In the last post, we have talked about the structures of Chinese characters. Today, let’s talk about how to tell their meanings. Speaking of meanings, radicals play important roles since in most cases they carry the main meanings. Radicals actually come from words that you might already know. Sometimes you don’t know them just because they adjust their appearances a bit when they are paired up with other components. Let’s learn some common ones today.

The radicals listed below have been categorized into different topics. For each radical, I will explain its meaning and offer some examples that you can easily tell their meaning from the radical.

Nature

土：Soil. E.g.在 [zài] (be at/in), 地 [dì] (groung)
山：Mountain. E.g. 出 [chū] (out), 岛 [dǎo] (island)
日：Sun or day. E.g. 旧 [jiù] (old), 早 [zǎo] (morning)
雨：Rain. E.g. 雪 [xuě] (snow), 雷 [léi] (lightening, electricity)
草（艹）：Grass or plants. E.g. 茶 [chá] (tea), 花 [huā] (flower)
水（氵）：Water. E.g. 汤 [tāng] (soup), 洗 [xǐ] (to wash)
火（灬）：Fire. E.g. 煮 [zhǔ] (cook), 热 [rè] (hot)
木（木）：Tree. E.g. 林 [lín] (forest), 枝 [zhī] (branch)
金（钅）：Metal. E.g. 银 [yín] (silver), 钱 [qián] (money)

People

父：Dad. E.g. 爸 [bà] (dad), 爷 [yé] (grandpa)
子：Son. E.g. 孩 [hái] (kid), 学 [xué] (to learn)
女：Female. E.g. 妈 [mā] (mom), 姐 [jiě] (sister, Miss)
人（亻）：People. E.g.你 [nǐ] (you), 作 [zuò] (to do)

Body

目：Eye. E.g. 眼 [yǎn] (eye), 看 [kàn] (to look)
口：Mouth. E.g. 吹 [chuī] (to blow), 吵 [chǎo] (noisy)
手（扌）：Hand. E.g. 打 [dǎ] (to hit), 拿 [ná] (to take)
心（忄）：Heart. E.g. 快 [kuài] (happy), 急 [jí] (urgent)
足（）：Feet, leg. E.g. 跑 [pǎo] (to run), 跳 [tiào] (to jump)
肉（月）：Meet. E.g. 胖 [pàng] (fat), 肚 [dù] (stomach)

Animals

马：Hourse. E.g. 骑 [qí] (to ride)
鸟：Bird. E.g.鸡 [jī] (chicken), 鸭 [yā] (duck)
鱼：Fish. E.g. 鲜 [xiān] (fresh)
犬（犭）：Dog, animal. E.g. 狗 [gǒu] (dog), 猫 [māo] (cat)

Tools

车：Car. E.g. 转 [zhuǎn] (to turn), 轮 [lún] (wheel)
门：Door. E.g. 间 [jiān] (room)
食（饣）：Food. E.g. 饿 [è] (hungry), 饱 [bǎo] (full)
衣（衤）：Clothes. E.g. 被 [bèi] (quilt), 补 [bǔ] (to fix)

But still, there are many words that you might not be able to tell what radical they have because they are quite complicated, such as 肃. And there are some radicals that you really can’t tell what they mean. Even Chinese native speakers might not know. For example, 癶. So, I would recommend that if you just start to learn Chinese, start with the characters/radicals listed above because you can use them to recognize or remember many other characters. But, if you have learned Chinese for a long time, I would advise you not to learn other abstract radicals unless you are really interested in them. Instead, I would suggest you read more and find the rules hidden behind these characters. For example, some components/radicals are only put in certain places.

Ok, and that’s it for today. If you have any questions about learning Chinese characters, feel free to leave them down below. We’ll reply to you as soon as possible. See you in the next post!

One thing that might scare people away when learning Chinese might be Chinese characters. There are so many strokes that are organized together in a complicated way! But, let’s break it down today and you’ll find out that it’s actually not that hard!

Firstly, “word” in Chinese is called 文字 [wénzì], in which 文 [wén] means one character (e.g. 人) and 字 [zì] means a word made from several components/characters (e.g.从＝人＋人). In today’s post, let’s take a look at the latter one. The reason why Chinese characters make people frustrated could be because there are too many components in one character. But actually, most of them are well-organized. And there are rules! 

The most basic ones are (1) left to right and (2) top to bottom. These two are mostly composed of two to three components. For example,
(1) 你＝亻＋尔,  脚＝月＋去＋ㄗ
(2) 分＝八＋刀,  草＝艹＋日＋十
But what do these components stand for? Some might carry the phonetic functions, while others might represent meanings.

