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Welcome to Takeaway Chinese.
I'm Nihon Lian with Steve Hatherly in the studio.
Hello Steve. Hello, Thanks for having me back.
Great to have you. So, what have you been learning these days in terms of Chinese language, for sure?
the one i learned most recently was very simple xiang.
ah xiang. xiang means when you're tasting something good and you want to express like i guess what would the english equivalent be like yum well this is a really good question because it's really hard to find an english equivalent because the character or word xiang in chinese covers so much it can be it smells good in terms of a flower is with great fragrance, then you can say this flower smells really good it can be food like you would definitely know that kong kong chicken smells differently than a flower i had some kung pao chicken a couple of days ago yeah it's still xiang in chinese and it
can go even further to describe the situation where for example someone is having food in a way that you want to try the food because this person is eating it with the official expression, the speed of the spoon getting into their mouth so quickly.
And it's like, ah, this person is really enjoying it.
And you want to say, so he's eating it like he's really enjoying it.
So xiang isn't a word that you can use alone.
It has to be part of a longer sentence.
Yes. Unless someone is asking you, does this smell good?
Does this taste good?
And you can say, Uh, yeah, okay.
So if you're answering a question, then you can just say Xiang, but if you're expressing it yourself, then it has to be part of a longer sentence.
So this can be with smells.
This can be with taste taste.
It can be with visuals.
No, not really. But you said if I'm looking at somebody and it seems like they're really enjoying their meal.
It has to be their meal.
So it's still related to the food.
It's like you're saying this person is enjoying his food, but it's not about this person.
It's about the food, okay?
How about if I'm walking through the department store, and I walk by a bakery and I see some delicious?
Looking cakes, and I want to say in English.
We would say wow that looks good Well, can I use shang you can okay?
So what would my sentence be there can be chicken?
me in ball can jump andwork it looks tasty that's a very long sentence it's a shorter in English why is it so long in Chinese because it carries the meaning of this bread Jacobian ball can see I looks yeah very tasty next question then in English I can just say oh that looks good that represents the cake right or the bread or whatever and it makes the sentence a lot shorter is Is there no way to shorten that or do I have to express the cake or the bread?
You can say tế hế, or tế màn, or něigễ, that one!
Because tế and tế màn can both be persons or subjects, whereas tà, něigễ, usually it's the subject, so it's, you know, easier.
So něigễ, xiàng. Něigễ, hmmm, I understand your question now, because in Chinese we have to put a little bit more in it.
the most. Yes! Because it looks good.
You have to put the look in it anyways.
So 善鐘京漢話, or 善抨漢話, 你善抨漢話?
That's the shortest version I can think of.
Oh, that's the shortest one available, okay.
Thanks teacher. So that's what I learned most recently.
That is a good one.
Actually, if you travel, by saying travel I mean surfing the internet, browsing on the expressions teaching you the Chinese sentence or Chinese language.
Because I think when it comes to the example, it's really easy to realize that different languages, you can't really match them one to one because they cover different areas.
It's the same in English, maybe one English word, you cannot find a exact Chinese equivalent.
So one thing that's easier or relatively convenient for Chinese learners and any language learners these days is the use of social media because previously we didn't have that many sources of information and previously you don't really come across a lot of nosy, by saying nosy, I mean warm -hearted netizens who are willing to answer your questions.
Sometimes they mess with you, but most occasions they would answer your questions and to teach you the language.
Yeah, it's like having a few hundred million teachers available to you.
The only thing is some of them giving you wrong answers and you have to be able to tell them apart.
Well once your Chinese reaches a certain level then maybe that's possible but yeah probably not so much in the beginning...
But still social media, something that you can live with you can live without.
Yeah we were talking about, not you and I, but some other people, we were talking about Gen Alpha recently and these are the children of the millennial generation and this is the first generation to grow up completely with social media a part of their lives digital communication a part of their lives not like wow this is the cool new thing no for them it's not a cool new thing it's just a thing that is in the world and there's no like Wow factor to it so social media for your generation of my generation we lived without it and then all of a sudden we're living with it.
So we can see the both sides of the coin.
We can see why it's good.
We can see why it's bad.
We know what it's like not to have it and we know what it's like to live with it.
