A lot of foreign names are a bit…clunky when transliterated into Chinese. For example:

• 莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥 lái’ángnàduō·díkǎpǔlǐ’ào = Leonardo DiCaprio
• 埃米纳姆 āimǐnàmǔ = Eminem
• 泰勒·斯威夫特 tàilè·sīwēifūtè = Taylor Swift

I’m not going to dive into why—that’s a whole other post. But some of these transliterated names are seriously hard for me to say! And it seems like Chinese fans agree, because they have shorter nicknames for some foreign celebs.

The three celebs I mentioned above each have nicknames. I actually encountered all three nicknames while watching Chinese TV shows recently! So I can confirm that they are really used. Can you tell who is who?

• 小李子 xiǎolǐzǐ 
• 阿姆 āmǔ
• 霉霉 méiméi 

But where did these nicknames come from? What do they mean?

Leonardo DiCaprio / 小李子

The transliteration above starts with 莱 (lái), but transliterations are not universal. According to what I found online, 李奥纳多 is an alternative transliteration of Leonardo. As an American English speaker, I think this sounds closer to how I say Leonardo. So the nickname 小李子 likely comes from 李奥纳多. 小李子 is certainly much easier to say than 莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥.

Eminem / 阿姆

Interestingly, even though the simplified Chinese Wikipedia page for Eminem is titled 埃米纳姆, the body text uses both 埃米纳姆 and 阿姆. But the traditional version only uses 阿姆. The Baidu page only uses 埃米纳姆. 阿姆 is not only shorter and easier to say, but 阿+syllable is a known nickname structure, so my guess is that’s where 阿姆 came from.

Taylor Swift / 霉霉

According to these 百度知道 comments, Taylor Swift is called 霉霉 because 1) 霉 sounds like 美 and 2) she used to be unlucky when it came to charting on Billboard (霉 in this case as in 倒霉, to have bad luck/be out of luck). I would have guessed it was because she had bad luck in finding love honestly! You’ll have to decided for yourself which origin story you believe.

As you may or may not know, I really like learning chengyu. After a while, I started to notice patterns and similar structures, and I got curious. What are the common patterns for chengyu?

There are a lot of chengyu, and I’m not that ambitious. I decided to just focus on the chengyu I know. Fortunately, pretty much all the chengyu I know are in Anki, so I was able to export them for analysis! I identified 16 of the most common patterns. Let’s take a look~

不可_ _

不可思议 bùkěsīyì - inconceivable / unimaginable / unfathomable
不可理喻 bùkělǐyù - to be impervious to reason / unreasonable
不可避免 bùkěbìmiǎn - unavoidably
不可或缺 bùkěhuòquē - necessary / must have
不可救药 bùkějiùyào - incurable / incorrigible / beyond cure / hopeless

无所_ _

无所畏惧 wúsuǒwèijù - fearless
无所不有 wúsuǒbùyǒu - to have everything
无所顾忌 wúsuǒgùjì - to have no misgivings / to stop at nothing
无所事事 wúsuǒshìshì - to have nothing to do / to idle one’s time away
无所不谈 wúsuǒbùtán - to talk about everything

不_不_

不折不扣 bùzhébúkòu - a hundred percent / to the letter / out-and-out
不屈不挠 bùqūbùnáo - unyielding / indomitable
不理不睬 bùlǐbùcǎi - to completely ignore / to pay no attention to / not to be in the least concerned about
不言不语 bùyánbùyǔ - to not say a word / to keep silent
不闻不问 bùwénbúwèn - not to hear, not to question / to show no interest in sth / uncritical / not in the least concerned

A lot of these contain words within them: 折扣、屈挠、理睬、言语、闻问 are all words!

一_不_

一丝不苟 yìsībùgǒu - strictly according to the rules / meticulous (lit. not one thread loose)
一成不变 yìchéngbúbiàn - nothing much changes / always the same
一尘不染 yìchénbùrǎn - selfless and incorruptible / spotless (lit. untainted by even a speck of dust)
一蹶不振 yìjuébúzhèn - a setback leading to total collapse / unable to recover after a minor hitch (lit. one stumble, unable to rise)
一丝不挂 yìsībúguà - absolutely naked / without a stitch of clothing (lit. not wearing one thread)

无_无_

无影无踪 wúyǐngwúzōng - to disappear without trace 
无穷无尽 wúqióngwújìn - endless / boundless / infinite
无声无息 wúshēngwúxī - silent / unknown (lit. not a sound nor breath)
无边无际 wúbiānwújì - boundless / limitless
无忧无虑 wúyōuwúlǜ - carefree and without worries

A lot of these also contain words within them: 影踪、穷尽、声息、边际、忧虑 are all words!

一_一_

一心一意 yìxīnyíyì - concentrating one’s thoughts and efforts / single-minded / bent on / intently
一言一行 yìyányìxíng - every word and action
一举一动 yìjǔyídòng - every movement / each and every move
一朝一夕 yìzhāoyìxī - in a short period of time / overnight (lit. one morning and one evening)
一生一世 yìshēngyíshì - a whole lifetime all my life

Once again, we have some words: 心意、言行、举动、朝夕、生世 are all words!

_天_地

惊天动地 jīngtiāndòngdì - world-shaking
铺天盖地 pūtiāngàidì - everywhere / coming with great momentum (lit. hiding the sky and covering the earth)
开天辟地 kāitiānpìdì - to split heaven and earth apart
冰天雪地 bīngtiānxuědì - a world of ice and snow
欢天喜地 huāntiānxǐdì - delighted / with great joy / in high spirits

_言_语

千言万语 qiānyánwànyǔ - thousands of words / having a lot of things to say
自言自语 zìyánzìyǔ - to talk to oneself / to think aloud / to soliloquize
不言不语 bùyánbùyǔ - to not say a word / to keep silent
花言巧语 huāyánqiǎoyǔ - flowery speech / elegant but insincere words / dishonest rhetoric
流言蜚语 liúyánfēiyǔ - rumors and slanders / gossip / lies and slanders

_心_意

三心二意 sānxīnèryì - in two minds about sth / hesitant / indecisive
真心实意 zhēnxīnshíyì - genuine and sincere / wholehearted
粗心大意 cūxīndàyì - negligent / careless / inadvertent
专心一意 zhuānxīnyíyì - to concentrate on
全心全意 quánxīnquányì - heart and soul / wholeheartedly

AABB

兢兢业业 jīngjīngyèyè - conscientious / assiduous
形形色色 xíngxíngsèsè - all kinds of / all sorts of / every different kind of
踏踏实实 tātāshíshí - steady / steadfast
轰轰烈烈 hōnghōnglièliè - strong / vigorous / large-scale
鬼鬼祟祟 guǐguǐsuìsuì - sneaky / secretive / furtive

ABCC

兴致勃勃 xìngzhìbóbó - to become exhilarated / in high spirits / full of zest
小心翼翼 xiǎoxīnyìyì - cautious and solemn / very carefully / prudent / gently and cautiously
忧心忡忡 yōuxīnchōngchōng - deeply worried and sick at heart
怒气冲冲 nùqìchōngchōng - spitting anger / in a rage
气喘吁吁 qìchuǎnxūxū - to pant / to gasp for breath

ABAC

善有善报 shànyǒushànbào - virtue has its rewards / one good turn deserves another
土生土长 tǔshēngtǔzhǎng - locally born and bred / indigenous / home-grown
相亲相爱 xiāngqīnxiāngài - to be kind and love one another / bound by deep emotions
蹑手蹑脚 nièshǒunièjiǎo - to walk quietly on tiptoe
难舍难分 nánshěnánfēn - loath to part / emotionally close and unwilling to separate

