Lun Yu Analects of Confucius – bu yuan tian, bu you ren and Linsanity -How to say ” Jeremy Lin is a new NBA star; his dramatically rise is very unusual- an atypical NBA player” in Chinese. What Jeremy Lin’s future might be?

Posted on 02/19/2012 by Chinesetolearn

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How to say ” Jeremy Lin is a new NBA star; his dramatically rise is very unusual- an atypical NBA player” in Chinese.林书豪是美国国家篮球协会的新星，他戏剧性的崛起是非常不寻常的:一个非典型的 NBA 球员 。Lin2 shu1 hao2 shi4 mei3 guo2 guo2 jia1 lan2 qiu2 xie2 hui4 de5 xin1 xing1, ta1 de5 xi4 ju4 xing4 jue2 qi3 shi4 fei1 chang2 bu4 xun2 chang2 de5: yi2 ge4 fei1 dian3 xing2 de5 NBA qiu2 yuan2 .

Lin2 shu1 hao2 （林书豪 , 林 Lin, Lin’s last name, 书豪 shu1 hao2, lin’s first name or given name; shu1 means book, hao2 means heroic or chivalrous) shi4 (是 verb, is) mei3 guo2 guo2 jia1 lan2 qiu2 xie2 hui4 (美国国家篮球协会 American NBA: 美国 mei3 guo2 means American, 国家 guo2 jia1 means nation, 篮球 lan2 qiu2 means basketball, and 协会 xie2 hui4 means association) de5 (的 a particle to connect the attribute and the noun it modifies) xin1 (新 adjective, new) xing1 (星 noun, star), ta1 de5 (他的 possessive pronoun, his) xi4 ju4 xing4 (戏剧性 ，戏剧 xi4 ju4 means drama, 戏剧性 xi4 ju4 xing4 means dramatic or dramatically) jue2 qi3 (崛起 verb phrase, to rise) shi4 （是 verb, is) fei1 chang2 (非常 adverb, very) bu4 (不 negate word, not) xun2 chang2 (寻常adjective, usual) de5 (的 ， the 是 shi4 … 的 de5 structure in this sentence is to stress those words that got placed between shi4 and de5 –非常不寻常 is the emphasis in this sentence): yi2 (一 number, one) ge4 (个 measure word for story) fei1 (非 adverb, none) dian3 xing2 (典型 adjective, typical) de5 (的 particle to connect the attribute and the noun it modifies) NBA qiu2 yuan2 (球员 noun, qiu2 means ball, yuan2 mean member, together they mean ball player).

Linsanity （林来疯 lin2 lai2 feng1／林疯狂 lin2 feng1 kuang2） is in the air these past weeks. For the phenomenon that Lin brings, we experience the creativity of human language capability — from linsanity to lincredible, from ball game — linning to martial art one — linja. If Lin is Japanese, then linja would be great, but, nah. Lin’s parents come from Taiwan, his 85 year old grandma still lives in Taiwan now. According to his grandma, Lin loves Taiwan’s snacks (小吃, xiao3 chi1) the most, and then those MIT (made in Taiwan) sports wears（运动服，yun4 dong4 fu2).

Lin’s Chinese name is 林书豪 shu1 hao2 which means book hero. He did accomplish his parents’ this expectation (期望 qi2 wang4) by getting a bachelor’s degree (学士学位 xue2 shi4 xue2 wei4) in economics (经济学jing1 ji4 xue3) from Harvard University (哈佛大学ha1 fo2 da4 xue2). You might be curious, what is his GPA? According to the online research, it said Lin graduated with a 3.1 in Economics in 2010. If we use GPA conversion chart, 3.1 equals to 86 percentile and Letter Grade B. Some people might think B is not good enough, however, a lot of athletes could not finish the college degree due to the busy practice, competition schedule and travel exhaustion.

