Most Commonly Used chéng yǔ (成语 idioms)
helenaoutloud
January 31, 2008, 04:28 PM posted in General DiscussionOkay, so I've been studying my vocab, yi bian practicing my pronounciation, yi bian going to the local chinese group in town. Now, I feel pretty good about this whole learning process and I feel like I went over that "hump" that keeps me back when nervous about learning something challenging.
So, now I want to get a little more comfortable with these cheng2 yu3 I keep hearing so much about. Like most of us here, I'm pretty busy and already have quite a bit on my plate. I just want to know how worthwhile it will be for me to learn these idioms. Also, I really want to know what are the most commonly used idioms. I don't want to go around town using this kind of language if Chinese people aren't going to understand me anyway.
I figure that SOMEBODY must be using them if they are still being taught in Taiwanese schools.....right?
henning
January 31, 2008, 05:52 PMAs a starter you might look at John's Top 10 of the most commonly used Chengyus: http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2005/12/21/my-chengyu-top-ten The Advanced level always has a handful of Chengyus in its Vocab - just go through the vocab lists. Most of those Chengyus introduced here I have heard someplace else later. My wife uses Chengyus all the time - they can by no means be compared to English (German) sayings. Often Chengyus act as regular nouns or even verbs or adjectives. Whenever possible try to find the story behind the Chengyus. They are the toughest vocab to remember.
bazza
January 31, 2008, 07:45 PMOne of my favourite is (which is featured on Sinosplice): 一路顺风 [yī lù shùn fēng] - have a pleasant journey Mainly because it rolls off the tongue so nicely.
xiaohu
January 31, 2008, 05:05 PMkerou85: Here's an interesting one to start with, 拔苗助长。 Ba2 Miao2 Zhu4 Zhang3. (Literally, pull plants to help them grow) In a nutshell the story behind this 成语 is a farmer who planted crops and couldn't wait until they grew. Every day he'd go to the field but they just weren't growing fast enough, so one day he got an idea that he could help them grow faster by pulling 拔 them. He slowly worked his way through the 田 pulling each individual 苗 then turned around and surveyed his work. Eureka! It worked all of the 苗 had grown nice and high, thanks to his efforts! He rushed back to tell his wife that all the plants were now fully grown and to come take a look. By now the sun has already dipped behind the mountain. They rush back to the field and see all the plants on the ground, withered and dead. This 成语 is saying not to be impatient. We need to let events take the natural course, if we use unnatural means to make something happen, we can ultimately destroy it. You could say this equates to our English phrase, "Let things happen through the natural course of time." 这是我特别喜欢的成语之一。