The Brain Dump

Here we go again . . . on our own . . . :

Monday

快 - kuai4 (lump, clod; a measure for dollars)
相 - xiang1 (mutually, each other), xiang4 (face, appearance; to examine)
想 - xiang3 (to think)
得 - dei3 (must), de2 (to get), de (a grammatical particle)
共 - gong4 (all together, collectively, joint)
尢 - you2 (still more; a family name)
就 - jiu4 (then; only; to go to; to go with)

Tuesday

历 - [no pronunciation] (radical 22); This is just the top and left slope-y part
历 - li4 (to pass through, to experience; calendar)
后 - hou4 (back, in back of)
直 - zhi2 (be straight; to keep on; be a certain length)
真 - zhen1 (be real, be true; truly)
歹 - dai3 (chip)
现 - xian4 (present, now)

Wednesday

在 - zai4 (be at, in, on); "现在" means "now"
食 - shi2 (food; to eat)
两 - liang3 (two; a tael [ancient unit of weight equaling 50 grams])
俩 - lia3 ([colloquial] two; some, several)
车 - che1 (car; family name)
辆 - liang4 (a measure for vehicles)
反 - fan3 (to turn back; to rebel)

Thursday

饭 - fan4 (cooked rice, food)
板 - ban3 (board; printing plate; a measure for editions; be "wooden" [lifeless])
片 - pian4 (slice, to slice, piece; an expanse), pian4, pian1 (card)
糖 - tang2 (sugar, candy); A very important doodle. . . .
话 - hua4 (speech, language)
舍 - she4 (home), she3 (to give up, to give charity)
事 - shi4 (affair, event)

Friday

歌 - ge1 (song)
各 - [no pronunciation] (follow/slow radical 65); Just the top part (not the box)
各 - ge4 (each; various)
客 - ke4 (guest)
乞 - [no pronunciation] ("top of 每 radical"); Just the top part
吃 - chi1 (to eat)
兴 - xing4 (happy), xing1 (to begin; family name)

Another week, another set of doodles. Here we go:

Monday

嗽 - sou4 (second syllable of "ke2sou4, "cough")
学 - xue2 (to study, to learn)
姓 - xing4 (surname/to be surnamed . . .)
名 - ming2 (name)
字 - zi4 (written character)
叫 - jiao4 (to call; to be called; to order a person to do something)
牛 - niu2 (cow)

Tuesday

告 - gao4 (to inform)
斤 - jin2 (ax)
诉 - su4, song4 (to inform); Evidently, you're supposed to use this one together with 告 to form "告诉," which means "to inform"
知 - zhi1 (to know)
首 - shou3 (chief; the head)
道 - dao4 (road; to say; the Way [as in Taoism/Daoism])
些 - xie1 (few)

Wednesday

位 - wei4 (position, standpoint; seat; a polite measure for persons)
支 - zhi1 (branch [of a tree]; to prop up; to draw [money])
技 - ji4 (skill; expertise or specialized training)
千 - qian1 (a thousand; a family name [rare])
英 - ying1 (be bold; flower [bookish]; a family name)
黑 - hei1 (black)
占 - zhan1 (to divine), zhan4 (seize; constitute)

Thursday

站 - zhan4 ([taxi-/bus-]stand, to stand)
店 - yan3 (lean-to), guang3 (be broad; a family name); This one is actually just the top dot and the top and left lines (without the "占")
店 - dian4 (store; inn)
点 - dian3 (dot, drop [of liquid]; to drip; a bit; feature; to light)
雨 - yu3 (rain)
零 - ling2 (zero; tiny bit)
页 - ye4 (head; leaf [of a book or notebook], page)

Friday

齿 - ling3 (to lead; neck, collar; main point)
半 - ban4 (half)
多 - duo1 (be numerous)
少 - shao3 (be few), shao4 (be young)
句 - ju4 (sentence; verse-line; measure for sentences and verse-lines)
够 - gou4 (be enough)
夬 - jue1 (archer's thimble), guai4 (to divide)

Doodle studies continue . . . My lack of grammar knowledge is beginning to weigh on me. I, of course, have no one to blame but myself, but I instead choose to blame pandas (lazy bastards). Christina and I have also designated Friday as our doodle study day, during which we'll try to retain all the things our tutor Cathrine has been giving us.

