Posted by Jordyne Wu on Thu, Jul 08, 2010 @ 09:07 PM
The following is a guest post by Jordyne Wu (@jordyne), famous author of the Blog on Shanghai and China on jordyne.com, and HubSpot business development executive.
My favorite Chinese character is 婚 (=hun1 = to marry/marriage). Like many Chinese characters, it is actually composed of two different words: one that indicates sound and one that indicates meaning.
The right character, 昏 (=hun1) is a word in itself. It is the same sound and tone as 婚 (=hun1) so is meant to give people a phonetic hint. Except this 昏 (=hun1) means "confused; muddle-headed; to lose consciousness."
The left character, 女 (=nu3) is the Chinese character for female or woman. This radical is meant to give the character meaning-- that the word 婚 has something to do with women.
So, put the two together and "to marry/marriage" literally means, "you have to be crazy to get married to a woman" or "women must be crazy to get married"-- both probably true.
Those ancient Chinese... clever, wise and a sense of humor!
Posted by Jonah Lopin on Sat, Jun 26, 2010 @ 12:52 PM
I recently returned to 久久台北 for Father's day [= 父亲节 = fu4 qin0 jie2 = "father relation holiday"]. I
t was amazing. The best thing we had was the 小笼包 = xiao3 long2 bao1 = "small basket bag" = soup dumpling. These excellent bags of pork and soup are pictured to the right. There were only 4 left when I remembered to take the picture. The tarot cake in the background was also delicious.
After eating the soup dumplings, I took a video of some spicy chicken which was also pretty good, though not as good as I had hoped it would be. Here is the fashion show our chicken did for us:
Posted by Jonah Lopin on Sat, Jun 19, 2010 @ 10:40 AM
I just sneezed, which reminded me that I've been meaning to write this post for a while.
When someone sneezes, you can say 百岁, which sounds like bai3 sui4. The word 百 means "100", and 岁 means "years" or "years old". The phrase literally means "100 years old" but it sounds like "I hope you live until you are 100 years old."
So, if you are the type of person who feels the need to say "bless you" when someone sneezes, you can say "百岁".
But if you want to respond to a sneeze in truly authentic Chinese... just don't say anything. The typical Chinese response to a sneeze is to ignore it. American exchange students are usually the only ones who say 百岁.
Posted by Jonah Lopin on Thu, Jun 10, 2010 @ 09:18 PM
In a recent post I discussed the phrase 我无所谓, which means "I don't care".
The word 无, pronounced wu2, means without. Thank you, Mandarin, for having such a useful word.
You can use this word with the word for brain (脑 = nao3) to make 无脑 = wu2nao3 = brainless.
You can also use 无 to make the word "lawless". You first need to know the word 法, pronounced fa3, which means "law". (Of course, 法 also means "method", "way" and "Buddhist teaching", but let's ignore that for a moment.) You also need to know the word 天, pronounced tian1, which means "heaven". (It also means "day" and "sky".)
Now you can make the phrase 无法无天 = without law without heaven = lawless, as in, that guy is 无法无天.
Posted by Jonah Lopin on Sun, May 23, 2010 @ 08:30 AM
There is an amazing restaurant in Boston called 久久台北 = jiu3 jiu3
tai2 bei3 = long [duration of time] + long [duration of time] + Taipei. Actually, 台 officially means "your" and 北 means "North", but 台北 = Taipei = the capital of Taiwan.
This restaurant is unbelievably good, at least 100 times better than any restaurant in Boston's Chinatown.
The best thing I had there was "three cups tofu". Not only was it delicious, I could read the characters because they are simple: 三杯豆腐 = san1 bei3 do4 fu0 = three + cups + tofu. Here is a picture:
If you live in the Boston area, I strongly recommend you get hungry and go to 久久台北. You will not be disappointed.
Posted by Jonah Lopin on Sun, May 16, 2010 @ 10:36 AM
I am a fan of two ways of saying "I don't care" in Chinese.
You can say 我无所谓 = wo3 wu2 suo3 wei4 = "I don't care" or "I am indifferent" or "whatev".
The words are:
- 我 [wo3], which obviously means I. That one is easy.
- 无 [wu2], which means "without" or "to lack" or "don't have".
- 所 [suo3], which means "actually". (This word also means "place", as in 厕所= ce4 suo3 = "toilet place" = bathroom.)
- 谓 [wei4], which means "speak of".
So, 我无所谓 = "I lack actually speak of" = whatevs.
Another great way to say "whatever" / "I don't care either way" is to say 随便 = sui2 bian4:
- 随 [sui2] means "to follow", "to comply with", or "to allow". (It is also a common last name, but let's ignore that for now.)
- 便 [bian4] means "convenient", "handy", or "easy". (Of course just to make things complicated, this word also means "ordinary", "plain", "then", "so", "thus", and "to relieve oneself" - as in 大便 = da4 bian4 = "big"+ "relive oneself" = do a #2. To make things even more difficult to remember, the character 便 is also pronounced pian2 and means "advantageous" or "cheap", as in 便宜 = pian2 yi4 = inexpensive.)
So, 随便 means "whatever is cool", and it feels like sure, I'll "comply with easy", or I'll "follow convenient".
So, which one is better 随便 or 我无所谓?
Whatever.
Posted by Jonah Lopin on Thu, May 06, 2010 @ 06:33 AM
John Osborne is a brilliant guy for at least 2 reasons:
(1) He is going to marry my sister this summer.
(2) He just publicly launched a sweet virtual currency monetization software platform called AppDog.
So, I figured I'd give AppDog a Chinese name:
Software = 软件 = ruan3 jian4.
Dog = 狗 = gou3.
