Let's learn Chinese!
If you have missed the previous edition, here is the link to it. You are encouraged to read this series in order, as words from older challenges might appear in newer stories.
- Enjoy the story
- Spot the Chinese words in it
- What do you think they mean? Write it down in the following table.
| Chinese | Phonetic Guide | English |
|---|---|---|
| 大 | dà | |
| 大人 | dàrén |
==============================================================
10/02/2018
Saturday
Sunny
Dear diary,
Can you believe this? My dad has agreed to adopt the big dog we saw the other day at the pound! The 大 dog was brown and furry, but most important of all, it is so 大 that it has to be kept in our backyard; there just isn’t room for it in the house!
The dog we already have is a small one who sleeps with me every night. It’d sometimes sleep curled up at the foot of my bed, but more often it loves to cuddle up with me. My dad said the small dog was bred to be a loving pet, but not a guard dog. He still couldn’t get over the tale of the strange 人 I saw in the park last week, and he said if I were to go to the park alone again, I needed a 大 dog with me.
So last Tuesday after work, he brought me to the neighbourhood dog pound to see if there was a suitable dog up for adoption. When I laid my eyes on this 大 dog I was elated. I immediately told dad I wanted it. Dad, however, being a 大人, was much more cautious. He spoke at depth with the 人 at the pound to find out all he could about the dog. He said that not all 大 dogs were guard dogs; some, despite their size, are too docile for us.
Fortunately, after some investigation, a letter came for dad with a lot of official documents. It turned out the 大 dog I was after was actually a retired police dog! I jumped for joy when dad read it out and said yes, he would accompany me to the pound on Monday to welcome our new 大 dog. Before that, however, I would have to help him clean out our 大 backyard. We need also to build a 大 shelter for the dog, and get it a couple of 大 dishes for food and water. Our house is very 大, but such a 大 dog like the one we’re ready to welcome would still feel trapped. It is meant to roam in the 大 outdoors and sleep under the stars.
==============================================================
Let's practice writing!
Chinese writing follows a certain order. You can see the stroke order labelled below. This means you write the horizontal stroke first, then the stroke that goes towards the left, and finally write the stroke that goes towards the right, to complete the entire word.
| Name | Direction |
|---|---|
| The horizontal stroke is called "héng". | It is written from left to right. |
| The stroke that goes towards the left is called "piě". | It is written from top to bottom. |
| The stroke that goes towards the right is called "nà". | It is written from top to bottom. |
Chinese writing is done on squared paper. If you do not have squared paper, you can print this image out to practise on.
