I’m not going to dive into why—that’s a whole other post. But some of these transliterated names are seriously hard for me to say! And it seems like Chinese fans agree, because they have shorter nicknames for some foreign celebs.
The three celebs I mentioned above each have nicknames. I actually encountered all three nicknames while watching Chinese TV shows recently! So I can confirm that they are really used. Can you tell who is who?
小李子 xiǎolǐzǐ
阿姆 āmǔ
霉霉 méiméi
But where did these nicknames come from? What do they mean?
Leonardo DiCaprio / 小李子
The transliteration above starts with 莱 (lái), but transliterations are not universal. According to what I found online, 李奥纳多 is an alternative transliteration of Leonardo. As an American English speaker, I think this sounds closer to how I say Leonardo. So the nickname 小李子 likely comes from 李奥纳多. 小李子 is certainly much easier to say than 莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥.
Eminem / 阿姆
Interestingly, even though the simplified Chinese Wikipedia page for Eminem is titled 埃米纳姆, the body text uses both 埃米纳姆 and 阿姆. But the traditional version only uses 阿姆. The Baidu page only uses 埃米纳姆. 阿姆 is not only shorter and easier to say, but 阿+syllable is a known nickname structure, so my guess is that’s where 阿姆 came from.
Taylor Swift / 霉霉
According to these 百度知道 comments, Taylor Swift is called 霉霉 because 1) 霉 sounds like 美 and 2) she used to be unlucky when it came to charting on Billboard (霉 in this case as in 倒霉, to have bad luck/be out of luck). I would have guessed it was because she had bad luck in finding love honestly! You’ll have to decided for yourself which origin story you believe.
As you may or may not know, I really like learning chengyu. After a while, I started to notice patterns and similar structures, and I got curious. What are the common patterns for chengyu?
There are a lot of chengyu, and I’m not that ambitious. I decided to just focus on the chengyu I know. Fortunately, pretty much all the chengyu I know are in Anki, so I was able to export them for analysis! I identified 16 of the most common patterns. Let’s take a look~
不可_ _
不可思议 bùkěsīyì - inconceivable / unimaginable / unfathomable 不可理喻 bùkělǐyù - to be impervious to reason / unreasonable 不可避免 bùkěbìmiǎn - unavoidably 不可或缺 bùkěhuòquē - necessary / must have 不可救药 bùkějiùyào - incurable / incorrigible / beyond cure / hopeless
无所_ _
无所畏惧 wúsuǒwèijù - fearless 无所不有 wúsuǒbùyǒu - to have everything 无所顾忌 wúsuǒgùjì - to have no misgivings / to stop at nothing 无所事事 wúsuǒshìshì - to have nothing to do / to idle one’s time away 无所不谈 wúsuǒbùtán - to talk about everything
不_不_
不折不扣 bùzhébúkòu - a hundred percent / to the letter / out-and-out 不屈不挠 bùqūbùnáo - unyielding / indomitable 不理不睬 bùlǐbùcǎi - to completely ignore / to pay no attention to / not to be in the least concerned about 不言不语 bùyánbùyǔ - to not say a word / to keep silent 不闻不问 bùwénbúwèn - not to hear, not to question / to show no interest in sth / uncritical / not in the least concerned
A lot of these contain words within them: 折扣、屈挠、理睬、言语、闻问 are all words!
一_不_
一丝不苟 yìsībùgǒu - strictly according to the rules / meticulous (lit. not one thread loose) 一成不变 yìchéngbúbiàn - nothing much changes / always the same 一尘不染 yìchénbùrǎn - selfless and incorruptible / spotless (lit. untainted by even a speck of dust) 一蹶不振 yìjuébúzhèn - a setback leading to total collapse / unable to recover after a minor hitch (lit. one stumble, unable to rise) 一丝不挂 yìsībúguà - absolutely naked / without a stitch of clothing (lit. not wearing one thread)
无_无_
无影无踪 wúyǐngwúzōng - to disappear without trace 无穷无尽 wúqióngwújìn - endless / boundless / infinite 无声无息 wúshēngwúxī - silent / unknown (lit. not a sound nor breath) 无边无际 wúbiānwújì - boundless / limitless 无忧无虑 wúyōuwúlǜ - carefree and without worries
A lot of these also contain words within them: 影踪、穷尽、声息、边际、忧虑 are all words!
一_一_
一心一意 yìxīnyíyì - concentrating one’s thoughts and efforts / single-minded / bent on / intently 一言一行 yìyányìxíng - every word and action 一举一动 yìjǔyídòng - every movement / each and every move 一朝一夕 yìzhāoyìxī - in a short period of time / overnight (lit. one morning and one evening) 一生一世 yìshēngyíshì - a whole lifetime all my life
Once again, we have some words: 心意、言行、举动、朝夕、生世 are all words!
