Dirty Chinese

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(WARNING: Explicit language below. Do not read on or click the link if you are easily offended)

John from ChinesePod just posted a link to a site entitled "Chinese sex words, obscene language, curses and slang"

This stuff is definitely beyond any textbook I've ever seen. One has to wonder how the author learned all this language!!

There's some nice imagery in some of the words:

肉棒 ròubàng = meat stick
肉洞 ròudòng = meat dungeon
蜜穴 mìxué = honey hole
玉门 yùmen = jade door
乳球 rŭqiú = “milk balls”

I'm sure (and I hope) that most of these words will be unfamiliar to learners of Chinese. Don't know if you'll get a chance to use any of them, but it could make a fun conversation between close friends.


I'm not really learning much new Chinese these days, so this blog is pretty much on the back-burner now, but I will continue to post links to interesting Chinese material as and when I come across it.

Tags: Chinese, Sex words, Mandarin, slang

麦当劳 - McDonald's in China

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With 麦当劳 - McDonald's - now doing deliveries in China, you can't rely on pointing at the pictures anymore when you want a Big Mac, so here's your guide to the best McDonald's China has to offer:

巨无霸 - Big Mac
麦香鸡腿汉堡 - McChicken Sandwich
双层吉士汉堡包 -　Double Cheeseburger
麦乐鸡 - Chicken McNuggets
麦香鱼 －Filet O' Fish
麦辣鸡翅 －Spicy Chicken Wings
特级板烧鸡腿堡 - New Chicken Leg hamburger only available in China

超值套餐 - Extra Value Meal
开心乐园餐 - Happy Meal

大/中/小 署条　－Large/Medium/Small French Fries
可口可乐　－Coca Cola
雪碧　－Sprite
芬达 - Fanta
橙汁 - Orange Juice
新地　－　Sundae
奶昔　－Milkshake
（草莓 - Strawberry, 香草 - Vanilla, 朱古力 - Chocolate）

n.b. The usual translation of Chocolate is 巧克力， but sometimes the alternative 朱古力 is used

苹果派　－　Apple Pie
菠萝派 - Pineapple Pie
红豆牌 - Red Bean Pie

早餐 - Breakfast

早晨全餐 - Big Breakfast
猪柳蛋 - Sausage and Egg McMuffin
热香饼 - Pancakes/Hotcakes

That's pretty much all I would ever order at McDonald's (apart from the Filet O' Fish and the Red Bean Pie, but whatever floats your boat). If you think I've missed anything vital, feel free to leave a comment.

Note: China is a huge country. In different areas of China, the menu items may have different names, due to differences in pronunciation etc.

Tags: McDonalds, 麦当劳, chinese, mandarin, food delivery

Vocab List 5 - World Cup Football Players

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We're into the quarter finals of the Germany 2006 World Cup now. Here's a list of the Chinese names of some of the big stars still remaining in the tournament:

英格兰队 - England

韦恩·鲁尼 - Wayne Rooney
大卫·贝克汉姆 - David Beckam (nickname - 小贝)
彼得·克劳奇 - Peter Crouch
迈克尔·欧文 - Michael Owen (受伤了 - injured)
斯蒂芬·杰拉德 - Steven Gerrard
乔·科尔 - Joe Cole

巴西队 - Brazil

罗伯特·卡洛斯 - Roberto Carlos
罗纳尔迪尼奥 - Ronaldinho
罗纳尔多 - Ronaldo


意大利队 - Italy

弗兰西斯科·托蒂 - Francesco Totti
卢卡·托尼 - Luca Toni
阿列桑德罗·德尔-皮耶罗 - Alessandro Del Piero

法国队 - France

齐内丹·齐达内 - Zinedine Zidane
蒂埃里·亨利 - Thierry Henry
帕特里克·维埃拉 - Patrick Vieira
利利安·图拉姆 - Lilian Thuram

葡萄牙队 - Portugal

路易斯·菲戈 - Luis Figo
德科 - Deco
保莱塔 - Pauleta
克里斯蒂亚诺·罗纳尔多 - Cristiano Ronaldo

阿根廷队 - Argentina

胡安·里克尔梅 - Juan Riquelme
赫尔南·克雷斯波 - Hernan Crespo
莱昂内尔·梅西 - Lionel Messi
罗伯托·阿亚拉 - Roberto Ayala

德国队 - Germany

米歇尔·巴拉克 - Michael Ballack
巴斯蒂安·施魏因施泰格 - Bastian Schweinsteiger
卢卡斯·波多尔斯基 - Lukas Podolski

乌克兰队 - Ukraine

安德烈·舍甫琴科 - Andriy Shevchenko
安德列·沃洛宁 - Andrey Voronin
沃罗贝 - Vorobey

Obviously this is not an exhaustive list. If you want to know the names of other players, you can visit the Chinese page of the official site of the FIFA World Cup. Click on 球队 (teams) in the left hand menu, then select your country and click on 阵容 (squad) to see a list of players.

