I’m not going to dive into why—that’s a whole other post. But some of these transliterated names are seriously hard for me to say! And it seems like Chinese fans agree, because they have shorter nicknames for some foreign celebs.
The three celebs I mentioned above each have nicknames. I actually encountered all three nicknames while watching Chinese TV shows recently! So I can confirm that they are really used. Can you tell who is who?
小李子 xiǎolǐzǐ
阿姆 āmǔ
霉霉 méiméi
But where did these nicknames come from? What do they mean?
Leonardo DiCaprio / 小李子
The transliteration above starts with 莱 (lái), but transliterations are not universal. According to what I found online, 李奥纳多 is an alternative transliteration of Leonardo. As an American English speaker, I think this sounds closer to how I say Leonardo. So the nickname 小李子 likely comes from 李奥纳多. 小李子 is certainly much easier to say than 莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥.
Eminem / 阿姆
Interestingly, even though the simplified Chinese Wikipedia page for Eminem is titled 埃米纳姆, the body text uses both 埃米纳姆 and 阿姆. But the traditional version only uses 阿姆. The Baidu page only uses 埃米纳姆. 阿姆 is not only shorter and easier to say, but 阿+syllable is a known nickname structure, so my guess is that’s where 阿姆 came from.
Taylor Swift / 霉霉
According to these 百度知道 comments, Taylor Swift is called 霉霉 because 1) 霉 sounds like 美 and 2) she used to be unlucky when it came to charting on Billboard (霉 in this case as in 倒霉, to have bad luck/be out of luck). I would have guessed it was because she had bad luck in finding love honestly! You’ll have to decided for yourself which origin story you believe.
I’ve seen a lot of posts floating around in the Chinese teaching/learning scene about similar characters like 己 & 已 and 未 & 末. But these posts never seem to include the characters that I have the most difficulty with! So I made my own :)
Note: Some of these characters don’t look similar if you use traditional characters, but I primarily use simplified.
怒 nù - anger / fury / flourishing / vigorous 恕 shù - to forgive This is an example of one-way confusion. I learned 恕 as part of the phrase 恕我直言, but now, whenever I see 恕 I think it’s 怒 at first. But never the other way around.
拨 bō - to push aside with the hand, foot, a stick etc / to dial / to allocate / to set aside (money) / to poke (the fire) / to pluck (a string instrument) / to turn round / classifier: group, batch 拔 bá - to pull up / to pull out / to draw out by suction / to select / to pick / to stand out (above level) / to surpass / to seize In class once I wrote what I thought was 拔 on the board…it was 拨. I was very embarrassed. These two always trip me up! They are by far my least favorite duo on this list.
苛 kē - severe / exacting 苟 gǒu - if / supposing / careless / negligent / temporarily / surname Gou For some reason I am most embarrassed about confusing these two. I think it’s because when I look closely and carefully, they don’t seem that similar. But if I am not looking closely and carefully, they cause confusion.
茶 chá - tea / tea plant 荼 tú - thistle / common sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus) / bitter (taste) / cruel / flowering grass in profusion I saw a chengyu with 荼 (如火如荼) and totally thought it was 茶. I was so shocked when I realized otherwise! I guess the chengyu wouldn’t make much sense with 茶…oh well.
竟 jìng - unexpectedly / actually / to go so far as to / indeed 竞 jìng - to compete / to contend / to struggle On the bright side, since these two characters are pronounced exactly the same, at least you don’t really have to worry about that aspect. The big issue would just be writing the wrong one.
丰 fēng - abundant / plentiful / fertile / plump / great / surname Feng 韦 wéi - soft leather / surname Wei These characters are both last names, so watch out. You wouldn’t want to misread 韦礼安 as 丰礼安 or something.
暧 ài - (of daylight) dim / obscure / clandestine / dubious 暖 nuǎn - warm / to warm These two really give me a headache. I need my glasses to tell them apart! They look a bit more distinct in traditional, but I still managed to think 暧/曖 by 孙盛希 was called 暖 for a solid month or so.
呜 wū - (onom.) for humming or whimpering 鸣 míng - to cry (of birds, animals and insects) / to make a sound / to voice (one’s gratitude, grievance etc) I don’t really have an issue with 鸟 and 乌, but for some reason 鸣 and 呜 trip me up. I might need my glasses for them too haha.
妹 mèi - younger sister 姝 shū - pretty woman I’ve seen both these characters in names. Except I thought 姝 was 妹. I blame 张惠妹! I think for the rest of my life I’ll be paranoid about saying someone’s name incorrectly due to these two.
廷 tíng - palace courtyard 延 yán - to prolong / to extend / to delay / surname Yan I don’t actually know any words with 廷, but it can be used in names. In my experience, it’s especially common in Taiwan. But I have also seen 延 in names, so sometimes I have do a double take.
