BEGINNER 初阶

Day-to-day Phrases and Vocabularies

Mandarin Meetup Theme Card

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朋友 FRIENDS

Mandarin Meetup Theme 1 Set 1

【朋】最早是一种货币单位。《说文解字》里说“朋”象形为凰，凤凰群鸟数从以万数，故引为朋。
It was a currency at the beginning. Shuowen jiezi explains that 朋(péng) has the similar look as phoenix’s wing. Phoenix always come in a large amount, therefore, 朋(péng) refers to objects or human that share common.

【友】声旁和形旁都是又，表示抓握。友在楷书以前写做两个又，所以表示朋友握手相交。
Both phonetic component and radical in this character are 又,which means to catch. The character友（yǒu）was wrote as two又 before Cursive style, therefore, it means friends holding hands together.

[朋友] n. Friend

朋友在中国古代社会是非常重要的关系，是“五伦”的一种。（五种人伦关系是：父子，君臣，夫妇，兄弟，朋友）。朋和又的区别是：同门为朋，志同道合为友。

As one of the Wulun (five cardinal relationships), friend is essential in Chinese ancient society. (five cardinal relationships are: father and son, king and minister, husband and wife, brothers, and friends). The difference between 朋and 友 are: 朋 usually means classmates, only whom like-minded are友.

Usage用法：我们做朋友吧。
Let’s s be friends.

好朋友 CLOSE FRIEND

Mandrin Meetup Theme 1 Set 2

[好]：adj. good, well
好朋友，good friends, close friends.

Usage: 我们是好朋友。We are close friends.

旅游 TRAVEL

Mandarin Meetup Theme 2 Set 1

【旅】最早的时候的意思是“军队在旗子下行走”，引申为“从一个地方走到另一个地方”。同时也表示一种军事单位。
Originally means “a large troop travel with a flag”, extends to “walk from one distance to another”. Also used as a military formation “brigade”.

【游】最早的时候表示“学子在旗子下行走”，引申为”从一个地方走到另一个地方”。 后来多了三点水，表示在水上的旅行。
Originally means “students walk with a flag”, extends to “walk from one distance to another”. It was added “water” radical in Seal style, which means “travel by water”.

用法Usage：我们去旅游吧！ Let’s go travel!

游玩 HAVING FUN

Mandarin Meetup Theme 2 Set 2

游玩 to have fun
【游】见Mandarin Meetup Language Card Theme 2 Set 1
See Mandarin Meetup Language Card Theme 2 Set 1.

【玩】玩耍
To have fun, enjoy.

用法Usage：周末我们乘船去游玩吧。
Let’s go have fun sailing this weekend.

喝茶DRINK TEA

Mandarin Meetup Beginner Topic 4 set 1

喝茶
【喝】v. drink
【茶】n. tea

用法Usage：我想喝茶。 I want to drink tea.

茶这个字直到唐朝才出现，它从荼演变而来，表示苦菜。
《茶经》里说：茶者，南方之嘉木也。……其名，一曰茶，二曰槚，三曰蔎，四曰茗，五曰荈。

The character of 茶 was not created until Tang Dynasty. It was transformed from 荼。It indicated a “bitter vegetables”， such as sowthistle or smartweed.
The book of tea says, tea is southern wood…its names, the first one is cha, the second one is jia, the third one is she, the fourth one is she, the fifth one is chuan.

所以现在历史学家研究唐以前的茶历史比较困难，因为不确定文献里指的是苦菜，茶，或者其他的东西。
Therefore, Historians from today have hard time to do research about tea, because they’re not sure those characters from the ancient documents means bitter vegetables, tea, or something else.

年&夕

Mandarin Meetup Beginner Topic 6 Set 1

现在通行的春节起源故事里，年和夕常被描述为只在年底活动的太古野兽，过年和除夕就是全家人聚在一起祭祖，吃年夜饭，然后用野兽害怕的爆竹和红色春联吓走野兽。第二天， 家家户户走亲访友，道喜问好。
According to the popular folklores of Spring Festival’s origin, nian and xi usually are depicted as pre-history monsters who are only active at end of the year. During Guonian and Chuxi, the people will worship ancestors, have feasts together with family, and scared off the monster by using firecracker and red objects. On the second day, everyone will celebrate by visiting families and friends.

从文字的起源角度来看，年和夕的最初形态和野兽没有关系。年和稻谷有关；夕和傍晚、年底有关；而除字最开始通舒，舒月就是十二月，除夕就是十二月最后一天，直到六朝( 222-589 AD)后除才有去除的意思。
From etymological side, the form of characters of nian and xi has nothing to do with monsters. In fact, nian relates to grain, xi relates to evening and the end of the year, and chu equates to shu. Shu month is December, chu xi means the last day of December. The meaning of delete, kill didn't appear until Six Dynasty period (222-589 AD)

也就是说，年和夕不可能是太古的野兽。而这样的民间故事之所以能流传下来，大概和人们期待和平的生活有关。

Therefore, Nian and xi couldn't be the pre-history monsters. The folklore probably reflects people’s wish for peace.