_天_地
惊天动地 jīngtiāndòngdì - world-shaking 铺天盖地 pūtiāngàidì - everywhere / coming with great momentum (lit. hiding the sky and covering the earth) 开天辟地 kāitiānpìdì - to split heaven and earth apart 冰天雪地 bīngtiānxuědì - a world of ice and snow 欢天喜地 huāntiānxǐdì - delighted / with great joy / in high spirits
_言_语
千言万语 qiānyánwànyǔ - thousands of words / having a lot of things to say 自言自语 zìyánzìyǔ - to talk to oneself / to think aloud / to soliloquize 不言不语 bùyánbùyǔ - to not say a word / to keep silent 花言巧语 huāyánqiǎoyǔ - flowery speech / elegant but insincere words / dishonest rhetoric 流言蜚语 liúyánfēiyǔ - rumors and slanders / gossip / lies and slanders
_心_意
三心二意 sānxīnèryì - in two minds about sth / hesitant / indecisive 真心实意 zhēnxīnshíyì - genuine and sincere / wholehearted 粗心大意 cūxīndàyì - negligent / careless / inadvertent 专心一意 zhuānxīnyíyì - to concentrate on 全心全意 quánxīnquányì - heart and soul / wholeheartedly
AABB
兢兢业业 jīngjīngyèyè - conscientious / assiduous 形形色色 xíngxíngsèsè - all kinds of / all sorts of / every different kind of 踏踏实实 tātāshíshí - steady / steadfast 轰轰烈烈 hōnghōnglièliè - strong / vigorous / large-scale 鬼鬼祟祟 guǐguǐsuìsuì - sneaky / secretive / furtive
ABCC
兴致勃勃 xìngzhìbóbó - to become exhilarated / in high spirits / full of zest 小心翼翼 xiǎoxīnyìyì - cautious and solemn / very carefully / prudent / gently and cautiously 忧心忡忡 yōuxīnchōngchōng - deeply worried and sick at heart 怒气冲冲 nùqìchōngchōng - spitting anger / in a rage 气喘吁吁 qìchuǎnxūxū - to pant / to gasp for breath
ABAC
善有善报 shànyǒushànbào - virtue has its rewards / one good turn deserves another 土生土长 tǔshēngtǔzhǎng - locally born and bred / indigenous / home-grown 相亲相爱 xiāngqīnxiāngài - to be kind and love one another / bound by deep emotions 蹑手蹑脚 nièshǒunièjiǎo - to walk quietly on tiptoe 难舍难分 nánshěnánfēn - loath to part / emotionally close and unwilling to separate
ABCB
人云亦云 rényúnyìyún - to say what everyone says / to conform to what one perceives to be the majority view / to follow the herd 大错特错 dàcuòtècuò - to be gravely mistaken 将错就错 jiāngcuòjiùcuò - to make the best after a mistake / to accept an error and adapt to it (lit. if it’s wrong, it’s wrong) 得过且过 déguòqiěguò - satisfied just to get through / to muddle through / without high ambitions, but getting by 讨价还价 tǎojiàhuánjià - to haggle over price / to bargain
AABC
井井有条 jǐngjǐngyǒutiáo - everything clear and orderly / neat and tidy 摇摇欲坠 yáoyáoyùzhuì - tottering / on the verge of collapse 栩栩如生 xǔxǔrúshēng - vivid and lifelike / true to life / realistic 格格不入 gégébúrù - inharmonious / incompatible 默默无闻 mòmòwúwén - obscure and unknown / an outsider without any reputation / a nobody
Split Words
There are other chengyu containing words that don’t fit any of the above patterns. I wanted to include them as well :)
不言而喻 bùyán'éryù - it goes without saying / it is self-evident -> 言喻 有缘无分 yǒuyuánwúfèn - destined to meet but not fated to be together -> 缘分 有条有理 yǒutiáoyǒulǐ everything clear and orderly / neat and tidy -> 条理 挑三拣四 tiāosānjiǎnsì - to be picky / to be choosy -> 挑拣 取而代之 qǔ'érdàizhī - to substitute for sb / to remove and replace -> 取代
Interspersed Words
Some chengyu actually contain two words interspersed. These ones are really cool!
功成名就 gōngchéngmíngjiù - to win success and recognition -> 功名、成就 胡思乱想 húsīluànxiǎng - to indulge in flights of fancy / to let one’s imagination run wild -> 胡乱、思想 生儿育女 shēng'éryùnǚ - to bear and raise children -> 生育、儿女 通情达理 tōngqíngdálǐ - fair and reasonable / sensible / standing to reason -> 通达、情理 门当户对 méndānghùduì - the families are well-matched in terms of social status / (of a prospective marriage partner) an appropriate match -> 门户、当对
Lately I’ve been really interested in words that consist of two opposites smashed together, especially those used to mean “A and/or B.” I’m highlighting five of these words that I’ve encountered a lot.
