Chipanglish » Reading

Chinese Radicals: The 螞蟻 Goes Marching

Yvonne — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:52:50 +0000

I keep failing this item in my flashcard study (I use Anki) despite its relative obviousness, so I thought I’d make a post about it because you remember things best when you try to teaching them to someone else.

ant

螞蟻
ma2 yi3

Hurrah, hurrah.

Why do I say this one should be relatively obvious? Because of the two-part structure of each word. We first discussed radicals in the espresso edition of Grandma’s Crazy Phrasebook.

Both 螞 and 蟻 have the same radical: 虫. In simplified Chinese, this character by itself means “insect” (in traditional Chinese, three of them get stacked together to form the character for insect: 蟲). When it appears in radical form it usually is marking an insect-related term. Other examples include:

butterfly

蝴蝶
hu2 die2

honeybee

蜜蜂
mi4 feng1

So that’s the first reason why it should be relatively obvious.

The second reason has to do with the right sides of the characters: 馬 and 義. These characters, which I should already know, are pronounced ma3 and yi4.

The third reason is that I’m already pretty fluent in Chinese. “Ant” is one of those words I absolutely know how to say, if not necessarily how to write or read.

So put that all together.

螞蟻

I see a Chinese phrase with the bug radical.
I see the right sides are ma3 and yi4, respectively. So this must be an insect word that sounds like ma yi.
I know that “ant” in Chinese is pronounced ma2 yi3.

Why do I keep failing this item?

Peter’s Chinese Kid Lit #4: The Witch’s Determination

Peter — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:24:59 +0000

Sorry for the month long hiatus. I’ve been busy tap dancing and being a performer on stage.

This installment of Chinese Kid Lit returns to the story of the Old Lady Witch who turned into a bench. We rejoin her story many years later.

魔女的決心
Mo3 nu3 de5 jue2 xin1
The Witch’s Determination

At the end of the previous story, the witch had turned herself into a beautiful park bench. Now, with the passage of time, she has become a worn and weathered park bench. This does not matter to her since she meets a little girl named 小萌 Xiao3 Meng2 (Little Sprout). Little Sprout sits on the park bench every day after school and waits until her dad comes on the bus to pick her up after work. The witch learns that Little Sprout’s mother is in the hospital. Over time, she develops an affinity to Little Sprout and her family. Little Sprout’s mother has taken very ill and can no longer attend the park. Little Sprout promises the bench that she’ll come back, asking the bench to wait for her return.

One day, dark shadowy figures, come and survey the park area. They’ve been hired to replace the ugly old bench with a new one. The old one wood be turned into woodchips. The news, of course, is very unsettling and alarming to the witch. She summons all her might and turns herself back into human form.

Overjoyed at having overcome her temporary amnesia, she runs home to find everything covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs. She cleans up her house with her broom, only to remember that it was her magic broom! She takes her broom out for a spin to the park in time to see Little Sprout coming. Remembering her promise to Little Sprout, she goes back to her old spot and turns herself back into a shiny new park bench.

Little Sprout sad her old bench is gone, but happy that the new one is just as good. She also brings good news. Her mother is leaving the hospital! Just then, the broom knocks itself over. Like any curious child, Little Sprout deduces that this must be a magic broom, gets on it, and flies away to oblivion. Or something like that.

The Old Lady Witch series (if you can call two books a series), is much more entertaining and enjoyable to read than that of the Little Fox with anxiety issues. They’re cute stories and sequential, which gives emerging readers something to look forward to. From an instructional standpoint, vocabulary is repeated enough throughout the book that I was able to recognize characters without looking at the phonetic spelling. There are also enough context clues to help fill in some of the gaps. I do admit, I did have to consult the dictionary and my mother for certain words and phrases. However, these resources were not used as often as when I started reading two months ago. Woo!

More books were brought back from Taiwan, so stay tuned for future installments of Chinese Kid Lit. I promise no more month-long waits between posts!

