Loanword in Mandarin Chinese

Could you understand the following story?

I got a call from a friend inviting me to go to a pàiduì tonight when I was lying on my shāfā, after doing yújiā. I said while sipping my píjiŭ, "Kù! Let's go xuĕpìn this afternoon?"

After my friend had put her new clothes on, I heard her whispered to herself, "I am beautiful, I look like a mótèr!"

At night in the pàiduì we drank xiāngbīn and ate sānmíngzhì, while someone was playing jítā in the background.

When we left a friend asked me if I cared for a ride in his jípŭ chē. "No, you have had too much xiāngbīn, I'd better take a bāshì!" I turned down his suggestion and walked away.

Hightlight here to see the pinyin in English:

pàiduì party

shāfā sofa

yújiā yoga

píjiŭ beer

xuĕpìn shopping

mótèr model

xiāngbīn champagne

sānmíngzhì sandwich

jítā guitar

jípŭ chē jeep

bāshì bus

Party Lover Roberto

A short story about Roberto, a party lover.


By my student Jihoon


罗伯特喜欢派对。


他很幽默和随和。他长得不太好看，但是他常常笑，笑的时候让他活泼的脸看起来更好看。


他很有自信，也常常能猜到一个人喜欢怎么样的派对。


罗伯特很会玩，常常开很奢侈的派对，但是他不是有钱人。


他不在派对的时候，性格完全相反，在工作的时候他很认真和成熟，他努力地赚钱；


但是就在派对把钱全部花光。


他重复着这样奇怪的生活，只有一件事情不变：


他总是很忙，好像他明天就会死去一样。


如果有的事今天不做，以后没有机会做。


我可以在他身上感到他对生命的爱。

Taxi Cantonese 2

Taxi Cantonese 1

If you don't want to end up in the middle of nowhere, and being charged a fortune; it would be better to speak some Cantonese while you are taking a taxi in Hong Kong.

Here are some useful phrases for telling the taxi driver your destination. More to come in the next few posts!

Click the images to enlarge, or even print them out!