Quick update: First of all, let me apologize for not updating in a while. I have moved from China to the USA and from Boston to Virginia and have now begun studying for the LSAT. Whew! I’m back to a regular routine and you guys should see regular posts from me now!

If you’re self-studying or self-learning Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, French or any language, there are so many reasons why a language learning method could fail that you could be completely unaware of. After all, there is no one identifying your shortcomings or problem areas in language study for you. You have to do it all by yourself. When I began to learn Japanese and Korean in high school I did not know this and it was pretty devastating. When things slowed down or I couldn’t remember Japanese words, I got so freakin’ pissed! Why wasn’t all my hard work paying off!? How long does this stupid crap take?! Why am I not fluent!? How do I learn Japanese faster?! I was rightfully frustrated, but at the wrong things. I was angry at everything else except how I was actually studying.

What I have come to understand is that the language learning method is just as important as the content you actually learn.

                                                 Keep Reading

Source:https://lilidoescriticallanguages.com/2018/08/30/feeling-stuck-how-to-get-passed-a-language-learning-rut/

“Everything is so hard! I just wanted to be an astronaut!” – A wise man (probably)

Learning a language isn’t supposed to be easy. It’s a living and breathing method of communication that isn’t always perfectly logical. In other words, it’s a HOT MESS and you’re going to have to learn your way through the dense and confusing jungles of someone else’s language. So naturally, you will reach roadblocks and will deal with things that will make you want to quit life and go back to bed. It’s natural! It’s life!

If you are a huge bump in your language learning journey, don’t panic. Don’t panic!! You being stuck is not a reflection upon you or your capabilities. Let me say that again. YOU BEING STUCK IS NOT A REFLECTION UPON YOU OR YOUR CAPABILITIES. It is a reflection of how the world works and how sucky it can be to learn languages.

While learning Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, I faced so many bumps in the road. So many. So many…. *clinches fist and closes eyes dramatically*. But I got through and so can you. In the steps I outline what you can do if you’re feeling stuck in your language learning or if you’ve reached a language learning plateau how to move forward. (So chill out on the “feeling in a rut” quotes from Pinterest cause they won’t help).

Remember Why You Started

This is super basic and you’ve probably heard it a million times, so I won’t linger on this tip. If you feel like giving up, just make a list of all the reasons you started learning this language in the first place. If you have no specific reasons, make some right now. Do some research and see what benefits your language(s) grant you! This will kick your butt into gear again, because now you remember the goal you’re chasing after and you’ll wanna reach it. Cause who doesn’t love reaching goals!?

Don’t Rely On Motivation

Motivation is so great for getting started on something, but once you’ve actually started to do something, you will find that your motivation often wains and all you’re left with is procrastination and guilt. You can’t rely on being motivated to do things everyday. You can try to motivate yourself each and everyday, but that is ineffecient because it takes up precious time and energy. Instead, build up your discipline or your ability to do things even if you don’t want to. Wouldn’t that be sick wicked awesome if you could consistently get things done even if you don’t want to!? That’s what discipline can do for you! The only way to grow it, is to practice doing it over and over till you build the muscle. Beautiful things take time and when you give it that time, you will see amazing results.

Pinpoint EXACTLY What the Problem Is

If you are feeling stuck, you need to try to pinpoint EXACTLY what the problem is. Are you having trouble reading, writing, formulating sentences, listening to natural speed? Pinpoint EXACTLY where the problem lies and then go deeper than THAT to see what is causing the problem. It is important to know exactly what is causing the problems in your studies, writing them down and then brainstorming the best way FOR YOU to address those problem areas. I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS.

For example, in my Korean studies I faced a HUGE issue. I could NOT formulate sentences to save my life or even my dog’s life! I could perfectly understand sentences, but I couldn’t make a single one. So I identified that I had trouble speaking. Then I identified that it was sentence formation. Then I needed to figure out why. So I threw myself into an immersive environment and realized it was because I was feeling overwhelmed by the grammar and was learning the material the wrong way.

Change Your Approach

Once you have identified the problem, you can begin brainstorming creative ways to deal with each and every problem

For example, in my Korean studies I could NOT formulate sentences! So I reviewed making basic sentences then adding complicated parts to them. I studied that grammar inside and out so that I knew EXACTLY what each word meant and how it contributed to the sentence to create it’s meaning.

I also realized that Koreans formulate sentences so bizarrely different from English so I needed to learn DIRECTLY from native speakers more often. In other words, I needed to shadow them. Then I was able to take sentences I learned to use them and modify them with my deep knowledge of the grammar.

Ask Someone For Help

Last but certainly not least, ask someone for help. It could be a teacher, a coach, another language learner (like myself) or a native speaker. Ask them to assess your abilities and help you determine what’s going wrong in your language studies. There is no book, blog or video that can supplement a human person’s personal interaction so look to others to help you where you are stuck and you will never be disappointed!

You can join language communities in:

Facebook,

Tumblr (you can ask me questions directly on my Tumblr page)

Instagram (Every week I hold a Q&A in Instagram Live)

Reddit (r/languagelearning)

iTalki

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram|Facebook|Twitter|Pinterest

Guess what ya’ll!? I’m a language coach now!! If you’re learning Chinese, Japanese or Korean I offer language coaching HSK prep, TOPIK prep, and JLPT Prep!! And get this! I will now CREATE A LANGUAGE LEARNING SCHEDULE FOR YOU!!! Yep! Just tell me your target language, level, resources and availability and I will do all the hard work for you!! Why? Because I have ten years of language learning experience and instead of going through trial and error trying to figure out what works for you, let ten years of experience do it for you. Imagine how much faster your language learning will go when all the technical details are sorted out for you!

Visit my website to learn more!!

Grammar: “a little” in Chinese. «一下»

Note: The pinyin for 一下 is written “yīxià” but pronounced “yíxià” due to a tone change rule

Structure: To express that a verb is carried out briefly or “a little bit,” you can add 一下 (yīxià) after it. Sometimes 一下 (yīxià) can soften the tone.

Subj. + Verb + 一下 + Obj.

Often, adding 一下 (yīxià) just makes the Chinese feel more natural. This is not something you can get a feel for quickly. You’ll want to observe how native speakers use 一下 (yīxià) over a long period of time to really get used to how it is used.

Examples:

*请 你 等 一下。You get the feeling that it shouldn’t be a long wait.Qǐng nǐ děng yīxià.
Please wait a little bit.

*你 看 一下。It should be quick.Nǐ kàn yīxià.
Take a look.

*试 一下 吧。How long can trying it take? Shì yīxià ba.
Try it.

*我 要 想 一下。You’re supposed to believe that I won’t need to think about it long.Wǒ yào xiǎng yīxià.
I want to think a little.

*开 一下 门 吧 。 How long can it take to open the door?Kāi yīxià mén ba.
Please open the door.

*请 你 说 一下 为什么。I feel it should be a quick explanation.Qǐng nǐ shuō yīxià wèishénme.
Please say why.

How to compare in Chinese. Grammar

Since we use comparisons a lot in both conversation and writing, I’ve decided to to tell you about this grammar.

The basic structure for comparison 比 bǐ is

A + 比 + B + Adjective

For example: 

•  我哥哥(A) 比 我(B) 高(Adj)。(My older brother is taller than me.)
• 这个公园(A) 比 那个公园(B) 漂亮(Adj)。(This park is prettier than that park.)

But in the real conversation, we may add more details when we compare.

You can add “degree,” like:

• “Wow! This one is MUCH bigger than that one.”
• “I am just A LITTLE shorter than him.”
• “He is 4 years older than me.”

You can add “degree” in the end of the sentence. So the structure is:

A + 比 + B + Adj. + Degree

For example:

• 我哥哥(A)    比 我(B)   高(Adjective)   得多(Degree)。(My older brother is taller than me.)
• 我哥哥(A) 比 我(B) 高(Adjective) 五公分(Degree)。(My older brother is 5 centimeters taller than me.)

You also can add “even more” when you would like to compare 3 things. So the structure is:

C + 比 + A + 更/还 + Adj.

For example:

• 我哥哥(A) 比 我(B) 高(Adjective), 我爸爸© 比 我哥哥(A) 更(even more) 高(adjective)。

Weather vocabulary

Left:Simplified version

Right:Traditional version

The adverb 都 (dōu) is used to express “all” in Chinese. It’s common to use 都 (dōu) in a variety of sentences where it would seem unnecessary in English. 

Remember that 都 (dōu) appears after the subject. A common mistake learners make is to put 都 (dōu) at the beginning of the sentence (as “all” often appears there in English). This isn’t good Chinese - make sure you put 都 (dōu) after the subject and before the verb.  

Structure:Subj. + 都 + [Verb Phrase]   

Examples: 

Since it is an adverb, 也 (yě) is inserted after the subject, before the verb or verb phrase.

Structure:Subj. + 也 + Verb / [Verb Phrase]

Examples:

In Chinese, regardless of whether the sentence is positive (“I like them too”) or negative (“I don’t like them either”), 也 (yě) is used the same way. Just make sure you put the 也 (yě) before the 不 (bù) or other negative part that comes before the verb.

