If you’re watching the Olympics in China (as I am) here are some words that come up all the time on the TV that you might as well know (if you don’t already).

It’s so hard to use the TV as listening practice, I thought I’d try to help stack the deck in your favor. If you can get to where you recognize these really common words when they come up, that’ll free your brain to listen to what else is being said, hopefully. It’s still a kind of magical process (and truthfully, the TV is often WAY to fast), but maybe this’ll help.

I’ve left out anything related to specific sports or events. You’re on your own for those as well as the ubiquitous (and often baffling) country names.

Venues

• niǎocháo 鸟巢 = The Bird’s Nest (the main stadium)
• shuǐ lìfāng 水立方 = The Water Cube (the swimming venue)

Medals

• jīnpái 金牌 = gold medal
• yínpái 银牌 = silver medal
• tóngpái 铜牌 = bronze medal
• kuài 块 = (measure word for medals)
  • yí kuài jīnpái 一块金牌 = 1 gold medal
    
• bānjiǎng 颁奖 = to award a medal
• guànjūn 冠军 = champion

Ceremonies

• Àoyùnhuì 奥运会 = The Olympics (abbreviation for Àolínpǐkè yùndòng huì 奥林匹克运动会)
• kāimùshì 开幕式 = opening ceremony
• guānzhòng 观众 = audience
• nǚshìmen, xiānshengmen 女士们先生们 = ladies and gentlemen
• qǐng qǐlì 清起立 = please stand
• guógē 国歌 = national anthem

Teams

• duì 队 = team
  • zhōngguó duì 中国队 = China’s team (in whatever sport)
    *They don’t say in sports it’s “China v. America” they always say it’s “China’s team v. America’s team” (I guess so people don’t think those players out there ARE the whole country. Whew! Thanks for the clarification.)
• dàibiǎo tuán 代表团 = delegation [represent group]
  • zhōngguó dàibiǎo tuán 中国代表团 = The Chinese delegation
• xuǎnshǒu 选手 = contestant [choose hand]
  • shíwǔ hào xuǎnshǒu 十五号选手 = contestant/player number 15
  • míng 名 = (classifier for famous/honored people)
  • yì míng xuǎnshǒu 一名选手 = a contestant
• duìshǒu 对手 = opponent [against hand]

Matches

• chǎng 场 = (measure word for sports events)
  • zhè chǎng bǐsài 这场比赛 = this game/match/race
  • bànchǎng 半场 = halftime
• lún 轮 = round (of a sporting event)
  • dì yī lún 第一轮 = first round
• juésài 决赛 = final round
  • bàn juésài 半决赛 = semifinals
• zàntíng 暂停 = timeout
• shīwù 失误 = mistake/fault
• fēn(r) 分(儿) = point/points (score)
  *a lot of commentators are from north where that “-r” gets added

Exclamations (by commentators)

(In alphabetical order. Of course, some of these will be appropriate for some events more than others.)

• chūsè 出色 = outstanding [out-color]
• hǎoqiú 好球 = good shot (in any ball or “ballish” sport)
• piàoliang 漂亮 = beautiful
• qiǎomiào 巧妙 = clever
• jīngcǎi 精彩 = brilliant / spectacular
• kěxī 可惜 = too bad
• shǎnshè 闪射 = shining
• yíhàn 遗憾 = too bad / regretful
• jiāyóu 加油 = Come on! (cheering someone on)
  *I had to add this, even though it’s not really the commentators who say it

If anyone has a suggestion for something that belongs on this list that isn’t here, please feel free to share (I may add more as the weeks go on too).