My Latest Duolingo Milestones

I just crossed Checkpoint 3 on Duolingo (62 out of 88 lessons)...

... and coincidentally completed a 100 day unbroken streak.

Zǒng, The Cute Alien Monster

Learning a language with a non-Roman script provides an added layer of stimulation. I wouldn't exactly call it intellectual stimulation, since it's more often a case of juvenile amusement.

Here's one of the recent characters I came across:

总 zǒng ("total").

When used in a word like 总是 zǒng shì, it means "always". Duolingo's example was topical.

为什么 你 总是 看 手机 wèishéme nǐ zǒngshì kàn shǒujī ("Why do you always look at your phone?")

My mind was elsewhere. The character instantly conjured up a picture of a cute alien monster with antennae and a tail.

I don't know how good my Chinese is going to be, but I'm enjoying the ride and smelling the roses along the way. The méiguīs from planet Zonguo do smell xiāng.

"Four Eyes" Takes On A Whole New Meaning In Mandarin

When Duolingo introduced the word 眼镜 yǎnjìng ("glasses"), I was surprised and confused. Hadn't I learnt this word before, and didn't it mean "eyes"?

I went back and looked up the vocabulary list that I maintain. Sure enough, the word for eyes was the same - almost.

眼睛 yǎnjīng was the word for "eyes" that I had learnt before. It differed from 眼镜 yǎnjìng ("glasses") only in the second character, and when pronounced, in the tone of the second syllable.

If you use the first (high) tone, it means "eyes". If you use the fourth (falling) tone, it means "glasses".

It drives home to me afresh why tones are so important in Mandarin. Can you imagine the bemused looks on people's faces if you tell them, "I seem to have misplaced my eyes. Have you seen them anywhere?"

你 看见 我 的 眼睛 了 吗？nǐ kànjiàn wǒ de yǎnjīng le ma? ("Have you seen my eyes?")

你 看见 我 的 眼镜 了 吗？nǐ kànjiàn wǒ de yǎnjìng le ma? ("Have you seen my glasses?")

"Ya" Gotta Be Kidding!

This is too much of a coincidence. Look at the shape of the characters in Mandarin and Russian that are both pronounced "Ya".

The Mandarin 牙 yá means "tooth", while the Russian я "ya" means "I". I'd give my "I-tooth" to know how these two similar-looking characters came to share the same pronunciation.

You reckon the long Siberian border between Russia and China had something to do with it?

Learning Chinese Idioms Through TV Serials - 1 ("You Are My Hero")

[Spoiler alert: Some elements of the story may be given away by this post.]

Many Chinese serials are available on the Rakuten Viki website as well as on Youku. Which site is better? Well, I've found that they each have their advantages and disadvantages.

The topic of this post is Chinese idioms that I have been learning by watching TV serials.

These samples are from the utterly adorable serial called 你 是 我 的 城市 营垒 nǐ shì wǒ de chéngshì yínglěi (literally "You Are My City Fortress"), with the English title of "You Are My Hero".

1. Episode 2: The heroine Mi Ka wants to help her friend Xiaoman get treatment abroad for her cancer, but the cost is becoming a serious constraint. She despairs, and her other friend Ruan Qingxia cheers her up with a well-known Chinese saying.

"When we get to the mountain, there'll be a way through" is Viki's translation.

Youku's translation is a rhyme ("In the end, things will mend"), but it also helpfully provides the original Chinese saying in Hanzi:

车 到 山 前 必 有 路 chē dào shān qián bì yǒu lù ("When the car arrives in front of the mountain, there must be a road")

2. Episode 21: The hero's friend Lu Fang gives him the idea of taking his girlfriend to a hill resort for her birthday, but when he then requests the hero to invite along a girl he (Lu Fang) likes so he can court her, he is refused. He then calls out the hero for his ingratitude.

"Don't hit the monk after you finish reciting scriptures" is Viki's translation, along with a helpful explanation of the idiom.

