Chinese
Chinese Triple Radicals Tells You a Lot About the Culture that Created Them
If one radical means X, three radicals should mean 3X, so studying triple radicals, even if some are archaic, tells you a lot about…
“Self, Other, and Canine”: The “Dog” Radical in Chinese History and Its Implications for Chinese Minority Identity
“自我，他指，以及犬系”: “反犬旁”在中国历史中的发展及其对中国少 数民族身份的暗示 Author Unknown (It was available at http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/tempus/archives_files/Brown.pdf until Summer 2020) 作者未知(http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/tempus/archives_files/Brown.pdf) Translated by Maggie Li 译者李琪 Presented by Jennifer Ball 出品人包弫 One of…
Gender and Grammar in Chinese With Implications for Language Universals
Gender and Grammar in Chinese With Implications for Language Universals 中文里的性别和语法 ——对语言共性的影响 Dr. Catherine S. Farris University of Washington 凯瑟琳·法里斯 华盛顿大学 First published in…
“Covert Sexism in Mandarin Chinese” by David Moser
Sino-Platonic Papers Number 74 January, 1997 David Moser Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures University of Michigan Introduction Western linguists have been…
“Meow” is just another name for “cat”
Jennifer Ball Soochow University, Suzhou, China Email: originofalphabet@me.com How to cite this paper: Ball, J. (2019). “Meow” Is Just Another Name for “Cat”. Open…
The Role of the “Groove” 卯 Character in Chinese Writing: 69 characters and 22 definitions
by Jennifer Ball and Xu ChaoUsing a Hanzi substructure-search engine designed by Xu Chao and Jennifer BallNov. 11, 2018 Semantic Breakdown of Raw Data…
The Role of the “Youth/Essence” 青/靑 Character in Chinese Writing
byJennifer Ball and Xu ChaoUsing a Hanzi substructure-search engine designed by Xu Chao and Jennifer BallNov. 11, 2018 Thanks to Chinese Text Project, Wiktionary,…
Role of the “Opposite Dog “犭 Character in Chinese Writing: 947 Characters 279 definitions
by Jennifer Ball and Xu Chao Using a Hanzi substructure-search engine designed by Xu Chao and Jennifer Ball Aug. 16, 2018 Semantic Breakdown of…
Are Jiahu Symbols Writing? Probably
In Chinese, a common type of sentence is four characters; this four-character sentence is known as a “chengyu” 成语. A chengyu is not dissimilar…
Duh, I own it: Possession is Universal
的 de (no tone) = of (possessive), target, bull’s eye Portraying ownership was one of the first usages of writing. “This is mine” was…
We all emerge from an egg stored in a secret place — 我们都来自隐秘在某处的一枚卵
excerpt: 我们都来自隐秘在某处的一枚卵
请注意以下中国汉字间的联系：
The shape of the letter “V” means “female” in three different cultures and times
The shape of the letter “V” means “female” in three different cultures and times: Discovered by Denise Schmandt-Besserat, this first character is a Neolithic…
The Chinese word for “heart” 心 comes from a penis
Precursors of 心 from http://hanziyuan.net. The penis is the real source of male emotion. The precursors of 姦 “adultery, wicked, debauchery” make it clear…
Prototype for a Substructure – Searchable Database of Hanzi
Let’s say you wanted to find all incidents of 卯 in every Chinese character, which right now you cannot. You would take a cursor…
Breasts, Vaginas, and Tools: Musings on the roots of our alphabet
If you want to describe something to someone, but neither of you speak the same language, drawing a picture is the simplest way to…
Maggie Li’s Speech: When Socrates Meets Confucius
Maggie Li, whose real name is pronounced “Lee Chee” (Li Qi is the pinyin) is a friend and student of mine who came in…
Eyes come as a pair, even when you’re only talking about one
My Business Card in Chinese and English
A video I made for my Soochow University Nanotech English Spring 2013 students:
My wonderful students
Chinese Quadruple Radicals Provide New Insight Into the Meaning of Singular Words
By Jennifer Ball and Maggie Li (李琪) Quadruple radicals are not common, but they do give a sense of what one character means if…
Chinese Triple Radicals Tells You a Lot About the Culture that Created Them
If one radical means X, three radicals should mean 3X, so studying triple radicals, even if some are archaic, tells you a lot about…
Seal-Ovum-“gp”-Shaped Analysis
卵 ovum – luan3 (leon2 leon5 lo5) 孵 hatch, sit on eggs – fu1 (fu1) 㲉 eggshells – kai4 ke2 (dik1 hok3) 毈 fertile eggs;…
Rice-Semen Analysis of Chinese Characters
Rice-semen metaphor analysis Compiled by Jennifer Ball © September 4, 2010 Black = rice (米 or 禾) component Blue = essence, youth 青component Green…
Female substructures (乃，丫，丑，母，etc.) in Chinese script
Females in Chinese Script by Jennifer Ball © February 16, 2011 Why is “Y” at the end of our alphabet? Because the shape of…
Argument for a Structural Analysis of Chinese Characters