Ok, now let’s go forward to harder stages and see their examples:
(3) full around, e.g. 回＝囗＋口, 叉＝又＋、
(4) surround from above, e.g. 风＝几＋乂, 闭＝门＋才
(5) surround from below, e.g. 凶＝ㄩ＋乂, 幽＝ㄩ＋ㄠ
(6) surround from left, e.g. 区＝ㄈ＋乂, 医＝ㄈ＋矢
See, not that hard. We can use 口, ㄇ, ㄩ, and ㄈ to write so many words.

Now with the structures in mind, let’s change the components to harder ones:
(7) surround from upper left, e.g.厌＝厂＋犬, 病＝疒＋丙
(8) surround from upper right, e.g. 可＝丁＋口, 包＝勹＋巳
(9) surround from lower left, e.g. 处＝夊＋人, 起＝走＋巳

Last but not least, we have an overlaid one. Although it might sound difficult, believe me, you’ve already seen the characters that belong to this category before.
(10) overlaid, e.g. 坐＝人＋土

See, Chinese characters are not that difficult if you are familiar with their structures. Oh! One more thing, if you understand the meanings of the most common components, you can memorize them even easier! Maybe I can introduce some to you next time! Stay tuned for more. See you next time!

I always love festivals. A four-day vacation is coming because of the Dragon Boat Festival! Hooray!

Okay, let’s calm down a bit so that I can share some interesting information about this festival with you. The first thing I want to say is that the Chinese name for Dragon Boat Festival is not related to “dragons” or “boats” at all! So the Chinese name is 端午节 [duānwǔ jié]. 端 comes from 开端 [kāiduān] meaning “to start”. 午 is another name for 五月 [wǔyuè] “May”. And 节 is 节日 [jiérì] “festival”. Because this festival is on May 5th in the Lunar calendar, we call it 端午节 [duānwǔ jié]: “the festival of the start of May”.

I know that some of you might have heard the story of this festival before, but there are still many new students who might be interested, so let me briefly introduce the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival.

In 278 BC, a famous poet, 屈原 [Qūyuán], threw himself into a river on May 5th and ended his life because he was extremely saddened by the government. People were so touched by his patriotism that they established a festival to commemorate him.

Row Dragon Boats

To celebrate the festival, people would engage in many traditions. The very obvious one is to 划龙舟 [huá lóngzhōu], to row dragon boats, or 看比赛 [kàn bǐsài], to watch the competitions. But why do people row boats on that day? In the beginning, people were afraid that the fish in that river would eat 屈原’s body so they rowed boats to scare the fish away. But nowadays, it’s more for entertainment.

Eat Sticky Rice Dumplings

In the past, while rowing boats, people also threw 粽子 [zòngzi], sticky rice dumplings, into the river so that the fish would eat the dumplings instead of 屈原’s body. In the beginning, people stuffed the sticky rice in bamboos but now they wrapped the rice in leaves. Why did they change? Because someone said that 屈原 went into his dream and told him “The water dragon in the river steals all the sticky rice dumplings. Pack them with specific leaves and strings to scare it away.”

Having sticky rice dumplings is the most common activity now, so it gradually became commercialized. Nowadays, many food companies start to sell 礼盒 [lǐhé], gift box, which contains the most proper gift for certain festivals. So, during Dragon Boat Festival, you might often hear 粽子礼盒 [zòngzi lǐhé] or 端午礼盒 [duānwǔ lǐhé]. Can you believe it? Even Starbucks started to sell its own sticky rice dumplings!?

By the way, don’t think that traditional food tastes bad. Rice dumplings are really delicious. And because of the fashion trend, there are more and more flavors that are getting fancier! They could be salty, sweet, hot, or iced. They might be brown, pink, green, or any other color!

Okay, too much food. Let’s see what else do we do or what other gifts can we buy on this festival.

Make A Fragrant Sachet

For children, definitely 做香包 [zuò xiāng bāo] make a fragrant sachet and 挂香包 [guà xiāng bāo] bring it. During May, there are many mosquitoes, bugs, or snakes. To avoid them, people packed herbs into sachets. These herbs not only scare the bugs away but also smells good. So many elementary teachers would teach kids how to make one. It’s a common memory for many Chinese people.