ABCB

人云亦云 rényúnyìyún - to say what everyone says / to conform to what one perceives to be the majority view / to follow the herd
大错特错 dàcuòtècuò - to be gravely mistaken
将错就错 jiāngcuòjiùcuò - to make the best after a mistake / to accept an error and adapt to it (lit. if it’s wrong, it’s wrong)
得过且过 déguòqiěguò - satisfied just to get through / to muddle through / without high ambitions, but getting by
讨价还价 tǎojiàhuánjià - to haggle over price / to bargain

AABC

井井有条 jǐngjǐngyǒutiáo - everything clear and orderly / neat and tidy
摇摇欲坠 yáoyáoyùzhuì - tottering / on the verge of collapse
栩栩如生 xǔxǔrúshēng - vivid and lifelike / true to life / realistic
格格不入 gégébúrù - inharmonious / incompatible
默默无闻 mòmòwúwén - obscure and unknown / an outsider without any reputation / a nobody

Split Words

There are other chengyu containing words that don’t fit any of the above patterns. I wanted to include them as well :)

不言而喻 bùyán'éryù - it goes without saying / it is self-evident
->  言喻
有缘无分 yǒuyuánwúfèn - destined to meet but not fated to be together
-> 缘分
有条有理 yǒutiáoyǒulǐ everything clear and orderly / neat and tidy
-> 条理 
挑三拣四 tiāosānjiǎnsì - to be picky / to be choosy
-> 挑拣 
取而代之 qǔ'érdàizhī - to substitute for sb / to remove and replace
-> 取代

Interspersed Words

Some chengyu actually contain two words interspersed. These ones are really cool!

功成名就 gōngchéngmíngjiù - to win success and recognition
-> 功名、成就 
胡思乱想 húsīluànxiǎng - to indulge in flights of fancy / to let one’s imagination run wild
-> 胡乱、思想
生儿育女 shēng'éryùnǚ - to bear and raise children
-> 生育、儿女 
通情达理 tōngqíngdálǐ - fair and reasonable / sensible / standing to reason 
-> 通达、情理 
门当户对 méndānghùduì - the families are well-matched in terms of social status / (of a prospective marriage partner) an appropriate match 
-> 门户、当对

Not long ago I shared that you can follow me on Spotify! Thanks to everyone who has followed me/one of my playlists. Anyway, I wanted to make a post dedicated to my Rock Out playlist (yes I know the name is lame—I couldn’t think of anything good). This playlist is also my most followed!

Before I got into Mandopop, I mostly listened to indie rock, alt rock, pop rock, etc. I used to listen to heavier music, but my tastes slowly shifted. As a result, I don’t really listen to straight-up Chinese rock, but I do love rock-ish music.

Today I’ll be highlighting some songs/artists from Rock Out. I hope you enjoy them. I went through to try and make sure none of these songs have been featured on my blog before (but I may have missed one or two).

周笔畅 / Bibi Zhou
Bibi doesn’t have a lot of rock songs, but the few she has are soooo good. And the clips I’ve seen of her performing them live are great as well.

• 《别装了》 has a slightly-dated sounded, but I mean this in a good way. Everyone needs a go-to 2010 pop-rock song.
• 《沉默的真相》 is from a soundtrack, and it’s so good that I’m planning to watch the show. It starts out more dark and lowkey but really takes off.
• 《荷米斯》 is one of those songs that makes me feel effortlessly cool (which I am not).

孟慧圆 / Meng Huiyuan
《背比》 is a very bouncy song. It’s also short and snappy—just a lot of fun to listen to all around.

张惠妹 / A-Mei
I mean, you already know the legendary A-Mei. I don’t even have to say anything. A-Mei has two great rock albums (AMITandAMIT2) plus some other rock-leaning songs here and there. But I wanted to feature some of her songs from other albums.

• 《发生什么事》 is loud and powerful. You can just let go and jam out to this song.
• 《不要乱说》 gives off strong don’t mess with me vibes. I feel empowered yet intimidated at the same time.
• 《不顾一切》 would make the most perfect spy or action movie theme song! And I would definitely watch the movie.

徐佳莹 / LaLa Hsu
《拉拉队》 puts me in a instant good mood. It’s very peppy, which is perfect because 拉拉队 means cheerleading squad.

林宥嘉 / Yoga Lin
《热血无赖》 is fast-paced and upbeat. It will definitely jolt you awake if you’re drowsy. I hope that 林宥嘉 makes more rock-infused songs in the future!

林忆莲 / Sandy Lam
《盖亚》 is arguably one of the least rock songs here, but it’s a true masterpiece, so you should listen to it anyway. It will 打动你 for sure. It’s very grand and powerful with a strong message too.

莫文蔚 / Karen Mok
About a year ago I was listening to Karen Mok 24/7. And I still listen to her all the time today. She has some great rock songs from throughout her career.

• 《I Will Be Fine》 would be the perfect song to play while racing through the city at night with the windows down. Yes, that is very specific. But that’s how it makes me feel, and I think the lyrics fit.
• 《因为所以》 is mellow in a sad, wallowing way. The lyrics are quiet tragic, but they are a good opportunity to practice 因为……所以.
• 《野》 gets the blood pumping! It makes you want to get moving or maybe even headbang a little.

萧敬腾 / Jam Hsiao
I’ve been meaning to explore 萧敬腾’s discography ever since I heard 《皮囊》 on 乘风破浪的姐姐. I think the best way to describe this song is wild and in-your-face. The delivery comes across as the perfect amount of unhinged.

蔡健雅 / Tanya Chua
《多米诺》 is not a style of song Tanya has explored a lot, which is a shame because she’s good at it! It’s not anything groundbreaking, but it’s a solid and catchy pop-rock song.

薛之谦 / Joker Xue
薛之谦 is my latest Mandopop obsession. I’ve been listening to his music nonstop lately. He has quite a few rock-ish songs, but he can truly pull off all styles.

• 《慢半拍》 has an addictive little bounce to it, but it also has a rather sinister feel. And it’s infectious from the first listen.
• 《野心》 to me sounds epic in a dark way? It’s hard to describe. It feels like there is a story with many twists and turns behind the lyrics.
• 《凤毛麟角》 was described as causing goosebumps in the YouTube comments. I find that very fitting. It’s kind of haunting, at least the quieter sections are.

许含光 / Lumi Hsu
《安森girl》 gives me the feeling of cutting loose. It sounds like youth and making mistakes.

路嘉欣 / Jozie Lu
《你不懂》 is a perfect teen angst song. It makes me feel oddly nostalgic. I think I would have liked this song a lot back in high school too.

邓紫棋 / GEM
《不存在的存在》 is the closest to rock I’ve heard from GEM. This song slowly and steadily builds to a crescendo, and then calms down again. It’s very dark and sorrowful.

郭顶 / Guo Ding
《落地之前》 is so smooth and atmospheric. There’s really nothing to dislike. And of course I just had to include a 郭顶 song. The whole album this song is from is perfection.

韦礼安 / WeiBird
《狼》 astonished me upon first listen because I had no idea 韦礼安 had this in him! And wow, he really pulled it off. This song is bombastic!

Lately I’ve been really interested in words that consist of two opposites smashed together, especially those used to mean “A and/or B.” I’m highlighting five of these words that I’ve encountered a lot.

