Qing Wen - Are You Happy, Content, or Delighted?

When my granddaughter and I were watching The Devil Beside You, we kept laughing at the subtitler's translation of xingfu--blissful. It was way too corny to take seriously--blissful, not xingfu.

Ahh.. so this is why when we meet someone we use gaoxing to say we are pleased to meet them.. not that people actually use this so much but:

认识你很高兴 rènshí nǐ hěn gāoxìng

If I want to say that's it's been great to know someone and make it more of a blessing and "longer lasting" so to speak.. would I just replace gaoxing with xìngfú?

This was a good QingWen because you didn't just explain the language but the culture surrounding the language which is perhaps more important than the grammar itself.. though the grammar is helpful for recycling the language into other usages.

I love 小包子! :) I think the cheapest I paid was 25毛.. yummy :)

err, don't want to be nitpicker, but you amy want to look at the intro and correct it.

oh yeh.. hehe..

"高兴 (gāoxìng)，开心 (kuàilè)，快乐 (kāixīn) and 幸福 (xìngfú)"

You got kuaile and kaixin characters mixed up.. :) I hardly ever read those things properly :)

Cpod, tiniest mistake you've got in introduction: it is in the pronounciation of 开心 and 快乐 words.

Hah, I finally know what Chinese people are translating in their heads when they say 'happy every day!' 天天开心!

I've also seen 幸福 translated as "fortunate" in dramas, though it was obvious they meant to say "happy". It was kind of funny.

Anyway I really liked this lesson. For some reason I had the meaning of 开心 and 高兴 inverted. Now I know!

Here's a rough translation of a passage I've seen attributed as "Ancient Chinese saying". I'm pretty sure my Chinese is not perfect as I relied heavily on a dictionary to translate. I welcome corrections on the translation. I'm pretty sure the sentiment is correct.

为了高兴就和啤酒。
为了快乐就结婚。
为了开心就做焙烧假。
为了幸福就园林。

If you want to be happy a little while, drink beer.
If you want to be happy for a few days, get married.
If you want to be happy for a week, roast a pig.
If you want to be happy your whole life, plant a garden.

在中国我很愉快地过日子。
I spend my days pleasantly in China.

Very good and usefull lesson.

One small thing - I am not sure that the 'kuai' in 'kuaile' has anything to do with the 'kuai' meaning 'fast'  - isn't it a case of two different words being written with the same character?

Hi, can you guys post the transcript please? Please include the name of those "buns" with chicken/beef inside. :) Thanks!

@tage: Look at the character 快 on Zhongwen.com: http://www.zhongwen.com/d/167/x214.htm. The character's meaning combines happiness, excitement and quickness.

@a1pi2: It is thrue that you will find both words/meanings listed under the character 快 in a dictionary, but this does not mean that it is one word (or morpheme), where you can transfer shades of meaning from one to the other. In this case I think one word is bound - if meaning 'happy' the word has to be connected to another word (kuaile, kuaihuo,yukuai), whereas when meaning 'fast' it is a free word - it can appear both alone and in combinations.

I do not think happiness is especially fast in Chinese or speed necessarily very happy - seen from a linguistic angel ;-)

Qingwen always makes me happy.  It really helps drive home what we've learned.  Just kowing a word doesn't always make you understand is use.  Lessons such as this are extremely useful.

Hi everyone, here are the sentences used in the podcast:

今天见到你我很高兴。
Jīntiān jiàndào nǐ wǒ hěn gāoxìng.

很高兴见到你。
Hěn gāoxìng jiàndào nǐ.

今天我很高兴到这里。
Jīntiān wǒ hěn gāoxìng dào zhèlǐ.

今天我升职了，特别高兴。
Jīntiān wǒ shēngzhí le, tèbié gāoxìng.

听说有一个poddies要来，我们都很高兴。
Tīngshuō yǒu yī ge poddies yào lái, wǒmen dōu hěn gāoxìng.

我很高兴来中国。
Wǒ hěn gāoxìng lái Zhōngguó.

我们很高兴今天录这集请问。
Wǒmen hěn gāoxìng jīntiān lù zhè jí Qǐngwèn.

天天开心！
Tiāntiān kāixīn！

生日快乐！祝你天天开心！
Shēngrìkuàilè！Zhù nǐ tiāntiān kāixīn！

跟你在一起我觉得很开心。
Gēn nǐ zài yīqǐ wǒ juéde hěn kāixīn.