On a side note, Mandarin grammar is proving to be way easier to learn (when I bother to learn it) than, say . . . English grammar. For instance, I asked Cathrine how you change a verb to the future tense ("I will have") or the simple past ("I had"), and she replied, "Pfft . . . changing the verb . . . you just indicate the time to denote the 'tense' (e.g. "Yesterday, I have three books.")." Mandarin grammar really makes English grammar look like an asshole.

Anywho:

Monday

勹 - bao1 (to wrap)
的 - de (a suffix to nouns and pronouns: A 的 B means "A's B, the B of A;" a grammatical particle), di4 (bull's-eye)
包 - bao1 (to wrap; family name)
跑 - pao3 (run)
报 - bao4 (to hold in your arms, to hug; to have your first grandchild; to adopt a child; to cherish; to sit on eggs to hatch them; a measure for armfuls; [dialect] to consort with, to hang out with)
袍 - yi1 (gown [side-gown radical]); Just the left side of this one
饱 - [no pronunciation] (side-food radical); Just the left side of this one

Tuesday

饱 - bao3 (to be full, to have had enough to eat)
火 - huo3 (fire)
己 - ji3 (self; the sixth "heavenly stem" [used to enumerate headings in an outline])
已 - yi3 (already; to end, cease)
巳 - si4 (the sixth "earthly branch")
纪 - ji4 (write down; record; year; discipline), ji3 (to order, a family name)
记 - ji4 (to remember; to record; mark, sign)

Wednesday

吧 - ba (a sentence-final particle; indicates supposition [". . . , I guess"] or suggestion ["Maybe you should . . ."]), ba1 (snap! [onomatopoetic]; to draw [suck] on [e.g., a tobacco pipe]; bar [drinking place])
把 - ba3 (to grasp; a handful; to guard; a particle used to bring direct objects in front of the verb; a measure for things with handles [knives, teapots] or that you grasp [chairs, handfuls of rice, bunches of flowers])
爸 - ba4 (papa, father)
爪 - zhao3 (claws); The Wolverine doodle
爬 - pa2 (to crawl; to creep; to climb)
本 - ben3 (root; volume [book]; capital [money]; principal [money]; a measure for books)
对 - dui4 (to face; facing; to match; be correct)

Thursday

说 - shuo1 (to speak), shui4 (try to persuade)
姑 - gu1 (unmarried daughter; father's or husband's sister; temporarily; be lenient)
故 - [no pronunciation] (Knock radical); Actually just the right side of this one
故 - gu4 (be ancient; to die; cause; intentionally)
苦 - ku3 (be bitter)
重 - zhong4 (be heavy), chong2 (do over again, to repeat by mistake)
懂 - dong3 (to understand); "我不懂" is possibly the most useful sentence in Chinese

Friday

疋 - pi3 (bolt [of cloth])
是 - shi4 (to be, am, is, are; be right); This one's a tad important . . .
先 - xian1 (to precede; late [deceased])
生 - sheng1 (to bear [to give birth to])
亥 - hai4 (the twelfth "earthly branch," used in enumerations and to name two-hour periods of the day)
孩 - hai2 (child)
咳 - hai1 ("Depressing!" or "Regrettable!" or "Astonishing!;"), ke2 (cough, to cough; first syllable of ke2sou4, "cough")

Monday

谢 - xie4 (thanks)
橘 - ju2 (tangerine)
结 - jie2 (to tie together; knot), jie1 (to bear fruit)
熹 - xi3 (to enjoy, to give enjoyment to); This one actually doesn't use the four dots on the bottom, but I couldn't find that version of the character
欢 - huan1 (be pleased)
足 - zu2 (foot; be sufficient)
跟 - gen1 (heel; to follow, to go with; with)

Tuesday

青 - qing1 (be green or blue)
请 - qing3 (to invite; please . . .); Yes, that's how it is in the book, ellipsis and all
情 - qing2 (emotion; circumstances)
清 - qing1 (be clear; to clear)
晴 - qing2 (clear sky)
睛 - jing1 (the pupil of the eye)
问 - wen4 (to ask for information)

Wednesday

闻 - wen2 (to hear)
间 - jian4 (space; be separated from; to separate, "drive a wedge between," sow discord, Yoko Ono), jian1 (between; a measure-word for rooms); I may have embellished this one. . . .
别 - bie2 (to separate, to part; Don't . . . !)
朋 - peng2 (friend)
友 - you3 (friend)
父 - fu4 (father)
毋 - wu2 (don't!)