也 (yě) with Adjectives:

也 (yě) can also be used with adjectives. Remember that for simple “noun + adjective” sentences you normally need to include an adverb like 很 (hěn) before the adjective. In that case, just put the 也 (yě) before the adverb.

Structure:Subj. + 也 (+ Adv.) + Adj.

linghxr:

Lately I have been paying more attention to characters that are pronounced differently between the Mainland and Taiwan. This list is definitely not comprehensive, but I wanted to gather the differences I’ve noticed in my own studies. The format below is: Mainland pronunciation | Taiwan pronunciation. I’ve also listed some words containing the characters in question.

究 jiū | jiù - after all / to investigate / to study carefully

研究 yánjiū | yánjiù - research / a study / to research / to look into
讲究 jiǎngjiu | 講究 jiǎngjiù - to pay particular attention to / carefully selected for quality / tastefully chosen
究竟 jiūjìng | jiùjìng - to go to the bottom of a matter / after all / when all is said and done / finally / outcome / result

质 zhì | 質 zhí - character / nature / quality / plain / to pawn / pledge / hostage / to question
*In Taiwanese Mandarin, 質 is pronounced zhì when meaning to pawn / hostage, like the word 人質.

质量 zhìliàng | 質量 zhíliàng - quality / mass
本质 běnzhì | 本質 běnzhí - essence / nature / innate character / intrinsic quality
质疑 zhìyí | 質疑 zhíyí - to call into question / to question (truth or validity)

识 shí | 識 shì - to know / knowledge

知识 zhīshi | 知識 zhīshì - knowledge / intellectual
意识 yìshí | 意識 yìshì - consciousness / awareness / to be aware / to realize
认识 rènshi | 認識 rènshì - to know / to recognize / to be familiar with / to get acquainted with sb / knowledge / understanding / awareness / cognition

企 qǐ | qì - to plan a project / to stand on tiptoe

企业 qǐyè | 企業 qìyè - company / firm / enterprise / corporation
企图 qǐtú | 企圖 qìtú - to attempt / to try / attempt
企鹅 qǐ’é | 企鵝 qì’é - penguin

息 xī | xí - breath / news / interest (on an investment or loan) / to cease / to stop / to rest

消息 xiāoxi | xiāoxí - news / information
利息 lìxī | lìxí - interest (on a loan)
信息 xìnxī | xìnxí - information / news / message

危 wēi | wéi - danger / to endanger

危机 wēijī | 危機 wéijī - crisis
危害 wēihài | wéihài - to jeopardize / to harm / to endanger / harmful effect / damage
危险 wēixiǎn | 危險 wéixiǎn - danger / dangerous

突 tū | tú - to dash / to move forward quickly / to bulge / to protrude / to break through / to rush out / sudden

突然 tūrán | túrán - sudden / abrupt / unexpected
突出 tūchū | túchū - prominent / outstanding / to give prominence to / to protrude / to project
突破 tūpò | túpò - to break through / to make a breakthrough / to surmount (an obstacle)

Keep reading

Here’s an update to my original post with 25(!!!) more tone differences. The definitions are from MDBG with a few modifications here and there. I find these soooo interesting, but the one problem is that now I’m sometimes getting confused about which pronunciation to use. So proceed with caution!

差 chà | chā - to differ from / to fall short of / lacking / wrong / inferior
In Mainland China, 差 can be pronounced chā, but the meaning is different:
差 chā - difference / discrepancy / to differ / error / to err / to make a mistake
I guess the two definitions are essentially merged in Taiwanese Mandarin. This honestly sounds great because I often get confused between 差 chà and 差 chā.

相差 xiāngchà | xiāngchā- to differ / discrepancy between
差不多 chàbuduō | chābuduō- almost / nearly / more or less / about the same / good enough / not bad 
差点 chàdiǎn | 差點 chādiǎn - almost / nearly

挨 ái | āi - to suffer / to endure / to pull through (hard times) / to delay / to stall / to play for time / to dawdle
This is another example where in the Mainland, the character has multiple pronunciations with different meanings:
挨 āi in order / in sequence / close to / adjacent to
But there is only one pronunciation in Taiwanese Mandarin.

挨打 áidǎ | āidǎ - to take a beating / to get thrashed / to come under attack
挨骂 áimà | 挨罵 āimà - to receive a scolding

综 zōng | 綜 zòng - to sum up / to put together
There is also another (different) pronunciation distinction for this character:
综 zèng | 綜 zòng - heddle (device to form warp in weaving textiles)

错综复杂 cuòzōngfùzá | 錯綜複雜 cuòzòngfùzá - tangled and complicated
综合 zōnghé | 綜合 zònghé - comprehensive / composite / synthesized / mixed / to sum up / to integrate / to synthesize
综艺 zōngyì | 綜藝 zòngyì - variety (entertainment format) 

萎 wěi | wēi - to wither / to drop / to decline / spiritless

枯萎 kūwěi | kūwēi - to wilt / to wither / wilted / withered / drained / enervated / exhausted

跌 diē | dié - to fall / to tumble / to trip / (of prices etc) to drop

下跌 xiàdiē | xiàdié - to fall / to tumble
跌倒 diēdǎo | diédǎo - to tumble / to fall / fig. to suffer a reverse (in politics or business)
跌落 diēluò | diéluò - to fall / to drop

档 dàng | 檔 dǎng - official records / grade (of goods) / file / records / shelves / slot / gap / crosspiece / classifier for crosspieces / classifier for events, affairs etc

高档 gāodàng | 高檔 gāodǎng - superior quality / high grade / top grade 
文档 wéndàng | 文檔 wéndǎng - (computer) file 
搭档 dādàng | 搭檔 dādǎng - to cooperate / partner 

帆 fān | fán - sail
According to MDBG, this character is pronounced with the first tone in Taiwan in the word 帆布 (canvas).
Also, there is another fān vs. fán situation where it appears two traditional characters were merged to 帆 in simplified:
帆 fān | 颿 fán - to gallop

帆船 fānchuán | fánchuán - sailboat
一帆风顺 yìfānfēngshùn | 一帆風順 yìfánfēngshùn - propitious wind throughout the journey (idiom) / plain sailing / to go smoothly / have a nice trip!

夹 jiā | 夾 jiá - to press from either side / to place in between / to sandwich / to carry sth under armpit / wedged between / between / to intersperse / to mix / to mingle / clip / folder
Interestingly, there is another definition that is second tone on both sides of the straight:
夹 | 夾 jiá - double-layered / lined (garment)
Also, apparently there are a couple words that are pronounced with the fourth tone in Taiwan:
夹 | 夾 jià - used in 夾生｜夹生 and 夾竹桃｜夹竹桃

夹克 jiākè | 夾克 jiákè - jacket (loanword)

宁 nìng | 寧 níng - would rather / to prefer / how (emphatic)
In Taiwanese Mandarin, this character is pronounced the same as the pronunciation of 宁 that you are probably more used to seeing:
宁 | 寧 níng - peaceful / to pacify / to visit (one’s parents etc)

宁可 nìngkě | 寧可 níngkě - preferably / one would prefer to…(or not to…) / would rather / (would) be better to / (to pick) the lesser of two evils
宁愿 nìngyuàn | 寧願 níngyuàn - would rather / better

叔 shū | shú - uncle / father’s younger brother / husband’s younger brother

叔叔 shūshu | shúshu - father’s younger brother / uncle

筑 zhù | zhú - to build / to construct / to ram / to hit
In addition, there is a character that is identical in simplified characters with the same pronunciation split:
筑 zhù | 築 zhú - five-string lute

建筑 jiànzhù | 建築 jiànzhú - to construct / building

菌 jūn | jùn - germ / bacteria / fungus / mold
There is also another definition for 菌:
菌 jùn - mushroom

病菌 bìngjūn | bìngjùn - harmful bacteria / pathogenic bacteria / germs
杀菌 shājūn | 殺菌 shājùn - to kill germs / to disinfect / to sterilize

懵 měng | méng - stupid

懵懂 měngdǒng | méngdǒng - confused / ignorant

For 懵懂, because of third tone -> second tone rule, there shouldn’t be a difference. I thought this was amusing.

悄 qiǎo - quiet / sad
In the Mainland, 悄 is third tone in words like 悄然无声, but when duplicated as 悄悄, it is first tone. However, it Taiwan, it remains third tone.

