第七十天

[nnozomi]

Review day! Below are the points covered this week, for catching up if you missed a day or want to practice a bit more or have extra questions or...

语法
差不多, chàbuduō, about/roughly
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Approximations_with_%22chabuduo%22
都， dōu， for quantity
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Emphasizing_quantity_with_%22dou%22
在，zài， + verb for -ing
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_actions_in_progress_with_%22zai%22
一直, yīzhí，constantly, all along
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22all_along%22_with_%22yizhi%22
已经, yǐjing， already
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22already%22_with_%22yijing%22

词汇
爱好, ài hào, hobby
白, bái, white （白天 bái tiān，明白 míngbai）
半, bàn , half （半天 bàn tiān，半年 bàn nián，一半 yí bàn）
帮, bāng, help （帮忙 bāng máng）
包, bāo，bag/package （包子 bāo zi，面包 miànbāo，钱包 qián bāo，书包 shū bāo）
杯， bēi, cup (杯子bēi zi)
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-1-word-list/

Also it's still 第七天, so if you want to throw grammar to the winds and post something to relax with, that also works.

Guardian, in brief:
啊，幸运你给我喝了一杯咖啡，要不然我可真的要睡过去了... in hopes that the sleepy among us will have less dangerous coffee...

Also, as a 已经 example, have Zhu Yilong singing 后会无期。 Not to end the week on a sad note or anything, oh dear.

Comments

[yaaurens]

I heard this silly but also wonderful song by a British band that has moved to / lived in China for some time now. They have some other relatively easy to understand songs covering such topics as cultural misunderstandings in gift-giving to romantic partners (don't give shoes! or umbrellas!).

[grayswandir]

silly but also wonderful song

Hah, this is cute. :) And I like that it's simple enough that I can actually understand some of it!

don't give shoes! or umbrellas!

I did not know this! And actually, I'm watching a show right now where someone gave his wife a new pair of shoes, and then their house was burned down shortly afterward. I guess Chinese viewers would have suspected something bad was going to happen as soon as they saw shoes being given as a gift!

The only gift-giving superstitions I knew about before were clocks, pears, and things in sets of four. I hadn't heard about umbrellas or shoes, so I just went to look up other things not to give as gifts, and wow, it seems like there are a lot. :/ Mirrors, antiques, old gems, cloth dolls, knives or sharp objects, handkerchiefs, yellow chrysanthemums, anything black or white, candles, wind chimes...

(I can now see that the Hong Kong mystery/horror series I watched a little while back had a lot more superstition references than I realized. Yellow chrysanthemums were given as gifts multiple times, and there was a creepy cloth doll gift and an antique coin gift. I wonder how many other not-so-subtle references I'm missing.)

[yaaurens]

So. Many. Superstitions! It's always interesting to me to see what cultures view as good or bad luck, and when similar things overlap in many cultures. Also, I suppose with so many more homophones in Chinese, you get a lot more of items being associated with bad or unlucky things.

[nnozomi]

lol, that is hilarious (also 痛感, oh dear).
cultural misunderstandings in gift-giving to romantic partners (don't give shoes! or umbrellas!).
This cracked me up, because I have received an umbrella (it's pretty!) in the not-distant past from my husband, and he has been actively saying "Let me buy you some new shoes for your birthday," omigod. I'll have to tell him this wouldn't fly in China.

[yaaurens]

I have on more than one occasion been given shoes for my birthday, but that's usually because I've asked for them!