#chinese idioms
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New favourite Chinese idiom lol. So savage haha
By reblogging this post you agree that:
Transwomen are women.
Transmen are men.
Men are not inherently evil.
No gender should be systematically oppressed.
You will not call Chinese people and other Asians slurs.
You do not generalize, stereotype, or look down upon Chinese people, and respect them as you would anybody else.
#i said this#chinese school dropout life#chinese#idioms#chinese idioms#thanks to the accusefive song#which is a banger btw#vaguely reminds me if little dark age but jazzy and slightly less good#language
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Chinese idioms of the week
时时刻刻 [shíshíkèkè] - constantly; all the time
引经据典 [yǐnjīngjùdiǎn] - to quote the classical texts
胡说八道 [húshuōbādào] - to talk nonsense
乱七八糟 [luànqībāzāo] - in a complete mess; at sixes and sevens
不伦不类 [bùlúnbùlèi] - nondescript; neither fish nor fowl
不明不白 [bùmíngbùbái] - unclear, vague, for no reason
大喊大叫 [dàhǎndàjiào] - to scream loudly
日日夜夜 [rìrìyèyè] - day and night; day in, day out
哭哭啼啼 [kūkutítí] - to cry continuously
筋疲力尽 [jīnpílìjìn] - to be exhausted
下定决心 [xiàdìngjuéxīn] - to make a firm resolution
毫无疑问 [háowúyíwèn] - without a doubt; certainly
吞吞吐吐 [tūntūntǔtǔ] - to mutter and mumble
仅此而已 [[jǐncǐéryǐ] - just this and nothing more
一五一十 [yīwǔyīshí] - (of narrating) in full detail
井然有序 [jǐngrányǒuxù] - orderly; in apple-pie order
不好意思 [bùhǎoyìsi] - too embarrassed or shy to do something
无关紧要 [wúguānjǐnyào] - unimportant
日积月累 [rìjīyuèlěi] - to accumulate over a long period
事先通知 [shìxiāntōngzhī] - to announce in advance
夸夸其谈 [kuākuāqítán] - to boast; to talk big
All of these I encountered while reading the book <鞋带> by Domenico Starnone. It's a translation from Italian. I would recommend it for those who have an intermediate level. The language is quite simple and the sentences are short which is good for language learning. The overall story is also engaging.
#chengyu#chinese idioms#chinese#mandarin#idioms#language learning#language study#reading#chinese vocab#mandarin vocab#chinese langblr#foreign languages#languageblr
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海底捞月 x 瓮中捉鳖
海底捞月(hǎi dǐ lāo yuè) [scooping the moon from the sea floor]
It means going after an impossible target, a futile effort.
比喻白费力气， 不可能达到的目标。
瓮中捉鳖 (wèng zhōng zhuō biē) [catching a turtle in a jar]
It means going after an easy target. Like taking candy from a baby.
比喻要捕捉的对象无处逃遁，已在掌握之中。
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24.4.24 //
so my chinese class is collectively writing a story...
don't ask me what's happening. i made the narrator turn into a melon. this one kid in my class keeps trying to get people to turn it into a transmigration story, but now the narrator is a melon.
also, i learned the idiom 到苏州卖鸭蛋 dào sūzhōu mài yādàn - going to suzhou to sell duck eggs, which basically means someone passed away. i compared it to people telling their kids their dog ran away to a flower farm or went over a rainbow bridge, and it's not exactly the same, but my teacher thought it was pretty interesting nonetheless.
i'm not 100% sure but i think it basically means that trying to sell duck eggs is a futile effort in suzhou, and saying someone went there to do this impossible task just means they're never coming back. i could be totally wrong though.
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Come and learn Chinese words!!(1)
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Come and learn Chinese words!!(1)
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今天的成语 An Idiom I Learned Today
recently learned about a new idiom and thought i would share! not sure if it counts as a 成语 per se, since it is 8 characters instead of 4. nonetheless here it is.