悄悄 qiāoqiāo | qiǎoqiǎo - quietly / secretly / stealthily / quiet / worried

结 jiē | 結 jié - (of a plant) to produce (fruit or seeds)
In the Mainland, there is a distinction between 结 jiē and 结 jié:
结 | 結 jié - knot / sturdy / bond / to tie / to bind / to check out (of a hotel)

结果 jiēguǒ | 結果 jiéguǒ - to bear fruit

So this word sounds just like the 结果 you are probably more familiar with:
结果 | 結果 jiéguǒ - outcome / result / conclusion / in the end / as a result / to kill / to dispatch

载 zǎi | 載 zài - to record in writing / to carry (i.e. publish in a newspaper etc) /  year
载 can also be pronounced with the fourth tone in the Mainland, but the meaning is different:
载 | 載 zài - to carry / to convey / to load / to hold / to fill up / and / also / as well as / simultaneously

下载 xiàzǎi | 下載 xiàzài - to download
记载 jìzǎi | 記載 jìzài - to write down / to record / written account
转载 zhuǎnzǎi | 轉載 zhuǎnzài - to forward (a shipment) / to reprint sth published elsewhere

绩 jì | 績 jī - to spin (hemp etc) / merit / accomplishment

成绩 chéngjì | 成績 chéngjī - achievement / performance records / grades
丰功伟绩 fēnggōngwěijì | 豐功偉績 fēnggōngwěijī - glorious achievement

亚 yà | 亞 yǎ - second / next to / inferior / sub- OR Asia / Asian
*The Taiwanese Mandarin dictionaries I looked at actually use yà, not yǎ, but I’ve heard yǎ spoken. I’m guessing it’s a nonstandard pronunciation.

亚洲 yàzhōu | 亞洲 yǎzhōu - Asia
亚军 yàjūn | 亞軍 yǎjūn - second place (in a sports contest) / runner-up

发 fà | 髮 fǎ - hair
发 is a 多音字 in simplified Chinese, but not in traditional:
发 | 發 fā - to send out / to show (one’s feeling) / to issue / to develop / to make a bundle of money / classifier for gunshots (rounds)

头发 tóufa | 頭髮 tóufǎ - hair (on the head)
发型 fàxíng | 髮型 fǎxíng - hairstyle / hairdo

朴 pǔ | 樸 pú - plain and simple
The simplified version of this character has other definitions/pronunciations as well:
朴 piáo | pú - surname Piao (eq. to Korean surname Park)
朴 pò - Celtis sinensis var. japonica

简朴 jiǎnpǔ | 簡樸 jiǎnpú - simple and unadorned / plain 
淳朴 chúnpǔ | 淳樸 chúnpú - simple and honest / unsophisticated / guileless

炸 zhá | zhà - to deep fry
炸 zhà - to burst / to explode / to blow up / (fig.) to fly into a rage
Another example of two distinct pronunciations in the Mainland being the same in Taiwan.

炸鸡 zhájī | 炸雞 zhàjī - fried chicken 
炸酱面 zhájiàngmiàn | 炸醬麵 zhàjiàngmiàn - pork and fermented soybean paste noodle dish (also known as jjajangmyeon in Korean)

淑 shū | shú - warm and virtuous
This character is not uncommon in names (usually older women).

淑女 shūnǚ | shúnǚ - wise and virtuous woman / lady

褐 hè | hé - brown / gray or dark color / coarse hemp cloth

褐色 hèsè | hésè - brown

驯 xùn | 馴 xún - to attain gradually / to tame

驯服 xùnfú | 馴服 xúnfú - to tame / tame / docile
驯化 xùnhuà | 馴化 xúnhuà - to tame / to domesticate

涛 tāo | 濤 táo - big wave
This character can be found in names, like that of former PRC president Hu Jintao (胡锦涛).

波涛 bōtāo | 波濤 bōtáo - great waves / billows 

This is a simple yet lovely song by Super Girl and Sisters Who Make Waves alum Bibi Zhou (who is also one of my favorite singers). This song came out in 2018 and became one of her biggest hits, thus earning its spot in my iconic/popular Mandopop songs series. I’ll admit, I didn’t really notice this song at first just because nothing about it stood out to me. But it grew on me over time. The lyrics are also relatively simple and repetitive, so it’s easy to sing along. Sadly, this song isn’t on US Spotify. The lyric video below has an impressive 19 million views though!

周笔畅 (Bibi Zhou) - 最美的期待

我有一个梦 像雨后彩虹
用所有泪水换来笑容
还有一种爱穿越了人海
拾起那颗迷失的尘埃
你的呼吸 越靠越近 将我抱紧

彩虹 cǎihóng - rainbow
穿越 chuānyuè - to pass through / to traverse / to cross
拾 shí - to pick up / to collate or arrange

我睁开双眼 想你在身边
无所谓永远还是瞬间
静闭上了眼 你却又浮现
带我远离寂寞的边缘
忘了是非没有伤悲无怨无悔

浮现 fúxiàn - to appear before one’s eyes / to come into view / to float into appearance / to come back (of images from the past) / to emerge / it emerges / it occurs (to me that..)
远离 yuǎnlí - to be far from / to keep away from
边缘 biānyuán - edge / fringe / verge / brink / periphery / marginal / borderline
是非 shìfēi - right and wrong / quarrel
无怨无悔 wúyuànwúhuǐ - no complaints / to have no regrets

我拥抱着爱 当从梦中醒来
你执着地等待 却不曾离开
舍不得分开 在每一次醒来
不用再徘徊你就是我最美的期待

执着 zhízhuó - to be strongly attached to / to be dedicated / to cling to
徘徊 páihuái - to dither / to hesitate / to pace back and forth / to hover around / to linger

我睁开双眼 想你在身边
无所谓永远还是瞬间
静闭上了眼 你却又浮现
带我远离寂寞的边缘
忘了是非 没有伤悲 无怨无悔

我拥抱着爱 当从梦中醒来
你执着的等待 却不曾离开
舍不得分开 在每一次醒来
不用再徘徊 你就是我最美的期待

我拥抱着爱 当从梦中醒来
你执着地等待 却不曾离开
舍不得分开 在每一次醒来
不用再徘徊 你就是我最美的期待

There are so many express to say “if” (in the sense of “supposing that”) in Chinese! I’ve gathered all the ways I could think of below. Some are more formal or less formal or might have other uses/meanings. The example sentences are from Pleco.

如果 rúguǒ - if / in case / in the event that
你如果要来，请事先告诉我。

要是 yàoshi - if (colloquial)
要是下雨怎么办？

假如 jiǎrú - if 
假如明天开会，准备工作来得及吗？

假使 jiǎshǐ - if / in case / suppose / given
假使他到这儿来，通知我一下。

倘若 tǎngruò - provided that / supposing that / if (literary)
倘若错过这个机会，你会后悔的。

若是 ruòshì - if (literary)
各位若是有不同意见，请即提出。

假若 jiǎruò - if / supposing / in case 
假若我来不了，我会通知你的。

的话 dehuà - if (colloquial, coming after a conditional clause)
有事的话，就不要来了。

假设 jiǎshè - to suppose / to presume / to assume / supposing that … / if / hypothesis / conjecture
假设你赢了一百万元，你会买什么？

若 ruò - to seem / like / as / if (literary)
若有问题，请及时与我电话联系。

倘 tǎng - if / supposing / in case (literary)
倘能如此，就最好不过了。

要 yào - important / vital / to want / to ask for / will / going to (as future auxiliary) / may / must / (used in a comparison) must be / probably / if
我要不回来，请替我说一声。

如 rú - as / as if / such as / if (literary)
如妥善处理，问题不难解决。

Here are some others that were listed in the dictionary but that I haven’t actually encountered:
如若、如其、设若、若果、倘或、倘然、倘使、若然、设使、倘使

I first started looking into variant characters more extensively after the frustration of some of these variants messing with my pop-up dictionary extension. Sometimes the same word will be included in the dictionary with both the standard and variant versions, but sometimes the variant version isn’t included, and my extension won’t recognize the word. That’s why I think it can be useful to be familiar with these variant forms.

Variants I See in Traditional Chinese

布 / 佈
I have seen 佈 used in traditional Chinese as a variant of 布. An example might be seeing 佈滿 for 布满.

念 / 唸
MDBG seems to suggest that 唸 is a variant of 念 just meaning to read aloud. But I know I’ve seen 唸 used in traditional Chinese to talk about going to school like 唸大學 and 唸書. I’m not sure if what MDBG says is inaccurate or if people use 唸 is a way that is technically inaccurate.

周 / 週
It’s important to note that 週 is a traditional Chinese variant of 周 only for the meaning of week. So you might see 週末, but you shouldn’t see 週 used for the surname or the word 周围.

分 / 份
I think I have seen 份 used for 分 in both simplified and traditional Chinese. Unlike some of the other examples above, 份 also has meaning/usage outside of being a variant of 分. Also, I am pretty sure that 份 is only a variant of 分 for the 4th tone pronunciation (meaning part, share, ingredient, component).

占 / 佔
占 has two meanings/pronunciations. To my knowledge, 佔 is only a variant for the fourth tone pronunciation. But also I don’t know any words with first tone 占. I’ve seen 佔 used in traditional Chinese for words like 佔據 (占据).

什 / 甚
In traditional Chinese, you might see 甚 used for 什, like in 甚麼 (什么). In simplified Chinese, this variant can still be found in words like 甚至 (but the pronunciation is different).

