One of the most famous poems written in Classical Chinese is The “Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den”. It’s renowned for being composed of only one sound. One sound! The sound “shi”.

Is it a poem or a tongue-twister?

On the one hand, this text deserves to be called a poem. It still manages to use different characters and mean something!

On the other hand, as a one-sound poem, with lots of different tones, it also interestingly becomes quite the tongue twister.

When you’re learning Chinese, tongue twisters are always a challenge and a great way to practice your tones, so let’s explore this one!

Facts about the “Shi shi Shi” poem

• Often informally referred to as the “shi shi shi” poem, the poem’s full name in English is: “The Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den“.
• This poem’s name, in Chinese characters, is 施氏食獅史. In Pinyin, that would be “Shī shì shí shī shǐ.”
• This text was composed by the Chinese-American linguist, scholar, and poet Yuen Ren Chao in the 1930s. Mr. Chao also significantly contributed to the modern study of Chinese grammar.
• The sound “shi” is the only sound in the poem. You find it 94 times (in some versions, there are only 92). Only the tones differ. That’s right!
• Mr. Chao wrote this poem as a linguistic demonstration.
• Therefore, the poem shows that writing a one-syllable text that means something is possible.
• That’s because Chinese is a tonal language.  So, the same syllable can have a different tone and correspond to a different character. Pawwsitively fascinating.

A one-sound poem that makes sense… in writing

This short narrative poem is written in Classical Chinese.

What is Classical Chinese? Also called Literary Chinese, or 古文, Classical Chinese is the written form of Old Chinese. It was used for literature and all formal texts, from the 5th century BC to the 2nd century AD, end of the Han Dynasty. It actually continued being used as a literary language, for all formal writings, until the 20th century! 

Since Classical Chinese is a written language, this poem makes a lot of sense in writing.

That’s because different Chinese characters compose it. More importantly, you have no trouble getting its meaning when you read it. That is if you’re somewhat familiar with Classical Chinese, which is a lot more condensed than modern Chinese.

Why did its composer write this poem as a “one sound poem”?

The poet behind this clever text wanted to make a linguistic demonstration. So, to create a fun tongue-twister of a poem with just one sound, he used the fact the Chinese language is full of homophones (i.e., words that sound the same but mean different things). When read in modern Mandarin, every syllable sounds the same: “shi”.

In other words: if you read this poem out loud, orally, it becomes challenging to understand.

In the same vein, if you try to read it in pinyin, you won’t be able to understand it either. That’s why it’s important to learn Chinese characters

Read the whole one-sound poem in Mandarin Chinese

Stone lions – Photo by Michael Myers.

《施氏食狮史》
石室诗士施氏，嗜狮，誓食十狮。

氏时时适市视狮。

十时，适十狮适市。

是时，适施氏适市。

氏视是十狮，恃矢势，使是十狮逝世。

氏拾是十狮尸，适石室。

石室湿，氏使侍拭石室。

石室拭，氏始试食是十狮。

食时，始识是十狮尸，实十石狮尸。

试释是事。

As this poem is written in Classical Chinese, it’s good to know that it was composed using single characters rather than the double characters that are more commonly found in modern Chinese.

Let’s see the poem in pinyin now, just for fun.

Read the one-sound poem in pinyin

« Shī Shì shí shī shǐ »

Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.

Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.

Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì.

Shì shí, shì Shī Shì shì shì.

Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shìshì.

Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shíshì.

Shíshì shī, Shì shǐ shì shì shíshì.

Shíshì shì, Shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī.

Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī shī, shí shí shí shī shī.

Shì shì shì shì.

That made a lot of sense, right? I told you it was going to be fun!

What does this poem mean?

Okay, now, it’s time to prove that this one-sound poem actually means something! Here’s the translation of the Poem in English.

« The Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den »

In a stone den was a poet called Shi Shi, who was a lion addict and had resolved to eat ten lions.

He often went to the market to look for lions.

At ten o’clock, ten lions had just arrived at the market.

At that time, Shi had just arrived at the market.

He saw those ten lions and, using his trusty arrows, caused the ten lions to die.

He brought the corpses of the ten lions to the stone den.

The stone den was damp. So he asked his servants to wipe it.

After wiping the stone den, he tried to eat those ten lions.

When he ate, he realized that these ten lions were, in fact, ten stone lion corpses.

Try to explain this matter.

See? This poem is full of meaning! The poor poet thought he would eat, only to find stones instead!

