A quick one for today. The other day I heard an Indonesian Chinese speaker refer to her (paternal) grandparents as “奶奶爷爷”. This immediately struck my ear as strange, as it’s usually said as “爷爷奶奶”. It then got me thinking about how it’s funny that languages tend to have fairly fixed order for what sounds most natural with ‘A and B’ sorts of noun-phrases.
分类存档：Culture
土澳 Tǔ’Ào – Affectionate Pet Name or Derogatory Slur?
Okay, so I’ve got a bit of a bee in my bonnet (so unlike me, I know…) and I need your help. It’s about a Chinese-related issue. It’s the way Chinese people refer to Australia in Chinese. Nowadays, lots of people, rather than using the standard word for Australia – which is 澳大利亚 Àodàlìyà, use a more recently coined term “土澳” Tǔ’Ào. I have a sense that this word is at its roots, not entirely respectful, but is perhaps so widely used that Chinese people have lost a sense of this. Interestingly, this then sparked an argument with a good Chinese friend of mine and I’m eager to get an outsider’s take on the issue (particularly if you don’t speak Chinese).
‘Cutesy’ Chinese: The Art of 撒娇
I haven’t posted in a while, because life has been super-hectic. Like I’ve been promising for a while, I have several posts in the works that I hope to bring to you soon-ish. To tide you over for now, I thought I’d try and write a post about something that I mentioned to a student the other day – how to sound ‘cutesy’ in Chinese.
42 Ways to Say Goodbye
How many ways do you know how to say ‘goodbye’ in Chinese? Chances are you probably only know 再见 and maybe 拜拜~. Let’s spice up your Chinese with some other ways to bid someone farewell:
Tips Miniseries (2/9): 嗯
If you want to truly sound like a CHINESE Chinese, there’s no getting around it, sooner or later you are going to have to learn to grunt. The truth is, rather than using 是, 对 or the verb of the question, one of the most common ways to respond to a statement or question is to simply say (though I think ‘say’ is pushing it) 嗯 ng or 啊 a (the latter with varying intonations, depending upon the circumstance). To Anglos, this can feel a little too ‘primitive’ or ‘impolite’,…
Tips Miniseries (1/9): Rude Politeness
Less of the 请, less of the 谢谢, less of the 您贵姓 – please! A really ‘foreign’-sounding feature of English-speakers’ Chinese is the excessive politeness – it tends to be over-seasoned with ‘polite’ expressions like please and thank you. Whilst, to the English palate, this seasoning – whether used with friends, strangers, superiors, or even our own family – is pleasant to the taste, to the Chinese palate, it’s taste is somewhat vapid.
中文秘诀 | The Secret of Chinese 