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你好,欢迎收听随行汉语。 Welcome to Takeaway Chinese.
I'm Niu Honglin with Steve Hatherly in the studio.
Hello, Steve.
敬酒即一杯。 敬酒即一杯。 Cheers to me.
What a terrible way to say hello to our audience and to you by celebrating myself first.
No, it's inspiring.
It's... telling us, it's inspiring us to all make a toast to ourselves.
I love that people do that and they do it on social media.
Yes, you can do it anytime, especially when you achieve something, and you'll find yourself you know you want to give yourself something, a little nudge, and saying good job, love it, love it.
It's a good way of celebrating life And that's the thing.
In the world, we have to deal with a lot of different things, meet a lot of different people.
Everyone has their very smart moment and wise advices.
And that's why we learn from each other all the time.
Some people have more smart moments than other people.
That's also true.
It's funny.
In different languages, we have different ways to say smart and silly, perhaps.
And I find recently I realized because I growing up, I learned Chinese.
I speak Chinese is my native language.
But Chinese has too long a history, which means in all of the details possible there might be a hidden secret.
And recently I am doing this little project and research and learning about the origin of different characters, learning about different aspects or nuance of different words and different expressions.
And I find this really interesting.
For example, there are different ways to call someone smart in Chinese.
The very, very common one.
I think we've even mentioned this one when we talk about different body parts.
That is 聪明.
聪明 is calling someone smart.
And if you separate the word 聪明 into two characters, then 聪 carries the meaning of being able to hear quite well.
Okay.
And 明 carries the meaning of being able to see quite well.
If you 失聪 lose the ability of 聪, it means you lose the ability of hearing.
And if you 失明 lose the ability of hearing, then it's losing visual ability.
So 聪明, but that's only the surface level.
Recently I realized that when we say 聪 carries the meaning of being able to hear.
It means not only that you can hear things, but also you understand them, you accept things, the information from the outside world better, and the implication there is if you do that, then you are smart.
Yes, and when it comes to me, because it has something to do with visual ability vision, good vision it also carries the ability that if you can see something quite clear, then you can separate them quite well.
You can tell right from wrong.
You can put them into different categories that they belong, which is why in Chinese we have a idiom 明辨是非.
So 明 is being able to clearly identify, and 辨 is 分辨.
分辨 is to put things into different category, tell right from wrong, and 是 means yes or the right things.
Fei is the wrong things.
So being able to tell right from wrong is Ming Bian Shi Fei.
It's talking about the kind of person that knows right from wrong.
How do you use that in conversation, though?
Is it a compliment to someone?
It can be a compliment.
It can also be a kind of a neutral judgment.
For example, you can say 你要明辨是非。 You should be able to tell right from wrong.
你要, you should do this.
Or 他是一个明辨是非的人。 He is the kind of people who, no matter who does this, he would not care about who's the one who did it, but whether or not the things are right or wrong.
What was the first part of that sentence?
I hear that a lot.
I hear that all the time.
Yes, yes, because...
You know, people judge others and they describe others.
And that's a good way to do that.
Yes, exactly.
Yeah.
In English too.
I think there's probably a million different ways to express intelligence or a lack thereof.
We have some kind of funny and cute terms and expressions.
We have some not so funny and not so nice terms.
And we won't go over those today.
But yeah, I think every language probably has some.
And Mandarin Chinese is no different.
No difference.
And we already know 聰明 is still.
On a relatively superficial level, in the sense that you can hear, you can 聪.
That's your gathering information.
You're able to open your ears to the outside world instead of just stay in your little corner and do not know what is happening and don't care about the outside information.
So collecting information it's important, but it's the first level mean you're able to tell right from wrong.
Yes, that's great, that's necessary, but still it's kind of like we say you should be able to have these abilities, But when it comes to 智 and 会 it's a different level.
Yeah, that's like enlightened.
Yes, enlightened wisdom and being able to make proper and right and smart decisions.
That's 智, because 智, this character, it refers to the kind of smartness and the kind of talent that is usually veiled, quite commonly praised by the outside world.
