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linghxr

@linghxr / linghxr.tumblr.com

Mandarin Chinese langblr/studyblr || Interests: Cpop/Mandopop, Chinese names, chengyu, cdramas & cvariety

Just learned that 豆腐头/豆腐頭 is a word for charging brick/block. What a delight!!!

(Looks like more "official" names are 充电器/充电块/充电头.)

Text:

不可能大家都管這小東西叫豆腐頭吧? 今天和朋友聊到這個,她說豆腐頭我還很懷疑,結果另一個朋友也說這是豆腐頭 我一直以為大家都叫它插頭的

正確學名叫做「Tofu Head」

Translation:

It can't be that everyone calls this thing a tofu head, right? This came up today while chatting with a friend, she said tofu head, I was still skeptical, but turns out another friend also says it's a tofu head I always thought everyone called it a plug

The correct scientific name is "Tofu Head" 😂

I'd heard of the term 美国时间 (meaning spare/leisure time) before, but I'd never actually encountered it until I was watching the Taiwanese show 忘了我记得, when one of the characters said:

对,有哪一个妈妈有这个美国时间来看演出? 對,有哪一個媽媽有這個美國時間來看演出? Duì, yǒu nǎ yígè māma yǒu zhège měiguó shíjiān lái kàn yǎnchū Yeah, what mom has the spare time to go watch a performance?

While I'm not sure what the origins of this term are, it seems to suggest that Americans have a lot of free time. Maybe that's true compared to East Asian work culture, but of course we Americans like to say stuff like Americans live to work, Europeans work to live.

An ode to the particle 嘛

Over the years, I've developed an appreciation for the humble particle 嘛 ma. In the dictionary you'll find 3 uses of this particle, but at least in my experience, I only learned the first one in my Chinese classes. But the other 2 are super useful, and I encounter them often!

(1) Marks a pause in a sentence, to call the listener's attention

用在句中,表示停顿,引起对方注意

Ex: 这个计划嘛,应该可以执行。  Ex: 学生嘛,主要任务就是学习。

(2) Indicates something is obvious (declarative)

用在陈述句末尾,表示理所当然

Ex: 有什么话就说嘛。 Ex: 这是我的家嘛,我当然要回来。

(3) Expresses a hope or advice/persuasion (imperative)

用在祈使句末尾,表示期望或劝阻

Ex: 别生气嘛!  Ex: 留下来吃饭嘛! Ex: 动作快一点儿嘛!

If the last 2 uses are new to you, I bet you'll start noticing them now!

Check out this life/travel in China handbook

I saw a post featuring this Chinese Handbook for International Visitors on Reddit, and it looks like an incredible resource for those traveling/moving to China! It includes useful vocabulary, sample sentences, and mini dialogues.

Included topics:

  • Entering China 入境中国
  • Finding Accommodation 寻找住所
  • Document Processing 证件办理
  • Transportation 交通出行
  • Shopping and Consumption 购物消费
  • Food and Dining Culture 餐饮文化
  • Seeking Medical Care 看病就医
  • Community Life 社区生活
  • Leisure and Entertainment 休闲娱乐
  • Festival and Celebrations 节日庆典

I just want everyone to know that in Chinese a van is called 面包车 miànbāochē (bread car), and this is apparently the explanation:

大家觉得很像当时市面上的面包,再加上前后没有突出的仓体,就像缩小的巴士一样,“Minibus”的读音也近似于“面包”,就被取了个“面包车”的外号

Everyone felt that it was similar to the bread on the market at the time, coupled with the fact that there was no protruding trunk/engine in the front and back, just like a mini bus. The pronunciation of "Minibus" is also similar to "mianbao", so it was nicknamed "mianbaoche"

Now look at this!!!

If you've ever wondered what a bandaid wrapper looks like in China...

