I’d heard a theory in passing a long time ago that Bilingualism was correlated with reduced vocabularies but recently became curious about the truth of the matter. This is especially interesting to me considering that I myself am bilingual. I have also found examples of missing vocabulary in my own experiences which I find both interesting and very amusing.
First, my linguistic background: I live in a Chinese household which speaks a majority of Chinese at home. At the same time, I grew up in America my entire life except for two years when I was around 4 years old. As such I am conversationally fluent in mandarin and practically a native speaker in english. Considering this background, it is not a surprise that I lack a lot of complex vocabulary in Chinese which can be attributed simply to lack of exposure. However I found that I also lack certain simple vocabulary in English despite living there for so long.
One word that I didn’t know, embarrassingly until 8th grade, is the word “denim”. While I had certainly heard this word a couple times before 8th grade and I had also definitely seen denim jeans before, I never put the two together. That is because in my mind, up til that point, I simply called jeans 牛仔裤 (niu2 zai3 ku4) instead which is the mandarin word for it. I only learned this example while browsing a Ralph Lauren store before stumbling on the denim section. This example doesn’t demonstrate anything about vocabulary acquisition in bilingualism but it does mean that I can definitely say I had never talked about jeans with anyone in English before 8th grade! What a strange and bizarre statement to be able to say with such conviction! Needless to say, I am no fashionista. I guess the moral of the story is to take your children shopping more often, lest they develop vital gaps in vocab!
In addition to this short allegory, I would like to share some thoughts I have on Chinese.
In Mandarin, there are a lot of words that simply do not have direct translations from Chinese to English. A prime example is the Chinese character 腻 (ni4). In my experience, 腻 means when something gets boring when eaten in large quantities. For example, I would say that bread can be 腻 because of it’s blandness. However, the direct translation of this word is greasy. While this translation seems pretty wrong, it actually does make sense because 腻 can mean greasy when used in the word 油腻 (you2 ni4), 油 meaning oil. Example like this do interfere with my English-speaking ability since when I am trying to express something and can think of a perfect Chinese word to capture my idea, I will realize that such a translation does not exists. I chose the word 腻 from a real-life experience when I was eating something and someone asked me what I thought of the food. I thought of 腻 immediately but didn’t know how to translate it leading to quite an awkward silence. It was only later that I learned that 腻 could be translated to greasy.
In Chinese there are also tons of interesting proverbs similar to english idioms that make exactly zero sense when taken at face value. For example, what does it mean when someone is playing a guqin (chinese instrument) for a cow, or guarding a tree stump to catch rabbits? What about pulling up sprouts to help it grow? Or what about picking lice while talking? These are all very interesting idioms that I would like to share.
Firstly, a classic idiom: 对牛弹琴 (dui4 niu2 tan2 qin2), directly translated to playing is about a story a talented musician and composer by the name of Gong Mingyi. He was very well respected and renowned for his abilities. He would also play for other people often, and was well received. However, one day while practicing in the fields, he encountered a large cow and thought, “how unfortunate that the cow has never had a chance to hear beautiful music! I will play my music for it and share this beautiful art form!” Thus, Gong Mingyi played some of his most beautiful pieces but the cow did not blink an eye. It merely ignored Gong mingyi and continued grazing. Thinking that his song selection was too complex for the simple mammal, Gong mingyi next tried to play some simpler pieces to no avail. Hence, 对牛弹琴 simply means that the person in question is doing something pointless.
Secondly, 守株待兔 (shou3 zhu1 dai4 tu4), or watching a tree stump to catch a bunny. This idiom comes from the story of a farmer who worked diligently in the fields. Farm labor was very harsh but he continued to do so. One day, while resting near a tree stump in the field, he witnessed a rabbit running full speed into the tree trump dying instantly. The man was very surprised to see this happen and was extremely happy to have gained a rabbit through simple rest. However, until a normal person who would have realized that this occurrence was from pure chance, the man became convinced that he could continue to collect dead rabbits through simple waiting. Thus, this idiom is used to describe people like the man in the story who rely only on luck.
Thirdly, 拔毛主张 (ba2 mao2 zhu4 zhang3) means to pull on a sprout to help it grow. In ancient times there was a farmer who worked hard to grow his crops. However, overtime, he became disappointed that his crops did not grow has high as he thought they ought to. Thus he came up with a brilliant idea: he would help the crops by pulling up the crops individually, making them taller! What a genius move. This he went hard at work pulling up each and every plant. He was extremely proud of his idea, and at the end of the day bragged to everyone about how tall his crops were. Come the next morning, he would find every single crop toppled over. In pulling up the crops, he’d torn the roots holding up the plants, thus killing all of them. Thus, this story is one of someone valuing superficial short term gain over long term value, thus this idiom is used negatively to describe similar situations.
So far, each has been very classic Chinese idioms that are very well known. 扪虱而谈 (men2 shi1 er2 tan2), meaning picking lice while talking, may seem like a derogatory phrase because of the rude behavior. However, in the context of the story, it is not so simple. It comes from the story of a very intelligent and erudite politician from ancient China. He was extremely well educated and knowledgeable about all manners of things. Because of this, he was well respected. Even the emperor would consult him for advice. However, people would note his free carefree attitude, even picking at lice while talking about worldly matters. The presence of lice further indicates his poor hygiene, making him appear even more rude. In spite of this, people still would often consult him for advice. Thus, 扪虱而谈 is an idiom describing someone who is talented despite poor appearances.
These are only four of hundreds of Chinese idioms. Idioms are a large part of Chinese culture and even history which is part of why I find them so fascinating. They are used to express very complex ideas in simple, usually 4 character phrases, and the fact that so many people use these daily and have no problem understanding these idioms is very cool.
In a way, idioms themselves are each it’s own reference except instead of being about celebrities, movies, or pop culture, they are about short parables passed down from thousands of years ago.
This blog was intended to be about my experiences with bilingualism, but Chinese idioms are so interesting that I want to talk about them whenever the topic of mandarin arises. I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences and this tidbit of Chinese culture!
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