It’s an exciting time of the year as the Winter Olympics (冬季奥运会 – dōng jì ào yùn huì) are currently underway in Sochi (索契 – suǒ qì). The motto for this year’s games is, “Hot. Cool. Yours.” (激情冰火屬於你 – jī qíng bīng huǒ shǔ yú nǐ); hopefully it sounds better in Russian than it does in English and Chinese. Maybe you saw an exciting event on TV last night, but you just don’t know how to talk about it with your Chinese friends or colleagues. Never fear, as we’re here to teach you some useful Chinese vocabulary about the Winter Olympics and the various sports:

The 2014 Winter Olympics.

• alpine skiing (高山滑雪 – gāo shān huá xuě)

• biathlon (冬季两项 – dōng jì liǎng xiàng)

• bobsled (雪车 – xuě chē)

• cross-country skiing (越野滑雪 – yuè yě huá xuě)

• curling (冰壶运动 – bīng hú yùn dòng)

• figure skating (花样滑冰 – huā yàng huá bīng)

• freestyle skiing (自由式滑雪 – zì yóu shì huá xuě)

• ice hockey (冰球 – bīng qiú)

• luge (雪橇 – xuě qiāo)

• nordic combined ( 北欧两项 – běi’ōu liǎng xiàng)

• short track speed skating (短道速滑 – duǎn dào sù huá)

• skeleton (钢架雪车 – gāng jià xuě chē)

• ski jumping (跳台滑雪 – tiào tái huá xuě)

• snowboarding (滑板滑雪 – huá bǎn huá xuě)

• speed skating (速度滑冰 – sù dù huá bīng)

For some more fun with some of this vocabulary, you can print flashcards and play a little memory game. Click here to check it out. As for the Chinese athletes, it seems as if it’s going to be a good year for speed skating. At the moment, China already has two gold medals in short track speed skating, as well as a gold and a silver in speed skating. Speaking of medals, how do you say those words in Chinese, anyways?

• gold medal (金牌 – jīn pái)

• silver medal (银牌 – yín pái)

• bronze medal (铜牌 – tóng pái)

CCTV news clip about China’s first couple of gold medals.

We’ll see how the games turn out, as there has been much debate and discussion about them already. As for this blogger, I’ll be sitting on the edge of my seat every time the USA men’s hockey team hits the ice, screaming “Go America!” (美国加油 – měi guó jiā yóu).