才/ 纔
This variant form of 才 is used in traditional Chinese, but only for the meaning of just now, only. However, I rarely see it. And looking at  it, I don’t blame people for not wanting to write 纔.

台 / 臺
This example can be a bit political. You may see Taiwan written as 台灣 or 臺灣 in traditional Chinese. I believe 臺灣 is more formal/official, but you’ll definitely see 台灣 all the time.

向 / 嚮
嚮 is a variant of 向 in traditional Chinese, but (apparently) only for the meaning ​​to tend toward, to guide. As a result, 方向 is the same in traditional Chinese, but 面向 is 面嚮. However, it’s possible that this rule doesn’t hold up in real life usage. I’m definitely going to be on the lookout for exceptions. Also, MDBG tells me that there is another traditional variant 曏, but I’ve personally never encountered this character.

姐 / 姊
Apparently 姊 is pronounced zi in the Mainland, but it’s jie in Taiwan, which I know from A-Mei’s album and song 姊妹. I don’t think 姊 is officially considered a variant of 姐 (at least in the Mainland), but I think it is important to know 姊 and wanted to include it.

烟 / 菸
I haven’t seen the 菸 variant much. I only know it from the song 二手菸/二手烟 by Tanya Chua. It took me a long time to figure out what the song was even called because I had no idea 菸 was a form of 烟.

Multiple Varying Traditional Forms

尝：嘗 / 嚐
From how the dictionary lists things, it seems like 嘗 is the more standard traditional form of 尝, with 嚐 being a variant. But honestly I feel like I’ve seen 嚐 as much or more than I’ve seen 嘗.

里：裡 / 裏
裡 and 裏 are both traditional forms of 里 for the inside/interior meaning. I see both of these forms so often, but my feeling is that I see 裡 a bit more frequently.

骂：罵 / 駡
I’m actually not sure which traditional character form I see most in this case. Since 駡 looks more similar to the simplified version, it’s hard for me to tell.

锈：銹 / 鏽
I first encountered 鏽 in a song title, with the song being Tanya Chua’s 生锈的游乐场. It took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to identify that this character was a variant of 锈.

赞：贊 / 讚
To me, it seems like the 讚 variant is more common than 贊. When I look at YouTube comments written in traditional Chinese, I feel like I always see 讚. I’m not sure about other situations though.

系：係 / 繫
This situation is a bit confusing and different than the ones above. It looks like in traditional Chinese, 係 and 繫 are two different characters that in simplified Chinese are both written 系. However, these two characters are similar in meaning (to connect), so as a result, the word 联系 can be written as 聯繫 or 聯係 in traditional characters. Additionally, there is another meaning of 系 (system) that is also just 系 in traditional Chinese. So, 关系 can be written 關係 or 關系 in traditional characters. I’m pretty sure I see 係 more often. But honestly it’s possible I’ve seen 聯繫 and didn’t realize it was 联系.

复：複 / 復 / 覆
This one really confuses me at times. My understanding is that 複 and 復 are different characters in traditional Chinese that are both written as 复 in simplified Chinese. But they have similar meanings (both can mean to repeat), so you get things like:
复习：復習 / 複習
Then there is also 覆, which has it own meaning but can also be a variant of 复. From this, we get:
重复：重複 / 重覆
反复：反復 / 反覆
答复：答復 / 答覆
I think I’ve confused myself again. That’s enough for now.

墙：牆 / 墻
I don’t have a specific impression of which variant for traditional Chinese 墙 is more common, but I can say that Pleco defaults to showing 牆 for a lot of words for me, even though the font I selected only supports 墻 not 牆.

线： 線 / 綫
I’m pretty sure I see the 線 form used more in traditional Chinese writing. It always throws me off because I connect it with 泉 and not 线.

迹：跡 / 蹟
Interestingly, on MDBG, 跡 is overwhelming used for the traditional form of 迹, with a notable exception being 蹟 for the word 古迹|古蹟. I am not sure of the reason behind this. And when I Googled 古跡, all the top results were Japanese.

Variants Found in Names

杰 / 傑
This one is kinda confusing. 傑 is the traditional form of 杰, but there is a variant that is 杰 in both simplified and traditional Chinese. That’s why you don’t see 傑 in Jay Chou’s name 周杰倫–his name uses the variant version that doesn’t have a different traditional form. However, JJ Lin/林俊杰 would be written with 傑 in traditional Chinese, so be careful.

俊 / 隽|雋
I was very confused when I first encountered 隽 because I thought it was pronounced juan. However, I can say from experience that I’ve more often heard it pronounced jun. With this pronunciation, it’s considered a variant of 俊. I don’t think I have ever heard it pronounced juan.

沉 / 沈
You may recognize 沈 as the surname Shen, but it can also be a variant of 沉. I’ve seen it used in words like 沈默. I’ve typically see 沈 used in traditional Chinese.

睿 / 叡
These characters are both commonly used in names, with 叡 being a variant of 睿. But it’s important that you use the correct variant–characters in names shouldn’t be treated as interchangeable.

坤 / 堃
I actually first encountered 堃 on someone’s name on Facebook. They really look nothing alike, so I was very puzzled when I first saw 堃.

哲 / 喆
These two are also often found in names, like the famous singer 陶喆 for instance. 哲 is more common in my experience.

彬 / 斌
This example is interesting because I feel like I see 斌 as much or even more than 彬 in names. Obviously this might not be representative, but I’m definitely going to pay more attention to this in the future.

宁|寧 / 甯
寧 is the traditional form of 宁. 甯 is a variant that is written the same in simplified and traditional Chinese. I’ve seen it occasionally in names.

艳：艷 / 豔 / 艶 / 豓
RIP to anyone from the traditional character using areas with this character in their name. Anyway, it looks like 艷 is the “standard” traditional form of 艳, but I’ve also seen 豔 here and there. I am not use if I have see 艶 because it’s so similar-looking to 艷. Pretty sure I have never seen 豓 used, but I thought I would included it anyway.

闫|閆 / 阎|閻
According to Wikipedia, the surname 闫 was created from the surname 阎 during the failed second round of character simplification. However, 闫 stuck around. Now you can find both characters in use as surnames (but I’m assuming 闫 is not found outside of Mainland China).

璇 / 璿
Based on my own observations, 璇 is much more common than 璿. I would have guessed 璿 was pronounced rui!

钟|鍾 / 锺|鍾
According to Wikipedia, two distinct characters, 鐘 and 鍾 were merged into the simplified character 钟. However, 鐘 and 鍾 were two distinct surnames (鐘 was less common), meaning that these two surnames were merged. Thus, 锺 was introduced as an alternate simplified version of 鍾 to disambiguate the surnames. However, 锺 is apparently not used much, seeing as people had already adopted 钟 as their surname.

升 / 昇
I see 昇 often enough on when I’m reading something in traditional characters. I also think it’s a very pretty character. Interestingly, I noticed that for some celebs from Taiwan who write their names with 昇, Baike used 升 but the simplified characters version of Wikipedia used 昇. But the late Alien Huang (黄鸿升) only has the 升 form everywhere.

彩 / 采
采 can be the simplified form of traditional 採 or a variant of 彩. I realized this recently when I noticed that some celebrity names like 郭采洁 and 采子/谢采纹 still use the 采 form when written in traditional characters. But in actual words, I’m not sure how interchangeable 彩 and 采 are. I don’t get many photos of rainbows when I search 采虹 for example.

A Guide to Taiwanese Name Romanization

Have you ever wondered why there are so many Changs when the surname 常 is not actually that common? Have you ever struggled to figure out what sound “hs” is? Well don’t worry! Today we are going to go over some common practices in transliterating names from Taiwan. 

With some recent discussion I’ve seen about writing names from the Shang-Chi movie, I thought this was the perfect time to publishe this post. Please note that this information has been compiled from my observations–I’m sure it’s not completely extensive. And if you see any errors, please let me know!

According to Wikipedia, “the romanized name for most locations, persons and other proper nouns in Taiwan is based on the Wade–Giles derived romanized form, for example Kaohsiung, the Matsu Islands and Chiang Ching-kuo.” Wade-Giles differs from pinyin quite a bit, and to make things even more complicated, transliterated names don’t necessarily follow exact Wade-Giles conventions.

Well, Wikipedia mentioned Kaohsiung, so let’s start with some large cities you already know of!

[1] B → P
台北 Taibei → Taipei
[2] G → K
[3] D → T
In pinyin, we have the “b”, “g”, and “d” set (voiceless, unaspirated) and the “p”, “k”, and “t” set (voiceless, aspirated). But in Wade-Giles, these sets of sounds are distinguished by using a following apostrophe for the aspirated sounds. However, in real life the apostrophe is often not used.

We need some more conventions to understand Kaohsiung.
[4] ong → ung (sometimes)
[5] X → Hs or Sh
高雄 Gaoxiong → Kaohsiung
I wrote “sometimes” for rule #4 because I am pretty sure I have seen instances where it is not followed. This could be due to personal preference, historical reasons, or influence from other romanization styles.

