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Nihon, wan yi shou ting shui, sing hai yi, welcome to Take away Chinese!
I am Nihon Lin. Joining me today is Steve Heatherly.
Hello Steve! Shi nian kuaila koung shi fa chai.
Good! Shi nian kuaila to you too!
Thank you! Hey, the start of the year already, 2025, I cannot believe this.
Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
We talked about it a little bit last time, didn't we, at the beginning of the show, where we always have that feeling of surprise and shock that the end of the year is coming and a new year is coming and we have to talk about that and what are we going to do and we have to make all of our plans.
But don't forget as well that we have to say expressions like this to each other to help celebrate the new year.
Yes. And in the meantime, we always asked, what is your new year resolution?
What do you want to achieve for the coming year?
So we're doing that to our lovely friends online too.
They do not get to escape.
They have to think about their coming year, their new year resolution as well.
This can be a stress inducing question for so many people, you know, so many people love to plan.
A lot of people I know get really excited at the end of the year when the...
Oh, I bet you're one of those people too.
When the new planners come out.
I have to admit, I've got the new one.
A month before 2025 actually arrived!
Oh, you know why? Banhui.
Banhui. Banhui, yes.
Yes, I have some Banhui around me.
In a good way. Well, Banhui and Xiong.
A lot of people get really excited about those.
my wife does as well and therefore for I think for many people like that maybe what's your New Year's resolution is not that stressful a question because you know those types of people perhaps like to plan things out something to expect to look forward to but for other people who don't usually make plans you know what's your New Year's resolution I don't know I've even heard people say My resolution is to not make resolutions.
That is a good resolution and easy to make resolution to achieve.
Can't fail if you don't try.
Well, for today's episode, at least no matter what kind of people you are, we can give you some Chinese expressions around this theme.
No matter if you like to plan, you enjoy new year's resolution.
You despise the idea of fixing 12 month and pretending it's a new phase.
It's no matter which, you get to know how to say those things in Chinese.
And that is always a good thing.
So for our dear listeners, if you're interested in Chinese culture, and you want to get a grip on the Chinese language, then this is the show for you.
Stick with us for 30 minutes and you soon see the rewards.
And for more fun Chinese learning, follow our Facebook page Learn Chinese to watch many fun videos and live streams.
But now let's provide you with some free Chinese for Takeaway.
First things first.
You already know how to say, Xinyen Kuailu, a happy new year.
Gong Sih, Fa Cai, made you great fortune for the coming new year.
Really good expressions by the way.
Happy new year and make a lot of money.
Yeah, make a lot of money very important.
So we already know new year is Xinyen.
Xinyen. Yes. Yes, and in Chinese we do not really have a fixed word or phrase for New Year resolution.
But we do have a New Year plan.
Okay. That is Xinyan qihua.
Xinyan qihua. Yes, and that would be the plan for the coming year.
So resolution is a different word in Chinese than plan, right?
Different words. But for the expression, you don't say New Year's Revolution, I mean translation - First thing, translation wise.
You say New Year's plan.
Or you say New Year's wish.
Which is easier, right?
So New Year's wish would be, Xinyan Yuan Wang.
Xinyan Yuan Wang. Yes, Yuan Wang.
Yuan cares the meaning of thinking about something that you wanna achieve and Wang actually cares the meaning of look far.
So if you look far and think about the kind of thing that you wish that can happen for the future, then that'll be your wish, yuān wán, your dream.
Xin yān, yuān wán. Xin yān, yuān wán.
Yes. Or xin yān, zhi huā.
Yes, xin yan zhi huā would be your new year plan.
For New Year plan I think it's relatively speaking.
I don't know, maybe it's just the feeling of the words.
My feeling is that xin yan zi hua would be a bit more practical.
Yeah, like literal things you're going to do.
You have things written down already.
And also if we really, really, really want to say in your resolution, you can kinda translate it as xin yan zhi xin.
So when you're putting your foot down, when you're putting your heart, fixing your heart on a certain goal, then you're determined to do it.
Understood. but that's of the three that you've mentioned so far the word Resolution the last one is the least used yeah And you can also have for example Xinyan move beau Xinyan move beau move you move Yes, move you is an aim or a goal Something it's also very concrete very Specific something you can definitely achieve and you can measure.