Hear it read out loud

Ready to test yourself? Here’s what you can do:
1. Practice your Chinese pronunciation with the many dialogues and speaking stages on Ninchanese
2. Try reading this one-sound poem aloud and see how good your tones are!

Have fun, little dragons!

And one more thing…

If you want to continue learning Chinese with authentic and entertaining content, then you’ll love Ninchanese.

With Ninchanese, you get a complete method to learn Chinese, which has you speaking, reading, writing, and more in Chinese. What’s more, whether you’re a beginner or an advanced learner, there’s content your level on Ninchanese and plenty more!

Start using Ninchanese on the web, with your computer or tablet, or on your phone with the Android app.

The Nincha Team

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Hearing the many interjections Chinese speakers use at the end of sentence interjections is easy: they pepper the language so much, once you start hearing them, you hear them all the time! It’s useful to figure out how to use which in specific contexts. Most likely, no one taught you about those. So today we are going to show you some funny Chinese interjections.

The first thing we should figure out is that: why the Chinese like to pepper their language so much? Actually, you can not only hear them talking with interjections but also you can see them in written Chinese, online, in a text message, etc. This is a way to show their personalities. By using these interjections, you can show your attitude too. Especially when it comes to send a message, you can’t judge the tone people speaking to you because you can’t see their face, but using the interjections, you can easily tell that one is happy or angry. Kind of like sound emojis.

Showing that you are happy

哈哈 ha-ha is the way how Chinese people are laughing. Use it when something is funny, and you are laughing loudly. We say 哈哈大笑 hā-hā-dà-xiào as a Chinese idiom. And nowadays, people like to chat with each other at the end of each sentence to show that the speaker is in a good mood or to make the talking environment more relaxed.

For example:

我一会儿去你家哈。
Wǒ yì huí qù ní jiā ha.
I’ll go visiting you later.

Other interjections can also indicate that you are happy:

• 嘻嘻 xī-xī a witty laugh always following an act of twinkle;
• 嘿嘿 hēi-hēi, a sly grin;
• 呵呵 he-he. Pay particular attention to this word 呵呵. 呵 is variant of 啊 a, to express yelling, laughing or surprising. But now, the sense various: with the overuse of the netizen chatting online, it gradually becomes a perfunctory, sarcasm word to show that you’re speechless.

Sometimes it even has an abusive meaning.

For example:

呵呵，你真有意思。
Hē hē nǐ zhēn yǒu yì si.
He-he, you’re so funny. (in fact what the speaker means “you’re so boring”)

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Showing that you are surprised

哎呀 āi yā is an interjection to indicate surprise or shock.
If one day you run into a friend that you haven’t met in a long time.

You can say:

哎呀，怎么是你！
āi yā zěn me shì nǐ.
A-ya, it’s you!

It can also be used merely for saluting people you are familiar with :

For example:

哎，明天早点儿来啊！
Āi, míng tiān zǎo diǎn r lái a!
Hey, come earlier tomorrow!

You can also use 哎呀 to show your pain. Like “ouch/ow-witch” in English.

You can also say 哎哟/哎唷 āi-yo when something hurts or is hard to do, so pick the one you like or use both!

chinese aya

Other words to show your surprise:

• 哇 wa wow, holy cow;
• 呀 ya,
• 咦 yí gee, a rising tone to show your doubt or surprise with a question mark. You can always hear these in a  Taiwanese or Hongkongese drama.

Showing  negative emotions

• 呸 pēi ill: To express something is disgusting or yucky, you can use 呸 pēi ill to say “bah!” or “pooh”.
  

  For example:

  呸! 胡说八道!
  Pēi! Húshuō bādào!
  Bah! That’s nonsense!

• 唉 ài : to sigh or show that you are disappointed, you can use 唉ài

For example:

唉， 真可惜！
Āi, zhēn kěxí!
What a pity!

• 哼 hèng with the falling tone is to show that you’re angry.

For example:

哼，我不想理你了。
Hèng, wǒ bù xiǎng lǐ nǐ le.
Hein, I don’t want to talk to you anymore.

Interjections in an affirmative sentence

• If you want to show you realize or understand something, you can use 哦 o and 噢 o mean “Oh, I see.”

For example:

哦/噢我懂了。
Ò, wǒ dǒng le.
Oh! I see./ Oh! Now I understand.

• 嗯 ēn is used when you give an affirmative answer like “OK” in English, it sounds like “huh/hum.”
  

