Happy (快乐)

Here is the last Free Survival Chinese Course from ActiveChinese


New Phrases for Today:
快乐 - Happy
音乐 - Music
拼音 - Pinyin; Spell; Phoneticize

New Words for Today:
乐 or 樂 - Pleasure; Joyful
音 - Sound

Direction (方向)

Here is another free lesson from ActiveChinese


Let us take a look at the following phrases:
他在左边(...邊)
He is on the left.

她在右边(...邊)
She is on the right.

New Words for today:
前 - front; former
后or 後 - behind; back
上 - up; top
左 - left
右 - right
边 or 邊 - side
在 - at

Okay. I hope you can find all the above from the above video.

Gong Xi Fa Cai (恭喜发财)

Today is Chinese New Year 2008.

By the Chinese calendar, 2008 is the year of Rat. There are 12 animal names; so by this system, year names are re-cycled every 12 years.

During the Chinese New Year which last for 15 days, many will greet each other 恭喜发财 (..發財) or 新年快乐(...樂).

Unmarried person will receive a monetary gift in the form of an angpow (red pocket) - see photo on the left.

New Phrases for Today:
恭喜发财 - May you be happy and prosperous
新年快乐 - Happy New Year


New Words for Today:
财 or 財 - wealth; riches; valuables
新 - New
年 - Year
快 - Fast; Quick

Drink Coffee (喝咖啡)

Here is another free lesson from ActiveChinese


Let us take a look at the following phrases:

他要喝咖啡
He want to drink Coffee

她要喝茶
She want to drink Tea

New Words for today:

要 - want
喝 - drink
咖啡 - Coffee
茶 - Tea
他 - He
她 - She

Watch the above video again and see whether you can find all the above words.

So what is your favorites drink? 咖啡 or 茶

Hello (你好)

Let us learn from the following video


Below are some common phrases used when conversing in Mandarin:

你好
Hello; Hi
你好吗
How are you?
谢谢
Thanks

The word Thank in Chinese can be written either as

谢 in Simplified Chinese or
謝 in Traditional Chinese

吗 in Traditional Chinese is written as 嗎

Do you still remember the above words when you watch the above video? Watch the video again if you want to refresh your memory.

New Words for today:

好 - good
谢 - thank
吗 - interrogative particle (like a question tag)

I love you (我爱你)

Let us learn one of the most beautiful phrases today:

我爱你
I Love You

Anyway, don't use this phrase with anybody unless you mean what you say. You can try and say this to your spouse or love ones and let them find out what it mean if they are not Chinese educated.

There are two standard sets of printed Chinese Characters:

1. Traditional Chinese - use in Taiwan, Hongkong and Macau
   
2. Simplified Chinese - use in mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia
   

The word Love in Chinese can be written either as

爱 in Simplified Chinese or
愛 in Traditional Chinese

New Words for today:

我 - I; me
爱 - Love
你 - You

Go and find this phrase in the previous post from the song titled

老 鼠 爱 大 米
Mouse love rice

Below is the Karaoke version of the song if you would like to try to identify some of the Chinese Characters (in Traditional Chinese). I strongly believe with enough repetition, we could recognize all the words without referring to the pinyin - right?