Learning One Thousand Chinese Characters in 1 Year

Whoah.

2009-01-11T23:21:00.001+08:00

Finally I found my way back to this blog. How about that--the last post before this was in 2005!

Two Beers, Please!

2005-10-15T10:27:00.000+08:00

杯, 啤, 酒

两杯 (liang bei) == two cups / glasses
啤酒 (pi jiu) == beer

我想要两杯啤酒（wo xiang yao liang bei pi jiu) == I'd like to order two beers!

Still about Eating! (and Some Tea)

2005-10-14T10:20:00.000+08:00

饭, 店, 茶

饭店 (fan dian) == restaurant!
茶 (cha) == tea

我想喝一点儿查 (wo xiang he yi dian er cha) == i'd like to drink some tea

Animals I Eat, Part 3

2005-10-13T12:26:00.000+08:00

肉, 蛇, 鸭

Damn. I'm almost a month behind in updating this blog. Lotsa catchup to do! Today is Nov 7... and I'm still doing the Oct 13 entry. Nevermind. I'm going to catchup!

Anyway, the Mandarin way of saying meat is by adding, well, "meat" behind the animal name.

肉 (rou) == meat. e.g.: 牛 (niu) == cow. 牛肉 (niu rou) == beef.

Two more animals:

蛇 (she) == snake
鸭 (ya) == duck

Animals I Eat, Part 2

2005-10-12T14:20:00.000+08:00

龙, 虾, 鱼

虾 (xia) == shrimp
龙虾 (long xia) == lobster
鱼 (yu) == fish

Animals I Eat, Part 1

2005-10-11T14:05:00.000+08:00

鸡, 猪, 牛

Whoah! After some time... finally I have the time to update this blog again. Today we're starting with animals that I eat.

鸡 (ji) == chicken
猪 (zhu) == pig
牛 (niu) == cow

Ten on the Tenth of October

2005-10-10T10:57:00.000+08:00

八，九，十

八 == ba == 8
九 == jiu == 9
十 == shi == 10

Characters I've Learned So Far

2005-10-10T00:40:00.000+08:00

'我', '的', '你', '要', '不', '吃', '饭', '说', '很',
'百', '千', '两', '万', '有', '没', '中', '国', '文',
'可', '是', '为', '什', '么', '火', '水', '云', '会',
'英', '吗', '美', '多', '少', '们', '爱', '也', '对',
'这', '那', '个', '工', '人', '作', '厂', '现', '在',
'明', '昨', '上', '下', '山', '一', '点', '儿', '东',
'西', '儿', '还', '是', '想', '喝', '知', '道', '吗',
'问', '题', '询', '正', '再', '见', '年', '月', '日',
'又', '后', '前', '二', '三', '四', '五', '六', '七',
'八', '九', '十'

84 Characters! W00t!

567

2005-10-09T22:54:00.000+08:00

五，六，七

五 == wu == 5
六 == liu == 6
七 == qi == 7

Dji Sam Soe!

2005-10-08T22:44:00.000+08:00

二，三，四

二 == er == two
三 == san == three
四 == si == four

Another form of "Again".. and the day after tomorrow

2005-10-07T13:44:00.000+08:00

又, 后, 前

Another form of "again" is 又(you).

The difference between this and 再 is that 又 is used for something in the past.

So, 我又去北京了 means "I _went_ to Beijing again".

后天 == (hou tian) == the day after tomorrow
前天 == （qiantian) == the day before yesterday

the day after the day after tomorrow? 大后天。
the day before the day before yesterday? 大前天！

On October 6, 2005...

2005-10-06T13:27:00.000+08:00

年, 月, 日

2005年10月6日。。。

I Am Eating Now... and Bye Bye

2005-10-05T12:39:00.000+08:00

正, 再, 见

Jey asked me, 你吃了么？

The thing is that I _was_ eating at that time. So I asked her, how do you say that I am eating now?

我正在吃 ni zheng zai chi == I am now eating. In this case, 正 "zheng" is optional.

Also... another two new chars, for "see you":

再 == zai == again, once more。 Used in repetition as well, e.g.: 我再去北京：I go to Beijing again
见 == jian == meet
再见 == zai jian == meet again! See you!

No problem, let me ask!

2005-10-04T20:02:00.000+08:00

问, 题, 询, 问

没问题 mei wen ti (no problem!!!)

询问 xun wen == "let me ask..."

so for instance,

对不起，询问。。。 (excuse me, can i ask you something?)

Don't you know?

2005-10-03T19:59:00.000+08:00

知, 道, 吗

知道，我知道。== zhi dao, wo zhi dao. (yes yes, I know)

你知道吗？ == do you know?

Where would you like to drink?

2005-10-02T19:54:00.000+08:00

想, 喝

你想在那儿吃？ ni xiang zai na er chi? == you want go where eat? == where do you want to eat?

你想在那儿喝？ni xiang zai na er he? == where do you want to drink?

不想，我不想吃。可是，我想喝一点儿东西。

bu xiang, wo bu xiang chi. ke shi, wo xiang he yi dian er dong xi.

