Learning Chinese Idiom for HSK Preparation

What is elementary Chinese? Generally speaking, it is concerned with the basic pronunciation, the basic writing of the characters, and the basic sentences used for communication.

Many foreign students are learning Chinese now. After they have passed the basic level of Chinese, what is more important for them is to passing the HSK. They are learning advanced Chinese in their high school, which is what we call the AP Chinese Practice.

The Chinese idiom plays a significant role in Chinese language. Because the idioms always indicate profound meanings with the concise characters, it has been a big problem for their HSK preparation.

Today, I will introduce one of the most frequently-used idiom to you that is “一言九鼎(yi4 yan2 jiu3 ding3)”. “一言(yi4 yan2)” means a word or a sentence. “九鼎(jiu3 ding3)” is a precious ritual vessel in ancient China. it was said that the “九鼎” was build by Yu, the emperor of the Xia Dynasty. It is symbolic of “九州(jiu3 zhou1)”, a poetic name for the whole China. The literal meaning is “the utterance is as heavy as a 九鼎”, so we can easily get to know its implied meaning. It emphasizes the importance of one’s utterance. Once a word is uttered, it is hard to be changed. That is the implied meaning of “一言九鼎(yi4 yan2 jiu3 ding3)”.

For example, you can say “我一定会按时完成任务，一言九鼎(wo3 yi2 ding4 hui4 an4 shi2 wan2 cheng2 ren4 wu4, yi4 yan2 jiu3 ding3)”, which means I will finish the task in time and I will keep my word.

If you are learning the AP Chinese, you will get to learn some synonymies of this idiom, such as “一诺千金(yi2 nuo4 qian1 jin1)” and “一言既出驷马难追(yi4 yan2 ji4 chu1 si4 ma3 nan2 zhui1)”. They all express the similar meanings.

source:  http://smile123xia.buzznet.com/user/journal/20982631/learning-chinese-idiom-hsk-preparation/