Chinese For Fun

Squirrel

2008-12-25T16:55:00.000-08:00

Javaness: 坚强的松鼠

谢谢 for teaching me such an important word, java!

輕敵必敗

2008-09-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

Underestimating your enemy guarantees your loss

殺氣

2008-05-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

殺氣 sha1 qi4 murderous look

And yes, that is a snake he is batting around.

Making Tea

2008-01-05T15:14:00.000-08:00

Is there a way to say 'be right back, i am making tea' in chinese?

My sister: 马上回来，我正在泡茶

马上回来，我正在泡茶

马上	ma3 shang4	at once / right away / immediately
回来	hui2 lai5	return / come back
我	wo3	I / me
正在	zheng4 zai4	in the process of (doing something or happening) / while
泡茶	pao4 cha2	make tea

Have a good day!

2008-01-01T22:57:00.001-08:00

Nanny: thank you, one question
how do i say 'Have a good day' in chinese?

Li: hmm
not exact time

Nanny: hmmm, ok, so anything else one would say instead?

Li: 愉快的一天
something like that

Nanny: ok, thank you

Li: a difficult question

Breakfast Revisited

2007-07-26T08:09:00.001-07:00

This morning, I was going to have breakfast and wanted to tell my friends. This was no the preparing anymore, but the actual eating. I had no idea how to say that, so I made it a very simple 我早饭。 I figured it was not correct, but at least it would get through what I was doing and I wanted to practice using Chinese.

When I came back from breakfast, my bro had corrected my chinese already:

Ang: so didnt find you
but looks someone busy
btw it's dutch chinese
我在吃早饭
or我准备吃早饭

我在吃早饭

我 wo3 I
在 zai4 located at / in the middle of doing
吃 chi1 eat
早饭 zao3 fan4 breakfast

我准备吃早饭

我 wo3 I
准备 zhun3 bei4 prepare to
吃 chi1 eat
早饭 zao3 fan4 breakfast

Breakfast

2007-07-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

Nanny: I am going to prepare breakfast
how do I say that in chinese?

Min: 我去准备早饭了

我 wo3 I
去 qu4 to go
准备 zhun3 bei4 prepare
早饭 zao3 fan4 breakfast
了 le5 particle

Stirfried fresh summer vegetables and a fried egg, yum!

Chrysanthemum

2007-07-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

mum
n.
[植](=chrysanthemum)菊花, 沉默

I will have to check whether I have any of that tea left, sipping jasmine tea now.

Welcome back

2007-07-21T19:19:00.000-07:00

Nanny: welcome back
what would welcome back be in chinese?

Ang: 欢迎回来

huan1 ying2 欢迎 to welcome / welcome
hui2 lai5 回来 return / come back

Yes, I know, I have been away for too long. Life was a bit overwhelming, but I am going to try to study more chinese again. Even if it isn't much , keeping some study going will be beneficial, right?

My Handwriting

2007-06-10T23:25:00.000-07:00

I was complaining about my Chinese hand writing to my brother and came up with this sentence:
我的汉字是不好

He corrected me to 我的汉字写得不好

At least I got most of the characters right AND it was all by heart, didn't look up any (no, don't bother to point out that those were very high frequency characters :p)

Logging on and logging off

2007-05-14T08:24:00.001-07:00

我下线了。 i logoff.
我wo4：i
下xia4 线xian4：logoff

我上线了。 i logon.
上shang4 线 xian4：logon

没 mei2关guan1 系xi4：never mind

Gardening

2007-05-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

Gardening: 整理花园

zheng3 li3 hua1 yuan2

Happy Mothers Day

2007-05-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

母亲节快乐
happy mothers day

母亲 = mother
节 = festival
快乐 = happy

that formula works for anything too!
圣诞节快乐
新年快乐
父亲节快乐

不战屈人

2007-05-08T17:36:00.001-07:00

不战屈人

不bu2:don't
战zhan4:fight
屈qu1:yield
人ren2:people

Means yield sb. without fighting. This is a famous chinese proverb and also a important tranditional chinese thinking coming of war. It's also the most important rule of 'techniques of war' written by Sun Zi 2000 years ago.

Love your parents

2007-05-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

A friend told me:

父生我身 is the beginning of a confucian litany on filial piety. the message is honor thy parents.

It is apparently taught to koreans as part of the school curriculum. students are made to memorize the entire litany.
the entire litany is very long, but you can find it here:
http://www.zl169.com/MINGDA/read_user_news.asp?ID=127

It emphasizes the depth of a parents love for a child and the importance of reciprocation and piety
The first few lines are:
父生我身，母鞠我身。腹以怀我，乳以哺我。以衣温我，以食饱我。
恩高如天，德厚似地。为人子者，曷不为孝。
My father raised me, my mother nourished me.
A bosom to hold/cherish me, a breast to nurse me.
Clothing to warm me, food to feed me.
Kindness/graciousness higher than the sky, values/morals thicker than the land.
The son of a man, why not be filial?

Not sure if the translation is that accurate, but things that are 2500 yrs old are hard to translate, but you get the idea...it is very traditional, goes into things like when your parents enter, you must stand and bow, when your parents order you to do something, you must comply etc...

Quote of the Day

2007-05-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

My eight year old daughter comes to me with her Nintendo DS (a handheld gamesystem)
She asks 'How do you spell how?'
Me 'H - O - W'
She replies 'No!! Not that, the OTHER how!!!'
Me 'Um?? Which other how? Can you make a sentence with it?'
She I am trying to spell 'Nin hao'! To say hello!'
Ah, finally I understood and gave her the right spelling :)

Old Chinese Proverb

2007-05-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

A friend told me: "There are not many sunny days here in winter. A famous chinese proverb “蜀犬吠日”tell us it's same sutiation in ancient China.

蜀 su3：the ancient name of Sichuan province of China
犬 quan3:dog
吠 fei4:gnar
日 ri4:sun

The dog gnar to the sun because there seldom saw it in winter in Sichuan."

Mystery Character of the Day

2007-05-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

Saw this fountain with a character at our local nursery. Can anyone tell me which character it is and the meaning?

Greetings

2007-04-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

早上好 zao3 shang5 hao3 good morning
中午好　zhong1 wu3 hao3 good midday/afternoon
下午好　xia4 wu hao3 good afternoon
晚上好　wan3 shang4 hao3 good night
晚安 wan3 an1 good night

Weiqi Word of the Day: cap

2007-04-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

cap=盖gai4帽mao4

Wow!

2007-04-14T21:33:00.000-07:00

哇噻=wow
哇wa噻sai4

Weiqi Words of the Day

2007-04-08T07:29:00.000-07:00

coward! 懦luo4夫fu1
Double hane. 连lian2扳ban1

Calling to China

2007-04-07T18:19:00.000-07:00

My brother Ang asked me to call him at 9am this morning (his time) to help him wake up in time. Calling him made me forget ALL my Chinese at once. The moment I was on the phone, I went blank and couldn't remember any Chinese words I knew. They were fine with English, but it made me admire my sister Min even more, who moved here from China and had the problem the other way around, every time she needed to make a phone call in English.

I WILL work on my Chinese to at least be able to make a rudimentary phone call, I have been focusing on weiqi Chinese too much, and not as much on every-day-useful Chinese.

Snow...

2007-04-05T06:27:00.001-07:00

我讨厌雪
我讨厌雪天
我讨厌下雪

yes, we have 10-20cm of wet, heavy snow in April!

Iron Pillar

2007-04-03T06:39:00.000-07:00

iron pillar 扎zha1钉ding4