What is Chinese Idioms for All Occasions Volume 1 about?
Summary:
In this book, the idioms most useful for students starting out on their study of Chinese have been collected in one place. They have been grouped into categories (knowing, thinking, saying etc.) for quick reference, and are easy to work into conversations on a range of everyday topics. The context of every idiom is explained, with examples of their use.
Situations where each idiom can be employed are represented pictorially, and these pictures can form the basis of flash cards, helping the student to memorise them in the context where they can be used.
The flash cards are also provided in a separate companion ebook to this volume, which can easily be viewed on a mobile phone or tablet. Using the flash cards, the student can rapidly bring to mind each idiom, without the intermediary of English equivalents. There are sixty seven idioms presented in this edition, and more to follow in forthcoming volumes.
Detailed Overview:
For students learning Chinese seriously, and at an advanced level, Chinese idioms are an essential component of the language, which needs mastering not only to be able to recognise and understand them when they occur, but also for the student to implement them and integrate them into their own everyday conversation. It is to assist in this second purpose that this book is intended.
There are many good books on Chinese idioms, but unfortunately, when an English-speaking student wants to express a particular concept by use of an underlying idiom, it is usually the English version which comes to mind, rather than the Chinese equivalent. In this book, therefore, the idioms are introduced initially as the English version, and are grouped together according to the types of eventuality which might occasion their use. In this way, the student can look quickly through the list and find something appropriate for a situation which they anticipate they might shortly encounter.
Furthermore, the groups and the order in which they are placed, have been designed to contain those idioms most useful for a student starting out in their endeavour to incorporate idioms into their Chinese conversation. For this reason, the first group is loosely based around the concept of knowing (and the unknown) and the first idioms chosen are “Its beyond me” and “I haven't a clue”, for which the likelihood of their being appropriate in an early conversation is high. This is followed closely by “undoubtedly” and “it goes without saying”. In addition to the Chinese characters, their meaning, pronunciation, and usage of the idiom itself, simple equivalents in Chinese are also provided. This is because a student who has been speaking Chinese for a year or two will likely have encountered situations where it would have been nice to reply “without a doubt”, for example, but have ended up saying “of course” for lack of knowledge of any idiom conveying a more precise meaning. These Chinese “near translations” of the idioms hopefully will help the student realise where they can be introduced into conversation at points where, up until that time, they have had to fall back on the simpler and less accurate alternatives.
Finally, examples are given not only of the way in which the idioms are used, but also some of the situations which might give rise to their use. Once again, the intention is to help the student recognise, in advance of those occasions, where an idiom which has been learned can be inserted seamlessly into conversation.
One further important aspect is the provision of a picture for each idiom, referencing the meaning associated with the Chinese phrase. These pictures will also be provided elsewhere (as printed flashcards, and in a mobile app) so that, upon looking just at the picture, the student can be encouraged to think of the Chinese idiom without being prompted by the English equivalent (or indeed by any written text at all, English or Chinese). In this way, the student will be helped to bring the idioms to mind in the appropriate situations more naturally and fluently, and without translating from the English.
For students of Chinese, the idioms which are easiest to work into one's conversation are one’s which can either refer to oneself, or ones which can relate in some way to one's interlocutor, because in any conversation, it is these two elements which are always present. There are many idioms in Chinese which describe a third party (either a person, or a thing or situation), but the nature of this third party is much more varied and unpredictable, and thus more difficult to prepare for. In addition, the situations which are most likely to arise for a student in conversation are ones rooted in a classroom, teaching or pedagogic context, and for this reason, the first idioms presented here are those involving knowing, saying and thinking - all activities in which a student is intimately engaged.