We say 集中生智.
集中生智.
Yes, so 智 means you're very resourceful in the way that you come up with different ways to solve a problem.
And 急 means in a hurry or in a crisis, in an urgent situation.
Zhong is in the middle.
So jizhong means in the middle of a crisis.
Sheng is generate.
Zhi is smartness.
So when you are pushed to a corner or on a cliff of a mountain, you suddenly would smart ways of solving the situation would come to you.
I wonder if the English equivalent would be like excel under pressure, something like that, but a little similar but not really right is a little like that.
But what i think is example of the kind of smartness or the kind of talent that you can enjoy, or you can describe with the word 智.
So 智 is the kind of resourcefulness in the sense that you have a million different solutions to solve a problem.
So in Chinese, there's also this term 至多星.
至多星.
So 多 is many, 星 is kind of like star, but this term together, 至多星, you're talking about someone who can always come up with a solution, have a lot of different ways to solve a problem.
So this is like the ultimate compliment.
Oh, the ultimate compliment would be 会.
So zhi hui together, we know it's wisdom.
But hui itself is talking about the kind of enlightened or...
It's really the intelligence that comes from the inner world.
In Chinese, we also say 静集生慧.
静集生慧.
Yes.
So 静 is quiet or stay still.
集 is extreme.
Okay.
When you're extremely quiet, you sit down and meditate for hours doing soul searching.
Think about your life.
Think about the world.
Think about the universe.
You generate the kind of wisdom.
That comes from the inside.
That comes from you.
You are not solving any specific kind of problem that you meet in life.
You are viewing and even assessing the universe in your own way.
And you find out the doctrine of the means.
Oh my goodness.
See, ultimate compliment.
Yes.
Can I just say that to somebody?
Like if they fixed the printer in the office.
No, don't.
Because I don't know how to do that.
That's stupid.
I hate that thing, by the way.
No, it's too much?
It's too much.
Then when can I say this to somebody?
When do I meet somebody who has unlocked the secrets of the universe?
If they do that, you can say 你有大智慧 你有大智慧 You have the ultimate wisdom.
大 is big.
Okay.
你有大智慧.
Yes.
So it's not about being smart, being a street smart kid.
It's not about saying something silly and make everybody happy.
It's about the ultimate enlightenment, the wisdom.
大.
OK, the reason why I was asking, because we have kind of an English equivalent.
It's not as dramatic, I don't think.
But if someone fixes the printer for me, then I say in English I would say oh my gosh, you're a genius.
Thank you.
Obviously not the true meaning of the word, but we're overemphasizing.
Okay.
So if you want to find a word for that scenario, you say 你真是个天才。 你真是天才。 You really is a genius.
Uh-huh.
Because 天才 is like the kind of talent that you should only see in heaven.
Because 人才, we are human talent.
Okay.
But you see 天才 in heaven.
You are a heavenly body.
Yeah, something like that.
I have a heavenly mind.
Yeah.
Are we going to talk about any insults?
If you want to.
Those are usually fun.
We have a fun one in English.
I learned this one.
I don't know if it's common in British English, but I learned it from watching a British chef's television show.
Okay.
And he would always insult the junior chefs when he wanted to say like you guys are stupid, he would call them a donut.
And that was one of my favorite soft, gentle ways to express to someone you're dumb.
Like, you donut.
Does it mean you have a hole in your brain?
Maybe.
I've never searched the real reason behind it, but it is a way to cutely say well, he wasn't so cute when he said it.
But it's a very kind of not so offensive way when you're teasing somebody.
You can use this like you.
We cannot tease somebody and calling them stupid unless it's in a romantic relationship.
Oh, please explain that.
Okay, so for example, in a romantic relationship, sometimes a couple will call each other 小笨蛋.
小笨蛋.
小 is small.
笨蛋 is little, stupid, you silly.
Silly goose, maybe in English.
Something like that.
You silly goose.
But you silly goose doesn't, in English, doesn't imply any lack of intelligence.
In Chinese it kind of does, because the Chinese character 笨 carries the meaning of a little dumb, not very smart, not very quick.