Honorable mention: 昼/晝 zhòu - daytime 画/畫 huà - to draw / picture / painting 书/書 shū - book / letter / document / to write Whenever I read something in traditional Chinese, these triplets are the bane of my existence. I’ve given up on trying to distinguish them and just guess from context instead. People use use traditional, how do you do it?
Have you ever been surfing a Taiwanese website and noticed that years are labeled completely differently? I was on some webpage last year and got so confused as to why I was seeing numbers like 75 and 100 for the year. What??
I somehow found my way to this Wikipedia article calledRepublic of China calendar or 民国纪年 in Chinese. Apparently this calendar is also referred to under other (similar) names such as 中华民国纪年 and 中华民国历.
The year 1 in the ROC calendar is 1912, the year the ROC was founded. So 2022 is the 111th year! Just add or subtract 1911 to convert between the Gregorian calendar and 民国纪年.
Since learning about this calendar, I’ve seen it pop up here and there on academic websites to mark the years people graduated or took a college entrance exam. You may very well never encounter this system in the wild, but if you do, now you’ll be prepared!
I wanted to find a real life example to display, so I went digging. I found the 民国纪年 on the website for 国立台湾大学哲学系 (NTU Philosophy Department).
See! For the year of these doctoral theses (博士论文), the table has 108, aka 2019.
Just goes to show that you really have to learn some stuff about culture and history when learning a language.
The Most Satisfying Feeling I Get from Learning Chinese
One of the most satisfying feelings I’ve experienced in learning Chinese is the feeling I get after hearing a new word and just *understanding* it. This isn’t that hard when reading (and that’s why we love 汉字), but when it comes to listening, it’s a whole different story. So the moments when I’ve heard a new word and intuitively known what 汉字 it consists of plus its meaning of have made me feel so accomplished. Over time I’ve jotted down some of these words, and I thought they would make a fun post.
迷失 míshī - to lose (one’s bearings) / to get lost I was able to understand this word thanks to knowing words like 迷路, 迷茫, 失去, and 消失. I first remember identifying this word in Escape Plan’s song 夜空中最亮的星.
旅途 lǚtú - journey / trip I know a lot of words with 旅 like 旅游, 旅行, and 旅程, and I was also familiar with 途 via 路途 and 前途. So 旅途 was very easy for me to understand.
心愿 xīnyuàn - cherished desire / dream / craving / wish / aspiration 心愿 is similar in meaning to 愿望 and 意愿, which I already knew. I believe I first heard this word in the song 有点甜 by 汪苏泷 and BY2.
高傲 gāo'ào - arrogant / haughty / proud I heard this word in the song 寻宝 by 沈以诚. I’ve listened to this song many times, and one day it just clicked! It’s all thanks to the similar words 骄傲 and 傲慢.
安稳 ānwěn - smooth and steady There are so many words with 安 like 安定 and 平安. I also know some 稳 words, such as 稳定 and 平稳. So I was able to put two and two together for 安稳.
还原 huányuán - to restore to the original state / to reconstruct (an event) The meaning of 还 here is very familiar from 还给 and 还清. Also, I know a lot of words with 原: 原来, 原本, 原始, 原先.
选拔 xuǎnbá - to select the best There are so many 选 words I see all the time like 精选, 选举, and 选择. I also know 拔 from 拔苗助长 and 自拔, so I was able to piece together the overall meaning of 选拔.
解压 jiěyā - to relieve stress I’ve already learned the word 缓解 which is related in meaning. Also, I’ve learned 施压 (or 施加压力), which is basically the opposite of 解压.
感人 gǎnrén - touching / moving I think this word is pretty easy to put together if you know similar words like 感染, 感动, and 动人.
认输 rènshū - to concede / to admit defeat I distinctly remember hearing this word in the Tanya Chua song 救生圈. I think I was able to understand it thanks to knowing that 认 can mean to admit like in the words 承认 and 公认.
Here’s to many more of these satisfying moments in 2022!
According to this list, these are the top 10 surnames in China as of 2020*:
李 Lǐ
王 Wáng
张 Zhāng
刘 Liú
陈 Chén
杨 Yáng
赵 Zhào
黄 Huáng
周 Zhōu
吴 Wú
I’ve seen articles like this one discussing the regional distribution of surnames. I wanted to take a look myself and compare the top surnames in different provinces/municipalities. For instance, do any locations have a top 10 list that is the same as the overall country top 10? Which surname is ranked #1 in the most locations? Let’s explore and have some fun along the way.
*The top surnames for 西藏 Tibet are not included. I believe this is because the population is vast majority Tibetan.
1) Find how many surnames in a location’s top 10 are also in the national top 10.
Most in common
Arrows: grey = same as national rank, green = higher than national rank, red = lower than national rank Circles: orange = in national top 10 but missing from top 10 of individual location, blue = outside national top 10
2) Find the average national rank for each location’s top 10 list.
