Daimashin

奇貨可居 (Qíhuòkějū) - valuable commodity 奇貨 (Qíhuò) - Valuable Stock, 可居 (kějū) - Worth Storing During the Warring States, there was a businessman named 呂不韋(Lǚbùwéi). Lu was visiting the Kingdom of Zhao where he met the Prince of Qin, 子楚(Zi chu) who was a hostage of Zhao. Zi was treated badly by Zhao. Upon learning the identity of Zi, Lu decided to help Zi for he saw it as an investment that once Zi became the ruler of Qin, he'd be rewarded. Lu assisted in the escape of Zi and in the end Lu was appointed the Prime Minister of Qin after Zi became the successor to the throne. 奇貨可居 (Qíhuòkějū) is used to describe something or someone worth keeping in hope that someday it will bring favorable returns just like some kind of investment. Example: "這個股票有潛質， 是「奇貨可居」將來一定會升!"

I've only read Oliver Twist so I can say that's my favorite. I love the premise and plot. I've heard about A Christmas Carol but didn't know it was Charles Dickens work.

My favorite quote is, "I can't carry it for you but I can carry you." I thought it was mighty awesome when I first heard it and it has stucked to me ever since. The other would be, "Life was like a box of chocolates, you'll never know what you're gonna get."

死灰復燃 (Sǐhuīfùrán) - someone or something returns 死灰 - Dead ash, 復燃 - Reignites Story goes during the West Han there once was a minister named 韩安国(Hán ānguó) that was wrongly imprisoned. While he was in prison, he met with the jail guard 田甲(Tián jiǎ) that always insulted Han all the time. Tian belittled Han saying the he will never get out of prison because Han thought otherwise. One day, the emperor has finally found out that Han was innocent and ordered his freedom and restored his position. Tian saw that he was wrong and decided to run away only to get caught by Han's guards. Han didn't kill and let him off with only a warning not to be so arrogant. 死灰復燃 (Sǐhuīfùrán) is used to describe a situation where someone or something that has gone returns. Example: "你別得意， 我今天給你抓到是我倒楣不過總有一天我會「死灰復燃」。到時候我就讓你好看!"

I think it depends on how good that person is with that specific language. In your friend's case, she hardly knows English and that causes her to lack the confidence when speaking. Coupled with how she gets nervous talking to her boss just makes it worse. For me, I also tend to forget sometimes when talking with someone of higher authority. What I do is to talk to people more to train myself to get used to different people.

It's almost mind numbing to think that people can get such simple things wrong. These three words are stuff we leart when we were kids. I'm so surprised to see even adults can't differentiate them.

Yes I do, I'm a native Cantonese speaker and most of the time I'll mix in English. Sometimes an English word is better suited for the stuff I'm saying so I say it in English while speaking Cantonese.

I often dream about talking to people in English. In my dream, I'll somehow be able to speak with an American accent which is something I don't do in real life.

夜郎自大 (Yèlángzìdà) - Thinks too highly of oneself. 夜郎 (Yèláng) - a small country during the Han Dynasty. 自大 (zìdà) - arrogant or big headed. Yèláng is a small country located at the edge of the Han Dynasty. Its ruler never once stepped out of his country thought that everything in his counry was the best. One day while he was showing some villagers around he boasts that his country's got the largest river and the best raft. He took the villagers for a ride on the raft. The river's current was too strong and they got swept downstream into the ocean. There they saw a giant ship in which they thought was a mountain. Their raft crashed into the ship but the ruler and the villagers got rescued by the crew onboard. After inquiring about their identity, the ruler was shown a map of the lands ruled by the Han. Yèláng which its ruler thought was the largest country is in fact nothing but a mere dot when compared to the Han. 夜郎自大 (Yèlángzìdà) is used to describe someone that is arrogant but is actually nothing special. Example: "雖然我懂得很多成語， 可是我不能「夜郎自大」以為自己很厲害，很聰明."

Personally I have never taught English anywhere before but I do know that teaching English in China is very popular now. English teachers are very sought after in China now because of their government encouraging their people to learn English.

Japanese is harder. Not because I already know Chinese but it's the fact that Japanese have different ways of speaking based on what person is speaking. I have seen a lot of Japanese materials but I still can't seem to grasp the words to use in different situations it's very confusing. Boys and girls use different words, old and young use different ways.

I am a Chinese born outside of China so I only speak Chinese but don't know how to read or write. I feel that as a Chinese I need to learn to understand the language.

