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5-cz · 9 months

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Word of Honor Vocab - Episode 2

after much too long, here we go

若 (ruò) - as if; like

美若天仙

诚意 (chéng'yì) - good faith/sincerity

表明诚意

变数 (biàn'shù) - variable

此事变数很大

步法 (bù'fǎ) - footwork

你的步法很厉害

偏偏 (piān'piān) - lightly/airily; unrestrained

蝴蝶在花丛中偏偏飞舞翩翩少年

仙 (xiān) - celestial being; immortal

凡人和神仙

眼疾 (yǎn'ji2) - eye trouble/ eye disease

我爷爷有眼疾所以它不看清楚

飘飘 (piāo'piāo) - to float about/to flutter

红旗飘飘

流风 (liú'fēng) - customs handed down from past generations

流风余韵

仿佛 (fáng'fú) - seemingly/as if

这事她仿佛已经知道了

轻 (qīng) - light (weight)

工作很轻

所谓 (suǒ'wèi) - what is called/what is known as; so-called

所谓团结，并非一团和气他所谓的朋友都背弃了他

壶 (hú) - kettle/pot

壶里是开水

独酌 (dú'zhuó) - to drink alone

如果你很难过，你应该不独酌

尾随 (wěi'suí) - to tag along after

尾随其后

究竟 (jīu'jìng) - outcome/what actually happened

大家都想知道个究竟

妨 (fáng) - hinder/hamper; harm

你试一试也无妨会妨大事

明示 (míng'shì) - to explicitly instruct

我明示你得做你的功课但是你还没做完了！

傻 (shǎ) - stupid/muddleheaded

吓傻了

剑 (jiàn) - sword

剑柄拔剑

#as always corrections are welcome #most of the sentences are from pleco but where pleco had none i had to come up with some #i have two more vocab lists planned for word of honor and hopefully i get to them soon #m vocab #mandarin #chinese #mandarin studyblr #mandarin vocab #learn mandarin #learn chinese #chinese langblr #chinese studyblr #mandarin langblr #word of honor #shan he ling #山河令 #langblr #chinese language #普通话

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softchinese · 2 years

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Online Mandarin Tests！♡

hello sweeties, what's up? i found a site with chinese tests to improve your study. check the list:

Pinyin: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Numbers: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Animals: 1 | 2 | 3

Body: 1 | 2

Family: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

On and Under: 1 | 2

Colours: 1 | 2

Clothes: 1 | 2 | 3

if you want more, just search here ! hope it can be useful for your study and any questions you have don't hesitate to talk with me. 加油！♡

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xuexishijian · 1 year

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So the other day I posted some linguistics terms vocab, basic terms that I was curious about. And I looked up “dialect” and my dictionary gave me 方言 fāngyán, which I didn’t really question. Like fine, sure, “local speech,” that makes sense as what we call “dialect” in English.

But I just watched this lecture on YouTube called “How Fangyan became Dialects” by historian Dr. Gina Anne Tam and turns out that’s a very loaded assumption! Because basically there’s a long history of the sort of mismatch(?) between western terms for describing linguistic varieties (languages, dialects, vernaculars, etc etc) and those used in China. I’d definitely heard other Chinese languages such as Cantonese or Hokkien described as dialects, and this mistranslation or misrepresentation of 方言 is a major part of this problem.

The idea of language vs. dialect is a complex one, and these terms in Chinese languages don’t map 1-to-1 onto existing European-language ones. Linguists in the 19th and 20th century struggled with this and often made comparisons to what they knew from Europe, imposing distinctions and hierarchies that didn’t necessarily exist prior. Language and nationalism in Europe during these years is also super interesting and something I’ve read some about, and it makes sense then that westerners would be confused by a country with many forms of speaking when Europe was (and still is?) drawing up borders along linguistic+national+ethnic lines.

The development of nationalism in China through the 20th century led to further changes in the idea of a national language, especially with the promotion of first 國語 in the Republican era and 普通话 under the Communist government.

It’s interesting that what used to be a term for a region’s language can now be used in a hierarchical way to subordinate certain linguistic varieties to others. Dr. Tam mentioned that there was an article that generated controversy years ago that said that since Cantonese was a 方言 that is wasn’t fit to be taught and couldn’t be considered anyone’s 母语 mǔyǔ (mother language), that instead all Chinese people must learn and use 普通话, the national standard. This idea of course coming from the implications that 方言 now has, that it’s “merely” a dialect, that dialects aren’t “full” languages, that they’re inferior or incomplete or whatever.