OK, this section is a little confusing. Basically, I was thinking that just counting overlapping surnames this isn’t necessarily the best metric. When it comes to surnames outside the national top 10, just counting like I did above can’t distinguish a rank of 100 from a rank of 11! So I decided to take averages.
For each location, I found the national rank of the its top 10 surnames and averaged them. This should give me an idea of which location’s top 10 surnames collectively rank the highest in the whole country. If you add up 1-10 and divide by 10, you get an average of 5.5, so that would be the minimum possible average.
Lowest average
Highlighting: red = lower than national rank, green = higher than national rank, no highlighting = same as national rank Blue circling = outside of national top 10 Annotated numbers = national rank
湖北 Hubei - 6.2 average Outside national top 10: 胡 Hú & 徐 Xú
安徽 Anhui - 6.3 average Outside national top 10: 徐 Xú & 孙 Sūn
江苏 Jiangsu - 6.5 average Outside national top 10: 徐 Xú & 朱 Zhū
Highest average
海南 Hainan - 30.5 average Outside national top 10: 符 Fú, 林 Lín & 郑 Zhèng
广西 Guangxi - 28.2 average Outside national top 10: 梁 Liáng, 韦 Wéi, 陆 Lù & 卢 Lú
上海 Shanghai - 16.2 average Outside national top 10: 朱 Zhū, 徐 Xú, 沈 Shěn & 陆 Lù
3) Add the difference in rank of surnames for each location to create a composite score.
Then I started to think about order within the top 10. After all, a province for which 李 Lǐ ranks #10 should be treated differently from one where 李 Lǐ is #1. So I wanted to capture the difference between a surname’s national rank and its rank for individual locations.
For example, in 广东 Guangdong, 陈 Chén ranks #1, but it’s #5 in the whole country. The difference is 5 - 1 = 4. I did this for the other 9 surnames in 广东 Guangdong’s top 10 as well and added the numbers to get a composite score. Then I repeated this for the other locations.
I used absolute values—otherwise a positive difference and negative difference would offset each other! But I used + and - signs in the images below to show more information. You could also divided by 10 to get the average difference for the top 10 surnames each location.
Lowest score
Highlighting: red = lower than national rank, green = higher than national rank, no highlighting = same as national rank Blue circling = outside of national top 10 Annotated numbers = difference b/t national rank and local rank, with (+) indicating a higher rank locally and (-) indicating a lower rank locally
安徽 Anhui - 14 score
四川 Sichuan - 15 score
宁夏 Ningxia - 20 score
Highest score
海南 Hainan - 264 score
广西 Guangxi - 253 score
山西 Shanxi - 113 score
上海 Shanghai - 113 score
4) For each location, determine how many surnames have no difference in rank.
As an extension of the above, for each location, I counted the number of top 10 surnames that had no difference in rank compared to the national rank. Let’s look closer at locations whose top 10 lists had the fewest changes:
I’ll also list the locations for which no surnames had the same rank as in the top 10:
广东 Guangdong
福建 Fujian
江西 Jiangxi
江苏 Jiangsu
贵州 Guizhou
Summary: Which location’s top 10 is closest to the national top 10?
We just saw several different ways of looking at this. Someone who is better at math than I am would probably devise a way to combine the different metrics into a single score. I’m just going to recap which locations we saw appear the most.
Overall most similar: 四川 Sichuan & 安徽 Anhui
Overall least similar: 广西 Guangxi, 上海 Shanghai & 海南 Hainan
5) Find which surnames appear on the most and least location top 10 lists.
This wasn’t something I was initially curious about, but after my analyses above, I grew curious. I’m just looking at the national top 10 surnames here. There are 30 locations total, so 30 is the highest possible number.
So 李 Lǐ and 张 Zhāng are the only two that appear in the top 10 for all 30 locations!
I also thought it would be interesting to see which locations are missing for the surnames that were close to 30/30:
This questions grew pretty naturally off of the question above. I spent far too long making this map to go along with the numbers!
The winner is…王 Wáng with 15 locations! It’s so interesting to see how 王 Wáng is dominant in the north, 陈 Chén rules the southern coast, etc.
王 Wáng - 1st in 15 locations
李 Lǐ - 1st in 6 locations
陈 Chén - 1st in 4 locations
张 Zhāng - 1st in 3 locations
刘 Liú - 1st in 1 location
黄 Huáng - 1st in 1 location
The winner is…王 Wáng with 15 locations!
7) Mainland China vs. Taiwan vs. Hong Kong
I thought this would be an interesting comparison. I wanted to include Macau as well, but I had difficulty finding a list. Here is the Hong Kong data source.
Arrows: green = higher than Mainland rank, red = lower than Mainland rank Circles: orange = in Mainland top 10 but missing from the HK and/or TW top 10, blue = outside Mainland top 10
I was actually surprised how similar the top 10s are for Taiwan and Hong Kong!
