EP13 日期 Date & Birthday

 Part I Chinese 101

 

Dialogue:

 

A：你的生日是哪天？

 

nǐ de shēng rì shì nǎ tiān？

 

What day is your birthday?

 

B：1990年6月1日。今年我27岁。

 

yī jiǔ jiǔ líng nián liù yuè yī rì 。jīn nián wǒ èr shí qī suì 。

 

I was born on June 1st, 1990. I’m 27 years old.

 

Words & expressions:

 

【生日】shēng rì; birthday

 

【哪】nǎ; wher or which

 

哪个: which one

 

哪里: wher

 

哪位: who

 

【天】tiān: day；sky

 

一天： one day

 

【年】nián; year

 

*Chinese Zodiac马年: The year of Horse   鸡年: Year of the Rooster   

 

【月】yuè; month

 

【日】rì; day

 

日期：date

 

【今】jīn: this; now; today; modern

 

今天: today

 

今年: this year

 

今早: this morning

 

【岁】suì: year; age

 

Part II Language Tips

 

Ways to express “How old are you” and respond

 

When, wher, and why is it considered rude to ask for someone's age? 

 

How can we ask women their age without offending them?

 

Is it inappropriate to compliment someone on his age? 

 

Stereotyping on age in workplace: How to maintain professional relevance at any age?

 

Part III Story of The Day

 

 

 

EP13 日期 Date & Birthday

 

拔苗助长

 

bá miáo zhù zhǎng

 

To Pull Up the Seedlings to Help Them Grow

 

Haste makes waste, Chinese idiom, pull up seedlings to help them grow, describe people who are too eager to get something done, only to make it worse.

 

心急办坏事，中国俗语拔苗助长常常被用来形容做事太着急的人，往往容易把事情搞砸。

 

Literal meaning: To pull up the seedlings to help them grow

 

Explanation: Haste makes waste

 

Eg.

 

给小学生教授高等数学,就如同拔苗助长,只会让他们失去学习数学的兴趣.

 

gěi xiǎo xué shēng jiāo shòu gāo děng shù xué，jiù rú tóng bá miáo zhù zhǎng，zhī huì ràng tā men shī qù xué xí shù xué de xìng qù。

 

Teaching advanced math to primary school kids is like pulling up the seedlings to help them grow, and only makes kids lose interest in math.