Youku has a looser English translation of what the character actually said ("You are kicking down the ladder (after using it)"), since the Chinese subtitles show that the character is referring to a monk (尚 shàng) and scriptures (经 jīng). [I have my doubts about the accuracy of Viki's English translation too, since 你 念 完 经 不要 和尚 啊 你 nǐ niàn wán jīng bùyào héshàng a nǐ seems to translate to "Don't be a monk after you have chanted".]

3. Episode 24: The girl shown (Xu Yanshan) submits a prizewinning thesis at her department, but also sabotages the thesis of her colleague Mi Ka, and is caught out doing so. Her superior then chastises her for needlessly impacting her own career with this unethical act when she was going to win the competition anyway.

Viki's translation offers another Chinese idiom "To add feet when drawing a snake" ("To do something superfluous that ruins something good").

As before, Youku has a looser translation of what was actually said, but its Chinese subtitles show that Viki's English translation was accurate. 只可惜 你 做了 画 蛇 添 足 的 事情 zhǐ kěxí nǐ zuòle huà shé tiān zú de shìqíng, literally "Unfortunately you did the business of drawing a snake to add feet")

[The phrase 只可惜 zhǐ kěxí ("Unfortunately") literally means "only needs pity". The phrase 画蛇添足 huà shé tiān zú "draw snake add feet" is also a synonym for "superfluous", I understand.]

4. Episode 26: When the two male leads are at a restaurant, talking about a friend, the friend suddenly arrives.

"Speak of 曹操 Cáo Cāo (pronounced Tsáo Tsāo) and Cáo Cāo arrives", says the second lead. Viki's translation duly explains the classical allusion. [Note to self: read "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" sometime.]

Again, Youku provides a looser translation, "Speak of the devil", but the Chinese subtitles again show the accuracy of Viki's English translation. 说曹操 曹操到 shuō cáocāo cáocāo dào, literally "Say Cáo Cāo, Cáo Cāo arrives".

5. Episode 21: During a bit of banter, the female lead calls the male lead "shameless".

Viki just provides a smooth English translation - "You're shameless".

Youku's translation is more literal ("Shameless"), and also provides the Chinese characters for the word "shameless".

不 要 脸 bù yào liǎn literally means "not want face", i.e., someone who doesn't mind losing face is by definition shameless.

6. Episode 35: After some relationship advice from the male and female leads, the second male lead appears to have absorbed the lesson well.

Viki provides the idiomatic expression "The student has surpassed the master", but also explains the literal meaning "Blue is made out of indigo but is more vivid than indigo".

Youku's translation stops with the idiomatic translation ("He does better than his master"), but also provides the original saying in Chinese.

青 出 于 蓝，胜 于 蓝 qīng chū yú lán, shèng yú lán literally means "Indigo gives rise to blue, superior blue".

7. Episode 27: This isn't strictly an idiom. It's a pun that I managed to pick up on, thanks to the Chinese subtitles provided by Youku.

Viki translates this as "I'm your cute younger brother."

Youku says, "I'm your lovely brother", but the Chinese subtitles explain this a lot better.

我 是 你 可要 的 弟弟 wǒ shì nǐ kěyào de dìdì loosely translates to "I'm your beloved/desirable/wanted younger brother" because 可要 kěyào (literally "can want" or "can be wanted") means wanted or desirable.

But this is also a pun, because the elder sister's name in the serial is Ke Yao! [I guess the Chinese name "Ke Yao" for a girl is like the common Indian name "Priya", which also means beloved.]

Moral of the story: Watch serials on Rakuten Viki for more faithful English translations that educate you on Chinese idioms and literary allusions; watch them on Youku for the Chinese subtitles that are faithful to the script. Together, the two sites can provide better insights into the language than either can alone.

The Simplicity Of Chinese Grammar - 6 (The Structure Of Comparisons)

Consider these sentences in English:

1. The hotel is close to the airport.

2. My hands are bigger than yours.

3. Her eyes are like her mother's.

4. Your Chinese is as good as his.

In each of these cases, there are two entities being compared in some sense, and the comparison term is in-between.

This is quite simple, but in abstract terms, the structure of the corresponding Chinese sentences is more uniform.

