字. February 2011

  • 二月 / 01 / 2011

    传染

    chuánrǎn - to infect, contagious

  • 二月 / 03 / 2011

    攻击

    gōngjī - attack

    As part of my resolution to return to studying Chinese, I went to back to Smart.fm today for the first time in ages. Sadly, it's soon to become a paid-for service, but I have a month or so before then. One of the words I learn was 攻击, which I found quite a funny word as it's pronounced exactly the same as 公鸡, cockerel. I now want to attempt to create Chinese puns, though I suspect it's very easy given how similar all the words sound. Maybe that's why punning isn't seen as particularly funny in China.

  • 二月 / 03 / 2011

    海盗

    hǎidào - pirate

    I listened to another Popup Chinese podcast on the way to work this morning. The dialogues are entertaing, but include a lot of weird vocab. The last line of one I listened to this morning was translated as "Killer of the high seas, magical doctor, Jake Sweeten". I probably never need to say that.

    她身上有海盗血统。
    She's got pirate blood.

  • 二月 / 05 / 2011

    鼻涕

    bítì - snot

    I heard this word while listening to a podcast this morning and it stood out because it sounds like BT. I can be translated as 'nose tears', which is almost endearing.

    我伤风感冒很重, 直流鼻涕。
    I have got a bad cold, running at the nose.

  • 二月 / 06 / 2011

    麻辣

    málà - hot and numbing

    Today we made a steamboat and used a so-called 麻辣 base. It wasn't as hot and numbing as we fear, though it was a bit artificial. By the end of cooking, it tased great though.

    四川菜麻辣浓香.
    Sichuan food is spicy and hot.

  • 二月 / 09 / 2011

    黑客

    hēikè - hacker

    This was Nciku's word of the day today and I liked it. Interestingly, it literally means 'black guest', but that's probably irrelevant, as the word is obviously phonetic.

    上周这个网站被黑客攻击了。
    Last week this site was attacked by a hacker.