三天打鱼，两天晒网
sān tiān dǎ yú, liǎng tiān shài wǎng
literally: fish for 3 days, sun-dry the net for 2 days
figuratively: to lack perseverance; to not earnestly work toward something
example:
你要是三天打鱼两天晒网，那你永远不会进步。
If you "fish for 3 days but sun-dry the next for 2," then you won't ever improve.
it's the idea that if you work towards something for 3 days but then rest for 2, you're basically wasting your time and not putting in as much effort as you could—since you could be putting that effort in all 5 days.
it's definitely a very chinese concept 😅 i'm pro resting myself LOL
#chinese langblr#mandarin langblr#chinese learning#chinese#langblr#mandarin chinese#language learning#mandarin#learning languages#成语#chengyu#idioms#vocab#zhuzhu rambles
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misogyny in linguistics
everything containing “ 女 “ (female) in chinese character etymology means something negative, cunning, devious, dark, or to indicate a servant. studying and knowing all those characters sickens me to the core. confuscianism furthered this in east asia weakening women’s rights - before confuscianism, korean dynasties had female kings and some property rights.
though we often use different chinese characters in each cases, china - korea - japan
screenshots source
the origin of the “female” character is a woman kneeling
in other explanations in confuscian texts, it says it is an image of a person kneeling with their neck in a pillory
on the contrary, the letters for “man” 男 is a person with the power 力 to feed 10 十 (shi) 口 (gou) mouths= family
Wife as housemaid
a woman outside a home(under her husband) is not safe
women with other women are always plotting
a man is allowed to have multiple wives, especially if she does not bear children: but he does not generally need justification. a women should never be jealous, jealousy (contains chinese character for female) is one of the 7 sins that husbands could banish, or beat their wives for
women + hands = servant
add fire onto the mix of the same characters of “servant”, you got “anger”
a lot of negative emotions in chinese characters are associated with symbols of women
“Power” : women subjugated under a weapon
fraught mentions of female inferiority
남존여비 is a word often brought up in korean culture, as in males are precious and respectable “ 尊 ” and females are inferior by birth “ 卑 “ . Men are high, women are low. Gentlemen comes first
https://bild-lida.ca/educationalsociolinguistics/uncategorized/womens-oppression-and-chinese-characters/
嫌 for extreme “hate” = women
adultery = dark cunning thing that women do
not all chinese characters with “women” have bad meanings! Some have positive meanings soch as detailing women’s looks or her docility
there are few if not zero chinese characters with the male “ 男 “ used inside a character contrary to the female “ 女 “ as a descriptor.
#i wanted to put chinese idioms here but guess that some idioms are same in every country#theres the exact same word for word ancient saying in chinese#korean italian and russian#you should beat women once in a while to subdue them#if women get power the world crumbles#etc#the tidbit about hens crowing bringing the house down#(cuz roosters aka men should rule not women=hens/cats#are the same in scottish proverbs?#Asian languages on the other hand? Uh good luck understanding a single word...#misogyny#mine
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🌿🌕✨
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
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Possible Chinese Idioms in Tartaglia’s Normal Attack and Xingqiu’s Burst
By the way, Tartaglia’s Normal Attack “Cutting Torrent” is actually 断雨 (duànyǔ) in Chinese, which literally means something like “severing rain”, but it possibly refers to the idiom 断雨残云 (duàn yǔ cán yún). Literally it’s “severing rain, damaging clouds”, referring to the act of disrupting something that’s going on. Not to be confused with Xingqiu’s Burst “Raincutter” which was originally 裁雨留虹 (Cái Yǔ Liú Hóng), an “idiom” that HoYoverse made up, literally meaning something like “cutting the rain, leaving behind a rainbow”. It’s possibly inspired by the real Chinese idiom 裁云剪水 (cái yún jiǎn shuǐ) which refers to poetry that’s exquisite and original… or something, which would fit Xingqiu’s novelist position, Hydro element, and carrying out the wuxia code of chivalry in his own way, I think?
#dusk rambles#Genshin translation#idioms#Chinese idiom#Chinese#Xingqiu#Childe#Tartaglia#Genshin impact
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耳目一新 x 陈腔烂调
耳目一新 (ěr mù yī xīn) [sound and sight, all new]
Describes how everything is different from before, everything is new.
形容一切事物和以前不同，全是新样子。
陈腔烂调 (chén qiāng làn diào) [old speech, rotten tune]
Describes stale and unoriginal ideas in an arguement. A cliché.
