I remembering seeing this music video pop up in my recommendations on YouTube back in middle school. It was everywhere, but I don’t think I ever clicked on it! A song called “Rainie Love” just didn’t appeal to me. Finally this year after seeing Rainie Yang on 乘风破浪的姐姐2 and seeing Li Ronghao (her husband) on 青春有你3, I thought I should listen to this iconic song. I was pleasantly surprised—the song isn’t groundbreaking or anything, but it has more umph to it than a plain piano ballad. Seems like it would be fun for a karaoke night too.
杨丞琳 (Rainie Yang) - 雨爱
窗外的天气 就像是你多变的表情 下雨了 雨陪我哭泣 看不清 我也不想看清
多变 duōbiàn - fickle / frequently-changing
离开你 我安静的抽离 不忍揭晓的剧情 我的泪流在心里 学会放弃
抽离 chōulí - to remove / to step back from involvement / to disengage 不忍 bùrěn - cannot bear to / disturbed 揭晓 jiēxiǎo - to announce publicly / to publish / to make known / to disclose 剧情 jùqíng - storyline / plot / drama (genre)
听雨的声音 一滴滴清晰 你的呼吸像雨滴渗入我的爱里 真希望雨能下不停 让想念继续 让爱变透明 我爱上给我勇气的 Rainie Love
In your Chinese studies you’ve probably learned: 红色、橙色、黄色、绿色、蓝色、紫色、灰色、白色、黑色、咖啡色、粉红色
But there are so many beautiful colors out there! Let’s learn some more. These are color terms I’ve come across outside Chinese class.
In general you can indicate a light shade with 浅 and a dark shade with 深. I have also seen 墨 for dark and 淡 for light, but when I Googled various color terms, there were more results for 浅 and 深 than 淡 and 墨.
I spent way too much time messing with HTML to color the text to match (except for the shades of white).
褐色 hèsè - brown
橘黄色 júhuángsè - orange
奶油色 nǎiyóusè - cream
金黄色 jīnhuángsè - gold color
朱红色 zhūhóngsè - vermilion
米色 mǐsè - beige
棕色 zōngsè - brown
青色 qīngsè - cyan / blue-green
灰白 huībái - light gray / ash-colored
蔚蓝 wèilán - azure / sky blue
纯白 chúnbái - pure white
雪白 xuěbái - snow white
洁白 jiébái - spotlessly white / pure white
漆黑 qīhēi - pitch-black
铜色 tóngsè - copper
乌黑 wūhēi - jet-black / dark
靛色 diànsè - indigo (color)
金色 jīnsè - golden / gold (color)
银色 yínsè - silver (color)
Here are some single characters I’ve seen as well. Some of these are commonly used in names, like 彤 and 丹.
彤 tóng - red
丹 dān - red / pellet / powder / cinnabar
缇 tí - orange-red silk / orange-red colored
赤 chì - red / scarlet / bare / naked
碧 bì - green jade / bluish green / blue / jade
翠 cuì - bluish-green / green jade
皓 hào - bright / luminous / white (esp. bright white teeth of youth or white hair of old age)
颢 hào - bright / white
玄 xuán - black / mysterious
彤, 丹, and 缇 are all described as a red-orange color. I’m not really sure of the difference, so I just made them all the same shade. I’m also unclear on exact distinction between 褐色 and 棕色. Image search results certainly suggest that they are used differently. Not sure how 咖啡色 fits in either.
I stumbled across this giant Wikipedia table with many beautiful colors that you can check out to learn more!
Eason Chan is an iconic Hong Kong singer with many Cantopop and Mandopop albums. I first heard this song on Youth With You 3 when it was covered in the first performance round. Honestly I didn’t think their cover was that good…but I could tell instantly that I would like the original version of the song. I guess that says a lot about the quality of this song! It’s a rock song that starts somber and slow but then quickly builds. Sadly this song isn’t on US Spotify (there are covers though, as well as another great Eason Chan song with a title that has a similar vibe 《陪你度过漫长岁月》). Really the only flaw is that it’s a short song at only a bit over 3 minutes, so I’m always left wishing it were longer!
