#chinese language

[emmaklee]

list of professions from a Chinese-to-English textbook

[linghxr]

If you’ve ever wondered how to express “let them eat cake” in Chinese, I just came across 何不食肉糜 hébùshíròumí.

[lodgerlodger]

Swearing in Chinese

Chinese is one of those languages where curse words are so commonplace that they lose a bit of their bite, but nevertheless:

操 (cao): The good old "fuck". Common variants: 肏，草，艹，凸

我操 (wo cao): "I fuck". Same as "fuck". Common variants: 卧槽，我草，我艹，我擦，我屮艸芔茻

你妈 (ni ma): "Your mom." Used the same way as "fucking" for emphasis. Common variant: 尼玛

This brings us to the lauded "fuck your family members" series. Here we have:

操你妈 (cao ni ma): "fuck your mom." Common variants: 草拟吗，曹尼玛，操你老母

操你姥姥 (cao ni lao lao): "fuck your grandma."

操你大爷* (cao ni da ye): "fuck your great uncle."

*I have no idea why the great uncle is singled out like that. You usually only fuck someone you're a direct descendant of.

操你祖宗 (cao ni zu zong): "fuck your ancestors."

操你妈逼 (cao ni ma bi): "fuck your mother's cunt." Common variants: 草泥马比, cnmb, cnmlgb

逼 (bi), or "cunt," is not considered a particularly strong word in Chinese. The cunt series also includes:

傻逼 (sha bi): lit. "dumb cunt" i.e. "dumbass" or "dumbfuck". ("dumbfuck author, dumbfuck novel.") Common variants: SB, 煞笔.

牛逼 (niu bi): lit. "cow cunt", but means "badass" or "awesome". Common variants: NB，牛掰，牛笔.

装逼 (zhuang bi): lit. "pretend cunt', refers to when someone is being pretentious or a poser. Basically "装牛逼". Common variant: 装B. (This is where svsss' "B-points" come from.)

And in the same vein:

鸡巴 (ji ba): "dick." Used the same way as "fucking" for emphasis. Common variant: JB

屌 (diao): "dick/cock." Usually mean "badass." Common variant: diu

屌丝 (diao si): "dick hair," or loser, douchebag, incel etc.

[flylauraaa]

hua cheng isn’t a spineless wholesome loverboy or a domineering alpha male CEO, he is a BRAT. one of the first things he does when he and xie lian get together is pout and sajiao for a little kiss before they part ways. when they meet on the ox cart he specifically calls xie lian “gege” even though his appearance as an older teenager makes him too old to call someone something so cutesy*. he doesn’t obey xie lian all the time and has his own life and interiority beyond “is the love interest”. he does what he wants. he is a brat

(*the only other characters to call xie lian “gege” are small children. i can admit it’s innocuous and unsuspicious enough when san lang looks 17, which is still “endearing child” age, but he also does it in adult form and does it to xie lian’s face exclusively. they’re friends on equal footing, they’re not korean and must call the older friend hyung, and other characters use names or “xiong/兄” etc. for friends. hua cheng is purposefully uwu-ifying himself and being flirty haha)

(elaboration/yapping in the tags)

[xiakeponz]

chinese language learners ! so someone ik works on this language exchange platform tokimonki (for chinese / english language exchange) and word rn is there has been an influx of chinese native speakers who want to learn english, but this means an imbalance and there are not enough english speakers who are trying to learn mandarin chinese - so pspsps apparently now is a good time to join for chinese learners, there is like a free trial or smth, if you are looking for this type of method to practice spoken chinese. the platform has pre-prepped materials to help you avoid awkward convos, but there is sorta a pre-req requirement that you need to have a certain intermediate-ish level of chinese first to do exchange seshs. anyway just putting it out there since ik a lot of language exchange usually has too many english first language speakers and not the other way around , hope this reaches the right people

[rageprufrock]

Hey!

Really appreciating the cultural context posts you are sharing! It is really helping to recontextualize important details!!

So just a follow up to the name post, when we write fanfic, how would you say is the most culturally correct/appropriate way we can write the character's name during narration ('Xiaoshuai stood up.' or something ?) versus how they would call each other ?

Firstly: don't worry, this isn't a matter of being culturally correct or appropriate--it just sounds and lands weird to the Chinese ear. Using it wrong isn't offending anybody or rousing the anger of our ancestors or whatever, it's just a dead giveaway that you don't speak Chinese, which isn't a super huge shock when it comes to international fandom anyway, so truly, nobody needs to get pressed about this in any meaningful way unless you're going to write fan fiction that I want to read, in which case please God get this right so I don't have to back button out of that bitch.

In terms of how you'd use names in regular context, it's never incorrect when referring to someone to use their full name. Chinese family names don't serve the same purpose as Western surnames--they're an intrinsic part of a person's name, not separate from their given name. My parents still call me by my full name, including family name, very frequently, and not even because I'm in trouble.

If you worry that's not giving enough variation in your narrative, you can always default to the given name--if it has two syllables in it. If a character's full name is, to bring some necromancing twink action into it, Wei Ying, I cannot express to you how unhinged it sounds for that character to be referred to, whether by another character or by themselves or by the narrator as just "Ying." However, you can absolutely refer to them as Wuxian, as in Wei Wuxian.

