Quick Tip - Showing off

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There are a growing number of new Chinese words, transliterated from their English soundalikes. One that springs to mind is 粉丝, which means 'fans' (fan), as in "I'm your biggest fan."

Today's word is 秀， originally used in words like 优秀 (outstanding). Recently people must have noticed it's pronunciation is similar to the English word 'show', and it has come to have the meaning of showing something off.

现在我来秀以下我创作的歌曲 - Now I'll perform a song I wrote.
你会跳芭蕾舞吗？给我们秀以下吧 - You can do ballet? Why not show us some?

You can hear the word used in the Chinesepod dialogue about live music which I posted yesterday.

Tags: Chinese, mandarin

Quick Tip - 蛮

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So we all know the usuals - 很好， 非常好， 特别好， 挺好 . . .

but I've noticed since coming to Shanghai from the north, people often say 蛮好, meaning quite good, or pretty good.

It's also used for a variety of other adjectives and verbs - 蛮多，蛮喜欢， 蛮简单

So listen out for it. I'm not sure if it's a southern thing, or just Shanghai, but I never heard anyone say it during my two years in the north.

Tags: Learn Chinese, Learn Mandarin, CSL, Chinese Lessons

八卦 - Gossipy

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八卦 - The Eight Trigrams. As you can see, the 八卦 is this octagonal symbol composed of eight trigrams and the symbol for 阴阳 - yin and yang in the centre. This has a lot to do with divination, spirituality and geomancy, and has applications in 太极拳 - Tai Chi, and 风水 - Feng Shui.

But these days, not so many people still follow this kind of tradition, and the word 八卦 has taken on a new meaning, it is used to describe someone who loves to gossip! You probably know that 阴 and 阳 have a lot to do with the complementary nature of male and female, so the word 八卦 has come to be an adjective associated with the discussion of male and female interaction, or gossip!

e.g. 这个人真八卦 - this guy loves to gossip

Tags: Chinese, Mandarin, Language, CSL

Body types

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Here are some useful expressions to describe somebody's 身材 (figure)

苗条 - slim
高挑 - tall
矮胖 - short and fat
倒梯形 - broad shouldered and slim (see below)
魔鬼身材 - a beautiful slender figure (see below)
天使的面孔 - the face of an angel (nothing to do with the figure, but I thought it was relevant)

梯形 describes the shape of a Chinese ladder, which is wider at the bottom than the top, like a trapezoid. So 倒梯形 is the same shape inverted, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, hence describing somebody who has broad shoulders and a slim waist.

魔鬼身材 - 魔鬼 is a kind of demon or gremlin (it's actually where the word Mogwai comes from in the Gremlins movies). I guess Chinese demons are all hot chicks! So if you want to compliment a Chinese girl, tell her she has the body of a Gremlin!!!

(Important! Don't get the last two confused. If you tell a girl she has the face of a gremlin and the body of an angel you'll get a slap in the face - apparently Chinese angels are little fat things
. . . with very pretty faces!)

Tags: CSL, chinese, mandarin, language

Quick tip - It takes all sorts

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Sticking with the bird theme, here's a comment I received recently on my Chinese blog - 英国人在上海 - in response to an article about David Blaine's recent tomfoolery in the human goldfish bowl:

林子大了, 什么样的鸟都有。

Literally translated this means "the forest is big, and has all kinds of different birds." It's pretty close to the English expression "it takes all sorts (to make a world)", although this also implies that you should be accepting of all people, no matter how strange. I don't think the Chinese expression carries this implication, it's merely an observation that the world is full of freaks like Blaine!

Tags: chinese, mandarin, CSL, language

Quick tip - Take the Sofa

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Here's a good one for bloggers:

抢沙发: take the sofa

meaning to be the first one to comment on a blog entry!

second commenter gets the 板凳： stool
while third place has to make do with the 地板： floor

Nice analogy eh?

那么，谁来抢沙发呢？

Thanks to Remy for this one!

Tags: mandarin, chinese, language, blog

Quick tip - It's the thought!

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礼轻情义重 - it's the thought that counts

轻 and 重 mean 'light' and 'heavy', but here they refer to importance. 礼轻 - the gift is not important. 情义重 - it's the ties of friendship that matter.

Tags: chinese, mandarin, language

Quick tip - Just Looking

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If you've been shopping in China, you'll know the frustration of being hassled by the salesperson, when you just want to do a bit of window-shopping. What can you say to make them leave you alone? Try this:

光看不买 - I'm just looking

It literally means 'only look, not buy'. If you tell them this, they will usually ease off with the hard sell, perhaps only occasionally suggesting that the bright orange sweater would look "very beautiful" on you!

Tags: chinese, mandarin, language

Quick tip - Don't be a light bulb!