Thursday

见 - jian4 (to see, to perceive)
亲 - qin1 (relatives; to hold dear; in person), qing4 (relatives by a marriage)
母 - mu3 (mother)
哥 - ge1 (elder brother)
吊 - diao4 (to pity)
弟 - di4 (younger brother; family name)
姐 - jie3 (older sister)

Friday

妹 - mei4 (younger sister)
纸 - zhi3 (paper)
长 - chcang2 (be long), zhang3 (to grow; be senior)
张 - zhang1 (to open out, to open up; a measure for objects coming in sheets; a family name)
画 - hua4 (to paint, a painting)
臼 - jiu4 (mortar)
白 - bai2 (be white; a family name)

Here they are, as promised. The doodles I am studying for this week (I'm pretty stoked as some of these (like the numbers) seem actually pertinent to my life):

Monday

都 - yi4 (city); Just the right side of this guy, looks like an ear . . . has nothing to do with an ear
都 - dou1 (all), du1 (metropolis, capital)
廾 - gong3 (clasped hands)
廿 - nian4 (twenty); Picture of two tens stuck together . . . though most just say "er4shi2" . . . which means twenty
或 - huo4 (perhaps; or)
匚 - fang1 (basket)
四 - si4 (four)

Tuesday

五 - wu3 (five)
六 - liu4 (six)
七 - qi1 (seven)
九 - jiu3 (nine)
什 - shen2 (the first syllable of shen2me, or "what?")
么 - me (the second syllable of shen2me, or "what?")
桌 - zhuo1 (table)

Wednesday

椅 - yi3 (chair)
东 - dong1 (east)
戋 - jian1 (to be thin)
钱 - qian2 (money; a family name)
浅 - qian3 (be shallow, superficial; be mild)
个 - ge4 (a "measure" used to enumerate nouns in the construction "number + ge4 + noun;" be individual)
文 - wen2 (pattern; language, literature, culture; civil (opposed to military); a family name)

Thursday

这 - zhei4, zhe4 (this)
那 - na4, nei4, ne4 (that [opposite of "this"])
合 - he2 (to join, to bring together)
给 - gei3 (to give; to allow; for [someone] . . .), ji1 (to supply)
有 - [no pronunciation] ("Top of 左"); Just the upper and left parts here--not the rectangular part
有 - you3 (to have; there is; there are)
干 - gan1 (shield; have to do with; be dry, be dried; be empty; emptily, futilely), gan4 (trunk, main part; to do)

Friday

走 - zou3 (to walk)
厂 - chang3 (factory)
刊 - dao1 (knife [side-knife radical]); Just the right side here
殳 - shu1 (club, to club)
没 - mo4 (inundate), mei2 (negates you3 and other verbs)
身 - shen1 (torso)
寸 - cun4 (thumb; inch)

Everybody still with me? So we can now count to ten, which means we can string 'em together and count to a hundred (Woo!). Actually, with this batch, I'm getting a little more optimistic on the whole "reading a single sign" front. More next week.

Alright, alright. I promised to post the other set of characters that I'm running through on Friday of last week and I didn't. So I'm a big, fat liar-face. Not that I imagine any of you are exactly vibrating with joy to see me list another thirty-five doodles. Well, whether you like it or not, today is Doodle Day, and to make up for my liar-face-ness, you'll get the rest tomorrow.