Peter’s Chinese Kid Lit #3: The Last Magic

Peter — Sun, 03 May 2009 05:37:15 +0000

This week, we abandon the psychotic Little Fox in favor of a lovely little old lady who performs magic.

最後的魔法
Zui4 huo4 de5 mo3 fa3
The Last Magic

In this book, an aging 魔女 mo3 nu3 (Sorceress) decides that for her last use of her magic, she wants to turn herself into something beautiful and people will love. First, she turns herself into a flower, only to escape becoming a fox’s lunch by returning to her former state. (What is it with these stories and foxes?) Then she tries becoming a crow, which goes well until she flies too high and is chased by an eagle. After crash landing into a tree, she meets a little boy. They hike to the top of a hill only to rest. “Boy, would it be nice to have a bench to sit on!” they exclaim. (Why, that’s not foreshadowing at all! What? Did I give away the ending?)

The boy is fascinated by her magic after she writes his name on his shoes with it. He runs to go home and asks the woman to wait for him. As she waits, several others hike up the steep hill and ponder over the lack of a bench. (I bet you can guess what she’ll turn herself into next! That’s right, a grand piano with golden keys!) After hearing yet another person wish for a bench, she makes up her mind and makes it so; using her last bit of magic. The next day, the boy returns and is heartbroken to see the old lady gone, so he sits on the bench to wait for her.

This is such a cute little story. It’s got everything: optimism, nice little old ladies, thrilling chases, danger, crash landings in trees, emotional tug of the heartstrings, and magic. Aww.

Next week, we return to the Little Old Lady and learn what happens many years later.

Peter’s Chinese Kid Lit #2: Creaky and Swaying Suspension Bridge

Peter — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:26:19 +0000

Last week, we met Little Fox and his fragile emotional state that leads him to cry at the sight of a wet water bucket. In this week’s book, we learn more about Little Fox’s psyche as we explore his fear of heights and apparent sexuality.

吊橋搖呀搖
Diao4 qiao2 yao2 ya1 yao2
The Creaky and Swaying Suspension Bridge

Once again, 小狐狸 xiao3 hu2 li2 (Little Fox) and his friends 小熊 xiao3 xiong2 (Little Bear) and 小兔子 xiao3 tu4 zi5 (Little Rabbit) are on an adventure through the woods. This time, the trio come across a suspension bridge that crosses a gorge. They want to cross it, but are too afraid of heights. (They looked down at the river below… idiots.)

Just then, an elderly 山豬 shan1 zhu1 (Mountain Boar) crosses the bridge. The kids are eager to ask him what lies on the other side of the bridge. Sensing their gullibility, he tells them on the other side a little girl fox, a little girl bear, and a little boy rabbit are waiting for them. (Apparently, Little Rabbit is a girl.) Upon hearing this news, the kids’ ears perk up and they fantasize a scene in which they square dance in the woods; or at least that’s what the illustration implies.

The next day, Little Bear and Little Rabbit realize they’re too young to cross the bridge on their own and they should wait until they’re older and abandon Little Fox at the bridge. Besides, the opposite sex might have cooties. Little Fox, however, is all of a sudden horny and wants to cross the bridge to meet the mythical little girl fox. But first, he must dream about crossing the bridge. His dream scares him so much that he closes his eyes… while sleeping and dreaming. In the morning, he gets enough courage to try crossing the bridge. Little Fox very cautiously takes three steps, then runs back. The next day he takes four steps. Followed by five steps, six steps, etc. (The author felt the need to do this for several pages.)

A few days later, Mountain Boar crosses the bridge again and runs into Little Fox, desperately clinging to the sides as the bridge shakes from Mountain Boar’s weighty steps. Little Fox asks after his beloved crush and is reassured that she is just fine. In fact, she’s still waiting for him.

