Jokes are never as funny when they have to be explained, and it’s likely that a joke in Chinese is going to need an explanation. But what about a joke where there’s really nothing to get? Not only do you not feel dumb, but you actually get smarter, because you learn all the Mandarin associated with a “cold joke” in this podcast.
Not sure if your comment is appropriate? Check our Commenting Policy first.
New lesson idea? Please contact us.
tel: (302) 482-8078 / +86 (021) 5178-6708
email: support@chinesepod.com
Suite A301, 2452 Wanhangdu Road,
Shanghai, China 200051
This feature is only available to paid subscribers. ChinesePod offers 5 paid subscription types.
| Basic | Starting from $14 per month |
| Premium | Starting from $29 per month |
| Praxis | Starting from $39 per month |
| Guided | Starting from $49 per month |
| Executive | Starting from $199 per month |
To find out more about these subscription types, please click here.
To upgrade your account, please click here.
This feature is only available to Premium, Praxis, Guided and Executive subscribers.
| Premium | Starting from $29 per month |
| Praxis | Starting from $39 per month |
| Guided | Starting from $49 per month |
| Executive | Starting from $199 per month |
To find out more about these subscription types, please click here.
To upgrade your account, please click here.
Supplementary vocab for this lesson: 冷笑话 (lěngxiào huà) dumb joke 讲 (jiǎng) to tell 讲笑话 (jiǎng xiàohua) to tell a joke 幽默 (yōumò) humorous 有意思 (yǒu yìsi) interesting, funny 没意思 (méi yìsi) not interesting/funny 有趣 (yǒuqù) interesting, funny 没趣 (méiqù) uninteresting/unfunny 耍 (shuǎ) make fun of sb. 你耍我。 (Nǐ shuǎ wǒ.) You're playing with me! 特别 (tèbié) particularly
It is very interesting to know Chinese, English and Japanese have similar phrases, i.e. 冷笑话, a cold joke and 寒い冗談 respectively. How about in other languages?
I think that we saw this "te" before in the Chinese videohotpot video regarding sizes--extra small is "te xiao"; extra large "te da", etc.
Jenny, I'm with you. I love the joke; it's so terribly unfunny that's it's funny! The Chinese love using food in conversation and in the lexicon. This joke highlights that fact again.
I enjoyed this lesson. It combined entertainment with language instruction--always a good combo. However, Ken can you please stop using the words "lexis" and "lexical chunk." How about about just saying " a cool bunch of words" ? Those big jargon terms make me nervous. I have a joke for you too: Q- Why is Santa Clause so Jolly?? A- Because he knows where all the naughty girls live!
It actually is kind of tough to hear the joke without giggling, it's so not funny that it's funny, and that's kind of hard to pull off. Thanks Ken and Jenny for yet another fun lesson, and Connie for the supplementary vocabulary.
AZERDOCMOM, Totally! We on the Academic Team have been laughing about that joke since Jenny found it a few weeks ago. -John
John and the academic team: kudos for a fun lesson! I realized what made the lesson even more chuckle-worthy is how the recipient of the joke responded. She had a perfectly timed pause before saying the equivalent of, "aannnnd....?" Then, when she tells him it was not a bit funny, her tone of voice clearly expressed her annoyance with him for totally wasting her time!Great production!
The traditional char. PDF transcript is not correct. 3rd line should be 一個人長...
Dave, 'A cool bunch of words' doesn't tell the learner very much, I'm afraid. As a professional teacher I need to be a bit more specific than that. Lexis is central to what we do, so sometimes I have to refer to it. In fact, however, I've greatly reduced references to it. Ken Carroll
Ken, keep being Ken. Everyone understands what you are talking about.
I was just kidding around Ken--I guess chinesepod isn't the only one to tell bad jokes.
...take off their hats.
In English, I might call a dumb joke a lame joke. This highlights the fact that cartoon jokes sometimes used in Chinese textbooks are such lame jokes. Now I know why.
I laughed
Hey Chinesepod, what is the difference between 长得像 and 看起来 oh kan qi lai xiong/ xiang? I forgot which one was right. But are those similiar or would you use them in seperate context?
OK. The last time we had a joke Ken mentioned that many jokes don't translate well. I agree. When a German friend of mine toured Europe I would have him tell me German jokes and many of them sounded like this dialogue. They were terribly funny because the were not funny at all in English. Maybe you folks at Chinese pod could do a dialogue with a "real" chinese joke and that way we could see the culture differences in what Chinese think is funny vs. English speaking people in addition to getting some very good “lexical chunks” to go with the story (sorry Ken, I couldn't resist." Chris
What an adorable joke! Troy, 长得像/zhang3 de xiang4 refers to resemblance in the physical look one is born with. It is used on living creatures, i.e.human beings and animals. For example, 我长得像我妈妈/wo3 zhang3 de xiang4 wo3 ma1 ma/I look like my mother. 看起来像 kan4 qi3 lai2 xiang4/means 'looks like' in the sense of having a similar appearance. It can be used on objects and living creatures. For example, 白酒看起来像水。/bai2 jiu3 kan4 qi3 lai2 xiang4 shui3./Chinese spirit looks like water.
Hi Jenny you write: 看起来像 kan4 qi3 lai2 xiang4/means ‘looks like’ in the sense of having a similar appearance. Is "Ta1 kan4 qi3 lai2 piao4 liang" incorrect?
Lesli, 像/xiang4 means 'to resemble'. Therefore, 看起来像/means‘looks like’ in the sense of having a similar appearance, whereas 看起来/kan4 qi3 lai2 means having an appearance of. 她看起来漂亮 means 'she looks pretty'.
