What's your Chinese name?

As you all must know by now, Mǎ Sī Wén (马思文) is my Chinese name. It was given to me by my Chinese language teachers in China, and seems like some of you have struggled with it. I have been called Ma, Ma Si, Si Wen, Ma Si Wen, and few other combinations of these three words. So what is my family name and what is my given name? Here is the breakdown:

马(Mǎ) : Family Name

思文(Sī Wén): Given Name

As you can see, family names are written first in China. And Chinese people usually have two given names, which are written after the family name. So next time you see a Chinese name, the first one is the family name and the next two (or one in some cases) are the given names.

Below are the five most common Chinese surnames according to a study published in 2006.

李 (Lǐ)

王(Wáng)

张(Zhāng)

刘(Liú)

陈(Chén)

It is more common to call people by their full names in China, rather than just use the given name or the family name by itself. When using family names, make sure that you use the right form of address:

Forms of address	Example
先生(xiānshēng): Mr	王先生 (Wáng xiānshēng)
女士(nǚshì): Ms	李女士 (Li nǚshì)
老(lǎo): Old	老张 (lǎo Zhāng)
小(xiǎo): Young/Small	小陈 (xiǎo Chén)
老师(Lǎoshī): Teacher	刘老师 (Liú lǎoshī)

Do you want a Chinese name too? Get yourself a Chinese name here. Please leave a comment and post your Chinese name.

Chinglish

If you think Chinese language is interesting then you don’t know Chinglish yet. You find Chinglish everywhere in China and the Chinese government is trying its best to get rid of them. I am definitely a big fan of Chinglish and here are some interesting ones I found on the internet:

Which one of these is your favorite?

Three uses of 想 (Xiǎng)

The Chinese character 想 (xiǎng) can mean three different things depending on how it is used. Since it is a pretty commonly used character, let’s look at its three uses:

(i) 想 + Somebody/Something

我想你 (Wǒ xiǎng nǐ): I miss you

When used in this form, 想 means to miss somebody/something.

If someone says that to you and you feel the same way too, then you can respond

我也想你(Wǒ yě xiǎng nǐ): I miss you too

想家(Xiǎng jiā): homesick

家(jiā): home/family

(ii) 想 + Verb Phrase

我想去中国(Wǒ xiǎng qù Zhōngguó): I want to go to China

In the above structure, 想 means the desire to do something.

(iii) 想 + Clause

我想他是中国人(Wǒ xiǎng tā shì Zhōngguórén): I think he is Chinese

Here 想 is used to express someone’s opinion.

But how to ask someone what he or she is thinking

你在想什么？(Nǐ zài xiǎng shénme?): What are you thinking?

Chinese people love basketball

Posters like one below are found everywhere in Chinese cities. But why do the Chinese people love basketball so much?

The popularity of NBA is believed to have surged in China after Yao Ming was selected as the first overall pick in 2002 NBA draft. It is estimated that his first NBA game attracted more than 200 million viewers in China. In 2008, the number of NBA fans in China was estimated to be around 450 million, and 300 million people were estimated to play basketball in China. 20% of all NBA.com traffic comes from China, and NBA was the 10^th most popular search on Google in China.

So let’s learn how to say the most popular sports in China in Chinese language

篮(lán):basket

球(qiú):ball

篮球(lánqiú): basketball

Here are few other sports involving a球 (qiú):

足球(zúqiú): soccer/football

橄榄球(gǎnlǎnqiú): American football

排球(páiqiú): volleyball

冰球(bīngqiú): ice hockey

乒乓球(pīngpāng qiú): ping pong/table tennis

网球(wǎngqiú): tennis

Feel free to leave a comment and add your favorite sports to this list.

Do all Asians look the same?

I meant to post a list of coolest nationalities in Chinese language but realized that I actually posted a list of nations. However, figuring out how to say the nationalities once you know the nations is not that difficult. You just need to add 人 (rén) at the end and a nation will become a nationality. For example:

巴西 (Bāxī): Brazil

人(rén): people

巴西人 (Bāxī rén): Brazilian

That was easy, wasn’t it? Here are few more:

牙买加人 (Yámǎijiā rén): Jamaican

美国人 (Měiguó rén): American

日本人 (Rìběn rén): Japanese

中国人 (Zhōngguó rén): Chinese

尼泊尔人 (Níbóěr rén): Nepalese

土耳其人 (Tǔěrqí rén): Turk

While it is easy to figure out how to say different nationalities, figuring out someone’s nationality is a completely different story. Yes I am talking about the Asians. Two friends of mine, a Japanese and a Korean, and I took this AllLookSame Exam #1: Faces together and we managed to score only 7 out of 18. Please post how you end up doing.

[Note: Some of you were complaining that you have to register before you can take the test. So I have a username and password for you. Username: looktest, Password: 1234]