Word for the Travel Wise (01/12/06)

As the end of the month draws near one must keep in mind the year is still young, full of chances, new beginnings, and fresh starts no matter how fast time seems to fly. (I’m in total disbelief that it is already the 12th.) To keep it short and sweet, first of the year festivities are far from being over and with Chinese new year right around the bend time has come to brush up on our Mandarin. The year being celebrated is that of the Dog. Based off of the Chinese lunar calendar it is also the year 4704 and will be observed January 29, 2006 in China and multiple cities around the globe.

Today’s phrase is a Mandarin phrase from China:

zhu ni hao yun – good luck

So this is the first real mouthful of words I’ve given, but they should be fairly easy to say. Luck, prosperity, good health and happiness as we know all make good wishes for any new year, but feel free to tell your friends and family at any time and any place.

Mandarin is the most widely spoken of the Chinese language and can be a bit difficult to learn, but there are many sites online that can help get you started. The best will probably cost a small amount of money and the links are many so for sources pointing to additional sources check out About and Mandarin Tools. Mandarin tools is good if you’d like to add pinyin tools and other Chinese text files to your computer. Zap Chinese is free and has small dictionaries of common words with audio. Mei Wah is an awesome and funny site on becoming more aware as an eater and learning Chinese by way of menus and restaurant signs.