It's kind of like if I want to lose weight, it's kind of like my new year's wish.
If I want to look great, it's kind of like a new year resolution or wish.
But if I want to lose 20 pounds, that is a new year goal, that is a xin yin moo biao.
Xin yin moo biao. Yeah, something specific and concrete.
Yeah, in my mind that is what it is, and definitely you can also have xin yin xi wang, But I feel like Si Wong is not as catchy as Yuan Wang in my opinion.
What's Si Wong? Si Wong is kind of like hope.
But with all of these, the meaning is really quite similar.
Yeah, yeah, yeah and one we're asked what is your new year's resolution?
Another quite common follow up question would be have you achieved your last year's new year resolution?
Yes, nobody likes that question.
Nobody likes that. But definitely you can learn the Chinese word for achieve or complete.
That is Wan�chong. Wan�chong.
Yes, Wan�chong.�Wan� means finish.
Cheong. Cheong. Gong.
Success. So you don't put these together, right?
Shin�y�n� Wan�chong.
You don't say those together.
No, you don't say those together.
You say Wan�chong�xin�y�em�mo�b�ow.
So complete your New Year's goal.
wine chunks in your mouth yeah okay so these are words that you use specifically at this time of year yeah if you put them all together yeah right yeah yeah if you separate them you can use them anytime you want but when you put them together it's specific to this time yes and I want to ask what is your new year resolution you have one for this year yeah remember I talked about those people who get excited about the planners that come out I always give them away.
Oh really? You don't make plans at all?
Not really. I mean I can talk about things that I want to do in 2025.
For example, I want to get home to see my family, that's for sure.
I want to improve my Chinese language abilities, that is for sure.
But what I don't usually do is I don't set the Xinyan Mòbiao because I feel like if we set the new year's goal, for example books, I want to read 12 books a month, something like that, and then you don't you don't read 12 books a month, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment quite early in the year.
Now that's only the way I think.
Not everyone thinks like that.
That's why I don't like to set very specific jinyan mubiao for myself.
I understand. Yes. And previously, actually only two years ago when we were talking about New Year's resolution and stuff, I remember myself saying, ah, this is so artificial.
I mean, you live this really long life and it's fluctuated and everything's you can make a decision to achieve something every day does not have to be the start of the year in 12 months and saying that it's a fixed amount of time and make giving it meaning.
It's only you giving a meaning, it doesn't really mean anything.
Now I feel like I was just too young and naive and we do need a sense of ritual.
In Chinese, we say yi shi gan, a sense of ritual, literally, yi shi is a ritual and gan gan juou, we talked about it, that's feelings, so we do need a little bit of that in life to spice things up a little bit.
And actually, you don't really make a wish every day.
At the end of the year or the starting of the year, it is the time that the entire atmosphere encourages you to think about, to reflect on your past, and think about your future.
That's perfect timing, and just blend in with the atmosphere.
So I do like to make New Year Wishes.
And I do even would ask, at the very beginning of the show, we talked about it, we pressured Our lovely friends online to send us their new year resolution New year wishes and we've got some really nice and fun and cute response and some ones that are really really do Hope they can achieve for example We have Marco meta saying quit smoking and we'll be starting to learn Chinese you have to do this Oh, yes quit smoking definitely Marco and congratulations on starting to Study Chinese you've come to the right place.
Yes, and if you can't actually quit smoking I'd like to teach you this word which I think is one of my New Year's resolutions.
That is stay healthy Ah, yes.
Yeah, how do you say that?
Bao ju jian kang. Yes, so Bao ju is stay or keep and xian kang is healthy.
Jin Kang got it actually I think Jin cares the meaning that all of your body parts are intact and are you know together and Kang is talking about the state of your health your state of health is really good.
So putting together It's like mentally physically entirely.
You've got you are in a good condition and Marco We hope that all of your body parts stay intact in 2025 and healthy and everything.
Yes, Bao Chuy Cian Kang.
That's a good one. We have another one from Chris Joseng Loy, to travel.