What is the goodness in Jeremy Lin besides his basketball skill? Most people said that he is humble （谦虚 qian1 xu1）, polite （礼貌 li3 mao4） and hard working （工作认真 gong1 zuo4 ren4 zhen1）. We can tell something about a person from what he or she said. Despite scoring 26 points on 8-18 shooting and dishing out five assists, New York Knicks lost to New Orleans Hornets with scores 89- 85 on Feb. 17 and ended Lin’s winning streak at seven. What Lin said about his first loss? “Everyone wants to credit me for the last seven games, then I definitely deserve this one on my shoulders. So that’s fine with me.” He also hopes the losing would calm his team in a way from the burning Linsanity atmosphere. “In terms of everything dying down a little bit. I think from that end it may help me.” “It may help the team a little bit in terms of just having everything off the court cool down.” said the 23-year-old, the first American-born NBA player of Taiwanese descent. So, what you see from his comments about the losing? There is a Chinese verse of Confucius from 论语 Lun2 Yu3 (Analects of Confucius) goes like:

Original verse:
子曰：“莫我知也夫！”子贡曰：“何为其莫如知子也？”子曰：“不怨天，不尤人，下学而上达。知我者其天乎！”
Zi3 yue1: “Mo4 wo3 zhi1 ye3 fu1!” “Zi3 gong4 yue1: “He2 wei4 qi2 mo4 ri2 zhi1 zi3 ye3?” zi3 yue1: “bu2 yuan4 tian1, bu4 you2 ren2, xia4 xue2 er2 shang4 da2. zhi1 wo3 zhe3 qi2 tian1 hu1.”

Modern Chinese interpretation:
孔子说：“没有人了解我。” 子贡说：“为甚么没有人了解老师？” 孔子说：“不埋怨上天，不责怪别人，从低处学起，通达高深道理。只有上天了解我。”
Kong3 zi3 shuo1 ” “mei2 you3 ren2 liao3 jie3 wo3.” Zi3 gong4 shuo1: “wei4 shen2 me5 mei2 you3 ren2 liao3 jie3 lao3 shi1?” Kong3 zi3 shuo1: “bu2 mai2 yuan4 shang4 tian1, bu4 ze2 kuai4 bei2 ren2, cong2 di1 chu4 xue2 qi3, tong1 da2 gao1 sheng1 dao4 li3. zhi3 you3 shang4 tian1 liao3 jie3 wo3.”

English translation:
Confucius said:”No one understands me.” Zi Gong asked:”Why is there no one understands you, Teacher?” Confucius replied:”I do not complain about heaven, I do not blame people. I learn from basic and comprehend higher complex meaning. The one who understands me probably is heaven.”

From Jeremy Lin’s comments about his first game losing, we can tell that he is smart （ cong1 ming2 聪明） and has the courage（yong3 qi4 勇气）to shoulder the blame of loss on himself. He did not blame it on bad luck （ huai4 yun4 qi4 坏运气 ), nor did he blame his team mates （dui4 you3 队友）. He has the understanding of 不怨天，不尤人 (not complain about the heaven, not blame the people) and he also knows setbacks （挫折cuo4 zhe2）are not necessary all bad; it can be a good chance to reexamine and do things even better next time. So, Jeremy Lin has talents for basketball, smartness in his brain and also possesses sports’ man’s attitude. As for what kind’s the future he might have? The answer is in that verse too -知我者其天乎. All we need to do is to change 我 wo3 to 林之未来 lin2 yi1 wei4 lai2 （the future of Lin)– 知林之未来者其天乎！ Zhi1 lin1 zhi1 wei4 lai2 zhe5 qi2 tian1 hu1. The one who knows Lin’s future probably is heaven!

Jeremy Lin career-high 38pts vs. Lakers || 2.10.12 || HD

講到台灣美食… 林書豪中文超溜 (speaking of Taiwan’s snacks, Lin’s Chinese is extremely smooth)

How to Get into Harvard ft. Ryan Higa

Jeremy Lin – Episode 1: A Day in the Life

Hope you have fun reading today’s Linsanity or Linsensation. Let’s listen to a song — I hope my Chinese class students won’t feel sick of listening to this song now !!!!
Zhang Yu Sheng My future is not a dream!

For the lyrics, pinyin and translation see: http://www.chinesetolearn.com/?p=624

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To die, kick the bucket phrases yi ming wu hu, qiao bian zi – How to say ” Studying Chinese is so boring; it bored me to death” in Mandarin. Paramore – Brick By Boring Brick – Lyrics

Posted on 02/18/2012 by Chinesetolearn
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How to say ” Studying Chinese is so boring; it bored me to death” in Mandarin: Xue2 zhong1 wen2 fei1 chang2 wu2 liao2, rang4 wo3 wu2 liao2 si3 le5. 学中文非常无聊，让我无聊死了。Xue2 (学 verb, learn or study) zhong1 wen2 (中文 noun, Chinese) fei1 chang2 (非常 adverb, very) wu2 liao2 (无聊 adjective, boring), rang4 (让 verb, let) wo3 (我 pronoun, I or me) wu2 liao2 (无聊 adjective, boring) si3 (死 verb, die) le5 (了 particle to show the emphasis of emotion).