生死 shēngsǐ - life or death
我当时知道生死就是一瞬间的事情。

去留 qùliú - going or staying
投票结果会决定选手的去留。

成败 chéngbài - success or failure
这项计划的成败取决于你。

真伪 zhēnwěi - true or bogus / authenticity
在缺乏知识经验的情况下，普通人应该如何分辨信息的真伪？

输赢 shūyíng - win or loss / outcome
我并不在意这场比赛的输赢。

Aren’t these words neat? I can’t wait to add more to my vocabulary!

The past couple years I’ve been taking efforts to expose myself to traditional characters. But after 12+ years of primarily being exposed to simplified characters, the adjustment process is difficult. Let’s look at some characters that have made my life a bit more frustrating or that I’m thankful I never had to handwrite in Chinese classes!

NOTE: My intention with this post is not to disrespect traditional characters. Sometimes I find that traditional characters are more beautiful! And even though I use simplified characters, I have family members who use traditional. My goal is simply to poke fun at myself and my struggles :-)

丰 / 豐 - This traditional character probably isn’t that hard to write, but I know from writing 幽默的幽 that I am not good at writing characters where there are elements inside the 山 component. 

边 / 邊 - I was explaining the difference between simplified and traditional characters to someone. They asked me if I could write any traditional characters. I said that I probably could. I decided to try writing 邊. I soon realized I had literally no idea how to write it. 邊 and I are enemies now.

龟 / 龜 - I know a lot of people love this traditional character, but I butchered it so badly when my Chinese teacher made try to write it on the whiteboard. It haunts me to this day. I thought I understood strokes and stroke order well, but I look at 龜 and have no idea what is going on.

忧郁 / 憂鬱 - This doesn’t need an explanation. Writing 憂鬱 will make you 非常忧郁.

体 / 體 - This is a pretty common character, so I am very thankful I can get away with 体 instead of 體. My 骨s already don’t look great. A very thin 骨 would come out much worse.

铁 / 鐵 - In general I don’t like writing characters like 裁, 截, 戴, etc. because I am simply not good at getting the balance right. And the fact that the right side of 鐵 is so compressed/skinny is really just a recipe for disaster.

冲击 / 衝擊 - 6+5 strokes to 15+17 strokes? No way.

昼 / 晝 & 画 / 畫 & 书 / 書 & 划 / 劃 - I mentioned the first three of these in a recent post. I can’t really tell any of the traditional characters apart unless I put on my glasses and hold my face like an inch away from my laptop screen. 劃 is obviously more visually distinct, but I felt it should be grouped with its siblings. 10/10 not a fan.

为 / 為 / 爲 - 为 is so common—I really can’t imagine having to write so. many. strokes. every time I write 因为 or 为了 or whatever.

聋 / 聾 - Just 龙 to 龍 is already a lot. 龍 stacked on top of something else? I would not be able to cope. Poor 耳 will get squished down there!

断 / 斷 & 继 / 繼 - Too many 幺s. Yes, I know 幺 is very simple and only 3 strokes, but I can never manage to write it well! I get the angles wrong, of which I am very ashamed.

艺 / 藝 - I don’t know how to explain it…I just feel like 艺 and 藝 give off really different vibes, you know? So while I don’t have any trouble recognizing 藝 and associating it with 艺, something just feels off.

归 / 歸 - I have noticed that I don’t look how characters that can be divided into a 2x2 grid look, like 毁 for instance. So even though I actually don’t like writing 归 (t also comes out ugly and unbalanced), I don’t like 歸 either.

惊 / 驚 - I am incapable of writing 警 neatly so I just know I would not be able to make 驚 look nice.

飞 / 飛 - This one is not that complicated honestly, but just looking at it, I know 飛 would look so ugly if I tried to write it. I don’t even need to try.

听 / 聽 - I’m sure there is a sensible reason the two forms look so different, but I remember being so bewildering by this pair back in high school. So I’m going back to my roots by including 聽 here.

职识织 / 職識織 - Honestly I don’t think these characters are that bad, but I am incapable of recognizing the traditional versions no matter how often I see them. I really don’t know why. Every time I see them, I feel like I’ve never seen them before in my life.

几 / 幾 &机 / 機 - I remember these were the bane of my existence when I first began familiarizing myself with more traditional characters. I just could not associate 幾 with 几. Also the traditional characters have the 幺 and 戈 elements that we’ve already established I suck at writing.

灵 / 靈 - 3 little 口s in a row is too many for me. It’s good to know your limit, and this is mine.

钥 / 鑰 - This one bugs me because I think the right is the same as the right element of 輪, 論, and 倫 but it’s actually subtly different! And 3 little 口s in a row again!

艳 / 艶豔艷 - As you can see, this character has multiple traditional variants. I don’t think I have ever actually seen the middle one used, but regardless, I’m thankful that I do not have this character in my Chinese name.

卫 / 衛 - This is another traditional character that I hold a grudge against because I am simply incapable of remembering that 衛 is 卫. I think it’s because 衛 makes me think of 伟/偉, and 伟 obviously doesn’t look like 卫, so I can’t make the connection.

党 / 黨 - I know there is simply no way I could write this and have it fit in a square. It would come out like double the height it’s supposed to be. I can’t write 墨 well for my life either.

盐 / 鹽 - There’s a lovely song by 沈以诚 with this character as the title. It took me so long to realize what the title was because 鹽 displays so tiny on my computer that I couldn’t see the detail well enough to draw the character in Pleco! 

单 / 單 - I am okay with 2 口s in a row, and I don’t mind 骂 for instance. But for some reason when I look at 單, it feels like the 口s are going to squish the bottom part!

Bonus: I thought it would only be fair to mention some simplified characters that I am not a fan of. My top pick is this group: 

头 / 頭 

实 / 實 

买 / 買 

卖 / 賣 

读 / 讀

续 / 續 

Whenever I write 头, it honestly looks so bad and unbalanced. I would prefer that the simplified versions of these characters be more faithful to the traditional versions just so I wouldn’t have to look at my ugly 头s! 

Over my years of studying Chinese, I’ve encountered many familiar characters in unfamiliar situations. Basically, when I originally learned a character, I only learned one or some of its possible meanings. Then later down the line, I encountered the same character but with a meaning that I hadn’t learned. Confusion ensued. Then I pulled up Pleco or MDBG, and all became clear!

Let’s go down memory lane and look at some of the characters that have perplexed me over the years.

同款 tóngkuǎn - similar (model) / merchandise similar to that used by a celebrity etc

Recently I’ve seen a lot of ads with the word 同款. I was quite confused because I thought 款 had to do with money, like in 贷款 or 捐款. After looking up 款, everything made sense—the ads I saw were advertising a service where you can buy clothing that your favorite celebs wear!

款 kuǎn - section / paragraph / funds / classifier for versions or models (of a product)

疼惜 téngxī - to cherish / to dote on
疼爱 téngài - to love dearly

Before encountering these words, I was only familiar with 疼 from words like 头疼 and 疼痛, which have to do with pain. So you can imagine my confusion when I saw “cherish” as the definition for 疼惜! I find it interesting how this character has both a very positive and a very negative meaning.

疼 téng - (it) hurts / sore / to love dearly

告别 gàobié - to leave / to bid farewell to / to say good-bye to
离别 líbié - to leave (on a long journey) / to part from sb

I knew a lot of words with 别, but none with the meaning of leave/depart…even though that is the first definition listed in MDBG! Even to this day, when I see the expression 别来无恙, it takes me a sec to remember what 别 means in there.

别 bié - to leave / to depart / to separate / to distinguish / to classify / other / another / don’t …! / to pin / to stick (sth) in / (noun suffix) category

发毛 fāmáo - to be scared / to be panicked

I heard this use of 毛 while watching Chinese-language TV. I instantly looked up 毛 in Pleco because the meanings of 毛 I knew made no sense in the contexts of the scene. I’ve been able to remember this new (to me) meaning of 毛 thanks to the chengyu 毛骨悚然.

