find a good mnemonic on you own, using the literal translations or the information provided.

学生

xue2sheng

STUDENT.

老师 *

lao3shi

TEACHER.

教授 *

jiao4shou4

PROFESSOR.

医生 *

yi1sheng1

DOCTOR (medicine)

博士 *

bo2shi4

Ph.D.

员工

yuan2gong1

EMPLOYEE.

科学家

ke1xue2jia1

SCIENTIST.

记者

ji4zhe3

JOURNALIST.

农民

nong2min2

FARMER.

业主

ye4zhu3

BUSINESS OWNER.

电工

dian4gong1

ELECTRICIAN.

小贩

xiao3fan4

STREET VENDOR

师傅 *

shi1fu

“MASTER”, polite address for drivers or service people in general.

大夫 *

dai4fu

DOCTOR (medicine)

警察 *

jing1cha3

POLICE OFFICER.

秘书 *

mi4shu1

SECRETARY. (not applicable for terms like “party secretary” or “secretary of state”!)

经理 *

jing1li3

MANAGER.

Characters 171-190

见

jian4

APPEAR, SEE. It’s actually a picture of an eye with lashes. This was more obvious in the traditional form: 見

现

xian4

NOW, PRESENT, SHOW. Kings 王 like to SHOW off their wealth, PRESENTing it for everyone.

讯

xun4

INVESTIGATE; INTERROGATE; INFORMATION. Another character that contains the “speak”-radical. Apart from that, there’s also a cross, so we could think of the investigation work a coroner has to perform on dead bodies. Perhaps thinking of the Chinese news agency Xinhua will aid you with the pronunciation.

新

xin1

NEW, RECENT. See previous post for 亲, but it also means hazel-tree. So in order to begin something new 新 you have to cut down that nagging tree 亲 with the ax 斤.

到

dao4

ARRIVE. After a long walk (the element in the upper left corner could be a shoe), you finally arrive at your destination 土, you hang your coat (actually, it’s a saber, but not many carry around these nowadays) on the wall.

站

zhan4

STAND, STOP, STATION. It looks like a picture of a train station (the vase-like part could be the building, the element on the left the train), if you allow your imagination to run wild.

问

wen4

ASK, INQUIRE. Someone approaches the door 门 , but stops dead right before it to ask (open his mouth 口) what’s going on inside.

章

zhang1

CHAPTER, PATTER, SYSTEM. When you get 立 up early 早 in the morning, a new day and chapter of your life begins. Dividing a book into chapters creates a kind of patter.

过

guo/guo4

PASS. CELEBRATE. Grammatical indicator of PAST TENSE. The 辶 walk-radical and an inch 寸。 You have a reason to celebrate if a bullet misses you (flies past you) by hair’s breadth.

的

de, di4

POSSESSIVE INDICATOR. AIM. Grammatical function: 我的妈妈 = my mother， 父母的车 = the parents‘ car Most people strive for wealth, so it’s their lifelong goal. Those who already have achieved it were often born with a silver (or in this case, shiny white 白 [bai2]) spoon 勺 (shao2) in their mouths.

在

zai4

AT,IN, PLACED, EXIST. The place 土 you stay AT is a hostel, so you’re 亻 lucky to have a cheap roof 冖 above your head. 冖

果

guo3

FRUIT. Fields 田(tian2) and trees 木 (mu4) bring forth fruit.

说

shuo1

SPEAK, SAY. The radical at the side 讠(yan2,words) hints at the meaning, the part at the right looks like a person, perhaps raising her eyebrows in excitement, with legs 儿 and a huge mouth 口.

知

zhi1

KNOW, AWARE. 矢 means “vow”, so when you take an oath (“speak” 口), you should be aware of the implications.

时

shi2

TIME. Consists of 日 day (ri4) and a small measuring unit 寸 (cun4). A day is just a small fraction of time, after all.

如

ru2

IF, AS IF. Women 女 tend to be less decisive in their statements 口.

有

you3

HAVE. If you have something, you needn’t promise the moon 月.