This is the New Year's Resolution to travel to beautiful China.
How does they travel in Chinese?
Lu Xing. Yes. So, Lu Xing is like go to different places.
Actually, the character xing carries the meaning of walk.
So, bu xing, it means walk around.
Yeah. And the zhen xióng dǎo.
Zhen is person, xióng is walk, dǎo is away so that's the pedestrian part of the road.
So zhen xióng dǎo, yióng is the meaning of walk around.
Liu xióng is like travel to different places and enjoy local culture and everything.
Well, Chris, hopefully or maybe you can take advantage of the visa free policies that have made it so convenient for people to come and experience this beautiful country and you're right.
So many different countries nowadays enjoy the Visa -Weaver policy.
Over 50 I think is the last update that I heard and so many different ports of entry as well, which is a wonderful thing because it means that you can kind of choose your starting point at different points around China.
Yeah and I think Mary Jones has a similar idea about traveling.
about Lu Xing uh saying to travel with an open heart and mind so that all previous thoughts and beliefs can be put aside to learn the truth and reality of the countries I will be traveling to in 2025.
Oh that's a very deep message isn't it.
Yes yes yes travel with an open heart and an open mind so that all previous thoughts and beliefs can be put aside.
Yeah I And I really honestly believe this Marie, and I really believe that we kind of have these preconceived notions, right?
Maybe before you go to, I don't know, Italy, you have some ideas in your head about what will be good about Italy or what will be bad about Italy.
But those things are influenced by the media or sometimes other people's opinions, people who have traveled there, but you never know until you get there yourself.
And when you do it yourself, then you really know the wonderful truth about the cultures and the foods and all of that great stuff when you get to go and travel around China by yourself or travel around the world by yourself.
Yes, definitely. And here in China we have a saying, our Ting Wei Shi Yan is like it's something not concrete, It's something might be false.
It might not be true So the things that you hear might not be true The stories that you heard might not be true and yen is your yen.
Jin your eye. Yeah, can't yet see Way is Solid have to see what your own I see for yourself.
See for yourself You have to come to China and talk to the people eat local foods stay in the hotel read the characters that you do not know how to read and find someone to help you translate and then you know the country.
Yes, absolutely Marie thanks for the message and best of luck with your travel in 2025.
Here's another one this is from Tamix Rita.
My New Year's resolution is to watch a Chinese movie every week in Chinese with Han Tzu subtitles because I have reached a very high level in language knowledge but I'm still struggling a lot expressing myself.
I think listening to media products can help me more.
Ooh, very ambitious.
And I would say definitely you are with good language skill already because you set the bar quite high with Han's Chinese character subtitles.
Yeah, right. So that means that you can watch the film and read those subtitles in time before the You're seeing changes and the new subtitles come out.
That's very impressive.
It's going to take me a few years to get there, I think.
That is very impressive.
I think you should make that one of your New Year's resolution.
It is my New Year's resolution for the year 2061.
Learn Chinese Well.
I'm only talking about Learn Chinese Well.
Yeah, oh right. Putting more time in Learning Chinese, not reading Chinese subtitles.
Okay, so, Learn Chinese Well.
Let's start by learning how to say, Learn Chinese Well.
shi hao zhong wan perfect so shi means to learn to study Hao is well so to learn it well shi hao and zhong wan Chinese shi hao zhong wan perfect learn chinese well and yeah that is the resolution the new year's resolution we received a lot on our page at the end of the day we are the learned chinese Yeah.
Yeah, it would be weird if they said learned German.
Yeah. Take away Chinese.
A little weird. We can help you.
We would, you know, a plot for you, but it's hard for us to help you with that.
We have another one from Alexei Ndaba Omule.
And I apologize if I got your name wrong, but I think I might have gotten it right.
Anyway, it says to get the man I've spent 11 years with back in my life as well as get the job that pays so I can build a home for my kids.
Wow. That's a huge goal for 2025.
But good luck with that, I think.
100 % good luck with that.
Yeah, I think you can do it as long as you, sometimes the things that are most, well, I feel like sometimes the most challenging part of a goal is to set the goal, right?