  For example:
  他嗯了一声， 就走了。
  tā èn le yī shēng ， jiù zǒu le 。
  He merely said,“H’m”, and went away.

• You can also use 呃 ē to show that you are thinking about something, similar to “uh…” in English.

For example:

呃…我没听懂。
Ē, wǒ méi tīng dǒng
Eh, I don’t understand.

Questioning with interjections

Usually, the Chinese like to add interjections after the end of a sentence to signify a question tag. To show that you are asking something. There are:

呢 ne

For example:

你们在说什么呢？
Nǐ men zài shuō shén me one?
What are you talking about?

嘛 ma

再分辩了，有错误就承认嘛！
zài fēn biàn le, yǒu cuò wù jiù chéng rèn ma ！
Don‘t try to explain away the situation. If you have made mistakes, just admit them.

吗 and 啊a are also two other interjections you can use to ask questions.

In Chinese, you don’t want to be too direct or upfront, to avoid placing the other in an uncomfortable situation, where they might risk losing face. Using 吧 ba to give a suggestion or want to ask the permission is a good way to make your question softer. All these interjections are in a neutral tone.

For example:

我们走路去吧？
Wǒ men zǒu lù qù ba?
Shall we walk there?

你们在说什么呢？
Nǐ men zài shuō shén me one?
What are you talking about?
Here’s a funny story to finish this

A funny story to end this journey into Chinese exclamative particles, or interjections.

Have you heard of the show 爸爸回来了(bà bà huí lái le /“Dad is coming)? It’s a super popular reality TV show about the daily life of famous Chinese stars, especially the relationships between fathers and their kids. In the second season of “Dad is coming,” there is a very cute boy, guess what his name is? 嗯哼 ēn-héng Uh-huh! Isn’t it a funny name, made only of interjections? His parents must have had their reasons to name their kid like that, and anyway, we bet it won’t stop you from thinking that he is adorable!

chinese cute

Learn all these expressions on Ninchanese, the gamified Chinese learning app.

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Pairi Daiza is a really cool place to go to if you live near Belgium. Why is this place so cool? There are many reasons this place has been voted “Best theme park” in the Benelux, but our top reason to love this place is that they have a really beautiful area that represents China. It really looks like China, so if you miss the Middle Kingdom or have never been to China, Pairi Daiza is the place to go. Every little aspect of the China area is from China, they even brought back some rocks from China! Like they say: “Everything is authentic: the temples, pavilions, the paths of gemstones, the scholarly garden, stones, jade, the bronze…” Sound cool, isn’t?

That’s not all, they also put animals from China in that area: pandas (they even had a little baby panda birth last year), red pandas, birds, alligators and more in what they call the largest “Chinese garden” outside of China.

Really, if you’re itching to go (back) to China, go there. You’ll see nice Chinese roofs, typical Chinese-style windows and walls, a big Chinese style restaurant, a beautiful tea house that entirely comes from Shanghai (I like to imagine one day, a rich Belgium guy went to China and said “I want this in Belgium” and so they took it apart and brought every little part to there).

Really, being there is a little like being in China and that feels good sometimes. Ok, let’s stop speaking and let’s see the pictures!

Nincha visiting Pairi Daiza

Do you recognize what Nincha is sitting on? That’s an old turtle! What? Master Turtle looks like that?! Yes. The turtle in traditional China can be found in a lot of stories, from the black Turtle warrior to the turtle that holds the worlds. The turtle always represents forces and knowledge. They are often protector of entrances. If you’ve never been to China, I guarantee that when you do, you’ll see turtles (and Chinese lions / dragons) everywhere.

That’s the Tea Palace that was imported from Shanghai. It’s a very nice place to be and I always stop there to take an ice cream. I know, I should be having a cup of tea or something but the ice cream there is really good. I don’t feel guilty :p.

In China, in almost every park, you’ll find something like this walkway. They’re of varying length and are often (more or less) hand-decorated and adorned by paintings. It feels good to walk in a walkway, like that, in the shade. There are convenient places where you can sit and admire the view of the park. In China, it’s not rare to run into groups playing music, or dancing, or playing games under those walkways, when the sun gets to be too much. Also, these walkways can be a good way to exercise. Some of these in China are kilometers-long but worth the walk!

That’s all for the little tour of  the Chinese part of Pairi Daizai. Nincha had fun, and we hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Pictures by Mat and text by Jean-Rémi, two meowsome members of:

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First, a question for you: what starts with playing and ends with laughing in Mandarin?