陈奕迅 (Eason Chan) - 让我留在你身边
我从来不说话 因为我害怕 没有人回答 我从来不挣扎 因为我知道 这世界太大
挣扎 zhēngzhá - to struggle
太多时间浪费 太多事要面对 太多已无所谓 太多难辨真伪太多纷扰是非在你身边是谁
辨 biàn - to distinguish / to recognize 真伪 zhēnwěi - true or bogus / authenticity 纷扰 fēnrǎo - turmoil / unrest / disturbance 是非 shìfēi - right and wrong / quarrel
Recently I was doing a little light research on the rarest syllables in Chinese.* I discovered that I didn’t know any characters for some of the rare syllables I found, so I started wondering what syllables are the most common and the rarest in my vocabulary. I decided to undertake the unnecessary task of chronicling how many characters I know for each possible Chinese syllable.**
There are apparently 400+ possible Chinese syllables, and I only have so much time, so I’m sure I missed a character that I know here or there. However, the top 5 most common syllables (which I’m showing below) had a substantial lead over #6, so I’m fairly confident they are my true top 5. And for all the syllables presented below, I checked MDBG to confirm I wasn’t forgetting any characters.
*Rare in this case meaning how many characters exist for a syllable, not how often a syllable is used in the language. The latter would be an interesting but very different question. Also, I’m not taking into account tones here, and I am only considering simplified characters.
**I don’t have a perfect definition for what characters I “know.” I basically tried to include only characters I’m fairly confident I can write. There are definitely more characters out there that I recognize, but I didn’t want to include any that I believe I can’t read correctly out of context. I was a little more liberal for the rare category though.
I was not surprised to see yi, ji, qi, and shi make the top 5. That lion-poet-rock verse exists for a reason, and I feel like yi, ji, and qi are just everywhere. Yu was a bit of a surprise, but it makes sense since I like to research Chinese names, and a lot of the characters I listed for yu are used in names.
Rarest
For the sake of brevity, I’m only showing 25 syllables max for each category. There were simply too many for me to list them all.
First are syllables for which I only know 2 characters:
ang：昂、肮
cang：藏、苍
ceng：曾、层
gen：跟、根
geng：更、庚
gun：滚、棍
hei：黑、嘿
ken：肯、恳
kuan：款、宽
niang：娘、酿
pen：喷、盆
qun：群、裙
re：热、惹
reng：仍、扔
rou：肉、柔
ruan：阮、软
ruo：若、弱
sai：赛、塞
shua：刷、耍
sun：孙、损
te：特、忑
wai：外、歪
zhua：抓、爪
zhui：追、坠
zun：尊、遵
Next are syllables for which I only know 1 character:
ca：擦
cen：岑
dei：得
diu：丢
fo：佛
fou：否
gei：给
luan：乱
lve：略
nen：嫩
neng：能
nin：您
nuan：暖
nv：女
nve：虐
qia：恰
ri：日
run：润
sen：森
shei：谁
shuan：拴
tuan：团
weng：翁
zen：怎
zhuai：拽
What I find really interesting is how some of the syllables above are ones I encounter all the time while others are ones I only even heard relatively recently. For instance, I was a bit surprised that I only know one character each for luan and nv. I guess since 乱 and 女 are very commonplace, I feel like those syllables are everywhere, and it never occurred to me that I only know one luan and one nv character. But I remember furrowing my brow when I first learned 拴 and 虐. They feel unnatural to say honestly! I have to think about it for a sec.
Lastly, here are syllables for which I didn’t know any characters.
chua
chuai
chuo
cou
cuan
den
dia
ei
kei
keng
nou
pou
seng
zei
zuan
Some of these definitely elicited a “what? This is a legit Chinese syllable?” reaction from me. When I think about it more carefully, it makes sense that some, like chuo, exist. After all, I encounter zhuo and shuo all the time. But since I’ve never heard chuo, I guess it surprises me! Zei and dia strike me as the most unusual. Were you surprised by any of the syllables on this list?