One day, on his brave quest, he brings a flower for the little girl fox. He takes his however many steps for that day and places it on the bridge telling her, “Here’s a flower for you… on the bridge… because I’m to chicken to cross the entire thing myself and deliver it in person.” (Ok, so the last part wasn’t exactly in the book.) The next day, the flower is gone. Little Fox reveals a bit of skepticism by considering the possibility that the wind blew it away, but the romantic decides that someone took it.

Later, he decides to go for it and cross the bridge. (It’s been well over a week since he started, by the way.) He makes it to the halfway point on the bridge. Little Fox sits down on the bridge, pulls out a harmonica which he just happen to have in his pocket (Huh?), and begins to play. Music permeates the air and reaches the ears of his friends who realize they’ve been less than stellar by abandoning him on the bridge. Little Bear and Little Rabbit quickly run to the bridge and call out to Little Fox, “Come Play with Us!”

Little Fox looks at his friends, looks at the other side of the bridge, and back at his friends again. He tells the little girl fox, “One day when we’re older, I hope we can play together,” before running BACK TO THE STARTING POINT to join his friends.

OY! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS KID? He gets conned by an old mountain boar into thinking a little girl on the otherside of the bridge has the hots for him. Despite desperately wanting to meet this non-existent girl, he ends up abandoning her to play with his friends. In reading this book, I just wanted to shove the twerp off the bridge into the river hundreds of feet below.

Unfortunately, I have no more books about Little Fox at my disposal. Yvonne has some if she’d like to contribute next week’s entry. Otherwise, we’ll take a break from this psychotic animal and learn about a nice old lady who can perform magic!

Peter’s Chinese Kid Lit #1: The Yellow Bucket

Peter — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:15:55 +0000

Remember when Yvonne was commenting on not having any fun Chinese kid lit growing up?

Problem solved. On a recent trip to Taiwan, we bought quite a few books for us to practice our Chinese reading skills. Some are classic stories known to Americans while others are new material. This recent acquisition of reading material has inspired me to create a new feature: Chinese Kid Lit.

This week’s book is titled:
黃色水桶
Huang2 se4 shui3 tong3
The Yellow Bucket.

In the book, 小狐狸 xiao3 hu2 li2 (Little Fox), finds a yellow bucket in the woods. He really wants a bucket because all his friends have buckets, including 小熊 xiao3 xiong2 (Little Bear) and 小兔子 xiao3 tu4 zi5 (Little Rabbit). 小熊 and 小兔子 convince 小狐狸 that since the bucket was found, he cannot just take it outright. So, they decide to wait a week and see if its owner claims it. If not, then 小狐狸 can finally take home the yellow bucket.

Apparently, this fox has no life as he goes into the woods each day to play with the bucket. At the end of each day, he sets it down and goes home. Through his play, he swings it, throws it around, fills it with water, etc. One day, he goes to the woods and finds his precious bucket wet from a heavy rainstorm. This makes him so upset that he wants to cry!

Seriously?

It’s a WATER bucket. It’s supposed to get WET! In fact, the first character in the word 水桶 (bucket), actually means water.

The rest of the story gets even more annoying as Little Fox continues to whine and mope about not having his own bucket. (If you want the bucket so badly, just take the darn thing!) He gets so obsessed that he dreams about the bucket at night. In one particular dream, he throws the bucket in the air and it flies away into the moonlight. On the final day, Little Fox goes to retrieve his bucket to find it missing. It’s unclear whether his dream was actually Little Fox sleepwalking or if the bucket’s rightful owner picked it up on the seventh day.

The animal kids in the story need lives… and parents. Who lets their kids run around in the woods every day unsupervised? Not to mention the emotional issues this Little Fox has that he’s willing to cry over the fact that it rained in a bucket that doesn’t even belong to him.

More stories about Little Fox to follow in future posts. Come join us as we delve further into this emotionally needy character who clearly has some psychological issues. Who said children’s literature was boring?

It’s Time for New Reading Material

Yvonne — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:06:56 +0000

Let us review the sage words of Khatzumoto:

Most learners of a foreign language – any foreign language – remain, like a novice skater to the wall of the rink, glued to their textbooks: a boring, sanitized, artificial, mutant subset of their target language.

