China Hope Live » Learning Mandarin

“Re-LIN-gion” Chinese internet meme

Joel 大江 — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:30:45 +0000

I haven’t paid much attention to Jeremy Lin news (or Tebow, for that matter), so I have no idea if this is something Jeremy Lin actually said. But it was shared on Facebook by some Taiwanese friends, and it’s the first Christian-themed Jeremy Lin meme I’ve seen so far. Translation and mouseover pronunciation below. The image is in traditional characters but I’ve written it in simplified.

我无法改变人的心
我无法软化人的心
这是我无法做到的
我只专注在我的召唤和使命上
其它的事情都交给上帝
– 林书豪

I am unable to change a person’s heart.
I am unable to soften a person’s heart.
This is something I’m unable to accomplish.
I just focus solely on my calling and mission.
The other things are all handed over to God.
– Lín Shūháo

Jeremy Lin has been called the Taiwanese Tebow. I thought this NYT piece explained his appeal well: Lin’s Appeal: Faith, Pride and Points. And of course there are lots of other ways people make word plays from his name, both in English and Chinese. Here are a few: 林疯子.

Eskimos : Words for ‘Snow’ :: Mainland Chinese : Words for ‘Fake’

Joel 大江 — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:16:24 +0000

I know, I know — it’s “Inuit” not “Eskimo” and the whole ‘lots of words for snow’ thing doesn’t really hold water. But still, there are lots of ways to say “fake” in Chinese, and you can learn them! See: Chinese Words for “Fake”: 山寨 vs 盗版 vs 假冒

林疯子

Joel 大江 — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:16:50 +0000

Pronounced: lín fēng zi
Means: “Linsanity”

Turns out they play with Jeremy Lin’s name in Chinese, too! Here are the Top 5 Jeremy Lin Puns in China and Taiwan.

Dora and SpongeBob (aka “Sea-sponge Baby”) in Chinese

Joel 大江 — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:40:28 +0000

Just what you’ve always wanted: Dora the Explorer (爱探险的朵拉 ài tànxiǎn de Duǒlā) and SpongeBob SquarePants (海绵宝宝 hǎi mián bǎobǎo) in Chinese!

Watch Chinese cartoons Sponge Bob & Dora the Explorer

I can’t decide if Chinese SpongeBob or English SpongeBob is more obnoxious. Either way, if anyone knows of any good Chinese kids shows for learning Mandarin (or good iPhone apps), please let us know!

China’s sexual education, taboos and consequences

Joel 大江 — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 03:58:24 +0000

China’s a very interesting place right now in terms of sex education, sexual behaviour, and tenacious, strong taboos surrounding discussion of sex.

When we first landed in Tianjin (2007) we walked to Chinese class, and noticed that the walls lining the sidewalk outside of residential and school compounds had condom boxes affixed to them. The anonymous (though still public) nature of the transaction made sense to me, given that sex talk was still very much taboo and buying condoms at a convenience or grocery store risked a scowl or scolding from the cashier if the customer looked young.

Here’s a picture of one kind (they didn’t all come with cute posters and fancy framing):

关注生殖健康，共建和谐家园
Pay Attention to Reproductive Health, Together Build a Harmonious Home
关注生殖健康，构建和谐社会
Pay Attention to Reproductive Health, Construct a Harmonious Society
安全套售货机
Condom Vending Machine (They chose “safety cover” 安全套 rather than “contraception cover” 避孕套。)
Contraceptive Social Marketing

I was reminded of these things by a recent e-mail from the author of this article: “Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Didn’t Learn Because You Grew Up in China): Despite the one-child policy, millions of Chinese citizens don’t know how to have sex without getting pregnant”, and much of it rings true to what we’ve seen volunteering with a sex ed. project in Tianjin — for example, the practical difficulty of implementing sex ed. directives:

his teacher forced an assistant—who until then had not taught a single lesson—to lead the class. The younger instructor stood in front of the students red with embarrassment, unable to broach the subject. Eventually, the students were told to read the chapter themselves.

The article makes for a decent introduction to the current sex ed. situation in China, tying together the state of Chinese sex ed., cultural taboos surrounding sex talk, traditional Chinese patriarchal gender roles, the rampant, uninformed sexual activity among students, the lack of birth control use and China’s abortion epidemic.

Here’s more on sex ed., cultural taboos, and current sexual behaviour in China, including stuff about the university sex ed. project we’ve volunteered with:

Prostitution in Tianjin, China — anecdotes, STD vocab, and how one group of local women is fighting back

Joel 大江 — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:58:09 +0000

Even an untrained, inattentive eye will notice evidence of the pervasive prostitution industry in Tianjin. If you’re clued in to the typical indicators, you’ll see that it’s a flourishing open secret, hiding in plain sight. Study some Chinese and read up on Chinese society, and it will ooze all the more out of your increasingly legible and intelligible surroundings. In the especially attuned gaze of a group of local women who are actively reaching out to the girls and trying to provide them with alternatives, prostitution in Tianjin is like an advanced form of malignant cancer, metastasized deep into the cultural and economic fabric of the city. And Tianjin is certainly not special in this regard.

