Learn some common Chinese idioms
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Intro |
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| Michael: What are some common Chinese idioms? |
| Dehua: And how are they used? |
| Michael: At ChineseClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Consider the following situation. Karen Lee hears an idiom she's not familiar with. She asks Zhenzhen Zhou, |
| "What does ‘Yījiànzhōngqíng' mean?" |
| 李 凯伦: 「一见钟情」是什么意思？ ("Yījiànzhōngqíng" shì shénme yìsi?) |
| Dialogue |
| 李 凯伦: 「一见钟情」是什么意思？ ("Yījiànzhōngqíng" shì shénme yìsi?) |
| 周 贞珍: 意思是"第一次见到就爱上了"。 (Yìsi shì "dì yī cì jiàn dào jiù ài shàng le.") |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| 李 凯伦: "一见钟情」是什么意思" ("Yījiànzhōngqíng" shì shénme yìsi?) |
| Michael: "What does 'Yījiànzhōngqíng' mean?" |
| 周 贞珍: 意思是"第一次见到就爱上了"。 (Yìsi shì "dì yī cì jiàn dào jiù ài shàng le.") |
| Michael: "It means 'love at first sight.'" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: The topic of this lesson is Chinese idioms, or... |
| Dehua: 成语 (chéngyǔ). |
| Michael: A majority of them consist of four characters, so we also call it |
| Dehua: 四字成语 (sì zì chéngyǔ), |
| Michael: literally "four-character idiom." An idiom is a metaphorical expression, so it represents a meaning that is not evident or literal from looking at the words themselves. |
| A good example for this is the English "a piece of cake," which means that something is done very easily. Actually, the equivalent in Chinese has a similar metaphor. The expression is... |
| Dehua: 小菜一碟 (xiǎocài yī dié), |
| Michael: which literally means "a small plate of food." |
| Michael: In the dialogue, we hear the idiom... |
| Dehua: 一见钟情 (yījiànzhōngqíng), |
| Michael: and its literal translation is "one sight madly in love"; that's a very visual expression, right? Imagine someone who took one look at another person and fell in love immediately. Therefore, we use this idion to describe someone who falls in love at first sight. |
| Michael: Here is an example sentence using this idiom... |
| Dehua: 你相信一见钟情吗？(Nǐ xiāngxìn yījiànzhōngqíng ma?) |
| Michael: It means "Do you believe in love at first sight?" Here is another sample sentence: |
| Dehua: 我们是在大学里认识的，我对她一见钟情。(Wǒmen shì zài dàxué lǐ rènshi de, wǒ duì tā yījiànzhōngqíng.) |
| Michael: It means "We met at the university, and I fell in love with her at first sight." |
| Michael: The meaning of this idiom is quite straightforward compared to its literal meaning. Since it is an idiom, people use the expression how it is without changing the words. For example, in English, we don't say "a piece of chocolate" to refer to "an easy task," only "a piece of cake" is used. Similarly, in Chinese, people do not say |
| Dehua: 一看钟情 (yī kàn zhōngqíng) |
| Michael: in which the character |
| Dehua: 看 (kàn) |
| Michael: has a very similar meaning to the character |
| Dehua: 见 (jiàn), |
| Michael: even though both characters mean "to see." |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review the sentences we've heard in this lesson. I'll say the sentence in English, and then I want you to try and reply in Chinese. Dehua will then model the correct answer—listen to her carefully and repeat, with emphasis on your pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how to say "What does ‘Yījiànzhōngqíng' mean?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 「一见钟情」是什么意思？ ("Yījiànzhōngqíng" shì shénme yìsi?) |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen again and repeat. |
| Dehua: 「一见钟情」是什么意思？ ("Yījiànzhōngqíng" shì shénme yìsi?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 「一见钟情」是什么意思？ ("Yījiànzhōngqíng" shì shénme yìsi?) |
| Michael: Now for our next sentence. Do you remember how to say "It means ‘love at first sight.'" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 意思是"第一次见到就爱上了"。 (Yìsi shì "dì yī cì jiàn dào jiù ài shàngle.") |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Dehua: 意思是"第一次见到就爱上了"。 (Yìsi shì "dì yī cì jiàn dào jiù ài shàngle.") |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 意思是"第一次见到就爱上了"。 (Yìsi shì "dì yī cì jiàn dào jiù ài shàngle.") |
| Cultural Expansion |
| Michael: Idioms can make language so much more interesting. Even native Chinese speakers like to play word games with idioms. One of them is called |
| Dehua: 成语接龙 (chéngyǔ jiēlóng). |
| Michael: This game is like Word Chain. You take the last character of the previous idiom and start your next idiom with that character. For example, we have just learned the idiom |
| Dehua: 一见钟情 (yījiànzhōngqíng). |
| Michael: Now, we have to find an idiom that starts with the character |
| Dehua: 情 (qíng). |
| Michael: One of the common idioms starting with this character is |
| Dehua: 情不自禁 (qíngbùzìjīn). |
| Michael: This expression means that one cannot control his own emotion. Here is an example sentence using this idiom, |
| Dehua: 听了这首歌，我情不自禁地哭了。(Tīngle zhè shǒu gē, wǒ qíngbùzìjīn de kūle.) |
| Michael: It means "After listening to this song, I couldn't help myself and started crying." |
| Michael: This game is a good way to boost your knowledge of Chinese idioms. You can also make use of Chinese idiom dictionaries. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Dehua: 再见！ (zàijiàn!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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