Hello there, Mandarin learners!
This post comes with a recap of Poll Quizzes, week 8☀️
Hope you had fun this week!
For your convenience, correct answers are marked as ✅, and wrong as ❌.
1. What’s going on at the park?
星期六公园里有老人…
Xīngqíliù gōngyuán li yǒu lǎorén…
❌ 锻炼 duànliàn – exercise
✅ 唱歌 chàng gē – sing (songs)
“星期六公园里有老人唱歌 Xīngqíliù gōngyuán li yǒu lǎorén chàng gē” (“There are old folks singing songs in the park on Saturdays”) was the right answer to this Monday’s story. Well done, 94% (1156👤) who chose 唱歌 chàng gē (to sing songs🎤)! Old people – and young too, actually – gather at Fuxing park on Saturdays to sing songs together. They have song lyrics printed on a sheet of paper, so anyone can join in even if they don’t know the lyrics!
2. Steel or bamboo?
这些脚手板是用…做的
Zhèxiē jiǎo shǒubǎn shì yòng… zuò de
❌ 钢 gāng – steel
✅ 竹 zhú – bamboo
“这些脚手板是用竹做的 Zhèxiē jiǎo shǒubǎn shì yòng zhú zuò de” (These scaffolds are made of bamboo) was indeed the correct answer, as 76% of you (705👤) have chosen. Well done! That’s what I love about reconstruction works in downtown Shanghai – they often use these bamboo scaffolds, so when you pass by it’s like passing through a bamboo forest 😀
If these two words were new for you, it’s useful to remember for the future the two radicals: 竹 meaning “bamboo”, and 钅meaning “metal” – which btw almost always makes part of characters related to metals.
3. Hello Kitty
这只猫咪很…
Zhè zhǐ māomī hěn…
❌ 凶 xiōng – fierce/fearful
✅ 贴人 tiē rén – nice/loves people
“这只猫咪很贴人Zhè zhǐ māomi hěn tiē rén” (This kitty really loves people) was the correct answer to this poll, and 82% (733👤) of you nailed it!
贴人tiē rén literally means “to stick to people”, but it also describes the kind of cats that like to rub against people’s legs. By the way, a soft way to refer to cats is to call them 猫咪 māomi instead of just 猫 māo. I met this 猫咪 māomi when I came to a manicure salon – and the owners weren’t in, so the猫咪 māomi probably felt lonely.
4. Ofo or Mobike?
他要骑…
Tā yào qí…
✅ 小黄 xiǎo huáng – OFO
❌ 小橙 xiǎo chéng – Mobike
“他要骑小黄 Tā yào qí xiǎo huáng” (He wants to ride an Ofo bike) was the right answer to this poll, as 72% (920👤) have voted for. If you have no idea what this is – it’s from an earlier post this week about the Chinese nicknames for OFO and Mobike. “Little yellow” refers to OFO bikes, and the man in the video was unlocking a yellow bike.
5. What’s Tim Cook up to?
Tim Cook在骑…
Tim Cook zài qí…
❌ 小橙 xiǎo chéng – Mobike
✅ 小黄 xiǎo huáng – OFO
“Tim Cook在骑小黄” (Tim Cook zài qí xiǎo huáng) was the answer to this poll – and 76% (894👤) of you have guessed it right! Honestly, no favoritism here towards OFO. It just happened that I had a picture from last year of Tim Cook testing a 小黄 xiǎo huáng, when he came to OFO’s headquarters. (Apple is team OFO.)
So for both quizzes, the answer was “little yellow”. Also, as you’ve probably already noticed by now, the verb for “riding” bicycles is 骑 qí – with a horse (马) radical on the left.
5. What’s the OFO app doing now?
This digital lock is about to…
✅ OPEN
❌ CLOSE
“This digital lock is about to open” was the answer to this poll – and 85% (688👤) of you got it right!
The app says 99%开锁中 (99% kāisuǒ zhōng, 99% into opening the lock) – so it was about to open when I took a screenshot.
Okay, maybe there is a bit of favoritism towards Ofo here – but honestly, I ride them only because they have adjutable seats😄
I hope you’re enjoiying taking part in these stories as much as my friends and I enjoy producing them!
You can still watch all the quizzes on @YourMandarin account page from your mobile devices – just click on the Highlight called #Quizzes.
If you have any questions, feedback or ideas – feel free to leave them in comments below.
See you next week on Instagram😉
