Staying at home? Learn Chinese – 8

Today’s will be a short lesson, inspired by what I’ve seen recently on the Internet.

Lesson 8 ບົດຮຽນທີ8

Recently, I saw this website of an organisation in Laos that does nature conservation (https://www.conservationlaos.com/), and I learnt from a friend how to say ‘nature conservation’ in Lao language.

ອະນຸລັກ ທຳມະຊາດ

保护大自然 Listen here:

ການອະນຸລັກ ທຳມະຊາດ

自然保护 Listen here:

‘大自然’ (da4 zi4 ran2) and ‘自然’(zi4 ran2) mean the same thing: nature. ‘大’ (da4) means big, giving the sense of the vastness of nature.

SGAG is a media/news company in Singapore that uses humour to keep people interested in and updated about current affairs. Recently, they came up with a meme to remind people about the importance of self-isolation in Singapore during the covid-19 outbreak, using a wordplay on the Chinese language.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-imDtIJvbu/

In Lao, it roughly means (sorry if it’s not the most correct!):

ກັກກັນ: ສິດ​ທິ​ມະ​ນຸດ ໝົດແລ້ວ

ບໍ່ກັກກັນ: ທຸກຄົນ ໝົດແລ້ວ

ເຈົ້າເລືອກ

隔离， 人权没了 Listen here:

不隔离，人全没了Listen here:

你选。Listen here:

In the Chinese language, it is often the case that words sound exactly the same but mean very different things. To know the meaning of the word, it will help to know the context.

Try: How would you say ‘ບໍ່ອະນຸລັກທຳມະຊາດ: ທຸກຄົນໝົດແລ້ວ’ in Chinese?