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Ventriloquists, Dummies and Ugg Boots
My new project is to do a weekly round-up of challenging words and phrases I have encountered translating both from English-into-Chinese and Chinese-into-English. I’ll present them here in this list and see if you can translate them without reading ahead first: ventriloquism 对…评价不高, e.g. 我对他的演技评价不高。 to hang out (with someone, at a place, etc) to […]
11 Words for “Indeed” in Chinese
In natural conversation, one inevitably finds oneself agreeing with the other party, and yet at the same time, one does not want to just keep saying 是 shì (“Yes”), 嗯 ǹg (“Mmm/Yeah”), or even 同意 (“I agree!”) which is quite formal. 我也这么感觉 wǒ yě zhème gǎnjué (“I feel that way too”) sounds pretty good, but […]
Translating Body Language
Today we are talking about body language, commonly translated as 肢体语言 zhītǐ yǔyán or 身体语言 shēntǐ yǔyán in Mandarin. It surprises me that this aspect of language learning is almost always neglected in language and translation training, especially when you consider that so much of our everyday communicative efforts are informed by nonverbal communication (非语言沟通 […]
“Untranslatable” Words In Chinese
Although I’m not a fan of the word “untranslatable”, one should recognise that there are plenty of words in any language that are difficult to translate. However I don’t think anything is really “untranslatable” in a practical context – if you work hard enough you can find a way to get the message across, especially […]
23 Actually Useful Proverbs (谚语)
Here’s a list of proverbs I’ve come across over the years that I think are actually interesting and useful in both conversation and writing. A translation for each is provided, along with an equivalent English expression where possible. 熟能生巧 shúnéngshēngqiǎo – Skill comes from practice; practice makes perfect. 百闻不如一见 bǎiwén bùrú yījiàn – Hearing something […]
Describing Skin Conditions
In English we commonly use the verb “have” with any number of nouns to express a bodily condition. A commonly cited example is “have a headache”, which in Mandarin must be expressed as 我的头疼 wǒ de tóu téng (literally, “my head aches”). Another example is “have a mouth ulcer” which, if translated literally into Mandarin […]
31 Words For Idiot In Chinese
It seems I’m a bit obssessed with synonyms. Just for fun, here is a list of 31 ways to say “idiot” in Mandarin, ranging from most common to least common. 1. 白痴 báichī – An idiot. Can also mean idiocy as a disease. 2. 傻子 shǎzi – Idiot. Less formal. 3. 呆子 dāizi – Same […]
A Comprehensive Guide to Western Transliterations in Chinese
Loan words from English and other Western languages in Mandarin have always interested me for a variety of reasons. However unlike Japanese, Chinese seems very cautious to import words directly into its lexicon via transliteration (that is, creating a new word by matching the sounds of the original one using Mandarin syllables). This post will […]
File Size Vocabulary
I only realised just the other day that I’m not altogether familar with file size vocabulary in Chinese. I needn’t have been too worried though since it turns out in everyday conversation most Mandarin native speakers simply refer to the various file sizes in their English, abbreviated forms (KB for kilobyte, MB for megabyte, etc). […]
10 Chinese Love Idioms
I’ve been looking through some old notes I had written a few years ago and was inspired to come up with a love/relationships theme for my next blog entry. Here’s a list I’ve come up with some (native-speaker-checked) example sentences to help you express more eloquently your past, present and future experiences with the lovers […]
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