1、Mistakes of Control When you first start studying Chinese, you have no idea at all how to properly make the tones. Even if you can hear a difference, you can’t do it yourself. Or maybe you can hear and repeat it immediately after, but then quickly forget how to do it. This is all part of the process of learning tones.
Tag: Pronunciation
The Prequel To Pinyin
It happens to all language learners, even the best of us. It’s your first day of class, and you’re silently panicking, watching in fear as your professor’s chalk dances across the board with lightning speed, producing the swirls and dots of Chinese characters. With each new slash, your heart sinks a little lower. How will you ever memorize and pronounce all several thousands of these?
每日一词：威武Wēiwǔ
威武在这里指有威风或气派，中国的现代年轻人会直接取读音近似的符号"V"来表达对方形象或行为的景仰，但都具有戏谑 搞笑的成分。近似地可以说“霸气”。
如：小强在巷子里打败了两个抢劫犯，真是威武V5" Wei Wu" here means prestige or impressive air around you. In modern Chinese society, the youth will pick up the symbol V directly , which is similar to "Wei Wu" in pronunciation (but v and w is different), to express their admiration toward the image or behavior of others. But they both bear joking and funny meaning. Similarly, we can say Ba Qi.
E.g: Xiao Qiang beat two robberies in the lane, that's totally V5
Chinese idioms：半途而废( Bàntú-érfèi )
半途而废 Bàntú-érfèi
Dōnghàn shí, yǒu yíwèi cōngmíng de nǚzǐ, rénmen dōu bùzhī tā jiào shénme míngzì, zhī zhīdào tā shì Lè yángzǐ de qīzǐ.
东汉时，有一位聪明的女子，人们都不知她叫什么名字，只知道她是乐羊子的妻子。 During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there lived a very intelligent woman known to people only as Leyangzi’s wife.
Yǒu yìnián, Lè yángzǐ qù yuǎnfāng qiúxué. Yì nián hòu, Lè yángzǐ huí lái le. Qīzǐ guì zhe wèn tā wèishénme huíjiā, Lè yángzǐ shuō:” chūmén shíjiān cháng le xiǎng jiā, méiyǒu qítā yuányīn.” Qīzǐ tīng le, ná qǐ yì bǎ dāo zǒudào zhībù jī qián shuō:” zhèlǐ de sī shì yìgēn yìgēn zhī zài yìqǐ, jīlèi qǐlái cái yǒu yícùn cháng, rán hòu yícùn cùn dì jīlèi , cái yǒu yízhàng, zhí zhì yìpǐ. Xiànzài rúguǒ wǒ bǎ tā gē duàn, jiù huì qiángōng jìnqì, qiánmiàn de shíjiān yě jiù báibái làngfèi le.”
有一年，乐羊子去远方求学。一年后，乐羊子回来了。妻子跪着问他为什么回家，乐羊子说：“出门时间长了想家，没有其他原因。”妻子听了，拿起一把刀走到织布机前说：“这里的丝是一根一根织在一起，积累起来才有一寸长，然后一寸寸地积累，才有一丈，直至一匹。现在如果我把它割断，就会前功尽弃，前面的时间也就白白浪费了。”One year, Leyangzi went to a distant school to study. A year later, when he returned, his wife kneeled on the ground and asked why he’d come home. He said, “There are no reasons other than missing home.” On hearing this, his wife walked to the loom with a knife and said, “This silk is weaved one by one. It’s now one-inch long. And one zhang (3.33 meters) was formed only after I weaved several inches. Finally, I was able to produce one bolt of cloth. If I cut it off now, all of my previous efforts and invested time will have been wasted.”
Qīzǐ jiē zhe shuō: ” dúshū yě shì zhèyàng, nǐ yīnggāi měitiān huò dé xīn de zhīshí, màn màn jīlèi, ránhòu shǐ zìyǐ de pǐnxíng rìyì wán měi.Rúguǒ zhōngtú huíjiā le, nà hé gēduàn zhè xiē sī yǒu shénme fènbié ne?”
