6 Responses to “CLO_195: Chinese Proverbs II”

1. Ruide Says:
   October 21st, 2009 at 7:04 am

   @Adam/Luise
   i often see “live free or die” on US license plates. would you say this is a chéngyǔ or a yànyǔ. can you translate/write it pinyin ? thanks

2. Adam Says:
   October 22nd, 2009 at 1:24 am

   Hi Ruide,

   There is one similar in Chinese that says: Bù zìyǒu wú níng sǐ （不自由毋宁死）. This literally means “No freedom, rather die”.

   It would be more of a yànyǔ, since chéngyǔ only have 4 characters.

3. Ruide Says:
   October 23rd, 2009 at 2:27 pm

   Adam,
   what is the meaning of “wú” in above proverb.

4. Adam Says:
   October 26th, 2009 at 12:35 am

   Hi Ruide,

   It actually means “I”, so the meaning becomes “No freedom, I would rather die”. That usage of wú isn’t used in modern Chinese however, since this is a more ancient proverb (similar to “thou”).

5. ruide Says:
   December 19th, 2010 at 12:24 pm

   @Adam, i like both ‘chengyu’ and ‘yanyu’ although i’m still at elementary level ( being outside china with very little exposure ‘ziji xuexi’) i was wondering since they are mostly unintelligible and linked to myths, stories or historical fact are they used by the written language and not often for every day conversation. do you as a ‘laowai’ occasionally say one or are they mostly reserve for native speakers. e.g. ‘xiaotidazuo’ – to make a big fuss over a minor issue or ‘ru xiang sui su’ - follow the local custom at a foreign place

   will i sound too text book since i’m only interested in conversational learning. i was about to make a list of some and possibly venture a tryout.

6. Adam Says:
   December 19th, 2010 at 7:42 pm

   Ruide,

   I’m impressed that you’ve been working on this lesson for over a year now!

   You’re right that chengyu are considered more advanced for most Chinese learners. There are some that are very common in daily speech and others that are lesser known. Some would also vary from region to region. The best way to go about this would be:

   1. If you hear a Chinese speaker use one, ask what it means and what situation one would use it. You can then try using it the next time you’re in a similar situation.

   2. If there is one you come across in your learning that you really like, check with a local speaker where you are if it’s one that they have heard of and again confirm what types of situations they would use it. They would then be able to tell if it’s one that people use or not.

   Otherwise you risk using one that may be common in one region but unheard of in another.

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