创口贴(創口貼)chuāngkǒutiē - band-aid 

创口 (創口)chuāngkǒu - wound; cut You may know 创 as chuàng (4th tone). For this other meaning of wound, it should be 1st tone. But I'm pretty sure I've heard people say chuàngkǒu, so don't sweat it.

高弹舒服

高弹(高彈)gāotán - high elasticity or stretch 舒服 shūfu - comfortable

不得二次使用

不得 bùdé - must not / may not / not to be allowed / cannot  二次 èrcì - second time / twice 使用 shǐyòng - to use / to employ / to apply / to make use of

弹力透气型

弹力(彈力)tánlì - elasticity / stretch 透气(透氣)tòuqì - to ventilate / to breathe (of fabric etc) 型 xíng - type / style / model 

已消毒

消毒 xiāodú - to disinfect; to sterilize 

为避免创口贴破损 请如图撕开包装

避免 bìmiǎn - to avert / to prevent / to avoid / to refrain from  破损(破損)pòsǔn - to become damaged  如图(如圖)rútú - as illustrated / as shown 撕开(撕開)sīkāi - to tear or rip open  包装(包裝)bāozhuāng - packaging 

由此撕开

由此 yóucǐ - from here 

I bought these bandaids in China, but I forgot the word and asked for a 绷带 bēngdài, which is like a wrap-around style bandage. When the pharmacist brought me a long roll, I said something like, "No, I need the little sticky ones." She looked at me like I was a bit of a fool 😬

In (at least my dialect of) English, bandage is ambiguous: it could be either type. If someone asked me for a bandage, I'd probably reply, "Which kind?" But my understanding is that in Chinese, 绷带 and 创口贴 are totally different categories.

Distinguishing Chinese and Korean (Hanja) names

As you may or may not be aware, most Korean names have corresponding Hanja, aka hanzi. As a learner of Chinese, it can be tricky to tell if a name is Korean or Chinese. But with experience and exposure, you can start to make educated guesses.

Surnames

If you see the surname 朴, it's almost certainly a Korean name. This is the very common surname Park 박.

The following surnames are more common in Korea than in China, so while it's not 100%, it's a strong sign:

  • 金 Kim 김
  • 崔 Choi 최
  • 尹 Yoon 윤
  • 申 Shin 신
  • 权 Kwon 권
  • 柳 Yoo/Ryu 유
  • 全 Jeon/Chun 전

But be warned that there is a lot of overlap of surnames!

Given names

A lot of Korean names use rare characters or characters that are less commonly used in Chinese names.

I put together this (non-exhaustive) list of common characters that signal a name may be Korean. To be clear, there are Chinese people whose names have these characters too. But from what I've seen, they're more common in Korean names, so it's big indicator.

  • A/Ah 아:娥
  • Bin 빈:彬
  • Chae 채:彩
  • Chan 찬:灿
  • Da 다:多
  • Eun 은:银
  • Geun 근:根
  • Gi/Ki 기:基
  • Gyu/Kyu 규:奎
  • Hee 희:熙、姬、希

Buying things online in Chinese

A while ago I bought something online from Taiwan, and it occurred to me that I didn't know how to leave a review for a seller in Chinese! So I gathered some reviews on the site Shopee 虾皮 to learn how.

Vocab

  • 包装(包裝)bāozhuāng - to pack / to package / to wrap / packaging 
  • 卖家(賣家)màijiā - seller 
  • 出货(出貨)chūhuò - to ship goods
  • 品质(品質)pǐnzhì (pǐnzhí) - quality (of a product or service, or as in "quality of life", "air quality" etc) 
  • 回购(回購)huígòu - buy again / repurchase
  • 划算 huásuàn - value for money / cost-effective

Packaging

  • 商品包装很仔细(商品包裝很仔細)
  • 包装非常用心(包裝非常用心)
  • 卖家包装得很好(賣家包裝得很好)
  • 包装很完整(包裝很完整)