And 笨 itself, the upper part of the character is a 竹字头, so it's a bamboo.
It is a character component that represents bamboo.
And the lower part is button.
It's the essence.
Actually, this character initially was talking about a membranes part of the bamboo.
If you cut it open and you can find the membranes, the membrane, the thin, very thin.
Yes yes yes, part of it, and it looks like plain white paper and it's almost transparent it's talking about.
There's not much in your brain.
You're like In Chinese we also say this person or kid is like a piece of paper.
You can write anything on it.
An empty canvas.
Something like that.
Empty canvas.
And so initially, the character Ben is talking about that piece of texture.
And it's saying there's not a lot.
So it's talking about this person.
Maybe their intelligence levels are not problematic.
It's fine.
But it's just like there's not a lot on it.
Like an empty bamboo stick.
A little bit.
That's a good insult, you bamboo stick.
That sounds like the donut one.
Hold on.
So how do you say this to your romantic partner?
I'm guessing your voice tone is important here.
But the thing is, we also have expressions like 笨鸟先飞.
So if you are kind of a slow bird, not very smart bird, you should start earlier.
Because 先飛 means to, 先 is in advance.
Fei is fly.
So you should start your journey a bit earlier because you're not as smart as others.
So when you call someone Ben, you're not insulting, you're a little bit insulting them.
But it's saying that if they try harder, effort can make the situation a little bit better.
So that's Ben.
So that is not as insulting as, for example, 傻.
傻 is also dumb.
But the right side of the character is a 人字旁, it's a person.
And the upper side of the right side is a place on a people's skull.
It's called 心门, for example, when a kid, I don't know if you know this.
I do, I know what you're going to say.
Yes.
Yeah, their skull is divided into four pieces when they're born, and then it fuses later.
Yes, and that hole, that area that will be filled later, is called a xin men, so it's talking about that part.
And then the lower part of the right part of the character carries the meaning that It's slow, it's not moving quite well.
So 傻 is talking about the lack of intelligent level.
It's saying that something is wrong with the hardware.
Yeah, that's worse.
Something's wrong with your hardware.
Yeah, something's wrong with your software.
You can do something to make it better, but something wrong with your hardware, no.
You're wired the wrong way.
Yeah, so it's even dumber.
It's fun.
It is fun.
Chinese characters are smart.
Yeah, be careful when you're learning these, please, everyone.
Yes, yes.
Yeah, be cute and fun with them, not too serious.
Yes, and also there's the Chinese character 蠢.
蠢.
蠢.
The upper part of it is 春天, so spring.
Okay.
And the lower part of the character, there are two worms, 虫.
虫.
虫 means worm.
So 春天的虫子,春虫虫.
These worms, one is spring.
They started to wake up.
They started to move.
But they lack aim.
They lack direction.
They do not know what they're doing.
They're just moving aimlessly.
They're doing stupid things without knowing that they're stupid.
So if you're telling someone or calling someone 蠢, you're saying they are making unnecessary moves that would lead to terrible results.
This sounds like one that you don't say when the person is in the room.
Don't.
Never.
Understood.
So 蠢 .
There are many people in Chinese history that can be labeled as true.
So they're making unnecessary moves.
They should have known better, but they don't.
That's kind of fun to know.
I mean because this is the first time I've ever heard you or anyone talk like this, because usually when we
We're very positive.
We're talking about positive expressions.
That's what I mean.
But no, when we talk about, like Chinese history, we talk about the best scholars and the most inspiring poets and people of this nature who helped to move the nation forward, forward and develop different things and philosophies and things like that.
That's the first time I've ever heard anyone say yeah, there were people in history that yeah, you know, didn't help that much.
For example, there is a Chinese idiom talking about a stupid, stupid person, the kind of stupid that are doing things, unnecessary things, that would lead to catastrophic example.
This person is catastrophic for him.
So this person is 东郭先生.
Dong Guo Xian Xiong.
Yes.
So Dong Guo Xian Xiong is this person in Chinese history.
And when he was walking in the wild, walking outside, he saw a wolf and the wolf was hurt.