Now some names you are equipped to read:
王心凌 Wang Xinling → Wang Hsin-ling
徐熙娣 Xu Xidi → Shu/Hsu Hsi-ti (I have seen both)
黄鸿升 Huang Hongsheng → Huang Hung-sheng
龙应台 Long Yingtai → Lung Ying-tai
宋芸樺 Song Yunhua → Sung Yun-hua

You might have learned pinyin “x” along with its friends “j” and “q”, so let’s look at them more closely.
[6] J → Ch
[7] Q → Ch
范玮琪 Fan Weiqi → Fan Wei-chi
江美琪 Jiang Meiqi → Chiang Mei-chi
郭静 Guo Jing → Kuo Ching
邓丽君 Deng Lijun → Teng Li-chun
This is similar to the case for the first few conventions, where an apostrophe would distinguish the unaspirated sound (pinyin “j”) from the aspirated sound (pinyin “q”). But in practice these ultimately both end up as “ch”. I have some disappointing news.

[8] Zh → Ch
Once again, the “zh” sound is the unaspirated correspondent of the “ch” sound. That’s right, the pinyin “zh”, “j”, and “q” sounds all end up being written as “ch”. This can lead to some…confusion.
卓文萱 Zhuo Wenxuan → Chuo Wen-hsuan
陈绮贞 Chen Qizhen → Chen Chi-chen
张信哲 Zhang Xinzhe → Chang Shin-che
At least now you finally know where there are so many Changs. Chances are, if you meet a Chang, their surname is actually 张, not 常.

Time for our next set of rules.
[10] C → Ts
[11] Z → Ts
[12] Si → Szu
[13] Ci, Zi → Tzu
Again we have the situation where “c” is aspirated and “z” is unaspirated, so the sounds end up being written the same.
曾沛慈 Zeng Peici → Tseng Pei-tzu
侯佩岑 Hou Peicen → Hou Pei-tsen
周子瑜 Zhou Ziyu → Chou Tzu-yu
黄路梓茵 Huang Lu Ziyin → Huang Lu Tzu-yin
王思平 Wang Siping → Wang Szu-ping

Fortunately this next convention can help clear up some of the confusion from above.
[14] i → ih (zhi, chi, shi)
[15] e → eh (-ie, ye, -ue, yue)
Sometimes an “h” will be added at the end. So this could help distinguish some sounds. Like you have qi → chi vs. zhi → chih. There could be other instances of adding “h”–these are just the ones I was able to identify.
曾之乔 Zeng Zhiqiao → Tseng Chih-chiao
施柏宇 Shi Boyu → Shih Po-yu
谢金燕 Xie Jinyan → Hsieh Jin-yan
叶舒华 Ye Shuhua → Yeh Shu-hua
吕雪凤 Lü Xuefeng → Lü Hsueh-feng

Continuing on, a lot of the conventions below are not as consistently used in my experience, so keep that in mind. Nevertheless, it is useful to be familiar with these conventions when you do encounter them.

[16] R → J (sometimes)
Seeing “j” instead of “r” definitely confused me at first. Sometimes names will still use “r” though, so I guess it is up to one’s personal preferences.
任贤齐 Ren Xianqi → Jen Hsien-chi
任家萱 Ren Jiaxuan → Jen Chia-hsüan
张轩睿 Zhang Xuanrui → Chang Hsuan-jui

[17] e → o (ke, he, ge)
I can see how it would easily lead to confusion between ke-kou, ge-gou, and he-hou, so it’s important to know. I’ve never seen this convention for pinyin syllables like “te” or “se” personally.
柯震东 Ke Zhendong → Ko Chen-tung
葛仲珊 Ge Zhongshan→ Ko Chung-shan

[18] ian → ien
[19] Yan → Yen
I’ve observed that rule 18 seems more common than 19 because I see “yan” used instead of “yen” a fair amount. I’m not really sure why this is.
柯佳嬿 Ke Jiayan → Ko Chia-yen
田馥甄 Tian Fuzhen → Tien Fu-chen
陈建州 Chen Jianzhou → Chen Chien-chou
吴宗宪 Wu Zongxian → Wu Tsung-hsien

[20] Yi → I (sometimes)
I have seen this convention not followed pretty frequently, but two very famous names are often in line with it.
蔡英文 Cai Yingwen → Tsai Ing-wen
蔡依林 Cai Yilin → Tsai I-lin

[21] ui → uei
I have seen this convention used a couple times, but “ui” seems to be much more common.
蔡立慧 Cai Lihui → Tsai Li-huei

[22] hua → hwa
This is yet another convention that I don’t always see followed. But I know “hwa” is often used for 华 as in 中华, so it’s important to know.
霍建华 Huo Jianhua → Huo Chien-hwa

[23] uo → o
This is another example of where one might get confused between the syllables luo vs. lou or ruo vs. rou. So be careful!
罗志祥 Luo Zhixiang → Lo Chih-hsiang
刘若英 Liu Ruoying → Liu Jo-ying
徐若瑄 Xu Ruoxuan → Hsu Jo-hsuan

[24] eng → ong (feng, meng)
I think this rule is kinda cute because some people with Taiwanese accents pronounce meng and feng more like mong and fong :)
权怡凤 Quan Yifeng → Quan Yi-fong

[25] Qing → Tsing
I am not familiar with the reasoning behind this spelling, but 国立清华大学 in English is National Tsing Hua University, so this spelling definitely has precedence. But I also see Ching too for this syllable.
吴青峰 Wu Qingfeng→ Wu Tsing-fong

[26] Li → Lee
Nowadays a Chinese person from the Mainland would probably using the Li spelling, but in other areas, Lee remains more common.
李千那 Li Qianna → Lee Chien-na

[27] Qi → Chyi
I have noticed this exception. However, I’ve only personally noticed it for this surname, so maybe it’s just a convention for 齐.
齐秦 Qi Qin → Chyi Chin
齐豫 Qi Yu → Chyi Yu

[28] in ←→ ing
In Taiwanese Mandarin, these sounds can be merged, so sometimes I have noticed ling and lin, ping and pin, etc. being used in place of each other. I don’t know this for sure, but I suspect this is why singer A-Lin is not A-Ling (her Chinese name is 黄丽玲/Huang Liling).

[29] you → yu
I personally haven’t noticed these with other syllables ending in “ou,” only with the “you” syllable.
刘冠佑 Liu Guanyou → Liu Kuan-yu
曹佑宁 Cao Youning → Tsao Yu-ning

There is a lot of variation with these transliterated names. There are generally exceptions galore, so keep in mind that all this is general! Everyone has their own personal preferences. If you just look up some famous Taiwanese politicians, you will see a million spellings that don’t fit the 28 conventions above. Sometimes people might even mix Mandarin and another Chinese language while transliterating their name.

Anyway, if any of you know why 李安 is romanized as Ang Lee, please let me know because it’s driving me crazy.

Note: The romanized names I looked while writing this post at were split between two formats, capitalizing the syllable after the hyphen and not capitalizing this syllable. I chose to not capitalize for all the names for the sake of consistency. I’m guessing it’s a matter of preference.

These are 3 歇后语 we learned in my advanced Chinese class during the spring semester. 歇后语 are an interesting type of saying with two parts. The first part is a bit like a setup, and the second part is kind of an explanation. Sometimes you can just say the first part, and the second is inferred/understood. They are often witty and funny.

水仙不开花——装蒜
Shuǐxiān bù kāihuā——zhuāngsuàn
to act stupid, to play dumb, to pretend to not know

Explanation:
水仙 = daffodil
开花 = bloom
蒜 = garlic
A daffodil that hasn’t bloomed looks kind of like garlic.

铁公鸡——一毛不拔
tiěgōngjī yīmáobùbá
cheapskate, stingy

Explanation:
公鸡 = rooster
拔 = to pull out
If it’s an iron rooster, you can’t even pull off one feather.

哑巴吃黄连——有苦说不出
yǎbachīhuánglián yǒukǔshuōbuchū
to be forced to suffer in silence

Explanation:
哑巴 = a mute person
黄连 = a bitter herb used in Chinese medicine
A mute person who eats this herb cannot say how bitter it is, which is likened to having a pain or hardship you can’t speak of.

As you may or may not know, my new musical obsession is Yoga Lin. This is probably his biggest hit. Oddly, the English title is Fairy Tale, even though 说谎 doesn’t mean fairy tale. I guess I see the connection between lies and a fairy tale though. I personally find this song a bit more difficult to understand than the previous few songs that I’ve shared (I think due to more complex sentence structure). I would describe this song as a pretty typical Mandopop ballad hit, but I found that I really enjoy it even though it doesn’t really stand out in a definitive way. I think it’s because the lyrics hint at a complex and interesting story behind the song.

