I am Lilian

I am on my period ,我大姨妈来了。

我 i/me wǒ

大 big dà

 姨妈 aunt   yí mā

来come。 lái

了a particle used to indicate a change of state or a completed action. le

period pain 痛经 tòng jīng

pain 疼痛 téng tòng

menstrual 月经 shame 羞耻 yuè jīng xiū chǐ

painkiller 止疼药 zhǐ téng yào

medicine 药 yào

shame 羞耻 xiū chǐ

sanitary pads 卫生巾 wèi shēng jīn

giving birth 生孩子 shēng hái zi

大姨妈来的时候，we need to buy 卫生巾， eat 止疼药，because 我痛经，sometime i really hope that i can 停经，we should not feel 月经羞耻，because this is a normal thing  like 生孩子。like eating like going to the toilet.

Have you ever heard of this Chinese card game before?

斗地主 is a very popular game that almost every Chinese person knows how to play.斗dòu means to fight，地主means the landlord ，so 斗地主 can  be translated as fight the landlord.

Three people play this game. One of them is the landlord, and the other two are farmers.

as we know a deck of playing cards has 54 cards including two jokers.First, one person shuffles the cards and deals them. Each player gets 17 cards, and the remaining three cards are placed face down on the table.

then, we turn one card face up and deal the cards to the players one by one. Whoever gets the face-up card becomes the landlord!

But if you think you can’t beat the other players, you can choose to give up being the landlord and let the next player have a chance.

The first player to get rid of all their cards wins the game. If the landlord gets rid of all their cards first, the landlord wins. But if either  farmer gets rid of all their cards first, the landlord loses. 

fight the landlord 斗地主 dòu dì zhǔ

The big joker 大王 dà wáng

The little joker 小王 xiǎo wáng

airplane 飞机   fēi jī

wings 翅膀 chì bǎng

take/bring 带 dài

airplane with wings 飞机带翅膀 it means consecutive triples with attachments.Isn’t that interesting?

pass 过 guò

a pair 对子/一对 duì zi /yí duì

a straight 顺子 shùn zi

 four of a kind 炸弹 zhà dàn , in mandarin,炸弹 literallymeans bomb 

the joker bomb 火箭 huǒ jiàn and in mandarin 火箭 actually means rocket.so in 斗地主 .火箭 is the strongest combination ,it is made up of big joker and little joker.

I win 我赢了 wǒ yíng le

lose 输shū

少男杀手 shào nán shā shǒu   Heartthrob for Teenage Boys

公主 gōng zhǔ princess

天才tiān cái  genius

天 tiān  sky  

才cái 才华 cái huá means talented

地才 dì cái

 地 dì earth planet  

  talented through hard work. 

舞娘 wǔ niáng dancing diva

gay 同性恋tóng xìng liàn

 荣格 róng gé jung carl gustav

自信 zì xìn confidence

自卑 zì bēi   inferiority 

 自我探索 zì wǒ tàn suǒ self-explore

feminism女性主义 nǚ xìng zhǔ yì

we know that 女means female so we can extend it to many words like 女人 nǚ rén women 女孩 nǚ hái girl

七宗罪 qī zōng zuì seven sins

dark side 阴暗面 yīn àn miàn

心理学   xīn lǐ xué psychology  

Today, let’s talk about Chinese zodiac signs. Chinese zodiac signs are different from Western zodiac signs. The Chinese zodiac uses 12 animals to represent people’s birth years, and the cycle is 12 years.

We have 12 animals. They are:

鼠-shǔ-rat

牛 — niú — ox

虎 — hǔ — tiger

兔 — tù — rabbit

龙 — lóng — dragon

蛇 — shé — snake

马 — mǎ — horse

羊 — yáng — goat / sheep

猴 — hóu — monkey

鸡 — jī — rooster

狗 — gǒu — dog

猪 — zhū — pig

你属什么？我属蛇。What is your Chinese zodiac sign? I’m a Snake.

所以，你是1989年出生的，对吗？So, you were born in 1989, right?

不，我是2001年出生的。No, I was born in 2001.

对不起，对不起，你看起来有点老。Sorry, sorry. You look a bit old.

是吗？操你妈，再见。Yeah? Fuck you. Bye.