Yes. But like you said, for the future generations, it's going to be an instant it a factor, not a wow factor, but a constant factor in their lives.
Yeah, it sounds weird. But I think for each different generations, there is always something that has always been in their life.
And yet something that their previous generations do not feel the same way.
So maybe we can take it more relatively lighthearted.
And of course gen alpha will have their wow moment too.
I wonder if it will be artificial persons or organs or uploading your conscious, live in the internet forever.
That's not today's talking theme, but can be in the future.
Fun to think about, isn't it.
Yes, definitely. But today we are going to talk about social media in the way that will help you, you know, master some key words and useful phrases that you might need when you're traveling.
We're browsing on Chinese social media, and hopefully, for our dear listeners, if you're interested in their 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'll soon see the rewards.
And for more fun Chinese learning follow our Facebook page Learn Chinese to watch many fun videos and live streams. See we are on social media too.
But now let's provide you with some free Chinese for takeaway!
So, the keyword here, social media in Chinese.
Shì jiào méi tì. Perfect.
You know, social media.
Did I even get my tones right?
Actually, it's not that bad, to start with.
Most of the words are in their right tones, which is good, congrats.
And secondly, the thing with Chinese language that we've talked about is that when the words is longer or the expression is longer, it's easier for us, as in Chinese native speakers, to identify what it is.
So if you say xiàng, People would still confuse a little bit because with your face they would be thinking..
Maybe you're talking about xiang, you're talking about thinking or xiang similar.
See the sounds, the pronunciations are really close to each other.
But if the word has more syllables in it then those syllables will tell you what the word is.
Exactly. Even if your tones are off just slightly.
Yes. I got it. So here shè jiǎo mèi ti, precisely shè that's the fourth tone.
that's the first town.
So shì is shì huì, so society.
zhǎo jiào liù, or zhǎo wào, that will be communicating or get together with.
So if you're in a society and you're communicating with others, then you're socializing with them.
So shì jiào, and měi qī is media, so literally social media.
Shì jiào měi qī. Social media includes a lot of different types of things as well.
there's a lot of different things that you can either post, repost, like, right?
There's vid, there's videos.
So there's a lot, a lot of vocabulary to be learned here today.
So which one do you want to know the most?
Well, let's start with like, because, um, I think that's something that's across Chinese social media, Western social media.
If somebody posts something, then you want to, well maybe not want to, but oftentimes people will like it.
Mmhmm. it because for different social media platforms they actually have different words for it but for Chinese people we understand them and currently the most common one would be dian zhan.
This is actually a good one because like can definitely be translated as xi huan.
It's literally like so I like eating so xi huan so xi is happy xuan also happy so if something makes you happy, you like it.
That's my way of remembering it.
So, xi huan. And in some social media platforms, besides Little Heart or the Little Thumb -Up sign, you have xi huan, and you can click on it.
And there's also bu xi huan.
So bu xi huan. Don't like.
Don't like it. So, yeah.
Xi huan works. Yet, dian zhan is a relatively more sophisticated one in a way, because dian carries the meaning of click or point and zan means good.
So I clicked it to show that I think it's good.
At the same time zan also carries the meaning of zanme or it's in the word of zanme, zanme means praise.
So I'm clicking it to show my approve of it.
So this word, dian zan carries both the connotation of the verb as well as the noun.
So it's more a little more sophisticated.
But these two words xi wan and jian zhan are not interchangeable.
Right. They are. They are.
They are. They are.
Wait. So if I say wou shi wan mifan.
Oh, I know. Wou jian zhan mifan.
To start with, people understand you if you say that.
Yet, people would find you someone who's been in a toxic environment of internet for too long that you're using internet slang in everyday language.
Mifan is rice, by the way, for those who don't know.
So, yeah. So what I'm saying here is that in the context of like something on the Internet, they are interchangeable yet in everyday life they're not.
Gotcha. Okay. How about comment?
Ah, comment is easy.
Comment would be ping lun.
Ping lun. Yes, ping and lun.
Ping actually cares the meaning of commenting on something, and lun means you're using a relatively larger pair of graphs to express your idea.
For example, luwén wén, so article expressing your opinion and opinion piece, would be pingluo.