毛 máo - hair / feather / down / wool / mildew / mold / coarse or semifinished / young / raw / careless / unthinking / nervous / scared / (of currency) to devalue or depreciate / classifier for Chinese fractional monetary unit

说道 shuōdào - to state / to say (the quoted words)
问道 wèndào - to ask the way / to ask

I was so bewildered when I first saw 道 used like this—even though I knew many, many words with 道 that were diverse in meaning. Now I see this kind of 道 a lot when I’m reading, so I’m confident that you will encounter it sooner or later.

道 dào - road / path / principle / truth / morality / reason / skill / method / Dao (of Daoism) / to say / to speak / to talk / classifier for long thin things (rivers, cracks etc), barriers (walls, doors etc), questions (in an exam etc), commands, courses in a meal, steps in a process / (old) circuit (administrative division)

花光 huāguāng - to spend all one’s money
不光 bùguāng - not the only one / not only 

Here there are two new meanings of 光 that I remember learning. For the “use up” meaning, 花光, 用光, and 吃光 seem to be the most common uses. As for the “only" meaning, I hear 不光 all the time now. It’s definitely super useful to know.

光 guāng - light / ray / bright / only / merely / to use up

理睬 lǐcǎi - to heed / to pay attention to
不理 bùlǐ - to refuse to acknowledge / to pay no attention to / to take no notice of / to ignore

理 is another character that I encounter constantly in words like 理解, 理由, and 处理. I think I first learned the “to pay attention to” meaning from the chengyu 不理不睬. Now I encounter and use 不理 really frequently!

理 lǐ - texture / grain (of wood) / inner essence / intrinsic order / reason / logic / truth / science / natural science (esp. physics) / to manage / to pay attention to / to run (affairs) / to handle / to put in order / to tidy up

顽皮 wánpí - naughty
调皮 tiáopí - naughty / mischievous / unruly

Here is another example of “what? How did this character acquire both these definitions?” At least I have not had much trouble with remembering this meaning of 皮. I think I learned 顽皮 first, but I feel like I hear 调皮 more.

皮 pí - leather / skin / fur / CL: 張｜张 / pico- (one trillionth) / naughty

往事 wǎngshì - past events / former happenings
过往 guòwǎng - to come and go / to have friendly relations with / in the past / previous

过往 is a very tricky word for me because I have trouble remembering the in the past/previous definition. After so many years of only using 往 for things like 往前走, I have struggled to learn words like 来往 and 交往. So another definition of 往 is kind of too much for me I guess!

往 wǎng - to go (in a direction) / to / towards / (of a train) bound for / past / previous

被子 bèizi - quilt / CL: 床

I remember learning 被子 in Chinese classes and being surprised to see that 被 could mean quilt. But it would not stick in my memory, so I was constantly failing to recall 被子 while doing Anki. Fortunately, thanks to the song 红色高跟鞋 by 蔡健雅, I will never struggle to remember 被子 again.

被 bèi - quilt / by / (indicates passive-voice clauses) / (literary) to cover / to meet with

幸亏 xìngkuī - fortunately / luckily
多亏 duōkuī - thanks to / luckily

This one really gets to me because I feel like “deficit” and “luckily” are so, so opposite. There must be an interesting explanation for how 亏 ended up with both these meanings. I still have trouble remembering what 幸亏 and 多亏 actually mean.

亏 kuī - deficiency / deficit / luckily / it’s lucky that… / (often ironically) fancy that…

不服 bùfú - not to accept sth / to want to have sth overruled or changed / to refuse to obey or comply / to refuse to accept as final / to remain unconvinced by / not to give in to
服从 fúcóng - to obey (an order) / to comply / to defer
服药 fúyào - to take medicine

I am pretty sure I first encountered this meaning of 服 when I heard the song 《不服》 performed by 汪苏泷 and some of the trainees on 青春有你2. I was very confused by it. Even after seeing the dictionary definitions, I struggled to understand how to use the word 不服. It simply took lots more exposure for me to grasp it. 服 as in 服药 still trips me up to this day. I’ve kind of given up on trying to remember it.

服 fú - clothes / dress / garment / to serve (in the military, a prison sentence etc) / to obey / to be convinced (by an argument) / to convince / to admire / to acclimatize / to take (medicine) / mourning clothes / to wear mourning clothes

输入 shūrù - to import / to input
运输 yùnshū - to transport / to carry / transportation

I felt borderline betrayed upon learning the word 运输. I felt like 输 was cheating on its partner 赢! I was also really confused at the time because I had no idea what “to lose” had to do “transportation” haha. I’ve come to accept 输入 simply because I see it so much that it’s become very normal to me.

输 shū - to lose / to transport / to donate / to enter (a password)

领取 lǐngqǔ - to receive / to draw / to get 

I “learned” 领取 in Chinese class a couple years ago, but it never stuck for me. Then I saw 领 in the contexts of something like 领奖项. I was confused and looked up 领 in the dictionary. Then I had an ohhhh moment. Now I’m finally able to remember 领取!

领 lǐng - neck / collar / to lead / to receive / classifier for clothes, mats, screens etc

拼命 pīnmìng - to do one’s utmost / with all one’s might / at all costs / (to work or fight) as if one’s life depends on it

From 拼音 and 拼写 to 拼命! It’s a pretty jarring difference to be honest! But idol survival shows (which I watch too many of) include 拼 or 拼命 A LOT, so I’ve gotten used to it.

拼 pīn - to piece together / to join together / to stake all / adventurous / at the risk of one’s life / to spell

I’ve seen a lot of posts floating around in the Chinese teaching/learning scene about similar characters like 己 & 已 and 未 & 末. But these posts never seem to include the characters that I have the most difficulty with! So I made my own :)

Note: Some of these characters don’t look similar if you use traditional characters, but I primarily use simplified.

怒 nù - anger / fury / flourishing / vigorous
恕 shù - to forgive
This is an example of one-way confusion. I learned 恕 as part of the phrase 恕我直言, but now, whenever I see 恕 I think it’s 怒 at first. But never the other way around.

拨 bō - to push aside with the hand, foot, a stick etc / to dial / to allocate / to set aside (money) / to poke (the fire) / to pluck (a string instrument) / to turn round / classifier: group, batch 
拔 bá - to pull up / to pull out / to draw out by suction / to select / to pick / to stand out (above level) / to surpass / to seize 
In class once I wrote what I thought was 拔 on the board…it was 拨. I was very embarrassed. These two always trip me up! They are by far my least favorite duo on this list.

苛 kē - severe / exacting 
苟 gǒu - if / supposing / careless / negligent / temporarily / surname Gou
For some reason I am most embarrassed about confusing these two. I think it’s because when I look closely and carefully, they don’t seem that similar. But if I am not looking closely and carefully, they cause confusion.

茶 chá - tea / tea plant
荼 tú - thistle / common sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus) / bitter (taste) / cruel / flowering grass in profusion 
I saw a chengyu with 荼 (如火如荼) and totally thought it was 茶. I was so shocked when I realized otherwise! I guess the chengyu wouldn’t make much sense with 茶…oh well.

竟 jìng - unexpectedly / actually / to go so far as to / indeed 
竞 jìng - to compete / to contend / to struggle 
On the bright side, since these two characters are pronounced exactly the same, at least you don’t really have to worry about that aspect. The big issue would just be writing the wrong one.