So, AppDog, I declare you 软件狗!!
(If anyone has a better Chinese name for AppDog, please comment!!)
Posted by Jonah Lopin on Sun, May 02, 2010 @ 02:43 PM
You are late. You are in a taxi, and you'd like to ask the driver to hurry it up. To say that, you say 快点 [=kuai4 dian3 = fast little = hurry it up]. If if you live in Beijing, you add an "rrrrrr" to this by adding a 儿, so it would be 快点儿. No the 儿 doesn't mean anything, it's just a sound we like in Beijing.
Next, you need to know how to say "otherwise". (It's very hard to threaten someone without knowing how to say "otherwise".) In Mandarin, you can say 要不然 = yao4 bu0 ran2 = otherwise.
Of course, to say "I will bite you to death" you simply say 我咬死你 = wo3 yao3 si3 ni3 = I bite death you.
So, to speed up that cab, just say 快点儿要不然我咬死你 =kuai4 dianr3 yao4 bu0 ran2 wo3 yao3 si3 ni3 = hurry little otherwise I bite death you = hurry up or I am going to bite you to death.
Use wisely, and happy biting.
Posted by Jonah Lopin on Sun, Apr 25, 2010 @ 06:35 PM
I am periodically asked by friends what stuff I recommend they do in Beijing. In the interest of efficiency, I decided to write my top ten list of eleven things I would do if I were a tourist in Beijing who only had time for eleven things:
1. Get a foot massage. There are lots of small massage parlors in Beijing, and for $5 or so you can get an awesome foot m
assage. Yes, they also do the lower legs. If you ask nicely, you and your friends can probably sit next to each other during the massage. (Note: I would eschew the full-body massage, but it's hard to get in trouble with a simple foot massage.)
2. Eat Beijing Duck. I wouldn't go to the fanciest spots since they are touristy and overpriced. Just find local duck restaurants and eat 北京烤鸭 = bei3jing1 kao3ya1 = Beijing Duck.
3. Go to the Great Wall. The great wall (长城 = chang2 cheng2) is awesome to visit. The best way to see it is to take a bus outside Beijing for about an hour to a town called huai2 rou2, and then get a taxi to take you to a small town where peasants who live at the foot of the wall will cook you dinner and rent you a room for almost no money. I wish I could remember how to find the peasants I stayed with last time I was there because they were great. They grew their own tofu. But I can't remember. This little jaunt is not for the faint of heart since you will be heading out without a place to stay.
4. Party at San Li Tun and Hou Hai. The nightlife in Beijing is interesting. I like the Chinese bars scattered throughout the 
touristy areas. One night, go to San1 Li3 Tun2 (三里屯 = "3 little villages") and go into anywhere that looks awesome and has lots of neon. Another night, go to Hou4 Hai3 (后海 = "back lake") - I haven't been there in a while, but last time I was in Beijing there were some good bars and restaurants. Get there around sunset.
5. Read the Beijinger. I used to read a monthly paper called That's Beijing because they pointed to great stuff to do, see and eat. According to wikipedia, though, the State took over That's Beijing. That sucks, but the folks at That's Beijing started a new publication called The Beijinger.
6. Buy Things at Silk Alley and Liu Li Chang. The silk alley (秀水市场 = xiushui shichang) is great for North Face and other knock offs. For antiques and random flea market stuff, visit Pan1 Jia1 Yuan2 
(潘家园). In both places, no matter what the price is, just act shocked. Go ahead and over-act. Then say you'll pay 40% of the price. Then when they won't budge, walk away, and you'll likely get chased down to make the sale, often in a very secretive manor so other tourists don't see what a "great" deal you got.
7. Buy a bike and ride it around for the day. You can buy a mountain bike for about $20. Get a sturdy lock. Just find a local bike shop, buy a bike, and hit the streets. Try to stay blended in with Chinese cyclists so you don't get hit by any cars. The rule of thumb is: as long as there are Chinese people on bikes around you and they don't look scared, you probably are not about to get hit by a car or arrested.
8. Morning Exercises & Sunrise at 天安门广场. Some Chinese people do amazing and outlandish morning exercises. You owe it to yourself to head to a park early in the morning to experience it. A good morning in Beijing, maybe after clubbing all night (if you're into that kind of thing), is to head to Tian1 An1 Men2 Guang1 Chang0 (Tian An Men Square) at sunrise to catch the ceremony of raising the Chinese flag. From there, you can walk north to Bei3 Hai3 park and catch morning exercises.
9. Eat Chinese Food. Visit as many restaurants as 
you can. Eat dumplings and potsticker. Eat as many delicious chinese foods as you can. Some of the best meals you can eat are are 家常菜 = jia1 chang2 cai4 = "house regular food"= comfort food. Just look at Aaron enjoying dumplings and kung pao chicken at this restaurant.
10. Make dumplings. If you have the chance, find some expert dumpling makers who will let you "help" them cook up some fresh dumplings. You can prepare for this using our dumpling-making instructional video.
11. Visit the Summer Palace. The summer palace is pretty sweet. Head there for 4 hours to walk around. The view from the top of moonlight mountain on longevity hill is especially captivating:
What are your favorite things to do in Beijing?
Posted by Jonah Lopin on Sat, Apr 17, 2010 @ 12:23 PM
I actually like you, Chinese-English dictionary. Really. I like how you are well-organized and you help me translate words I've forgotten. I especially like you in this online incarnation, by the way.
One thing I really like about you is that almost any sound I look up turns out to mean just about everything. Here's a screen shot of looking up the pin yin "li":
Sure, why not have a single sound that means dog, pear, plow, clam, colored glaze, widow, Korea, to love, and depart. Makes it really easy for me to learn this language!!