So pingluo, comment.
You can use pingluo in your everyday life as well.
Okay, let's see if I can combine what I've learned here.
How would I express good or positive?
Zheng neng liang! Positive energy.
Zheng means positive, and neng liao is energy.
But it's talking about the kind of strengths this content would give you.
Wo shi huan ping lun zhong neng liang.
Ah, you're talking about you like to give a comment that is positive.
Wo si huan zhong neng liang de ping lun.
But that actually means I like those kinds of comments that are positive.
But if you want to say...
I like positive comments.
Yes, I like positive comments.
Yeah, that's what I was trying to say.
Okay, so like, if I post something or if I do a show and then I want to say to the audience, like, please send your comments, Wǒ shì huì 'ān pīnglùn zhōngnèngliàng.
Okay, so to start with, Wǒ xī huān zhōngnèngliāng de pīnglùn.
You have to put zhōngnèngliāng in front of pīnglùn, because zhōngnèngliāng is the adjective and adjectives go before nouns in the Chinese language, always.
Okay. So that's the first thing.
And the second thing is I thought what you wanted to say is, when I'm watching videos, I always give positive comments.
I like to give positive comments because that would be a little bit different.
Oh, that would change it.
That would change it because But if you want to say, I'd like to leave positive comments, it's more like So, I like to leave or like to write positive comments.
I see. A little bit different, but yes, you have combined things that you've learned.
I would be like or that is precisely the kind of word we use in the world of internet or the world of social media, and then comment.
And another very common behavior would be repost. Do you know how to say repost?
Repost would be zhuan fa.
Oh, perfect. So zhuan carries the meaning of turn.
So you're turning it from his post to your post and fa would be post. So I'm turning it to my page and posting it.
Ah hah, got it. I never repost anything by the way.
Do you repost things?
Sometimes, yes. Do you like things a lot?
Like if you're scrolling through your friends pages or whatever, are you the like like no I'm not you're not the what do they call that death scrolling but they call it death liking.
I don't know What I don't think so.
I don't think that's what they call it.
I think I can call it a rubber stamp.
Yeah No, I'm not one of those people.
No me neither. I only like the really really worth liking kind of posts Yeah, right.
What about follow? Ah a follow is also good.
Follow would be guan zhu in Chinese.
This one is a bit different because in Chinese guan zhu actually means I am paying attention right?
So Guan zhu carries the meaning of I'm looking at you or this is something that I am closely following.
So it's, you can in Chinese guan zhu a person.
You can also guan zhu shi xian.
So something happening, a news story, a news event.
So guan zhu is I think a little bit different than the meaning in English following.
Yeah, by the sounds of things it's different.
This sounds like a figurative.
Looking at. Yeah, rather than a literal one.
Because I think it's because follow, if you directly translate follow to Chinese, it's.
Someone walking behind you in the same direction.
It's a little bit weird in the Chinese language system.
Yeah. And that's why this is a little confusing in English, but in Chinese, you'd express this differently.
Yes. And there is a word I want to teach you, but I want to know whether or not it's a thing in English social media world as well.
Because in Chinese social media, one thing that's very important for us would be the trending topics or something that is really frequently searched very much searched by a lot of people, we call it zhè suo.
Zhè is hot. Zhè suo suo, that's search, so hotly searched.
Hot search. It's a thing right?
Yeah it is. Because in Chinese is really really a thing it we also even have Jua so index Jua so ranks and they rise to the top and then they fall down and if for example If you're a celebrity or if you're a really good movie, for example these days for the year 2025 One of the hottest topic would definitely be new attack the the movie the movie and the movie an indicator of the movie being really hot is not only the box office but how much or how many zhueso' it has got.
People are talking about it on social media.
Yes. And also it has different hot search, let's say, sentences.
So people are saying, this is really good.
It's becoming the number one.
It's garnering so much box office.
It's just like, for example, if this movie can get more than 20 zhúa shi, then it's really, really popular, right?
It's that connotation.
I understand. Yeah.
A lot of media outlets will have their top searches or something like that, and they'll rank them one to 10 maybe.
Yeah, so zhúa shi, definitely a thing.
What about like your friends does it have a different word?
