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
- 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.)
- zhōngguó duì 中国队 = China’s team (in whatever sport)
- 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]
- duìshǒu 对手 = opponent [against hand]
Matches
- chǎng 场 = (measure word for sports events)
- 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).
SOME:
diǎn huǒ yíshì点火仪式 = lighting of the (Olympic) caularon
guànjūn 冠军 = champion
yàjūn 亚军 = the second
jìjūn 季军 = the third
dādàng 搭档 = a partner
duìyǒu 队友 = teammate
jiàoliàn 教练 = conditioner / coach
jiāshísài加时赛 = extra time
duójīn 夺金 win gold (medal)
B bàigěi 败给A = B Lost to A
dǎbài 打败/ jībài击败 = beat
měnggōng 猛攻 = storm
lǐngxiān 领先 = one-up
dǎ pò jìlù 打破记录 = break the record
fǎnchāo 反超 : the lost scored then being in the lead
bānpíng 扳平 ~ equlize(score)
piàoliàng漂亮 = excellent / Well done!
qǐng qǐlì 请起立 = please stand
to listen to the commentators in chinese ou really only need three vocab words:
Piao4liang 漂亮 pretty
Hao3qiu2 好球 good ball
hao3de 好的 well played/done
That is all the seem to say anyway…
Yes, the most said word by commentators is definitely: piaoliang.
liǎo bù qǐ 了不起 = terrific , amazing
jīzhàn激战/yìngzhàng 硬仗 = tug of war
kěxī 可惜 = too bad
It is proper to translate kěxī 可惜 = what a pity!
Not a matter of one being more “proper” than the other. (After all, who decides what’s “proper”?)
Frankly, I find “what a pity” a bit stilted. It’s the kind of thing you frequently find in English textbooks published in China and written by Chinese people who speak fairly good English, but who haven’t spent enough time in an English-speaking country to have mastered the colloquial register of English. If you google “what a pity”, you’ll find the expression used more on sites where English is being used as an auxiliary language, in literary contexts etc.
If you want to translate 可惜 into colloquial, natural English, “too bad” is just fine in most cases. Check a good bilingual dictionary and you’ll find both “what a pity” and “too bad” listed as equivalents for 可惜.
Often at the end of of a medal ceremony, one would here in French, English, and Mandarin: “Ladies and Gentleman, the Olympic Medalists!”
Does anyone happen to know the Mandarin for this part?
Here’s a link:
http://www.dingtv.com/v/v.php?viewkey=c5d3acdac4a6b99195f7&page=110
@ Kosher77
From the link you sent, it sounds to me like:
huānyíng huòjiǎng yùndòngyuán rùchǎng
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