I also wanted to compare Taiwan and Hong Kong to Fujian and Guangdong, respectively. These are the two provinces in Mainland China that they are closest to.
Now, I’m no history expert, but I know that a lot of Taiwanese have roots in Fujian, so it makes a lot of sense that their top 10 lists look so similar. I don’t know much about the history of migration to Hong Kong, but as such a major economic center, I’m guessing people from all over China came to Hong Kong.
Thank you!
If you actually read this whole post, I’m impressed. Thank you!
I initially began working on this post in September 2021. Needless to say, this post ended up being a lot longer and taking up a lot more of my time than I had anticipated. I asked my dad to read over an earlier draft of this post for me, and he literally asked me, “why are you doing this?” I didn’t really have a concrete answer. I just thought it would be interesting to explore surnames a bit. And so here we are :)
I’ve been trying (admittedly not very hard) to read a full book in Chinese for a couple years now. I think I’ve tried 2 or 3 times? Well now I’m trying again with the book 《少女哪吒》 by 绿妖 (Shàonǚ Nézhā by Lǜ Yāo). I’m posting this in hopes that it will help hold me accountable so I actually finish this book!
Why have I picked this book?
It’s only about 200 pages long
The pages are physically small, and the text isn’t dense
It’s a short story collection
At least so far, the stories are slice of life and set in recent times
From my past attempts at reading a book, I know that I’ll feel discouraged if it’s taking me forever to get through a page. Also, I’m hoping that having six short stories ensures I don’t get bored or bogged down. Lastly, I didn’t want to make things harder for myself by picking a historical or fantasy novel.
One thing that I struggle with with reading in Chinese is resisting the urge to use Pleco. The problem is when I encounter characters that I don’t know. I can guess the pronunciation of course, but I can’t stand the thought of being wrong and then “learning” an incorrect pronunciation! I don’t mind guessing the meanings of new words if I recognize the characters (I try to just look up those words if I’m getting confused or if they repeat a lot so I want to learn them better). But I just don’t see myself ever being able to resist the urge to look up unknown characters! I’ve tried not looking them up and always end up going back after because I can’t take it. Wish me luck~
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.
I looked back at my blog archive and was surprised to see that my last music recommendations post was in November 2020—almost a year ago! Well I did have my Mandarin Music March challenge, but I’m not counting that. Here’s an update on what I’ve been listening to the last 6 months or so.
蔡健雅 / Tanya Chua I have included Tanya Chua in past recommendation posts and featured a few of her songs on my blog, but I’ve been listening to her constantly this year, so I wanted to highlight her amazing music again. I am not a huge ballad/slow song fan, but I love hers. And she does great upbeat pop songs too. Favorite album: 双栖动物（2005） Favorite songs: 原谅、达尔文、坐立不安、无底洞、生锈游乐场
沈以诚 / Eason Shen Have you ever wondered what country-inspired Mandopop would sound like? Well you can find out right now. I discovered Eason Shen during my August challenge. He also has more typical pop songs, from slow and calm to uptempo to soulful. Favorite album: 玩家（2020） Favorite songs: 牛仔、寻宝、巴赫旧约（翻唱）、15楼窗外、形容 *First two songs are the ones with country influence.
林宥嘉 / Yoga Lin Yoga Lin is another artist I’d heard of but overlooked for whatever reason. I checked out one of his albums during my August music challenge and instantly fell in love. He’s already become one of my top 10 most played artists of 2021. I would describe a lot of his music as pop rock. Favorite album: 大小说家（2012） Favorite songs: 白昼之月、唐人街、感同身受、慢一点、4号病房
