I will be off for two weeks of Christmas Vacation. Thanks to all my readers and subscribers for your support! It was very interesting starting this blog. I wish everyone an enjoyable Christmas time and a happy new year!

Since I had to go through some chemistry books in Chinese recently, I made a list of some chemical terms and their translation Chinese->German->English. Originally it was just as a help for myself, but here I will share it on my blog. Of course the average language learner will fortunately never need it, but maybe it’s helpful for someone out there… Who knows?

原子 - Atom - atom
分子 - Molekül - molecule
化合物 - chemische Verbindung - chemical compound
离子 - Ion - ion
元素 - Element - element
元素周期表 - Periodensystem der Elemente (PSE) - table of the elements
电子 - Elektron - electron
质子 - Proton - proton
中子 - Neutron - neutron

卤素 - Halogene - halogen
溴 - Brom - bromine
铜 - Kupfer - copper
铁 - Eisen - iron
镁 - Magnesium - magnesium
铝 - Aluminium - aluminum
碳 - Kohlenstoff - carbon
磷 - Phosphor - phosphorus
硅 - Silikon - silicone
硝酸 - Salpetersäure - nitric acid
硫酸 - Schwefelsäure - sulfuric acid
氨 - Ammoniak - ammonia
铵 - Ammonium - ammonium (NH4+)
过氧化氧 - Wasserstoffperoxid - hydrogen peroxide

烃 - Kohlenwasserstoff (KWS) - hydrocarbon
烷烃 - Alkan - alkane
甲烷 - Methan - methane
辛烷 - C8H18
烯烃 - Alken - alkene
乙烯 - Ethen - ethene
炔烃 - Alkin - alkine
乙炔 - Ethin - ethine
醇 - Alkohol - alcohol
甲醇 - Methanol - methanol
醛 - Aldehyd - aldehyde
乙醛 - Ethanal - ethanal
酮 - Keton - ketone
丙酮 - Propanon - propanone
苯 - Benzol - benzene
酚 - Phenol - phenol

蛋白质 - Protein Eiweiss - protein
酶 - Enzym - enzyme
氨基酸 - Aminosäure - amino acid
淀粉 - Stärke - starch
葡萄糖 - Traubenzucker Glukose - glucose
油脂 - Fett - fat
甘油 - Glycerin - glycerin
脂肪酸 - Fettsäuren - fatty acid

摩尔 - Mol - mole
阿附加的罗常数 - Avogadro-Konstante - Avogadro constant

Disclaimer: This is list is very very random and far from complete, but tell me if you were looking for something specific that you couldn’t find.

• 黄品源 - 小薇 (5)
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Ok, here is a more upbeat song. I hardly listen to female artist, so I’ll give it a try in the future. S.H.E is a taiwanese group of 3 girls named Selina, Hebe and Ella. The most funny part is: 旧情人给的问候比陌生人还尴尬…
Anyway, here are the Chinese lyrics:
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• S.H.E - 爱来过 (0)
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Just found another nice song by Jay Chou. It’s called 安静 (Silence) and again talks about a broken relationship, like most songs ;) So enjoy:
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• 马天宇 - 该死的温柔 (8)
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• 陶喆 - 太美丽 (0)

成语：渴望不可及
拼音：kě wàng bù kě jí
解释：渴望不可及：渴望，急切想要得到；及，达到，得到；急切想要的东西却不能得到
翻译：something you long for, but which is unreachable

The first half of this chengyu 渴望 means to long for something, to desire something. Don’t confuse it with the chengyu 可望不可及, which has the exact same pronunciation, but where 可望 means that you are able to see it. 不可及 means that it is unreachable. Put together it means “longing for something, but unable to reach it”. It also exists as 渴望而不可及. You can use this chengyu in many senses. When I searched for it, funnily this is what I found most of the times:

• 美女可望而不可及

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成语：鸦雀无声
拼音：yā què wú shēng
解释：连乌鸦麻雀的声音都没有。形容非常静
翻译：absolute silence

鸦雀无声 is an easy to understand and figurative chengyu. 雅 refers to 乌鸦 (raven, craw or blackbird). 雀 means 麻雀 which is a sparrow. 无声 means no noise. Put together it means “there is no noise from ravens or sparrows”. It is used to describe an absolute silence. For example:

• 没想到这么吵闹的班级里老师一进来顿时就鸦雀无声了。
  I didn’t expect that this noisy class suddenly would suddenly become absolutely silent once the teacher entered.

• 龙飞凤舞 lóng fēi fèng wǔ (0)
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成语：坐立不安
拼音：zuò lì bù ān
解释：坐着也不是，站着也不是。形容心情紧张，焦虑烦躁
翻译：on pins and needles, unable to keep calm

This chengyu describes nervous people who cannot keep calm. 坐 means “to sit” and 立 means “to stand”. 不安 means “not calm, quiet, at peace”. So put together the meaning is “neither standing nor sitting he can stay calm”. Thus the person is very nervous, excited and agitated. There is a similar English idiom: “on pins and needles”, but I have never heard of it before. For example:

• 望着他那坐立不安的样子，我也紧张起来了。
  Seeing his agitated manner, I also start to get nervous.

Do you have another example sentence?

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成语：龙飞凤舞
拼音：lóng fēi fèng wǔ
解释：原形容山势的蜿蜒雄壮，后也形容书法笔势有力，灵活舒展。
翻译：used to describe a beautiful lively handwriting or calligraphy

The literal translation of this chengyu is “flying dragons and dancing phoenixes”. Now it is mainly used to describe very lively and vigorous handwriting or calligraphy works. It implies that the handwriting is cursive, so sometimes it is also used by teachers to criticize too cursive illegible handwriting, since younger students are required to write regular script (楷书). Note that phoenix is written 凤 (like the Hongkong Television Channel 凤凰卫视 Phoenix Channel) and don’t confuse it with 风 which means “wind”.
For example:

• 他书法已经苦练了好几年了，所以有一手龙飞凤舞的字
  He already practiced calligraphy for several years. That’s why he has such a beautiful handwriting.

Again, you are welcome to suggest another example sentence…

• 鸦雀无声 yā què wú shēng (0)
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