丰 fēng - abundant / plentiful / fertile / plump / great / surname Feng
韦 wéi - soft leather / surname Wei
These characters are both last names, so watch out. You wouldn’t want to misread 韦礼安 as 丰礼安 or something.

暧 ài - (of daylight) dim / obscure / clandestine / dubious 
暖 nuǎn - warm / to warm 
These two really give me a headache. I need my glasses to tell them apart! They look a bit more distinct in traditional, but I still managed to think 暧/曖 by 孙盛希 was called 暖 for a solid month or so.

呜 wū - (onom.) for humming or whimpering 
鸣 míng - to cry (of birds, animals and insects) / to make a sound / to voice (one’s gratitude, grievance etc) 
I don’t really have an issue with 鸟 and 乌, but for some reason 鸣 and 呜 trip me up. I might need my glasses for them too haha.

妹 mèi - younger sister 
姝 shū - pretty woman 
I’ve seen both these characters in names. Except I thought 姝 was 妹. I blame 张惠妹! I think for the rest of my life I’ll be paranoid about saying someone’s name incorrectly due to these two.

廷 tíng - palace courtyard
延 yán - to prolong / to extend / to delay / surname Yan
I don’t actually know any words with 廷, but it can be used in names. In my experience, it’s especially common in Taiwan. But I have also seen 延 in names, so sometimes I have do a double take.

Honorable mention:
昼/晝 zhòu - daytime 
画/畫 huà - to draw / picture / painting
书/書 shū - book / letter / document / to write
Whenever I read something in traditional Chinese, these triplets are the bane of my existence. I’ve given up on trying to distinguish them and just guess from context instead. People use use traditional, how do you do it?

I wanted to share a resource for reading practice that I stumbled across recently. It’s called the Chinese Reading World, and it was a project led by the University of Iowa.

The site was put together from 2005 to 2008, so it’s not super up to date. However, there is a ton of content! Everything is sorted into 3 levels: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. 

Each level has 30 units, and each unit has 10 lessons. The lessons begin with a vocab pre-test, then there is a reading with some comprehension questions. Lastly, there is a vocab post-test, which is the same as the initial test (at least for the lessons I’ve done so far). There’s audio for each lesson text, but unfortunately it can’t be streamed—you have to download it. There is also an achievement test at the end of each unit.

My experience has actually been that I already know all the words on the vocabulary tests, but the reading passages contain other words that I’m not familiar with.

So far, the readings I’ve encountered are not very long. This is nice since reading longer pieces can be frustrating at times. With shorter readings, you can just read 1 or 2 on some days and read more when you have more time/patience. I believe the readings are taken from Chinese newspapers.

Also, every unit has a theme. With 90 units total, there are bound to be themes that interest you.
Example unit topics:

• Directions and Asking Direction 方向和问路
• Sports and Outdoor Activities 体育和户外运动
  
• Chinese Music and Musicians 中国音乐和音乐家
• Chinese Minorities and Local Customs 地方习俗和民族风情
  
• Chinese Sports and Olympic Games 体育和奥林匹克
• Contemporary Chinese Literature and Writers 中国当代文学和作家

The 3 levels also each come with 5 proficiency tests. They seem to be based on vocabulary knowledge, so expanding your vocab is clearly a huge focus of this site. The only thing I’m unclear is about is I’m not sure exactly when the proficiency tests are meant to be taken. After completing all units? Or are they spaced out so you are supposed to take test 1 after the first few units, test 2 after the next few, etc.?

I’ve started working my way through the advanced section this week. With 300 advanced lessons alone, it really feels like I have an infinite number of articles to go through!

Check out part 1 first! In both part 1 and this post, I am looking at 多音字 for which the different pronunciations vary only by tone. This is because I find these type of 多音字 especially tricky.

Other posts with similarities/overlaps:
*There are some overlapping characters between this post and these other posts.

Characters Merged by Simplification

Cross-Strait Tone Differences

累

累 lèi - tired / weary / to strain / to wear out / to work hard

• 疲累 pílèi - tired / exhausted
• 劳累 láolèi tired / exhausted / worn out / to toil

累 lěi - to accumulate / to involve or implicate / continuous / repeated (TW pr. lèi in some words)

• 积累 jīlěi - to accumulate / accumulation / cumulative / cumulatively
• 拖累 tuōlěi - to encumber / to be a burden on / to implicate (TW pr. tuōlèi)

There are other meanings/pronunciations of 累, but I’m not including them because I am not familiar with them yet (one day maybe!).

鲜 | 鮮

鲜 | 鮮 xiān - fresh / bright (in color) / delicious / tasty / delicacy / aquatic foods / fish

• 新鲜 xīnxiān - fresh / freshness / novel / uncommon
• 海鲜 hǎixiān - seafood

鲜 | 鮮 xiǎn - few / rare 

• 朝鲜 cháoxiǎn - North Korea / Korea as geographic term (TW pr. cháoxiān)
• 鲜少 xiǎnshǎo - very few / rarely

分 | 份

分 fēn - to divide / to separate / to distribute / to allocate / to distinguish (good and bad) / part or subdivision / fraction / one tenth (of certain units) / unit of length equivalent to 0.33 cm / minute (unit of time) / minute (angular measurement unit) / a point (in sports or games) / 0.01 yuan (unit of money)

• 分别 fēnbié - to part or leave each other / to distinguish / difference / in different ways / differently / separately or individually
• 分析 fēnxī - to analyze / analysis
• 十分 shífēn - very / completely / utterly / extremely / absolutely / hundred percent / to divide into ten equal parts

分 | 份 fèn - part / share / ingredient / component
份 is a variant for this meaning.

• 部分 bùfen - part / share / section / piece (TW pr. bùfèn)
• 过分 guòfèn - excessive / undue / overly
• 天分 tiānfèn - natural gift / talent

间 | 間

间 jiān - between / among / within a definite time or space / room / section of a room or lateral space between two pairs of pillars / classifier for rooms

• 瞬间 shùnjiān - in an instant / in a flash
• 期间 qījiān - period of time / time / time period / period
• 民间 mínjiān - among the people / popular / folk / non-governmental / involving people rather than governments

间 jiàn - gap / to separate / to thin out (seedlings) / to sow discontent

• 间接 jiànjiē - indirect
• 间谍 jiàndié - spy
• 间断 jiànduàn - disconnected / interrupted / suspended / a gap / a break

卷 | 捲

卷 juǎn - to roll up / roll / classifier for small rolled things / to sweep up / to carry on / roll

卷 | 捲 juǎn - to roll (up) / to sweep up / to carry on / roll

Though listed separately in the dictionary, these two seem to be used interchangeably in many cases. I got a lot of search results for both 花卷 and 花捲, for instance.