Cause we have the same word in English, right?
You said that follow is a little bit different in Chinese.
Wherein in English you can mean literally following someone down the street or on social media but we say in english a lot like facebook friends or social media friends it doesn't necessarily mean they are your friend sometimes you won't even know who they are do you have a word for that it's the same here in china we use the word friend for both real friends and online friends so that would be but i think there is a slight difference here because in Chinese we say peng you, wǒ peng you my friend, so both peng and you carries the meaning of friend and one little trivia peng and you actually have different
connotation one means the kind of companion you share for example if you're together for this section of your life road and your company each other your peng whereas you is the kind of people you share same aspiration your hearts.
So together, these are like people accompany you, your friends.
Anyways ,peng you would definitely be friends.
Whereas hao you, hao is good, yo is friend, hao you good friend, you would assume hao you is better friends than friends.
But actually now since we're using hao you, so much for the reference of friends online, Facebook friends, WeChat friends.
Now if you think about hao you, So your first reaction would be, ah, this is your online friend.
Oh, I see. So you'd have to express it a little bit stronger if you wanted to let someone know they were really your friend.
And also you can say – that's WeChat friend.
You can say TikTok friend.
Different types of social media friends.
Yes. And since we're talking about friends, so your friends or your online friends would be the kind of people that you follow and they follow you back and you can talk to each other like through direct message or something.
Oh by the way, direct message in Chinese would be sì xīn.
Yes, because direct in Chinese actually is zhì jié so that's direct to the translation of direct zhì jié.
Yes, however sì xīn in Chinese is private message so xīn is info or message like a DM.
Yeah, the DM, that is a private message saying that it's the message that only my WeChat friend and I can see instead of in a group.
So shixian again is an Internet slang.
It's something that you only use for social media platforms or online situations, online forums or something.
And the reason I'm talking about it is because if we're talking about the kind of online your friends that you can talk to, then that's your friend.
But if you follow them and they're not following you back, then you are their fan.
Oh okay! And fan in Chinese...
Yes I was just about to ask, what's fan then?
Yes. Fan in Chinese is fenzi.
Fenzi? Uhmhm... because fenzi sounds like fanz.
Fanz? Sounds like fenz?
Like f -e -n -c -e fenz?
No! F -a -n -s fenz! Oh, it sounds like fans, it sounds exactly like that.
So is that borrowed from English then?
That's interesting because this is what I've noticed about Chinese.
For example, if you learn to speak Korean, then you'll notice a lot of words that are borrowed from English, or if not English, other languages too.
But in Chinese I was having a hard time finding examples of words that were borrowed from English or maybe other languages.
I know I'm just starting to learn now, but this is one of the first ones that I've heard of.
Actually there are many but I don't know if it's really really many in your opinion, but fense or fense definitely is one.
And also for example, chocolate, chocolate.
Chocolate, yeah. And also hamburger.
See, these ones are, they make sense.
They're Western food, English names coming to Chinese world.
that's great. Transliteration makes perfect sense.
And fans is one of those.
Do you have a lot of fans?
I think they are my online friends.
But yeah, I have some haoyou, online haoyou.
Online, by the way, how do you say online?
Xian shan. Sian is a line, and shan is on, literally on line, xian shan, so line on.
Because we have xiàn xiàn xiàn xiàn.
So if you can understand it as there is a line you can get on it you can get off it.
So offline xiàn xiàn.
So xiàn xiàn háo you.
xiàn xiàn háo you. Online friends.
Online friends, mmm...
Any other words you'd like to know or that's enough for one episode?
I think that's enough for one episode.
Makes a lot of sense so now I think I want to also give you one sentence.
Okay. That is I'd like to share this I'd like to share this okay, take a guess how do you say that?
we xiang share how to say share, fen xiao literally share is fen xiao and in Chinese you can use it in real world as well you can say to your for example two -year -olds saying you need to learn to share you xiao xue hui, fen xiao so as you can see fen xiang can be a verb it can also be used as a noun 我没最小?
I'd like to share this, Yes, Of course you can fen xiang a video that will be a shi pian, you can fen xiang a picture, You can simply fen xiang the post, So these are the things that you can share.