妻子接着说：“读书也是这样，你应该每天获得新的知识，慢慢积累，然后使自已的品行日益完美。如果中途回家了，那和割断这些丝有什么分别呢？” His wife continued, “It’s the same with study. You should acquire new knowledge and slowly accumulate it in order to perfect yourself. If you go home in the middle, is it any different than chopping the silk off the loom?”
每日一词：绕口令(ràokǒulìng)tongue twister
绕口令（ràokǒulìng）tongue twister 释义
“绕口令”是一种语言游戏。它是用拼音和声调容易混同的字或词编成的句子，要求很快读完，不能停顿。口齿不清的人很容易读错。例如“扁担长，板凳宽，板凳没有扁担长，扁担没有板凳宽。扁担要绑在板凳上，板凳偏不让扁担绑在板凳上”。Meaning
“绕口令(ràokǒulìng)” is a kind of language game. It is composed by the words or phrases that have the similar pronunciations or tones. “绕口令(ràokǒulìng)” is supposed to be read fairly quickly without any pause in between and thus people who speak lispingly tend to pronounce it wrongly. Here is a Chinese tongue twister serving as an example, “扁担长，板凳宽，板凳没有扁担长，扁担没有板凳宽。扁担要绑在板凳上，板凳偏不让扁担绑在板凳上(biǎndàn cháng,bǎndèng kuān,bǎndèng méiyǒu biǎndàn cháng,biǎndàn méiyǒu bǎndèng kuān. Biǎndàn yào bǎng zài bǎndèng shàng,bǎndèng piān bú rang biǎndàn bǎng zài bǎndèng shàng).
OMG! Chinese Buzzwords! (37)
限购令(xiàn gòu lìng)
restriction on house purchase
The term refers to a regulation by 11 cities' governments that forbids residents from buying more than one or two homes within a certain period of time with an aim to curb speculation in the housing market and help more people purchase affordable houses.
OMG! Chinese Buzzwords! (35)
拆毁性建设(chāi huǐ xìng jiàn shè)
destructive construction
Some officials have criticized the vicious cycle of unnecessarily digging up streets and then rebuilding them in downtown areas to the effect of driving up the GDP growth but undermining sustainable growth.
OMG! Chinese Buzzwords! (21)
奉子成婚(fèng zǐ chéng hūn)
shotgun marriage/wedding
A marriage necessitated by an unplanned pregnancy. It is believed to have been from a hyperbolic scenario where the father of a pregnant female resorts to coercion including threatening with a shotgun to make sure the male partner responsible for the pregnancy goes through with the marriage.
数字节(shù zì jié)
figure-featuring festival
Chinese netizens have set some days apart as festivals to mark, either according to the shape or pronunciation of the Arabic numbers. These include Lolita Day on October 11 (10.11), Singles’ Day on November 11 (11.11) and Gossips’ Day on August 18 (8.18), as eight here stands for ba gua, which means gossip in Chinese.
乡下都市人(xiāng xià dū shì rén)
ruralpolitan
Given the shaky job market, an increasing number of young urban dwellers in the US move their families to the countryside to seek peace, security and self-sufficiency by living a simple life on their own piece of land, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
快闪族(kuài shǎn zú)
flash mob
A group of people who are pulled together through Internet or cellphone text messages to take part in an unusual and sometimes pointless sudden act at a pubic place that catches onlookers totally unawares. They disappear in no time after the act designed for entertainment, satire or publicity.
恋爱实名制(liàn ài shí míng zhì)
relationship registration
Students at Fuzhou University are required to report, among other private matters, whether they are dating anyone. A picture of the university’s “register your relationship” questionnaire has spread on the Internet, drawing public criticism over the institution’s alleged invasion of the students’ privacy.
Mandarin Chinese Romanization: Comparing Yale to Pīnyīn and Wade-Giles
This is the third of three tables you can use to look up a how a Mandarin Chinese sound is spelled with roman letters and ompare how it is spelled in two other major romanizaion system—especially useful if you run across a spelling in a system you’re less familiar with.
Mandarin Chinese Romanization: Comparing Wade-Giles to Pīnyīn and Yale
This is the second of three tables you can use to look up a how a Mandarin Chinese sound is spelled with roman letters and ompare how it is spelled in two other major romanizaion system—especially useful if you run across a spelling in a system you’re less familiar with.
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