Shipping

  • 我已经收到货了(我已經收到貨了)
  • 出货速度非常快(出貨速度非常快) 迅速出货(迅速出貨)

Seller

  • 谢谢卖家(謝謝賣家)
  • 卖家主动联络(賣家主動聯絡)
  • 好卖家推荐(好賣家推薦)
  • 卖家服务很好(賣家服務很好)
  • 推荐大家跟他交易(推薦大家跟他交易)

Buy again

  • 下次有机会一定会回购的(下次有機會一定會回購的)
  • 有需要的话会再回购的(有需要的話會再回購的)

Quality

  • 产品的品质也不错(產品的品質也不錯)
  • 保持状态很好(保存狀態很好)
  • 很划算的

Full reviews

You can basically stitch any of these together, like so:

  • 卖家服务很好且商品包装很仔细 (賣家服務很好且商品包裝很仔細)
  • 出货速度快速 包装很完整 下次有机会一定再次回购 (出貨速度快速 包裝很完整 下次有機會一定再次回購)
  • 感谢卖家,商品已收到,有需要的话会再回购的 (感謝賣家,商品已收到,有需要的話會再回購的)
  • 商品保存得很好,包装也非常仔细,出货快速 (商品保存得很好,包裝也非常仔細,出貨快速)

Simplified Chinese characters vs. Japanese shinjitai

I had always heard that Japanese has simplified kanji, kind of like how Chinese has simplified characters. They are called shinjitai (新字体). When I traveled to Japan (knowing Chinese but not knowing any Japanese), I instantly began noticing shinjitai and comparing them to simplified characters.

It was fascinating how I was able to understand some shinjitai instantly, whereas others took more time to decode. Some are actually identical to simplified Chinese characters. Below are all the shinjitai I noticed on my trip. This has been in my drafts for ages...!

Simplified in Japanese only

(Order: traditional / shinjitai)

  • 冰-氷
  • 乘-乗
  • 舍-舎
  • 拜-拝
  • 窗-窓

Same simplification in both languages

(Order: traditional - simplified/shinjitai)

  • 萬-万
  • 來-来
  • 寫-写
  • 區-区
  • 醫-医
  • 國-国
  • 學-学
  • 當-当
  • 淺-浅
  • 會-会
  • 體-体

Different simplifications in each language

(Order: traditional - simplified - shinjitai)

  • 兩-两-両
  • 單-单-単
  • 傳-传-伝
  • 價-价-価
  • 兒-儿-児

New obsession: words that look like they're just the same character repeated if you don't look closely.

  1. 趔趄 lièqie - to stagger; to stumble
  2. 匍匐 púfú - to crawl; to creep
  3. 氤氲(氤氳)yīnyūn - (of smoke, mist) dense; thick
  4. 旖旎 yǐnǐ - charming; enchanting; picturesque
  5. 饕餮 tāotiè - ferocious mythological animal, the fifth son of the dragon king

I learned that some of these are examples of 联绵词 lianmianci, but I’ll be honest—I’m not fully understanding the definition of lianmianci.

Also, I gotta give a shoutout to this term because it’s truly something:

魑魅魍魉(魑魅魍魎)chīmèi-wǎngliǎng - all kinds of malevolent or mischievous spirits

Solution for dark mode on Readibu

Do you use Readibu to read Chinese webnovels? I love it, but as a dark mode person who often reads at night before falling asleep, I hate how Readibu's "dark mode" doesn't recolor the dictionary pop-up! The white pop-up feels blinding at night. Then one day I realized I could use color invert to achieve a better dark mode experience.

Steps:

In Readibu, open a webnovel, click Style, and set the background color to white. You could also choose cream, but it will have blue tint when inverted.

iPhone: Open your phone's Control Center. Press and hold, then click Add a Control. Under Vision Accessibility, select Classic Invert. Don't use Smart Invert--it won't work.

Android: Open Quick panel and click the pencil to edit. Under Available buttons, find Color inversion.