指陈腐而缺乏新意的论调、不新颖。
#illustration#digital illustration#chinese idioms#opposite_idioms#there were quite a few variations for 陈腔烂调 online#i just went with the one in the book
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actually, speaking of of Japanese coinages, there's a japanese expression, 逆鱗に触れる, gekirin ni fureru, literally "to touch [someone's] reverse scales" with the figurative meaning of "to incur the wrath of a superior" which comes from a passage in the Hanfeizi which recounts, in paraphrase, that dragons are beasts like any other, and like other beasts they may be tamed and trained, but that they have reverse scales (逆鱗)under their necks that, when touched, will cause them to run wild and kill their handler; Han Fei then says that the rulers of men are like these dragons, and their advisers must learn where these scales are in their hearts.
Given the provenance I always assumed the same expression existed in vernacular Chinese but as far as I can tell it doesn't at all
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Aesthetic/cute idioms
My personal selection of idioms collected here and there. Inspired by this post by @rmscarpathia - my posts - resources masterpost | aesthetic idioms | words with cute literal meaning
Japanese 🇯🇵
木漏れ日 Komorebi - The sunlight that filters through the leaves of the trees. 🌳 🌞
鏡花水月 Kyōka suigetsu - Flower in the mirror & a moon in the water 🌸 🌙 : something which is visible and cannot be touched as well as the profound beauty of poems that cannot be described in words.
花笑み Hanaemi - flowering smile/ the smile of flowers 💐: old Japanese, a smile as beautiful as blooming flowers, calling people to feel happy.
浮世 Ukiyo - The floating world - depicts a place of fleeting beauty and living in the moment, without worries. It described the urban lifestyle, especially the pleasure-seeking aspects, of the Edo-period Japan (1600–1867)
Chinese 🇨🇳
海誓山盟 Hǎi shì shān méng - The promises of mountains and vows of seas 🏔 🌊 : A proverb of eternal love.
日三 秋 yí rì sān qiū 🍁🍁🍁- One day, three autumns: when you intensely long for and miss someone, one day feels like three years.
Swedish 🇸🇪
Mångata - moon road 🌙 🛣The glimmering,roadlile reflection of moonlight on a river. see also Hungarian 🇭🇺 Aranyhíd - The golden bridge 🌞 🌁: A term for the reflection of the sun as it shines on water and can literally be translated to.
Gökotta - Dawn picnic to hear the first birdsong 🎶 (gök=cuckoo), Swedish tradition which often takes place around Ascension Day in late May or early June.
Smultronstället - Place of wild strawberries 🍓: a special place discovered, treasured, returned to for solace and relaxation; a personal idyll free from stress or sadness
Mellan hägg och syrén - the time Between Bird Cherry and Lilac: corresponds to försommar (pre-summer). The expression is said to originate from a cobbler’s sign saying his shop was closed “mellan hägg och syren”.
Att vara blåögd - to be blue eyed: to be naive =🇩🇪 blauäugig
Norwegian 🇳🇴
Å leve på luft og kjærlighed - live on air and love: to be so madly in love you don’t think about anything else
gjensynsglede - see-again-happiness: feeling of joy, anticipation, love you experience when you are about to meet someone you haven’t seen in a long time.
Det er bare blåbær - It’s just blueberries 🫐: Expression, meaning something is simple, or something is only a minor issue.
Danish 🇩🇰
det er fest og farver 🎉🟥🟨🟦- it’s party and colors: A lively and festive mood or way of living
Finnish 🇫🇮 @suomipaskea @depressingfinland
Kaiho - hopeless longing: an involuntary solitude in which one feels incomleteness and yearns for something unattainable or extremely difficult and tedious to attain.
luonnonlapsi - nature’s child 🌿: a genuine and sincere person who’s carefree and down to earth, a scatterbrained, someone who doesn’t care about the ways of society. Slightly negative but in an endearing way [- @evelhak]
siirtyä ajasta ikuisuuteen/iäisyyteen / potkaista tyhjää- went from time to eternity / kicked the emptiness: said about someone who has died
Olla hyvällä tuulella— To be on / To have a good wind 🌬: To have a good mood. To be mildly happy.