Tags: Chinese, Mandarin, Language, Football, CSL, World Cup, 世界杯, Footballers

Vocab List 4 - World Cup

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Yes, the World Cup is upon us, so why not learn how to talk about it with your Chinese friends so you won't feel so left out. I never met a Chinese guy who didn't like football! Here are some essential vocab items, some inspired by the recent lessons on ChinesePod.com, and some I gleaned from various other sources. Enjoy:


（足球）世界杯 - (football/soccer)World Cup
开球 - kick-off
上半场 - first half
半场 - half time
下半场 - second half
（球）队 - team
e.g. 英格兰队 - England(team)
前锋 - striker
中锋 - midfielder
后卫 - defender
守门员 - goalkeeper
犯规 - foul
越位 - offside
黄牌 - yellow card
红牌 - red card
点球 - penalty kick
任意球 - free kick
角球 - corner kick
进球 - goal
乌龙 - own goal
机会 - opportunity/chance
浪费机会 - wasted opportunity
裁判员 - referee
好球 - good ball
臭球 - bad ball
黑马 - underdog

I hope that gives you plenty to talk about, if you feel I missed anything vital, feel free to add a comment and I'll update the list.

Tags: chinese, mandarin, pinyin, world cup, football, 世界杯, language

Vocab List 3 - Computers (part 2)

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This part will focus on internet vocab:

网吧 - net bar
上网 - Go online
浏览 - to browse/surf the net
下载 - download
上传 - upload
搜索引擎 - search engine
注册 - register
登录 - login
登录名 - login name
密码 - password
网虫儿 - computer nerd
聊天室 - chat room
网友 - internet friend
网恋 - internet romance!
黑客 - hacker
病毒 - virus

Ok, enough vocab to go on with. Finally here's some common shorthand you can see in chat rooms or if you chat with someone on an instant messenger program. (like ttyl, brb, lol ....):

88: Bye bye (八八 sounds similar to 拜拜)
3Q: Thank you (三Q: maybe this explains why so many Chinese can't pronounce 'th')
7456: 气死我了 (see previous vocab tip)
5555: 呜呜呜呜 (onomatopeia - crying)
521: 我爱你 - (sounds a bit like 五二一)

Tags: chinese, mandarin, language, IT

Computers part 1 update

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I made a couple of glaring omissions from the first computer vocab list:

I mentioned 因特网 - internet. This is the transliteration from English, commonly used in spoken Chinese, but you can also say 互联网 - this is the translation from the meaning of internet.

In the same way, the translation of e-mail is 电子邮件 - (electronic mail), but often, the transliteration 伊妹儿 is heard in conversation. The reason I didn't mention this earlier is because I only found out yesterday! I always heard people saying 伊妹儿 but I thought they were just speaking English badly!

ok, part 2 coming soon

Tags: chinese, mandarin, IT, language

Vocab List 2 - Computers (part 1)

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We all use computers these days, but do you know the vocab for it? Here's part 1 of a series of computer-related vocab lists, starting with the basics:

台式电脑 - desktop computer
笔记本电脑/手提电脑 - laptop computer
品牌电脑 - vendor-built computer (i.e. branded - DELL/HP/Apple etc.)
组装电脑 - home-built PC

硬件 - hardware:
中央处理器 - CPU
显示器 - monitor
荧光屏 - screen
键盘 - keyboard
鼠标 - mouse
硬盘 - hard disk
服务器 - server
宽带 - broadband
因特网 - internet

软件 - software

There you go, that's just an I.T. primer. If you feel I've left out any essentials, feel free to add them in your comments and I'll include them in the next list.

Tags: chinese, mandarin, IT, language

Vocab List 1 - Sandwiches

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Everyone craves a good old western sandwich once in a while, but how do you order your favourite kind, or ask where the ingredients are in the supermarket? Here's a handy sandwich vocab list:

Sandwich - 三明治

Bread types
Baguette - 法式面包 (French bread)
Ciabatta - 意式面包 (Italian bread)
Soft Roll - 美式面包 (American bread)
Whole Wheat - 全麦面包

Fillings
Cheese - 奶酪
Ham - 火腿
Chicken - 鸡肉
Roast Beef - 烤牛肉
Tuna - 金枪鱼
Egg Salad - 鸡蛋色拉
Salami - 沙拉米

Salad
Lettuce - 生菜
Tomato - 西红柿 or 番茄
Cucumber - 黄瓜
Onions - 洋葱
Olives - 橄榄

Dressing
Butter - 黄油
Mayo - 蛋黄酱
Mustard - 芥末酱
Tartare Sauce - 酸黄瓜酱
Olive oil - 橄榄油
Salad Cream - 沙拉酱
Ketchup - 番茄酱

Of course, some of the older generation of Chinese people may never have heard of some of these ingredients, so don't be too surprised if you go into a corner shop asking for 沙拉米 and are met with a blank expression.

Tags: learn mandarin, chinese vocabulary