If you’re interested in learning about the rarest syllables in general (not for me specifically), here’s some of the stuff I read:
Whoops! I accidentally published a draft of this post early a few weeks ago, and some people liked and reblogged it. If you saw it…pretend you didn’t.
I’ve kind of inadvertently started a Cross-Strait series on this blog comparing Mandarin Chinese in Mainland China and Taiwan. This post is a continuation of this unofficial series. It is NOT intended to be comprehensive. For example, some of the characters below can be surnames but are not marked as such because I’ve never encountered them (meaning they are likely very rare). More obscure variants aren’t indicated either.
Definitions are from MDBG. Please let me know if you notice any errors.
發、髮 → 发
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) >> 发送 | 發送 fāsòng - to transmit / to dispatch / to issue (an official document or credential)
只 zhǐ - only / merely / just / but >> 只要 zhǐyào - if only / so long as
只 | 隻 zhī - classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc >> 一只猫 | 一隻貓 yì zhī māo - one cat
游、遊 → 游
游 yóu - to swim / variant of 游 | 遊 >> 游泳 yóuyǒng - swimming / to swim
游 | 遊 yóu - to walk / to tour / to roam / to travel >> 游览 | 遊覽 yóulǎn - to go sightseeing / to tour / to visit
塗、涂 → 涂
涂 | 塗 tú - to apply (paint etc) / to smear / to daub / to blot out / to scribble / to scrawl / (literary) mud / street >> 糊涂 hútu | 糊塗 hútú - muddled / silly / confused
当 | 當 dāng - to be / to act as / manage / withstand / when / during / ought / should / match equally / equal / same / obstruct / just at (a time or place) / on the spot / right / just at >> 相当 | 相當 xiāngdāng - equivalent to / appropriate / considerably / to a certain extent / fairly / quite
当 | 當 dàng - at or in the very same… / suitable / adequate / fitting / proper / to replace / to regard as / to think / to pawn / (coll.) to fail (a student) >> 适当 | 適當 shìdàng - suitable / appropriate
別、彆 → 别
别 | 別 bié - to leave / to depart / to separate / to distinguish / to classify / other / another / don’t …! / to pin / to stick (sth) in >> 离别 | 離別 líbié - to leave (on a long journey) / to part from sb
别 | 彆 biè - to make sb change their ways, opinions etc >> 别扭 bièniu | 彆扭 bièniǔ - awkward / difficult / uncomfortable / not agreeing / at loggerheads / gauche
胡、鬍 → 胡
胡 hú - surname Hu / non-Han people, esp. from central Asia / reckless / outrageous / what? / why? / to complete a winning hand at mahjong (also written 和) >> 胡说 | 胡說 húshuō - to talk nonsense / drivel
面 miàn - face / side / surface / aspect / top / classifier for objects with flat surfaces such as drums, mirrors, flags etc >> 面对 | 面對 miànduì - to confront / to face
干 | 乾 gān - dry / clean / in vain / dried food / foster / adoptive / to ignore >> 干脆 | 乾脆 gāncuì - straightforward / clear-cut / blunt (e.g. statement) / you might as well / simply
干 gān - to concern / to interfere / shield / stem >> 干扰 | 干擾 gānrǎo - to disturb / to interfere / perturbation / interference (physics)
干 | 幹 gàn - tree trunk / main part of sth / to manage / to work / to do / capable / cadre / to kill (slang) / to fuck (vulgar) / (coll.) pissed off / annoyed >> 树干 | 樹幹 shùgàn - tree trunk
余、餘 → 余
余 yú - surname Yu / (archaic) I / me / variant of 余｜餘, surplus >> Author 余华 (Yu Hua)