No clue? Ok, so do you know how to say to joke in Chinese? That’s the answer!  The Chinese use 玩笑 to say “to joke”!

How to say to joke in Chinese: 玩笑

玩笑

wán

to

玩笑 means to joke and usually, you’ll use it with the verb 开 like 我开玩笑. If you want to say “I’m just kidding“, the expression also uses 玩笑: 只是开玩笑   – zhǐ shì kāi wán xiào – Just kidding! 

玩笑 breakdown

Breaking down 玩笑 shows you it’s an adorable term. To see that, you just need to understand the meaning of the individual characters that compose it.

Let’s see: 玩笑 is composed of the character 玩

玩

wán

to

The word 玩笑 also contains the character 笑

笑

xiào

to

Now you understand better why we asked you, in the beginning, to guess what starts with playing and ends with laughing, right?

In Chinese, playing to make people laugh is how you “joke”. Isn’t that a very accurate way of describing joking?

Can you think of a better description of how to say to joke in Chinese?

That’s all for today folks! See you next week for the next Play with Chinese words! In the meantime, have fun playing jokes with your friends!

Don’t hesitate to comment with your best jokes in the comments!

The Nincha Team

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厲害了，我的哥!

Lì hài le, wǒ de gē!

You rock, brother!

How the slang expression “厲害了，我的哥!” appeared

The expression 厲害了，我的哥! Lì hài le wǒ de gē has gotten pretty popular online and especially in the gaming circle in China. It became popular when a military student was caught by his military training instructor playing the popular game King’s Glory on his phone. The funny story starts here. The instructor happened to also be a fan of this game and played along with the student. As they became stronger together, they started to win. The high school students could not believe what was happening and started commenting the gaming skill of the instructor. Tada! ” 厲害了我的哥” popped out and became a wide-spread expression in China. I love this story of this newborn expression!

How to use “You rock” in Chinese

Use this slang expression in Mandarin to express astonishment or amazement. You can use it in a lot of situations. You can also use it with everybody: just replace the last word 哥, “brother” with what you need to address people!

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The post Popular Chinese Slang Expression 厉害了，我的歌！Lì hài le wǒ de gē! appeared first on Ninchanese.

We’re very proud to announce the winner of the very first Ninchallenge Tournament. And the winner is….

Our 2015 Ninchampion!

#1st: Matty!

Matty is the Ninchampion with 13687 total points. Incredible!

Congratulations Matty, you’re the very first Ninchallenge Tournament winner for 2015!

The prize:

A Special Lucky Pack, which includes a one year subscription, a super cute Nincha plush toy and more Nincha goodies! Wohoo!

Up to the end, the Ninchallenges raged on and it was a close call. Our two outstanding runner-ups are:

#2 Molinsen

Molinsen is second and gets the silver with 13537 points (so close!). Awesome!

The prize:

Molinsen, you win a super cool Nincha Learner Pack, which includes full beta access and a one year subscription to Ninchanese!

#3 Aileen

Aileen, who gets the bronze with 9473 points, came in third. Congrats!

The prize: Early access to the full beta (worlds 1- 6) and a six month subscription to Ninchanese!

The weekly winner!

We also have our second weekly winner! This second week’s weekly prize goes to Meir! Congrats, Meir, you win early access to the full beta!

A surprise gift for everyone!

Last but not least, we have something for all of you. You were all awesome and we wanted to say congratulations to all the Ninchallengers who took part in the Ninchallenge Tournament.

Just print, (cut) and play this baby!

Each and every one of you will be getting a pdf copy of the Ninchallenge Card Game — just print, cut and play! Perfect to take on the beach and keep Ninchallenging your friends and family.

Ninchallengers, expect to hear from us soon, with details on how to claim your prizes.

If you took part in the Ninchallenge Tournament but didn’t leave an email address, we want to hear from you! Contact us to claim your prize!

Missed the Ninchallenge Tournament? There’s always next year! In the meantime, come join the Ninchallenges on Ninchanese. Sign up here to get access! You have a year to to get ready and to become a prepared and honed Ninchallenge!

The Nincha Team

Ninchanese combines addictive game mechanics, cute cats and efficient Chinese learning techniques to make learning Chinese a lot of fun! Now live on Kickstarter and extremely close to being funded! The app is now in beta so sign up now for early access to the beta! Check out our trailer and stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest.

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It’s easy and fun to start competing in the Ninchallenge Tournament!