Here we go:

Monday

刀 - dao1 (knife); I'm told it looks like a knife . . . maybe if you're Chinese
分 - fen1 (to divide; a fraction; a very small part), fen4 (a component; a share, one's lot); This one's a picture of the knife cutting something in half
皿 - min3 (dish); I try to think of a dish drying rack . . . you find what works for you
立 - li4 (to stand; to cause to stand, to set up; to be standing; be upright, vertical; to exist, to live; immediate [right away, instant]); Yeah, I still have trouble with this one . . . I try to work the vertical thing . . . this doodle sucks
里 - li3 (village; lining; inside, in), li (1/3 an English mile)
理 - li3 (grain [e.g., of wood]; principle; reason, logic, truth; [by metonymy] natural science; to set in order; to speak to; to pay attention to); Mmmm . . . good luck with this one, too
中 - zhong1 (middle; Chinese), zhong4 (hit the middle, fit perfectly; be hit or affected by); This one's easy enough, and, since it means "China" when combined with 国, it's friggin' everywhere

Tuesday

钟 - zhong1 (clock; family name); A metal zhong . . .
表 - [no pronunciation], this one's actually just the top part, and is called "top of 青"--I like a language that's practical
表 - biao3 (to show; be on the surface, be external; list, form; meter, gauge; watch [timepiece])
国 - guo2 (nation)
羊 - yang2 (sheep, goat; a family name); Supposed to be a picture . . . whatever
外 - wai4 (outside; relatives of one's mother, sisters, or daughters); Still wrapping my head around this one
看 - kan4 (to look at), kan1 (to look after, take care of); This is the character for hand on top of the character for eye . . . that equals "to look at" for the doodles

Wednesday

西 - xi1 (west)
贵 - gui4 (expensive); *shrug*
更 - geng4 (still more), geng1 (to change; a "watch" [two hour period of the night])
便 - bian4 (be convenient), pian2 (first syllable of pian2yi [be expensive])
祖 - [no pronunciation] (side-hand radical); This one is actually just the left half of that doodle
且 - qie3 (further); just memorize it
祖 - zu3 (grandfather; ancestor; a family name); See above

Thursday

租 - zu1 (rent, to rent; hire, lease)
组 - zu3 (to organize; a unit of organization, such as a section or department)
宜 - yi2 (be appropriate)
要 - yao4 (to want, to ask for; be "wanted," be important, essential)
署 - wang3 (net); Actually just the top part, kinda looks like a net . . .
头 - tou2 (head; a suffix used to form nouns and noun-phrases; a bulb [of garlic]; a measure word for certain animals)
买 - mai3 (to buy)

Friday

卖 - mai4 (to sell)
日 - ri4 (sun); like the moon with less strokes . . .
老 - [no pronunciation], actually just the top part, some radical or another . . .
老 - lao3 (old)
者 - zhe3 (a sufix for verbs [verb + 者 = "a person who . . .", compare with English suffix -er])
猪 - quan3 (dog); Actually just the left side (side-dog)
猪 - zhu1 (pig)

I have decided that Monday will be Doodle Day--that special day when I share with you the thirty-five Chinese characters I will be learning this week. I have fallen horribly behind on my doodle studies, so I'm hoping this added obligation to do it will keep me a little more on task. Yeah . . . we'll see how far that gets me.

Anywho. Though I have fallen behind on studying, I've still studied more than I have told you about. So, at least for this week, I'll have two Doodle Days, until I catch up to where I am in my doodle book. It won't take long . . .

So here we are:

Monday

矢 - shi4 (arrow; to vow)
矮 - ai3 (be short [not tall])
忙 - mang2 (be busy)
心 - xin1 (heart)
您 - nin2 (deferential "you")
元 - yuan2 (first; "dollar;" Japanese yen)
[chuo4] - chuo4 (to halt) . . . it's the left side of the next character.

Tuesday

远 - yuan3 (be far away; family name)
云 - yun2 (to say; a cloud; family name)
运 - yun4 (to transport; fate, luck)
[fu4] - fu4 (mound) . . . left side of the next character
院 - yuan4 (public building; courtyard)
园 - yuan2 (park, garden) . . . tired of the yuans yet?
不 - bu4 (a negative prefix for verbs and adverbs)

Wednesday

太 - tai4 (extremely)
高 - gao1 (be tall; to tower; family name)
搞 - gao3 (to do, make; to manage, to get; to purge)
又 - you4 (again)
月 - yue4 (month; moon)
可 - ke3 (can, may; to suit; certainly)
啊 - a1 (a sentence-final particle--for questions, exclamations, commands, warnings, reminders, emphatic pauses, enumerations, direct address, impatient statements, and any-fucking-thing else the Chinese want. . . .

