Wishing everyone a happy Chinese language day, in which Chinese, one of the 6 official languages of the world, is promoted and celebrated!! This day also celebrates Cangjie, who invented the Chinese characters about 5000 years ago!
Do you know any Chinese? If you do, teach us a phrase or two!! We would love to learn!!
Translation for the song:
We've passed on the torch, the next time you see me speak Chinese
Chinese
The entire world is learning Chinese
The words of Confucius are getting more international
The whole world is speaking Chinese
The language we speak, is making the world pay attention
We've passed on the torch, the next time you see me speak Chinese
The entire world is learning Chinese
The words of Confucius are getting more international
The whole world is speaking Chinese
The language we speak, is making the world pay attention
The song is a Remix of 中國話 (Chinese Language) made by Yami's team in Produce 101. The original song is 中國話 (Chinese Language) by S.H.E
Tyren Perry teamed up with sisters Jania and Jaimee Foxworth to form the trio S.H.E.
Tyren and Jania had previously sang together as backing vocalists on Quincy Jones' Back On The Block album in 1989, the same year Tyren released her only solo album. At ten, Jaimee was cast in the sitcom Family Matters for four seasons, but then let go. She managed to get onto another sitcom, Getting By, but that too was short-lived. Jaimee, Jania and Tyren then decided to band together as a singing group.
The three girls were noticed by Shaquille O'Neal, who featured them on his second album, You Can't Stop The Reign, in 1996. He signed them to his vanity label that same year, and they released "My Secret Is."
Their career as a trio didn't exactly pan out though, and Jaimee ended up battling substance abuse, and starring in adult videos. Meanwhile, Tyren and Jania continued to pursue music.
"Bare" measure words (classifiers without demonstratives and numerals)
In my earlier days of learning Chinese, I remember complaining that measure words were a huge headache. Nowadays, I suppose I'm used to them. Yes, I sometimes slip up and use the wrong one, but I really don't mind them anymore.
One remaining challenge is what I've dubbed "bare" measure words. I'm referring to when a measure word with is used without a demonstrative (like 这 or 那) and without a numeral (一 yī). I don't think I'm explaining it well, so let's get to the examples.
The examples are lyrics from songs I like because why not! Definitions are from MDBG.
(1)蔡健雅 【别找我麻烦】
你可知道我不常带把伞 带把伞啊
带(一)把伞
把 bǎ - classifier for things with handles
伞 sǎn - umbrella / parasol
Further explanation: Before I read the lyrics for this song, I interpreted 把伞 as some unknown word "basan." I didn't realize that "san" was 伞 (umbrella). At the time I wasn't very familiar with 把 as a measure word, but had the lyrics been 一把伞 or 这把伞, I might have been able to figure out that "ba" was a measure word.
Some of the examples below weren't difficult for me to understand, but I've included them to show a variety of measure words.
像(一)颗糖
颗 kē - classifier for small spheres, pearls, corn grains, teeth, hearts, satellites etc
糖 táng - sugar / sweets / candy
像(一)杯酒
杯 bēi - classifier for certain containers of liquids: glass, cup
酒 jiǔ - wine (esp. rice wine) / liquor / spirits / alcoholic beverage
(3)薛之谦 【骆驼】
我心里有片沙漠
那里有很多骆驼
有(一)片沙漠
片 piàn - classifier for slices, tablets, tract of land, area of water
沙漠 shāmò - desert
(4)S.H.E 【你曾是少年】
感觉有双翅膀 能飞越高山和海洋
有(一)双翅膀
双 shuāng - pair
翅膀 chìbǎng - wing
(5)李宇春 【下个,路口,见】
忙碌会议你头脑转不停
我街头散步偷偷喘口气
喘(一)口气
喘 chuǎn - to gasp / to pant / asthma
口 kǒu - classifier for bites or mouthfuls
气 qì - gas; air
*喘气 chuǎnqì - to breathe deeply; to pant; to gasp / to take a breather; to catch one's breath
(6)郭顶 【水星记】
做个梦给你 做个梦给你
做(一)个梦
个 gè - classifier used before a noun that has no specific classifier
梦 mèng - dream
*Another common one is 一场梦.
有(一)个收场
个 gè - classifier used before a noun that has no specific classifier
收场 shōuchǎng - the end / an ending / to wind down / to conclude
去(一)趟
趟 tàng - classifier for times, round trips or rows
(9)蔡健雅 【有问题】
我唱首歌给你听 让你天天开心
我却得不到爱的鼓励
唱(一)首歌
首 shǒu - classifier for poems, songs etc
歌 gē - song
(10)林宥嘉 【天真有邪】
爱情的神经 以后 一快乐 就难过
会撒谎之前 有句话 再不说
有(一)句话
句 jù - sentence / clause / phrase / classifier for phrases or lines of verse
话 huà - spoken words / speech / talk / words
Further reading: The Wikipedia page on Chinese classifiers has a brief mention of this way of using measure words. It cites Chinese: A Linguistic Introduction by Chaofen Sun from Cambridge University Press. I looked at the referenced page on Google Books. This type of usage was very briefly mentioned. I'll have to research it further later.