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.)

Welcome to Terracotta Typewriter’s fifth issue. This marks the beginning of our second year of publication.

Download your PDF copy here.

In this issue we have a feature interview with Peter Hessler, the author of Country Driving, Oracle Bones, and River Town. We have poetry from Kate Bergen, Joanne Olivieri, and Jim Davis, Jr. We also have an exquisite corpse experiment with a few of our poetic friends: Rob Schackne, Susi Niedbalski, Andrew Carpino, Doug Johnson, and Prasanna Surakanti. We have fiction from Jack Frey, Jennifer Hecker, and Kevin Wu.

You can download our previous issues from the Issues Page.

In the U.S., April is National Poetry Month. It was introduced in 1996 and deserves much more recognition than it currently gets. For those of you currently in the U.S., The Academy of American Poets has an interactive map on its Web site that lists events for the month (and beyond). You can access the map at http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/382 .

We encourage our readers to write at least one poem every day for the month of April. That should give you enough for a chapbook by the end of the month. You should also read poetry daily no matter what month it is.

Terracotta Typewriter would like to wish everyone a happy St. Patrick’s Day–even if you aren’t Irish, you can pretend to be for the day. We know how difficult it can be to celebrate the day with a good pint of Guinness and some corned beef in China (we never did find corned beef anywhere in the Middle Kingdom), but there are always substitutes. If you live in a city with a Wal-Mart, you can at least find bottles of Guinness Foreign Export (which just doesn’t taste as good as draught, but it’ll do).

If you teach English in China, we encourage you teach a few lessons in Gaelic.

For those of you looking for a writing prompt for today, we suggest channeling one of the many great Irish writers. And if you happen to be in Dublin, go visit the Irish Writers Museum and take a literary pub tour of the city.

For those interested in how to say St. Patrick’s Day in Chinese: 圣帕特里克节 Shèngpàtèlǐkèjié

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.)