Five Useful Slang Words

Welcome to Speak Chinese Now. 我是李老师。 Today, I'm going to teach you five Chinese slangs. And when you start learning Chinese, I'm sure you're right into 加油. 加油, literally 加 means to add. 油 is oil. You can think about gasoline or anything. So it's like in a car, you got to add oil so your car can go, your vehicle can go. But there's a literal meaning, 加油, 加油. You can hear this sometimes in the sports field or sometimes when you're doing really well, people say 加油, 加油. The translation, so it's like you can do it or keep up with the good work in that way. It's more for you to encourage others. When you say 加油, 加油, you're giving encouragement to others. When you say 加油, try that. If you want to give someone encouragement, you just say 加油, 加油. You can do this 加油 or 加油, right? And the other one is called 给力. 给 is give. 力 is power. To give strength, to give power. That also, it means, boy, it's great and also impressive. But it's more of commenting on others' effort. If someone's putting a lot of effort or the result is fantastic, you just say 给力. Or you can say 太给力了, or 真给力. 给力, it means someone really putting a lot of effort to make this awesome, right? You feel like you're just, it's not for you to give encouragement. 给力, you're commenting on others' effort, right? That's the difference. So you want to encourage others, you say 加油, right? 给力, you can comment on others. If someone's putting a lot of effort, you can say 真给力, 真给力, 给力, right? So you're ready for a few more? Right, this one, I have a student, his, actually, his name is Niu Niu. His mom is Chinese. Niu Niu, right? So a lot of the translations say 牛, it's cow, it's ox. Actually, I think it translates into bull. It gives a lot more power, right? And 牛, if you just say 牛, it means it's not cow, it's not ox, it's not a bull. It is awesome, right? You want to say something awesome, amazing, cool, you say 牛, 真牛, right? 真 is really, 真牛, right? So you can say 牛 in that sense. I translated it into bull. As you see the image of a bull, it's pretty cool, pretty awesome, right? Then I also have an image of a bull, have a little pig. So which one do you think has more power, is more energetic? Yeah, the bull. And in a way, I think there's a sub meaning when Chinese like to say 牛. Niu not just saying it's a cow, it's bull. It's kind of like unruling, and it has a lot of power in that sense, right? Also, Chinese are pork eaters. When they have, you know, if you eat, let's say, beef or things like that, it gives you a lot more power. So I have a comparison here. Who do you think has more power? The little pig is cuter. But, you know, when you put these two animals together, you can really understand why Chinese like to say 牛. Niu is representing something kind of like strength, awesome, power in that sense. It's not a cow. It's not a beef, right? Niu in that sense, right? There's a new kind of saying. I just heard it the other day, actually, saying niu bai. Niu bai, I think, being Chinese, I think it comes from a bad word. I can't teach you. I can't even say it on my channel. That's a bad word. But anyway, when people were mad, I remember when we were little back in China, we were sometimes hearing people saying that. It also means awesome, amazing, cool. So niu or niu bai, both mean, I think, pretty much the same thing. So you can just practice it. If you think something's really cool, you, you know, put your thumb up, you just say niu, right? People will say wow. Or you can say niu bai. Try that. And niu bai is something I just heard. I left China about 30 years ago. So many of the slangs or, you know, online slangs especially, I'm kind of lost in a way. I'm also learning. And that's why I'm making videos to teach myself and teach you guys. So that way we can, you know, learn at the same time. How's that sound? Yeah, there's another one. It means pretty much the same thing. Say lìhǎi. Wow, nǐ zhēn lìhǎi. The very last one, lìhǎi, means powerful and very sharp. So the translation is also impressive, amazing, awesome. So all three, you can interchange them. I think people will understand you. So you can try it, right? You can say wow, niu. Or you can say niu bai. Then you can also give your hand, thumb up and say lìhǎi, right? I want to try all three, right? In the right situation, of course, you want to kind of express wow, it's awesome, right? You can just do that. Try it. In front of Chinese, of course. So I have other videos. Please subscribe and also click like and forward to your friends who are learning Chinese and help to grow the channel. I really appreciate your help. Well, that's all I have for today. Xièxie. Xiàcí jiàn.