莫文蔚 / Karen Mok I made the mistake of not checking out Karen Mok earlier because I assumed most of her music was in Cantonese—she has actually released more Mandarin albums than Cantonese! Her older albums have some great rock-leaning and almost grungy tracks, and I love some of her more recent slow songs. Favorite album: 如果没有你（2006） Favorite songs: 境外、溜溜的情歌、懒得管、薄荷、女朋友的男朋友
张惠妹 / A-Mei A-Mei is a Mandopop legend. She has a very powerful voice that works well for slow, emotional ballads and face-paced rock songs alike. I see her songs covered on various singing shows often as well. I particularly enjoy her more bombastic ballads and the rock tracks from her AMIT albums. Favorite album: 阿米特（2009） Favorite songs: 也许明天、装醉、开门见山、血腥爱情故事、我最亲爱的
徐佳莹 / LaLa Hsu I’ve known about LaLa Hsu for years, but I never explored her music much until more recently. I was pleasantly surprised by the versatility of her voice and the diversity of her discography! It’s been about 4 years since her last album, so I’m hoping she has something in the works. Favorite album: 心里学（2017） Favorite songs: 你敢不敢、到此为止、理想人生、现在不跳舞要干嘛、灰色
陈势安 / Andrew Tan I first heard of Andrew Tan through a cover of his song 天后 by Jeno Liu 刘力扬. Both versions are great, and I recommend you give both a listen. Anyway, Andrew Tan has a very deep, rich voice with a lot of soul. His newest album has some great pop hits that I can’t get out of my head. Favorite album: 唯一想了解的人（2021） Favorite songs: 唯一想了解的人、兜圈、天后、我们都伤、势在必行
田馥甄 / Hebe Tien Hebe is another artist I neglected to check out sooner because I had heard her song 《不醉不会》 years ago and didn’t care for it. However, her latest album really struck a chord with me, so I’ve been going through her discography. She has some fantastic slow, emotional songs and some stuff with more edge too. Favorite album: 无人知晓（2020） Favorite songs: 讽刺的情书、底里歇斯、终身大事、人间烟火、小幸运
李荣浩 / Li Ronghao Watching Li Ronghao on 青春有你3 inspired me to finally check out his music. I definitely get the hype. His style is pretty distinctive (but I honestly don’t think I can describe it well) and he releases a lot of long 4:30-5:00+ minute songs, so he’s not for everyone, but I saved at least a couple songs from all of his albums. Favorite album: 嗯（2017） Favorite songs: 戒烟、不将就、李白、满座、老友谊
陈奕迅 / Eason Chan I’ve just started exploring Eason Chan’s discography, but so far there’s a lot to like. As a Hong Kong singer, he has Cantonese and Mandarin albums (and some albums with both languages), but I’m just sticking to Mandarin for now. I can’t wait to hear more soon! Favorite album (so far): 认了吧（2007） Favorite songs (so far): 烟味、让我留在你身边、快乐男生、放弃治疗、陪你度过漫长岁月
Other songs I’ve been loving:
黑色天空 - 路嘉欣 / Jozie Lu Angsty, brooding, emo perfection.
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!
here they go some supportive phrases that you, as a loving fan, could send for them in the comments on weibo, instagram, twitter or facebook. it’s always nice and comforting to read something in your native language, so below are some phrases that you could copy & paste to send for your favorite chinese idol!
☆ MORNING TIME/BEGINNING OF THE DAY
Hello 你好！(Nǐ hǎo)
Good Morning 早上好！(Zǎoshang hǎo)
How are you? 你最近怎么样? (Nǐ zuìjìn zěnme yàng)
Did you sleep well? 你睡的好吗？(Nǐ shuì de hǎo ma)
How’s your mood today? 今天的心情怎么样？(Jīntiān de xīnqíng zěnme yàng)
I’ll be by your side today as well 今天我也会在你身边啊 (Jīntiān wǒ yě huì zài nǐ shēnbiān a)
Did you eat? Don’t forget ah! Your health is the most important 你吃饭了吗？别忘记啊！身体健康最重要 (Nǐ chīfànle ma? Bié wàngjì a! Shēntǐ jiànkāng zuì zhòngyào)
I hope that all of your dreams come true 我希望你所有的梦想成真 (Wǒ xīwàng nǐ suǒyǒu de mèngxiǎng chéng zhēn)
I hope that you are happy everyday 我希望你天天开心 (Wǒ xīwàng nǐ tiāntiān kāixīn)
Practicing hard is important but your health is number one! 用功排练很重要，但照顾身体健康是第一！(Yònggōng páiliàn hěn zhòngyào, dàn zhàogù shēntǐ jiànkāng shì dì yī)
Fighting!加油！(Jiāyóu!)
