It’s been a year…

It’s been a year and I hope there is many more to come. It has definitely been an amazing experience so far. Thank you for reading my blog, leaving comments and sharing it with others. I really appreciate your support.

This is my 72nd post today, so I have written 6 posts a month on average. I have written about Chinese vocabulary, grammar, proverbs, songs, places, food, and places among many others. I have tried to cover as many aspects of Chinese language and Chinese culture as possible. Please let me know if there is anything in particular that you wish I wrote about.

Today I would like to share with you some of the posts I really enjoyed writing, but they somehow failed to make it to the ‘Popular posts’ on the right side.

First, just in case you forgot, here is why I started writing this blog

Why write this blog?

It’s always nice to learn some Chinese grammar, but it’s even better when you are learning about Yao Ming as well

As tall as Yao Ming

America is called the ‘beautiful country’ in Chinese language. But is it because the Chinese think that America beautiful?

Is America beautiful?

We also got a chance to learn how to count in Chinese language. Here is how to count from 1 to 10

Lucky Beijing Olympics

We have learned few Chinese songs, but this song has to be the most popular among all the Chinese language students

Kan Guo Lai

Similarly we learned few Chinese proverbs as well, and this one has always been one of my favorites. And the comic that I found definitely made this one of my favorite posts

Speak of the Chinese devil

Qingdao city may not be as widely known as Shanghai or Beijing, but it is definitely worth a visit. Here is why

Qingdao city, Tsingtao beer

Learning Chinese language is fun, but learning Chinglish is even better

Chinglish

These may not be as bad as Chinglish, but some Chinese people do have some interesting English names. Watch this video

Chinese people, English names

As one of the comments says, I love the ‘extremeness’ of these sentences

I am starving to death

And last but not the least, you haven’t learned Chinese until you know how to say Obama in Chinese language. Maybe not, but here is how you say Obama in Chinese language

How to say Obama in Chinese language?

There were many others I wanted to include, but I had to pick and choose. Which one is your favorite? I would love to know.

Chinese New Year

I recently wrote a blog post on How to say ‘Happy New Year’ in Chinese language. But is that when the Chinese people celebrate New Year? Actually the Chinese New Year this year is on January 23. So how do you say Chinese New Year in Chinese language?

春节 (chūn jié)
春(chūn): spring
节(jié): festival

So in China it is known as the Spring Festival. There is a weeklong holiday during this period, allowing Chinese people to travel home and celebrate the new year with the family. The Chinese new year is also known as the Lunar New Year, because it is the first day of the lunar-solar Chinese calendar.

[Source: Click here]

Each new year is marked by the characteristics of one of the twelve zodiacal animals, and this is the year of the dragon.

龙 (lóng): dragon

Last year was the year of the rabbit and next year is the year of the snake

兔 (tù): rabbit
蛇 (shé): snake

Everything you need to know about China

Sorry I haven't been able to post in a long time. I just moved to a new country, actually a new continent, and haven't really had a chance to write any new posts. I am still in the process of getting settled in my new home, but I thought I would share a video in the meantime. While it might be hard to understand at times, this video is definitely worth a watch. Hope you like it.

And I promise that I will start posting regularly again.

Being humble in Chinese language

你说中文说得很好

Nǐ shuō zhōngwén shuō de hěn hǎo

You speak very good Chinese

How should you response if someone compliments you like above? You will probably say

谢谢 (xièxiè): Thank you

Next time try the following instead 哪里,哪里 (nǎlǐ, nǎlǐ)

哪里 (nǎlǐ): where

It literally translates to “Where? Where?”, and it is a polite way of responding to a compliment. It is also like saying “Where is my Chinese good?”

Using 哪里,哪里 instead of 谢谢 has two advantages. Firstly, people will think that your Chinese is actually really good. And more importantly, humility is valued highly in Chinese culture.

Another polite way to respond to a compliment is 不敢当 (bù gǎndāng)

不 (bù): no; not; do not

敢当 (gǎndāng): dare

It literally translates to “do not dare”, and it is like saying “I wouldn’t dare to accept such a compliment”.

Do you want to buy or sell?

The words for buy and sell have the same pronunciation in Chinese language. Even the characters look similar.

买 (mǎi): buy

卖 (mài): sell

Thank god the tones are different. So make sure you get the tones right.

If you want to 买 (mǎi) then why not learn some of the words below?

买东西 (mǎi dōngxi): to go shopping

购物中心 (gòuwù zhōngxīn): shopping center

商店 (shāngdiàn): shop/store

Whenever I went shopping in China, one phrase I used a lot was

太贵了 (tài guì le): too expensive

贵 (guì): expensive

Make sure you use it a lot too and always ask for a discount

打折 (dǎzhé): to give a discount

便宜一点儿 (piányi yīdiǎn er): a bit cheaper

便宜 (piányi): cheap

免费 (miǎnfèi): free

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.