Was it because he kept cutting his onion fingers? ;)
hahaha good joke :P i was gonna ask about 长得像/看起来/看起来像 as well, but i guess you guys already got it covered. Thanks!
There is a famous Chinese song whic begins: 清爱的，你慢慢飞 but which I had misheard as: 清爱的， 你妈妈肥 People are still laughing about that.
Valencia A: 你长得像橙果。。。 B: 你说我胖了吗！ A: 不是，好甜啊！ ....lame, 冷, 你有笑了吗？:)
What is funny about that? :(( I can't get it... :(
Great fun learning. funny in many ways.
请问：the negative form of 长得像是 长得不像， 对吗？ 还有另外的问题， 为什么没有 chinesepod en Español, 我知道人们说英文是一点好多， 但是有很多西人， 他们说西班牙文喜欢中文， 所以我觉得你们要想准备西班牙文的chinesepod. 对我很有用的。我是古巴人。 感谢大家。 我特别喜欢这个课， 真得很好笑 一样狗子的故事。对不起我在开玩笑。 祝大家幸福的生活 梁玛乐
The joke is certainly silly, but the dialogue itself had me laughing through most of my morning run. My favorite part is when A says "完啦。不好笑吗? "... Oh... how many times I have been THAT person. I'm not sure if the actual lesson is supposed to be funny, but I found it to hold even stronger comic value than the "joke" embedded within.
Ken, thanks a lot again and again for the chinesepod you started with the whole bunch of these lovely professionals. Every lesson is worth to listen to thoroughly. Especially the expansion is giving me a lot of benefit as my 听力 tingli is rather bad. You focus on the visual aspect of a language, why? Don't you think that learning by heart all these short sentences would be more beneficial than memorizing the 汉字 hanzi which I did without a major effect to my speaking abilities. Could you please give some theoretical and practical hints how to learn most efficiently p.e. chinese. You certainly did it already somewhere in the blog but perhaps you could repeat it for me. warm regards to all of you, I really enjoy your daily lessons like the 特好笑的消化 Walter
I told myself beforehand I wouldn't laugh at the dumb joke...but then I heard it—and of course laughed. Ken and Jenny's banter sent me over the edge. Now I'm trying to remember all the dumb jokes I learned when I was in Taiwan. The only one that comes to mind is (hopefully I'm getting this right): 一个保龄球，一个椰子, 跟一个榴莲都落下而踫到你头上。那一个最痛？ 就是你的头！ "A bowling ball, a coconut, and a durian all fall down and hit your head. Which one hurts the most? Answer: Your head!" p.s. a durian is a bizarre smelly spikey fruit that tastes (to me) something like rotting onion icecream....do a google search for it, you'll be amazed!
I was telling this joke to a Chinese friend. Like in the dialogue she did not realize when the joke was over and after I told her she said: 好冷。
Hi guys! Today I went to a chinese restaurant in my home town somewhere in the land of vikings. I happened to know the waiters name so I called her and said: "... wo shuo ge hao xiao de xiao hua gei ni ting. hao bu hao?"
Her: hao (smiling).
Me: yi ge ren zhang de xiang yangcong, soyi ta tian tian ku.
I sipped my tea. One second later: a laugh and a smile. It worked. I am a happy ellie :)
I still come back to this lesson. You guys have great sense of humor.
In the dialogue, it says 我说个特好笑的笑话给你听。 You explained how 特 is short for 特别, but is 个 short for 一个? If so, is that contraction also typical of Beijing dialect, like 特?
谢谢！
Hi aleibaba
Actually, 特 instead of 特别 is quite common in Northern China, not just Beijing. 个 is short for 一个, and you will hear this everywhere.
This lesson reminds of the first dumb joke I loved as a kid:
Susan: Johnny, you dance great except for two things?
Johnny: Yes?！?
Susan: Your feet!
I can't wait t try this joke on my unsuspecting Chinese friends .. great lesson!!
再见，
何睿林
In the Expansion sentence:
他很喜欢讲笑话。(Tā hĕn xĭhuan jiăng xiàohuà.) He likes to tell jokes.
could someone explain the difference between 讲 (jiăng) and 说 (shuō).
After all, the previous Expansion sentence uses 说 for the same purpose:
我给你们说个笑话。 (Wŏ gĕi nĭmen shuō ge xiàohuà.) I'll tell you a joke.
bump
"说笑话"和"讲笑话"都对。
"讲"和"说"在很多情况下都可以互换。
但是，有些固定搭配，只能用"讲"，不能用"说"。比如：讲道理，讲卫生，讲文明
Let me translate connie's answer into (clumsy) English.
“讲” and “说” are both OK. They are usually interchangeable in many cases, but you have to use “讲” for some fixed expressions, such as “讲道理”, “讲卫生”, and “讲文明”. (These “讲” means "pay attention", which is the same as “讲究”)
Thanks for the explanation Connie, and thanks changye for the translation.
Connie, I'm afraid I'm not yet able to read characters well - isn't the policy to accompany characters with either Pinyin or English in the Elementary discussions?
changye
I've asked a lot of questions recently without acknowledging your replies. Be assured, I read all your replies, and they are greatly appreciated, as ever.
I just learned an english word from chinesepod! Prosiness (in the extra vocab) - NEVER heard that before.
Anyway. Is there a difference between 每天 and 天天 ?
No difference.
Thanks GM!
that is a stupid joke
Prosiness? (invented in 1805 and never used again)
Is no ping yin for "Bu yao" in "Bu yao ku," "don't cry" part of expansion--3 years and never corrected?
Good job on shortening the expansion. This older length vastly exceeds my attention span and becomes prosi...