288 dtg (rated "g" for general audiences)

I really don't know (wo zhende bu zhidao), but I am inclined to believe that the character for electricity (dian), must be one of the more recent additions to the ZhongGuo HanZi TiShuGuan (Chinese Character Library). Regardless, it provides a useful insight into how the Chinese language uses characters that are very old to name modern things. So, you can have a dian nao (electronic brain - computer), a dian shan (electronic wing - fan) and a dian shi (electronic "look closely at something" - television) amongst others.

It got me thinking about the way in which things (dongxi) are named, and whether the job of learning Chinese could be made that much easier if you looked closely at the individual characters that make up a name (since the name of something can often be two or three characters long). Not surprisingly, it does make it a little easier (yidianr rongyi).

I've put some literal translations here and the actual translations at the bottom of this blog - see how many you can guess correctly (cai cai bu suo):

Example
Dian Nao - Electronic, Brain - Computer

New Words (Sheng Ci)
Xiao Mai Bu - Small, Sell, Unit
Cao Ping - Grass, Flat
Chuan Shuo - Passed On, Speak / Spoken
Yi Yuan - Doctor, Compound
Hai Tang - Sea, something close to "road"

Before I get to the answers, it's time to award the prize for this month's "Best Local Impersonation of a Western Brand" - some of you may remember that Sasuk's Coffee was last month's recipient. For March though, it's time to give a big cheer for the good guys at Century22 Real Estate. Many of you will be familiar with the Century21 Real Estate corporation, and the many millions of dollars they have spent developing their brand. I'm not sure if Century22 have spent quite as much, but their mind-share in QingDao is certainly impressive. They also deserve a special mention for their website, http://www.22th.cn/, which you would have to agree is more than just mildly amusing. At first I thought they had made a mistake and should have registered http://www.22nd.cn/ (or changed their name to Centry24 Real Estate, in which case http://www.24th.cn/ would be okay), but apparently not. I checked here at the wang ba (internet cafe - literally "net bar") and if you go to http://www.22nd.cn/ you download some bizarre mail checking program, so there you go. Congratulations Centry22!

The Answers:
Xiao Mai Bu - Small, Sell, Unit - Snack Shop
Cao Ping - Grass, Flat - Lawn
Chuan Shuo - Passed On, Speak /Spoken - Legend, Myth (Oral Tradition)
Yi Yuan - Doctor, Compound - Hospital
Hai Tang - Sea, something close to "road" - Chinese Flowering Crab Apple

Okay, that last one was just a joke to remind you all that learning Chinese (xue hanyu) is normally straightforward, but occasionally hen qiguai (very strange).

295 dtg (interesting blind dates and massage parlours)

People in China use the word yisi, which means interest or meaning, fairly liberally. No matter what the situation, you will be asked if you have lots of interest (hen you yisi) or no interest (mei you yisi). A landlord will ask you if you have interest to a house, a University will ask you if you have interest to course, a friend will ask you if you have interest to a girl etc.

I'd decided that this was to be my first question about contemporary Chinese society to discuss with a Chinese person (in Chinese) and had a good chance the other night. Embarking upon my list of things to do twice in Qingdao, my tutor (jia-jiao, literally 'home teach') had set me up on a blind date (Number 31) with her hen piaoliangde pengyou (very beautiful friend). The plan was for the three of us to enjoy dinner and drinks together - we had tried to find a fourth person but no volunteers came forward within the specified time limit.

Two things become apparent. One, few things in life could be more frustrating than attempting to speak sweet words in a foreign language, and yet simultaneously having your jiajiao jump in and correct every mistake (cuo wu) that you make. Don't get me wrong - I love the fact that my tutor corrects me all the time (it's one of the best things about her), it's just not very date-friendly. Secondly, my biggest problem (zuidade wenti) right now is that while I know the words to speak about myself in Chinese, I can't understand (buneng mingbai) what is being said in reply - my ting li (listening skill) is awful. Thus our conversation (dui hua) was stuck at the two-minute mark when I asked "Ni gongzuo shi shenme" (your work is what?) and her reply was something about a faguan. Having forgotten to bring a dictionary, or even paper and pen for rudimentary drawings, I just couldn't make it out (something to do with white hair and black clothes and they are in Australia too) and thus we had hit a pretty major obstacle. We stuck it out until midnight speaking through my tutor, but rather unsurprisingly she has meiyou yisi to me.

Having gone on that night to console myself with a few too many gin and tonics I found myself in a curious position. It was 3:30 in the morning, and I was stuck outside (wai mian) my locked apartment building with half a dodgy key in my hand, and the other half broken off and wedged in the lock (seriously, why does this stuff always seem to happen to me?). I barely knew the words to explain this situation to any of the few people I could have rung for help, but I was pretty sure that no matter what they might have said in reply, at 3:30 in the morning it was likely to mean something along the lines of "why the hell are you ringing me now?" (Now there's a thought - maybe ting li isn't so important after all). Anyway, I am lucky enough to live around the corner from a 24-hour massage parlour (er-shi-si xiaoshi anmo keting) and they were happy to let me rest there until sunrise for the hen pianyi (very cheap) sum of 60 kuai (about US$7). For a few more kuai there were plenty other services they would have provided, but I've become much better behaved since I discovered that Mum's been reading my blog.

I woke up with a pretty awful hangover (tou teng), but enough recollection of the previous evenings' (zuotian wangshangde) activities to look up faguan in a dictionary. It means judge, and yes they do wear white wigs, long black robes and also exist in Australia. So at least I got to lean a new word for my trouble.

Paulie

PS: Thanks to all who provided addresses, your letters are on the way. My teachers have tried their best (shi li le) to help me understand Chinese grammar, so I wish to inform you in advance that all errors are of my own making.

302 dtg (sorry for the hiatus)

Not much blogging lately, emigrating can be such a tiring exercise. Things worth noting:

- Went house hunting. It's all sorts of fun trying to say "I need a house that comes complete with a television, bed, cupboard and washing machine" to a real estate agent in a language that you can't yet speak. Great for learning new words.

- Joined a class of people who have already been studying in China for six months. I don't understand much of what is going on, but it's pushing me to catch up faster and learn more.

- Made friends with non-English speakers. Hui-rong and Fu-xin are two Koreans in my class and we have a great time. I can't speak Korean so we have no choice but to work away in Mandarin until we manage to get the point across.

Daily routine pretty well fixed. Class from 8am to 12pm. Lunch with the Koreans. Work with a private tutor from 2pm to 6pm. Go jogging for an hour. Dinner. Homework until Midnight.

So as you can see, dinner is a problem. Not learning any new Chinese by eating instant noodles on my own at home, so I am thinking of placing the following ad in the personal section of a local newspaper (will get friends to help translate).

Dinner for Two

Newly arrived Australian seeks local friend for dinnertime company. Cooking skills essential, cleaning skills desirable. Venue, food, tools, kitchen etc provided. Let's exchange languages!

Do you think the wording is okay?

PS: Due to start writing letters and postcards next weekend. If you can read Chinese and would like to receive an occasional note from Qingdao, please email me your postal address.