Prostitution is so ubiquitous that the clueless can accidentally find themselves in very, shall we say, unintended circumstances. It needs no red light district. Walking along the nicely treed side street to our former apartment complex, with the WèiJīn canal (卫津河) and ZǐJīnShān Rd. (紫金山路) on your right and buildings on your left, you’ll find, in order: a first-floor window converted into a sex toy shop, a bar with prostitutes, a restaurant, a bath house with prostitutes, a karaoke club with prostitutes, a preschool, our apartment buildings, and a foot-massage parlour with prostitutes.

I’m reminded of all this because I’m reading Factory Girls and came across this bit describing the garbage-strewn side streets of a factory city in the south [p.111]:

the walls of the buildings were plastered with ads for gonorrhea and syphilis clinics; in China these flyers broke out like rashes wherever prostitution thrived.

But this actually describes our second Tianjin apartment complex, which is full of retired university professors and their families, with an elementary school across the street, and is, I want to emphasize, a normal Tianjin neighbourhood; we weren’t living in a migrant worker ghetto. And it’s saturated with these kinds of ads. There are six of them just on one side of the main gate, and we accidentally ended up broadcasting three more all over North America when we announced our second pregnancy via a photo taken outside the entrance to our stairwell, which was also plastered with them. Basically no matter where you look in our neighbourhood, if you can read Chinese you see “VENEREAL DISEASE, GONORRHEA, SYPHILIS” in big bold black font. Here’s a closer look at one ad, with a partial translation (mouseover the Chinese for pronunciation):

Venereal Disease One-shot Effectiveness
性病一针灵
Imported Western medicine, one shot gives the desired effect, will never recur
进口西药一针见效永不复发
Gonorrhea (specialized outpatient service) syphilis
淋病[专科门诊]梅毒
Inflamed glans, prostatitis, spermiduct pus, painful and difficult urination,
龟头红肿、前列腺炎、精管流脓、尿痛尿难、
syphilis buds, pubic lice and itching, acute viral genital warts, vaginal odor
梅毒花蕾、阴虱阴痒、尖锐湿疣、白带恶臭
Acute viral genital warts (cauliflower-shaped granulation/anal warts) removed then
尖锐湿疣[菜花状肉芽/肛门湿疣]当时脱落
Chlamydia, mycoplasma, non-gonococcal urethritis
衣原体支原体非淋菌性尿道炎

So you can imagine how becoming partially literate in Chinese can change the feel of a place.

In the months before we temporarily left Tianjin for the second time, Jessica was volunteering with a group of women who reach out to local women in prostitution. Originally, part of the idea was to help these girls find other jobs, but it was difficult finding people willing to hire them. So the group created jobs by starting a jewelry workshop as a viable first big step out of prostitution.

Related stuff on sex and Chinese society:

The suspiciously Orwellian children’s story 《鸭子农夫》 “Farmer Duck” Chinese-Pinyin-English read-along

Joel 大江 — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:35:04 +0000

The children’s story 鸭子农夫 (Farmer Duck) is fun to read out loud, usefully repetitive for language learning, and contains some interesting vocab. And as a special China-related bonus, it’s ominously, vaguely Orwellian. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t let your kids watch The Smurfs for political reasons, then you probably won’t like this book.

You can mouseover the Chinese text below to see the pronunciation and translation, or download a PDF that has the Chinese, pinyin, and back-translated English.

Download: Yazi-Nongfu.pdf

鸭子农夫

从前有只鸭子，和一个农夫一起生活。鸭子要干所有的活儿，农夫只管整天赖在床上。

鸭子到地里把牛牵回来。
农夫嚷嚷：“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
鸭子回答：“嘎嘎！”

鸭子到山上把羊驮回来。
农夫嚷嚷：“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
鸭子回答：“嘎嘎！”

鸭子把鸡赶回鸡舍。
农夫嚷嚷：“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
鸭子回答：“嘎嘎！”

农夫从早到晚躺在床上，胖得不成样子。
鸭子没日没夜辛苦干活，累得快要崩溃了。

“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
“嘎嘎！”
“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
“嘎嘎！”

“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
“嘎嘎！”
“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
“嘎嘎……”

“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
“嘎嘎……”
“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
“嘎嘎……”

可怜的鸭子又困又累又伤心。

牛、羊和鸡很爱鸭子，他们都为朋友感到难过。
于是大家趁着月色，精心安排起第二天一早的行动。
“哞哞！”牛说。
“咩咩！”羊说。
“咕咕！”鸡说。
好，就这么定了！

天还没有亮，农场静悄悄。
牛、羊和鸡从后门偷偷溜进农夫的房子。

大家轻手轻脚进了走廊，踩得楼梯吱吱作响。

他们一起挤到农夫的床下，使劲往上顶啊顶，床开始摇晃。
农夫被惊醒，又嚷嚷起来：“活儿干得怎……”