Dr. Tam had a nicer way of phrasing this, but terminology is so important because these definitions—which may seem inconsequential, like we’re squabbling over minor issues that mean little—influence how we perceive and think, which in turn influences how we interact with the world. If a 方言 is just a dialect, and dialects are lower than languages, and Cantonese is a 方言, that means Cantonese is lesser. That’s a “logical” conclusion one can make, just a syllogism of X is Y, Y is Z, therefore X is Z (Cantonese is a 方言, 方言 is lesser, Cantonese is lesser). But that “logical” conclusion starts from a very very flawed premise, this definition which presupposes a hierarchy that doesn’t really exist linguistically (but then does exist socially and is justified by these “scientific” or “logical” reasons).

All that to say, this was a super interesting lecture (about her book that I might have to read!) and if you have time I would totally recommend giving it a watch. These terms are interesting and complex and nuanced, and knowing more about the history is really enlightening. I’ve been getting into language and identity lately, reading a lot about nationalism and race and the idea of “native speakers.” It feels like, while in other areas we might have made social progress, that language is one area that many people are super unaware of and take for granted their own biases without understanding these power structures and their histories.

Anyways I’d be curious to hear what anyone else has to say on the topic! And definitely if you watch her lecture let me know what you think!

#they covered a lot of other stuff in there too #I’m particularly interested in a topic they brought up regarding translation called a supersign #where basically X and Y terms in two languages aren’t equal but rather through translation create a supersign #two unlike signs are synthesized into a supralinguistic form that contains both of them #idk that was how I understood what they said anyway #I’ll have to read more on that too #the researcher for that is named Lydia Liu #if anyone’s read Babel #I’m willing to put money that the author has eead liu’s work #like the premise of Babel was exactly that #the fusion of unlike but translationally equatable terms to create something new #oof anyways wrote more than I meant to lol #linguistics #mandarin #cantonese #普通话 #国语 #方言 #汉语 #中文 #广东话 #粤语 #translation

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libai-yyds · 8 days

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STRANGER THINGS IN CHINESE -VOCAB LIST

so... i was bored and wanted to find some vocab list about stranger things in chinese but i couldn't find any... so I finally decided to go look for it myself on diverse chinese speaking websites who were talking about the show. I also used pleco for some more generic words usefull to speak about the show.

I hope some other people will also fit on my venn diagram of hyperfixation and find this list useful ^^

怪奇物語（guài qí wù yǔ）stranger things

颠倒世界（diān dǎo shì jiè）the upside down

夺心魔（duó xīn mó）the mind flayer

魔狗 (mó gǒu) demodog

魔王 (mó wáng) demogorgon

魔蝙蝠 (mó biān fú) demobat

藤蔓 (téng wàn) the vines

怪兽 (guài shòu) the monster

维克那 (wéi kè nà) vecna

集体意识 (jí tǐ yì shí) the hive mind

火俱乐部 ( huǒ jù lè bù) the hellfire club

龙与地下城 (lóng yǔ dì xià chéng) dungeons and dragons

棒球棒 (bàng qiú bàng) baseball bat

圣诞灯 (shèng dàn dēng) christmas lights

纹身 (wén shēn) tattoo

失踪 (shī zōng) disappearance

杀 (shā) to kill

心灵感应 (xīn líng gǎn yīng) telekinesis

读心术 (dú xīn shù) telepathy

打电话 (dǎ diàn huà) to make a phone call

摩尔斯电码 (mó ěr sī diàn mǎ) morse code

对讲机 (duì jiǎng jī) walkie-talkie

俄国间谍 (é guó jiān dié) russian spy

实验品 (shí yàn pǐn) human experiment

星庭商场 (xīng tíng shāng cháng) starcourt mall

霍金斯实验室 ( huò jīn sī shí yàn shì) hawkins lab

门 (mén) the gate

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retrogradepermaculture · 1 year

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Osmanthus (mu xi or guai hua) is a very beautiful plant which is actually related to the olive and symbolises prosperity and fertility. Osmanthus was traditionally given to a bride on her wedding day.