能

neng2

CAN, BE ABLE TO. It symbolizes a bear with claws 匕匕, a head and meat 月 in his mouth (the moon radical coincides with the meat-radical:月 Meat itself is represented by the hanzi肉 ). See this ancient form of the character:

对

dui4

CORRECT. TOWARDS. It’s as though someone tried to write the left part twice but used an old brush so one of the lines is interrupted, so the reproduction was inCORRECT.

工

gong1

WORK, PROFESSION; CRAFT; WORKER. There are several ways to memorise this character: 1. It resembles the Roman numeral for 1. To most people, work has the highest priority, demanding most of their time. 2. Still going with the “1″ interpretation, let me quote Marx: “Workers of the world, unite”, become ‘one’. 3. It could represent the two levels in labour hierarchy, the employers and the employees.

左

zuo3

LEFT. Left-wing parties are traditionally workers’ parties, so the 工 (see above) provides a good mnemonic.

右

you4

RIGHT. One should only speak 口 (kou3, mouth) right and proper things.

I’m really tired now, I will publish the rest of mnemonics tomorrow. Do not hesitate to leave a comment or send a mail, I would really love to hear from you, whether it’s a question, some info about how your Chinese learning getting on, or just saying hello.

And, very important: I know I make countless mistakes concerning English grammar or word usage, partly because I don’t really watch what I’m writing, partly because I’m not aware of it. Please correct any big mistakes that you find. I need to constantly improve.

Characters 141-170 : Family Affairs Part 一

Since I’m so elated that my husband finally got a week off to come and see me, I’ll provide you with some family-related vocab.

If you can think of more mnemonics or if you have anything else to share, feel free to comment or send me a mail: zhanglihua80 (at) ymail (dot) com .

In Chinese, there is a staggering number of terms for the various family members. We distinguish between paternal and maternal relatives. In addition to that, it’s also important whether they are younger or older than you. Due to the One-Child policy, some of the more fanciful expressions are slowly going extinct. There are usually informal and formal terms that differ quite a bit.

妈妈

ma1ma

MOM, MOTHER. (informal). The 女 (nü3, woman) gives the meaning, 马 (ma3, horse) provides the sound. Note that in most languages, the word for “mother” contains a kind of soft M-sound. Concerning the 女 radical, bear in mind that the stroke order is the following: the two-part stroke to the left, the falling slant from right to left and then the horizontal one.

爸爸

ba4ba

DAD, FATHER. (informal) The 巴 (ba1) indicates the sound (and it looks a bit like a mirrored b), the 父 (fu4, father) gives the meaning. The 父 can be seen as a coat of arms inherited through one’s father, or a dad who raises his arms in delight about the birth of his child.

父亲

fu4qin1

FATHER. (formal)

亲: (qin1/qing4) parent, dear, kiss, close, relative. Contains the 立 (wei4) stand-radical and the “little bird”小 (xiao3, small) + an extra stroke. So “the bird cannot stand his RELATIVES’ KISSES so it creates a barrier”.

母亲

mu3qin1

MOTHER. (formal)

母: (mu3) Perhaps a picture of the breasts, turned by 90°? (That is indeed the etymology)

爸妈

ba4ma1

PARENTS. (informal)

父母

fu4mu3

PARENTS. (formal)

爷爷

ye2ye

GRANDFATHER (paternal).

爷: Looks a bit like 卫 (wei4, guard, the grandpa is so old the lower stroke got lost) + 父. So if you think of your grandfather being your fathers 父 father and remember the stories he used to guard, you’ve got a mnemonic.

奶奶

nai3nai

GRANDMOTHER (paternal). Interestingly enough, 二奶 (er4nai3, “second lady”) means “mistress, second wife”.

奶: (nai3, lady, milk, breast) 乃, which is the phonetic (nai3) means “indeed”, and indeed any grandmother has lot of experience with these “womanly” topics and can advise her daughter on how to breastfeed properly etc. Since 女 is a picture of a breast, the meaning “milk” is clear as well.