Thursday

聿 - [no pronunciation] (OK . . . technically, I'm only studying the radical here, which is this character without the bottom line . . . it's called "the top of 聿" and has no other definition . . . I do not know what 聿 means . . . I do not know why I need to know this . . .)
书 - shu1 (book; letter; document; to write)
节 - jie2 (technically, this is just the bottom part of this character . . . the "seal ring" radical)
报 - bao4 (to announce, report; newspaper; to requite)
毛 - mao2 (hair, fur, feathers; wool; mildew; semi-finished; gross [not net]; a measure for dimes; family name) . . . a measure for dimes? . . . sigh . . .
笔 - bi3 (brush, writing instrument)
玩 - wan2 (to play, to amuse oneself)

Friday

钅 - jin1 (gold, metals; family name)
山 - shan1 (mountain
钢 - gang1 (steel); also gang4 (to sharpen, whet)
八 - ba1 (eight)
铅 - qian1 (lead [the metal])
米 - mi3 (rice)
目 - mu4 (eye)

Ahhh . . . so that's all of them. I'll update again, probably Friday, with this week's other list. Fun and informative (I still can't read signs)!

Alright, I'm gonna make it quick. I'm tired. Christina and I had to get up at 5:15 today so we could make it to a hospital in Zhengzhou (pronounced "jung-joe"), the provincial capital, so we could get examined for our residence permits before the crowd hit the hospital. So here are the doodles I learned for week two:

Monday

[mian2] - (roof), doesn't appear by itself
匕 - bi3 (ladle)
它 - ta1 (it), the top part of this is the above [mian2]
了 - le (marks verbs or sentences as "completed action" or "changed status")
子 - zi3 (child)
好 - hao3 (be good, well/consider good, like, love)
厶 - si1 (be selfish, private)

Tuesday

幺 - yao1 (coil/be immature, be tender, be little)
[si1] - (silk), the bottom half of the character below this one is si1 for silk
累 - lei4 (be tired)
彳 - chi4 (to step)
艮 - gen4 (be tough/be stubborn/be leathery/be blunt)
很 - hen3 (very)
口 - kou3 (mouth/a measure for humans)

Wednesday

灬 - huo3 (fire)
马 - ma3 (horse/a family name)
吗 - ma (marks sentences as questions and marks off subjects in sentences)
言 - yan2 (word, words/a family name)
讠 - yan2 (word, words)
隹 - zhui1 (dove)
谁 - shei2 or shui2 (Who?/Whom?)

Thursday

大 - da4 (be big)
夫 - fu1 (husband/"big man")
天 - tian1 (heaven/God/day/natural)
气 - qi4 (breath/vapors/exhalation/animus/energy/soul)
笑 - xiao4 (to laugh, smile/to ridicule)
儿 - er4 (child, son)
尢 - wang1 (be lame), or you2 (still) . . . Here's how I remember this one: I knew a kid growing up named Bobby Wang, so this is what I tell myself: "Bobby Wang is pretty lame, but you are still OK." Chinese mnemonics, sigh . . .

Friday

辛 - xin1 (be bitter/be toilsome/a family name)
幸 - xing4 (lucky)
[zhu3] - (dot), the top dot of the next character is zhu3
主 - zhu3 (lord, host/principal/to indicate)
住 - zhu4 (to live/to stay/to stop)
[shui3] - (water), the left part of the next character is [shui3]
注 - zhu4 (to comment on, annotate/to concentrate on/note, commentary/to pour into/bet, stake/a measure for business transactions or for sums of money) <---this one's loads of fun to remember.

That's it--two weeks worth of doodles. And I still can't read any signs . . .

You never quite realize how much you take something for granted until it's taken away. Let's say, for instance . . . literacy. Signs, books, directions--no problem! Yeah, well . . . move to China. Suddenly you're confronted with not letters, but doodles! Doodles everywhere! And you have no idea what anything means.

