How Much Do You Know About Chinese New Year?

Understanding Chinese culture is one of the best way to learn mandarin. Of the various Chinese cultures and traditions, the Chinese New Year culture is a special one. New Year is a big day to people all around the world. What’s the New Year like in China? How much do you know about Chinese New Year?

Traditional Chinese New Year is not what we call “New Year”. In China, it’s called “春节 (chūn jié)” or the Spring Festival. Spring Festival to Chinese is what Christmas to the West.

When is Chinese New Year?

The 1st day of the 1st month in Chinese lunar calendar [中国农历， zhōnɡ ɡuó nónɡ lì]] is the Chinese New Year. It can be any day in January or February.

Chinese New Year Paintings

1. The Fortune Character 福 fú. The Chinese character Fu means “fortune”.

2. 鱼 [yú, fish], symbol of wealth

3. 门神 [mén shén, Gods of Gate], symbol of safety and protection

4. 春联 [chūn lián, Spring Festival Couplets]

Pasting couplets expresses people’s delight in the festival and wishes for a better life in the coming year.

5. 财神 [cái shén, The God of Wealth]

Traditional Chinese New Year Foods

腊八粥 [là bā zhōu, La-ba Porridge]

“La-ba” means the 8th of the last month in Chinese Lunar Calendar. 腊八粥 is made of rice, peanuts, red bean, mung beans, lotus seeds etc.

饺子 [jiǎo zi, Dumpling Dumplings]

It is one of the most important Chinese New Year foods. It should be had on the three dates during the whole New Year period.

团圆饭 [tuán yuán fàn, Chinese New Year Eve Reunion Dinner]

The Reunion Dinner is each year's most important dinner of the family. All family members will try to come together for this dinner.

年糕 [nián ɡāo, Year Cake]

Having this food is to bless that each year's life gets higher or better.

汤圆 [tān yuán,ɡ Rice Glue Ball]

Its name "Tang-yuan" in Chinese has similar pinyin pronunciation as the word for "reunion", so having this food connotes the blessing of reunion.

Expressing dates and days in Chinese, MeetMandarin

In this video, you will learn how to express dates and days of the week in
mandarin Chinese.

Year 年

To say a certain YEAR in Chinese, you can read a four-digit number separately plus

the character 年 (nián).

1998 年  yī jiǔ jiǔ bā nián

2000年  èr línɡ línɡ línɡ nián

2002年  èr línɡ línɡ èr nián

2017年  èr línɡ yī qī nián  

Month 月

In Chinese, we put the character 月 after number 1 - 12 to express the twelve months

of the year.

一月 yī yuè

二月 èr yuè

三月 sān yuè

四月 sì yuè

五月 wǔ yuè

六月 liù yuè

七月 qī yuè

八月 bā yuè

九月 jiǔ yuè

十月 shí yuè

十一月 shí yī yuè

十二月 shí èr yuè

Dates 日/号

The name of the dates are produced by the numbers 1 to 31 plus 号 or 日.

二月六号èr yuè liù hào

十月十二号 shí yuè shí èr hào

十一月二十二日 shí yī yuè èr shí èr rì

十二月三十一日 shí èr yuè sān shí yī rì

Learn full lesson of Express Dates and Days

Online Chinese class

Chinese Word 小心眼

In this episode of “Bite the word”, we are going to learn a new word: 小心眼（xiǎo xīn yǎn）. 小means small, the third tone; 心, is mind, the first tone; 眼, the third tone. eyes.

Literally, “心眼” means “mind and eyes”, but here, “心眼” refers to one’s mind. So “小心眼” means “someone’s mind is small, he or she is petty and cares too much about small things”. In Chinese, it’s used to describe someone who is narrow- minded and mean.

For example, if your friend Jack held a secret grudge against you and didn’t talk to you for two years just because you said he went out of tune when he was singing, you can say “Jack 是小心眼!” or “Jack 的心眼很小!” Both of the sentences mean that Jack is petty.

Besides, 小心眼 can also be used to describe someone who is stingy with money.

Dialogue 1

    

Mark yì zhí bù ɡēn wǒ shuō huà， tā zài shēnɡ wǒ qì mɑ？

A：Mark 一直不跟我说话，他在生我气吗？

Mark has been avoiding talking to me. Is he mad at me?

   bú huì de. tā bú shì ɡè xiǎo xīn yǎn！

B：不会的。他不是个小心眼！

No. He is not a petty person.

Dialogue 2

   wǒ men hé wánɡ lěi yì qǐ qù chī fàn bɑ！

A：我们和王磊一起去吃饭吧！

Let’s eat out with Wang Lei!

    wǒ bú qù. tā fēi chánɡ xiǎo xīn yǎn, měi cì chī fàn, tā dōu bù tāo qián.

B：我不去。他非常小心眼，每次吃饭，他都不掏钱。

I am not going. Wang Lei is very stingy. He never paid the bill.