• 花卷 huājuǎn - Chinese steamed twisted bread roll
• 卷发 juǎnfà - to curl hair (TW pr. juǎnfǎ)
• 春卷 chūnjuǎn - egg roll / spring roll

卷 juàn scroll / book / volume / chapter / examination paper / classifier for books, paintings: volume, scroll

• 问卷 wènjuàn - questionnaire
• 试卷 shìjuàn - examination paper / test paper
• 考卷 kǎojuàn - exam paper

冠

冠 guān - hat / crown / crest / cap

• 新冠病毒 xīnguānbìngdú - novel coronavirus {RIP, I am sad}
• 皇冠 huángguān - crown

冠 guàn - to put on a hat / to be first / to dub

• 冠军 guànjūn - champion
• 夺冠 duóguàn to seize the crown / to win a championship / to win gold medal

脏 | 髒/臟

脏 | 髒 zāng - dirty / filthy / to get (sth) dirty

• 脏话 zānghuà - profanity / obscene language / speaking rudely 
• 肮脏 āngzāng - dirty / filthy
• 弄脏 nòngzāng - to make dirty / to defile / to smear

脏 | 臟 zàng - viscera / (anatomy) organ

• 心脏 xīnzàng - heart
• 肝脏 gānzàng - liver
• 内脏 nèizàng - internal organs / viscera

少

少 shǎo - few / less / to lack / to be missing / to stop (doing sth) / seldom

• 至少 zhìshǎo - at least / (to say the) least
• 减少 jiǎnshǎo - to lessen / to decrease / to reduce / to lower
• 缺少 quēshǎo - lack / shortage of / shortfall / to be short (of) / to lack

少 shào - young

• 少年 shàonián - early youth / youngster / (literary) youth / young man
• 少林 shàolín - Shaolin monastery and martial arts school
• 少女 shàonǚ - girl / young lady

舍 | 捨

舍 | 捨 shě - to give up / to abandon / to give alms

• 舍不得 shěbude - to hate to do sth / to hate to part with / to begrudge
• 舍弃 shěqì - to give up / to abandon / to abort

舍 shè - residence

• 宿舍 sùshè - dormitory / dorm room / living quarters / hostel
• 舍友 shèyǒu - dormitory roommate

量

量 liáng - to measure

• 商量 shāngliang - to consult / to talk over / to discuss (TW pr. shāngliáng)
• 量体温 liángtǐwēn - to take sb’s temperature

量 liàng - capacity / quantity / amount / to estimate / measure word

• 质量 zhìliàng - quality / (physics) mass
• 胆量 dǎnliàng - courage / boldness / guts
  

背

背 bèi - the back of a body or object / to turn one’s back / to hide something from / to learn by heart / to recite from memory / unlucky (slang) / hard of hearing

• 背叛 bèipàn - to betray
• 背影 bèiyǐng - rear view / figure seen from behind / view of the back (of a person or object)
• 背景 bèijǐng - background / backdrop / context / (fig.) powerful backer

背 bēi - to be burdened / to carry on the back or shoulder

• 背包 bēibāo - knapsack / rucksack / infantry pack / field pack / blanket roll
• 背黑锅 bēihēiguō - to be made a scapegoat / to be unjustly blamed
• 背负 bēifù - to bear / to carry on one’s back / to shoulder

划 | 劃

划 | 劃 huà - to delimit / to transfer / to assign / to plan / to draw (a line) / stroke of a Chinese character

• 规划 guīhuà - to plan (how to do sth) / planning / plan / program
  
• 划分 huàfēn - to divide up / to partition / to differentiate

划 | 劃 huá - to cut / to slash / to scratch (cut into the surface of sth) / to strike (a match)

• 划痕 huáhén - a scratch
• 划过 huáguò - (of a meteor etc) to streak across (the sky) / (of a searchlight, lightning etc) to play across (the sky)

划 huá - to row / to paddle / profitable / worth (the effort) / it pays (to do sth)

• 划得来 huádelái - worth it / it pays to
• 划船 huáchuán - to row a boat / rowing boat / rowing (sport)

曲

曲 qū - bent / crooked / wrong / yeast / Aspergillus / (TW pr. qú in some words)

• 弯曲 wānqū - to bend / to curve around / curved / crooked / to wind / to warp
• 曲折 qūzhé - winding / (fig.) complicated
• 歪曲 wāiqū - to distort / to misrepresent

曲 qǔ - tune / song

• 歌曲 gēqǔ - song
• 编曲 biānqǔ - to compose (music) / arrangement
• 主题曲 zhǔtíqǔ - theme song

踏

踏 tà - to tread / to stamp / to step on / to press a pedal / to investigate on the spot

• 踏上 tàshàng - to set foot on / to step on or into
• 脚踏实地 jiǎotàshídì - to have one’s feet firmly planted on the ground (idiom); realistic without flights of fancy / steady and serious character

踏 tā - you will probably only hear this pronunciation in 踏实 (and this pronunciation doesn’t exist in TW to my knowledge)

• 踏实 tāshi - firmly-based / steady / steadfast / to have peace of mind / free from anxiety (TW pr. tàshí)
• 踏踏实实 tātāshíshí - steady / steadfast (TW pr. tàtàshíshí)

Have you ever been surfing a Taiwanese website and noticed that years are labeled completely differently? I was on some webpage last year and got so confused as to why I was seeing numbers like 75 and 100 for the year. What??

I somehow found my way to this Wikipedia article calledRepublic of China calendar or 民国纪年 in Chinese. Apparently this calendar is also referred to under other (similar) names such as 中华民国纪年 and 中华民国历.

The year 1 in the ROC calendar is 1912, the year the ROC was founded. So 2022 is the 111th year! Just add or subtract 1911 to convert between the Gregorian calendar and 民国纪年.

Since learning about this calendar, I’ve seen it pop up here and there on academic websites to mark the years people graduated or took a college entrance exam. You may very well never encounter this system in the wild, but if you do, now you’ll be prepared!

I wanted to find a real life example to display, so I went digging. I found the 民国纪年 on the website for 国立台湾大学哲学系 (NTU Philosophy Department).

See! For the year of these doctoral theses (博士论文), the table has 108, aka 2019.

Just goes to show that you really have to learn some stuff about culture and history when learning a language.

Last post (probably) of the year! 《泡沫》 was a mega hit off G.E.M.’s 2012 album Xposed. The album features both Mandopop and Cantopop songs. I was initially torn between featuring this song and 《光年之外》, but I ultimately chose 《泡沫》 because it’s my favorite of the two. This song is so packed with feeling that I think you really don’t need to speak a word of Mandarin to understand the emotions the lyrics convey. When I first started listening to Mandopop, G.E.M. was one of the first artists I listened to, and I still enjoy her music to this day. So a Learning Chinese with Lyrics post featuring her is long overdue!

邓紫棋 (G.E.M.) - 泡沫

阳光下的泡沫 是彩色的
就像被骗的我 是幸福的
追究什么对错 你的谎言 基于你还爱我

彩色 cǎisè - color / multi-colored 
追究 zhuījiū - to investigate / to look into (Taiwan pr. zhuījiù)
基于 jīyú - because of / on the basis of / in view of / on account of

美丽的泡沫 虽然一刹花火
你所有承诺 虽然都太脆弱
但爱像泡沫 如果能够看破 有什么难过

一刹 yíchà - instant / split second / a moment
花火 huāhuǒ - firework

早该知道泡沫 一触就破
就像已伤的心不胜折磨
也不是谁的错 谎言再多 基于你还爱我

不胜 búshèng - cannot bear or stand / be unequal to / very / extremely (Taiwan pr. bùshēng)

美丽的泡沫 虽然一刹花火
你所有承诺 虽然都太脆弱
爱本是泡沫 如果能够看破 有什么难过

再美的花朵 盛开过就凋落
再亮眼的星 一闪过就坠落
爱本是泡沫 如果能够看破 有什么难过

凋落 diāoluò - to wither (and drop off) / to wilt / to pass away
亮眼 liàngyǎn - conspicuous / showy

为什么难过 有什么难过 为什么难过

全都是泡沫 只一刹的花火
你所有承诺 全部都太脆弱
而你的轮廓 怪我没有看破 才如此难过

轮廓 lúnkuò - an outline / silhouette

相爱的把握 要如何再搜索
相拥着寂寞 难道就不寂寞
爱本是泡沫 怪我没有看破 才如此难过

在雨下的泡沫 一触就破
当初炽热的心 早已沉没
说什么你爱我 如果骗我 我宁愿你沉默

炽热 chìrè - red-hot / glowing / blazing / (fig.) passionate
沉没 chénmò - to sink

See you in 2022!

linghxr:

The Most Satisfying Feeling I Get from Learning Chinese

One of the most satisfying feelings I’ve experienced in learning Chinese is the feeling I get after hearing a new word and just *understanding* it. This isn’t that hard when reading (and that’s why we love 汉字), but when it comes to listening, it’s a whole different story. So the moments when I’ve heard a new word and intuitively known what 汉字 it consists of plus its meaning of have made me feel so accomplished. Over time I’ve jotted down some of these words, and I thought they would make a fun post.