“哞哞！”
“咩咩！”
“咕咕！”
大家拱起床，农夫叫嚷着。
大家挤挤撞撞把床掀，
农夫轱辘轱辘滚下来，
重重得摔到地板上。

农夫拔腿就跑，牛、羊和鸡紧追不舍。
“哞哞！”
“咩咩！”
“咕咕！”

一直追到小路上……
“哞哞！”
穿过田野……
“咩咩！”
翻过小山……
“咕咕！”
农夫再也没有回来过……

清晨，鸭子疲惫不堪地晃进院子里，
等着听那句——
“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
咦，竟然没有人说话！

牛、羊和鸡回来了。
“嘎嘎？”鸭子问。
“哞哞！”牛说。
“咩咩！”羊说。
“咕咕！”鸡说。
大家把事情的经过告诉了鸭子。

“嘎嘎” “哞哞” “咩咩” “咕咕”
从此以后，农场里充满了欢乐的声音。

And they all lived happily ever after:

“Four legs good, two legs better!”

Download: Yazi-Nongfu.pdf

Other children’s story Chinese translation read-alongs:

We’ve also given some popular Chinese songs similar treatment (plus guitar chords!):

Funny video: Pronouncing English with Chinese syllables

Joel 大江 — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:00:27 +0000

It’s fun when you can get a joke in another language, even if it is middle school potty humour. I’ve come across this joke before, and it’s a funny demonstration of the pronunciation differences between Chinese and English.

The dialogue in English and Chinese (with mouseover pinyin) is below the video clip:

Kid: [Mouth] 猫屎！ Cat poo!
Teacher: 对！ Correct!
Kid: [Earth] 耳屎！ Earwax!
Teacher: 好！ Good!
Kid: [Bees] 鼻屎！ Snot!
Teacher: 最后一个！ Last one!
Kid: [Last] 拉屎！ Go poo!
Teacher: 全答对了！拉完屎之后呢……？ All answered correctly! And after going poo…?
Kid: [Yes] 爷死！ Grandpa dies!
Kid: [Nice] 奶死！ Grandma dies!
Teacher: OK!
Kid: [Bus] 爸死！ Dad dies!
Teacher: 哦，好！ Oh, great!
Kid: [Knees] 你死！ You die!
Teacher: 嗯 Mmm-hmm.
Kid: [Was] 我死！ I die!
Teacher: 好！
Kid: [Does] 都死！ All die!
Teacher: 都死之后？ After everybody dies?
Kid: [One dollar] 完蛋了！ (We’re) doomed! [lit. "The egg is done"; fig. "We're done for/doomed/finished/toast".]
Teacher: 全答对了！ All answered correctly!

The difference between friendship in Chinese and friendship in English

Joel 大江 — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:32:19 +0000

Nankai Rob has some insightful reflections on the differences your choice of language makes when doing friendship in China:

“Anyone who has made relationships that utilize no English at all will back me up when I say they’re immensely rewarding, but also immensely difficult.

“Why? You can carve this in stone: it’s hard because I no longer have control. And I don’t just mean control over what I say, but rather control over interpretation, culture, meaning, the whole bag. When you’re used to having control, when you’re used to everyone wanting to converse in English and thereby putting you at the reins of everything that happens, switching into Chinese is not simply a change in language; it’s a hierarchical shift.” [Link: Taiwan, part 7: What You Can Learn When You Don’t Understand]

Eric Carle’s “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” in Chinese! 好饿的毛毛虫

Joel 大江 — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:51:59 +0000

We found more than one Chinese version of Eric Carle‘s “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” online, and together with our tutor tried to combine the best parts of each. Here’s our most recent draft. Mouseover the Chinese text to see the pronunciation and definition. Suggestions for improvement are welcome!

好饿的毛毛虫

月光下，一个小小的卵躺在树叶上。

一个星期天的早晨，暖暖的太阳升起来了——啪！——从卵壳里钻出一条又小又饿的毛毛虫。

他四下寻找可以吃的东西。星期一，他啃穿了一个苹果。可他还是觉得饿。

星期二，他啃穿了两个梨子，可他还是觉得饿。

星期三，他啃穿了三个李子，可他还是觉得饿。

星期四，他啃穿了四个草莓，可他还是饿得受不了。

星期五，他啃穿了五个桔子，可他还是饿呀。

星期六，他啃穿了一块巧克力蛋糕、一个冰淇淋甜筒、一条酸黄瓜、一片瑞士奶酪、一截萨拉米香肠、一根棒棒糖、一小角樱桃派、一段红肠、一只杯形蛋糕、还有一块甜西瓜。到了晚上，他就胃痛起来！

第二天，又是星期天。毛毛虫啃穿了一片嫩嫩的绿树叶，这一回他感觉好多了。

现在他一点儿也不饿了——他也不再是一条小毛虫了。他是一条胖嘟嘟的大毛虫了。

他绕着自己的身子，造了一座叫做“茧”的小房子。他在那里面呆了两个多星期。

然后他就在茧壳上啃出一个洞洞，钻了出来……

他变成了一只美丽的蝴蝶！

Download the text (汉字/pīnyīn/English): HaoEdeMaomaochong.pdf

More Bedtime Stories in Chinese: