Archive | January, 2012

7 Chinese Idioms for the Year of the Dragon

2012 is the Year of the Dragon. Do you know what the dragon symbolizes for Chinese people? The dragon has been a sacred creature since ancient times. It is the king of beasts and represents strength, wisdom, rule, and unlimited potential. Chinese people still consider themselves descendants of the dragon. How about 7 commonly used [...]

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Chinese Slang: The Ba Series for Tests, Interviews, and Karaoke

We all love people who are 厉害 (lì hai – awesome). China also has a long history of monarchic rulers. And so, some Chinese slang combines the two — along with three activities that take up a lot of time for young people: test-taking, interviewing, and karaoke.  1) 考霸 (kǎo bà): Test Master 考霸 (kǎo bà) refers [...]

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Chinese idiom for “strong start, weak finish”

Are you off to a strong start for 2012? Then don’t forget to keep pushing for a strong finish. Because otherwise you’d just end up with 虎头蛇尾 (hǔ tóu shé wěi). 虎头蛇尾 (hǔ tóu shé wěi) literally means a “tiger head” and “snake tail,” and means that you start off strong, but finish weak.  A breakdown [...]

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Our best posts of 2011

A collection of our best posts from 2011, according to you (and me too): 10. Business Chinese vocab word list: Job titles and positions Perhaps not our most creative post, but many of you found this “super useful.” We’ll have more word lists coming! 9. Essential Chengyu: Warren Buffett’s favorite OK, I never actually got to [...]

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