**I tried this on a family member's Samsung phone. Unfortunately I couldn't fully test it because their version of Android didn't support the Readibu app.

After adding, click the Classic Invert/Color inversion button. Tada, now Readibu has a black background and black pop-ups! Just turn off Classic Invert/Color inversion when you're done reading.

(I actually had to invert this screenshot because it turns out when you use inverted mode and take a screenshot, the screenshot shows up with normal colors.)

Like I said, I couldn't download Readibu on Android to fully test this solution, so hopefully it works for Android users🤞

Essential vocab for your trip to China

Following my previous post about my trip to China, here are some useful phrases/vocab. I'm focusing on stuff I didn't learn in class or from textbooks—I learned most of these from experience.

  • 借过(借過)jièguò - excuse me (trying to get past someone)
  • 让一让(讓一讓)ràngyíràng - make way; coming through
  • 安检(安檢)ānjiǎn - security check, short for 安全检查(安全檢查)
过安检(過安檢)guò ānjiǎn mean to go through security.
  • 预约(預約)yùyuē - booking / reservation / to book / to make an appointment
In China, some museums require a reservation ahead of time.
  • 扫码(掃碼)sǎomǎ - to scan a QR code or barcode
我扫你(我掃你)wǒ sǎo nǐ - I scan you (your code) 你扫我(你掃我)nǐ sǎo wǒ - you scan me (my code)

Shopping

  • 结账(結賬)jiézhàng - to pay the bill
  • 柜台(櫃檯)guìtái - sales counter; front desk
  • 收银台(收銀台)shōuyíntái - checkout counter; cashier's desk
  • 刷卡 shuākǎ - to pay with credit card
刷 means brush/swipe, but I've also heard this used for tapping with your card.
  • 付现(付現)fùxiàn - to pay in cash
  • 袋子 dàizi - bag
  • 提袋 tídài - bag (with handles)
I'm not 100% clear on what defines 提袋, but it seems like 1) has handles and 2) typically nicer than a standard plastic bag.
  • 纸袋(紙袋)zhǐdài - paper bag
  • 试穿(試穿)shìchuān - to try on clothes
  • 试戴(試戴)shìdài - to try on hats/glasses/etc.

Food

  • 几位?(幾位?)jǐwèi - how many? (people/seats for your table in a restaurant)
  • 堂食 tángshí - to eat in (at the restaurant)
In Taiwan you'll probably hear 内用(內用)nèiyòng instead.
  • 外带(外帶)wàidài - take-out
  • 打包 dǎbāo - to pack up leftovers
  • 取餐 qǔcān - to pick up food

Definitions are adapted from MDBG.

20 fun Chinese figurative language expressions

A collection of fun figurative expressions I've learned/come across.

【1】 劈腿 pǐtuǐ Literal: to do the splits Figurative: two-timing (in romantic relationships)

【2】 穿小鞋 chuānxiǎoxié Literal: wear tight shoes Figurative: to make life difficult for sbdy

【3】 鸡肋(雞肋)jīlèi Literal: chicken ribs Figurative: smth of little value that one is reluctant to give up

【4】 绊脚石(絆腳石)bànjiǎoshí Literal: stone that trips one's foot Figurative: stumbling block / obstacle / smth that gets in your way

【5】 摸鱼(摸魚)mōyú Literal: to catch fish Figurative: to loaf on the job / slack off

【6】 踢皮球 tīpíqiú Literal: to kick a ball around Figurative: to mutually shirk responsibility / to pass the buck

【7】 乌鸦嘴(烏鴉嘴)wūyāzuǐ Literal: crow's beak Figurative: person who makes an inauspicious remark (jinxes it)

Collection of open educational resources for Mandarin Chinese (& Russian)

I saved a bunch of open educational resources a while ago and then promptly forgot about them. Haven't really looked over them in detail, but hey, why not share them in case they are useful to you?