生死 shēngsǐ - life or death 我当时知道生死就是一瞬间的事情。
去留 qùliú - going or staying 投票结果会决定选手的去留。
成败 chéngbài - success or failure 这项计划的成败取决于你。
真伪 zhēnwěi - true or bogus / authenticity 在缺乏知识经验的情况下，普通人应该如何分辨信息的真伪？
输赢 shūyíng - win or loss / outcome 我并不在意这场比赛的输赢。
Aren’t these words neat? I can’t wait to add more to my vocabulary!
The past couple years I’ve been taking efforts to expose myself to traditional characters. But after 12+ years of primarily being exposed to simplified characters, the adjustment process is difficult. Let’s look at some characters that have made my life a bit more frustrating or that I’m thankful I never had to handwrite in Chinese classes!
NOTE: My intention with this post is not to disrespect traditional characters. Sometimes I find that traditional characters are more beautiful! And even though I use simplified characters, I have family members who use traditional. My goal is simply to poke fun at myself and my struggles :-)
丰 / 豐 - This traditional character probably isn’t that hard to write, but I know from writing 幽默的幽 that I am not good at writing characters where there are elements inside the 山 component.
边 / 邊 - I was explaining the difference between simplified and traditional characters to someone. They asked me if I could write any traditional characters. I said that I probably could. I decided to try writing 邊. I soon realized I had literally no idea how to write it. 邊 and I are enemies now.
龟 / 龜 - I know a lot of people love this traditional character, but I butchered it so badly when my Chinese teacher made try to write it on the whiteboard. It haunts me to this day. I thought I understood strokes and stroke order well, but I look at 龜 and have no idea what is going on.
忧郁 / 憂鬱 - This doesn’t need an explanation. Writing 憂鬱 will make you 非常忧郁.
体 / 體 - This is a pretty common character, so I am very thankful I can get away with 体 instead of 體. My 骨s already don’t look great. A very thin 骨 would come out much worse.
铁 / 鐵 - In general I don’t like writing characters like 裁, 截, 戴, etc. because I am simply not good at getting the balance right. And the fact that the right side of 鐵 is so compressed/skinny is really just a recipe for disaster.
冲击 / 衝擊 - 6+5 strokes to 15+17 strokes? No way.
昼 / 晝 & 画 / 畫 & 书 / 書 & 划 / 劃 - I mentioned the first three of these in a recent post. I can’t really tell any of the traditional characters apart unless I put on my glasses and hold my face like an inch away from my laptop screen. 劃 is obviously more visually distinct, but I felt it should be grouped with its siblings. 10/10 not a fan.
为 / 為 / 爲 - 为 is so common—I really can’t imagine having to write so. many. strokes. every time I write 因为 or 为了 or whatever.
聋 / 聾 - Just 龙 to 龍 is already a lot. 龍 stacked on top of something else? I would not be able to cope. Poor 耳 will get squished down there!
断 / 斷 & 继 / 繼 - Too many 幺s. Yes, I know 幺 is very simple and only 3 strokes, but I can never manage to write it well! I get the angles wrong, of which I am very ashamed.
艺 / 藝 - I don’t know how to explain it…I just feel like 艺 and 藝 give off really different vibes, you know? So while I don’t have any trouble recognizing 藝 and associating it with 艺, something just feels off.
归 / 歸 - I have noticed that I don’t look how characters that can be divided into a 2x2 grid look, like 毁 for instance. So even though I actually don’t like writing 归 (t also comes out ugly and unbalanced), I don’t like 歸 either.
惊 / 驚 - I am incapable of writing 警 neatly so I just know I would not be able to make 驚 look nice.
飞 / 飛 - This one is not that complicated honestly, but just looking at it, I know 飛 would look so ugly if I tried to write it. I don’t even need to try.
听 / 聽 - I’m sure there is a sensible reason the two forms look so different, but I remember being so bewildering by this pair back in high school. So I’m going back to my roots by including 聽 here.
职识织 / 職識織 - Honestly I don’t think these characters are that bad, but I am incapable of recognizing the traditional versions no matter how often I see them. I really don’t know why. Every time I see them, I feel like I’ve never seen them before in my life.
几 / 幾 &机 / 機 - I remember these were the bane of my existence when I first began familiarizing myself with more traditional characters. I just could not associate 幾 with 几. Also the traditional characters have the 幺 and 戈 elements that we’ve already established I suck at writing.
灵 / 靈 - 3 little 口s in a row is too many for me. It’s good to know your limit, and this is mine.
钥 / 鑰 - This one bugs me because I think the right is the same as the right element of 輪, 論, and 倫 but it’s actually subtly different! And 3 little 口s in a row again!
艳 / 艶豔艷 - As you can see, this character has multiple traditional variants. I don’t think I have ever actually seen the middle one used, but regardless, I’m thankful that I do not have this character in my Chinese name.