Drink Xionhuang

For adults, alcohol is always a good choice for a gift. During Dragon Boat Festival, there’s a tradition: 喝雄黄酒 [hē xiónghuángjiǔ] to drink Xionghuang. But…don’t rush to buy it and drink it. Scientific research says that this kind of alcohol is poisonous. So we only use it to smear a bit on our face or to put it on the ground to scare mosquitoes, bugs, or snakes away. Although we can’t drink it, we can drink other alcoholic beverages; thus, people buy alcohol as a gift during this festival. Well, alcohol is kind of a great choice no matter which festival it is, isn’t it.

I only mentioned some common activities that people would do during the Dragon Boat Festival. Have you heard or seen other activities? Or how would you like to celebrate this festival? Feel free to share it with everybody. 端午节快乐！[Duānwǔ jié kuàilè!] See you in the next post!

In your daily life, do you need to write formal emails in Chinese? Believe it or not, writing proper emails is really different from daily conversation. There are so many details that you need to pay attention to if you are writing to your boss, your clients, or anyone whose social status is higher than yours. But even though it might be a bit complicated, in this post, I will try to break things down to make it easier to understand.

Structure of the E-Mail

Let’s start with the whole picture, the structure of the email. It’s quite similar to a Western-style email: Salutation → Content → Blessing → Signature. So in the following content, we will learn how to write a formal e-mail in this order.

Salutation

A. Format: Align Text to the Left

B. Words to use:

1. A close friend or cousin/sibling:
   Just write down his/her name and put “：” after it. For example, 小明：
2. To an unfamiliar person or older relative: Address him/her by his/her title and put “：” after it. For example,
   阿姨 [āyí] aunt,
   同学 (同學) [tóngxué] classmate,
   经理 (經理) [jīnglǐ] manager.
   Besides, we can also mention his/her last name or full name in front of the title.
3. To be formal: Add a description ahead of the title. For example:
   敬爱的 (敬愛的) [jìng’ài de]respected and beloved,
   亲爱的 (親愛的) [ qīn’ài de] dear,
   尊敬的 [zūnjìng de] respected
4. To be extremely formal: We would need to specify the position and add a specific phrase to indicate that the writer is respectfully asking the recipient to read the mail. For example:
   __ 公司人事部经理 ___ 先生大鉴
   (___ 公司人事部經理 ___ 先生大鑒)
   [___ gōngsī rénshì bù jīnglǐ ___ xiānsheng dà jiàn]
   to Mr. ___, HR Manager at ___ Company

   ___ 中学___ 校长道鉴
   (___ 中學 ___校長道鑒)
   [___ Zhōngxué ___xiào zhǎng dào jiàn]
   to Principal ___ from ___ Middle School

   From the examples above, you might find that the phrases after the titles all have the word 鉴 (鑒) [jiàn] which means “to read (mail)”. But the words ahead of鉴 (鑒) are different, although they both mean “respectfully”. We use different words when writing to different people. The following words are the common ones that people use:

• • 大 (大) [dà] to those being the same age as you are, e.g. colleagues.
  • 钧 (鈞) [jūn] to those older than you or those work in politics and military, e.g. older colleagues, members of parliament, and admirals.
  • 青 (青) [qīng] to those younger than you, e.g. younger colleagues.
  • 道 (道) [dào] to those work in a school or academic area, e.g. teachers, professors, and principals.
  • 礼 (禮) [lǐ] is used when writing a condolences letter.

5. To unfamiliar or unknown people:
    您好 (您好) [nín hǎo] to one person.
    敬启者 (敬啟者) [jìng qǐ zhě] used in an official document.
    各位好 (各位好) [gèwèi hǎo] to many people.

Content

A. Format: 2 spaces (2 Chinese characters) from the left margin.

B. Words to use:
We use the following common words in a formal letter, but of course, we don’t use them between friends.

1. Family members:
   家父 [jiāfù] my dad (家originally means “home”, but here it means “my”.)
   家母 [jiāmǔ] my mom
   家兄 [jiāxiōng] my older brother
   家姐 [jiā jiě] my older sister
   舍弟 [shè dì] my younger brother (舍originally means “home”, but here it means “my”.)
   舍妹 [shè mèi] my younger sister
   小犬 [xiǎoquǎn] my son
   小女 [xiǎonǚ] my daughter
   令尊 [lìngzūn] your dad
   令堂 [lìngtáng] your mom
   令兄/弟/姐/妹 your siblings
   令郎 [lìngláng] your son
   令嫒 (令嬡) [lìng’ài] your daughter
2. Mention the organization/company
   敝校 [bì xiào] my school (敝originally means “broken”, but here it means “my”.)
   敝公司 [bì gōngsī] my company
   敝单位 (敝單位) [bì dānwèi] my department
   贵校 (貴校) [guì xiào] your school (贵originally means “precious”, but here it means “your”.)
   贵公司 (貴公司) [guì gōngsī] your company
   贵单位 (貴單位) [guì dānwèi] your department
3. Mention yourself
   In a formal letter, we rarely say “我 [wǒ] I”. Instead, we say “the role”. For example, if I am writing a letter to a teacher, “I” would become “学生 (學生) [xuésheng] student”. If it’s a letter to my boss, “I” would become “职员 (職員) [zhíyuán] employee”.