老爷

lao3ye2

GRANDFATHER. (maternal)

老: (lao3, old) The old man, when he rests at a certain place 土 (tu3, earth), he leans on a 匕 (bi3).

姥姥/老老

lao3lao

GRANDMOTHER. (maternal)

姥: (mu3) Women (clarified by 女), need to rest too, see above.

祖父母

zu3fu4mu3

GRANDPARENTS. (paternal)

祖(zu3): The 礻 shows that it’s some kind of cult object. 且 (qie2, further) looks like an altar.

So it is honorary for ancestors.

外祖父母

GRANDPARENTS (maternal)

外: (wai4, foreign, outside) As in a patriarchal society a woman is literally “married off”, the maternal line is always somewhat distant. 夕 (xi1) means dusk or twilight and a 卜 (bu3) is an instrument used for divination, so its something obscure, “out there”, far away.

爷爷奶奶

GRANDPARENTS (paternal, informal)

外公

wai4gong1

GRANDFATHER. (maternal, informal)

公 (gong1): It’s a picture of something coming from a mouth, being “made public”. It is also used to denote (perhaps because men are not as shy as women, they don’t mind being in the spotlight…who knows how this came about) the male, especially of animals.

外婆

wai4po2

GRANDMOTHER. (maternal, informal)

婆 (po2) 波 (bo1) is the phonetic, it means “wave”. Below is the 女 again. An old woman’s skin will be wrinkly and wavy, hence the meaning of 婆.

外公外婆

GRANDPARENTS. (maternal, informal)

姐姐

jie3jie

OLDER SISTER.

姐: 且 the is the phonetic (qie2) and it also means “Moreover”, “further”, so being older than you, she’s further along on the way of becoming an adult/a woman.

妹妹

mei4mei

YOUNGER SISTER.

妹: 未 means “Not yet”, so little sis is not yet a woman.

姊

zi3

OLDER SISTER.

哥哥

ge1ge

OLDER BROTHER.

哥: 可 (ke3) means “can”, so your older brother is more capable than you, he can do everything twice in the time you need to do it once

弟弟

di4di

YOUNGER BROTHER.

弟: looks like a child wrapped in cloth. If you have a younger brother, it was probably your duty to take care of him once in a while, changing his clothes and diapers etc…

兄

xiong1

OLDER BROTHER.

兄: a child 儿 with a big mouth 口, advising you to listen to your elder, more experienced brother.

丈夫

zhang4fu

HUSBAND. (formal, neutral)

丈 (zhang4, elder, survey, sir): I’m sure you can think of a mnemonic with a sexual connotation. The etymology is about 十 measuring units, though.

妻子

qi1zi

WIFE. (formal, neutral)

妻 (qi1) : A woman with an extravagant hairstyle. (The etymology is not particularly nice, the upper part is actually a hand subjugating the woman)

先生

xian1sheng1

HUSBAND. (formal, neutral, somewhat distanced, also as address)

先(xian1, first): A step 止 forward, using the legs 儿. Every journey begin with one step.

太太

tai4tai

WIFE. (formal, neutral, somewhat distanced, also as address)

太(tai4, wife, too much): A person with child on the legs => a married woman with kids. But sometimes all those chores are simply too much.

老公

lao3gong1

HUSBAND. (informal, usually affectionate)

老婆

laopo2

WIFE. (informal, usually affectionate) Careful: 小老婆 is not a favorable diminuitive, but a term for “mistress, lover”!

爱人

ai4ren2

LOVER (=SPOUSE), “beloved person”. Used to be the most common form for “partner” a few decades ago. Now it usually means lover.

爱: You grab a friend 友 (you3) with claws 爫 never letting him go again.

老伴

lao3ban4

BETTER HALF (=SPOUSE). Don’t confuse the pronunciation: lao3ban3 means boss!

伴: The side-person 亻indicates companionship. 半 (ban4) means half, so it’s equivalent to the ENglish expression. It symbolizes in fact a split cow 牛 (niu2).

