#language ambassador project

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

木兰辞 1

唧唧复唧唧，木兰当户织。

不闻机杼声，唯闻女叹息。

问女何所思？问女何所忆？

女亦无所思，女亦无所忆。

昨夜见军帖，可汗大点兵，

军书十二卷，卷卷有爷名。

阿爷无大儿，木兰无长兄，

愿为市鞍马，从此替爷征。

唧唧：织机发出的声音

当户：在门边

机杼声：织机发出的声音

军帖：征兵的文书

可汗 （kèhán）：西北少数民族对君主的称呼，khan

十二：不是指数字十二，是很多的意思

卷：发

爷/阿爷：父亲

市鞍马：从军。市：买，鞍马：马和马鞍。指从军需要有这些用具

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

Vocab list - Space

The list first, and explanations under the Keep Reading for length

Sun -- 太阳 tài yang

Mercury -- 水星 shuǐ xīng

Venus -- 金星 jīn xīng

Earth -- 地球 dì qiú

Mars -- 火星 huǒ xīng

Jupiter -- 木星 mù xīng

Saturn -- 土星 tǔ xīng

Uranus -- 天王星 tiān wáng xīng

Neptune -- 海王星 hǎi wáng xīng

Pluto -- 冥王星 mǐng wáng xīng

Moon -- 月亮/月球 yuè liang/yuè qiú

Satellites -- 卫星 wèi xīng

   Artificial satellites -- 人工卫星/人造卫星 rén gōng wèi xīng/rén zào wèi xīng

Dwarf planet -- 矮行星 ǎi xíng xīng

Asteroid -- 小行星 xiǎo xíng xīng

Meteoroid -- 流星体 liú xīng tǐ

   Meteor -- 流星 liú xīng

       Meteor shower -- 流星雨 liú xīng tǐ

   Meteorite -- 陨石 yǔn shí

Star -- 星星/恒星 xīng xing/héng xīng

Planet -- 行星 xíng xīng

Orbit -- 公转 gǒng zhuàn

Rotation -- 自转 zì zhuàn

太阳算是一个比较基本的词，不需要怎么解释了吧。地球也比较简单。

从水星到土星，除去地球，就是以五行命名的。但是要注意，并不是按照普通五行的顺序。水星移动的很快，就行水流动一样，所以以水命名。金星是因为它很亮，古时叫做太白金星。这里的“白”是亮的意思，而不是颜色。火星、木星、和土星都是因为长得像。火星是红色的、木星看着像是有木纹、而土星颜色���沙土。

天王星、海王星、和冥王星和英语的命名方法一样。Uranus是希腊神话里的天神。天王星是浅蓝色的，像天空。Neptune是海神，而海王星像海一样是深蓝色的。冥王星（冥就是死亡，阴间的意思）因为离得很远，所以基本是黑色的，让人联想到死亡，所以以死亡之神Pluto命名。

Moon的中文可以是月亮或者月球。一般用月亮，不过比较科学的说法是月球。月球当然是一个卫星。卫星呢可以理解为，它们的公转像是在保卫中间的物体一样。矮行星和小行星就是字面意思了。

流星体是还没有进入大气层的。而进入大气层并发光的叫做流星。如果有很多流星，那么就叫做流星雨。坠落到地面的则叫做陨石，“陨”有坠落的意思，在古文中同“殒”，有死亡的意思。

星星是日常用语，比如说“天上有星星”，而恒星是科学用语。“恒”是不动的意思。行星里的“行（xíng）”则是动的意思。公转是围绕另外一个物体的运动，而自转就是物体本身的转动。

The english isn’t a direct translation of the Chinese, but the content is nearly identical.

太阳 is a pretty basic word, doesn’t really need much explanation. 地球 literally means “land sphere”, and that’s pretty intuitive.

Mercury to Jupiter, excluding Earth, is named after the Chinese concept of 五行, which is the five basic elements. It is typically in the order of gold/metal, wood, water, fire, soil/land, but that’s not the case with the planets. The order with the planets… I think it’s mostly arbitrary but I could be wrong. Mercury is called 水星 because, according to the internet, it moves very fast, just like flowing water. Venus is 金星 because it’s very bright. Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are named after the things they look like. Mars is red so it’s fire, Jupiter kinda looks like it has wood patterns, and Saturn is a sandy yellow-brown, so it’s named after land.

Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are almost direct translations. Uranus is the greek god of the sky, Neptune the sea, and Pluto the underworld. It’s the same in Chinese, except instead of “god” they use 王，as in “lord”.

Moon can be 月亮 or 月球, 月亮 is more common speech and 月球 is more scientific. Obviously, the moon is a satellite, which is called a 卫星 in Chinese. 卫 means to guard, and you can think of it as satellites orbiting a planet and “guarding” it. An artificial satellite is a 人工卫星 or 人造卫星, either one literally mean man-made satellite. A dwarf planet is literally a “short” planet, even though they aren’t actually short because they’re spherical, but short, dwarf, you can see where that came from. An asteroid is literally a “small planet”.

Ah, and of course, the meteoroid/meteor/meteorite. Meteoroids are called “meteor objects” in Chinese, because they aren’t meteors yet, they are just objects that have the potential to become a meteor. A meteor is literally a “flowing star”, because they “flow” across the sky and glow like a star. When there are a lot of them, they are called a “meteor rain” instead of a meteor shower. (also, as a side note, 流星雨 is the name of a very classic Chinese TV show. Personally don’t like it that much, but you can go check it out if you want.) When they land on earth (meteorite), they are called 陨石.  陨 meaning fallen or dead.

Similar to moon, a star can be either 星星 or 恒星, common speech and scientific, respectively. 恒 means permanent and unmoving. Planet is similar. The 行 (xíng) in 行星 means to move. 公转 means orbit, it’s a “shared” rotation, and 自转 is “self-rotation”.