☆ NIGHT TIME/ THE END OF THE DAY
Good Night! 晚上好！(Wǎnshàng hǎo)
Sleep Well 睡得好啊~ (Shuì dé hǎo a)
You’ve worked hard today, take a rest 今天你辛苦了啊, 休息一下吧 (Jīntiān nǐ xīnkǔle a, xiūxí yīxià ba)
Thank you for your hard work 感谢你的辛苦努力 (Gǎnxiè nǐ de xīnkǔ nǔlì)
You should sleep now 现在你应该睡觉啊~ (Xiànzài nǐ yīnggāi shuìjiào a)
See you tomorrow! 明天见! (Míngtiān jiàn)
☆ LOVING WORDS TO CHEER THEM UP
I miss you 我想你 (Wǒ xiǎng nǐ)
I love you 我爱你 (Wǒ ài nǐ)
Did you enjoy the meal? 吃得还好吗？(Chī dé hái hǎo ma)
You are my everything 你是我的一切 (Nǐ shì wǒ de yīqiè)
You are my World 你是我的全世界 (Nǐ shì wǒ de quán shìjiè)
Don’t Worry 别担心 (Bié dānxīn)
We will always support you! 我们会永远支持你！(Wǒmen huì yǒngyuǎn zhīchí nǐ)
We will always love you! 我们会永远爱你！(Wǒmen huì yǒngyuǎn ài nǐ)
As expected, you’re the best! 不出所料，你是最棒的！(Bù chūsuǒ liào, nǐ shì zuì bàng de)
This song is really good 这首歌真的很好 (Zhè shǒu gē zhēn de hěn hǎo)
Thank you for giving us good music 谢谢你给我们带来好音乐 (Xièxiè nǐ gěi wǒmen dài lái hǎo yīnyuè)
I will listen to it well 我会很好听的 (Wǒ huì hěn hǎotīng de)
Congrats!恭喜！(Gōngxǐ)
☆ WHEN YOU WANT TO REACT TO WHAT THEY POST
You’re so cute! 你好可爱! (Nǐ hǎo kě'ài)
You’re so beautiful! 你真漂亮! (Nǐ zhēn piàoliang)
You’re so handsome! 你真帅! (Nǐ zhēn shuài)
You’re the best! 你最棒! (Nǐ zuì bàng)
That’s very interesting 很有意思 (Hěn yǒuyìsi)
Your smile is like the sun, lighting up my entire world! 你的笑容像阳光一样，把我全世界点亮！(Nǐ de xiàoróng xiàng yángguāng yīyàng, bǎ wǒ quán shìjiè diǎn liàng)
Don’t forget to take good care of yourself! 别忘记照顾好身体！(Bié wàngjì zhàogù hǎo shēntǐ)
We look forward to sharing more and more wonderful memories with you! 我们期待着在未来和你分享更多越来越美好的回忆！(Wǒmen qídàizhuó zài wèilái hé nǐ fēnxiǎng gèng duō yuè lái yuè měihǎo de huíyì!)
probably i will add more soon. but, if you want other phrases you can tell me and i will translate for you sweetie. hope y'all like it! ♡
Before the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE) united the main six other states of the Warring States 戰國 period, the writing system was also not unified. States used characters that can be traced back to the oracle bone script, but there were various divergences along the way. Some you can see are just a slight variation, some totally different—a lot to think about! (also remember this is pre modern mandarin pronunciations on the left there) Qin Shi Huang mandated the use of only the Qin forms—maybe in a parallel universe the Chu was the great unifier~
One that’s remained somewhat in circulation is 520, because wǔ'èr líng is close to wǒ ài nǐ 我爱你! Brands especially have capitalized on this to make another valentine’s day—but you can use it as an excuse to just do something sweet (o˘◡˘o)
If you find yourself getting into cooking/baking these interior days, you can practice chinese while you do it too!
This video has english subs so you won’t totally mangle your cake, but the audio is also nice and clear and at a native speed. it might feel too fast at first but try to sit through a chunk and let your brain adjust
Recipes have a lot of formulaic speech and specific vocabulary—try translating a favorite recipe and you’ll notice you need some of these from the video~
分蛋，蛋黃蛋清分開 fēn dàn, dànhuáng dànqīng fēnkāi : Separate the eggs, separate the yolk from the whites
往裡頭到 wǎng lǐtou dào : incorporate, pour in
攪拌 jiǎobàn : stir, mix
過篩 guò shāi : to sift
打發 dǎfā : to whip (as in egg whites 打发至软性: whip until fluffy. you’ll notice she says it doesn’t need to be whipped “too high 高,” not “too hard 硬” like we use in English)
翻拌均勻 fān bàn jūnyún : fold in evenly
泡 pào : soak, steep (this is also the verb for making instant noodles)
There’s also a lot of subtle detail, try to pick out how verbs are modified; beaten slowly(adv), poured into(directional complement)…
It’s very easy to pick up little wrong habits that go under the radar for awhile and mangling these was one of mine! So when do you know which one to use? It is v simple, you just need to know. (examples scooped from here b/c this is just a note)
有点(儿)
有点儿 comes before an adjective (or occasional verb):
我 觉得 这 个 人 有点儿懒。 I think this person is a little lazy.
在 这里 工作 有点累。 It is a little tiring to work here.
今天有点儿冷 Today it’s a little cold.
to use it with a negative just put it in front of the whole negative
我 还是 有点儿 不 明白。(lit: “a little not understand”) I still don’t really understand.
一点（儿）
一点儿 comes after an adjective:
请 说 得 慢 一 点 儿。 Please speak a little more slowly.
快 一 点 儿，要 迟到 了。 A bit faster, we will be late.
我们 应该 做 得 好 一点儿。 We should make it a bit better.
to negate it you have to use the 一点都／也 structure, since “not a little bit” is essentially “not at all”
这 个 地方 的 衣服 一点儿 都 不 贵。 This place’s clothes are not expensive at all.
Happy Passover to those that celebrate! If you want an example of how to talk about seder maybe the baidu page is helpful, sorry I don’t have time to get into the guts rn but wanted to post since it’s an important holiday and Jewish Chinese folks and Jewish people learning Mandarin need some shine time in all the holiday vocab lists!