林宥嘉 (Yoga Lin) - 说谎

是有过几个不错对象 说起来并不寂寞孤单
可能我浪荡 让人家不安 才会结果都阵亡

浪荡 làngdàng - to loiter / to hang around / dissolute / licentious
阵亡 zhènwáng - to die in battle

我没有什么阴影魔障
你千万不要放在心上
我又不脆弱 何况那算什么伤
反正爱情不就都这样

阴影 yīnyǐng - shadow
魔障 mózhàng - Buddhist demon of temptation / obstacle set up by a demon / twists & turns / trials
放在心上 fàngzàixīnshàng - to care about / to take seriously / to take to heart

我没有说谎 我何必说谎
你懂我的 我对你从来就不会假装
我哪有说谎 请别以为你有多难忘
笑是真的不是我逞强

逞强 chěngqiáng - to show off / to try to be brave

我好久没来这间餐厅
没想到已经换了装潢
角落那窗口 闻得到玫瑰花香
被你一说是有些印象

装潢 zhuānghuáng - to mount (a picture) / to dress / to adorn / decoration / packaging

我没有说谎 我何必说谎
你知道的 我缺点之一就是很健忘
我哪有说谎 是很感谢今晚的相伴
但我竟然有些不习惯

健忘 jiànwàng - forgetful
相伴 xiāngbàn - to accompany sbdy / to accompany each other

我没有说谎 我何必说谎
爱一个人 没爱到难道就会怎么样
别说我说谎 人生已经如此的艰难
有些事情就不要拆穿

拆穿 chāichuān - to expose / to unmask / to see through

我没有说谎 是爱情说谎
它带你来 骗我说 渴望的有可能有希望
我没有说谎 祝你做个幸福的新娘
我的心事请你就遗忘

新娘 xīnniáng - bride

Some of my most popular posts on this blog have to do with Chinese names. It seems like a lot of people who reblog those posts enjoy writing and are saving the posts as resources for naming their characters. So, I wanted to share some additional resources that I’ve found and used.

Resource #1: Name104

This site reflects names from Taiwan. It has quite a few different pages/features to explore. Just make sure you only enter in traditional characters–it won’t work properly with simplified characters.

First is the name generating tool (線上取名工具軟體).

You can specify the surname, if you want a one character given name, the second character of the name (aka first character of the given name), number of strokes, and things relating to luck. The specify second character feature is really useful for if you want a common 字辈 across names. The site will generate a bunch of names, and you can click each to learn more.

The tool I find most useful is the name similarity tool (名字相似度查詢). You enter a given name, and it will show a popularity score as well as lists of common names with the characters you included. The score is people/million, taken from college (I think) entrance exam takers over a 15 year period.

The default name when you click on the page is 心怡. This one is pretty popular. If you know you really want a name with the character 怡, you can enter in 怡怡 so it will show all the most popular names with this character (both in the first or second position), like below:

Some other pages of interest are the list of most popular characters in names (常用名字[單字]) and the list of most popular names (常見名字). You can click on each character or name to see more. According to the website, about 90% of names are made up of the top 500 most popular characters, and the 1000 most popular names made up 22% of people. So if you want a “normal” sounding name, this is a great resource. If you’re wondering, the most common character is apparently 怡, with the most popular name being 怡君!

Resource #2 NameChef

This site is available in English and Chinese, so it’s relatively accessible for people who don’t speak Chinese. However, some of the specific information on individual names is only in Chinese. Also, that it seems to default to displaying traditional characters when you are in English mode, so you may need to ensure you are entering traditional characters in some of the later steps.

First I’ll discuss the name generator. This feature is great because it allows you to specify a region (Mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, or any). Different regions have different naming trends. I can’t vouch entirely for how good this feature is, but I think it’s so cool that they offer it.

Another cool feature is that you can specify different traits. I can imagine this would be great for those of you looking for a name for an original character. You can also skip this step if you don’t have a preference.

Next you can enter a surname and a character you want included in the given name. As you can see, you can pick to include a character but not specify placement, specify the first character, or specify the second character. This is also good for 字辈 or if you’ve selected a character you want to include but are not sure how to finish formulating the name.

Here’s my list of names. It happens to just have female ones at the top, but since I’m on the “all” tab, it’s actually displaying a mix.

If you click on a name, you can see some more information. Further down, the page also shows stuff like gender, popularity of the name by region, and names with similar pronunciation. However, I noticed that the site isn’t the best at noting which names are more gender neutral, so this is something to keep in mind.

This site also has pages on popular namesandcharacters by region! I find this stuff very interesting. The lists definitely reflect some trends in names I’ve observed by region, so even though I don’t know the data source, it seems fairly accurate.

Resource #3: Provincial Databases (重名查询)

Some provinces have websites where you can enter names and see the number of people with the name. Sometimes they include a gender breakdown too. There is actually a government site for the whole country that does this, but I think you have to be a Chinese citizen to use it. Luckily, some of the individual provincial services don’t require this. There are probably more sites for other provinces, but I’m just going to list a few. Guangdong, Henan, and Shandong are the three biggest provinces in China, so those are always good ones to start with. These sites are all in Chinese.

• Shandong (city breakdown)
• Jiangsu (gender breakdown)
• Henan (search by whole province or city/county)
• Jiangxi (gender, age, and even astrological breakdown)
• Guangdong (gender breakdown)
• Liaoning (gender and city breakdown)

If you use one of these sites, first I recommend trying a super common name like 张伟 so that you can use that information to interpret your results. Also, I believe for all of these site you have to enter a surname, so you can just pick a common one like 王, 李, or 张 (or whatever the most prevalent surname is for that individual province).

I hope these resources are helpful to you! If you know of other good websites, I’d love to see them too.

linghxr:

Today I’m sharing 13 成语 that each contain all 4 tones (not counting the neutral tone). I just find them really cool for some reason. I either learned these 成语 in class or have encountered them online independently. Example sentences from Pleco.

重男轻女 zhòngnánqīngnǚ - lit. to value males and belittle females (idiom)
中国
我们不应该有重男轻女的观念。

异口同声 yìkǒutóngshēng - different mouths, same voice / to speak in unison (idiom)
“没问题。”同学们异口同声地回答。

班门弄斧 bānménnòngfǔ - to display one’s slight skill before an expert (idiom)
在你面前班门弄斧，太不好意思了。

刻骨铭心 kègǔmíngxīn - lit. carved in bones and engraved in the heart (idiom) / fig. etched in one’s memory / unforgettable
父母对子女的爱，是如此的刻骨铭心。

装聋作哑 zhuānglóngzuòyǎ - to play deaf-mute / to feign ignorance
他装聋作哑，说他一点也不知道。

南腔北调 nánqiāngběidiào - to speak with a mixed accent
他讲话南腔北调的。

胡思乱想 húsīluànxiǎng - to indulge in flights of fancy (idiom); to let one’s imagination run wild
你要是以为自己可以获胜的话，一定是在胡思乱想！

海枯石烂 hǎikūshílàn - lit. when the seas run dry and the stones go soft (idiom) / fig. forever / until the end of time
我爱你到海枯石烂。

寒风刺骨 hánfēngcìgǔ - bone chilling wind (idiom)
在寒风刺骨的夜里，街上安安静静的。

生儿育女 shēng'éryùnǚ - to bear and raise children
他们决定开始生儿育女。

言之有物 yánzhīyǒuwù - (of one’s words) to have substance
这篇文章言之有物。

举足轻重 jǔzúqīngzhòng - a foot’s move sways the balance (idiom); to hold the balance of power / to play the decisive role
她在政府中的作用举足轻重。

以防万一 yǐfángwànyī - to guard against the unexpected (idiom); just in case / prepared for any eventualities
也许不会下雨，不过还是带把伞，以防万一。

I wanted to update this post with some additional 成语. Some of them have been featured on my blog before (mostly from one of my 50 成语 posts hereandhere), but I thought it would be nice to have them collected altogether.

多管闲事 duōguǎnxiánshì - meddling in other people’s business
现在我了解情况了，真希望自己当初没去多管闲事。

步履蹒跚 bùlǚpánshān | bùlǚmánshān - to walk haltingly / to hobble along
那位老太太步履蹒跚地走下楼梯。
My Chinese teacher said this chengyu can also be pronounced bùlǚmánshān.

淡然处之 dànránchǔzhī - to treat indifferently or coolly
面对困难，他淡然处之。

无懈可击 wúxièkějī | wúxièkějí - invulnerable
需要更多证人让案子无懈可击。
In Taiwan, 击 is pronounced jí, so this 成语 wouldn’t fit the all 4 tones requirement.

庸人自扰 yōngrénzìrǎo - to get upset over nothing / to make problems for oneself
事情已经解决，你就别庸人自扰了。

举世无双 jǔshìwúshuāng - unrivaled / world number one / unique / unequaled
他表演的冰上舞蹈真是举世无双。

明目张胆 míngmùzhāngdǎn - openly and without fear / brazenly
小偷明目张胆地开偷来的车。

火上加油 huǒshàngjiāyóu - to add oil to the fire / to aggravate a situation / to enrage people and make matters worse
他心情不好，别火上加油。

提心吊胆 tíxīndiàodǎn - to be very scared and on edge
我对考试结果感到提心吊胆的。

天旋地转 tiānxuándìzhuàn | tiānxuándìzhuǎn - the sky spins and the earth goes round / giddy with one’s head spinning / huge changes in the world
我一站起身就觉得天旋地转。
This 成语 can be pronounced with zhuàn (Mainland) or zhuǎn (Taiwan). Obviously it only contains all 4 tones with zhuǎn.