卫 / 衛 - This is another traditional character that I hold a grudge against because I am simply incapable of remembering that 衛 is 卫. I think it’s because 衛 makes me think of 伟/偉, and 伟 obviously doesn’t look like 卫, so I can’t make the connection.
党 / 黨 - I know there is simply no way I could write this and have it fit in a square. It would come out like double the height it’s supposed to be. I can’t write 墨 well for my life either.
盐 / 鹽 - There’s a lovely song by 沈以诚 with this character as the title. It took me so long to realize what the title was because 鹽 displays so tiny on my computer that I couldn’t see the detail well enough to draw the character in Pleco!
单 / 單 - I am okay with 2 口s in a row, and I don’t mind 骂 for instance. But for some reason when I look at 單, it feels like the 口s are going to squish the bottom part!
Bonus: I thought it would only be fair to mention some simplified characters that I am not a fan of. My top pick is this group:
头 / 頭
实 / 實
买 / 買
卖 / 賣
读 / 讀
续 / 續
Whenever I write 头, it honestly looks so bad and unbalanced. I would prefer that the simplified versions of these characters be more faithful to the traditional versions just so I wouldn’t have to look at my ugly 头s!
mingling -> I exclusively read the English word “mingling” as 命令 now. I really cannot recognize it as English. There is no mingling anymore. There is only 命令.
name -> 那么那么那么. When I’m typing in Chinese and go to type 那么, my brain gets stuck when I see “name” in the character bar. Cannot compute. I can’t explain or rationalize it.
like -> I read the English word “like” as 立刻 the other week late at night when I was very tired. But I am at peace with this, and I accept it.
duo -> I feel dumb saying this, but I just realized recently that the pinyin for 多 is the same as the English word “duo.” I don’t know what to do with this information.
fuming -> I don’t even know a Chinese word with the pinyin “fuming,” but I read the English word “fuming” as if it were pinyin anyway. Isn’t multilingualism beautiful?
Over my years of studying Chinese, I’ve encountered many familiar characters in unfamiliar situations. Basically, when I originally learned a character, I only learned one or some of its possible meanings. Then later down the line, I encountered the same character but with a meaning that I hadn’t learned. Confusion ensued. Then I pulled up Pleco or MDBG, and all became clear!
Let’s go down memory lane and look at some of the characters that have perplexed me over the years.
同款 tóngkuǎn - similar (model) / merchandise similar to that used by a celebrity etc
Recently I’ve seen a lot of ads with the word 同款. I was quite confused because I thought 款 had to do with money, like in 贷款 or 捐款. After looking up 款, everything made sense—the ads I saw were advertising a service where you can buy clothing that your favorite celebs wear!
款 kuǎn - section / paragraph / funds / classifier for versions or models (of a product)
疼惜 téngxī - to cherish / to dote on 疼爱 téngài - to love dearly
Before encountering these words, I was only familiar with 疼 from words like 头疼 and 疼痛, which have to do with pain. So you can imagine my confusion when I saw “cherish” as the definition for 疼惜! I find it interesting how this character has both a very positive and a very negative meaning.
疼 téng - (it) hurts / sore / to love dearly
告别 gàobié - to leave / to bid farewell to / to say good-bye to 离别 líbié - to leave (on a long journey) / to part from sb
I knew a lot of words with 别, but none with the meaning of leave/depart…even though that is the first definition listed in MDBG! Even to this day, when I see the expression 别来无恙, it takes me a sec to remember what 别 means in there.
别 bié - to leave / to depart / to separate / to distinguish / to classify / other / another / don’t …! / to pin / to stick (sth) in / (noun suffix) category
发毛 fāmáo - to be scared / to be panicked
I heard this use of 毛 while watching Chinese-language TV. I instantly looked up 毛 in Pleco because the meanings of 毛 I knew made no sense in the contexts of the scene. I’ve been able to remember this new (to me) meaning of 毛 thanks to the chengyu 毛骨悚然.
毛 máo - hair / feather / down / wool / mildew / mold / coarse or semifinished / young / raw / careless / unthinking / nervous / scared / (of currency) to devalue or depreciate / classifier for Chinese fractional monetary unit
说道 shuōdào - to state / to say (the quoted words) 问道 wèndào - to ask the way / to ask
I was so bewildered when I first saw 道 used like this—even though I knew many, many words with 道 that were diverse in meaning. Now I see this kind of 道 a lot when I’m reading, so I’m confident that you will encounter it sooner or later.
道 dào - road / path / principle / truth / morality / reason / skill / method / Dao (of Daoism) / to say / to speak / to talk / classifier for long thin things (rivers, cracks etc), barriers (walls, doors etc), questions (in an exam etc), commands, courses in a meal, steps in a process / (old) circuit (administrative division)
花光 huāguāng - to spend all one’s money 不光 bùguāng - not the only one / not only
Here there are two new meanings of 光 that I remember learning. For the “use up” meaning, 花光, 用光, and 吃光 seem to be the most common uses. As for the “only" meaning, I hear 不光 all the time now. It’s definitely super useful to know.