Now you can practice the word and learn the dialogues in the video below:

Chinese Word 小心眼

In addition to our online video lessons, you can also learn mandarin on skype. Our online mandarin classes are designed by capable teachers with rich experience in TCFL. You can improve your comprehensive skills of Chinese by role-play, topic discussion, practice and more! Sign up for a 1-on-1 free trial lesson to see how our class works!

Chinese Meaning of 吹牛

In this episode of “Bite the word”, we are going to learn a new word which is related to an animal - 牛. 吹牛。“吹”，the first tone, blow； “牛”，the second tone, cattle. “Blow a cow”? Can you blow a cow and let it move? Definitely NO! So, don’t brag! 不要吹牛！

You may ask: Horses or sheep are heavy too. Why don’t you say ‘blow a horse or a sheep’? Well. Actually，“吹牛” is the abbreviation of “吹牛皮”. “牛皮”means cowhide. In ancient China, people thought cowhide cannot be blown into a round shape, because cowhide is too firm and too big. So if someone say: I can blow a cowhide, he must be bragging. In Chinese, we use “吹牛” or “吹牛皮”to describe a man who always talks big regardless of reality.

Dialogue 1

wǒ yǒu shì jiè shànɡ zuì hǎo de qì chē.

我有世界上最好的汽车。

I have the best car in the world.

bié chuī niú le ， kuài qù xiū chē bɑ ！

别吹牛了，快去修车吧！

Don’t brag. Your car is waiting for you to repair!

Dialogue 2

Linda shuō tā de nán pénɡ you hěn shuài

Linda说她的男朋友很帅。

Linda said her boyfriend is very handsome.

tā jiù ài chuī niú ， tā ɡēn běn méi yǒu nán pénɡ you ！

她就爱吹牛，她根本没有男朋友！

She is very good at bragging. She doesn’t even have a boyfriend!

If you have any questions please leave your questions in the comments section. If you like our lessons, please subscribe to our channel and share it with your friends. See you next time. Zài jiàn.

View the video of 吹牛

Audio and video resources can be extremely beneficial to Chinese-language students, especially for pronunciation and speech development. If you want to watch more videos about Chinese learning, please visit our youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/MeetMandarinChinese

What does WaterMelon Eater mean in Chinese?

Nowadays in China, you can hear people say “吃瓜群众” very often in daily conversations, especially among young people. As in this sentence:

wǒ zhǐ shì yí ɡè bù mínɡ zhēn xiànɡ de chī ɡuā qún zhònɡ.

我只是一个不明真相的吃瓜群众。

I am just the one who don’t know anything about the facts.

The Internet buzz word 吃瓜群众（chī ɡuā qún zhònɡ） is on top of list of must-learn words in our mandarin class online. Literally, it means “people eating watermelon”. 瓜 is a word for “melon”. In this phrase, it refers to watermelon specifically. However, the real meaning of吃瓜群众 has nothing to do with watermelon.

On various Internet forums where people post questions or discussions, a lot of people will engage in the discussion and start the casual chatting, some relevant to the point, some irrelevant. Some other people just choose to be onlookers instead of posting any comments or expressing an opinion. Since 2016, people started to call such kind of people吃瓜群众, as a way to show “I have nothing to do with the matter being discussed.” This phrase can be used to refer to onlookers who are unaware of the facts or those who don’t care what’s being discussed.

E.g.

měiɡè xīnwén dū huì yǒu hěnduō chīɡuāqúnzhònɡ wéiɡuān.

每个新闻都会有很多吃瓜群众围观。

There will be many onlookers behind every piece of news.

nǐ duì báibǎihé chūɡuǐ zěnmekàn？

A: 你对白百合出轨怎么看？

  What do you think of Bai Baihe having an extra-marital affair?

wǒ méi shénme kànfǎ. wǒ zhǐshì yíɡè chīɡuāqúnzhònɡ.

B: 我没什么看法，我只是一个吃瓜群众。

  Nothing. I am just a watermelon eater.

Where does the phrase originate from? Despite the many versions, one popular saying is that it came from a roadside interview. A reporter was asking an old man what was going on. The old man answered: “I don’t know anything. I was eating watermelon”.

Learn more buzz words: Learn Chinese Word 2016

What It Takes to Be Fluent in Chinese

Every Chinese learner wants to reach a fluent level of Chinese speaking in the fastest way possible. However, that depends on how much time you spend, how good you are at learning languages and what you mean by “fluent.”

Many people feel frustrated about speaking Chinese fluently because they don’t know what “fluent” means. What Does It Mean to Be Fluent in Chinese? There are many definitions and perspectives floating out there. On the most basic level, being fluent in Chinese means that you can speak Chinese on everyday topics without slowing down too much. It’s not all about filling your expressions with too many fancy Chinese slang words or classic idioms, though those things will certainly help you along the way. Being fluent means you’re able to make yourself understood. It means that you understand the conversation well enough to be able to keep the conversation in a meaningful way. Like online Chinese classes for kids, it should be interactive and two-way communications.

