Learning Chinese has its highs and lows. Whether you study by yourself or in a classroom, you’ve felt this pain. Everyone always says how hard learning Chinese is– what they don’t mention are all the memes that make it worthwhile!
Here are six memes only Chinese language students will get:
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1 "Lao Shi, Wo Ting Bu Dong"
Nothing's worse. You study all day and night so Laoshi's questions don't catch you off guard in class.
You're so ready to discuss regional cuisine or investment opportunities. And then the kid sitting next to you answers every question with "ting bu dong". Come on!
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2 Xiao Jie or not Xiao Jie
One of the most confusing parts of learning Chinese are the endless synonyms. In English we just have girl and boy, aunt and uncle, grandma and grandpa.
Good luck remembering what to call your mom's dad's brother on the fly! Plus, you don't want to mix them up and accidentally offend someone!
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3 Homonym Troubles
Synonym's equally troublesome brother is the homonyms. Anyone else had those exercises in class where you were given sentences and had to fill in the correct "de"?
I've had chapter tests easier than those!
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4 The "Er" Conundrum
If you've had several different Chinese teachers, you might feel this pain. In one class, you're taught to say "nali" and "zheli".
In the next, it's "nar" and "zher". You think you've got the "er" down until you meet someone from the north of China, and then it's 儿 city！
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5 Reading Comprehension
Look, it's not like we TRY not to read the characters. But for some reason, when there's Pinyin nearby, it's impossible not to look at it.
Our brains are just hardwired towards English, which is less than useful when learning a foreign language!
(Protip: use a flashcard to cover up Pinyin so you can focus on characters better!)
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6 That Chapter Test Feel
You have a chapter test tomorrow and you've been slacking off a little. Not practicing your characters or going over grammar, but it's fine, because you can just do it the night before, right?
WRONG. You open the study guide the night before and... realize you understand nothing. Then this cat is you, texting all your classmates SOS.
And then you promise yourself you'll study next time, and do it all over again.
These aren’t bad, but I suppose you’ve not seen the Mandarin Companion memes.
https://www.instagram.com/mandarin_companion/. Two of these are from the meme set.