光 guāng - light / ray / bright / only / merely / to use up
理睬 lǐcǎi - to heed / to pay attention to 不理 bùlǐ - to refuse to acknowledge / to pay no attention to / to take no notice of / to ignore
理 is another character that I encounter constantly in words like 理解, 理由, and 处理. I think I first learned the “to pay attention to” meaning from the chengyu 不理不睬. Now I encounter and use 不理 really frequently!
理 lǐ - texture / grain (of wood) / inner essence / intrinsic order / reason / logic / truth / science / natural science (esp. physics) / to manage / to pay attention to / to run (affairs) / to handle / to put in order / to tidy up
Here is another example of “what? How did this character acquire both these definitions?” At least I have not had much trouble with remembering this meaning of 皮. I think I learned 顽皮 first, but I feel like I hear 调皮 more.
往事 wǎngshì - past events / former happenings 过往 guòwǎng - to come and go / to have friendly relations with / in the past / previous
过往 is a very tricky word for me because I have trouble remembering the in the past/previous definition. After so many years of only using 往 for things like 往前走, I have struggled to learn words like 来往 and 交往. So another definition of 往 is kind of too much for me I guess!
往 wǎng - to go (in a direction) / to / towards / (of a train) bound for / past / previous
被子 bèizi - quilt / CL: 床
I remember learning 被子 in Chinese classes and being surprised to see that 被 could mean quilt. But it would not stick in my memory, so I was constantly failing to recall 被子 while doing Anki. Fortunately, thanks to the song 红色高跟鞋 by 蔡健雅, I will never struggle to remember 被子 again.
被 bèi - quilt / by / (indicates passive-voice clauses) / (literary) to cover / to meet with
This one really gets to me because I feel like “deficit” and “luckily” are so, so opposite. There must be an interesting explanation for how 亏 ended up with both these meanings. I still have trouble remembering what 幸亏 and 多亏 actually mean.
不服 bùfú - not to accept sth / to want to have sth overruled or changed / to refuse to obey or comply / to refuse to accept as final / to remain unconvinced by / not to give in to 服从 fúcóng - to obey (an order) / to comply / to defer 服药 fúyào - to take medicine
I am pretty sure I first encountered this meaning of 服 when I heard the song 《不服》 performed by 汪苏泷 and some of the trainees on 青春有你2. I was very confused by it. Even after seeing the dictionary definitions, I struggled to understand how to use the word 不服. It simply took lots more exposure for me to grasp it. 服 as in 服药 still trips me up to this day. I’ve kind of given up on trying to remember it.
服 fú - clothes / dress / garment / to serve (in the military, a prison sentence etc) / to obey / to be convinced (by an argument) / to convince / to admire / to acclimatize / to take (medicine) / mourning clothes / to wear mourning clothes
输入 shūrù - to import / to input 运输 yùnshū - to transport / to carry / transportation
I felt borderline betrayed upon learning the word 运输. I felt like 输 was cheating on its partner 赢! I was also really confused at the time because I had no idea what “to lose” had to do “transportation” haha. I’ve come to accept 输入 simply because I see it so much that it’s become very normal to me.
输 shū - to lose / to transport / to donate / to enter (a password)
领取 lǐngqǔ - to receive / to draw / to get
I “learned” 领取 in Chinese class a couple years ago, but it never stuck for me. Then I saw 领 in the contexts of something like 领奖项. I was confused and looked up 领 in the dictionary. Then I had an ohhhh moment. Now I’m finally able to remember 领取!
领 lǐng - neck / collar / to lead / to receive / classifier for clothes, mats, screens etc
拼命 pīnmìng - to do one’s utmost / with all one’s might / at all costs / (to work or fight) as if one’s life depends on it
From 拼音 and 拼写 to 拼命! It’s a pretty jarring difference to be honest! But idol survival shows (which I watch too many of) include 拼 or 拼命 A LOT, so I’ve gotten used to it.
拼 pīn - to piece together / to join together / to stake all / adventurous / at the risk of one’s life / to spell
I’ve seen a lot of posts floating around in the Chinese teaching/learning scene about similar characters like 己 & 已 and 未 & 末. But these posts never seem to include the characters that I have the most difficulty with! So I made my own :)
Note: Some of these characters don’t look similar if you use traditional characters, but I primarily use simplified.
怒 nù - anger / fury / flourishing / vigorous 恕 shù - to forgive This is an example of one-way confusion. I learned 恕 as part of the phrase 恕我直言, but now, whenever I see 恕 I think it’s 怒 at first. But never the other way around.