If you want to talk about something happening “during” the timespan of something else, or “within” a certain period of time, these are the constructions for you! (These are formal-ish, you’ll see them in news for example, their more casual counterpart of course being …的时候）
在…内 。 Within a Duration of Time
This construction is used with literal time words; so days, months, hours, etc.
这本新书很受欢迎，我们书店在几个小时内就卖了500册. zhè běn xīnshū hěn shòu huānyíng, wǒmen shūdiàn zài jǐ gè xiǎoshí nèi jiù màile 500 cè. This is new book is very popular. Our bookstore sold 500 copies within hours.
The 在 can also be omitted
她三年内就学完了四年的课程. tā sān niánnèi jiù xuéwánle sì nián de kèchéng. She finished four years of courses in three years.
在 …期间 。 During a Period of Time
This construction is clearly similar, but takes a noun phrase or verb-object that describes a circumstance or event.
我在读研究生期间认识了许多学者。 wǒ zàidú yánjiūshēng qíjiān rènshìle xǔduō xuézhě. During my graduate study (While I was in grad school) I got to know many scholars.
他在上海开会期间去看了几位老同学。 tā zài shànghǎi kāihuì qíjiān qù kànle jǐ wèi lǎo tóngxué. While he was attending the conference in Shanghai he visited several of his old classmates.
Fun little comparison video of a Taiwan Mandarin accent & a Northeastern Mandarin accent. Some of this is also like regional stereotype and not just phonetic but yeah you know it’s all tangled
台灣口音
links sounds together (连音). 大家好 dajiahao -> daahao
doesn’t really use retroflex (卷舌音) initials, so sh, zh, ch closer to s, z, c
doesn’t use the neutral tone (轻声). the example given here is 哥哥 gēge -> gēgē
东北口音
more in-your-face (气势) manner. 你瞅啥?? nǐ chǒu shà What’re you lookin at??
‘o’ becoming closer to an ‘ə’, some tone changes
somehow not mentioned bc probably too obvious: addition of “err” (儿话). sometimes the 儿 functions as a nominalizer (哪儿 instead of 哪里), sometimes it just gets tacked on to seemingly any ol’ thing
like any regional variations there’s also small vocabulary differences, but these are some more systematic things you now might notice in other media!
I had been thinking about how wordle works well for english because it has consonant clusters and a wide variety of possible syllables that make it interesting but also narrow-down-able, whereas mandarin decidedly Does Not. I guess to get around that this uses four character phrases. Tricky but at least you might learn a new chengyu regardless :)
If you have a hard time getting yourself to read big chunks in mandarin (or any L2) I suggest comics! Even if you’re not a fan normally! You’ll get more natural language than textbooks but in more manageable bits, and with visual context to help out.
Ray is a series I read in high school but never finished–because apparently it wasn’t all translated into english! So I was excited to find it in mandarin. She’s a surgeon with x-ray eyes, so unsurprisingly I’m picking up some medical vocabulary.
Language practice is hard enough, don’t force yourself to read originally-written-in-chinese work if there’s other things you’re interested in already. You can find scans by searching [title] 漫画. eg: Saint Young Men 漫画 Or depending where you live the library might have some! Especially for graphic novels you might have to find a print version; I found an excerpt of Fun Home so at least I know it was translated. For looots of original comics, the app 快看漫画 is great if a little overwhelming, or this site.
适应 (適應) shìyìng and 习惯 (習慣) xíguàn can both be used to describe adapting to a new things, but they’re not the same!
适应 (適應) shìyìng
V. to adapt, to fit, to suit. This can be about something’s compatibility with a system, a sort of “coming into alignment with” maybe.
适应需要 shìyìng xūyào meet the requirments (say on a job app)
你的思想必须适应变化了的情况。 nǐ de sīxiǎng bìxū shìyìng biànhuàle de qíngkuàng You need to adapt your thinking to the changed circumstance.
习惯 (習慣) xíguàn
N. habit, custom. (不良习惯 - bad habit) nothing tricky here
V. to accustom to, to get used to. For me this kind of “adapting” feels much more about personal contexts. For example when I was studying abroad people would ask if I had 习惯ed to the city, to the food eg.
他习惯早起。 tā xíguàn zǎoqǐ He’s used to getting up early.
我已经习惯了纽约的生活节奏。 wǒ yǐjīng xíguànle niǔyuē de shēnghuó jiézòu I’ve already gotten used to the pace of life in New York.
As always the more times you encounter them they will naturally disambiguate themselves, but hopefully this gets you going!
封斋 fēng zhāi to fast (she says it’s only for Muslims, but I think she means is it has religious connotations, since it can also be applied to Lent)
This account does a lot of daily life scenarios, sometimes she’ll interview a friend. This Ramadan explainer is a little over-simplified but has some good vocab! (also to note, yes the Hui minority is Muslim, but there are regional differences, and there are also non-Hui Muslim Chinese. for more on ethnic minority definition mess see)
黑齿 Heichi is a bilingual Chinese-English online magazine, “Heichi neither claims an origin nor pursues lost traditions; it considers alternative perspectives on art’s relation to politics and society, spirituality and technology, the beautiful and the grotesque.”
