{"id":8352,"date":"2013-01-04T05:16:24","date_gmt":"2013-01-04T09:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=8352"},"modified":"2013-01-04T05:16:24","modified_gmt":"2013-01-04T09:16:24","slug":"geography-in-chinese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/geography-in-chinese\/","title":{"rendered":"Geography in Chinese"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For some it comes easy, but for many people geography is a difficult subject in school. It&#8217;s even more complicated when you try it in another language. As an English teacher in China, I find that my students are often confused when it comes to talking about geography in English. Of course, I face the same problem in Chinese. With so many continents, mountains, countries, rivers, and so on, it&#8217;s hard to remember the words. While it may be difficult, it is still an important part of life. As such, I&#8217;m going to introduce some words and phrases in Chinese related to <strong>geography<\/strong> (\u5730\u7406 &#8211; d\u00ec l\u01d0). It&#8217;s a big world out there, so let&#8217;s start out with your basic directions, so grab your&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2>Compass (\u6307\u5357\u9488 &#8211; zh\u01d0 n\u00e1n zh\u0113n)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>North (\u5317 &#8211; b\u011bi)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>South (\u5357 &#8211; n\u00e1n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>East (\u4e1c &#8211; d\u014dng)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>West (\u897f &#8211; x\u012b)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Central (\u4e2d &#8211; zh\u014dng)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It should be noted that directions such as &#8220;northwest&#8221; and &#8220;southeast&#8221; are actually pronounced &#8220;<strong>west north<\/strong>&#8221; (\u897f\u5317 &#8211; x\u012b b\u011bi)\u00a0and &#8220;<strong>east south<\/strong>&#8221; (\u4e1c\u5357 &#8211; d\u014dng n\u00e1n)\u00a0in Chinese. In China, you&#8217;ll often hear people grouped as &#8220;<strong>northerners<\/strong>&#8221; (\u5317\u65b9\u4eba &#8211; b\u011bi f\u0101ng r\u00e9n)\u00a0or &#8220;<strong>southerners<\/strong>&#8221; (\u5357\u65b9\u4eba &#8211; n\u00e1n f\u0101ng r\u00e9n). Remember these characters, as they&#8217;re used in the names of continents, oceans, cities, roads, and much more in Chinese. Take, for example, the place where I call home &#8211; the &#8220;<strong>Northern Capital<\/strong>&#8221; (\u5317\u4eac &#8211; b\u011bi j\u012bng), or Beijing as it&#8217;s better known to most.<\/p>\n<h2>Continents (\u5927\u9646 &#8211; d\u00e0 l\u00f9\/\u6d32 &#8211;\u00a0zh\u014du)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>North America (\u5317\u7f8e\u6d32 &#8211; b\u011bi m\u011bi zh\u014du)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>South America\u00a0\u5357\u7f8e\u6d32 &#8211; n\u00e1n m\u011bi zh\u014du)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Africa (\u975e\u6d32 &#8211; f\u0113i zh\u014du)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Europe (\u6b27\u6d32 &#8211; \u014cu zh\u014du)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Asia (\u4e9a\u6d32 &#8211; y\u00e0 zh\u014du)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Australia (\u6fb3\u6d32 &#8211; \u00c0o zh\u014du)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Antarctica (\u5357\u6781\u6d32 &#8211; n\u00e1n j\u00ed zh\u014du)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Oceans (\u6d77\u6d0b &#8211; h\u01cei y\u00e1ng)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>Arctic Ocean (\u5317\u51b0\u6d0b &#8211; b\u011bi b\u012bng y\u00e1ng)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Pacific Ocean (\u592a\u5e73\u6d0b &#8211; t\u00e0i p\u00edng y\u00e1ng)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Atlantic Ocean (\u5927\u897f\u6d0b &#8211; d\u00e0 x\u012b y\u00e1ng)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Indian Ocean (\u5370\u5ea6\u6d0b &#8211; y\u00ecn d\u00f9 y\u00e1ng)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Southern Ocean (\u5357\u5927\u6d0b &#8211; n\u00e1n d\u00e0 y\u00e1ng)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Countries (\u56fd\u5bb6 &#8211; gu\u00f3 ji\u0101)<\/h2>\n<p>While there&#8217;s no universal agreement on the exact total number of countries in the world, we all know that it&#8217;s a lot. I&#8217;m not going to try to teach you all of the Chinese words for the various countries around the world, because I don&#8217;t know them all and, well, that would be boring and tedious. Instead, here are some things to remember:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Chinese names for a lot of countries actually use the character for &#8220;<strong>country<\/strong>&#8221; (\u56fd &#8211; gu\u00f3). For example, <strong>the USA<\/strong> (\u7f8e\u56fd &#8211; m\u011bi gu\u00f3), <strong>France<\/strong> (\u6cd5\u56fd &#8211; f\u00e0 gu\u00f3), and <strong>South Korea<\/strong> (\u97e9\u56fd &#8211; h\u00e1n gu\u00f3).<\/li>\n<li>Many other names simply sound like the English name, such as: <strong>Ireland<\/strong> (\u7231\u5c14\u5170 &#8211; \u00c0i \u011br l\u00e1n), <strong>Cuba<\/strong> (\u53e4\u5df4 &#8211; g\u01d4 ba), <strong>Libya<\/strong> (\u5229\u6bd4\u4e9a &#8211; l\u00ec b\u01d0 y\u01ce), and so on.