成语：只可意会 不可言传
拼音：zhǐ kě yì huì bù kě yán chuán
解释：只能用心去揣摩体会，没法用话具体地表达出来
翻译：can only be perceived, cannot be explained;
can only be experienced, cannot be put in words

This Chinese idiom is such a typical answer that I almost always get when I ask for the meaning of a Chinese expression. So I thought I’ll share it with all other Chinese learners, who certainly also already heard or will hear of this saying. The first half 只可意会 means it “can only be perceived”. 意会 means to experience or perceive. It implies that it isn’t directly spoken but rather experienced. The second half means “cannot be put forth in words”. You know that 言 stands for “language” and 传 means “to pass”
As an example, if you ask for the meaning of something, like, say 尴尬 or 内疚 or 丢脸 or another weird adjective or expression that is not easy to explain. And the person you asked only knows Chinese, so he also can’t translate it and tell you it means “awkward” and “sense of guilt” and “to lose one’s face”. So most likely he will answer 这个…只可意会不可言传 which just isn’t any help for us people trying to learn the language^^
But still I have to say 只可意会 不可言传 does apply to many special Chinese expressions that can’t be translated so easily. In this case only reading and communicating a lot helps, I guess…

So anyway, I hope you could understand this idiom and don’t let it discourage you and your Chinese studies ;)

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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.

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俗语：活到老，学到老
拼音：huó dào lǎo，xué dào lǎo
翻译：One is never too old to learn. => Lifelong Learning

Here is an often used proverb: 活到老，学到老. It is very straightforward and literally translated it means: “Live until you grow old, learn until you grow old”. Or “One is never too old to learn”. It’s like this lifelong-education bla, that I often read about.
For example:

• 我们应该活到老，学到老。
  We should make lifelong learning a habit / We should never stop learning
• 大家都知道活到老学到老的道理，可是很多人毕业了就不再主动学习了。
  We all know about the concept of lifelong learning, but many people stop to educate themselves after they graduated from school.

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俗语：功到自然成
拼音：gōng dào zì rán chéng
解释：下了足够功夫，事情自然就会取得成效
翻译：With enough effort, success will come naturally.

Today’s proverb is 功到自然成. 功 is the effort, as you might now from 功夫, 下功夫. 成 is the success, like 成效, 成就. So it means “once effort is there, success will come naturally”. Reminds me of yesterday’s Slashdot article The Secret to Raising Smart Kids which basically states that “功到自然成”.
Other news: Since my proverbs and chengyu are getting more and more, I’ll try to tag them for better looking up.
Moving on to the examples:

• 别以为自己太傻了，没有天赋。应该相信功到自然成的的道理。
  Don’t think you are stupid and untalented. Believe that you can achieve success with sufficient effort.

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Here is an overview of some common types of Chinese dictionaries. While you are learning Chinese, you may have to use one or another so I hope this helps you to find out which dictionary you need to use (or buy…).

双语词典

What everyone who is learning a foreign language needs: a dictionary for two languages. For example 英汉/汉英词典 (english-chinese/chinese-english) or 德汉/汉德词典 (german-chinese/chinese-german). It contains translations for the characters as well as for words and expressions.

新华字典

The standard Chinese dictionary. Very compact and handy for looking up words. Note however that it is a 字典, which means there are explanations for characters and some common expressions, but there is no specific list of all possible compound words and expressions. In order to use it, you already need to have a certain level of Chinese so that you understand the Chinese explanations.

词典

This dictionary is more detailed than the previous one. This means you will find less common characters in it, too. In addition there is a list of many possible expressions and compound words with the current character. The one I’m using and recommend is 现代汉语词典.

成语词典

Chengyu are Chinese idioms, one which I focus on my site, too. There are so many of them, that an entire dictionary exists. It contains their explanation, as well as their origin, an example sentence and synonyms, antonyms.

小学生词典

As the name already says this dictionary is for schoolchildren. Nevertheless, I believe it is very helpful for language learners, too, because it also contains the stroke order for each character and the most common expressions. Furthermore it is compact and clearly structured, because it only contains important, easy and commonly used characters. And maybe the illustrations in it will improve your learning experience…

同义词／反义词词典

As the name already says this dictionary contains synonyms and antonyms. It is often used by students and comes handy for writing an essay or expanding your vocabulary.

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This is a follow-up to the repetitive methods. Again, don’t forget the three aspects of a character you have to learn:

1. the pronunciation
2. the writing
3. the meaning

Now, here are some creative learning methods for learning new characters.

Analyze its structure

When you encounter a new character, this is something you should always do! Ask yourself: Is there a radical? Where is the radical positioned? How could I divide the character? Left - right (左右结构) or top - bottom (上下结构) or even left - middle - right or top - middle - bottom or is one part surrounded by another part (包围结构)? Before you get all confused and wonder what I’m talking about, here are some examples:
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One of the biggest pain of learning Chinese is memorizing all these characters. There are a hundreds, even thousands of characters one needs to master, in order to read a normal Chinese text. When you are learning a new character, always remember there are three independent aspects you have to learn:

1. the pronunciation
2. the writing
3. the meaning

This is a main difference to English, where you can usually write words you know the pronunciation of. So make sure you covered all three aspects when you are learning a new Chinese character.

In this post I will cover repetitive methods, meaning they are rather monotonous or “traditional” if you want. If you are looking for more creative methods read my follow up. However, these are all methods with which I learned most new Chinese characters:
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成语：一心一意
拼音：yī xīn yī yì
解释：只有一个心眼儿，没有别的考虑。
翻译：whole-hearted, whole-heartedly

Literally translated it would mean “with one heart and one will”. So it means you are do something with your full commitment, wholeheartedly, without thinking about other things.
Example:

• 如果要学习，就应该一心一意地去学。
  If you want to studying, you should do it whole-heartedly.

Synonym: 全心全意 (quán xīn quán yì)
Antonym: 三心二意 (sān xīn èr yì)

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