拨 bō - to push aside with the hand, foot, a stick etc / to dial / to allocate / to set aside (money) / to poke (the fire) / to pluck (a string instrument) / to turn round / classifier: group, batch 拔 bá - to pull up / to pull out / to draw out by suction / to select / to pick / to stand out (above level) / to surpass / to seize In class once I wrote what I thought was 拔 on the board…it was 拨. I was very embarrassed. These two always trip me up! They are by far my least favorite duo on this list.
苛 kē - severe / exacting 苟 gǒu - if / supposing / careless / negligent / temporarily / surname Gou For some reason I am most embarrassed about confusing these two. I think it’s because when I look closely and carefully, they don’t seem that similar. But if I am not looking closely and carefully, they cause confusion.
茶 chá - tea / tea plant 荼 tú - thistle / common sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus) / bitter (taste) / cruel / flowering grass in profusion I saw a chengyu with 荼 (如火如荼) and totally thought it was 茶. I was so shocked when I realized otherwise! I guess the chengyu wouldn’t make much sense with 茶…oh well.
竟 jìng - unexpectedly / actually / to go so far as to / indeed 竞 jìng - to compete / to contend / to struggle On the bright side, since these two characters are pronounced exactly the same, at least you don’t really have to worry about that aspect. The big issue would just be writing the wrong one.
丰 fēng - abundant / plentiful / fertile / plump / great / surname Feng 韦 wéi - soft leather / surname Wei These characters are both last names, so watch out. You wouldn’t want to misread 韦礼安 as 丰礼安 or something.
暧 ài - (of daylight) dim / obscure / clandestine / dubious 暖 nuǎn - warm / to warm These two really give me a headache. I need my glasses to tell them apart! They look a bit more distinct in traditional, but I still managed to think 暧/曖 by 孙盛希 was called 暖 for a solid month or so.
呜 wū - (onom.) for humming or whimpering 鸣 míng - to cry (of birds, animals and insects) / to make a sound / to voice (one’s gratitude, grievance etc) I don’t really have an issue with 鸟 and 乌, but for some reason 鸣 and 呜 trip me up. I might need my glasses for them too haha.
妹 mèi - younger sister 姝 shū - pretty woman I’ve seen both these characters in names. Except I thought 姝 was 妹. I blame 张惠妹! I think for the rest of my life I’ll be paranoid about saying someone’s name incorrectly due to these two.
廷 tíng - palace courtyard 延 yán - to prolong / to extend / to delay / surname Yan I don’t actually know any words with 廷, but it can be used in names. In my experience, it’s especially common in Taiwan. But I have also seen 延 in names, so sometimes I have do a double take.
Honorable mention: 昼/晝 zhòu - daytime 画/畫 huà - to draw / picture / painting 书/書 shū - book / letter / document / to write Whenever I read something in traditional Chinese, these triplets are the bane of my existence. I’ve given up on trying to distinguish them and just guess from context instead. People use use traditional, how do you do it?
I wanted to share a resource for reading practice that I stumbled across recently. It’s called the Chinese Reading World, and it was a project led by the University of Iowa.
The site was put together from 2005 to 2008, so it’s not super up to date. However, there is a ton of content! Everything is sorted into 3 levels: beginning, intermediate, and advanced.
Each level has 30 units, and each unit has 10 lessons. The lessons begin with a vocab pre-test, then there is a reading with some comprehension questions. Lastly, there is a vocab post-test, which is the same as the initial test (at least for the lessons I’ve done so far). There’s audio for each lesson text, but unfortunately it can’t be streamed—you have to download it. There is also an achievement test at the end of each unit.
My experience has actually been that I already know all the words on the vocabulary tests, but the reading passages contain other words that I’m not familiar with.
So far, the readings I’ve encountered are not very long. This is nice since reading longer pieces can be frustrating at times. With shorter readings, you can just read 1 or 2 on some days and read more when you have more time/patience. I believe the readings are taken from Chinese newspapers.
Also, every unit has a theme. With 90 units total, there are bound to be themes that interest you. Example unit topics:
Directions and Asking Direction 方向和问路
Sports and Outdoor Activities 体育和户外运动
Chinese Music and Musicians 中国音乐和音乐家
Chinese Minorities and Local Customs 地方习俗和民族风情
Chinese Sports and Olympic Games 体育和奥林匹克
Contemporary Chinese Literature and Writers 中国当代文学和作家
The 3 levels also each come with 5 proficiency tests. They seem to be based on vocabulary knowledge, so expanding your vocab is clearly a huge focus of this site. The only thing I’m unclear is about is I’m not sure exactly when the proficiency tests are meant to be taken. After completing all units? Or are they spaced out so you are supposed to take test 1 after the first few units, test 2 after the next few, etc.?
I’ve started working my way through the advanced section this week. With 300 advanced lessons alone, it really feels like I have an infinite number of articles to go through!
Have you ever been surfing a Taiwanese website and noticed that years are labeled completely differently? I was on some webpage last year and got so confused as to why I was seeing numbers like 75 and 100 for the year. What??