木犀，或者桂花，是很漂亮的花。木犀其实跟油橄榄有关。桂花象征福气和生育力。传统的，平常为礼物在婚礼去新娘被送给。

#dark academism #dark acadamia aesthetic #dark academia #dark academic aesthetic #chinese art #mandarin langblr #mandarin language #mandarin learning #language of flowers #flower meanings #plantcore #botanical art #botanicart #botanic garden #osmanthus #普通话

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hanzillion · 2 years

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突 = to dash or move forward quickly; abruptly; suddenly; unexpectedly, protrude

It's all about things moving forward and unexpectedly with this one!

Random words that come to mind include unexpectedly or out of the blue 突然 (tūrán), as well as conflict 冲突 (chōngtū) or 突出 (tūchū), something that is prominent or that sticks out.

突发 (tū fā) is interesting as well — it means to break out or appear unexpectedly... like 疾病突发 (jí bìng tū fā), the outbreak of an illness.

It's also a cute onomatopeia for things that have a tapping sound or that chug along, like when your heart goes pit-a-pat (你的心突突地跳, nǐde xīn tūtū de tiào).

#mandarin #learn mandarin #chinese #language learning #learning chinese #chinablr #mandarinblr #studyblr #普通话 #国语 #中国 #汉字 #中文 #汉语 #hanzi #chinese characters

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peachycanton · 1 year

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Writing “Chinese” in Chinese

Here is a little bit of information that I thought would be great to share!

So whenever I’m writing my tags or trying to introduce myself, I think about how I would actually write the name of my target language. So for example, to say “I am learning Spanish” I would write “ Estoy aprendiendo español”. The translation is simple. But for Chinese, that’s not the case.

There are differences in Chinese as it’s written versus when it’s spoken. There’s also differences between Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese Chinese. It was interesting trying to make sense of which ones to use and when, so I looked it up! I used several resources, which will be linked at the end.

Below, I have the noted words, with both Mandarin and Cantonese pinyin and jyutping to showcase how it’s pronounced. There are also detailed explanations as well. Anyway, here it goes!

Chinese (person): 中国人。 Zhōng guó rén / zung1 gwok3 jan4

The main reason why I placed this here is due to how English as a language works. When you look up how to say Chinese in Chinese, this will pop up. It’s only due to the fact that English uses words such Chinese, Spanish, etc to describe the language, people, and objects pertaining to that country. So we use “Chinese” for both “I am Chinese” and “I speak Chinese”. This not the case for other languages though. They have separate words for the language and the people. So in Chinese, to that say a Chinese person you use “中国人”.

This breaks down in multiple ways. 中 means middle and it’s commonly used to as an indication for China. 国 means country so when used with 中， it means middle country, or China. When having 人 , which means person, it becomes the meaning given above. All of this is important to know as 中 and the other characters will be used with this context in mind.

Chinese (written): 中文 zhōng wén / zung1 man4

This is mainly for Chinese as the written language. It can apply to all the languages under it (so mandarin, cantonese, etc). It can also be used for the spoken Chinese as well. This would be the simplest form to use when wanting to say “I’m learning Chinese.” This would not help with specifics though.

This is written like this due to 文 meaning writing, character, script, and language. With 中 meaning China, the two form together to create the meaning of “the written language of China”, “the Chinese written language,” or even a simple “Chinese writing”. It also can be seen as “Chinese Language” as well. This is why even though you can use this as a simple “Chinese”, it carries the idea of writing in Chinese.

In general, if you don’t mind the vagueness of 中文, then you can use it. But if you want to be specific in whether your learning Mandarin, Cantonese, etc, then use the ones below.

Mandarin Chinese (Han People): 汉语 hàn yǔ / hon3 jyu5

This is used to say the language of the Han people, which make up most of the Chinese population. This is understood to mean Mandarin and is commonly used for it. It is also used by teachers as well so while 中文 is used by everyday people to say Chinese, 汉语 might be used in schools to specify Mandarin.

This is broken down by 汉 meaning the Han people, an ethnic group that makes up most of the population in China, and 语 meaning language, tongue, or expression. This means that with the two combined, it brings the idea of “Han language” or “language of the Han people”. It is used more often to refer to the spoken language of Chinese, such as Mandarin.