1. 迷失 míshī - to lose (one’s bearings) / to get lost
   I was able to understand this word thanks to knowing words like 迷路, 迷茫, 失去, and 消失. I first remember identifying this word in Escape Plan’s song 夜空中最亮的星.
2. 旅途 lǚtú - journey / trip
   I know a lot of words with 旅 like 旅游, 旅行, and 旅程, and I was also familiar with 途 via 路途 and 前途. So 旅途 was very easy for me to understand.
3. 心愿 xīnyuàn - cherished desire / dream / craving / wish / aspiration
   心愿 is similar in meaning to 愿望 and 意愿, which I already knew. I believe I first heard this word in the song 有点甜 by 汪苏泷 and BY2.
4. 高傲 gāo'ào - arrogant / haughty / proud
   I heard this word in the song 寻宝 by 沈以诚. I’ve listened to this song many times, and one day it just clicked! It’s all thanks to the similar words 骄傲 and 傲慢.
5. 安稳 ānwěn - smooth and steady
   There are so many words with 安 like 安定 and 平安. I also know some 稳 words, such as 稳定 and 平稳. So I was able to put two and two together for 安稳.
6. 还原 huányuán - to restore to the original state / to reconstruct (an event)
   The meaning of 还 here is very familiar from 还给 and 还清. Also, I know a lot of words with 原: 原来, 原本, 原始, 原先.
7. 选拔 xuǎnbá - to select the best
   There are so many 选 words I see all the time like 精选, 选举, and 选择. I also know 拔 from 拔苗助长 and 自拔, so I was able to piece together the overall meaning of 选拔.
8. 解压 jiěyā - to relieve stress
   I’ve already learned the word 缓解 which is related in meaning. Also, I’ve learned 施压 (or 施加压力), which is basically the opposite of 解压.
9. 感人 gǎnrén - touching / moving
   I think this word is pretty easy to put together if you know similar words like 感染, 感动, and 动人.
10. 认输 rènshū - to concede / to admit defeat
    I distinctly remember hearing this word in the Tanya Chua song 救生圈. I think I was able to understand it thanks to knowing that 认 can mean to admit like in the words 承认 and 公认.

Here’s to many more of these satisfying moments in 2022!

Since making this post, I’ve been taking note of other instances. Below are 15 more words I was able to get from hearing alone.

1. 离散 lísàn - (of family members) separated from one another / scattered about / dispersed
   Of course, I know many words with 离, such as 离开 and 脱离. I also know some words containing 散, like 分散 and 散发. So it’s not a big leap to figure out what 离散 means.
   
2.  星体 xīngtǐ - celestial body (planet, satellite etc) 
   I was able to guess the meaning of 星体 because I am already familiar with 星球, which has a very similar meaning. I know it from Star Wars, aka 星球大战! But 星体 is from the EXO-C version of History.
3.  堆积 duījī - to pile up / to heap / accumulation 
   I basically understand 堆积 as 堆满 plus 累积. These are two words which I’ve learned previously.
4.  魅惑 mèihuò - to entice / to charm 
   Here’s another example where I know two similar words that I can essentially “combine” to get 魅惑. The words I already knew are 魅力 and 诱惑.
5.  插播 chābō - to interrupt (a radio or TV program) with a commercial insert, breaking news etc / to put a call on hold 
   I know 播 from words like 广播 and 播放. I also know 插 primarily from the expression 插一句. And thanks to the context (I heard 插播 used while watching a Chinese TV show), I was able to put two and two together.
6.  杂乱 záluàn - in a mess / in a jumble / chaotic 
   乱 is such a common character, I see it all the time. As for 杂, I know the word 嘈杂, and my brain seemed to think that was somehow similar, and I guess I was right? There aren’t many characters pronounced za after all.
7.  掩埋 yǎnmái - to bury 
   埋 is a 多音字, and I know the mái reading from the word 埋葬. I don’t know 掩 as well, but I’ve encountered the word 掩盖, so I was able to guess that the yan I was hearing was probably 掩.
8.  期盼 qīpàn - hope and expectation / to anticipate / to look forward to / to await expectantly 
   期盼 is very similar to the words 期望 and 盼望. I hear 期望 all the time. 盼望 is not a word I encounter as often, but I’m familiar enough with it.
9.  任一 rènyī - any / either 
   Don’t quote me on this, but I understand 任一 as essentially meaning 任何一个. They at least seem to be interchangeable in the contexts I’ve heard 任一 in so far. I either heard it in 青春有你3 or 创造营2021, I can’t remember.
10.  见证 jiànzhèng - to be witness to / witness / evidence 
    I already knew 证据, meaning proof or evidence, and I was vaguely aware of 证 being used in other words having to do with evidence and witnessing.
11.  打散 dǎsàn - to scatter / to break sth up / to beat (an egg) 
    Not gonna lie, I wouldn’t have guessed the beat an egg meaning, but I was able to approximate the other meaning(s). There are so many words starting with 打, so it’s a familiar structure.
12.  支撑 zhīchēng - to prop up / to support / strut / brace 
    If you watch the 创造营 series, you have heard the words 支持 and 撑腰 about five million times: party girl之道 姐妹为你撑腰~ 支撑 is very similar in meaning.
13.  自律 zìlǜ - self-discipline / self-regulation / autonomy (ethics) / autonomic (physiology) 
    I kinda know the word 纪律, meaning discipline. I think being familiar with how 自 is used in words like 自卫, 自学, etc. helped as well.
14.  方位 fāngwèi - direction / points of the compass / bearing / position 
    I think I heard this word in a song, but I can’t remember what song at the moment. I connected it to the words 方向 and 位置. And 百科 defines 方位 as 方向位置, so I was spot on!
15.  停歇 tíngxiē - to stop for a rest
    I know many words containing 停, including 停止, 停留, and 暂停. I don’t think I actually know many words with 歇, but I was aware of its dictionary definition for some reason. Must have looked it up at some point.