㧕 to feel or touch with hands; to hold, to lay the hand on, to cover jiu4 liu3 yu2 (lau5) 捫 lay hands on;…
4 = West = Wine
A Structural Analysis of Written Chinese The book Reading and writing Chinese: a guide to the Chinese writing system, the student’s 1,020 list, the…
CAVes and VAGinas are the same concept in Chinese
Mandarin II Berkeley Extension – Class 2 – Feb. 6, 2012 425 Market Street San Francisco, CA Homework: Workbook, pages 52-53. Make a copy…
“Slave Girl” in Chinese and “female” in Sumerian are oddly alike
丫= “slave girl” in Chinese = “woman” in Sumerian This similarity should make you think about the alphabet’s letter Y. It starts words…
Interesting Chinese Characters #6: To Shoot; To Spurt
㢩 to shoot; to spurt, (same as 的) target for archery di4 ( Cantonese: dik1 dim3 tiu4) 的 = of, “de” in Chinese and…
Interesting Chinese Characters #4 and #5: Cunning involves holding something in one’s mouth
刁 tricky, sly, crafty, cunning diao1 (diu1) 叼 holding in mouth diao1 (diu1) http://ctext.org/dictionary In order to be cunning, what do you suppose one…
Interesting Chinese Character #3: Ghost of One Devoured by Tiger
倀/伥 Ghost of one devoured by tiger; groping; rash; reckless Pinyin: chang1 Cantonese: coeng1, zaang1 http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&char= 伥 http://www.mandarintools.com/
Interesting Chinese Characters #2: “Profundity”: you know this has to mean “sex”—in the form of a harem
㽎 The profundity of the harem, the mysterious and profound of the forbidden palace, the flourishing and exuberant of the flame. Pinyin: dǎn tán.…
Tarte de la vaca
Ms Lin’s corrections: The equivalent symbol for $ (US dollars) to yuan 元 is ¥ yuan 元 is the same as ¥ ¥ Renminbi…
Who’s up for Mandarin II?
Mandarin I Berkeley Extension Class 12 Nov. 29, 2011 425 Market StreetSan Francisco, CAProfessor: Virginia Mau Mandarin II is now available for enrollment. I…
Grain has symbolic meaning in China
Mandarin I Berkeley Extension Class – 11 – Nov. 22, 2011 425 Market Street San Francisco, CA Professor: Virginia Mau Homework: Menu Include:Name of…
The word for “Eat” looks a lot like a head
Mandarin I – Berkeley Extension – Class 10 Nov. 15, 2011 425 Market Street San Francisco, CA Professor: Virginia Mau 餐厅 can1 ting1 =…
The sound “be” means “vagina” in Chinese. To be or not to be: up to the vagina
Mandarin Uncensored In which we discover that the worst word in English is the same part of the female body as the worst word…
Why is “woman”女 in the character for “Japanese”倭? Is this an insult?
Mandarin I Berkeley Extension Class 8 Nov. 1, 2011 425 Market Street San Francisco, CA Professor: Virginia Mau Homework for next class 11/8: Lesson…
Now we know why they have to be funny…
Clowns have breasts but no milk by Jennifer Ball 笨 笑 哭 Meaning: foolish laugh cry Characteristics crinkly eyes, funny face crinkly eyes, open…
Interesting Chinese Characters #1: Mythical Animal that Eats Its Mother
獍 A mythical animal that eats its mother when it is born; Manchurian tiger. Pinyin: jing4. Cantonese: ging3. Very few animals eat their mothers; occasionally some insects and…
Puyi had a wet nurse (not shown) until age 14
Mandarin I Berkeley Extension Class 7 Oct. 18, 2011 425 Market Street San Francisco, CA Professor: Virginia Mau Test 11/1 (next class): Comprehensive –…
You say “gege,” I say “gugu”; you’re Chinese, I’m Akkadian, and we’re both talking about virgins
Mandarin I Berkeley Extension – Class 6 – Oct. 11, 2011 425 Market Street San Francisco, CA Professor: Virginia Mau “Ge ge” (guh-guh) means…
The roots of “Please 请” are kind of messy
请 Please qing3 = please The right-hand phonetic 青 is also in the word for“semen”: 精 jing1. This makes sense: the bottom is the moon stand-in…
Wang ba is a cuckold which is a tortoise
Mandarin I Berkeley Extension – Class 5 – Oct. 4, 2011 425 Market Street San Francisco, CA Professor: Virginia Mau Notes taken and commentary…
Bubble Tea – Boba Nai Cha – and the biggest-breasted woman in China
Mandarin I Berkeley Extension – Class 4 – Sept. 27, 2011 425 Market Street San Francisco, CA Professor: Virginia Mau Notes taken and commentary…
Was Chinese simplification a way to make the characters look less like pictures?
Sept. 20, 2011 Class 3 Berkeley Extension 425 Market Street San Francisco, CA Professor: Virginia Mau (pronounced “Mew”) Notes taken and commentary (marked by“Note:”)…
It takes sharp eyes 色 to see at night 晚
Mandarin I Berkeley Extension – Class 2 – Sept. 13, 2011 425 Market Street San Francisco, CA Professor: Virginia Mau (pronounced “Mew”) Email: vmmauhk@yahoo.com…
Mandarin Uncensored – Class 1
Mandarin I Berkeley Extension – Class 1 Sept. 6, 2011 425 Market Street San Francisco, CA Professor: Virginia Mau (pronounced “Mew”) Email: vmmauhk@yahoo.com Notes…