The other day I was talking with a friend and the topic of 地理 (geography) came up.  He was very quick to 坦率地承认 (frankly admit) that he didn’t know where 新西兰 (New Zealand) was until recently, and that he had always thought it was in 欧洲 (Europe).  Better late than never, I suppose.  Later, he mentioned New Zealand again and said something about a New Zealand cartoon girl wearing a New Zealand hat milking a cow next to a 风车 (windmill).  Was he thinking of Holland? At least he knows where New Zealand is on the map.  On the topic of maps, before coming to China I had never seen a world map with China in the 中间 (center).  Even world maps in the US don’t have the US in the center.  Thinking about this from another  角度 (angle), China’s name does technically translate as “middle kingdom.”  Curious about if other acquaintances knew where New Zealand was, one said that he knew the 大概的位置 (general location) but could not specifically point it out.

地理 di4li3 – geography
坦率地承认 – tan3shuai4
新西兰 xin1xi1lan2 – New Zealand
欧洲 ou1zhou1 – Europe
风车 feng1che1 – windmill
中间 zhong1jian1 – middle, center
角度 jiao3du4 – angle
大概 da4gai4 – general/basic
位置 wei4zhi2 – location