虎头蛇尾 hǔ tóu shé wěi - a tiger’s head and a snake’s tail.

It describes something that starts strongly but ends badly or weakly.

对牛弹琴duì niú tán qín- play music to a cow.

It means trying to explain something to someone who doesn’t understand or appreciate it.

《水调歌头·明月几时有》

苏轼

明月几时有？把酒问青天。不知天上宫阙，今夕是何年。我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇，高处不胜寒。起舞弄清影，何似在人间。

转朱阁，低绮户，照无眠。不应有恨，何事长向别时圆？人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全。但愿人长久，千里共婵娟。

And this famous poem was adapted into a song. If you search for “但愿人长久,” you’ll find it.

 The vocabulary ：

中秋节zhōng jiū jié  mid autumn festival  

festival 节日 jié rì

lunar calender 农历 nóng lì

 solar calendar 阳历 yáng lì

 full moon 满月 mǎn yuè

moon 月亮 yuè liang  我喜欢月亮

太阳 tài yáng sun

the 15th day of the eighth month  八月15 bā yuè shí wǔ

september 25th 九月25.   jiǔ yuè èr shí wǔ

补休 bǔ xiū compensatory days off

有钱人 yǒu qián rén rich people  

月饼 yuè bǐng mooncake     

老公 lǎo gōng husband

 jade rabbit 玉兔yù tù

gù shì 故事 story  

jiè shào介绍 introduce

xīng qī wǔ 星期五 friday    

fàng jià 放假have a holiday / get a day off

 jiā qī  假期 holiday / vacation

新的苹果出了，你会买吗？

我不知道。贵吗？

听说要一万多。那算了，我的旧手机还可以用。

你是说你的华为吗？

是啊，我都用了五年了。

Key words

新xīn— new

手机shǒu jī- phone

买mǎi — buy

我不知道wǒ bù zhī dào — I don’t know

一万 yí wàn— ten thousand

用yòng — use年 

nián— year

听说 tīng shuō— I heard / I’ve heard

算了suàn le — forget it / never mind

还 hái — still

我还在用苹果12。

我已经用了五年了。

New word:

已经

— already

Today, let’s talk about one of the most famous Chinese poems by the poet Li Bai. The name of the poem is 《静夜思》.

床前明月光

疑是地上霜

举头望明月

低头思故乡

Do you know how to use "吗" in Chinese?

In Mandarin, we often add "吗" to the end of a sentence to turn it into a yes-or-no question.

For example:

你是 Lilian 吗？Are you Lilian?

你喜欢吃中国菜吗？Do you like Chinese food?

Today, let's learn how to use "吗" in Mandarin.

But first, I'd like you to know something very important. Mandarin is a tonal language. We have four main tones, and changing the tone changes the meaning of a word.

For example:

妈 (mā) — first tone — mother

麻 (má) — second tone — numb

马 (mǎ) — third tone — horse

骂 (mà) — fourth tone — to scold

And 吗 (ma) has a neutral tone, so it's pronounced very softly.

Now let's look at a few examples:

你是 Lilian 吗？Are you Lilian?

我是。Yes, I am.

你是中国人吗？Are you Chinese?

是的，我是中国人。Yes, I am Chinese.

你是美国人吗？Are you American?

不是，我不是美国人。 你喜欢我吗？ 是的，我喜欢你No, I'm not.

Remember, tones are very important in Mandarin. If you change the tone of a Chinese character, you may change its meaning completely.

now lets practice，You can repeat after me, or if you're in a public place, you can simply say the words quietly in your mind.

妈、麻、马、骂。

Hello, everyone! I'm Lilian from China.

I've had many different jobs over the years. I've been a singer, a barista, and a salesperson. But now I'm an online Chinese teacher.

Everything changed after I volunteered at a school in Kenya. That experience completely changed my life. Looking back, I'm sure I received far more than I gave.

In this podcast, I want to help you learn Chinese while exploring all kinds of topics through Mandarin. I hope every episode helps you improve your Chinese and discover more about the language, the culture, and the world.

I believe that language is more than just vocabulary and grammar. Language is a tool that helps us connect with one another. So don't worry about being perfect. Just take it easy, have fun, and enjoy learning with me.