Instead of placing the entirety of the comparison term between the two entities being compared, what's placed between them is the type of comparison. The outcome or result of the comparison follows the second entity.

Let's look at the same four sentences in Mandarin.

1. 酒店 离 机场 很 近 jiǔdiàn lí jīchǎng hěn jìn ("The hotel is close to the airport", literally "Hotel from airport (connector) close")

2. 我 的 手 比 你 的 大 wǒ de shǒu bǐ nǐ de dà ("My hands are bigger than yours", literally "My hands inequality comparator yours big")

3. 她 的 眼睛 像 她 妈妈 的 一样 tā de yǎnjīng xiàng tā māmā de yīyàng ("Her eyes are like her mother's", literally, "Her eyes similarity indicator her mother's same")

4. 你 的 中文 像 他 的 一样 好 nǐ de zhōngwén xiàng tā de yīyàng hǎo ("Your Chinese is as good as his", literally, "Your Chinese similarity indicator his same good")

On the surface, the Chinese sentence structure might seem more complex than the corresponding English one, because it's broken into two parts where a single term might suffice. However, in abstract terms, it has a more uniform approach regardless of the type of comparison being made. You first state how you intend to compare the two entities, and then you follow up with the outcome of the comparison. It's the same whether (1) you're talking about the distance between two places, (2) contrasting two entities, or (3) expressing how two entities are similar.

What The Du Chinese Logo Means

When I first signed up to the Du Chinese website, I didn't pay much attention to either the name of the site or the logo. I guess I must have stumbled upon it based on some favourable review, and signed up after skimming through its content.

[No regrets at all, by the way. It's a fantastic resource, and it has nicely complemented Duolingo in enriching my knowledge of the language. Just two of the texts at the elementary level, "Did you do it for nothing?" and the humorous story "The Nose" packed so many useful words and phrases that it greatly accelerated my learning and made future Duolingo lessons easier. You can change the speed at which the text is read. I always run it at half speed, both to understand the text better and to learn the correct tones.]

Just recently, I thought again about the name of the site, and what should have been obvious to me from the beginning finally struck me. 读 dú ("read") is such an obvious name for a site devoted to helping learners read Chinese texts.

And then I looked at the logo again. Sure enough, it was the Chinese character 读 dú, with the top part stylised to make it look like an open book.

我 终于 明白 了 wǒ zhōngyú míngbái le ("I finally understand")

It's A Thrill To Be Able To Read An Entire Comment In Chinese!

I'm currently watching another Chinese TV serial "You Are My Hero" (Original Chinese 你是我的城池營壘 nǐ shì wǒ de chéngchí yínglěi, literally "You are my fortress").

After the utterly delightful corporate-romantic drama The Rational Life, I didn't think another one could come close, but this one does.

The series is available on Viki.com as well as on Youtube.

When I went to the Youtube page and scrolled through the comments, I saw this one, which reproduced part of a dialog from the first episode.

To my utter astonishment, I could read every single character in the comment!

白：叫 什么 bái: jiào shénme (Bai: "What's your name?")

马：米 佧 mǎ: Mǐ Kǎ (Ma: "Mi Ka")

白：还有 姓 米 的？bái: hái yǒu xìng mǐ de? (Bai: "I haven't heard such a surname")

马：那我爸姓米，我能怎么办啊 mǎ: Nà wǒ bà xìng mǐ, wǒ néng zěnme bàn a (Ma: "That's my father's surname. What can I do?")

It's an amazing feeling to look up from one's lessons on Duolingo and find that what one has learnt has practical application in the real world.

A Dr Seuss Wordplay That Loses Nothing In The Translation!

Duolingo does have a sense of humour. One of the sentences it showed me had a pun on the words 猫 māo ("cat") and 帽子 màozi ("hat").

I realised with amusement that Dr Seuss could easily have had his work translated into Chinese without having his wordplay lost in the translation.

帽子 里 的 猫 màozi lǐ de māo ("The cat in the hat", literally "hat in 's cat").