Enter: Reading & Writing Chinese: Simplified Character Edition

This tasty little book gives the definition, pronunciation, and stroke order diagram for each of the 3,000+ "frequently used" characters in China. That's right--3,000+. It recommends learning seven a day, as that's the rate of the average college student, I think is what it said. I dunno, works for me. So I've started doing that.

The Chinese writing system is based not on letters, but special characters called radicals. Sometimes these radicals are words in and of themselves, like 已 (yi3, "to twist"). Others are only used in combination with other radicals. "How many radicals are there?" you ask. Well lucky for you the Chinese simplified their characters in 1959, making it easier to learn. That means there are only 226 distinct radicals (and then a few "leftovers") to memorize. Yippee!

What's more, the logic behind the writing system is based on six different kinds of "meaning determinates." Depending on the character, you may be looking at a:

1) Picture - These characters are a pictorial representation of what they mean--though, due to the simplification process from 1959, many of the characters no longer look anything like what they are supposed to. It's like Pictionary but without the reference card!

2) Symbols - These happy characters are stand-ins for concepts.

3) Sound Loans - Sometimes characters look and sound exactly the same but have completely and totally different meanings. I guess the Chinese were running low on noises and pictures to make.

4) Sound-meaning Compounds - These two-part characters use one part for meaning and the other for sound. Similar to sound loans but more complicated!

5) Meaning-meaning Compounds - These characters combine two previously separate characters into one really complicated character and derive its meaning from what this doodle book insists is a kind of "logic." For instance, when you take 女 (nü3), which means "woman," and 子 (zi3), which means "child," and cram them together for 好, you logically get the character for (hao3) "to be well, good; to consider good, to like, to love." It's just so damned logical!

6) Reclarified Compounds - Sometimes Chinese gets a little carried away with loaning characters sounds or meanings or this or that from other characters and people start to get confused. That's when a nice and totally random scribe would step in and add things to characters to help distinguish them and control their meanings. In this way, you can get sound-meaning-meaning compounds--like cloning a clone. What could go wrong!

You'll be relieved to know that any character you see could derive its logical meaning from any of the six methods above--we wouldn't want things too get to easy now, would we? But enough praising the Chinese for their logical and easy-to-learn writing system. Let's get to the characters! I thought I'd share the ones I'm learning with you, so you could come along for the journey if you wanted to. I've already been at this for a while, so I'll only include the first weeks characters. Tomorrow I'll post the rest. Here we go:

一 - yi1 ("one")
丿 - pie3 ("left")
女 - nü3 ("woman/female")
人 - ren2 ("person/human being")
二 - er4 ("two")
三 - san3 ("three")
十 - shi2 ("ten")

jiong1 - ("borders") I couldn't type the character for this one because it never appears as an independent character, it's only a radical that modifies other characters. Doesn't mean you don't have to learn it though!
囗 - wei3 ("to surround")
力 - li4 ("strength")
男 - nan2 ("man/male")
丨 - shu4 ("downstroke")
ren2 - ("person") I couldn't make the character here either, because this is a side-radical--only used with others
已 - yi3 ("to twist")

[grass radical] - This one doesn't even have a pronunciation.
艺 - yi4 ("skill/art")
亿 - yi4 ("one hundred million")
xin1 - (side-heart radical)
忆 - yi4 ("to remember")
[back-turned stroke] - See [grass radical]
也 - ye3 ("also")

她 - ta1 ("she/her")
他 - ta1 ("he/him")
门 - men2 ("gate")
们 - men2 ([pluralizing suffix]) You tack this onto nouns to make them plural
手 - shou3 ("hand")
shou3 - (side-hand radical)
弋 - yi4 ("dart")

戈 - ge1 ("lance")
我 - wo3 ("I/me")
找 - zhao3 ("to visit/to look for/to make change")
亠 - tou2 ("lid")
mi4 - (crown radical, doesn't appear by itself)
小 - xiao3 ("small")
你 - ni3 ("you")

That's all thirty-five for the first week. And remember: That's more characters than English has letters--and you still won't be able to read any signs or any books after you learn them all.

Isn't Chinese fun?