I somehow found my way to this Wikipedia article calledRepublic of China calendar or 民国纪年 in Chinese. Apparently this calendar is also referred to under other (similar) names such as 中华民国纪年 and 中华民国历.
The year 1 in the ROC calendar is 1912, the year the ROC was founded. So 2022 is the 111th year! Just add or subtract 1911 to convert between the Gregorian calendar and 民国纪年.
Since learning about this calendar, I’ve seen it pop up here and there on academic websites to mark the years people graduated or took a college entrance exam. You may very well never encounter this system in the wild, but if you do, now you’ll be prepared!
I wanted to find a real life example to display, so I went digging. I found the 民国纪年 on the website for 国立台湾大学哲学系 (NTU Philosophy Department).
See! For the year of these doctoral theses (博士论文), the table has 108, aka 2019.
Just goes to show that you really have to learn some stuff about culture and history when learning a language.
The Most Satisfying Feeling I Get from Learning Chinese
One of the most satisfying feelings I’ve experienced in learning Chinese is the feeling I get after hearing a new word and just *understanding* it. This isn’t that hard when reading (and that’s why we love 汉字), but when it comes to listening, it’s a whole different story. So the moments when I’ve heard a new word and intuitively known what 汉字 it consists of plus its meaning of have made me feel so accomplished. Over time I’ve jotted down some of these words, and I thought they would make a fun post.
迷失 míshī - to lose (one’s bearings) / to get lost I was able to understand this word thanks to knowing words like 迷路, 迷茫, 失去, and 消失. I first remember identifying this word in Escape Plan’s song 夜空中最亮的星.
旅途 lǚtú - journey / trip I know a lot of words with 旅 like 旅游, 旅行, and 旅程, and I was also familiar with 途 via 路途 and 前途. So 旅途 was very easy for me to understand.
心愿 xīnyuàn - cherished desire / dream / craving / wish / aspiration 心愿 is similar in meaning to 愿望 and 意愿, which I already knew. I believe I first heard this word in the song 有点甜 by 汪苏泷 and BY2.
高傲 gāo'ào - arrogant / haughty / proud I heard this word in the song 寻宝 by 沈以诚. I’ve listened to this song many times, and one day it just clicked! It’s all thanks to the similar words 骄傲 and 傲慢.
安稳 ānwěn - smooth and steady There are so many words with 安 like 安定 and 平安. I also know some 稳 words, such as 稳定 and 平稳. So I was able to put two and two together for 安稳.
还原 huányuán - to restore to the original state / to reconstruct (an event) The meaning of 还 here is very familiar from 还给 and 还清. Also, I know a lot of words with 原: 原来, 原本, 原始, 原先.
选拔 xuǎnbá - to select the best There are so many 选 words I see all the time like 精选, 选举, and 选择. I also know 拔 from 拔苗助长 and 自拔, so I was able to piece together the overall meaning of 选拔.
解压 jiěyā - to relieve stress I’ve already learned the word 缓解 which is related in meaning. Also, I’ve learned 施压 (or 施加压力), which is basically the opposite of 解压.
感人 gǎnrén - touching / moving I think this word is pretty easy to put together if you know similar words like 感染, 感动, and 动人.
认输 rènshū - to concede / to admit defeat I distinctly remember hearing this word in the Tanya Chua song 救生圈. I think I was able to understand it thanks to knowing that 认 can mean to admit like in the words 承认 and 公认.
Here’s to many more of these satisfying moments in 2022!
If expression ‘cognitive studies’ means anything to you, this could be your opportunity to participate in a real associative experiment, the results of which will be later used for creation of a scientific research.
If not, this could be an opportunity to entertain yourself with a couple of weird questions :D
Anyway, any contribution would be of great - no, enormous - help. So any activity (participation, reblogs, etc.) is very much appreciated. Thank you!
nemzetközi nőnap - International Women’s Day nő -woman asszony- married woman feleség- wife hölgy- lady lány- girl; daughter kislány- little girl anya- mother nagymama- grandmother nagynéni- aunt március- March március nyolcadika - 8 March egyenjogúság- equality, equal rights egyenjogúsítás, emancipáció - emancipation választójog, szavazati jog - right to vote női jogok - women’s rights virág- flower (virág)csokor - bouquet rózsa- rose tulipán- tulips hóvirág- snowdrop jácint- hyacinth csokoládé, csoki - chocolate bonbon- box of chocolates sütemény, süti - cake, cookies ajándék - present, gift
So a few years back, I wrote my Master’s thesis while an Erasmus student in England and I thought I would share an abridged version with you. I wrote my thesis about the Northern Vowel Shift, under the title : The Old Scandinavian element and its impact in the actuation and development of the Northern Vowel Shift.
But first of all, what is the Great Vowel Shift ?
