Daimashin

People always say that no two snowflakes look the same. A snowy scenery is also very mesmerising and beautiful. Can anyone recommend me a poem or anything that has something to do with snow or describing the atmosphere of snowing?

My favorites are the quotes spoken by Arnold Schwarzeneggar. The guy has like the best one-liners in movies ever. Other memorable ones for me are "We came, we saw, and we kicked its a**!" from Ghostbusters, "You complete me" from Jerry Maguire, and "I can't carry the ring for you, but I can carry you" from Return of The Kings.

覆水難收 (Fùshuǐnánshōu) - No second chances. Literal Meaning - Poured water can't be recollected. During the West Han era, there lived a poor scholar named "朱買臣"(Zhū mǎi chén). Because he was so poor his wife left him for a rich merchant. Years later, Zhu's ex-wife and her husband bankrupted and were now beggars on the streets. During this time, Zhu managed to get the top spot in the imperial exam and returned as an official. His ex-wife knew no shame and asked to return to Zhu. Zhu then agreed but on one condition. Zhu ordered his ex-wife to get a bucket of water which she did. Zhu then poured the water onto the ground and asked his ex-wife to recollect the water but she couldn't and said that it was impossible. Zhu said to her, "Yes, it's impossible. Do you get it now?" In the end, Zhu left without her. 覆水難收 (Fùshuǐnánshōu) means there's no turning back once something happens. Example: "當一件事發生了就「覆水難收」, 不可以回頭了. 你要三思."

If I were an English teacher, I'll go mostly with discussions to get the students to speak more. Speaking is an integral part to mastering a language. Most of my friends struggled in the language because they were reluctant to speak English. Topics that are of interest to them should get them to open their mouths. Of course this can only be done when they already have some knowledge of English.

出奇制勝 (Chūqízhìshèng) - Win with special ways. Literal meaning - Use special to secure victory. During the Warring States, Yan and Qi went to war with each other. Because Yan was much stronger, Qi offered to surrender. This made Yan loosen its security. Meanwhile, Qi ordered his men to get paint and a lot of cows. At night, Qi's men painted their faces with different colors and herded the cows to rush into Yan's camp. Yan thought that they've won so they were celebrating when the attack happened. The cows tails were on fire therefore setting up everything they touch with fire. Yan's camps were burned to the ground and Yan's men all ran away because they were statled by the faces of Qi's men. 出奇制勝 (Chūqízhìshèng) means to do something unexpected in order to win. Example: "忽必烈用反間計「出奇制勝」, 終於打敗了阿里不哥, 奪取蒙古."

I never wrote anything on my limbs before. Ink is very hard to get rid of. No matter how I rub it with soap, it never comes off completely. I do know that some of my friends did it last time to get girl's phone numbers. They don't need to anymore since phones are so advanced now.

東窗事發 (Dōngchuāngshìfā) - Dirty secrets exposed. Literal Meaning - East window matter discovered. A folklore, during the Song Dynasty, there was the notorious "秦檜"(Qín guì) whom plotted the death of the famous general "岳飛"(Yuèfēi) at the East window of his mansion. After Yuefei was executed on the orders of the emperor, the guards of hell came and took Qin gui away. When in hell, the guards revealed that they have found out about what Qin Gui did at the East window. 東窗事發 (Dōngchuāngshìfā) means that a dirty secret has been discovered, exposed, or found out. Example: "我都叫你不要害人你就是不聽. 你看, 現在「東窗事發」, 警察要來抓你了!"

Some of it is genuinely funny when it's done for entertainment purposes. While other times, I find it rude and borderline racism when the purpose is to make fun of a certain citizen of a country just because English is spoken differently.

It doesn't happen to me. I have yet to encounter a word that I hate or annoys me. To me, words are just words, why will it annoy people? As long as they are used correctly, I have no problems whatsoever.

瞎子摸象 (Xiāzi mō xiàng) - Jumping into conclusions. Literal Meaning - Blind men touch elephant. Once upon a time there lived four blind men. One day, they heard that someone brought an elephant into town. Since they didn't know how an elephant looked like, they went and touched the elephant to get an idea how it looked like. Blind men A touched the tusk, B touched the ear, C hugged the legs, and D held the tail. All of them now had an idea what was an elephant. Later after they got home, the villagers asked them what was an elephant and the blind men answered differently. A said that it looked like a radish, B claimed that it shaped like a fan, C said it was a log, and D argued that it looked like a rope. 瞎子摸象 (Xiāzi mō xiàng) means someone jumping to conclusions without first understanding the whole situation. Example: "你不跟著圖就亂拼puzzle. 難怪你像「瞎子摸象」一樣, 拼來拼去都拼不成."