祝你玩得开心。
Zhù nǐ wán de kāixīn.

玩得开心一点。
Wán de kāixīn yīdiǎn.

我去越南度假，我玩得很开心。
Wǒ qù Yuènán dùjià, wǒ wán de hěn kāixīn.

快乐也经常在祝福的时候用。
Kuàilè yě jīngcháng zài zhùfú de shíhou yòng.

祝你生日快乐！
Zhù nǐ shēngrìkuàilè！

在圣诞节的时候会说：圣诞快乐！
Zài Shèngdànjié de shíhou huì shuō：shèngdànkuàilè！

新年快乐！Xīnnián kuàilè！

周末快乐！Zhōumò kuàilè！

节日快乐！Jiérì kuàilè！

不要把你的快乐建在别人的痛苦上。
Bùyào bǎ nǐ de kuàilè jiàn zài biéren de tòngkǔ shang.

她是一个很快乐的女孩儿。
Tā shì yī ge hěn kuàilè de nǚháir.

我是一个很快乐的女孩儿。我希望给朋友带去快乐。
Wǒ shì yī ge hěn kuàilè de nǚháir. Wǒ xīwàng gěi péngyou dàiqu kuàilè.

我们的童年都很快乐。
Wǒmen de tóngnián dōu hěn kuàilè.

有一个快乐的童年。
Yǒu yī ge kuàilè de tóngnián.

童年的时候你很快乐，长大以后你可以很幸福。
Tóngnián de shíhou nǐ hěn kuàilè，zhǎngdà yǐhòu nǐ kěyǐ hěn xìngfú.

我有一个很幸福的家庭。
Wǒ yǒu yī ge hěn xìngfú de jiātíng.

祝他们幸福美满。Zhù tāmen xìngfú měimǎn.

祝你们幸福！Zhù nǐmen xìngfú！

我觉得你住在西湖旁边很幸福。
wǒ juéde nǐ zhù zài Xī Hú pángbiān hěn xìngfú.

你真幸福，你住在上海。因为小笼包就是上海的，你可以天天吃到小笼包。
Nǐ zhēn xìngfú, nǐ zhù zài Shànghǎi. Yīnwèi xiǎolóngbāo jiùshì Shànghǎi de, nǐ kěyǐ tiāntiān chīdào xiǎolóngbāo.

在婚礼上的时候，可以说：祝你幸福！祝你家庭幸福！祝你婚姻幸福！祝你生活幸福！
Zài hūnlǐ shàng de shíhou, kěyǐ shuō：Zhù nǐ xìngfú！Zhù nǐ jiātíng xìngfú！Zhù nǐ hūnyīn xìngfú！Zhù nǐ shēnghuó xìngfú！

我们在唱卡拉OK，我很高兴。
Wǒmen zài chàng kǎlā OK，wǒ hěn gāoxìng.

Pete非常喜欢唱卡拉OK。每次去唱卡拉OK，你就很开心。
Pete fēicháng xǐhuan chàng kǎlā OK. Měicì qù chàng kǎlā OK，nǐ jiù hěn kāixīn.

我们祝大家周末快乐。
Wǒmen zhù dàjiā zhōumò kuàilè.

不管你去不去唱卡拉OK，都祝你周末快乐。
Bùguǎn nǐ qù bù qù chàng kǎlā OK，dōu zhù nǐ zhōumò kuàilè.

@tage: The radical (on the left) is 心. The phonetic is 夬. I don't know the origin of the word, but I'd associate "heart" much more with "happy" than "speed".

Ahhhhhh. Now I get the distinction when mothers describe their babies as being 很高兴(i.e. right now they are laughing and smiling) or as being 比较开心 -- having a more happy personality?

Thanks CPod... I sort of had this distinction somewhere in the back of my head but now it's nice and clear!

@Connie

谢谢你。

请问一下，我不知道愉快确切的意思， 因为我一般说：周末愉快或周末快乐。 我认为愉快和快乐意思一样差不多。 但你可以说‘她是心情愉快， 所以愉快和高兴也意思一样差不多， 都有 mood 的意思 对吧？ 愉快和快乐意思一样还是愉快和高兴意思一样？  不好意思我的中文很不清楚。

Here's the PDF:

Qing Wen_-_Happy_Content_or_Delighted.pdf

I was walking past a construction site near my work yesterday and noticed this sign:

高高兴兴上班

Is there an element here of expressing good fortune in the same way people write "double happiness" at wedding parties?

