Laowai Chinese 老外中文

Text Message Greetings for Chinese New Year

2010 February 13 – 1:38 pm

Categories: Idioms | 7 Comments »

We’re only a few hours away from the annual Chinese text-message switchboard overload. Just in case you want to contribute your own duǎnxìn 短信 to the 19 billion that will be sent tonight, here are some common options with rough English translations (click on the hanzi for a literal breakdown of what each character means).

Nǐ 你 and nín 您 can be interchanged depending how formal you want to be. And you may or may not need a”zhù nǐ/nín” 祝你/您 (“wishing you”) before each of these.

Special thanks to Sheila at ChineseTeachers.com for helping fill out this list.

Year of the Tiger Messages

zhù nǐ/nín 祝你/您… = Wishing you…

1. hǔ nián kuàilè 虎年快乐 = Happy Year of the Tiger
2. hǔ nián jíxiáng 虎年吉祥 = Have a lucky Year of the Tiger
3. hǔ nián xíng dà yùn 虎年行大运 = May the Year of the Tiger bring you great luck
4. xīhǔ zhù nín hǔ nián wàng 犀虎祝您虎年旺 = May the rhinoceros-tiger bring you a prosperous Year of the Tiger*

Standard New Year’s Greetings

1. dà jí dà lì 大吉大利 = Good luck and good profit (see also New Year’s puns)
2. gōnghè xīnxǐ 恭贺新喜 = Happy New Year
3. gōngxǐ fācái 恭喜发财 = get rich
4. guò nián hǎo 过年好 = Happy New Year
5. jiā hé wàn shì xīng 家和万事兴 = If the family lives in harmony, all affairs will prosper
6. niánnián gāoshēng 年年高升 = get a promotion every year
7. shēntǐ jiànkāng 身体健康 = have good health
8. shìshì rúyì 事事如意 = everything go according to your wishes
9. shìshì shùnlì 事事順利 = everything go smoothly
10. wànshì rúyì 万事如意 = all your wishes come true
11. xīnnián kuàilè 新年快乐 = Happy New Year
12. xīn xiǎng shì chéng = wishes come true
13. xiàokǒu chángkāi 笑口常开 = always smile

Heart Marathon

Sheila also gave me this as an example of a longer message friends might send to each other. This one features the character for “heart” at the end of every line:

hǔ nián zhùyuàn nín: gōngzuò shūxīn, xīnshuǐ héxīn, bèiwō nuǎnxīn, péngyou zhīxīn, àirén tóngxīn, yíqiè shùnxīn, yǒngyuǎn kāixīn, shìshì chènxīn
虎年祝愿您：工作舒心，薪水合心，被窝暖心，朋友知心，爱人同心，一切顺心，永远开心，事事称心！

Here’s the breakdown:

hǔ nián zhùyuàn nín 虎年祝愿您… = this Year of the Tiger I wish you…

• gōngzuò shūxīn 工作舒心 = comfortable work
• xīnshuǐ héxīn 薪水合心 = suitable salary
• bèiwō nuǎn xīn 被窝暖心 = warm-hearted bed
• péngyou zhīxīn 朋友知心 = caring friends
• àirén tóngxīn 爱人同心 = harmonious marriage
• yíqiè shùnxīn 一切顺心 = happy everything
• yǒngyuǎn kāixīn 永远开心 = eternal happiness
• shìshì chènxīn 事事称心 = everything satisfactory

Anyone else know any other standard New Year’s greetings we can send as text messages? Do share.

*Apparently there are five kinds of tigers in traditional Chinese lore. Here’s Sheila’s explanation:

五虎给你来拜年，犀虎祝您虎年旺，奶虎愿您体健康，黄虎为您送事业，水虎给您保平安，犛虎伴您游天下。

I think I’ll save a more in-depth look at that (and pinyin transcription) for a later post, unless someone else would like to explicate that and give me the link. That would be even better!

Job Opening: Teach Chinese to a Panda

2010 February 9 – 5:16 pm

Categories: Fun | No Comments »

I just saw this article about Měilán’s (美兰) return to China and had to mention it. If you’ve got a good command of Chinese and English, no infectious diseases, and a bachelor’s degree or higher, you might want to consider applying.

Although, I guess you’d have to be in Chengdu and know some Sìchuān huà 四川话:

“[The panda] will be taught Chinese with a Sichuan dialect because people here all speak Sichuan dialect…For example, she will be taught the phrases for going back to the cage or coming out from the dormitory.”

I couldn’t find the sina site that was mentioned but I did find this article that gives you the phone number to call if you want to apply.

Nǐ hǎo 你好: A Very Fake Greeting

2010 February 8 – 8:26 am

Categories: Explanations | 34 Comments »

I was waiting for my turn at the ping pong table the other night, when an older teacher started walking past me. I’d seen him several times before and even played ping pong with him once.

“Nǐ hǎo 你好,” I said.

He stopped his walk and said, in all sincerity that most people don’t say “nǐ hǎo” 你好 as a greeting. It just sounds too fake (tài jiǎ de 太假的).

I was very startled and asked him to please tell me what I should say. He then went into how good friends will say, “Chīfàn le ma?” 吃饭了吗? or one of the many variations on the question and there are different responses depending on whether or not you’ve just eaten.

This might have been a good little prank, but he was perfectly serious. He was even explaining it to one of his Chinese colleagues who was standing there too (as if he didn’t know!). The colleague, in all earnestness, was agreeing and adding little tid bits of his own to the advice.

I listened very politely and then it ended and they left.

I was surprised to hear all this because:

A. I already know all about “Chī le ma?” 吃了吗? and all the other ”eat-n-greet” options around here. I was shocked that these teachers thought I could understand all the other vocabulary they were using yet, somehow, managed to miss one of the most basic greetings.

B. I thought “Nǐ hǎo” 你好 was perfectly friendly. I had no idea it sounded so “fake.” I think he might have meant it was too formal and not casual enough for good friends.

C. I don’t consider him a good friend. He’s an older teacher who I’ve only spoken with a few times, and usually the conversations have left me (like this one) with an unpleasant wèidào 味道 in my kǒu 口.

So the real questions for any of those loyal few who still tune in to this blog are:

1. Is there any truth in what this man says?

2. Should I now be afraid to say “Nǐ hǎo” 你好 at the risk of sounding fake?

I don’t know why, I  just prefer not to ask people if they’ve eaten as a greeting. But I’d be willing to try if the overwhelming number of comments (i.e. more than zero) tell me I should.