It’s an event described as a chain-shift where the lower vowels, in a push-change movement, forced the higher vowels to raise and the highest ones to diphthongise, as such:
[ɔː] → [oː] → [uː] → [aʊ]
[ɛː] → [eː] → [iː] → [aɪ]
This partly explains the discrepancy between sounds and orthography in English. For instance, <ee> in “meet” now pronounced /iː/ used to be pronounced /eː/and <oo> in “goose” now pronounced /uː/used to be /oː/. This large-scale shake-up took place between the mid-14th and the 18th century.
Why is the Northern Vowel Shift important?
Because, generally, when dealing with the Great Vowel Shift, it is often assumed that it affected the whole of England. However, the upward movement of vowels was not a unified motion as some British English varieties retain pronunciations that were left unmodified by the Shift and thus retain certain pronunciations similar to those of the period before the Shift intervened. The study of the phonological history of the English language, more often than not, tends to describe the evolution of the vowel set of English by the representation of its southern version.
It matters because this focus on the southern version is probably due to a form of social bias; the most prestigious variety in the United Kingdom in present days is RP (Received Pronunciation) / SBE (Southern British English).
The bulk of the literature published to this day on this matter does not really concern northern England. This fact is quite a shame for there are many differences between the Northern Vowel Shift and the Southern Vowel Shift that seem to indicate that the two phenomena are not likely to be connected and merely share a common vocalic shift.
How did the Great Vowel Shift/Southern Vowel Shift happen ?
In a nutshell, this Shift took place because of dialect contacts in the south of England. Smith (2007) mentions that early Tudor London offered economic opportunities to the people of the surrounding countryside, attracting large number of people with different dialectal traditions to the same place.
Smith (2007:130) argues that the socially salient pronunciation of [e̝ː ; o̝ː] inherited from French was used by a category of the population; System I speakers, and System II speakers from outside London, would perceive these raised [e̝ː ; o̝ː] as /i:/ and /uː/. A third group of speakers from System III, would come to London during the 18th century from East Anglia and bring more chaos to the situation. Smith believes that the diphthongisation of the long close vowels comes from System III speakers.
How did the Northern Vowel Shift happen and how is different ?
In my thesis I concluded that the NVS and the SVS were triggered by very different factors; while the SVS took place because of dialect contacts, it would seem that the NVS happened because of instability in Northern English vowels after the introduction of long /ɛː/ in the phonology following Open Vowel Lengthening, which took place between the Old and Middle English period. Open Vowel Lengthening happened as follows: CVCV structures became CVːCafter final vowels like -ewere dropped.
Examples:
Old English “nama” => Middle English “nām”(“name”)
Old English “faran” => Middle English “fār” (“go”)
However, as you can see, there is a blatant lack of symmetry in the upward movement of Northern English long vowels compared to that of the SVS. Basically, when looking at this graph, the NVS only concerns the front vowels, and not the back ones. I’ll add there is a level of detail missing in the graph depicting the rise of /ɔː/ to /oː/. However, contrary to what occurred in the SVS, the raising of Vowel 5, as Aitkens (2002) calls it, had no impact because once /ɔː/ rose to /oː/, there was nothing to move upward and force /uː/ to change quality in turn. This is why in Northern English and Scottish dialect, you can hear speakers pronounce the word “house” as /hu:s/ with a long monophthong instead of the usual diphthong /aʊ/.
The reason for that is relatively simple: the absence of /oː/ in the pre-NVS phonology. This vowel had seemingly fronted to /ø:/ in earlier stages, leaving the mid-high back vowel slot open. Thus when /ɔː/ rose, there was nothing to push towards /uː/.
Since the NVS didn’t happen for the same reasons as the SVS, and it looks like the culprit is the fronting of /oː/ to /ø:/ : whence does this fronting come? My hypothesis was that it was under the influence of Nordic languages that /ø:/ arose or was maintained longer in the northern dialects of English than in the southern, which had lost its front rounded vowels by the 11th century (an example of what I called south-eastern distaste for front rounded vowels).
In a nutshell, what I argued is that northern varieties of English may have started losing their front rounded vowels, like down south, but contact with Old Norse speakers ranging as far back as the late 8th century in Northern England may have played a role in re-introducing a decaying phoneme in northern dialects of English. Furthermore, Scandinavians tended to remain in their own little closed communities, exchanging little with the outside world for a few decades after the end of the Danelaw. Their contact with neighbouring population must have played a role in the upholding of /ø:/.
Basically,tl;dr,English underwent massive phonetic change because of the Great Vowel Shift. However, it would me more accurate to refer to it as the Southern Vowel since its effects did not affect northern regions of England, which had experienced its own shift; the Northern Vowel Shift. It arose because of phonetic evolution between Old and Middle English. A back vowel was absent from Old Northern English, rendering a SVS chain-shift-like motion impossible in northern dialects. This back vowel may have fronted because of Old Norse influence in the region, which lasted longer in the north of England than in the south.