倾盆大雨 qīngpéndàyǔ - a downpour / rain bucketing down / to be overwhelmed
倾盆大雨让地面湿透了。

天理不容 tiānlǐbùróng - heaven cannot tolerate this / intolerable behavior
对于她来说，这种行为简直天理不容。

奇货可居 qíhuòkějū - rare commodity worth hoarding / object for profiteering
他们把票子当做奇货可居。

There are 15 total tone orders present out of 24 possibilities (4 * 3 * 2 *1). Which orders are included? Let’s look!

6 成语: 1243

3 成语: 2143, 4321

2 成语: 2134, 2431

1 成语: 1324, 1342, 2413, 3124, 3214, 3241, 3412, 3421, 4213, 4231

I thought it was very interesting that 1243 led by quite a bit! I totally did not notice as I was drafting this post. But this is just a small sample, so it isn’t necessarily representative of all 成语.

Yesterday for fun, I took an HSK level test from hsklevel.com–I hope it is accurate because I am quite pleased with the results haha!

I will say that this test felt REALLY HARD. It shows you words/characters and you indicate whether you know the word or not. I felt like I was saying no to over half! But I guess it learned from my answers and was showing me more and more difficult words to find my “breaking point,” which is what my teachers have said a language assessment is supposed to do.

I actually took it twice. I got very similar results the second time, so I’m just going to show the scores from the first time.

I don’t really know how to assess if the 11,030 words is accurate, but it sounds like a lot so I am fine taking their word for it :) 

I wouldn’t say I’m at 90% comprehension for movies, social media, blogs, and literature…I’m guessing maybe the HSK words are sorted into categories, so it’s supposed to mean something like “you can understand 90% of literature written at an HSK 6 level.” Which isn’t quite as impressive. As it’s been said, HSK 6 only gets you halfway there. 

I will say it is definitely true in my experience that my news comprehension is lower. But I have some resources I’ve gathered that focus on news articles, so I know I can strengthen that skill later on.

This above is the HSK which is going to be phased out. I’ve estimated previously that I am in the HSK 6 zone because a fair number of new words I encounter are HSK 6 words (I think most are not in the HSK vocab list at all). So this feels pretty accurate to me!

I have been curious about how my ability maps onto the new/incoming HSK, so this is quite interesting to see. I know people reacted to the new levels with some disappointment that they might be bumped down in terms of the “number,” so I will admit I am pleased to see these results.

When I took the test a second time, it estimated my HSK 3.0 level as 6 instead, but the number of HSK 6 and 7-9 words it estimated I knew was not that much lower, so I guess I am somewhere around the cutoff. I’m happy either way.

I don’t know that much about TOCFL so I don’t really have anything to say. Does it correspond to CEFR levels?? It kinda looks like it might.

Now I am thinking I should look over the CEFR guides again…whenever I do look at them, I’m never sure if I’m under or overestimating myself, you know? I feel like it’s better to underestimate your ability and then surprise people, but also you wouldn’t want to miss out on opportunities due to this. And overestimating might push you to grow more.

Obviously this is just an estimate test, and even the real HSK test isn’t a perfect assessment of language abilities. But since the HSK is so commonly talked about as a metric, it can be useful in some contexts. I’ve never used HSK-oriented materials or done specific HSK prep, so I’ve never been sure where I would fall on the HSK scale.

Related post: Translating Movie Titles into Chinese

I’m assuming other people have noticed this, but 1) I haven’t seen anyone talk about it, 2) no one I’ve told in real life seemed impressed, and 3) I think it’s just so clever that I wanted to share.

As a Chinese American, I really enjoyed Lulu Wang’s The Farewell. I’ve seen it three times, and I think I cried each time. I definitely recommend it if you’re an ABC/CBC/BBC/etc. or a learner of Chinese looking for a less intimidating Chinese-language film (since it is both in Chinese and English).

The Chinese title is 别告诉她, which means “don’t tell her.” The vibe is very different, so I was a bit curious. Well, 告别 means “to bid farewell.” So the English title is hidden within the Chinese title! I just thought this was so clever. I don’t know for sure that this was the thought process behind the title, but it can’t be a coincidence.

What’s the story behind these two titles? I will explain below. I don’t think this is a spoiler because you find out all this info very early on in the film, and the first paragraph of Wikipedia and non-spoiler reviews reveal all of this info too. But if you want to watch the movie 100% blind, umm avert your eyes.

Basically, Billi (the main charater) and her family have gone to China for her cousin’s wedding. But actually, the wedding has been planned last-minute as an excuse for the extended family to gather because Nainai (Billi’s grandmother) is sick and not expected to have much time left. However, the family hasn’t told Nainai, which is why they had to orchestrate the wedding to come see her. So they can’t tell Nainai the truth (别告诉她) that they are really in China to see her potentially for the last time (TheFarewell).

Disclaimer: I know Awkafina is considered somewhat controversial, and I have noticed a lot of negative posts about her recently. I personally think this film is important for Chinese Americans, so I am willing to overlook Awkafina’s flaws to watch it. The movie is so much more than her. If you disagree, that’s fine, but please just be respectful towards those of us who enjoy the film. Liking the film does not equate to taking a stance on her actions and behavior.

Jess Lee is nicknamed 铁肺女王 (iron lung queen), and this song perfectly demonstrates why. She hasn’t been in the industry as long as Tanya Chua and Stefanie Sun (the last two artists I’ve featured in this series), but I’ve found some real gems on her 4 albums. This song is her most popular and not too difficult in terms of vocabulary content. Probably the most difficult part of the song is that there are some long pauses between words that can make the lines hard to parse. The song is quite sad lyrically, but it stands out most as being dramatic and powerful. It’s not like your typical sad love song in that way. And the title is very fitting, because I really feel the torment and suffering from Jess Lee’s performance.

李佳薇 (Jess Lee) - 煎熬

早知道　你只是飞鸟
拥抱后　手中只剩下　羽毛
当初你又何必浪费
那么多咖啡和玫瑰　来打扰

飞鸟 fēiniǎo - bird
羽毛 yǔmáo - feather / plumage / plume

我想要　安静的思考
天平上　让爱恨不再　动摇
一想你就平衡不了
我关灯还是关不掉　这风暴

天平 tiānpíng - scales (to weigh things)
动摇 dòngyáo - to sway / to waver / to rock / to rattle / to destabilize / to pose a challenge to
风暴 fēngbào - storm / violent commotion / fig. crisis (e.g. revolution, uprising, financial crisis etc)

心一跳　爱就开始煎熬
每一分　每一秒
火在烧　烧成灰有多好
叫思念　不要吵
我相信我已经快要
快要把你忘掉
跟寂寞　再和好

和好 héhǎo - to become reconciled / on good terms with each other

得不到　也不要乞讨
怎么做　不需要别人　转告
在陷得太深的海底
我也只剩下我自己　能依靠

乞讨 qǐtǎo - to beg / to go begging
转告 zhuǎngào - to pass on / to communicate / to transmit
陷 xiàn - pitfall / trap / to get stuck / to sink / to cave in / to frame (false charge) / to capture (a city in battle) / to fall (to the enemy) / defect
海底 hǎidǐ - seabed / seafloor / bottom of the ocean

心一跳　爱就开始煎熬
每一分　每一秒
火在烧　烧成灰有多好
叫思念　不要吵
我相信我已经快要
快要把你忘掉
跟寂寞　再和好

我相信我已经快要
是真的我快要
快要可以微笑
去面对　下一个　拥抱

This is a followup to my post Chinese Surnames You Might Be Pronouncing Wrong, but now the focus is on given names. Technically, some of the characters below can be surnames, but they’re uncommon, so you will likely encounter them given names more than as surnames. Most of the characters below have multiple pronunciations, and their typical pronunciations as part of a given name might not be what you’re accustomed to. So let’s begin!