Chinese Reading Modules by Yan Li https://ceas.ku.edu/chinese-reading-modules

These reading passages are intended for students at the intermediate to advanced level in their study of Chinese. They were developed with funding from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

Ting Yi Ting by Sheree Willis & Yan Li https://opentext.ku.edu/tingyiting/

An online guide that enables learners to hear and identify phonemic categories in Mandarin (including lexical tones) in a variety of phonetic contexts, and to associate those phonemes with Pinyin orthography. Includes extensive audio examples and computer-graded comprehension checks.

Russian Aspect in Conversation by Stephen M. Dickey, Kamila Saifeeva, and Anna Karpusheva https://opentext.ku.edu/russianaspect/

This resource is aimed at demystifying some important uses of imperfective verbs for learners of Russian at the intermediate level and above. It focuses on patterns of imperfective usage in infinitives, imperatives and the past tense that involve single completed actions and that are difficult for foreign learners to grasp.

Elementary Chinese I by Wenying Zhou https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/chs101/

This open textbook is designed for those who are learning Chinese as a second/foreign language in their first semester. It has eight chapters, covering topics including a brief introduction about the Chinese language, greetings, and self-introduction, hobbies, nationalities, family members and occupations, inviting friends to dinner, talking about food and beverage, making phone calls, and talking about classes and exams.

Elementary Chinese II by Wenying Zhou https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/chs102/

This open textbook is designed for those who are learning Chinese as a second/foreign language in their second semester. It has six chapters, covering topics including describing school life, shopping in stores and online, transportation means, reporting weather and climates, ordering foods, and asking and giving directions.
This course is designed for learners with no background in Chinese. It introduces basic structures of the Mandarin Chinese language with emphasis on listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Students will gain these four skills in standard Mandarin Chinese, attaining approximately the Novice-High level on the ACTFL-ETS (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) proficiency scale. Topics of conversation include basic greetings, names, family, work, study, and hobbies.

开源中文 EverFlow Mandarin by Runqing Qi, Yingjie Li, and Yu Zhang https://www.colorado.edu/project/everflowmandarin/

EverFlow Mandarin is a textbook aimed at enhancing the language proficiency of Chinese learners at the intermediate level as determined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). It is designed for students who have completed two years of Chinese language courses in comprehensive universities in North America. After studying the content of the ten lessons in this textbook, students' Chinese proficiency can reach the levels of either Intermediate-High or Advanced-Low as determined by the ACTFL.

Various Chinese resources by Wen-Hua Teng https://coerll.utexas.edu/coerll/materials/language/chinese/

Learning Chinese: A Foundation Course In Mandarin (汉语基础教材) by Julian K. Wheatley https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/res-21g-003-learning-chinese-a-foundation-course-in-mandarin-spring-2011/pages/online-textbook/

This online textbook represents materials that were used in the first four semesters (two years) of the Mandarin program at MIT. They eventually formed the basis of a print textbook of the same name, published by Yale University Press (elementary level available 2011, intermediate level due late 2011 or early 2012). Information about the Yale edition, plus online materials that could supplement the OCW material with some allowances. The Yale website also includes extensive audio-clips (numbering over 40 by July 2011, up through Unit 4), which cover much of the same ground as the OCW version.

IChineseER from Pomona College https://lchineseer.sites.pomona.edu/

Diverse Russian: A Multicultural Exploration by Anna Tumarkin and Shannon Donnally Quinn https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/diverserussian/

This textbook invites students to explore the diverse Russian-speaking communities across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and North America. It highlights the rich cultures and histories of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Indigenous populations of Russia, the Baltic states, Georgia (Sakartvelo), and Russian-speaking communities in the United States. Supported by the Less Commonly Taught and Indigenous Languages Partnership and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this OER textbook provides a unique, immersive experience that seamlessly integrates cultural understanding with practical language skills.