余 | 餘 yú - extra / surplus / remaining / remainder after division / (following numerical value) or more / in excess of (some number) / residue (math.) / after / I / me >> 多余 | 多餘 duōyú - superfluous / unnecessary / surplus
于、於 → 于
于 yú - surname Yu / to go / to take / sentence-final interrogative particle / variant of 于 | 於 >> Singer 于文文 (Yu Wenwen/Kelly Yu)
于 | 於 yú - in / at / to / from / by / than / out of >> 对于 | 對於 duìyú - regarding / as far as sth is concerned / with regards to
台 | 臺 tái - platform / stage / terrace / stand / support / station / broadcasting station / classifier for vehicles or machines >> 舞台 | 舞臺 wǔtái - stage / arena / fig. in the limelight
里 lǐ - ancient measure of length, approx. 500 m / neighborhood / ancient administrative unit of 25 families / (Tw) borough, administrative unit >> 公里 | 公里 gōnglǐ - kilometer
範、范 → 范
范 | 範 fàn - pattern / model / example >> 模范 | 模範 mófàn - model / fine example
范 Fàn - surname Fan >> Actress 范冰冰 (Fan Bingbing)
並、併 → 并
并 | 並 bìng - and / furthermore / also / together with / (not) at all / simultaneously / to combine / to join / to merge >> 并且 | 並且 bìngqiě - and / besides / moreover / furthermore / in addition
并 | 併 bìng - to combine / to amalgamate >> 合并 | 合併 hébìng - to merge / to annex *合并 also exists as a variant
丑、醜 → 丑
丑 chǒu - clown / 2nd earthly branch: 1-3 a.m., 12th solar month (6th January to 3rd February), year of the Ox / ancient Chinese compass point: 30° >> 小丑 xiǎochǒu - clown
松 sōng - pine >> 松树 | 松樹 sōngshù - pine / pine tree
松 | 鬆 sōng - loose / to loosen / to relax / floss (dry, fluffy food product made from shredded, seasoned meat or fish, used as a topping or filling) >> 放松 | 放鬆 fàngsōng - to loosen / to relax
准、準 → 准
准 zhǔn - to allow / to grant / in accordance with / in the light of >> 不准 bùzhǔn - not to allow / to forbid / to prohibit
准 | 準 zhǔn - accurate / standard / definitely / certainly / about to become (bride, son-in-law etc) / quasi- / para- >> 标准 | 標準 biāozhǔn - (an official) standard / norm / criterion
曆、歷 → 历
历 | 曆 lì - calendar >> 日历 | 日曆 rìlì - calendar
历 | 歷 lì - to experience / to undergo / to pass through / all / each / every / history >> 历来 | 歷來 lìlái - always / throughout (a period of time) / (of) all-time
吁、籲 → 吁
吁 xū - sh / hush >> 吁吁 xūxū - to pant / to gasp for breath
吁 | 籲 yù - to implore >> 呼吁 | 呼籲 hūyù - to call on (sb to do sth) / to appeal (to) / an appeal
須、鬚 → 须
须 | 須 xū - must / to have to / to wait >> 必须 | 必須 bìxū - to have to / must / compulsory / necessarily
表 biǎo - exterior surface / family relationship via females / to show (one’s opinion) / a model / a table (listing information) / a form / a meter (measuring sth) >> 表面 | 表面 biǎomiàn - surface / face / outside / appearance
致 zhì - to send / to devote / to deliver / to cause / to convey >> 导致 | 導致 dǎozhì - to lead to / to create / to cause / to bring about
儘、盡 → 尽
尽 | 儘 jǐn - to the greatest extent / (when used before a noun of location) furthest or extreme / to be within the limits of / to give priority to >> 尽早 | 儘早 jǐnzǎo - as early as possible
尽 | 盡 jìn - to use up / to exhaust / to end / to finish / to the utmost / exhausted / finished / to the limit (of sth) / all / entirely >> 尽头 | 盡頭 jìntóu - end / extremity / limit
*There are some words like 尽量 where 盡量 and 儘量 are both possible.