Now is the perfect time to start competing in the Ninchallenge Tournament. The Tournament is a fun way for Chinese Learners Learners to compete in Ninchallenges, hang out with other passionate Chinese learners and show your love of Chinese.

Have fun practicing Chinese this summer!

For the next two weeks, the Ninchallenges can be your fun way to practice your Chinese this summer! The Ninchallenges are fun one to one matches centered on your knowledge of Chinese. They’re a fantastic opportunity to have fun and practice your Mandarin Chinese as you play against other Chinese learners in the Tournament!

It is free and open to Chinese learners of all ages and skill levels. Just sign up on Ninchallenge Tournament, join a Ninchallenge or start a Ninchallenge with a friend and get started on the path toward becoming the 2015 NinChampion!

The first edition of the Ninchallenge Tournament is now officially underway, with cool prizes to win throughout the Tournament.  Players around the world have begun participating in Ninchallenges to climb their way to the top of the leaderboard!

Learn more about the Ninchallenge Tournament.

Ready to begin? Find a Ninchallenge to play!

Good luck, little dragon!

May the Chinese knowledge be with you!

The Ninchallenge Tournament is organized by Ninchanese, the gamified Chinese learning app. Ninchanese combines addictive game mechanics, cute cats and efficient Chinese learning techniques to make learning Chinese a lot of fun! The app is now in beta so sign up now for early access! Check out our trailer and stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest.

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We’re warning you: it’s really silly and maybe even a little creepy. But it’s really well done and iIt’s completely in Chinese; so isn’t that a great way to have a lot of fun and practice your Chinese at the same time?

It’s also trending right now and is the Internet’s funniest “new obsession” so if you wake up to 3D renderings of your friends wearing unique clothes and singing strange songs in Chinese all over the interwebs, you’ll know where they come from!

Behold, our Nincha Team’s Creations

Yanjie, Intern Nincha, has chosen to remind you that it’s important to drink lots of hot water.

Sarah, Chief Beta Nincha tells you to take your meds. Incidentally, the Chinese say 吃药 (Chī yào), i.e eat your meds for “take your meds”. Makes sense!

Jean-Rémi, Chief  Experience Nincha went for fake abs and kungfu moves.

and Mathieu, Chief Development Nincha, shows up what he’s really dreaming of doing right now.

We warned you it was going to be some silly Friday fun

Want to give it a try?
Download the app here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xiao-ou-wo-de3d-meng-ou/id867964769?mt=8
Create your own and show us!

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The other day, I had to uninstall Sogou’s browser, which unfortunately came with my favorite pinyin input editor (remind me to tell you guys about it one day), despite me not wanting it. The de-install messages were so adorable, I took a few screenshots to show you!

Meet 小搜 (Xiao Sou), the Chinese software’s cute avatar

The first screen you get when you want to uninstall the browser is this one:

Sogou’s emotional attempt to keep you from uninstalling their browser.

It says:

我是小搜，我们不能做朋友了吗？

wǒ shì xiǎo sōu, wǒmen bùnéng zuò péngyǒule ma?

I’m Xiao Sou, can’t we be friends?

And gives you two options to respond:

• 算了吧

Suànle ba

Forget it!

or

• 再给个机会

zài gěi gè jīhuì

I’ll give you another chance.

So, do you believe in second chances or not?

If you hover over the 算了吧 button, you then get this picture of Xiao sou bawling.

Oh no he’s crying! Does that pull at your heartstrings?

He’s saying (amidst his tears, and boy is it tough to understand a person speaking Chinese when crying):

对不起，感谢您这么多天的陪伴！

duìbùqǐ, gǎnxiè nín zhème duō tiān de péibàn！

Sorry (to hear that?), and thanks for “accompanying me”!

On the other hand, if you pick 再给个机会, you get a smiley boy and a sweet comment:

XiaoSou is really going to love you if you don’t uninstall him

Notice that little heart he’s sending you? Boy, is he relieved.

Here’s what he’s saying:

谢谢您，我会变的让您更满意！

xièxiè nín, wǒ huì biàn de ràng nín gèng mǎnyì!

Thank you, I will become more satisfying!

Who knew uninstalling a browser was such an emotional affair!  I still uninstalled the browser. How about you? Would you have been swayed by this cute little guy?

Ninchanese combines addictive game mechanics, cute cats and efficient Chinese learning techniques to make learning Chinesea blast! The app is now in beta so sign up now for early access to the beta! Check out our trailer and stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Weibo.

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