驚弓之鳥 (Jīnggōngzhīniǎo) - Traumatic, on edge. Literal Meaning - Bow phobic bird. Once upon a time there were two birds flying over the city. Bird A was telling Bird B about how it was shot the last time it flew here and warned Bird B not to stay for too long. Two men were standing below, the emperor and his assistant. His assistant said to the emperor that he could shoot down the bird with a bow and no arrow. The emperor did not believe and asked the assistant to prove it. The assistant took a bow with no arrow and began taunting the birds. Bird B saw this and immediately flew away while Bird A which was injured prior was flying slow and scared. The assistant finally mock released the bow string in an attempt to "shoot" Bird A. Bird A panicked and thought that it had been stroke by the assistant and fell to its death. The emperor asked his assistant how he did it. He answered that he saw that Bird A was injured and was chirping noisily so he deducted that Bird A was scared. He then told the emperor that Bird A was actually scared to death and that there was no magic. 驚弓之鳥 (Jīnggōngzhīniǎo) means someone gets phobia over something that caused mishaps to the person before. Example: "因為他曾經遇過空難. 現在他看到飛機就怕. 這叫說「驚弓之鳥」"

What could have happened can only go one way and that is to speculate the consequences. The effect to the cause so when we use "what could have happened" it means that we're referring to something that has happened but in a different outcome. It's in the past so the answer is "what could have happened if ..."

I never thought about this before. I just used them and never thought of any word that is more appealing to me. If there is a word that I think is better than the other is the word "amazing" because I think it sounds, amazing.

同心同德 (Tóngxīn tóng dé) - United. Literal Meaning - Same heart, same thoughts. During the end of the Shang Dynasty, the decisive battle between "周武王"(King Wu) and "紂王"(King Zhou) was about to begin. King Wu gave a motivational speech of how if they are united they can defeat anyone while King Zhou pooled his army from ordinary citizens from his kingdom. Upon reaching the battlefield, King Zhou's army of ordinary citizens surrendered immediately because they were nothing but peasants which didn't have morale and discipline. King Wu finally succeeded in defeating King Zhou and brought an end to the tyranny of the Shang Dynasty. 同心同德 (Tóngxīn tóng dé) means to have the same goals and united. Example: "這個節目之所以可以那麼成功, 就是因為大家「同心同德」, 共同努力造出來的成果."

There is no doubt that Japan is one country that does not believe in using English. However, I do find that English is more accessible to people nowadays with the advances in technology. With the internet around, it's pretty easy to get exposure to English.

I don't have any particular way that can make learning a fun. I guess when I really like the language, there is plenty of fun to be had while learning. I find some children's learning programs to be quite fun to watch. It's a great way to learn a language in a light hearted way.

畫蛇添足 (Huàshétiānzú) - Pointless. Literal Meaning - Draw snake with legs. Once upon a time three men fought over a bottle of wine. A, B, and C were drunks fighting over wine. They accidentally dropped the bottle and the wine was gone. They started fighting until D intervened, he said that he had wine and stated that whoever can draw the prettiest snake wins the wine. A completed his picture in no time so he took a look at the others and found them to be lacking. A was so confident he thought that he would make the snake prettier by adding limbs on it. In the end, he lost because snakes don't have limbs. 畫蛇添足 (Huàshétiānzú) means to do something meaningless. Example: "都跟你說是不用做的, 你就是不聽. 真是「畫蛇添足」多此一舉!"

I'd like to think everyone speaks in an accent of their own. Each country has their own way of speaking English so I think that every country speaks in a certain accent specific to their country and region. I too speak English in an accent unique to my country.

For a language to be international, it needs to be widespread meaning the language must be known by a lot of people and globally recognised. Although, there are a lot of people learning to speak Chinese but there are more people learning English. Remember that English is spoken not only in the US, but EU, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.

That's because the first two lines are the most uttered part of the "三字经." A direct translation of the book is possible but the rule of three words each line will have to be broken. This would result in the book not considered as "三字经" anymore. It's a good book to instill moral values into children so I believe that one should be made.

The Chinese language was the hardest for me mainly because of the writing aspect. I have no issues reading or speaking Chinese but writing always gets to me. It was hard then and it's still hard now even though it's not as hard anymore.

焦頭爛額 (Jiāotóulàn'é) - Huge loss Literal Meaning - Burned face, broken amount. Once upon a time, a man built a new stove and invited his friend over to see it. His friend came and saw that the safety measures were lacking. The friend warned the owner that he shouldn't build the chimney too straight, and that he shouldn't place chopped woods near the fire as these could result in a fire. The owner didn't listen to his friend's advice and kicked him out instead. The house did eventually caught on fire because of this. The villagers helped to put out the fire but the owner has suffered a severe loss in properties. 焦頭爛額 (Jiāotóulàn'é) means to suffer a huge loss. Example: "我都警告你不要去投資Layman Brothers, 你不要聽. 你看, 現在虧本了搞到「焦頭爛額」."

I tthink slangs tend to stay in their specific regions. So unless you live at a certain state or province in China, some of them are rarely heard of. Even though I'm a native speaker but I've only heard of "白鼻仔" because I don't live in China. It was a friend from China that used it.

The title of it seems like it could be an interesting story. What's it about exactly, can someone share some general plot on this book? I haven't heard of the movie either so I'm absolutely clueless for now. Is the story similar to "The Hunger Games" since you guys said it's comparable?

I believe that we only will want to quit when we're learning something we don't have enough interest in and the subject is uninteresting. If we are having fun and love what we learn, it'll never feel tedious and hard. As for me, I too felt the need to quit because at some point I lost the enthusiasm I had when I first started.