Mandarin for Kids: What Toys do Chinese Kids Prefer to?

As a kid, you must be interested in toys, games, or some funny things. So today, let us come to see what things Chinese kids like to do during their free time and what are their favorite toys. In this procession, you can learn the Mandarin for kids.

When it comes to the toys kids like to play with, we might as well divide them into boys and girls, because their appetites are totally different. Generally speaking, boys have the common interest all over the world. They all like to play the “玩具模型(wan2 ju4 mo2 xing2)”, which includes many types of toys. For example, “玩具枪(wan2 ju4 qinag1)” is the most popular one of the boys. They can use it to organize a minimal battle. “I like the feeling of holding the popgun in my hand and saying “biu1biu1” ”, a Chinese boy said. Because the topic today is for learning Chinese for kids, let us get to know the structure of the phrase “玩具枪(wan2 ju4 qiang1)”. It is combined with “玩具(wan2 ju4)” and “枪(qiang1)” and both of them are nouns. You may change the “枪” into other characters such as “汽车(qi4 che1)” and “飞机(fei1 ji1)”. Sometimes we can understand the “玩具” here as “模型(mo2 xing2), which means model”.

How about the girls? Of course “芭比娃娃(ba1 bi3 wa2 wa5)” is their favorite. This word I suppose is familiar to you. It is a transliterated word from English. That is “Barbie doll”. Nowadays, with the development of technology, the Barbie doll has also been advanced greatly. There appear many automatic doll which can chat with kids in Chinese. In this way, kids learn Chinese efficiently and they can get to learn how to communicate in Chinese in daily life. For example, the doll may ask you “你叫什么名字呀？(ni3 jiao4 shen2 me5 ming2 zi4)”.

To know more about the interests of Chinese kids, you can join in our Chinese language classes on the internet. 

source:  http://smile123xia.snack.ws/mandarin-for-kids-what-toys-do-chinese-kids-prefer-to.html

Chinese Language Learning: Tang2 Lang2 Bu3 Chan2 Huang2 Que4 Zai4 Hou4

As we all know, the Chinese idiom is always an important part in Chinese language learning. In this online Chinese course, we will come to a Chinese idiom learning that is “螳螂捕蝉黄雀在后(tang2 lang2 bu3 chan2 huang2 que4 zai4 hou4)”.

You may have already heard it during the daily communication, but many people do not know the exact meaning of it especially for those Chinese newly-learners. This idiom comes from a history allusion. To make it more clear to you, I will explain the general meaning in the following paragraphs.

The thorough plot is like the following: there was a tree in the garden with a cicada chirping on it. It did not notice that a mantis waiting behind it wanted to eat it. The mantis bent its body dying to eat up the cicada. However, it did not know there was a siskin behind it. The mantis stretched its neck to catch the cicada without knowing a slingshot aiming at it.

That is the origin meaning of the idiom. As for Chinese language learning, we need to know its practical meaning and usage. Actually, the idiom tells us to be thoughtful rather than shortsighted. Sometimes it refers to those who only focus on the short-term interest but neglect the long-term one, which may cause some potential danger or bad effects.

So this is what we need to know about this idiom. To know more about the Chinese idioms, you can join our other Chinese courses.

source:http://www.blogster.com/smile123xia/chinese-language-learning-tang2-lang2-bu3-chan2-huang2-que4-zai4-hou4

Study Chinese Saying Concerning Dou4 Fu3

As we all know, the amount of foreigners who want to learn Chinese is increasing with the development of Chinese culture. There are a lot of Chinese saying combining with strong Chinese characteristics waiting for us to know. And today, we will come to some useful sayings concerning “豆腐(dou4 fu3), bean curd – one kind of typical Chinese food.”

First of all, let us get to know what is “豆腐(dou4 fu3)”. “豆腐” is made from soy beans and it is often white in color and square in shape. So we usually say “白豆腐(bai2 dou4 fu3)” referring to those who do not know much about the outer world.  

Come back to our business and get to study Chinese saying concerning the “豆腐(dou4 fu3)”.

“刀子嘴豆腐心(dao1 zi5 zui3 dou4 fu3 xin1)” is one of the most frequent saying people say. To study Mandarin well, the ability of guessing the meaning is important. You can guess what does it mean by it’s literal meaning. “刀子嘴(dao1 zi5 zui3)” literally means “the mouth is as sharp as the knife” and “豆腐心(dou4 fu3 xin1)” means “the heart is as soft as the bean curd.” So this saying is mainly used to describe a person. If someone says you are “刀子嘴豆腐心”， that indicates that you are such a person who seems to be mean while talking with others but turns out to be soft-minded finally.