oma maa mansikka, muu maa mustikka 🍓🫐-our land strawberry, other land blueberry: there’s no place like home
German 🇩🇪 This post with additions of @germanenthusiast
Etwas durch die Blume sagen 🗣️🌼- to say smth thorugh the flower: used when conveying something dramatic in a gentle or roundabout way
Habseligkeiten: have-holy-things: individual possessions that might be seen as useless/of little value, but regarded as valuable treasures
Fingerspitzengefühl - fingertips-feeling: good skill in handling things/ sensitivity and empathy
Sehnsucht - longing-search: intense inner longing for somebody, something or a place
Weltschmerz - world pain: gratuitous melancholia / kind of feeling experienced by someone who believes that physical reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind / the feeling of anxiety caused by the ills of the world
Zeitgeist - spirit of the time: the dominant set of ideals and beliefs that motivate the actions of the members of a society in a particular period in time
Engelsgeduld 👼- angel’s patience: a lot of patience
Schokoladenseite - chocolate side 🍫: refers to your better side (e.g. when taking a photo) sich von seiner Schokoladenseite zeigen (to show oneself from one’s chocolate side) = to show oneself at one’s best
Sich aufbrezeln - to bretzel oneself up 🥨: get all dressed up
Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen - freedom, joy and omelette 🥞: everything’s hunky-dory
sich freuen wie ein Schneekönig 🤴❄️ /Honigkuchenpferd 🍯🍰 🐴 - to be happy like a snow king/honey cake horse: to be very very happy
Dutch 🇳🇱 @docnederlands
uitwaaien 🌬️ 🌳 - to go out in windy weather, particularly into nature or a park, as a means of refreshing oneself and clearing one's mind
over koetjes en kalfjes praten - talking about cows and calves 🐄: smalltalk
kalverliefde - calf love 🐮: A word for the temporary affection and infatuation usually experienced by two young people in love.
De bloemetjes buiten zetten, to put the flowers outside 💐: to have lots of fun
Italian 🇮🇹 this by @sectioavrea
Se son rose fioriranno, If it’s roses, they will bloom 🌹 : if something is bound to happen, it will
all’acqua di rose - blanded with rose water: used when something is very moderate
Non è tutto rose e fiori - it’s not all roses and flowers 🌹💐 : it’s not all nice and perfect (as you think it is)
il sole bacia i belli - The sun kisses the beautiful 🌞: said to someone who complains about sitting in the sun
baciato dalla fortuna - kissed by luck 🍀💋: to be very lucky
Ragazza acqua e sapone - soap&water girl 🧼 the girl next door, with a natural look
Avere l’argento vivo addosso - to have quicksilver on your body: to be energetic, active, lively. Often used for kids
Spaesato(m)/spaesata(f) -out of (one’s) country/native place “mis-country-ed”: to be bewildered, disoriented, confused
Sognare ad occhi aperti 👁️ - To dream with open eyes: to daydream
essere al settimo cielo ☁️ - to be at the seventh Heaven: to be over the moon, see 🇫🇷 below
French 🇫🇷
Être aux anges 👼👼- be where angels are
Être fleure bleue 🌼🔷- to be a blue flower: be sentimental to the point of naivety [apparently from an expression by the German author Novalis]
English
Serendipity: an unplanned fortunate discovery
Apple of my eye 🍎👁️ - 🇮🇹 Luce dei miei occhi (light of my eyes) 🇩🇪 Licht meines Lebens (light of my life)
Greek 🇬🇷
petrichor: the earthly scent produced when rain falls on dry soil 🌧️ . from πέτρος pétros (stone) + ἰχώρ īchṓr (the fluid that flows in the veins of gods in Greek mythology)
Phosphene - light-appear: a sensation of a ring, stars or spot of light caused by rubbing your eyes ⭐️ 👁️
🇻🇳 In Vietnamese, “to miss someone is the same as “to remember someone“. So to ask “do you miss me?” You’ll say Do you remember me?
🇮🇷 in Farsi, to answer to a compliment you say “it’s your eyes that are beautiful”
Idioms found among others through: @mylanguagesblogger, @wonderful-language-sounds @thenoaidi
🌼 started: spring ‘20, posted: march ‘23, last updated: 20.4.2023
#idioms#foreign languages#langblr#language blog#swedish#finnish#italian#dutch#norwegian#japanese#chinese#french#cant believe I am posting this#I feel like there’s still a lot to be added but it was high time for it to be posted#mine#my lists
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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���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。
#chinese langblr#mandarin langblr#chinese learning#chinese#langblr#mandarin chinese#language learning#mandarin#learning languages#成语#idiom story#idiom#idioms#chinese idiom#成语故事#vocab#100
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