Small note: I went back through to double check this post and it seems that for some speakers, this actually does refer to other dialects/languages. Some have noted that people can use this to also mean Cantonese as well, although several articles go against this.

Mandarin Chinese (Common Language): 普通话 pútōng huà / pou2 tung1 waa2

This is used to also say Mandarin Chinese, but through the idea of a “common language” or “common dialect”. It’s from the idea of speaking in the common dialect, which in China and learning settings, would be Mandarin. This is how the Chinese government puts their official language.

This can be broken down by 普 meaning universal, general, widespread, 通 meaning pass through, common, communicate, and 话 meaning speak, talk, communicate, dialect. This all comes together to form the idea of a common dialect.

I am curious if this meaning for Mandarin Chinese changes depending on environment. If one is in an environment where most speakers speak Cantonese, would 普通话 mean Cantonese instead? Would love to know!

Mandarin Chinese (Taiwan): 国语 guóyǔ / gwok3 jyu5

This version is used primarily in Taiwan. It means “language of the country” or “country language”. This doesn’t explain much about the exact language is it, but since Mandarin is spoken in Taiwan, using this word to describe Mandarin makes sense. It’s the idea of speaking the country or national language, aka Mandarin.

This word can be broken down by 国 and 语。Both of which have been explained above.

Mandarin Chinese (Overseas): 华语 huáyǔ / waa4 jyu5

Now in in the articles I looked at, they note that even in overseas communities there are different words for Mandarin. This version is used mainly in South East Asian countries, such as Singapore and Malaysia. This time though, the ideas behind the characters are a bit more complex in nature.

The characters can be broken down by 华 and 语. While 语 has been explained before, 华 carries a much more complicated history. Just as 中 can mean “Middle” while also being used to mean China, 华 does the same. 华 means splendid, magnificent, and flowery, but it’s not this meaning that 华语 is using. That is due to 华 being used in the word 华夏， which is a concept of the Chinese civilization and nation. It’s an awareness of the Han people and their ancestors.

夏 is the name of the very fist Chinese Dynasty, the one that formed the country. Having 华夏 together brings this idea of a great dynasty and the importance it holds for Chinese communities and their shared history. So for Chinese people in places such as Singapore and Malaysia, it’s way for them to connect to their ancestry. They can also connect with their language through this, hence 华语。

This all comes together to bring the idea of Chinese people in Singapore speaking the language of their people or ancestors, which in most cases is understood to be Mandarin. The language of their Han ancestors, 华语，is Mandarin.

Mandarin (Officialese): 官话 guān huà / gun1 waa2

This one is very straight forward, but is also used in many different contexts. 官 means official, bureaucratic, or government. When this is combined with 话, it takes on the meaning of official language, which in China is Mandarin. This isn’t it’s only meaning though. It can also be used to say bureaucratic language or even used to mock or joke about “official language” or “officialese”. So be mindful that this isn’t used to only mean Mandarin.

Mandarin (Northern Dialect): 北方方言 běi fāng fāng yán / baak1 fong1 fong1 jin4

This one is actually quite simple! The first part of this is 北方, which means north or northern. The second part, 方言, means topolect, which is sorta like a dialect. This very easily translates into northern topolect/dialect. This encompasses all the dialects of northern, north eastern, and south westward China into one thing of “Mandarin”. This is only really used in linguistic circles. It wasn’t in the main articles and only brought up in terms of linguistics so using this is not very important. It’s only for technicalities.

So far this is all that I have found for Mandarin but, there are also several ways to say Cantonese as well.

Cantonese (Hong Kong): 粤语 yuèyǔ / jyut6 jyu5

This word is mainly used in Hong Kong. This variation is also complex in it’s meaning as it brings older ideas of the southern provinces in China. 语 has already been explained previously but 粤 carries much more history. When looking up 粤, it doesn’t show much detail other than just “Cantonese” or “Guangdong or Gaungxi province”. But if you look at the radical used in the character, this brings more information.

In the character 粤, there is the radical 米. This radical has the meaning of husked rice or grains of rice. This brings about the ideas of 粤 relating to rice, and in turn the language of things associated with rice. This is amazing because rice was traditionally cultivated in southern china. Rice was made in the south due to the warm and wet climate. Now, the south is associated with Rice. There is even an on going stereotype that southern Chinese people love rice and rice related things.

