Last week I found another way to enjoy Mandarin Monday–with a group meet up. Apparently there are a few hundred groups around the world that meet up on Mondays to speak Mandarin. The groups that I’ve come across are listed on the site meetup.com, which is a social networking site that gets people to meet in person. Most of the groups are in the U.S., but it looks like there are a few in Europe, Australia, and Asia.

If you’d like to get involved, check out the Web site to find a group near you. Or you can start your own group to find people interested in studying Mandarin. The publisher of Terracotta Typewriter is now participating in the group in New York City.

There are also other Mandarin language groups that do not participate in Mandarin Monday, but we won’t hold that against them.

We’re experiencing simultaneous heat waves in the US and China. It’s very unpleasant for those without decent air conditioners.

Because the heat is making us lethargic, we’re giving you a Mandarin Monday post dedicated to this weather.

Heat wave: 热浪 (rè làng)

The heat wave broke my air conditioner.

这热浪毁掉我的空调。

zhè rè làng huǐdiào wǒde kōngtiáo。

Today we have another Mandarin Monday post to go with the World Cup, despite the English-speaking countries being knocked out of the competition. This is probably one of the more difficult words for which to find a translation, but it defines this year’s World Cup in South Africa (南非 nánfēi) and provides a nice China connection.

Vuvuzela (that loud plastic horn that is now invading countries around the world): 呼呼赛拉 hūhu sàilā

In case you’ve been living under a rock, we’d like to remind you that the World Cup has kicked off in South Africa. We’ll give you a few useful words and phrases to go along with the event.

Soccer (football to you non-Americans): 足球 (zúqiú)

World Cup: 世界杯 (shìjièbēi)

Goal: 进球得分 (jìnqiú défēn)

Getting published is like scoring a goal at the World Cup.
出版一本书就好像在世界杯进球得分。(chūbǎn yìběn shū jiùhǎo xiàng zài shìjièbēi jìnqiú défēn.)

That’s right, you get two holidays for the price of one this Wednesday. Across China, the people are celebrating Dragon Boat Festival (端午节 duānwǔjié) with glutinous rice snacks known as zòngzi (粽子). For the poet in us, it’s a day to mourn the death of Qū Yuán (屈原).

As it follows the lunar calendar, Dragon Boat Festival falls on another important literary holiday this year: Bloomsday. It’s a day to commemorate James Joyce’s (詹姆斯 乔伊斯 zhānmǔsī qiáoyīsī) novel Ulysses (尤利西斯 Yóulìsàisī). There will be plenty of readings of the novel around the world–there’s even a Yiddish reading of it in New York. For the most ambitious of us, there is a Chinese translation of Ulysses (no word on if there’s a public reading of the Chinese version anywhere).

These Monday holidays in the US always throw us off our schedule. The Memorial Day weekend was full of barbecues and fun.

Today’s Mandarin Monday (Tuesday) phrase:

I forgot it was Monday because of the holiday. I’ll get it to you on Tuesday.

星期一我忘了因为是节假日，我星期二答复你。(xīngqīyī wǒ wàngle yīnwèi shì jié zuò rì. Wǒ xīngqīèr dáfù nǐ.)

Welcome back to Mandarin Monday. This week we have an idiom for you that can be applied to writing.

画蛇添足 (huà shé tiān zú) means to add feet to a snake. It is used to describe someone who adds something unnecessary, thus ruining the original work (the remakes of Star Wars come to mind…).

Your novel is well written. If you write more it will be adding feet to a snake.

你的小说写得很好。别再多写了不然就是画蛇添足了。(nǐ de xiǎo shuō xiě de hěnhǎo. bié zài duō xiěle bùrán jiù shì huà shé tiān zúle.)

We’re trying to get back on track with our weekly features. Now that Issue #4 is online, we should have more time to focus on other aspects of the literary journal.

This week we hope our Mandarin Monday post will inspire us to come up with more short weekly lessons for our readers.

Our Mandarin word for the day is:
Muse: 希腊神话 xīlàshénhuà (in relation to the Greek myth)

Muse: 灵感 línggǎn (in relation to sudden inspiration)

I lost my muse and have writer’s block.
我失去了我的灵感，思路完全受阻。(wǒ shīqùle wǒde línggǎn, sīlù wánquán shòuzǔ.)

Xujun Eberlein brought a new piece of Mandarin slang to my attention in a post on her blog. 最牛 is used as an adjective that doesn’t seem to have an equivalent in English–Xujun does a great job of trying to explain it uses and potential meanings. 牛 is cow, and can be used as an adjective to describe someone as being good in some way. 最牛, therefore would translate to “most cow.” Though, it seems that the term is being used in a semi-sarcastic sense.

Anyway, 最牛 is a fun new word for those of us still learning Chinese. We’re open to your translations of this word. And we’re also open to any submissions of poetry or prose that somehow incorporate this Chinese word or translation (literal or otherwise).

While you go off and debate it meaning and use, we’ll coin a new English word from this: cowiest. Example: Bill was the cowiest executive at the bank, and was the first to be laid off.