Speaking of boring, check out these scintillating passages from Lesson 15 of Beginning Chinese Reader:

離上海不遠有一個很大的湖, 是太湖. 湖的四邊水田很多, 湖裏頭還有很多魚, 所以湖邊的人家都說太湖太好了.

Translation, de-mutant-ized for easier reading: Not far from Shanghai, there’s a lake: Tai Lake. Around the lake there are many irrigated fields; inside the lake there are many fish. That’s why those near the lake all say that Tai Lake is very nice.

Are you asleep yet? No? How about this?

中國的湖南是在一個大湖的南邊. 湖北是在這個大湖的北邊.

Translation: China’s Hunan Province is located on the south side of a large lake. Hupeh Province is on the north side of this large lake.

It’s actually even more boring than it sounds in English. “Hunan” and “Hupeh” literally mean “south of lake” and “north of lake”, respectively.

One more for the road:

我要念中文. 西東大學離我家很近, 可是我是一個中學生, 不能在大學念書, 要不然我就在西東念中文了.

Translation: I want to study Chinese. Seton Hall University is very close to my house, but I’m a middle school student and can’t take classes at the university. Otherwise I would study Chinese at Seton Hall.

Fantastic!

I remember we had some Chinese board books at home, but once I outgrew those the only readily-available Chinese text was the 世界日報 newspaper. I didn’t even like reading news in English as a kid, why would I want to attempt it in Chinese? The lack of fun Chinese reading material while growing up is probably a big reason why I’m now illiterate.

I wonder if I could get my grandma to send me some Chinese picture books. And then I could work my way up to say, Chinese Harry Potter. Beats reading about Hunan Province and Seton Hall University ad nauseum.

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Reading Between the Lines

Yvonne — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 05:22:52 +0000

As I mentioned in the introduction, I’m functionally illiterate in Chinese. I believe that this is related to me having the spoken vocabulary of a ten-year-old. I’m fluent enough for day-to-day living and conversation, but I’m not going to be debating theories of autism in Mandarin any time soon. I feel like if I was literate enough to start reading news or basic books in Chinese, I would acquire the more advanced/specialized vocabulary quickly.

I received a copy of Beginning Chinese Reader for Christmas. The early lessons are pretty easy—I did have over a decade of formal training in Chinese, after all—giving me plenty of “cognitive headroom” to notice things that aren’t very relevant to the main content.

Like the pictograms. They probably did this to ease the reader into a totally foreign writing system. Each Chinese character in the vocabulary list is accompanied with a line drawing, purportedly the primitive origin of said character.

For example, 日 (ri4—sun/day) looks kind of like a sun. 月(yue4—moon) looks kind of like a crescent moon.

And 女(nu3—female) looks like a hula dancer while 子 (zi3—son) looks like a big-headed baby.

But is it just me or does the pictogram for 山 (shan1—mountain) look like a bonfire while the one for 火 (huo3—fire) looks like 山?

And what is this? I don’t know about you, but that thing below 心 does not look like “a heart inside the chest cavity” to me.

The pictograms disappear after the fourth lesson. Which disappointed me because I was looking forward to see what they’d come up with for some of the more complex characters, like 電 (dien4—electricity).

One of the things the book does do well is to include compound words in the vocabulary list for each lesson. It’s part of what makes reading Chinese difficult—just knowing the individual characters isn’t enough. You have to know the sometimes unpredictable compounds in order to make sense of the passage.

Some are straightforward: 工 means “work” and 人 means “person”. A 工人 is a worker.

Some are more…suggestive: 山 means “mountain” and 水 means “water”, but 山水 means “landscape”.

And some seem nearly arbitrary: 小 means “small” and 心 means “heart”, but 小心 means “be careful”.

Especially if your heart looks like that pictogram. You might want to have that checked out.

Chipanglish » Reading

Chinese Radicals: The 螞蟻 Goes Marching

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