I think the wolf broke his leg or something.
And then he was trying to cure the wolf, helping him.
Oh, that's nice.
That's not nice in this story.
Until the wolf woke up.
Exactly.
And the wolf woke up and... Do what wolves do.
Yes.
And Mok even speak to him saying, you helped me.
You saved my life.
Now I'm...
And I need you to save my life again.
So that's funny because we have those kind of folk tales, too.
But the message in our folk tales, we've got one about gosh, I'm on the spot.
So I'm having trouble remembering the details.
But it's something like.
Somebody helped a snake cross a river or a scorpion cross a river.
Or a snake that is frozen so they hold it to the chest and warm it up.
Something like that.
And then the snake eventually bites them and the snake says, well, I'm a snake.
That's what I do.
That's what I do.
Yes.
But the message there is you shouldn't be surprised when they've already advertised to you what they're going to do, who they are.
That's exactly what 蠢 is about.
Doing unnecessary things and expecting the kind of results that are impossible.
Oh, yes, yes, yes.
So if you're calling someone stupid in that way, you're saying not only don't they know what they should do, they're going out, going around, do stupid things and hurting themselves as well as others and creating troubles and making problems.
Those are some fun negative ones.
Let's go back to the positive ones, though.
Do you have the expression for it?
We have it in English, like very bright.
If someone is very bright, that means they're smart.
We have an expression.
In certain contexts, it means bright can mean something different.
Yes, yes.
But you remind me of a Chinese idiom, 冰雪聪明.
We talked about 聪明 being smart or quick.
What's the 冰雪?
冰 is ice.
Yes, and 雪 is snow.
So 冰雪, 聪明 is like crystal clear kind of smart.
Right?
They can see through a lot of things and they understand the world.
There's no... smog or mist in their heart.
It's crystal clear.
And yeah, 聪明, smart.
So where does that rank in the I can use these expressions in the office list?
Funny thing is 冰雪聪明 is usually used to describe kids.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Back to my example, bright, like we usually say he's a bright boy or she's a bright child.
Yeah, it's usually talking about because it's about the clearness of their mind, of their heart.
It must be related to innocence in a way.
Were you, when you were young, did people describe you as... 冰雪聪明 is a very high level of smart even for kids.
So you don't also use it very lightly in daily conversation.
But if you're writing a passage describing a very smart and bright kid...
That is a good Chinese idiom to use.
Or if a kid comes to the office and fixes the printer.
You're fixating on the printer guy.
Well, you use it and see if you want to talk about it.
Yes, and that's brightness.
But also, even if we're talking about the less smart kind of people, there are the kind of words that you use, that that are hard to describe, whether you're more insulting them a bit more, or you're complimenting them or at least respecting them as well.
I'm talking about a Chinese character, 痴.
The structure of the character is with a 病字旁, so 病 is a disease.
So it shows that initially, when this character was created, they are looking at it as a kind of disease, or at least this person who is 痴 is showing symptoms.
And what is the symptoms about?
The inner part of the character.
Initially.
Now we only see the simplified Chinese characters, but the traditional Chinese characters.
Inside it carries the meaning of not very clear.
So they don't know that they are obsessed with something.
痴 is a Chinese character that is talking about not very smart, not very bright.
But it's also more about the fact that they're irrationally obsessed with something that might not end up in a very positive result.
But I feel like you're calling me 去 right now.
Why?
Because obsessed with something...
That was the reminder for sure.
But this 痴 is about a bigger obsession.
It's about addicted to something.
Oh, like a serious addiction to something?
A serious addiction, but it's not even physical.
For example, in Chinese, we say 情痴. is emotion but it's also talking about relationship so if this person no matter what they do they prioritize love at the very very top of their life they would abandon their family for someone they love they would stop working for someone they love In ancient days, we say 他是一个情痴, he or she is really, really obsessed with love itself.
And it's not necessarily even just about one person or specific persons, the kind of people they are.
Or 痴迷, 痴迷 itself is obsessed.
That's why being obsessed with something, the Chinese translation can be 痴迷.