兴 - Like me, you probably first encountered this character in words like 高兴 and 兴趣. But then I learned the word 兴奋…and here it’s xīng not xìng!!! 兴 with the first tone can be a surname, but it’s rare. But you will definitely encounter it in given names.
Example: 周兴哲 (Zhou Xingzhe/Eric Chou)

一 - You have probably read about tone changes for this character that result in it being pronounced yì or yí. This also applies to names! It becomes yì before 1st/2nd/3rd tone, becomes yí before 4th tone, and remains yī at the end.
Examples:
Idol and actor 王一博 (Wang Yibo) ← before 2nd tone
SIS member/TCO3 contestant 洪一诺 (Hong Yinuo) ← before 4th tone
Singer/Produce Camp 2019 contestant 李鑫一 (Li Xinyi) ← end

少 - We all know shǎo. But do you shào as in 少年, 少女, 少林, etc.? Now you do. When 少 is used in names, I’ve only ever heard it pronounced shào.
Example: Actor 余少群 (Yu Shaoqun)

乐 - This one is kinda complicated. First we have 快乐的乐 and 音乐的乐. Both pronunciations can be surnames, but they are not so common (Baike says Yuè is more common). When this character is used in given names, I’ve only heard it pronounced lè. But there could be someone out there who says it as yuè. 
Example: NCT member 钟辰乐 (Zhong Chenle)

茜 - This character can be pronounced xī or qiàn. It seems qiàn is the standard pronunciation for names. According to MDBG, the xī pronunciation is used in transliterated names. Interestingly, I noticed while watching the Olympics that gymnast 唐茜靖 is Tang Xijing and not Qianjing, but looking at her Baike entry seems to confirm that xī is not the standard pronunciation in names.

Example: Actress 万茜 (Wan Qian)

燕 - 1st tone Yān is a surname, but it’s not that common. 4th tone yàn is what you’ll find in given names.
Example: Singer 孙燕姿 (Sun Yanzi/Stefanie Sun)

柏 - This character in given names, in my experience, is always bó. The character can also be pronounced bǎi in Mainland China, and Bǎi can be a surname. But in Taiwan, it’s always pronounced bó (according to MDBG).
Example: Singer/Rapper 潘玮柏 (Pan Weibo/Wilber Pan)

蔚 - Apparently this character can be the surname Yù, but it’s not a very common surname, so I’ve only been exposed to this character in the word 蔚蓝 and in names. In these cases, it’s pronounced wèi.
Example: Singer 莫文蔚 (Mo Wenwei/Karen Mok)

露 - By now you may have noticed that a lot of characters can be surnames (but are pretty rare). This is one of these characters as well. It can be pronounced lòu or lù. Lù is the pronunciation as a surname and in given names.
Example: Actress 赵露思 (Zhao Lusi)

为 - I’m sure I’m not the only one who sometimes gets a headache over how to pronounce this character. It’s not hard to remember the difference in meaning between ​​wéi and wèi, but sometimes in the middle of long, complex sentences, I have trouble telling which pronunciation/meaning is being used until the end of the sentence. Anyway, in names, this character is ​​typically pronounced wéi.
Example: Actor 佟大为 (Tong Dawei)

强 - You are probably aware that this character has multiple different readings/meanings. The most common is probably qiáng, but I encounter qiǎng a lot too (poor jiàng is rare), so I thought this character was worth including. In names, it is pronounced qiáng. This becomes pretty clear when you think about the difference in meaning between the two pronunciations.
Example: Chinese premier 李克强 (Li Keqiang)

媛 - This character has two readings, yuán and yuàn. The two meanings are also similar, with both relating to beauty. In names I have only ever heard the yuán pronunciation. 媛媛 is itself a fairly common name.
Example: Wife of Xi Jinping, 彭丽媛 (Peng Liyuan)

靓 - This one is tricky. The character can be pronounced liàng or jìng. I wasn’t able to find a definitive answer about how it is usually pronounced in names. However, I noticed in a cross-strait dictionary that for several words that use the liàng pronunciation in Mainland China, the jìng pronunciation is used in Taiwan. I found several Taiwanese actors/singers with 靓 in their names, and they all appeared to use the jìng pronunciation. Also, I have read that several words pronounced with liàng in Mainland China are borrowed from Cantonese. So, if you meet someone from Taiwan with this character in their name, it’s probably pronounced jìng. If you meet someone from Mainland China, I would guess liàng. But be prepared to be mistaken just in case.
Examples:
Singer 张靓颖 (Zhang Liangying/Jane Zhang)
Actress 阳靓 (Yang Jing/Peace Yang)

Now for a few some cross-strait differences!

妮 - This character can be found in female given names. In Mainland China it is pronounced nī; in Taiwan it is ní.
Example: Actress 倪妮 (Ni Ni)

薇 - This character is used in a lot of female names too. Like the similar character 微, this character is pronounced wēi in Mainland China but wéi in Taiwan.
Example: Actress 赵薇 (Zhao Wei)

夕 - I mentioned this character in my post about characters pronounced differently in Mainland China and Taiwan. It is xī in Mainland China and xì in Taiwan.
Example: Acclaimed songwriter 林夕 (Lin Xi)

汐 - You can probably guess from the character above how this character is pronounced. Yep, it’s xī in Mainland China and xì in Taiwan.
Example: Actress 任素汐 (Ren Suxi)

锡 - This character is pronounced xī in Mainland China but pronounced xí in Taiwan.
Example: Global Times Editor-in-Chief 胡锡进 (Hu Xijin)

Check out part 1and part 2.

I’m trying to post more this summer, so here’s another Mandopop vocab list. I’ve seriously been seeing some of these words pop up EVERYWHERE. I guess it’s the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon?

• 姿态 zītài - attitude / posture / stance
  我们都讨厌她傲慢的姿态。
• 不知不觉 bùzhībùjué - unconsciously / unwittingly
  不知不觉已过了三个月。
• 暧昧 àimèi - vague / ambiguous / equivocal / dubious
  她与一个已婚男人的关系有些暧昧。
• 放纵 fàngzòng - to indulge / to pamper / to connive at / permissive / indulgent / self-indulgent / unrestrained / undisciplined / uncultured / boorish
  我们偶尔都会放纵一下自己。
• 背叛 bèipàn - to betray
  这种背叛严重伤害了我。
• 牵挂 qiānguà - to worry about / to be concerned about
  好好学习，家里的事不用牵挂。
• 优先 yōuxiān - to have priority / to take precedence
  我总是优先考虑我的孩子们。
• 忍耐 rěnnài - to endure / to bear with / to exercise patience / to restrain oneself / patience / endurance
  我的忍耐是有限度的。
• 漫无目的 mànwúmùdì - aimless / at random
  他过着一种漫无目的的生活。
• 闪烁 shǎnshuò - flickering / twinkling / evasive / vague (of speech)
  她的眼睛里闪烁着喜悦的泪花。
• 坦白 tǎnbái - honest / forthcoming / to confess
  坦白地说，我根本不在乎。
• 不配 búpèi - unworthy / unsuitable / not fitting
  这袜子的颜色和鞋子不配。
• 退路 tuìlù - a way out / a way to retreat / leeway
  我们到了没有退路的地步。
• 脸孔 liǎnkǒng - face
  我还记得那些名字、那些脸孔。
• 不闻不问 bùwénbúwèn - to show no interest in sth / uncritical / not in the least concerned
  她对这件事情完全不闻不问。
• 空白 kòngbái - blank space
  我脑子突然一片空白。
• 标本 biāoběn - specimen / sample / the root cause and symptoms of a disease
  苏州园林是中国园林的标本。
• 坐立不安 zuòlìbùān - agitated sitting or standing / restless / fidgety
  都半夜了，儿子还不回家，母亲坐立不安。
• 无所事事 wúsuǒshìshì to have nothing to do / to idle one’s time away
  孩子在家一整天都无所事事。
• 着迷 zháomí - to be fascinated / to be captivated
  老爷爷的故事让孩子们听得着迷了。

These words are so fun to me! They are truly just fun to say. There are also A TON of words with this ABB pattern, so I’m only listing 20 that I’m familiar with. Please enjoy them :)

1. 空荡荡 kōngdàngdàng - absolutely empty / complete vacuum
2. 孤零零 gūlínglíng - lone / isolated and without help / all alone / solitary
3. 毛茸茸 máorōngrōng or máoróngróng - hairy / shaggy
4. 肉乎乎 ròuhūhū - plump / fleshy
5. 阴森森 yīnsēnsēn - gloomy / gruesome / ghastly
6. 热腾腾 rèténgténg or rètēngtēng - steaming hot / bustling / hectic / excited / stirred up
7. 阴沉沉 yīnchénchén - dark (weather, mood)
8. 香喷喷 xiāngpēnpēn - delicious / savory
9. 空洞洞 kōngdòngdòng - empty / deserted
10. 赤裸裸 chìluǒluǒ - bare / naked / plain / undisguised / unadorned
11. 笑盈盈 xiàoyíngyíng - smilingly / to be all smiles
12. 眼睁睁 yǎnzhēngzhēng - to stare blankly / to look on helplessly / to look on unfeelingly
13. 笑嘻嘻 xiàoxīxī - grinning / smiling
14. 甜蜜蜜 tiánmìmì - very sweet
15. 黑乎乎 hēihūhū - black / blackened / dark / dim / blurry
16. 绿葱葱 lǜcōngcōng - green and luxuriant
17. 急匆匆 jícōngcōng - hurried / hasty
18. 笑眯眯 xiàomīmī - beaming / all smiles
19. 湿淋淋 shīlínlín - dripping wet / drenched
20. 光闪闪 guāngshǎnshǎn - shiny / gleaming / brilliant