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Two's company, three's a crowd. So what do you say when your friend invites you to go out with him and his girlfriend? "I don't want to be the third wheel", right? Not in China - you say "I don't want to be your light bulb!"

电灯泡 - electric light bulb

e.g - 我不要做你们的电灯泡 - I don't want to be the third wheel

I like this imagery - imagine a couple getting nice and cozy in a dark corner, when suddenly - BING - the electric light bulb comes on and the pair can't get any privacy. So take some Chinese advice - don't be a light bulb!

Tags: Chinese, Mandarin, language

Quick tip - Ice cream

I know it's still a bit cold for Ice Cream, but the warm weather will be here soon (I hope), so here's some words to help you buy some icy refreshment:

冰淇淋 is used to refer to Ice Cream in general, but there are specific words for different types of Ice Cream:

冰砖：Ice cream, as in the kind you get in Haagen Daaz (哈根达斯) (砖 means brick)

冰棍儿：An ice lolly (or popsicle for the Americans!) Ice on a stick!

棒冰：the same as 冰棍儿, this is commonly used in Shanghai. (棒 and 棍 both mean stick)

Tags: chinese food, ice cream, learn mandarin, language

Toilet euphemism

Quick tip

方便：Aside from the common meaning, convenient, 方便 is also often used as a euphemism （婉辞）：

1. 方便 = 大小便：to go to the toilet
2. 方便 ：to have money to spare.

Number 1 is fairly self explanatory. Just as in English, it's sometimes impolite to explicitly say what kind of digestive function you need to perform, so - 我要去方便 - is like saying "I want to go to the bathroom."

Number 2 is often used when you didn't bring out enough cash to pay the bill, but you don't want to directly ask a friend for money. Just like you might say "I'm a little shy", in Chinese you can say - 我手头儿不方便 (手头儿 means "money at hand")

Tags: euphemism, chinese, mandarin, language

Quick vocab tip - 改天

改天: Another day / someday soon

改天 means sometime in the not-too-distant future. It refers to an unspecific day, but usually means a few days from now.

e.g.

1. 我今天有事, 咱们改天再说吧: I'm busy today, let's do it another day
2. 我改天过来看你: I'll come and see you in a few days
   

But be warned! My landlady uses 改天 all the time, and in her case it usually means in a few weeks or months, or possibly never!

Tags: 改天, chinese vocabulary, quick tip, learn chinese

. . . 死我了 - . . . to death!

You've probably heard people say 累死我了 (I'm so tired!), 吓死我了 (you scared me to death!) and 气死我了 (I'm really p***ed off!). Using an adjective followed in this way by '死我了' gives it emphasis, literally meaning 'has killed me'.

But there's a few you don't hear so often, I heard my students using these a lot, and had to ask them what they meant:

愁死我了 (I'm worried/anxious . . . to death!)
撑死我了 (I'm full . . . to death!)

The first one - 愁 - means anxious or worried, but my students would say 愁死我了 in all kinds of situations, from having too much homework, to splitting up with their boy/girlfriend.

The second one - 撑 - means overfill, so 撑死我了 means you've eaten too much and feel like you're going to burst! My student told me that one, and my boss nearly died laughing when I came out with it after a school banquet.

Hope they come in handy, let me know if you know of any other less common ones.

Tags: learn chinese |study chinese |chinese phrases |mandarin

Alternatives for 什么and 怎么

We all know how to ask 'what?' and 'how?' (at least I assume we do, if not, I suggest you buy a beginner's Chinese language study book or find a teacher. This blog is for people who want to build on their existing basic Chinese), but you may not be aware of the alternatives used colloquially:

• 啥 (sha2) = 什么 (shen2 me) : what
• 咋 (za3) = 怎么 (zen3 me) : how

So you'll often hear people say:

这是啥意思呢？(zhe4 shi4 sha2 yi4 si ne)
(what does this mean?)

or:

'blog' 汉语咋说呀？(han4 yu3 za3 shuo1 ya)
(how do you say 'blog' in Chinese?)


Here's another one. Even beginners know the character 吗: it's used at the end of a sentence to transform the sentence into a question. But did you know that with a rising tone it also means 'what'?:

你干吗呀？(ni3 gan4 ma2 ya)
(what are you doing?)

你打我干吗？(ni3 da3 wo3 gan4 ma2)
(what did you hit me for?)

So keep your ears open for these words, you'll hear them in conversations everywhere. Watch some Chinese movies and listen out for them. By the way, 'blog' in Chinese is 博客 (bo2 ke4).

Hint: It's easy to remember the tones for 啥 and 咋: 啥 and 什 are both 2nd tone, 咋 and 怎 are both 3rd tone.

Tags: Chinese |Mandarin |learn Chinese |Chinese Lessons |language study