儿子

er2zi

SON.

女儿

nü3er

DAUGHTER.

独生子女

du2sheng1zi3nü3

ONLY CHILD. literally: “single born offspring (son/girl)”

独(du2) A dog 犭that has many ticks 虫 will be shunned by others, alone.

养

yang3

ADOPTIVE (lit. “RAISE”). 养女 = adopted daughter.

养:a sheep 羊 receives (the arrow points at it) special care, it is raised.

阿姨

a1yi2

AUNT, AUNTIE.

阿 (a1)just a final particle or a friendly prefix for peoples’ names

姨 (yi2) the 女 helps with the meaning, 夷 (yi2, a certain tribe) gives the sound.

Next week, I’ll publish the second part of the family vocabulary. If you have any requests (nope, I won’t cover stuff like older male maternal cousin twice removed ), let me know.

Character 112-140

To make up for yesterday’s absence, 28 new characters for today. They are among the more common ones.

去

qu4

WALK, GO. The earth 土(tu3) and two strokes that look like the tip of a foot, so you tread the floor, hence WALK.

罢

ba4

STOP, CEASE. When you’re entangled in a net 罒 (wang3), you’ll have to stop 罢 to walk 去 (qu4). Ba4 reminds of the Italian/Spanish basta!, enough.

另

ling4, dao1

SEPARATE, OTHER.

已

ying3

ALREADY; STOP, THEN. A squiggly line, just like the third tone. Let’s imagine it used to be straight but was bent ALREADY.

份

fen4

PORTION, SHARE. A share 分 (fen1) of food for a person 亻 (ren2) is a PORTION.

则

ze2

RULE, NORM, STANDARD. The one who takes care of the apportioning刂 (dao1, knife) of the money 贝 (bei4) has to adhere to certain rules则.

情

qing2

EMOTION, SENTIMENT. The 忄(side-heart, xin1) helps with the meaning, 青 (qing1, blue-green) is the phonetic. Perhaps the heart is turning green with envy?

班

ban1

JOB, SQUAD, GROUP,CLASS. The struggle 刂 between two competing GROUPS leads to a transition from one king 王 to the next 王 (wang2). Perhaps the predecessor is even executed by a firing SQUAD who simply did their JOB.

利

li4

PROFIT; ADVANTAGE; GAIN. You cut of a lot of grains 禾 (he2) with a knife 刂 which is sharper (4th tone) than the others and thereby make profit.

远

yuan3

FAR; REMOTE, FLEE. If you are the first 元 (yuan2) to start walking 辶 (chuo2), you will come very far, hopefully further than your persecutors.

读

du2

READ; STUDY; ATTEND SCHOOL. 讠(yan2, words-radical) indicates an intellectual, verbal pursuit. Furthermore, it contains 土 (tu3, soil) and 头 (tou2, head). So STUDYING is an activity involving words, your head (brain) is the soil for the learning process.

死

si3

DIE, EXTREMELY. The pronunciation of this word is the reason why Chinese are a bit superstitious about the number four 四 (si4). “The various knifes dangling from the ceiling in a butcher’s mean death for the animals.”

光

guang1

SHINE, RADIANCE. A person with sparks around it.

怪

guai4

STRANGE, UNUSUAL. There are things on the earth 土 that are so strange that they linger in your heart 忄 and you think of it again 又 (you4) and again.

活

huo2

ALIVE, SIMPLE, MOVABLE. As long as enough liquid氵 reaches one’s tongue 舌 (she2) , one will be hydrated enough and alive.

话

hua4

SPEECH, WORDS, DIALECT. Words “rolling” from one’s tongue. Think of mother tongue or “speaking in tongues”.

试

shi4

TRY; TEST.

科

ke1

FIELD OF STUDY/SCIENCE, DIVISION, TO LEVY.

教

jiao1, jiao4

TEACH(ING), CLASS; RELIGION. The teacher 老师 (lao3 shi1) pushes the knowledge onto the students 子, whose heads are the soil 土 for this teaching. The 夂 (go-radical) could represent a lectern.