Place 死 si3 (to die) after an adjective, 死 si3 can serve as a complement to indicate an extreme degree of the condition named by the adjective.

For example,
Wo3 du4 zi5 teng2 si3 le5.
我肚子疼死了。
My stomach is aching to death. (extremely arching)

Jin1 tian1 leng3 si3 le5.
今天冷死了。
Today’s weather is cold to death. (extremely cold)

Ta1 de5 gong1 ke4 huai4 si3 le5.
她的功课坏死了。
Her homework is bad to death. (extremely bad)

Usually using 死 si3 as a complement to signify an extreme degree is used to refer to the negative side of meaning.

Usually we don’t say:
Ta1 hao3 si3 le5.
她好死了。
She is good to death. (extremely good)

Instead we say:
Ta1 hao3 ji2 le5.
她好极了。
She is extremely nice.

wo3 de3 nv3 peng2 you3 mei3 li4 si3 le5.
我的女朋友美丽死了。
My girlfriend is beautiful to death. (extremely beautiful)

Instead we say:

wo3 de3 lv3 peng2 you3 mei3 li4 ji2 le5.
我的女朋友美丽极了
My girlfriend is extremely beautiful.

Wo3 men2 de5 lao3 shi1 xie3 de3 shu1 fa3 hao3 kan4 si3 le5. (extremely good looking)
我们的老师写的书法好看死了。
The calligraphy that our teacher wrote is good looking to death.

Instead we will say:

Wo3 men2 de5 lao3 shi1 xie3 de3 shu1 fa3 hao3 kan4 ji2 le5.
我们的老师写的书法好看极了。
The calligraphy that our teacher wrote is extremely good looking.

However, with rules come exception, sometimes we can hear someone says:

Wo3 zhong4 le5 cai3 quan4, wo3 gao1 xing4 si3 le5.
我中了彩券，我高兴死了。
I won the lottery, I was happy to death.

Ta1 kao3 shi4 kao3 yi4 bai3 fen1, ta1 le4 si3 le5.
她考试考一百分， 她乐死了。
She got 100 points on the test, she was happy to death.

Speaking of si3, there are a few phrases you might be interested to know:

Yi2 ming4 wu1 hu1.
一命呜呼
一命 mean one life, 呜呼 (interjection, alas) is the sigh or the sound people uttered when they heard something very sad and very unfortunate. 呜呼 Wu1 hu1 is widely used in ancient elegies. Later, people used this sighing to express the meaning of “died.” Thus, 一命呜呼 means a life died or to die.

The other slang also means got killed or died.
翘辫子 qiao4 bian4 zi5
In the 清 Qing Dynasty, men wear pigtails （辫子， bian4 zi5). If a man committed a very bad crime and got sentenced to death. When the time came, the executioner raised up the braid (queue) and decapitated the prisoner. Later, 翘辫子 became to die, to kick the bucket.

Keep in mind that the above two usages of saying “to die” all are not formal and with a bit of joking and disrespect in nature. The normal way to say it would be:
去逝 qu4 shi4 pass away.
过逝 guo4 shi4 pass away.

There is another term refers to an extremely person passed away, for example. A savior of a nation died, you can use:
撒手人寰sa3 shou3 ren2 huan2 releasing the hands from the human world or to leave one’s mortal frame / to die .

When you are studying Chinese, have you ever felt that Chinese is so boring? What can you do to make the learning fun, easy and effective? I would say: learn to sing Chinese songs, try to love the language you are learning, go beyond the language to dip more into the culture, compare the cultural differences, and have fun …

Paramore – Brick By Boring Brick – Lyrics

Posted in Chinese grammar, English song, One Chinese sentence a day | Tagged | Comments Off on To die, kick the bucket phrases yi ming wu hu, qiao bian zi – How to say ” Studying Chinese is so boring; it bored me to death” in Mandarin. Paramore – Brick By Boring Brick – Lyrics