Yes, I'd like to share this.
And can I use that sentence if you are eating something delicious and I want some?
You can. Can I look at your food and say Wo xiang fen xiang chugu You actually can.
It's a little... That means like give me some, Yes if you want to be more polite, I'm not really sure if asking for food, well it can be.
And also if it's in a kindergarten.
Oh. You can say kuei yi he wo fen xiang ma, kuei yi.
Will you share that with me?
Yes, because I want to share that with you.
Ah, I think the reason is that when I'm speaking Chinese, using the word feng xiao, I'm thinking about the action that is relatively from the sharer side instead of the receiver side.
So I'm asking you to share that with me.
I cannot really share something that I do not have. You know what I mean?
So for me, when you say what could you feel?
And you go, well, makes me feel a little bit weird because you are down in my heart.
I realize you can only share something that's yours.
Yeah. But if I say this, people understand, people understand.
Good share. Okay. At the same time, do you know what are the most common and liked social media platforms in China?
Because we've been here long enough.
Um, Xiaohongshu, of course, is Red Note.
And that became huge news of course when all the American social media users from TikTok suddenly joined RedNote.
That was so heartwarming.
I know it was really lovely to see and I hope that that continues.
I can totally see that being a very short -lived kind of fun little moment but it would be really cool if it continued on and some real friendships came from that.
So, there's Xiaohong Shu, there's Douyin, That's the Chinese equivalent of TikTok.
And Weibo. Oh yes, that's also very, very popular.
When I was talking about ZuoSou, the hot search topics, I was actually thinking about Weibo.
Like you said, many different social media platforms would publish their hot search topics.
yet I feel like Weibo is definitely one of the most popular ones that people would all recognize or something.
But for me, the one that I use the most, and I don't know if this is considered social media or not, but Weishin.
Definitely. Wechat.
Yeah, it is social media.
It's just I think when it comes to social media platforms, Definitely different organizations, different platforms, have different angle.
They have their genre.
Weixin is relatively the kind of social activity you share with your real life friends.
Yeah. Yeah. The people that you really know.
At least you have seen them or at least you have talked to them through a friend that you know about.
and the reason is because if you are Wei Xin hoyo, haoyou, with someone.
Wei xin friends with someone.
That means that you have both agreed to be friends with each other.
And then once you both agree, then you have the ability to call each other.
You cannot really guan zhu anything on wei xin or you can guan zhu an account, but you cannot guan zhu a person.
So yeah there's that different, but definitely there's WeChat moment and a WeChat moment, WeChat video, you will be able to, you know, watch some videos or some posts, but when you really want to watch some cool and fun videos created by other netizens or strangers online, you go to Douyin or Xiao Hongxiu This is my, I don't think this is criticism.
It's just an observation from these different apps that I'm seeing.
So, Hui Xun is primarily in terms of contacts.
Oh, by the way, how do you say contacts?
Lian Xi or Lian Xi Zhen, so contact, the verb would be Lian Xi and your contacts like the person you contact would be Lian Xi Zhen.
So, Lian Xi person, Lian Xi Zhen.
Lian Xi Zhen. Yes. So, Hui Xun is basically, those are the people, your contacts are the people that are in your Life, your friends, or at least you know them.
You might contact them sometimes.
It's like a phone book.
Yes, it's kinda, but Weishin also has the social media side of things with, uh, WeChat moments.
And, um, if you follow a certain brand or business, you'll get their updates as well.
So it's not just your contacts for contacting people.
Then I see other apps, for example, map applications and map applications are now somehow trying to move into the lifestyle categories?
Yes, because if you know the location of a restaurant you want to visit, and you post something, and you might be able to help those who want to visit that restaurant, those strangers that you don't really know.
So I think they have their reasons.
Yeah, they do. But what I wanted to say was that, an app for something is never just for one thing, right?
And that's my observation so far is that these apps in China, they can do multiple things, and they all can do multiple things.
And I think that is why we say it's something that we cannot live without.
Right. And yeah, for those generation -alpha people, you know, maybe it's not a bad thing after all.
Yeah, right. That brings us to the end of today's Takeaway Chinese.
I'm Myohang Lian with Steve Heatherly here in the studio.
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