未

wei4

NOT YET. A tree 木 with even more branches, but there are NO twigs YET at the top.

计

ji4

COUNT; CALCULATE, PLOT; PLAN. The conventional calculation is based on the decadic (ten 十) system. Also, in a crisis, the leaders will have to discuss STRATEGIEs with their staff (homonym!) of , let’s say, ten people.

反

fan3

ANTI; COUNTER-; INSTEAD. Someone kneeling in front of a factory 厂 (chang3) during a strike.

论

lun4

DISCUSS. People gesticulating sitting together under a roof, the words-radical hints at what they’re occupied with.

少

shao3

FEW; LITTLE, LESS. We have cut away the lower part of 小 (xiao3), now we have even LESS.

区

qu1

AREA, ZONE, DISTRICT. A designated area like on a map.

向

xiang4

FAVOUR; TREND; TOWARD.

全

quan2

COMPLETELY, WHOLE. The king 王 under the roof used to represent that the whole power, he unites all govermental authorities. Homophone with 权 (quan2), authority

方

fang4

DIRECTION. Represents an (Olympic) runner that runs determinedly into the right direction.

Let’s make friends

Reading the Xinhua-News, it becomes…let’s say, obvious…that this is a official press agency. What I’d like to comment on are the funny expressions sometimes used, especially when translated into English. Let me emphasise that I am talking about linguistic aspects, do not falsely read anything political into it.

The following extract if from an “Opinion”-article about the Olympics:

“It is always a great pleasure to meet friends from faraway places. Even if they hold misgivings or bias against China’s development, or are very critical of China, we will warmly welcome them as long as they are willing to come to China to take a look. As to those who do not want to come, we of course will not force them to.” I almost fell of my chair laughing when I read the last sentence. It’s a bit redundant. I’d daresay even suggesting that someone had the power to coerce people into coming to China… would be diametral to the Olympic spirit.

“China’s press circles and so many websites across the nation are still cherishing their fond, sweat memories of June 20th, a joyous day. In the morning of that day, Party General Secretary Hu Jintao came to inspect the office of the People’s Daily, the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) mouthpiece, and had an online chat with netizens.” I reckon it’s no surprise that the English of the majority of Chinese is weird at best, especially when seeing that even the People’s Daily writes stuff like this (I’m not referring to the political part, of course). It sounds very moving, a usual. But…Sweet! I have noticed that most of my students get the registers wrong, writing in too formal a style, or sometimes, if their English is not that fluent, very informally. It is very difficult to teach how to “juggle” with the levels of formality properly.

“only when we attach closer importance to global invents”, “This is where lies the motive force for the continuous, forward advance of the People’s Daily, which has traversed a six-decade course of development .”

I mean, at least to me, the writing style in these articles doesn’t sound natural (even apart from the spelling mistakes), not like authentic English. I’d like to hear the opinions of native speakers.

“This represents the requirement of zeitgeist the CPC Central Committee has set forth for Chinese journalists.” Now we’re bringing German words into the game. Are there other commonly used German words in English? So far, I have only ever seen zeitgeist, blitz, kindergarten and schadenfreude.

I pay so much attention to these articles because once I was in charge of translating Chinese articles into English and Spanish as well, but I must admit that I failed. I never managed to infuse the texts with such a staggering amount of pathos, and to think that I, with my feeble English and even more deplorable Spanish, could be assigned the responsibility to create a naturally flowing article, is quite ludicrous.

Characters 101-111: “Comrades”

As per request, some LGBT vocab for you. (I had no idea what that term stood for, so thanks for broadening my vocabulary). If you don’t care about this kind of stuff, please read on nevertheless, the characters are useful and common (and not queer at all)!

The formal term for homosexuality is 同性恋, and it’s probably just as neutral as its literal equivalent “same-sex love”. 同性恋者 is the term for homosexual person. Let’s break the term down:

同

tong2

EQUAL, SAME. One mouth under one roof (or rather, many ideas lumped together under one umbrella) indicates conformity.

