10 May - 12 June 2023
- 繼承之戰 [继承之战] — jì chéng zhī zhàn. Chinese version of title for HBO Succession. Literal: “The Battle for Inheritance”.
- 個 [个] - gè (measure word)
- 螞蟻 [蚂蚁] - mǎ yǐ (ant)
13 June 2023
- 貓 [猫] - māo (cat)
- 狗 - gǒu (dog)
- 貓爪子 [猫爪子]- māo zhǎo zi (cat claws)
- 老虎 - lǎo hǔ (tiger)
- 老虎爪子 - lǎo hǔ zhǎo zi (tiger claws)
- 爪 zhǎo / zhuǎ (two alternative pronunciations) - the noun of claw; the full character form of the ‘claw’ which is the radical used in ‘love’ 愛, ‘chicken’ 鷄, ‘vegetable’ 菜.
- 抓住 - zhuā zhù (verb ‘to grab’)
- List of 214 radicals
- Six Principles of Chinese Writing 六書 used to organize characters/radicals. For a simpler introduction, see this article on 六書 with accompanying video
- Saved 500 Chinese intermediate language phrases from Kendra’s Language School Youtube Channel. Found on 5/15/2023.3 - 6/16/2023
25 June 2023 - 03 August 2023
- 6/25/2023 - 99 Ranch and Liang Mama with Julian
- 火車到站了- huǒchē dào zhàn le (literal fire car arrived station; ‘train has arrived at the station’) See zhàn in L17.
- 鬼神 - guǐ shén (ghost; spirit; supernatural beings) - from this pro-orca meme
- 半小時過去了, 我一道題也沒做出來。 - Bàn xiǎoshí guòqu le, wǒ yī dào tí yě méi zuò chūlai. (After half an hour, I hadn’t even finished one question.) See also L7
- 南京 - Nánjīng
- 自己 - zì jǐ (oneself; i.e. “by yourself) See also L10
- 滾蛋 [滚蛋] - gǔn dàn (vulgar get lost! beat it! f* off! from 北京 mean girl on TikTok)
- 功夫 and variant 工夫 - gōng fu (multiple definitions, including free time and kung fu. See Pleco entry for 工夫)
- 別罵我 [別骂我] - bié mà wǒ (don’t yell at me) from TikTok. See also 別 usage from L22.
- 嗑藥 [嗑药] - kè yào (to take drugs). See also L20. yào looks like yuè from 音樂 (music) from L18.
- 騙 [骗] - piàn (to fool, to trick). From CH. Similar to 乾扁牛/羊 from zh2
- 王小川 Wáng Xiǎochuān founded the search engine Sogou which is now a subsidiary of Tencent. Literal translation of Sogou is ‘search dog’ aka 搜狗 sōu gǒu.
- 6/30/2023 - See notes on 丁丁 (Tin Tin)
- 戰略 [战略] - zhàn lüè (strategy) as in business strategy or 八八戰略 bā bā zhàn lüè planned for Zhe Jiang province. See also in 走路 road from L20.
- 台灣 [台湾] - Táiwān
- 阿媽 [阿妈] - ā mā (grandmother. In “Taiwan and southeastern China where the Minnan language is spoken, refers to paternal grandmother, father’s mom.”) See also L19.
- 鹽 [盐] - yán (salt) see also Crouching Tiger lunch on zh2 page.
05 August 2023 - 10 September 2023
- 怡情黎 - yí qíng lí (happy, affectionate, Li ethnic group in Hainan). See LRB.
- 高原 - gāo yuán (noun plateau, highland). See LRB.
- 方舟 - fāng zhōu (Noah’s Ark; *literary 2 boats sailing side-by-side.) LRB
- 危險 [危险]- wēi xiǎn (danger). 臉 xiǎn looks like 臉[脸] face from L17.
- 自由 - zì yóu (adjective relaxed, unrestrained; noun freedom, civil liberties). see also 油 from L17.
- 東寧 [东宁] - Dōng níng (literal “east peace”). First Han state that included part of Taiwan, 1661-1683. See Kingdom of Dōngníng. Heard about in Ep 2 of History of Taiwan with Prof. James Lin
- 經驗 [经验] - jīng yàn (experience). See also 臉 [脸] liǎn (face) from L17.
- 討厭 [讨厌] - tǎo yàn (annoyed, annoying). See also from L14, 討論 [讨论] - tǎo lùn (to discuss)
- 比基尼 - bǐ jī ní (bikini)
- 根本問題 [根本问题]- gēn běn wèn tí (fundamental issue; basic problem). 根 looks like 很.
- 堂堂正正 - táng táng zhèng zhèng (impressive, dignified; open and aboveboard). From 堂堂正正的中国人 which was a nationalistic KMT term imposed by Chiang Kai-Shek in Taiwan to refer to the “aboveboard wai shen ren” after 1949. From the wiki article about 蔡同榮 Cài Tóngróng, the academic who co-founded WUFI in 1970 and FAPA in 1982. Also politician in the DPP.
- 發音 [发音] - fā yīn (pronunciation). See also L31.
- 太陽 [太阳] - tài yáng (sun, sunshine)
- 先生 - xiān sheng (mister)
10 September 2023 - 15 October 2023
Language Log arguments about Chinese characters on Language Log
- Various 2016 links from Language Log about Chinese characters versus pinyin