Yeah, right. Especially when it comes to relationships, when it comes to who you want in your life and who you want to remove from your life, Making the decision, thinking about it clear, make the decision is actually half done.
Yeah. Once you realize what to do, you can do it well.
And then getting the action plan in place is the next step.
Alexi, good luck. And please do send another message and let us know how that's going.
And I hope you get that man back in your life.
Yes. And at the same time, even though I don't think it's the word of this year, it has been the word that I have learned these well at least the previous one or two years that is intimate relationship.
qingmi guanxi, Yes.
Qingmi is intimate and guanxi is relationship.
It's a word that starts to be trendy online, people talk about when it comes to intimate relationships, when it comes to qingmi guanxi, we have to be careful, we have to stop being super nice to strangers and maybe coworkers and friends and being mean and a little bit selfish to our significant other because they're so close to us.
We have to learn to know how to best maintain a that is something I'm still learning.
I think it's a life long journey, that one.
Trying to create that perfect balance for an intimate relationship, albeit with your friends or your coworkers or your romantic partners.
Yes. Aleksei, thanks for the message.
Do we have another one?
Yes, we do. Actually, we have many ones saying, practice speaking Chinese more, getting Chinese visa, understand Chinese and other Asian languages more.
To work again in China, from Cathy, gee, you have been working in China?
Whoa, that is, yeah, come back.
Come back to China.
That, I think, is definitely a good goal, and I do hope you achieve that goal.
I think a lot of these different New Year's resolutions have something to do with be a better version of ourselves.
And I like to say that too, and hopefully I can teach you how to say that in Chinese.
That is..."Khóng wei gōng háo de zi jī." Okay, I want to learn this one as well.
Yes, Khóng wei. Chōng wei.
It means become. Okay.
Mm -hmm. And gōng háo, gōng is better version.
We know gōng góo means taller.
Gēng yuàn means far further away, so gēng is like the better state of something and hǎo is good.
So gēng hǎo would be better.
Gēng wei gēng hǎo Dà That's the apostrophe S.
Ah, really, I didn't know that that was a thing.
It was a thing, but it can be a thing.
So Dà, you can put Dà between adjective and noun.
You can also use the kinda like apostrophe s.
Ah so that's the signal for possession Yes to be possessive of something.
So for example, what the beat my pen So what it's I uh -huh Apostrophe S.
Yeah be head so my pen got it.
Yeah, that's the idea So gonna how the zu zi this actually I feel like it's more like a duh in between the adjective and the noun And that's Zizi is because Zizi is one self OK, so, OK, so, Yes, so become a better version of ourselves.
Wow. That's a good one.
I think you're right.
Yes, somehow, some way.
And to complete my thought from before, where I said I don't make New Year's goals or New Year's resolutions, I always have the same kind of wish every year.
And I think if we all have this, it's a good idea.
Somehow, someway, try to make sure that the new year is better than the year before.
And that could be any improvement in a personal relationship.
It could be a work improvement.
Maybe you get a promotion or something like that.
It could be moving to a new house or if not moving to a new house, maybe you just change the interior somehow someway so that you enjoy it more.
What I mean is, it doesn't have to be drastic changes, but just try to make the new year more enjoyable for you than it was the previous year.
And then that improves your self.
And it's connected to the resolutions that we have received on takeaway Chinese for takeaway, Chinese on our social media platforms.
actually here in China for the young people out there, they have a lot of fun and quite constructed new year's resolutions.
And let's talk about those.
Some new ways young people can improve themselves in the new year.
And one thing I have to say, it definitely is one of my new year's resolution is to incorporate artificial intelligence into my learning routine.
Yeah, absolutely. Particularly if you have AI in your office, than not just learning, because it's new for so many people, right?
And offices and employees and even bosses are still trying to figure out how to incorporate it well.
But yes, learning how to use it to its fullest, I think, will be the goal of a lot of people in 2025.
I don't think I can even be that ambitious.
I feel like artificial intelligence technology is definitely developing faster than the pace is that I am learning it or mastering it.
So my goal is to figure out what it can help me at my state the best, and maybe build a little AI agent for myself, putting in the data that I use and the kind of material that I wanted to learn and train it to better help me.