He is obsessed with reading.
He is obsessed with new technologies.
He would go out of his way to find out the new technology and try them and learn about them.
That has kind of a positive meaning.
That's what I'm talking about.
So 痴 itself.
If you're using it in the words like 白痴, you're saying oh, this person has no idea, he's clueless, he does not understand the outside world.
But it can be because this person is obsessed with something, that they pull their heart on it and totally, totally addicted to it.
And besides true, there is another kind of quote-unquote that I cannot fully frown upon, and that is 愚.
愚.
愚昧 is considered something bad.
It's stupid and not smart and not knowing the world.
But 愚 itself.
The upper part of it carries the meaning of a corner and the lower part of the character is heart.
So if your heart focuses only on just the corner, then this person is 愚昧,愚蠢, or 愚笨.
That means this person is not flexible and stubborn and do not know how to get around and how to do things differently.
What's the connection to the corner of the heart though?
It's focusing on just one heart and cannot get out and see the whole heart kind of feeling.
Okay.
But the reason that I feel like, again, Chinese can be very philosophical.
What do you mean can be?
Chinese is very philosophical.
It is.
But this is a good example, because we talked about 痴 is obsessed and you cannot blame someone because they're so obsessed with just one thing.
Sure.
Same thing to 愚.
愚 is not smart for sure.
If you're stubborn, if no one can change your mind, it's usually a bad thing.
But there is a Chinese idiom, 愚公移山。 愚公移山。
Yes, it's talking about 愚公.
愚公 is a person.
公 is usually a male.
So 愚公 is a stupid male.
If you want to translate it directly, a stubborn, not very smart male.
我是愚公。 You listen to what 愚公 did and then decide whether or not you call yourself 愚公.
愚 is to remove or move away.
And 山 is mountain.
So he moved the mountain.
Yes, because...
He lives in the foot of a mountain.
Well, two mountains, actually, Taihangshan and Wangwushan.
And he lives in the foot of the mountain.
And one day he suddenly feels like, oh, this is not convenient.
I live at the foot of the mountain and every time I have to get around the mountain, I have to go across and find
It's just not convenient convenient to traffic wise.
So he decided to move the mountains.
He got a shovel and started to move the mountain, one bucket of soyo at a time.
And wouldn't it be easier if he just moved?
Exactly that's what people are saying why don't you just move to a different place?
And he said well, i like it here.
I think moving mountains is not that hard.
If I cannot finish it, definitely I cannot finish it.
My son can do it and my son's son can do it.
And generation after generation, they will accomplish this.
I'm not going to give up just because it's hard to do, meaning the stubborn aspect.
Yes.
So the first takeaway here is you're not a yugong.
You're not as stubborn as he is.
I am a yugong.
You just don't know it.
Really?
Yeah.
But the second thing is I didn't used to understand this.
I felt...
When I was a kid, that Yu Gong is a stupid man and we should never be like him.
Why are you making your entire family, generations of your family, do this silly thing, this decision that you made at that one moment, until I visited Xizang, and that is a high plateau area
And local people at that time, they didn't used to have fresh vegetables.
They have to almost like import or bring the vegetables in.
But they determined to grow them themselves.
Yes, they're determined and they fixed all the problems.
They jumped all the hurdles and all the challenges and they build homes, the greenhouses, and then they breed a different species so that the vegetables and fruits can grow on high plateau, low oxygen area.
And that is stubbornness, but that is also persistent striving for a better future.
And never giving up.
Never giving up.
So being a yugong might not be a bad thing.
Yeah, depending on the context of the situation.
Yes.
So, yes, like Steve said, Chinese is philosophical.
There are different ways, different nuances and different subtle implications of different ways of describing different things.
And I am just very lucky.
I feel very lucky that I get to learn about these, talk about these and also pass on on the knowledge to everyone.
And I feel lucky for learning them.
And that brings us to the end of today's Takeaway Chinese.
Thank you so much for listening.
I'm Niu Honglin with Steve Hatherly.
We'll see you next time.
Bye-bye.
Thank you.
