Today’s guest post is by Joe Paterson, a student at Keats School in China. Joe explains Chinese chengyu, which are absolutely fascinating and a perfect example of why we love languages so much – they’re all so unique and interesting. Do any Chinese speakers have more examples – or does the language you’re learning have an equivalent?
Each language has its own idiomatic richness. English is full of proverbs, sayings and odd phrases like ‘Bob’s yer uncle’. Chinese is no exception. When you learn Chinese in China, you will definitely come across all kinds of interesting and creative ways of saying and expressing things. 土包子 (tubaozi/earth steamed-bun) means a country bumpkin or someone with backward or poor taste, and to wear 绿帽子 (lv maozi/ green cap) means to be cuckolded. But perhaps the most uniquely Chinese idioms are 成语 (chengyu).
Chengyu are four character phrases that can be thrown into daily conversation but will throw up a wealth of meaning and significance to the interlocutor. Some of these phrases seem quite bizarre without a context, but many have a background story which explains the meaning and also conjures up images that reinforce the word’s meaning.
The first chengyu we will look at is 东施效颦 (Dongshixiaopin/ Dong Shi effect frown). The literal translation is altogether puzzling but a native speaker would instantly know the meaning to be to imitate someone but have the opposite to the desired effect. It is only when we know the background story to the saying that we can fully comprehend it. The story goes that there was a beautiful girl named Xi Shi in the ancient Yue state who was admired by everyone in the village. However Dong Shi, another girl, was ugly and could never command attention. One day when Xi Shi fell ill she walked out of the door holding her hand to her breast, her face contorted in pain. All the villagers were concerned at her trouble and pain. Seeing this, Dong Shi attempted to imitate her mannerism. But when the villagers saw such a grotesque sight they were repulsed and ran away.
Nowadays people might use 东施效颦 to describe someone blindly imitating a pop star’s outfit, only to be ridiculed themselves for looking stupid. Or, someone plagiarising another’s business idea only to find themselves go bankrupt.
The second chengyu is 刻舟求剑 (ke zhou qiu jian/mark boat search sword) which means to pursue a goal despite changing circumstances that should be considered, or, in short, being stubborn in a foolish pursuit.
The phrase comes from a story where a man drops his beloved sword into a river. He marks the side of the boat to show where the sword fell in. Once at the shore he dives back in to find the sword but to no avail. Of course between marking the boat and getting to the shore the boat has moved downstream. An example of when his phrase could be used might be if someone insists in investing in a certain product even if research shows that the product might not sell.
Other phrases are not strictly chengyu but are made up in the same structure and used in daily speech, even though most people may not know the exact origin of the term.
乱七八糟 (luan qi ba zao/confusion seven eight pickle) is a word used to describe anything messy and unorganised, from a bedroom to the way in which someone does something. The phrase actually originates from a late Qing dynasty novel by Zeng Pu, in which he describes the way craftsmen used to keep their workshops in a 乱七八糟 state.
Many common chengyu may not have such an interesting background but serve to colour the language with images that are created by the visual characters themselves or their meaning. 自讨苦吃 (zi tao ku chi/ self ask for bitter eat) provides an image for the idea to ‘ask for trouble’ and 利欲熏心 (li yu xunxin/ profit desire smoke heart) would be the equivalent of the English phrase ‘blinded by greed’, but creates an interesting image of the desire for profit creating a vapour masking the heart.
The ability to use chengyu well is very much admired in China and so it is well worth trying to improve one’s own use and trying to learn more. After a while some chengyu become so natural to explain a certain scenario or situation that sometimes they even surpass one’s own mother tongue equivalent word or phrase. Taking a Chinese language course from a professional language school could help to establish one’s linguistic and cultural foundation to be able to understand and use chengyus in a versatile way.
Joe Paterson (Keats School)
Everyone’s always talking about how useful it is to speak another language – and they’re right, for so many reasons. There’s lots of advice too on how to get started and how to stay motivated when it gets tough. But the first question any aspiring language learner should ask themselves is, ‘Which language do I want to learn?’
Sometimes this is easy, because you’re moving to another country, or you’ve met a new partner who speaks a particular language. Even if this means you end up learning a language most people would consider unusual, to you it has a purpose and that makes it anything but obscure.
But what if you’ve just decided you want to learn a language, because you’ve heard that people with a second language earn more, or that learning a language makes you cleverer, and don’t have a particular one in mind?
At EuroTalk, we offer nearly 140 different world languages. It’s a pretty daunting selection to be greeted with when you’ve just Googled ‘I want to learn a language’ and stumbled on to our homepage, or downloaded the uTalk app. And that doesn’t even come close to the total number of languages spoken in the world. So how is anyone meant to choose one to learn? Do you just close your eyes and point at one?
Well no, we don’t recommend that approach; you could end up with something really fun that way, but at the same time, learning a random language just for the sake of it, when there’s very little chance you’ll ever get a chance to speak it, seems a shame. Half the fun of learning a language is getting to share it with other people.
So here are our recommended criteria for choosing a language:
Number of speakers
Generally, a language with more speakers is going to be more useful to you, because you’re going to have more opportunities to speak it. According to Ethnologue, the top five most spoken languages in the world are Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi and Arabic, with a total of 2.4 billion speakers between them, so knowing one of these languages is going to guarantee you lots of people to talk to.