So Cantonese, which tends to be spoken in southern China, is referred to as 粤语, a word that is related to rice. It all comes together in this cool way that otherwise would not have been known without going into the radical.

Cantonese (Mainland China): 广东话 guǎngdōnghuà / jim2 dung1 waa2 or 6

This version is used by those in mainland china. The word gains its meaning from the region of 广东, which is a province in southern China where most of the population speaks Cantonese. (Where my Chinese ancestors are from :D ) Because of this, Cantonese is referred to as 广东话, or “Guangdong Language” or “Guangdong Dialect”.

This is very simple to break down as 话 was explained previously. 广东 is simply the name of the region in southern China. The character 广 means wide, extensive, and broad. The character 东 means east, host, or owner. I’m not sure on the history of why the southern provinces are named this way, but it is interesting to know. I will probably make a post explaining this history when or if I find I out.

Cantonese 白话 báihuà / baak6 waa2

This version of saying “Cantonese” is very very informal. It’s a term that’s very colloquial. It’s reportedly not used in Hong Kong, but can still be used in Mainland China. It’s a term that has many other uses and meanings so it’s not wise to use it only to say “Cantonese”. It can mean gossip, chit-chat, or even baseless claims. This is all derived from it’s characters.

白 means white, but just like many other languages, white isn’t only to say the color. 白 is also used to mean blank, clear, or plain. With this, when combined with 话, it gives off the idea of speaking very plainly and/or having nothing of value to your talk in either gossip or no evidence to back up claims.

It’s versatile in it’s use due to this, but those who use it to mean Cantonese are probably using it to make Cantonese seem like the “common” or “plain” language used. It’s the same idea of 普通话, where it’s the common tongue or dialect. Or at least that’s how I’m interpreting it.

This is all I have in terms of how to say “Chinese” in Chinese. I realize only after making this post that I did not use traditional characters at all. This would only change the appearance of the characters, not the pronunciation or use of the characters. Anyway, besides this I hope this post proved to be helpful and allowed many of you to learn something new! My sources are now listed below!

Sources:

https://goeastmandarin.com/how-say-chinese-language-mandarin-chinese/

https://www.duchinese.net/blog/91-how-to-say-chinese-in-chinese/

https://www.tutormandarin.net/en/5-ways-how-to-say-chinese-in-chinese/

https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-write-Cantonese-in-Cantonese

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-Mandarin-word-for-Mandarin

https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary

https://www.pleco.com/

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gaoxingdetuzi · 3 months

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common verbs

是 (Shì)to be (links noun to noun)

很(hěn) very (links noun to adjective)

有(yǒu) have, there is

没有(méiyǒu) do/does not have

不 (bù) makes verbs after it negative

要(yào) want

想(xiǎng) would like to(often used for future plans

可以 (kěyǐ) can

需要(xū yǎo) need

得(děi) must, have to

覺得/得(juédé) think

認為/认为(rènwéi) think

說/说（shuō ) say, speak, tell

告诉(gàosù) tell

知道(zhīdào) know

帮助(bāngzhù) help

喜歡/喜欢( xǐhuān) like

去(qù) go

笑(xiào) smile laugh

買/买(mǎi) buy

#common verbs #mandarin #chinese #普通话 #polyglot #language

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laiavery · 2 years

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#求关注 #中国 #普通话 #丝袜 #全国推荐

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5-cz · 1 year

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数学

数字 - shùzì - number

奇数的 - jīshùde - odd (number)

偶数的 - ǒushùde - even (number)

加 (法) - jiā (fǎ) - plus/to add

1加2等于3

减 (法) - jiǎn (fǎ) - minus/to subtract

3减2等于1

乘以 - chéngyǐ - times/to multiply

3乘以3等于9

除 (以) - chú (yǐ) - divided by

9除以3等于3 12除3等于4

等于 - děngyú - equals

点 - diǎn - point

二十点五 (12.5)

差 - chā - difference (after division)

积 - jī - product (after multiplication)

余数 - yúshù - remainder (left after division)

分数 - fēnshù - fraction

...分之... - ...fēnzhī... - used to make fractions

二分之一 (1/2) 五分之四 (4/5)

百分之 - bǎifēnzhī - percentage

百分之八十 (80%)

解 - jiě solution