Okay now I'm going to get into advanced weirdness 204: what would you refer to a character by if you're the narrator or POV character, referring to a different character?

If I'm thinking about myself, I am only ever going to think about myself in my full name, full stop. I have literally never thought about myself as anything other than Family Name Given Name in the private offices of my brain, unless I am calling myself a dumbass or something of a similar nature.

If I am thinking about someone else, all the things you might reasonably call that person out loud are things you could call them in the narrative. For example, if I am being a pervert about Guo Chengyu (facts), I could refer to him in a depraved screed about the stuff I want to do to and at him as "Guo Chengyu," as "Chengyu," as "Guo-zong" (Director Guo, presuming his work title), "Guo-shao" (young master Guo), "Chengyu-ge," Bro Chengyu (nonfucky), "Chengyu-gege" (unbelievably fucky), "Chengcheng" (if I want to get punched), "Yuyu" (also if I want to get punched), "Cheng'er" (if I'm some kind of female relative who is significantly more senior to him, but mostly limited to moms and maternal aunts), "xiao-Cheng" or "xiao-Yu" (if I'm an older male with reasonable closeness; this would not be appropriate in a work setting unless the person is significantly, significantly more senior than him and probably only acceptable if they're a friend of the family).

But you can also play with this. So if I have a secret crush on Guo Chengyu, and I'm in his long-suffering rotation of secretaries, I might generally refer to him--out loud and in my head--as Guo-zong (Director Guo), but in my heart, late at night when it's safe and I allow myself to hope, I might whisper "Chengyu-gege" to myself like a complete harlot.

I am aware this did not help at all. 👍

[whisperglyph]

🐾 Baby-talk Mandarin for Talking to Your Cat

What are you even doing? 你在干嘛嘛～？ Nǐ zài gàn má ma~? You doing what mm? Whatchu doin’, hmm~?

What do you even know? 你知道啥呀～？ Nǐ zhīdào shá ya~? You know what eh? What do you even knooow~?

You don’t even care. 你才不在乎嘞～ Nǐ cái bú zàihu lei~ You totally don’t care eh. You don’t even caaare~

This cat has a death wish. 这只猫咪不想活啦！ Zhè zhī māomī bù xiǎng huó la! This kitty doesn’t wanna live anymore! This kitty’s got a death wishhh~!

Trying to trip me, I see. 你是不是想绊倒我哇～？ Nǐ shì bú shì xiǎng bàndǎo wǒ wa~? Are you trying to trip me eh~? You tryin’ to trip me again, huhhh~?

Why are you trying to trip me? 为啥老是想绊妈妈啦？ Wèi shá lǎoshì xiǎng bàn māma la? Why always trying to trip mama~? Why you always trippin’ mamaaa?

She’s a good girl. 她是个乖乖喵～ Tā shì ge guāiguāi miāo~ She’s a good good kitty~ She’s a gooood girl~

She’s just a baby, your honor. 她她她只是个小宝贝嘛，法官大人～ Tā tā tā zhǐshì ge xiǎo bǎobèi ma, fǎguān dàren~ She she she is just a lil baby, Your Honor~ She’s just a widdle baaaby, your hooonor~

She’s just a baby girl. 她是小小女孩呀～ Tā shì xiǎoxiǎo nǚhái ya~ She’s lil-lil girl~ She’s just a baby girrrrl~

I love you so much, cat. 猫猫，我好爱你呦～ Māomāo, wǒ hǎo ài nǐ yōu~ Kitty, I love you so much yo~ I wuv you soooo much, kittyyy~

She’s purring. 她在呼噜噜噜啦～ Tā zài hūlū lūlū la~ She’s purring-purring~ She goin’ purr purr purr~!

Do you want some snacks? 要不要吃小零零呀？ Yào bú yào chī xiǎo línglíng ya? Wanna eat some lil snackies~? You want some snaccies, hmm?

True to form. 你就是你喽～ Nǐ jiùshì nǐ lou~ You just you, huh~ That’s my lil chaos queen~

Come on (the bed). 来嘛，上床床～ Lái ma, shàng chuángchuáng~ Come eh, get on bed-bed~ C’mere, get on the beddy-bed!

Come on, Paz. Paz宝贝，快点儿嘛～ Paz bǎobèi, kuàidiǎnr ma~ Paz baby, hurry up eh~ Come on, Pazzy babyyy~

👶 Notes on Cutesy Mandarin

Reduplication is often used in baby-talk or pet-talk:

床 → 床床 (chuángchuáng – “bed-bed”)

抱 → 抱抱 (bàobào – “hug-hug”)

吃 → 吃吃 (chīchī – “eat-eat”)

Final particles like:

嘛 (ma), 啦 (la), 呀 (ya), 哇 (wa), 呦 (yo), and 喽 (lou) add playfulness or whining/emotive tone

Small suffixes like 小 (xiǎo – little), 宝贝 (bǎobèi – baby/darling), or 喵 (miāo – meow/kitty) are affectionate and common when talking to pets