性

xing4

SEX, NATURE (=personality), CHARACTER. The heart is the seat of feeling and thinking in ancient lore, so it seems appropriate that that which is born 生 (sheng1) from the heart 心 (xin1, in this character it appears as the even more stylised side-heart radical) is a person’s character.

恋

lian4

YEARN, LOVE. Below, the “heart” appears again, of course it’s a typical element of poetic descriptions of love. Above this, we can find a part that’s rather non-descript, it appears in 变 (bian4, change)as well, so let’s say, love that comes from the heart is unalterable (a bit Shakepearean, hm?). Note that the traditional form includes “confusion”.

者

zhe3

SOMEONE WHO, THAT WHICH, -ER, -IST. Consists of the upper part of 老(lao3, old, persistently) and 日 (ri4, day). So if you do something again and again, day after day, you are defined by that activity.

Another general term is less technical: 同性爱

爱

ai4

LOVE. It’s got the “claw” radical over “friend” 友 (you3), so when you’re able to grab the heart of someone who used to be your friend…

Formerly used terms (note that they only describe male homosexuality) are 断袖之癖 (duan4xiu4 zhi1 pi3, “the habit of the cut off sleeve”); 男风 (nan2feng1″male style”) or 分桃 (fen1tao2, “the divided peach”). They are, as you can guess rather obscure and would sound weird in modern context. (If someone can enlighten me as to what these expressions refer to, I’d be glad.)

风

feng1

WIND, STYLE, TREND. Look like a storm in a water glass that’s turned upside down. It’s the feng of fengshui.

断

CUT (OFF), SEVER, ABSOLUTELY. Looks like an ax 斤 (jin1) hitting a distribution board/ circuit breaker panel (Which is surely going to go bust).

分

fen1

DIVIDE; SEPARATE, SHARE, MINUTE. A knife 刀 (dao1) cutting up an 8 八(ba1).

Like with the word “gay”, there are self-fashioned terms with a more positive connotation that are becoming more widespread.

同 志 (tong2zhi4), literally “comrade”, is a euphemism that arrived in mainland China via Taiwan. It does refer to “like-minded individuals” and “comrades-in-politics-and-arms” as well.

志

zhi4

WILL, ASPIRATION, SIGN, IDEAL. Consists of 士 (here a phonetic) and 心. So someone who fights like a knight 士 (shi4) for what’s in his heart 心 is a person with strong will.

玻璃 is a little funny at first glance. It means glass. But of you look at the pronunciation bo1li, the first letters spell BL, which stands for boys’ love.

So, what about the lesbians? The use the terms 拉子 (la1zi) or 拉拉 (la1la1) or in fact other variations of the English word. The lesbian scene seems to be much smaller, and there are no places like parks where they can find intercourse offered, unlike their male counterparts (these areas exist only in big cities).

You might wonder whether homosexuality is accepted in China. Well, you’re not going to get into real trouble for it, there are clubs and everything but the parents won’t be happy at all if they found out about the orientation of their child. A survey was created recently http://peijinchen.com/blog/2008/06/18/li-yinhe-on-chinese-attitudes-towards-homosexuality-ten-questions/

Though, bear in mind that there is an abundance of stereotypes (linking them to AIDS, for example) and discrimination and that no steps will be taken in the future since the official stance is not to “promote” it.

Hong Kong is stricter, but I’m not sure about the legislation there.

There are some interesting films to be found online, if you happend to be interested, like Lanyu (蓝宇), Spider Lilies (刺青), Farewell my Concubine (霸王别姬) or Formula 17 (17歲的天空).

别

bie2

OTHER(S), DON’T. The knife element indicates separation, hence OTHER. The mouth hints at the exclamation “DON’T”, and the negation is brought in by the knife as well.

Food for thought: If we accept the commonly mentioned percentage of about 6,5% of the population having homosexual tendencies, that means almost 85 million people in China should be gay, more than the population of, let’s say, Germany or France.