Archive for the ‘Vocabulary’ Category
Thursday, May 3rd, 2007
A few foreigners in China have commented to me that it seems like everyone has the same name: "xiao." Actually, that's a kind of term of endearment or perhaps role-defining prefix that just means "small" or "young." Here's how it works:
Say there's a young man named Wáng ...
Posted in Vocabulary | 11 Comments »
Monday, April 2nd, 2007
Everyday, I use the word "anyway" in English and I really wish I knew how to say it in Chinese. I've had considerable trouble tracking down a Chinese word/phrase that can be used the same way we use "anyway/anyhow" in English.
The ways we use "anyway" as a kind of ...
Posted in Word Hog | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007
All the phrase books I looked at had these incredibly long and comprehensive lists of things to order in restaurants from Peking Duck (běijīng kǎoyā 北京烤鸭) to sandwiches (sānmíngzhì 三明治) to bamboo shoots (zhúsǔn 竹笋). For foreigners in China the problems with the phrase-book lists are:
The stuff might ...
Posted in Vocabulary | 22 Comments »
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