It’s easy to toggle between the two version, so handy for checking comprehension. Once you get advanced-ish it’s easy to get mired in HSK vocab lists but feel like you /still/ can’t read anything you care about! At some point you have to aim your vocab acquisition for yourself !(•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑
Chinese Zero To Hero made a free short series on famous Chinese poems! They’re from the Tang Dynasty & in Classical Chinese, so this is a nice way to get some guidance (if you’d like something more contemporary they also did a songs series)
Both 東西 (东西) dōngxī and 事兒 (事儿) shì’r translate to “thing,” but the things they apply to don’t actually overlap much! After awhile this is the sort of thing that just “sounds weird” if you mix them up, but until then here’s some tips to keep them separate~
Measure Words 量词
for 东西 the measure word is 个
for 事儿 the measure word is 件
Concrete Things/Experiences - 东西
东西 is generally for actual objects, but also extends to abstract things that could be touchable, sorta? hard to explain but let’s try examples
哎呀 那个东西我放在哪儿？ Āiyā nàgè dōngxī wǒ fàng zài nǎ'er? Where’d I put that thing??
maybe the most common use of dongxi, as the equivalent for “thingy/thingamabob” when you forget the word
今天社会上有很多美好的东西，也有不少丑恶的东西。 jīntiān shèhuì shàng yǒu hěnduō měihǎo de dōngxī, yěyǒu bù shǎo chǒu'è de dōngxī. There are many nice things as well as ugly things in today’s society.
the “nice things” mentioned here could be enumerated, you could say “the internet” or “air conditioning,” bad “things” could be “the rising cost of housing;” even as abstract nouns they are nouns. What they are not is…
Tasks/Abstract Happenings - 事儿
事儿 applies to tasks, happenings, situations. This is why “有事儿吗?” is “Did something happen/are you ok?” not “Do you have a thing?” It’s also why as a polite way to get out of something you can “不好意思，已经有事儿” as in you already have a commitment/thing to do.
对不起，忘了这件事儿了。 duìbùqǐ, wàngle zhè jiàn shìrle. Sorry, I forgot about that. (say if your supervisor asked you to do something)
今天我忙死了！得做很多事儿！ jīntiān wǒ máng sǐle! Děi zuò hěnduō shì er! I’m so busy today! I have to do so many things!
现在那件事还好吗？ xiànzài nà jiàn shì hái hǎo ma? Did the matter get sorted out?
I hope that separated them out decently. The idea for this post came from flipping through 汉语常用近义词语辨析 Common Chinese Synonyms Discriminated if this is something you’d like more of (or hmu) !(•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑
A selection of bilingual interviews with African-Chinese people (非裔 fēiyì : of African decent). It’s very, “look at these accomplished African-Chinese citizens, but people say rude things to them online!” which is obviously a tepid, wechat-approved take, but still cool family stories to hear and things. (see also some more recent, material racist happenings)
This one is pretty straightforward, it’s all about boxes or box-like shapes!
行李箱 (xíng li xiāng) is a suitcase, 收件箱 (shōu jiàn xiāng) is your inbox and 蜂箱 (fēng xiāng) is a beehive, or the box with bees. Sometimes, building these words is done very pragmatically, for instance, 烤箱 (kǎo xiāng) is the “roasting box” aka the oven, and 冰箱 (bīng xiāng) is the icebox… aka, the fridge!
This sign came from a letter box that my friend Iris shot in Hong Kong. Can you guess how to write letter box? It’s just putting together the characters for letter + box: 信箱 (xìn xiāng). Neat!
a fun blog for typography and hanzi collection~ if you ever want all the Old Dirt on a character throw it into zdic, it’ll even give you oracle bone versions if it has one
my partner found me a chinese pronoun pin! I think pronoun pins are often more complicated than people like to acknowledge (wearing one at work was a truly grinding ordeal in “how can I attract more microagressions”) and are maybe most helpful for recognizing each other, but still cool!
You’ll see “TA” used online sometimes in ads since they don’t know who “you” are, which even that indicates an understanding that 他 is truly not neutral, and it seems to be generally spreading. 她/它/祂 have a complicated but comparatively recent history.
@sendchinatownlove on insta has made a growing “BLM Dictionary for the Asian American Community,” with terms translated into Mandarin, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, etc. Talking to friends and family across language hurdles can be even more difficult, but it’s as necessary as ever with this kind of violence as a global issue
ally - 盟友 (méngyǒu)
Black Lives Matter - 黑命无价 (hēi mìng wú jià) [lit. Black lives have no price]