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Provinces (\u7701 &#8211; sh\u011bng)<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_8354\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/geography-in-chinese\/chinamap\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8354\" aria-label=\"Chinamap 300x244\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8354\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8354\"  alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"244\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/01\/chinamap-300x244.jpg\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-8354\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">China kind of looks like a chicken on the map, doesn&#039;t it?<\/p><\/div>\n<p>There are 22 provinces in China; 23 if you count Taiwan as a province, but I&#8217;m not here to start any territorial disputes. There are also four <strong>municipalities<\/strong> (\u76f4\u8f96\u5e02 &#8211; zh\u00ed xi\u00e1 sh\u00ec), five <strong>autonomous regions<\/strong> (\u81ea\u6cbb\u533a &#8211; z\u00ec zh\u00ec q\u016b), and two <strong>special administrative regions<\/strong> (\u7279\u522b\u884c\u653f\u533a &#8211; t\u00e8 bi\u00e9 x\u00edng zh\u00e8ng q\u016b). Hey, I didn&#8217;t say this lesson was going to be easy. For more detailed descriptions of these, keep an eye on the blog and follow our ongoing &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/better-know-a-province-part-three\/\">Better Know A&#8230;<\/a>&#8221; series, where I cover one of the regions of China in more depth.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2xjtkz9Wrg8\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2xjtkz9Wrg8<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>A quick tour around the map of China.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Cities (\u57ce\u5e02 &#8211; ch\u00e9ng sh\u00ec)<\/h2>\n<p>The Talking Heads once wrote a song that goes, &#8220;<em>Find your city. Find yourself a city to live in<\/em>.&#8221; \u00a0More than half of the world&#8217;s population have done just that, and nowhere is this mass urban migration more obvious than right here in the Middle Kingdom. Between the years 1950 and 2005, the percentage of Chinese people living in cities <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/news\/datablog\/2009\/aug\/18\/percentage-population-living-cities\">rose from 13% to over 40%<\/a>, and it&#8217;s going up every day. Some have the high honor of being the <strong>capital city<\/strong> (\u9996\u90fd &#8211; sh\u01d2u d\u016b), while others are simply\u00a0<strong>provincial capitals<\/strong>\u00a0(\u7701\u4f1a &#8211; sh\u011bng hu\u00ec).\u00a0There are far too many cities and no real rules for translating the names into Chinese. Just check yours out in a dictionary; mine is <strong>Detroit<\/strong> (\u5e95\u7279\u5f8b &#8211; d\u01d0 t\u00e8 l\u01dc).<\/p>\n<h2>More Vocabulary<\/h2>\n<p>There&#8217;s a lot more to learn when it comes to geography, but I think that&#8217;s enough for one day here. Here&#8217;s a short YouTube video to help you learn a few more useful words and practice your reading, listening, and pronunciation:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Geography - Langhub.com [Learn Mandarin Chinese]\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5wyt6rL9LMc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Basic Chinese geography vocabulary.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8355\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/geography-in-chinese\/worldmap2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8355\" aria-label=\"Worldmap2 300x208\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8355\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8355 \"  alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"208\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/01\/worldmap2-300x208.jpg\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-8355\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A great textbook.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Another good idea is to get yourself a <strong>world map<\/strong>\u00a0(\u4e16\u754c\u5730\u56fe &#8211; sh\u00ec ji\u00e8 d\u00ec t\u00fa)\u00a0in Chinese. Mark the places you have been and the places you want to go, and then start learning the Chinese names. As always, we&#8217;ve got plenty of other resources here to help you <a href=\"http:\/\/www.transparent.com\/learn-mandarin-chinese\/\">learn Chinese<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"243\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/01\/worldmap2-350x243.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image tmp-hide-img\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/01\/worldmap2-350x243.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/01\/worldmap2.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>For some it comes easy, but for many people geography is a difficult subject in school. It&#8217;s even more complicated when you try it in another language. As an English teacher in China, I find that my students are often confused when it comes to talking about geography in English. Of course, I face the&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/geography-in-chinese\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":8355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[255189,255192,255194,255193,255191,5,255190],"class_list":["post-8352","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-vocabulary","tag-chinas-geography","tag-chinese-cities","tag-chinese-geography-lesson","tag-chinese-geography-vocabulary","tag-chinese-provinces","tag-geography","tag-geography-of-china"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8352"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8361,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8352\/revisions\/8361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}