On the other hand, it depends on your reasons for wanting to learn a language. If it’s to make friends all over the world, one of these five languages will stand you in good stead. But if it’s to improve your employment prospects, bear in mind that you might face more competition if you’ve chosen a popular language. I studied Spanish at university, which is in great demand with employers. But so did lots of other students. We’ve got five people who speak Spanish at EuroTalk – two of them are native speakers (there are less than twenty of us in total, to put that in context) so it’s rare for me to be called on to use my language skills. Something like Portuguese or Japanese, which are still in the top ten in Ethnologue’s list, might offer fewer opportunities but when one comes along, you’re probably not going to face as many rivals for the job.
Where it’s spoken
Another important factor. Firstly, you don’t want to learn a language that’s spoken in a country you never intend to go to, or in which you’ve no interest. Secondly, some languages, like French, Arabic or English, are spoken in many different countries. So if you’re going travelling and want a language you’ll be able to use in more than one place, one of these will be more useful to you. But if travel’s not top of your agenda, this might not be such a big consideration.
Similarity to other languages
Most world languages are organised in families, which means they come from the same root as the other languages in that family. This means often, although you may only speak one language, you can probably at least make yourself understood in another. Hindi and Urdu, for example, are mutually intelligible, as are Czech and Slovak. If you know Spanish, you can make a reasonably decent attempt at Portuguese or Italian, and although you might make a few mistakes, chances are you’ll be understood. I’m not suggesting you should go around speaking the wrong language at people, but if you do make an honest slip-up, or just can’t think of the right word, you’ll probably be ok. I’m fairly sure I spoke quite a bit of Spanish when I was in Italy earlier this year, but everyone seemed to understand what I was getting at.
Some languages, though, don’t have any close neighbours, or indeed any neighbours at all. Basque, for example, is what’s known as a language isolate, as is Korean. This means they don’t belong to a family, but stand alone, so if you’ve chosen one of these languages, it’s worth remembering that it won’t help you with any others.
Partly, this is to do with your travel interests. If you’ve a particular interest in Russia, for example, we’d recommend you learn Russian. But even if you’re not particularly interested in travelling, there are other things to consider. Are you a fan of opera? Maybe give Italian a go. Anime? Japanese. Star Trek? Klingon.
Or maybe you’ve got a particular interest in endangered languages, in which case you might want to learn Cornish or Sardinian, not necessarily for the wealth of communication opportunities it offers, but to help save a valuable world language from extinction.
You know yourself better than anyone. How motivated do you feel? Is this just a passing whim that you’re likely to give up the moment it gets difficult, or are you prepared to stick at it? The fact is, some languages are harder than others, and this is different for everyone, depending on your native language. For Europeans, Dutch is considered quite an easy language to learn, while Mandarin Chinese is very difficult. But someone living in Japan may find Chinese much easier to learn than any European language.
So if you’re living in Europe and intending to learn Mandarin, you’ll need to be pretty dedicated. And if you know you don’t have it in you, it might be better to try something else rather than face disappointment when it doesn’t work out. Nobody’s bad at all languages – you just need to find the right one for you.
If you’re still undecided, and in need of some inspiration, take our quiz – it’s not at all scientific, but might give you some ideas!
If you have any other tips or suggestions for readers trying to choose a language, please share them in the comments.
Cameron’s spending a couple of weeks with us here at EuroTalk for work experience. In today’s blog post, he explains why he chose to learn one of the world’s most difficult languages, and gives his suggestions for anyone who’s thinking about taking up the challenge.
Are you learning Mandarin? What drew you to the language? And do you have any tips of your own to share?
Mandarin is recognised as one of the hardest languages to learn in the world, but with great difficulty comes great reward, as Mandarin is also one of the most useful languages in the world. Mandarin is so useful because it is spoken by almost 15 percent of the earth’s population natively, which is almost 1 billion people, and this figure does not include non-native speakers like myself. Also, China is one of the economic and industrial giants of the 21st century, and it’s still growing. Therefore Mandarin is very useful if you want to do business with the people involved in the global superpower that is China. As well as the practical reasons, Mandarin is also a great language to learn for cultural reasons, because, as you probably know, when learning any language, the culture of that country comes hand in hand, and China has a fascinating culture with a rich history.
Furthermore, if you learn Mandarin, that adds an extra incentive to make a trip to China to practise your newfound passion, and what’s a better way to spend your holidays than walking the great wall of China or paying a visit to the Terracotta Army? Additionally, if you’re the kind of person who relishes a new challenge, Mandarin is the perfect language for you, because, as I previously stated, it’s one of the hardest languages to learn in the world. On top of this, Mandarin will also appeal to you arty types out there in the form of calligraphy; this is a form of Chinese writing that involves painting the characters onto special paper called Xuanzhi (宣紙).
The most important thing to remember when learning Mandarin is not to get overwhelmed by the vast number of characters in the language; in fact I wouldn’t even worry about characters until you become more advanced in the language. Instead, begin by focusing on the oral side of the language, in particular, the pronunciation of words. In Mandarin pronunciation is key, for example, the word ‘ma’ can be said in four different ways and means four different things, so be careful not to call your mother a horse by pronouncing this word wrong!
A good thing to use to mark your progress of learning Mandarin is the HSK exams. These exams are held once a month and there are numerous different levels to work through, ranging from beginners exams to exams for people who are almost fluent, as well as the added bonus that they are recognised qualifications throughout China.
If you’re interested in learning Mandarin, you can get started completely free with uTalk for iOS. Enjoy!