I haven’t had much time to post lately because I’ve moved recently and I still don’t have internet access. Nevertheless, I’m proud to say that I have managed to touch Mandarin every single day! Hopefully I’ll be able to add some mined sentences very soon. In the mean time here is a song that should have been posted for Monday media; Better late than never, right? Keep touching Mandarin everyone!!
丁 (dīng): fourth
This character looks like a horizontal bar with a hook underneath. It’s the eyes of a man and his big nose. He’s fourth on the waiting list for rhinoplasty.
于 (yú): in; at; to
The hook has been driven through two (sounds like to) layers of soil here, then left in the dirt to point at a certain location for others to find.
可 (kě): can, may
components: mouth (口) and fourth (丁)
It took me until the fourth try before I could blow out all the candles on my birthday cake =(
山 (shān): mountain
Tell me those don’t look like mountain peaks
击 (jī): strike
oh oh, all that dirt (土) at the top of the mountain could create a landslide that would strike the village with devastating force =(
出 (chū): exit
Two mountains on top of each other and you at the very top. What do you do? Search for the nearest exit route to get down. (Watch out for those landslides.)
臣 (chén): subject of a ruler
You can see his little arms sticking out to the sides as he bows face down on the carpet here.
巨 (jù): huge
Now the man is standing up and we still see him from the top, except that only his head and arms are visible. He looks huge from this angle doesn’t he?
柜 (guì): cupboard, cabinet, wardrobe
A cabinet is a huge piece of furniture made from a tree (木)
距 (jù): be apart from, at a distance
components: mouth (口), stop (止), huge
If you don’t shut your mouth and stop talking, you’re likely to make a huge mistake and alienate everyone.
且 (qiě): moreover
I stack more bricks over each other to build this wall.
阻 (zǔ): hinder, block
The wall extends to the hills (阝) and blocks the intruders
直 (zhí): straight, vertical
If I add an extra brick in this character and place a number ten on top to symbolize how tall it is I have a vertical barrier as well.
圭 (guī): jade tablet
This character looks like two piles of dirt (土) piled over each other. A jade tablet has been hidden for safe keeping in one of them during a difficult time.
挂 (guà): hang
This character combines an abbreviated form of hand (手) with jade tablet (圭). In times of safety we can dig up our valuable jade tablet and hang it back on the wall with our hand.
娃 (wá): baby
A woman (女) bundles her beautiful baby up and protects it like a precious treasure, symbolized here by a jade tablet.
佳 (jiā): fine, beautiful
A man (亻is an altered form of 人, squished a bit as a component to leave room for other elements of the character) contemplates the beauty of this jade tablet and how finely it was made.
街 (jiē): street
This character for street shows jade tablets lining the road. It looks like a paved street between two sidewalks.
April 18th, 2010 in
Hanzi | tags: 佳, 土, 圭, 女, 娃, 挂, 街
