Laowai Chinese 老外中文

My First Chinese Palindrome

2008 August 30 – 11:37 am | Categories: Fun| Leave a comment

(Thanks to Lulu for this one)

I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve heard that:

Shànghǎi zìláishuǐ láizì hǎi shàng

(Shanghai’s tap water comes from on top of the sea)

I’m all in favor of fun little word games and/or tongue twisters as a way of learning new vocabulary (tap water), practicing pronunciation, and earning the undying respect and admiration of friends. Well, at least I know it works for vocabulary and pronunciation.

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7 Responses to “My First Chinese Palindrome”
Julia said:

喜欢这个:

扁担长，板凳宽。
板凳没有扁担长，
扁担没有板凳宽。
扁担要绑在板凳上，
板凳偏不让扁担绑在板凳上。

S.H.E. has even a song for it.

Comment date: Sep 4, 2008
Billy said:

上水居民居水上，長洲賓客賓洲長。

大圍三姑三圍大。

昆明擺檔擺明昆。

大院高曾高院大。

Comment date: Sep 12, 2008
Albert said:

Billy,

Could you give us the translations (and pinyin) for those? They look interesting but I’m afraid I can’t decode them.

Comment date: Sep 12, 2008
John said:

I’m a new learner (8 months studying Chinese in an American university), and I was so fascinated by the idea of a Chinese palindrome that I asked some of my own informants about them as soon as I found this post. I was only able to come up with one other, but I think it’s a good one:

山冻落花生花落东山。
Shāndōng luò huā shēng huā luò dōngshān.
In Shandong (province) the luohuasheng (kind of peanut) flower falls on the eastern mountain.

Comment date: Sep 30, 2008
Elia Diodati said:

There’s quite a collection on Wikipedia:

http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=回文

Comment date: Oct 15, 2008
Bamboo said:

大院高僧高院大。

da1 yuan 4 gao1 seng1 gao1 yuan4 da1,,

Comment date: Feb 27, 2009
Albert said:

Bamboo,

Could we have an approximate or literal English translation?

Comment date: Feb 28, 2009