鷹 – Ying1 – Hawk, Falcon

鷹嘴豆 – Ying1 Zui3 Dou4 – Eagle Mouth Bean — Chick Pea

But why? Anyway, more 蔬菜 – Shu1 Cai4 – Vegetables here.

簿 – Bu4 – Book, Register

相簿 – Xiang4 Bu4 – Photo Book — Album

I now have not one, but TWO albums from our trip to China. Neither of them made by me! It’s like the lazyweb in REAL LIFE!

光 – Guang1 – Light, Smooth, Pure, Complete

激光 – Ji1 Guang1 – Excite Light — Laser

Two people in the same room as me right now are seriously considering having LASERS shot in their EYES until their corneas BURN.

蛤 – Ha2 – Toad

蛤蟆 – Ha2 Ma2 – Toad

青蛙 – Qing1 Wa1 – Frog

What is the Difference Between a Frog and a Toad?

維 – Wei2 – Preserve, Maintain, Hold Together, Dimension

維基 – Wei2 Ji1 – Wiki

Some fun Wikis: Portland Pattern Repository: the original. Wikipedia: the largest. Memory Alpha: almost ten thousand articles, detailing everything known about the Star Trek Universe(s).

企 – Qi3 – Hope, Tiptoe

企鵝 – Qi3 E2 – Tiptoe Goose (?) — Penguin

In Japanese, they just have this phonetic translation: ペンギン, which is pronounced like “pengeen”. (learned from watching Japanese news on “the i channel” which is apparently going to change over to an all-asian format next week… flip through your channels and see if you have it! we were surprised to find it!)

披 – Pi1 – Open, Unroll, Spread Out

甲蟲 – Jia3 Chong2 – Armor Bug — Beetle(s)

披頭四 – Pi1 Tou2 Si4 – Beatle(s)

Translated literally, 披頭四 means “Open Head Four”.

雜 – Za2 – Mixed, Miscellaneous

雜誌 – Za2 Zhi4 – Miscellaneous Record — Magazine

雜貨店 – Za2 Huo4 Dian4 – Miscellaneous Goods Store — Convenience Store

多 – Duo1 – Many, Much, More Than, Multi-

多站地址 – Duo1 Zhan4 Di4 Zhi3 – Multi Point Place Location — Multicast Address

收 – Shou1 – Collect, Accept

收購 – Shou1 Gou4 – Collect Purchase — The Correct Way To Say Acquire

獲 – Huo4 – Capture, Catch, Obtain

獲取 – Huo4 Qu3 – Capture Take — Acquire

Apparently today is a lucky day for acquisitions!

筒 – Tong3 – Cylinder

筒 is also one of the suits in Mahjong.

腳 – Jiao3 – Foot, Lower Leg

三腳架 – Fang4 Jia4 Jia4 – Three Foot Frame — Tripod

The heavy one: A camera!

The book: A book!

The lollipop: A tiny tripod!

重 – Zhong4 – Heavy, Serious

One of my presents is heavy, one is clearly a book, and one is weird: it feels like a lollipop shrink-wrapped to a piece of cardboard.

毋 – Wu2 – Do Not

毋忘在莒 – Wu2 Wang4 Zai4 Ju3 – Do Not Forget In Ju – Don’t Forget You’re in Ju

This is a quote by Chiang Kai-Shek referring to a King of an ancient dynasty that was defeated and retreated to a city where he regrouped his forces and eventually retook his entire state. It’s a little like “Remember the Alamo!”

(triggered by How Taiwan Robbed My Childhood)

保 – Bao3 – Protect, Defend, Preserve

保齡球 – Bao3 Ling2 Qiu2 – Bowling

By now you should know that truly every page you could imagine already exists, so you might not be surprised by this handy page with Chinese translations of bowling terms. For example: 全倒 – Quan2 Dao3 – All Fall — Strike and 補全倒 – Bu2 Quan2 Dao3 – Repair All Fall — Spare.

蜻 – Qing1 – Dragonfly

蜻蜓 – Qing1 Ting2 – Dragonfly

物 – Wu4 – Thing, Object, Matter

物理學 – Wu4 Li3 Xue2 – Matter Logic Study — Physics

化學 – Hua4 Xue2 – Change Study — Chemistry

恩 – En1 – Kind, Benevolent

恩惠 – En1 Hui4 – Kind Benevolent — Grace

腦 – Nao3 – Brain

I don’t know what kind of mind control they’re using in this commercial, but whatever it is, IT WORKS.

Also while I’m here I should mention that 電腦 – Dian4 Nao3 – Electric Brain means Computer. Which is cool.

迭 – Die2 – Repeatedly, Alternately

迭代器 – Die2 Dai4 Qi4 – Repeatedly Substitute Tool — Iterator

Which of course leads to the question “But how do you name ALL of the classical design patterns in Chinese?”

畜 – Chu4 – Livestock, Animal, Beast

鬼畜- Gui3 Chu4 – Ghost Beast was the name of the Japanese movie we saw today. The title is translated to English as Demon. It’s another one of those happy, uplifting, almost fairy-tale like movies that Jenny loves so much.

稀 – Xi1 – Diluted, Sparse, Scarce

There are three important foods that Jenny has tried to make for me that I initially didn’t like: 豆腐 – Dou4 Fu5 – Bean Curd — Tofu, 粉絲 – Fen3 Si1 – Powder Thread — Cellophane Noodles, which I call Gummi Noodles, and 稀飯 – Xi1 Fan4 – Diluted Rice — Rice Porridge, Rice Gruel, Rice Congee, or Mushy Rice. One time not too long ago her Mom made some Gummi Noodles, and I tried them and found out… I do like them after all! I could never get used to the texture originally, but now I like them! I’ve also been coming around on Tofu recently. So tonight, Jenny had a craving for Mushy Rice, and I told her maybe it’s like the other two, and I just needed 10 years to subconciously slowly become acclimated to it.

Wrong, I still don’t like it.

漫 – Man4 – Overflow, Uncontrolled, Unrestrained

漫畫書 – Man4 Hua4 Shu1 – Unrestrained Drawing Book – Comic Book

I’m a little late on this one, but it’s news to me that Comic Book Guy now has a name: Jeff Albertson! Next they’ll be telling us where Springfield is and you’ll know the show is truly over.

預 – Yu4 – Prepare, In Advance

預備 – Yu4 Bei4 – Prepare, Get Ready

Jenny wants me to get ready for bed so when I asked her what today’s word is she just said “預備”.

晚安 – Wan3 An1 – Night Peace — Good Night!

啞 – Ya3 – Mute

I wonder why a word that used to mean laugh now means mute?

昌 – Chang1 – Prosperous, Flourish

That’s right, when I don’t know what word to do, I just surf 中文.com until I find an odd looking one.

激 – Ji1 – Surge, Arouse, Fierce

感激 – Gan3 Ji1 – Feeling Arouse — Appreciate

象 – Xiang4 – Elephant

大象 – Da4 Xiang4 – Elephant

In Tony Jaa’s new movie, he has to save an elephant. Apparently by kneeing lots of people in the head. I’m there!

噩 – E4 – Startling

Not only does this one mean “startling”, it IS startling.

掌 – Zhang3 – Palm, Slap, Control

如來神掌 – Ru2 Lai2 Shen2 Zhang3 – Buddha Spirit Palm

Unfortunately we didn’t think Kung Fu Hustle was anywhere near as good as Shaolin Soccer.

If you’re intersted in this sort of thing, here’s a kind of fun article that traces all the references and ties from Kung Fu Hustle to other movies.