朝三暮四 (Zhāosānmùsì) original meaning - to cheat people with tricks modern meaning - constantly changing 朝三 - morning three, 暮四 - evening four A story originated from ZhuangZi. It's a story during the Warring States, in the Kingdom of Sung there once lived a keeper that reared monkeys. One day the keeper saw that the monkeys were wasting food by throwing the walnuts like toys. So the keeper came up with a rule; three walnuts for breakfast and four walnuts for dinner. This was of course at the ire of the monkeys so the monkeys sent out their elder to negotiate with the keeper to increase the quantity for breakfast. The keeper switched the rule to four walnuts for breakfast and three walnuts for dinner after much negotiations. The monkeys thought that they have succeeded since they now have four walnuts for breakfast but never thought that dinner had decreased to three. 朝三暮四 (Zhāosānmùsì) used to be for describing how a person cheats with dirty tricks but after thousands of years the meaning has been changed to something to describe people that are inconsistent Classic example: "你好聰明， 懂得用「朝三暮四」這一招來騙他" Modern example: "你這個卑鄙小人， 「朝三暮四」說喜歡我又去跟他鬼混!" Note: 朝三暮四 (Zhāosānmùsì) and 朝秦暮楚 (Zhāoqínmùchǔ) both share the same meaning in modern usage.

Yes, a few times in my company last time. My employer deals with Chinese business partners and will often get a translator when in meetings. The translator will sometimes get the meaning wrong because he couldn't find the correct translation for some of the Chinese words.

My second language is Mandarin so it's "聖誕節快樂!" In Pinyin it's "Shèngdàn jié kuàilè." But mostly people in my country will just say "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!"

I don't believe we have to matter what other people think of the way we speak. It's our culture, our living. Our accents and slangs are what make who we are. If everyone speaks in the same accent and slang, we'll lose our identity.

Let's say telepathy does exist. What kind of language do you think you will be using when you're communicatiing telepathically? It's going to be whatever language that you speak so I don't think telepathy is a language. Much like using a telephone, it's only a medium you use to communicate with people.

暴虎馮河 (Bàohǔpínghé) - To act without thinking 暴虎 - Fight tiger, 馮河 - Cross river Confucius had a student called 子路 (Zilù) who was a rash person. He would often act without first thinking about the consequences. One day a war broke out and Confucius was tasked to send one of his students to help the army. He picked Zilù to represent him. Before Zilù set out, Confucius warned him about how a person that is so sure of himself, he'd battle a tiger bare fisted and would cross a river without a boat. What Confucius was trying to tell Zilù was don't be too confident in everything or there'd be trouble. After some time, news broke out that there had been a coup in the castle. Confucius immediately thought about how Zilù is rash and would get himself into trouble. Confucius was right as Zilù confronted the traitor head on with hundreds of enemies in between. In the end, Zilù was killed in battle. 暴虎馮河 (Bàohǔpínghé) is used to describe a person that is reckless that don't think before one acts. Example: "冷靜一點吧， 你這樣「暴虎馮河」只懂得衝動，魯莽有用嗎?"

Yes especially internet users. On forums, they often mix up their, there, they're. I believe the reason is that all these three words sound almost the same when spoken in American English. I would also like to point out another jarring error that often annoys me. It's the use of "should have," and "could have" as "should of," and "could of." I don't see how some can make this mistake when there's no such thing as "should of" since it doesn't make any sense. Whenever I point it out for their own good, they'll resort to calling me a grammar nazi.

I only text in shorts when I'm in a hurry or busy at work. Otherwise, I'll always stick to full sentences and stay grammatically correct. I feel that if I use shorts too much, it'll affect my ability to write in other mediums as well. Many youngsters struggle to contruct a proper sentence these days because of this.

But that didn't deter me as I was actually her master that trained her when she was still a little girl.

My English teacher taught me that the best way is to read through a dictionary. Yup, that's right. She told us that reading the dictionary is the most effective way to learn new words. Of course, non of us actually followed but since I've never tried it I don't know.

My favorite is Forrest Gump too. Tom Hanks was superb in that movie. The story was inspiring, touching, and funny too.

梧鼠學技 (Wú shǔ xué jì) - Jack of all trades, master of none. Literal meaning - Wu mouse learn skills A folklore, once upon a time in a forest there lived a lot of animals and one of them was Wu mouse. While Wu mouse was going to work, he saw many many animals were gathering around a tree so he walked up to see what was going on. It seems like the animal kingdom was hiring a chief of police. Wu mouse noticed all the other animals had specialities of their own like how the bird can fly, the monkey can climb trees, and the toad can jump very far and catch flies while he had none. In order to win the position, Wu mouse decided to learn all the other animals skills like climbing, swimming, jumping and even digging tunnels. Soon the day of appointment arrived, the officers in charge were very impressed with Wu mouse so they appointed Wu mouse as the chief of police. Many months later, the crime rate didn't drop but actually increased so the king summoned Wu mouse to inquire about it. The King was shocked to know that even though Wu mouse knows a lot of skill, he only knew the basics and have no idea how to utilize them. 梧鼠學技 (Wú shǔ xué jì) is used to describe someone that is a jack of all trades but master of none. Example: A - "你看， 我會說很多語言. Good morning, Selamat Pagi, 早安, おはようございます！" B - "不錯，再說幾篇來聽聽" A - "umm, 不會!" B - "什麼？原來是「梧鼠學技」只會一點點"

This is a great idea but may I also suggest that you should first complete the beginner section before moving on to intermediate or expert so that learners can get to the basics.