Too many of these are from survival shows…I guess that shows that I am learning from them!

hey! ive been active here before, but never really introduced myself, so here you go!

basics

im enfys seren toive, 20, german native, university student (studying finnish and scandinavian studies along with dapping into some other stuff in the general studies field)

languages im learning

are finnish, swedish, danish, and esperanto! along with some slight dabbing into some other languages

i want to

become a translator/interpreter once im finished with university!

hello hello! if youre focusing on any of the languages im studying, feel free to lmk! i need to follow more blogs 

Sivu yksi ja takakansi - page one and the back cover - Seite eins und die Rückseite

merkillinen - weird, strange - komisch, seltsam, merkwürdig

luonnonilmiö - natural phenomenon - Naturerscheinung, Naturereignis

tulkita - translate, interpret, explain - dolmetschen, erklären, interpretieren

tuho - downfall, ruin, doom - Untergang, Verderben, Ruin, Vernichtung

merkki - sign; stamp; utterance, expression - Zeichen; Briefmarke; Äußerung

kaukainen - far away - fern

tähtitorni - observatory - Sternwarte 

selvä - bright; clear; clean - hell; deutlich; sauber

omituinen - specific; weird; curious, odd - eigentümlich; spezifisch; seltsam

pyrstötähti - comet - Komet

-> pyrstö - tail (as in a horse’s tail, an animal’s tail) - Schweif, Schwanz

liittyä - to belong to something; to join - sich jmd. anschließen; zu etw. gehören

neuvokas - perceptive, smart, innovative - erfinderisch, scharfsinnig, klug

viehättävä - delighting, enchanting; charming - begeisternd, entzückend; charmant

-> viehättää - delight, enchant - entzücken; begeistern, hinreißen

taival - distance - Strecke, Entfernung

edetä - get ahead, keep on going - weiter gehen, vorwärts kommen

huima - wild, untamed - unbändig, ungestüm, wild

seikkailu - adventure - Abenteuer

varoittaa - warn smb. from smth. - jmd. vor etw. warnen

vaarallinen - dangerous - gefährlich

syöksyä - fall - stürzen, fallen

uhkaava - threatening - drohend, bedrohlich

-> uhata - threaten - jmd. (be)drohen

kohti + Partitiivi - towards smth. - auf etw. zu

jolloin - where; whem; as, when - wo; wann; als, da

vievä - time-consuming - zeitraubend

saada valmiksi - to finish smth., get done with smth. - etw. zu Ende bringen, mit etw. fertig werden

otus - animal; beast - Tier; Biest; Vieh

keksiä - make up, discover - erfinden, entdecken

kummallinen - weird, strange - komisch, seltsam, merkwürdig

eräs - one - ein, eine, eins

aivan - entirely - ganz, genau, völlig

painua - sink; give in; boost smth. - sinken, untergehen; nachgeben; antreiben

tutkia - investigate smth. - etw. untersuchen, etw. erkunden

uskaltaa - dare - wagen, den Mut haben, sich trauen

varjoinen - shady (as in, a shady place, not a shady person) - schattig

panna - put - setzen, stellen, legen

oksa - branch - Ast

risti - cross - Kreuz

loikkia - jump, walk with big steps - springen, mit großen Schritten laufen

käpälä - paw - Pfote, Tatze

täynnä - full of - voll, voller

niitty - meadow - Wiese

Genetiivi + halki - across - über, durch, quer durch

virrata - flow - strömen, fließen, rinnen

kaartaa - bend - biegen, krümmen

kattaa - cover; encompass - decken; umfassen, beinhalten

seutu - area, region, surrounding - Gegend, Region, Umgebung

ihmetellä - wonder, admire - sich wundern, staunen, etw. bewundern

mahtaa - may, must - dürfen, mögen, werden, müssen

ihmeellinen - weird, strange; phenomenal - komisch, seltsam; phänomenal

miettiä - to think about smth. - an etw. denken, über etw. nachdenken

NOTE: I translated the words into German first, then into English, so the German translations are betterthan the English ones!

NOTE 2: etw. - etwas; jmd. - jemanden; jemandem; jemand

Cowboys

nouns

derCowboy- the cowboy

dasCowgirl- the cowgirl

dasPferd- the horse

dieFarm- the farm

dieRanch- the ranch

derBauernhof- the farm (however this has less of a cowboy connotation and is moreso a farm in general)

derCowboyhut- the cowboy hat

dieCowboystiefel(Sg. der Cowboystiefel) - the cowboy boots

derSattel- the saddle

der Wilde Westen - the wild west

dasLasso- the lasso

dieKuh- the cow

der Stier- the bull

derIndianer/dieIndianerin- the native american

adjectives

wild- wild

frei- free

verbs 

reiten- to ride (only with horses and other animals)

hüten- to herd

galoppieren- to gallop

das Lasso schwingen- to wield the lasso

LGBT

nouns

dieLesbe- the lesbian

dieLGBT-Community- the LGBT community

derRegenbogen- the rainbow

diePride/das Pride-Festival- the pride (festival)

dieFahne/dieFlagge- the flag

der/dieBi/Pan/A/Homosexuelle- the bi/pan/homosexual (i know h*m*sexual is considered a slur by some in english, but i am not sure about how it is in german. i personally would be uncomfortable with it, so ask people first before you apply it to them)

dieEhe für alle - the same-sex/gender marriage (lit. marriage for everyone)

diePolyamorie- the polyamory

diePolygamie- the polygamy

dieBeziehung - the relationship

dieHormone- the hormones

dieGeschlechtsangleichung- i dont know how to translate this one, but it can be used both for taking hormones and the surgeries transgender people can get, basically it means aligning your social/biological gender/sex to your actual one

dasÖstrogen - the estrogen

dasTestosteron  - the testosterone

dieHormontherapie- the hormone replacement therapy

adjectives

schwul- gay (onlyto be used by men in my experience)

lesbisch- lesbian

bi/pan/a/homosexuell- bi/pan/a/homosexual

transgender- transgender

transgeschlechtlich- transgender

transsexuell- transsexual (also considered outdated and misleading by most germans)

LGBT- LGBT

out- out

stolz- proud

nicht-binär/nichtbinär- nonbinary (i think its the same as in english, where whether you use the - or not depends on personal preference)

queer- queer (in german this is not really considered as much of a slur as it is in english and often used as an umbrella term, however there arepeople uncomfortable with it)

verbs

lieben- to love

feiern- to celebrate

sich outen - to come out

jemandenouten- to out someone

NOTE: most aces and aros also call themselves ace or aro in german, there arent any extra terms for that

Sternzeichen- zodiac signs

♈ - Widder (ram) means Aries

♉ - Stier (bull) means Taurus

♊ - Zwilling(e) (twins) means Gemini

♋ - Krebs (word for both cancer and crayfish) means Cancer

♌ - Löwe (lion) means Leo

♍ - Jungfrau (virgin, in old times used to refer to young women) means Virgo

♎ - Waage (scales) means Libra

♏ - Skorpion (scorpion) means Scorpio

♐ -Schütze (this nowadays refers mainly to people with guns, but in old times referred to people shooting with bow and arrow) means Sagittarius

♑ - Steinbock (ibex, apparently. it’s an animal) means Capricorn

♒ - Wassermann (literally translated: water man) means Aquarius

♓ - Fische (fish, plural) means Pisces

Valentinstag

nouns

derLiebesbrief- the love letter

dasGeschenk- the gift/present

diePralinen- the chocolates (a box of chocolates, mainly)

ein hoffnungsloser Romantiker - a hopeless romantic (m)

einehoffnungslose Romantikerin - a hopeless romantic (f)

dasDate- the date (romantic meeting)

derFlirt- the flirt (is mainly used to refer to a person you are flirting with)

dasKino- the cinema

derHeiratsantrag- the (marriage) proposal

dieVerlobung- the engagement

dieHochzeit- the wedding (ceremony)

dieEhe- the marriage

adjectives

romantisch- romantic

süß- cute, sweet (can be used to describe foods and people)

heiß- hot (for weather and people)

perfekt- perfect

atemlos- breathless, out of breath

verliebt- in love

verbs

lieben- to love

flirten- to flirt

mitjemandemausgehen- to go out with someone

jemandendaten- do date someone

einen Liebesbrief schreiben- to write a love letter

jemandenausführen- to invite someone out (this has a rather formal connotation, you wouldn’t say “ich führe dich zum Döneressen aus”, however “ich führe dich zum Dinner aus” is very much okay. things like the cinema probably depend on the person)

jemandemschmeicheln- to flatter someone

sichverloben- to get engaged