No, I don't want to eat. But I'd like to drink something!

My Place or Yours? (wink, wink)

2005-10-01T19:52:00.000+08:00

儿, 还, 是

我那儿 == my place

你那儿 == your place

还是 == or

so...

我那儿还是你那儿？

A Bit of Something

2005-09-30T19:49:00.000+08:00

一, 点, 儿, 东, 西

一点儿东西 (yi dian er dong xi) == a bit of something.

dong xi == something

dong == east

xi == west

Up and Down the Mountain

2005-09-29T19:45:00.000+08:00

上, 下, 山

上 (shang) == up!

下（xia) == down

山 (shan）== mountain

When ah...

2005-09-28T19:33:00.000+08:00

现, 在, 明, 昨

现在 (xianzai) == now!

明天 (mingtian) == tomorrow

昨天 (zuotian) == yesterday

Work, Work, Work

2005-09-27T19:28:00.000+08:00

工, 人, 作, 厂

Work never ceases!

工 == "gong", related to work

工人 == "gong ren", worker

工作 == "gong zuo", work or job

工厂 == "gong chang" == factory

This is mine, isn't that correct?

2005-09-26T22:44:00.000+08:00

对, 这, 那, 个

对　（ｄｕｉ）　＝＝　ｒｉｇｈｔ　
对不对＝＝　ｄｕｉ　ｂｕ　ｄｕｉ？（ｃｏｒｒｅｃｔ　ｏｒ　ｎｏｔ？）

这　（ｚｈｅ）　＝＝　ｔｈｉｓ

这个是我的　＝＝　ｚｈｅ　ｇｅ　ｓｈｉ　ｗｏ　ｄｅ　（ｔｈｉｓ　ｉｓ　ｍｉｎｅ）

那　（ｎａ）　＝＝　ｔｈａｔ

那个是我的　＝＝　ｎａ　ｇｅ　ｓｈｉ　ｗｏ　ｄｅ　（ｔｈａｔ　ｉｓ　ｍｉｎｅ）

　　

We Love You Too

2005-09-25T21:44:00.000+08:00

们, 爱, 也

们 (men) == plural for pronouns 我们 (wo men) == "we"

爱 (ai) == love

也 (ye) == "too"

"我爱你们“ wo ai ni men == "love y'all"

“我们也爱你” wo men ye ai ni == "we luv ya too"

Beautiful! How Much?

2005-09-24T21:23:00.000+08:00

美, 多, 少

美 (mei) == beautiful 美国 (mei guo) == the US
多 (duo) == many 很多 (hen duo) == a LOT!
少 (shao) == few 多少？ (duo shao?) == how many/much?

Can you speak English?

2005-09-23T21:26:00.000+08:00

会, 英, 吗

会 (hui) == able to
英 (ying) == english/england
吗 (ma) == used in question

你会说英文吗? (ni hui shuo ying wen ma?) == Can you speak English?

Fire, Water, and Cloud

2005-09-22T21:19:00.000+08:00

火, 水, 云

火 (huo) == fire
水 (shui) == water
云 (yun) == cloud

15 Characters in One Go!

2005-09-21T22:20:00.000+08:00

说, 很, 百, 千, 两, 万, 有, 没, 中, 国, 文, 可, 是, 为, 什, 么

OK, Jey pointed out that I had skipped 5 days according to her record, so I have to learn 15 chars tonight! *gulp*

Let's see...

1. 说 (shuo). Means to speak. “我说的不好” wo shuo de bu hao == "my speech is not good."

2. 很 (hen). Means "very". “ 你说得很好" ni shuo de hen hao == "your speech is very good"

more numbers:
3. 百 (bai). Means "hundred".

4. 千 (qian) . Means "thousand". 两千 liang qian == "two thousand"

5. 万 (wan). Means "ten thousand".

6 + 7. 有 (you) and 没 (mei) "有没有?“ you mei you? == "is there or isn't there?"

8 + 9 + 10. 中 (zhong). Means "middle". 国 (guo). Means "country". 文 (wen). Means "language". "中国“ (zhong guo) and “中文” (zhong wen) == "China" and "Mandarin"

11 + 12. 可是 (ke shi) . Means, "but..."

13 + 14 + 15. 为什么? (wei shen me?). Means "why". "shen me?" means "what?"

PHEW!

Do You Want To Eat?

2005-09-15T13:58:00.000+08:00

要, 不, 吃, 饭

Characters of the day:

你要不要吃饭 == "Do you want to eat"?

要 = "yao". Means "want"
不 = "bu". Means "no"
吃 = "chi". Means "eat"
饭 = "fan". Means "rice"

So literally, the phrase above translates to: "You want or don't want to eat rice?". But "吃饭" is usually used to mean just "to eat".

First Three Characters!

2005-09-14T13:45:00.000+08:00

我, 的, 你

我 = "wo". Means "I"
的 = "de". Means... difficult to describe, but sometimes marks possessive. Like "我的爱人" == "wo de ai ren" means "my beloved/dear/honey"
你 = "ni". Means "you"