制、製 → 制
制 zhì - system / to control / to regulate / variant of 制 | 製 >> 控制 kòngzhì - control / to exercise control over / to contain
制 | 製 zhì - to manufacture / to make >> 制造 | 製造 zhìzào - to manufacture / to make
注、註 → 注
注 zhù - to inject / to pour into / to concentrate / to pay attention / stake (gambling) / classifier for sums of money / variant of 注 | 註 >> 注重 zhùzhòng - to pay attention to / to emphasize
注 | 註 zhù - to register / to annotate / note / comment >> 注定 | 註定 zhùdìng - to foreordain / to be bound to / to be destined to / to be doomed to / inevitably
了、瞭 → 了
了 le - (completed action marker) / (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now) / (modal particle intensifying preceding clause) >> 为了 | 為了 wèile - in order to / for the purpose of / so as to
了 liǎo - to finish / to achieve / variant of 了 | 瞭 / to understand clearly >> 了不起 liǎobuqǐ - amazing / terrific / extraordinary
了 | 瞭 liǎo - (of eyes) bright / clear-sighted / to understand clearly >> 明了 | 明瞭* míngliǎo - to understand clearly / to be clear about / plain / clear * Can also be written 明了 in traditional Chinese.
Thank you everyone for 2500 followers <3 I haven’t been posting as much lately because I’ve been busy. But this post is quite long and took a long time to write, so consider it a token of my thanks.
Today I will be exposing my past as someone who did not care about stroke order by comparing actual stroke order to how I used to write some characters. The title of this post is actually not 100% true because sometimes I still write some of these characters incorrectly…it’s just so hard to break old habits.
In retrospect, I think the real stroke order makes a lot of sense thinking about how 少 is written. But I do remember being surprised when I learned I was writing this character incorrectly.
I believe I mentioned in a previous post that I used to write the left half of 那 like 月. And I was also writing the right part wrong too! Fortunately I’ve been very successful in correcting this and now write 那 with the proper stroke order consistently.
For both 北 and 比, I was writing the right component in incorrect order. I also wrote the left part of 比 incorrectly, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I was also messing up the direction of strokes…I can’t remember exactly now.
To this day, the proper stroke order for 长 remains unintuitive to me. But I have been good about following proper stroke order regardless. Honestly, I feel like the character doesn’t look as neat when I use correct stroke order, but I do think like the strokes flow better together.
I find myself having to look up stroke order for this character and characters like 贯 from time to time. It just won’t stick!
This is a small discrepancy, but I honestly feel like it makes a difference in my handwriting. I guess 为 in an exception because it is written like the incorrect way I wrote 力.
I am embarrassed to say I just learned how incorrectly I write this character today. I think I knew I was doing something wrong, but I didn’t realize just how wrong I was. I’m going to have to work on this from now on.
For 我, I’m not 100% sure that the incorrect order above is exactly how I used to write, but it’s close. 我 was always a really challenging character for me, and while I don’t think my current 我s are perfect, I noticed a big improvement when I learned the proper stroke order. The improper 我s above look fine too, but I think it’s because my handwriting is neat in general.
I have known for a long time that I struggle with remembering the stroke order for 里. Since how I’ve always written it is pretty close to the correct order, it’s quite challenging to correct myself.
This one is pretty bad because I even had the wrong number of strokes! How I used to write it was not very natural feeling, so it’s pretty easy for me to remember the proper order.
Last but not least, here are some characters that I was just writing blatantly incorrectly.
I’m very mortified to say that I only realized these discrepancies relatively recently. For 黄 I literally realized it last week. I guess I just didn’t ever look close enough, yikes. 练 is also pretty bad because I’ve always written 锻炼的炼 correctly, so I really have no excuse. With 勇 I feel like it’s quite hard to tell with certain fonts or small text, so that’s the one I’m least ashamed about.