That's the only thing that I can do.
Sounds like this AI is going to have a name with a little hat.
with a little hat, that's too much.
I will be definitely attached to that if it happens.
Oh, by the way, allow me to share with you how to say artificial intelligence in Chinese.
Just AI, no? You can say AI, people definitely understand AI, but if you want the proper Chinese name, it would be Zheng Gong Zhi -Nong.
Oh, that's a tough one.
Zheng Gong Zhen is person.
Zheng Gong. Yes, Zheng Gong actually means artificial.
So, zhen is a person, a people, and gong here means work.
So, zhen gong is like person made, so something made by people.
Yeah, something made by people.
Ah. Got it. Got it.
And intelligence, Zhi nong, Zhi.
Here's the meaning of smart or intelligent, Zhi hui.
Zhi. And nong is nang li, or ability.
It's ability, capability, or a smart entity, something.
Made by people, smart ability is the rough translation to English, I guess.
Zenkong DKNON. Zenkong DKNON.
Yeah, it's definitely one of the keywords of these years.
Happening so fast. It's overwhelming.
Overwhelming, definitely.
It's always in the news.
It's always being discussed around coffee shops between friends It's just everywhere all the time.
And I think, yeah, for a lot of people, it's time to get over that overwhelmed feeling, or feeling of being overwhelmed in 2025 and put AI to use for you.
Yes, and don't be intimidated, it's only something that we have been developing and witnessing a breakthrough.
It's definitely steel technology and we have always been the master of new technologies.
Yeah, 100%. Yes. And another funny one I find is to attend night school, do you know about the modern night school 一抗起, 一抗抗起 as night and the 一抗起 school night school?
What is that? Because actually for our parents generation, they have the idea of 一抗起 as night school in the sense that during day time, they work probably in a factory or any kind of menu labor work, and during night time, they actually go to school to learn about the skills that they want to acquire so that they can find a new job.
So for example in the Yi Xiao in the night schools, they would learn for instance, accounting or they learn sewing.
Yeah, some type of self -improvement skill.
Yes, and during those times it was very practical and it was for future career development.
And yet for today's young people, these Yiyi Xiao night schools actually would teach something like guitar or calligraphy or oil painting.
So some of the skills you learn that might be incorporated into your career or it could just be something you're learning as a hobby.
As a hobby, I enjoyed that.
Have you ever learned to play the guitar, by the way?
For several months.
Yeah, how did it go?
Actually, it went really well until I just gave it up and it has been more than 10 years and now I don't know how to do it anymore.
You know what I did?
A friend of mine, he's this incredible guitar player, so I asked him to teach me and he did.
And he said the best way to learn is learn a song and then you'll learn some chords in that song.
Start with a simple song and then move on to another song where the chord progression is a little bit more complicated.
Well, I spent a month learning how to play, I don't know if you've ever heard of the band Oasis, it's a western band.
I spent a month learning how to play an Oasis song.
And then I did. I learned it.
I could play it, and I could sing it while I play it.
Ooh. And what I realized after the one month is that I hated that song so much.
I never wanted to play it again.
Yes, that's the problem.
I never wanted to sing it again.
And I thought, if I continue with this, I'm gonna hate music.
and I love music so I just decided to stop.
What a terrible itse that is but it's how I was feeling at the time.
Maybe your New Year's resolution could be find a good yie xiaon night school and pick up the guitar once again.
Yeah maybe. Maybe. Just I won't start with Oasis this time.
No find a son that you already hate.
And there are many ways that young people are fun and finding pleasure in their life improving themselves a little bit, or just merely enjoy life a little bit.
And I am very happy to see they are, many of them are, incorporating them in their new year's resolutions.
Yeah, don't forget.
We're here for a short time, a limited amount of time, so don't forget to enjoy your life if you can, right?
That might be one of the most important things in life.
And that brings us to the end of today's Takeaway Chinese.
I'm Yuhan Lin here with Steve Hatherly.
For more episodes of the show, you can visit our website at www .radio .cgtn .com and go to The Column Podcast.
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For this episode, maybe tell us your New Year's Revolution as well.
Thank you, see you next time.
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