For most people, when speaking of “fluency”, they seem to refer to speaking only, but it is actually two-way matter. Language is a tool for communication. Being able to hold a meaningful conversation in Chinese requires you to understand what the other party is saying and respond to that with relevant phrases of your own. It’s certainly possible to speaking in a manner which sounds very fluent while not understanding what the other person is saying, but this is quite meaningless. Being able to speak Chinese is only one side of the equation, being able to understand is at least as important. When you have this concept in mind, you will have a clear understanding on which parts of Chinese you will need to work on, instead of only focusing on speaking.

You always find yourself in a situation, where you can express yourself, but not smoothly enough. What do you need to do? Practice, practice and more practice! You don’t need more words or grammar, you just need to listen and speak more.

Easier said than done! “How do I practice?” you may ask.

There’s a relatively easy way to do it. There are many phrases in any language that carry almost some meaning. You can try to practice speaking these phrases as fast as you can, and then use them in sentences. After you have handled lots of these phrases, you will find you are speaking them out as a way of habit, instead of searching from word to word when you are conducting a Chinese conversation. Of course, the most difficult part is not memorizing lots of these phrases, but the time and effort that you put practicing them!

In order to converse freely in Chinese, one also has to have relative good ability of listening comprehension. Like we mentioned above, if you speak without listening, everything is meaningless. So, to speak Chinese to a fluent level, you should not only polish on your listening, but your listening ability as well. Eastasiastudent has a blog article on How to improve your Chinese listening in the early stages .

Besides taking advantage of free online learning resources, you can also try to practice your Chinese speaking (and listening as well) through 1on1 Chinese class online. It’s cool to speak to a skype Chinese tutor at your preferred time and place, because the cost is low and you don’t need to waste a lot of time commuting to local schools.

Again, the best way to learn this is to listen closely to how Chinese people do this when speaking with you or with each other. Many students dream of becoming fluent in Chinese but ultimately feel discouraged by the difficulty of the task. I’m here to tell you that fluency is definitely within reach and that with the right kind of practice, you can become fluent too!

Learn Chinese Vocabularies - Occupation

职业 (zhí yè)

Occupation

yīshēnɡ 医生 doctor	shēnɡbìnɡ le, yào jíshí kàn yīshēnɡ. 生病了，要及时看医生。 One should see a doctor timely when ill.
hù shi 护士 nurse	dānɡ hùshi hěn xīnkǔ. 当护士很辛苦。 It’s hard work to be a nurse.
yǎn yuán 演员 actor/actress	tāde mènɡxiǎnɡ shì chénɡwéi yìmínɡ yǎnyuán. 她的梦想是成为一名演员。 Her dream is to be an actress.
ɡē shǒu 歌手 singer	tā cénɡjīnɡ shì yìmínɡ jiǔbā ɡēshǒu. 她曾经是一名酒吧歌手。 She used to be a bar singer.
jīnɡ jì rén 经纪人 broker	tā bǎ zìjǐ de jīnɡjìrén jiěɡù le. 他把自己的经纪人解雇了。 He fired his broker.
dǎo yǎn 导演 director	tā zhǐshì yíɡè bùzhīmínɡ de dǎoyǎn. 他只是一个不知名的导演。 He is only an unknown director.
chénɡ xù yuán 程序员 programmer	hěnduōrén rènwéi chénɡxùyuán hěn ɡúbǎn. 很多人认为程序员很古板。 Many people think that programmers are very dull.
jǐnɡ chá 警察 policeman	jǐnɡchá shì hěn wēixiǎn de zhíyè. 警察是很危险的职业。 Policeman is a very dangerous job.
lǐ fà shī 理发师 hairdresser	zàizhōnɡɡuó, hěnduōrén kànbùqǐ lǐfàshī zhèɡe zhíyè. 在中国，很多人看不起理发师这个职业。 In China, many people look down upon the profession of hairdresser.
jiā tínɡ zhǔ fù 家庭主妇 housewife	dàbùfen zhōnɡɡuó nǚxìnɡ bùxiǎnɡ dānɡ jiātínɡzhǔfù. 大部分中国女性不想当家庭主妇。 A large majority of Chinese women don’t want to be a housewife.
sī jī 司机 driver
jì zhě 记者 journalist
kuài jì 会计 accountant
mó tè’r 模特儿 model
zhí yuán 职员 office worker
lǎo shī 老师 teacher
ɡōnɡ chénɡ shī 工程师 engineer
zuò jiā 作家 writer
mì shu 秘书 secretary
fān yì 翻译 translator
chú shī 厨师 chef
xiāo shòu 销售 salesperson
kè fú 客服 customer service
lǜ shī 律师 lawyer
nónɡ mín 农民 farmer
dǎo yóu 导游 tour guide
qīnɡ jié ɡōnɡ 清洁工 cleaner
xiū lǐ ɡōnɡ 修理工 repairman
fú wù yuán 服务员 waiter/waitress

Check out the recordings at: http://www.meetmandarin.com/resources/vocabulary-list/occupation.html

Or view more Chinese vocabulary lists.