I love learning Chinese. And yet I hate learning Chinese.
The more I learn, the more I realize I know nothing.
It's been two and a half years of plodding, and I'm discovering learning this language is a journey without a destination. There is not stopping or graduating, but continually humbling yourself, memorizing, listening, writing, saying, forgetting, humbling yourself once again.
In my Bible I found a saying from a fortune cookie that I ate in February of 2010. It said, "Learn Chinese." God, you're funny.
Here are a few Chinese words or phrases that I've gleaned over the years and I thought you might enjoy the language I love. I've written the character, the pin yin (which is the phonetic pronunciation), the literal translation, and the real meaning.
火车
huo che
fire car
train
小心
xiao xin
little heart
"Be careful."
加油
jia you
add oil
"Let's go!" It's what people cheer at basketball games. Add oil to the fire...
胃口
wei kou
stomach hole
appetite
电脑
dian nao
electric brain
computer
交际花
jiao ji hua
social flower
social butterfly
嫉妒
ji du
jealous
jealous - But what makes this interesting is the radical (the part of the character on the left side of both ji and du is 女 nu: which means "woman." I love this one!
矛盾
mao dun
spear shield
conflicted and confused - The spear and shield are clashing in my heart.
家
jia
home
The top radical is a roof and underneath is a pig.
安
an
peace
The top radical is a roof over a woman.
炒鱿鱼
chao you yu
fried squid
"The boss is killing me! I feel like a fried squid!"
骗子
pian zi
cheat, liar
The radical on the left is 马 ma, "horse." So if you're a cheater, you better ride a fast horse.
铁哥们儿
tie ge men er
iron brother
"Our relationship is unbreakable, like iron."
老黄瓜刷绿漆装
lao huang gua shua lu qi zhuang
old yellow cucumber painted green
"An old person pretending to be young."
马马虎虎
ma ma hu hu
horse horse tiger tiger
"So so. Not that bad."
狼吞虎咽
lang tun hu yan
wolf eat, tiger swallow
"Gobble."
人山人海
ren shan ren hai
people mountain, people sea
"A sea of humanity."
義
yi
righteous
This is the traditional character meaning "righteous." The top radical is a "lamb" 羊 yang. Underneath is "me" 我 wo. My righteousness is thanks to the Lamb!
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