C. Structure of the content:

1. At the beginning: If we’re quite close to whom we are writing, we show our care at the beginning. For example,
   好久不见，近来可好？
   (好久不見，近來可好？)
   [Hǎojiǔ bùjiàn, jìnlái kě hǎo?]
   Long time no see. How are you recently?
   近来天气转凉，__身体可好？
   (近來天氣轉涼，__身體可好？)
   [Jìnlái tiānqì zhuǎn liáng, __shēntǐ kě hǎo?]

   It’s been cold recently. How is your health?On the other hand, if we are writing an email to a boss or a client, we introduce ourselves and get to the point instead.

2. At the end:
   If we address the recipient as敬启者 (敬啟者) [jìng qǐ zhě] at the beginning, we use 此致 [cǐzhì] to end the content of the letter.

Blessing

A. Format: There are three formats you can use. Take敬祝 事事顺心 (敬祝 事事順心) [Jìng zhù shì shì shùnxīn] “Wish you everything goes well” for example.

1. Put 敬祝 on a new line with 2 spaces (2 Chinese characters) from the left margin. And put 事事顺心 on a new line aligned to the left margin.
2. Put 敬祝 at the end of the last paragraph without a period after it. And put 事事顺心 on a new line aligned to the left margin.
3. Put 敬祝 事事顺心 on a new line aligned to the left margin with a space between 敬祝 and 事事顺心.

B. Words to use: We break the blessing into two parts, “to wish” and “the blessing”. And, as usual, we use different words to different people.

1. “To wish”
   There are many words to use, but I think it’s frustrating to learn all of them; therefore, I only list the most common ones. By the way, 敬请 is more respectful than 祝, and is more used in formal emails.
   祝 [zhù]
   敬请 (敬請) [jìng qǐng]
2. “the blessing”
   (1) common blessings:
   事事顺心 (事事順心) [shì shì shùnxīn] Everything goes well.
   身体健康 (身體健康) [shēntǐ jiànkāng] Good health.
   平安喜乐 (平安喜樂) [píng’ān xǐlè] Safe and happy.(2) Formal blessings:
   大安 (大安) [dà’ān] to those being the same age as you, e.g. colleagues.
   钧安 (鈞安) [jūn’ān] to those older than you or those work in politics, e.g. older colleagues, members of parliament, and politicians.
   道安 (道安) [dào’ān] to those who work in schools or in an academic field, e.g. teachers, professors, and principals.
   礼安 (禮安) [lǐ’ān] is used when writing a condolence letter.

Signature

A. Structure: Role → Name → To write → (Time) → (Department)

B. Format:

1. In a paper letter
   “The name” and “to write” are on the same line and there’s a space between them. Others are on different lines. Besides, each line is aligned to the right margin. “The role” is at the upper left of the name; moreover, the font size of “the role” should be decreased a bit.
2. In an e-mail
   “The role”, “the name” and “to write” are on the same line or different lines and there’s a space between them. Other information is on a new line. And they are all aligned to the left margin.

C. Words to use:

1. Role:
   If I am writing a letter to a teacher, then there would be “学生 (學生) [xuésheng] student” before my name. If it’s a letter to my boss, then it would be “职员 (職員) [zhíyuán] employee”. But if it’s a letter to my friend, I can just omit this part. Additionally, if it’s a letter to my lover, it can be “爱你的 (愛你的) [ài nǐ de] the one loving you”.
2. To write:
   If it’s a letter to friends or family members, we can also omit this part.
   上 [shàng] and 启 (啟) [qǐ] to those being the same age as you are, e.g. colleagues.
   敬上 [jìng shàng] and 敬启 (敬啟) [jìng qǐ] to the elder, the boss, or those who are not close with.
3. Time:
   In a paper letter, we put the time after the things mentioned above, while in an email, since there’s time on every email already, we can omit this part. Besides, if it’s a letter to a Chinese, note that the order is “year, month, day”.
4. Department:
   If it’s an email sent from a business email address, then the email should be closed by some contact information, e.g. the company, the department, phone number.

E.g. A letter to a friend

E.g. A letter to a proffesor