#chinablr

[bluejaymarin]

how do chinese people do alien noises

cus ok in latin languages it's like "beezee glorp zibizi" but thats like, latin aliens

how do you do alien garble in chinese

[hanzillion]

突 = to dash or move forward quickly; abruptly; suddenly; unexpectedly, protrude

It's all about things moving forward and unexpectedly with this one!

Random words that come to mind include unexpectedly or out of the blue 突然 (tūrán), as well as conflict 冲突 (chōngtū) or 突出 (tūchū), something that is prominent or that sticks out.

突发 (tū fā) is interesting as well — it means to break out or appear unexpectedly... like 疾病突发 (jí bìng tū fā), the outbreak of an illness.

It's also a cute onomatopeia for things that have a tapping sound or that chug along, like when your heart goes pit-a-pat (你的心突突地跳, nǐde xīn tūtū de tiào).

[hanzillion]

九 = jiǔ = nine

A gorgeous neon 九 from a restaurant in Taipei!

There's not much to say about the character... 9 is 9. But we can take a detour here to talk about discounts in Chinese, which work the opposite way than the western world and are thus a bit confusing at first: instead of telling you how much the discount is, they tell you how much percentage of the original price you have to pay.

So for instance, if something has a 10% discount, you'd say 九折 (jiǔ zhé), as in, you only paying 90% of the price. The lower the number before the 折 character, the higher the discount. Takes a bit of time to get used to!

There are a few expressions that say "most likely" using 9, like 十之八九 (shí zhī bā jiǔ) or 十有八九 (shí yǒu bā jiǔ). Both of these hint at something happening 8 or 9 times out of 10, so it's quite likely it'll happen.

And lastly, 九死一生 (jiǔ sǐ yī shēng) literally translates into "something who died nine times and is still alive"... so you'd use it if you'd just had a narrow escape. 😅

[hanzillion]

来 = lái = to come, to arrive

Everyone knows this one, right? It's one of the first verbs you'll learn when studying Chinese. Such a simple verb, in such a pleasingly symmetrical character!  

The main meaning is of course to come, or to arrive somewhere.  You can say "She arrived" (她来了, Tā láile) or ask "When is he coming?" (他什么时候来, Tā shénme shíhòu lái).

As a component though, 来 is part of numerous words that indicate origin or time. 将来 (jiāng lái) is the future, 回来 (huí lái) is to come back, 后来 (hòu lái) is afterwards or later.

You'll often hear the phrase 来得及 (lái de jí) when someone says there's still time, or the opposite,  来不及 (lái bu jí) when there's not enough time left. Check out a more complete list on Ninchanese.

Finally, an expression: 来日方长 (lái rì fāng cháng), translated into something like "the day that is coming is long" and meaning, we can deal with that later. :)

[hanzillion]

丽 = lì = beautiful

Sooo many words for describing beauty use the 丽 character, and the first one you’ll read about is likely to be 美丽 (měi lì), or beautiful. You’re also likely to hear 华丽 (huá lì) or 绚丽 (xuàn lì) for gorgeous, 瑰丽 (guī lì) for magnificent, 秀丽 (xiù lì) for pretty... you get the idea.

Sometimes 丽 is also used as a phonetic component to replace “li” or “ri” sounds, like in the word for the flower dahlia 大丽花 (dà lì huā), the indian clothing sari 纱丽 (shā lì), or the margarita cocktail 玛格丽特 (mǎ gé lì tè). 🍹 When the weather is pleasant, with the sun shining and a nice breeze, you can say 风和日丽 (fēng hé rì lì) to describe the day.

[hanzillion]

金 = jīn = gold, money, highly respected

300-something words featuring 金, and they’re all shiny and precious! ✨ The first meaning of the caracter is gold, and it’s also associated with terms that are related with money, like finance 金融 (jīn róng), the rent 租金 (zū jīn), a ransom 赎金 (shú jīn) or simply cash 现金 (xiàn jīn). Naturally, it’s also featured in the name of a lot of animals, plants or anything that is golden. 金鱼 (jīn yú) refers to a goldfish, 金橘 (jīn jú) is a kumquat (aka, a golden tangerine), and 金毛狗 (jīn máo gǒu) is a type of dog with golden fur... can you guess?

As for expressions, how about this one, with a very straightforward meaning: 情比金坚 (qíng bǐ jīn jiān), ie, love is more solid than gold.

Another photo from my friend Iris, in Hong Kong!

[hanzillion]

肉 = ròu = meat, flesh

肉 is all about meaty stuff! 鸡肉 (jī ròu) is chicken meat, pork is 猪肉 (zhū ròu), beef is 牛肉 (niú ròu)... basically, one puts 肉 next to an animal to refer to the meat of that animal. Meat can also be lean 瘦肉 (shòu ròu) or fatty 肥肉 (féi ròu), it can be raw 生肉 (shēng ròu), minced 碎肉 (suì ròu) or shaped into meatballs 肉丸 (ròu wán)... And of course, this character shows up on all menus featuring meat dishes like twice cooked pork 回锅肉 (huí guō ròu) or sweet and sour pork 咕咾肉 (gū lǎo ròu).  The Chinese equivalent of the European “Let them eat cake“ is 何不食肉糜 (hé bù shí ròu mí) — which literally means “Why don’t they eat meat?”.  It was said by emperor Hui of Jin when told that his people didn't have enough rice to eat.  🙄 

[hanzillion]

右 = yòu = right, right-wing politics

This one is pretty straightforward: 右 is the physical right side of things. 右手(yòu shǒu) is your right hand, 右边 (yòu bian) of something is the right side of it, and 右箭头 (yòu jiàn tóu) is an arrow that points to the right.

左右 (zuǒ yòu) is literally left-right, and it means “more or less”. So for instance, if you want to tell your friend you’ll come over around 10, you can say 我十点左右来 (wǒ shí diǎn zuǒyòu lái). On the political side, 右派 (yòu pài) is the right-wing party, and 极右翼 (jí yòu yì) would be the extreme right. 

And if you’re in Hong Kong, don’t forget to look right before crossing the road!