Well, this has been embarrassing. Now I’m going to be paying a lot more attention to stroke order. You can teach an old dog new tricks, but it takes a lot of work. That’s why you should pay attention to stroke order upfront!
年度 niándù - year (e.g. school year, fiscal year) / annual
专辑 | 專輯 zhuānjí - album / record (music)
奖 | 獎 jiǎng - prize / award
最佳 zuìjiā - optimum / optimal / peak / best (athlete, movie etc)
华语 | 華語 huáyǔ - Chinese language
台语 | 台語 táiyǔ - Taiwanese / Hokkien
客语 | 客語 kèyǔ - Hakka language (客家语)
原住民 yuánzhùmín - indigenous peoples / aborigine
作曲 zuòqǔ - to compose (music)
作词 | 作詞 zuòcí - to write or compose lyrics
编曲 | 編曲 biānqǔ - to compose (music) / arrangement
制作 | 製作 zhìzuò - to make / to manufacture / to produce
单曲 | 單曲 dānqǔ - single (recording industry)
乐团 | 樂團 yuètuán - band / orchestra
新人 xīnrén - newcomer / fresh talent
Here are some names of actual awards that we can now read!
年度专辑奖 | 年度專輯獎 = Album of the Year
年度歌曲奖 | 年度歌曲獎 = Song of the Year
最佳华语专辑奖 | 最佳華語專輯獎 = Best Mandarin Album
最佳台语专辑奖 | 最佳台語專輯獎 = Best Taiwanese Album
最佳客语专辑奖 | 最佳客語專輯獎 = Best Hakka Album
最佳原住民语专辑奖 | 最佳原住民語專輯獎 = Best Aboriginal Album
最佳作曲人奖 | 最佳作曲人獎 = Best Composition
最佳作词人奖 | 最佳作詞人獎 = Best Lyrics/Lyricist
最佳编曲人奖 | 最佳編曲人獎 = Best Music Arrangement
最佳专辑制作人奖 | 最佳專輯製作人獎 = Producer of the Year, Album
最佳单曲制作人奖 | 最佳單曲製作人獎 = Producer of the Year, Single
最佳乐团奖 | 最佳樂團獎 = Best Band
最佳新人奖 | 最佳新人獎 = Best New Artist
I think 华语 can refer to Chinese languages beyond just Mandarin, but in this case and a lot of other cases, it is used to mean Mandarin. I’ve read that the term 华语 is commonly used in Singapore and Malaysia. It’s also often found in the term 华语乐坛/歌坛 (Chinese music world).
Here is some other good vocab to know:
提名 tímíng - to nominate
入围 | 入圍 rùwéi - to get past the qualifying round / to make it to the finals
演唱 yǎnchàng - sung performance / to sing for an audience
演奏 yǎnzòu - to perform on a musical instrument
奖项 | 獎項 jiǎngxiàng - award / prize
得奖 | 得獎 déjiǎng - to win a prize
届 | 屆 jiè - classifier for events, meetings, elections, sporting fixtures, years (of graduation)
本届 | 本屆 běnjiè - current / this year
颁奖典礼 | 頒獎典禮 bānjiǎng diǎnlǐ - award ceremony
名单 | 名單 míngdān - list of names
I have noticed that the GMAs usually use 入围 instead of 提名 to talk about nominations. I’m not really sure why.
The award ceremony will be held in Kaohsiung in July. I don’t plan on watching, but I’m excited to see who wins nonetheless.
Waiter: here’s your glass Me: oh, thank you Waiter: *puts the glass down* Me: thank you Waiter: *fills the glass with water* Me: thank you Waiter: I’ll bring your order soon Me: thank you
Another funny moment from Evening Urgant! This is an old interview with Milla Jovovich.