I just thought about it and I really think QW is like the greatest show ever ! I would like to see more of important verbs compared in a similar way than it was done in this episode, I think there have been QWs like that, so pls. keep those coming !  One little question, is 开 怀 (kai1huai2= very happy?) used more in written Chinese ? I came across it in one of my textbooks recently...

Hi daphnedawn,

Yes, 开怀kāihuái is more commonly used in written Chinese.

eg:

开怀大笑 kāihuái dàxiào

开怀畅饮 kāihuái chàngyǐn

Connie, thank you so much ! Nice examples;)

This is so useful! My fiance always says, "Ni kuaile jiu hao," but every once in a while he says "Ni gaoxing jiu hao" instead. He couldn't explain to me why he used one over the other, but now I'm going to pay close attention to the contexts he uses them in to see if I can figure it out! :-)

What about 愉快? 

我不快乐

I have not listened to Qingwen for 1 year, what ever happened to Clay or JP? or even Amber. I am very gao xing when I listened to my older audio files of Qingwen.  Amber, Connie & Clay or JP was much better show. No disrespect towards you Jenny Zhu, I think you are great teacher also. This guy Pete is a real bore. :(

Good to see you're keeping up 007. Be sure and stop back next year.

ts9007

If you are looking for light entertainment then, yes, the old Qingwens were better. If you are serious about studying Mandarin, the current crop of episodes are better by far.

hehe, I thought you might be around here somewhere, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt, Bobby.

Hi rjberki

I'm confused about your message. Benefit of what doubt? Anyway, Wo dei qu shangban. See you later.

@ts9007 Amber left for the US and is now working for the *ahem* competition, JP went back to the US, Clay is still in Shanghai working in the F&B industry as a consultant.

The new QW team brings a different vibe, if you met Pete in RL I'm sure you'd find him to be quite a funny and engaging guy.

Thanks for your honesty though, it's always good to know what our users think about our productions.

Regards,

Matt Coleman

ChinesePod Product Manager

@ts9007

各人有各人的想法，但是那我来说...

I think Pete rules!

No disrespect Matt - just speaking my mind. Qingwen was a fun way to learn Chinese with that great trio. I miss Clays antics and Ambers laugh(eh).

Hi ts9007

Thanks for the feedback. There is an old Chinese proverb: 萝卜青菜，各有所爱   --- "turnips or cabbage-- everyone has their own preference."

Or as my beloved Latin teacher Mrs. Sadlon would've put it, de gustibus non disputandum est.

Although as I think of it, reaching for a Latin quote might reinforce my image of being...boring ;-)

Well, what can you do? 江山易改，本性难移.

Hi xiaophil

Cheers!

"Boring" and "a bore" are not the same. Pete, you're neither!

Why oh why do some people feel it necessary to be rude when coming out with the same old boring whining we've heard so often before?

pete, if I had one tenth of the linguistic and teaching skill that you have I would consider myself a fortunate person. Please do not be disheartened for a moment by ts9007s mindless grumbling, (even one of those internal moments of self-doubt that all humans are afflicted with!)

Bob is actually completely right when he remarks that actually, for serious study, QW is actually much better now!

I have to agree. QW continues to evolve and improve, and Pete, I second Raygos comment.

Hi raygo, rj and zhenlijiang

You are all too kind. I appreciate it.

Pete, turnips or cabbage?  Sounds like a dilemma (of the all bad kind), not a choice.

Third'sies on Raygo's comment re: serious study and kudos to Amber for implementing/developing the original concept.

tvan, I think of it as a 'Chinese choice'. ;)

Haha tvan, there have been times when people would be glad to get a turnip to eat.

When I was young we walked to school uphill both ways...And we liked it!

But seriously, you are correct, Amber did a great job getting the show up and running.

@pete

I would prefer cabbage to turnips - I had never met a turnip until I ate with my wife's family and I (quietly) found them hard work.  They have the reputation as  food for horses.  However, in the postmodern era, restaurants charge a premium for dishes containing turnips.  Maybe they have to compensate the chef using them for loss of reputation?   Actually turnips taste good beside a staple in Papua New Guinea, the humble taro.

越读这个越百无聊赖

Hi bodawei,

Turnips go well in miso soup, too. But I haven't found a great way to prepare them plain.