Chinese Idioms 成語

For some reason, this past month or two have been incredibly busy. Starting tonight, we have 5 separate activities before Sunday evening, 6 if we count our daughter’s ballet class 芭蕾舞班 as an activity. Some are special, such as seeing a friend off who will be leaving for India for 6 months. Fortunately, I just found out that I can take an online course at home 可以下載課程, instead of spending my whole Saturday in class! Maybe I can do my course online when I am on my business trip but at the bargain hotels I stay at I better complete it at home.

I was reminded once again when talking to my wife that idioms are one of the richest parts of the Chinese language. One well-placed idiom can clearly communicate better than a minute or two of speech. Since they are based on rote memorization 一定要揹書才能記住, idioms are also one of the most difficult parts of learning Chinese for those at an intermediate level.

It is true that we have idioms in English as well. Most languages do. For example, it is raining cats and dogs 倾盆大雨, does not of course mean that cats and dogs are literally falling out of the skies. The same is true for ‘throwing pearl before swine’ 對牛弹琴 or any of the other animal idioms we have in English. In Chinese, there are many more idioms and they are used much more frequently than in English. I believe this is because Chinese has a rich literary tradition that is common to everyone through memorization in learning. If you really want to impress someone, use one of these 4 character idioms.