What is Milla talking about? There are tons of Russian fairy tales about baby goats and wolves. One of the most popular ones is “The wolf and the seven baby goats” (Волк и семеро козлят). However, the one Milla is talking about must be a fairy tale called “Grandmother once had a grey baby goat…” (Жил-был у бабушки серенький козлик…). Here’s the link. It doesn’t have an English translation, but I can try and translate it if you’re interested. https://stihi.ru/2012/08/15/7403
Useful words from this video: Страшный (m.), страшная (f.), страшное (n.), страшные (plur.) - scary; Сказка, сказки (f.) - fairy tale, fairy tales; Лес, леса (m.) - forest, forests; Конец, концы (m.) - end, ends; Сильный(m.),сильная(f.),сильное(n.),сильные(plur.) - strong
Interesting fact: Last month, Milla made a video of her reading one of the most well-known Russian fairy tales “Fly Tsokotuha” (Муха-Цокотуха). And again, unfortunately, I could not find the English version of this fairy tale. I can try and translate it, but I cannot guarantee my version won’t be cringeworthy. Here’s the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a69FMum_nnM&t=249s
I was watching Evening Urgant as usual and I just couldn’t resist translating this funny bit for you.
What is Ivan talking about? Беляш, беляши — bel’ash (sing.), bel’ashi (plur.) Bel’ash is a dish of Kazakh, Bashkir and Tatar cuisine. It’s practically the same as a regular pirozhok with meat. Except the recipes and the forms of the dishes are a bit different.
P. S. Please let me know if you want me to keep tranlsating fun parts from Russian TV shows and wether or not the Russian subtitles above the screen are comfortable for you to watch/are necessary. Thanks for reading my little blog :)
Here’s a piece of information about the Russian cuisine!
Пирог, пироги — pirog (sing.), pirogi (plur.)
Pirog is a baked case of dough with a sweet or savoury filling. It’s pretty much a regular pie. Pirog is one of the oldest dishes in Russia that our grandmothers bake to this day.
In ancient Russia, there were a lot of traditions regarding the consumption of a pirog. For example, the first bite of a pirog was always taken by the oldest man in the family. After him were younger men, then women and children. People started noticing how inconvenient these traditions were, so Russian women started baking small pirogs. They were more convenient to eat and to even pack for the road. This is how pirozhki (пирожки) were created.
There is no known date of when pirozhki were created, but some sources say that they were already around when Ivan the Terrible was ruling Russia (1533).
The most popular flavours of pirozhki are: apple jam, meat, smashed potatoes, eggs and fish.
Since I read a lot of literature and have been reading purely novels in Korean lately to improve my ability in the language and get a better grasp of sentence structure and reading, I decided to put together a few of my Korean book favourites that if you are learning Korean too, I recommend you give a read if you want to begin improving your reading and translation skills. It may take some time to fully understand them, but perseverance always pays off!
I Have The Right To Destroy Myself [나는 나를 파괴할 권리가 있다] by Kim Young-Ha
This is one of the first fully Korean books I began to read and translate myself and though it is a slow process when you are just a beginner, it’s amazing to see how far you can come. It has a very deep story line and one that will shake you to the core that I really recommend if you want or like a darker plot. This book follows a nameless man who narrates and follows the life of the wounded minds of a dark city.
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly [마당을 나온 암탉] by Hwang Sun-Mi
This was an unusual story for me to read but it was a great choice when it came to studying reading. This was a story lead by a Hen’s perspective and talks on things such as bullying, protectiveness and other life issues. I really enjoyed translating this read, even from an animals mind.
The Vegetarian [채식주의자] by Han Kang
I really love odd concept books so this was a great read for me, but I do know it will not be to everyone’s tastes. Han Kang is a top Korean author and this book follows the perspective of how even the most ordinary people can change very fast. I recommend it nonetheless because it was a great translation.
Our Twisted Hero [우리들의 일그러진 영웅] by Yi Mon-Yol
This novel was also not something I would usually read but it was a very distinct book. It’s narrated by a young boy who moves from a big city to the country and finds his life going in an unexpected direction.
