Mandarin Weekly (每周中文) #108, 2017-February-6

大家好！ (Hi, everyone!) This is Mandarin Weekly #108, a free newsletter with links and information for those of us learning Chinese.

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Chicken words

Intermediate It’s the Year of the Rooster, and thus rooster- and chicken-related sayings are all the rage. Here are some phrases and idioms you might want to use, all of which include the use of chickens:

https://www.asianlanguageschool.com/20-chinese-idioms-contain-word-chicken/

Twitter: @AlsSydney

Creating your own intermediate course

Intermediate Do you already have the basics of Chinese down, and want to get even better? Here are some tips for improving your speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension:

http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/blog/2017/02/01/chinese-intermediate-course/

Twitter: @FluentU

Why is Chinese hard?

A humorous (and encouraging) essay about what makes Chinese hard to learn for native English speakers (and for many other foreigners):

http://www.saporedicina.com/english/why-learning-chinese-is-so-hard/

About family

Intermediate Here are some traditional Chinese proverbs about the family, along with English translations — including the equivalent English proverb, if one exists:

http://www.digmandarin.com/chinese-proverbs-about-family.html

Twitter: @DigMandarin

China’s lunar calendar

Why is Chinese New Year always on a different day? It’s actually on the same (first) day of each year — but only if you’re using the Chinese lunar calendar. Here’s an explanation of that calendar (which is, FYI, quite similar to the Jewish calendar in its calculations):

https://medium.com/@mengjiama/know-about-china-tradition-chinese-new-year-1-31b13ecf47c1#.w756uq52u

It’s bustling here!

Beginner If a place is noisy — in the bustling, full-of-life sense — then it’s called 热闹 (rè nao):

https://themandarincornerblog.com/2017/01/30/why-is-china-so-noisy/

Buying and selling

Beginner The character for “buy” is 买 (mǎi). What are its origins, and how is it related to the character for “sell,” 卖 (mài)?

http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2017/01/on-the-character-%E4%B9%B0/

Twitter: @WorldOfChinese

Trump’s two names

How do you say “Trump” in Chinese? There are actually two different ways, which can lead to some confusion:

http://www.whatsonweibo.com/trump-two-different-names-chinese/

What employees think

Beginner Employees returning from the Spring Festival don’t want to return to work, and dream of having their own company — because after all, the boss doesn’t have to work, right? A short, simple story:

http://www.imandarinpod.com/hoola/index.php/podcasts/14-2009-12-02-23-37-05/2746-2017-02-04-07-40-31

Twitter: @imandarinpod

Spring is in the air

Beginner Now that the Spring Festival (i.e., Chinese New Year) has passed, we can learn some simple sayings about this time of year:

http://teresarainsegna.blogspot.com/2017/02/inizio-della-primavera-beginning-of.html

Listening challenge

Intermediate If you’re studying Chinese, and you aren’t yet able to comprehend people at native speeds, then you should be practicing your listening. This month, Hacking Chinese has a listening challenge. Go and listen to as much as you can:

http://www.hackingchinese.com/chinese-listening-challenge-february-1st-28th/

Twitter: @HackingChinese

The egg and the rock

Intermediate What happens when a rock and an egg meet? A short story:

http://www.imandarinpod.com/hoola/index.php/podcasts/14-2009-12-02-23-37-05/2745-2017-02-02-16-34-28

Twitter: @imandarinpod

The hedgehog family

Intermediate A short story about a family of hedgehogs:

http://mychinesereading.com/the-family-of-hedgehogs/

A beautiful day

Beginner Is it a clear and sunny day where you live? If so, you can say it’s 晴朗 (qíng lǎng):

http://www.e-putonghua.com/zone/index.php/2017/01/29/listen-35/

Twitter: @eputonghua

It’s not allowed

Intermediate If you’re ever in China, you’ll see all sorts of signs (and sometimes hear announcements) telling you what is and isn’t allowed. But there are several phrases for such warnings; what’s the difference between them?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/22592/is-there-a-distinction-between-%E7%A6%81%E6%AD%A2-j%C3%ACnzh%C7%90-and-%E4%B8%A5%E7%A6%81-y%C3%A1nj%C3%ACn-which-both-mean-for

The Art of War

Advanced The classic “The Art of War” is written in Chinese as 兵法 (bīng fǎ). Why isn’t it called 武術 (wǔ shù)?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/22618/difference-between-%E5%85%B5%E6%B3%95-vs-%E6%AD%A6%E8%A1%93

Your Chinese is so good!

Intermediate Even if your Chinese is terrible, if you try to speak in China, you’ll be told that it is excellent. (Take it from my personal experience!) How should you respond to someone giving you an undeserved compliment?

http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/22597/what-is-the-appropriate-response-to-your-chinese-is-so-good