Another interesting saying is “小葱拌豆腐，一清二白(xiao3 cong1 ban4 dou4 fu3 yi4 qing1 er4 bai2)”, which is a two-part allegorical saying. It means something is very clear.

To know more about the Chinese saying, you can study Chinese online and visit our website. See you. 

source: http://smile123xia.bloggets.net/study-chinese-saying-concerning-dou4-fu3/

Online Chinese Course: The Mystery of Chinese Names

As we all know, a name is a special symbol of someone. However, it is not easy to give somebody a good name. There are 1.4 billion people in China and so it is common for people to get the same name. Actually, naming somebody is a process requiring skills and careful consideration. Otherwise, the name may cause some jokes in your life. In this online Chinese course, we are going to talk about the mystery of Chinese names. By knowing it, we will find the attraction of Chinese characters and Chinese culture, which will be beneficial to our Chinese language learning.

When it comes to the Chinese names, it is natural to think of some common names. Just like the names “Tom”, “Mary”, and “Jack”, “Peter” in western world, “张伟(zhang1 wei3)”, “王丽(wang2 li4)”, “刘丹(liu2 dan1)”, “李倩(li3 qian4)”, and “王刚(wang2 gang1)” may be the most common names in China. According to a official survey, there are at least 300 thousand “刘丹” in China.

For many Chinese parents, how to give a special and wonderful name to their kids is a vital process. Because Chinese language is endowed with profound history and deep culture, each Chinese character and each character combination may express specific meaning. For example, the first name of “龙腾(long2 teng2)” is considered to a magnificent name, which contains the most distinguished animal in China——“龙(long2), dragon”. And “龙腾” means the dragon is going to take off and it indicates that the parent wish the child to have a bright future someday.

Here is the joke time. “小明(xiao3 ming2)” always talks a lot in the Chinese courses. One day, the teacher called his name and asked, “Who are you talking with?” 小明 replied, “杜子腾 (du4 zi2 teng2)”. The teacher felt annoyed and said, “How can you say you have a stomach rather than answer my question?” Actually, “杜子腾” has the same pronunciation of “肚子疼(du4 zi3 teng2), which means stomach”. That is why the teacher misunderstood it and caused the joke.

source: http://smile1xia.jigsy.com/entries/education/online-chinese-course-the-mystery-of-chinese-names

Chinese Lesson Online: Qiu1 Ku4

With the temperature getting lower and lower, winter has come to us. A popular internet word “你穿秋裤了吗？(ni3 chuan1 qiu1 ku4 le5 ma5)” has become a heated topic. We are going to talk about what is “秋裤(qiu1 ku4)” and what implied meaning it has. That is the topic today——Chinese lesson online: Qiu1 Ku4.

If you have already attended Chinese language lessons, it will not hard for you to guess the meaning of “秋裤”. Apparently, from the literal meaning, “秋裤” means “秋天穿的裤子(qiu1 tian1 chuan1 de15 ku4 zi3), which refers to the pants worn by people in the autumn”. We can translate it into “the tight underwear pant” However, why does this word become a popular net word?

Let us come to the history of “秋裤”. Actually, you do not need to feel embarrassed to wear “秋裤”, because it is previously a symbol of fashion. It can date back to the AD 8 century when the western people dropped the Romanesque long grown and began to wear pants. When it comes to the popularity of “秋裤”, there is a famous emperor who can not be ignored. That is Henry Ⅷ. He usually wore a tight wool pant with the pointed shoes to go with that. Actually, it is a fashionable match in the present society.

Since this is a Chinese lesson, we need to not only know the basic meaning of “秋裤”, but also we have to understand some implied meaning and some specific usage of it. Nowadays, “秋裤” is more a thermal pant than a fashionable one. It has been closely connected with the cold weather. If some one say “忘穿秋裤(wang4 chuan1 qiu1 ku4)”, that is to say he feels really cold.

To know more fashionable Chinese words, you can search our Chinese lessons online. 

source: http://smile1xia.jigsy.com/entries/education/chinese-lesson-online-qiu1-ku4