We have completed the prologue Havoc in Heaven and the narration style will change for the next five chapters. Let me tell you about the lord Buddha, who left Heaven and returned to Thunderclap Monastery on Soul Mountain, where he was welcomed with flying banners and rare flowers, precious treasures and bejeweled canopies by theContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 8.1”
Tag Archives: chinese
Translating Poems in Chapter 7
I. Am. Exhausted. There are at least 14 poems or monologues in verse in this chapter. Now it’s not that there weren’t poems in previous chapters. There were. When we are introduced to Erlang, the description is in verse, for example. I had just made the choice to convert these poems to prose. But thereContinue reading “Translating Poems in Chapter 7”
Journey to the West – Chapter 7.2
On the Jade Emperor’s orders, Divine Officer Youyi and Immortal Master Yi traveled directly to the foothills of Soul Mountain, to the opulent Thunderclap Monastery and paid their respects to the four guardians1 and eight bodhisattvas and troubled them to pass on their message. The messengers followed the bodhisattvas to the gilded Lotus Platform atContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 7.2”
Bus, no bus!
I was right about the language explosion. Ro is 19 months old and we are hitting that phase where more and more sounds are becoming available to him and he is starting to repeat words that we say. He is also starting to put together subject-verb phrases like 妈妈抱！(Pick me up, mama!) and 妈妈拜！(Bye mama!).Continue reading “Bus, no bus!”
Journey to the West – Chapter 7.1
They say that the heavenly troops brought the Great Sage Equal to Heaven to the execution platform and tied him to the pillar there, but he could not be harmed by guillotine nor axe nor pierced by spear nor sword. The South Polestar General ordered the immortals of the Department of Fire1 to blast himContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 7.1”
18 month Toddler Chinese/English Book Review
Hi everyone, it’s time for our first book review 🙂 These are the books Ro currently loves as an 18-month old bilingual baby. We as parents love these too, but out of all of the many, many books in our house, these are the ones he requests most often. Chinese books Sourcing Chinese board booksContinue reading “18 month Toddler Chinese/English Book Review”
Fourth word: 个!
Honestly, I’m not even sure how to explain this one. 个 is the most common measure word in Chinese, with a similar grammatical role as the word “piece” in a piece of cake or a piece of paper. Unlike piece, 个 can be used with most nouns. We use it with Ro when he’s alreadyContinue reading “Fourth word: 个!”
Journey to the West – Chapter 6.5
As the Immortal Master was running back and forth, the Plum Mountain brothers came up and surround him, saying: “Brother, did you catch the Great Sage?” The Immortal Master laughed and said, “Just now that monkey turned himself into a shrine to deceive me. Just as I was about to hit his windows and kickContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 6.5”
Journey to the West – Chapter 6.4
The Immortal Master and the Great Sage battled for over three hundred rounds with no victor. The Immortal Master mustered his powers and, with a shake of his body, grew to ten thousand fathoms1 in height. His two hands raised the three-prong double-edged glaive like the peak of Hua Mountain. His youthful face bore sharpContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 6.4”
Journey to the West – Chapter 6.3
“Barbaric monkey!” exclaimed the Immortal Master. “How dare he claim a title of Equaling Heaven?” “Quit admiring and go challenge him,” the Plum Mountain brothers said. Seeing the Immortal Master, the little monkeys guarding the camp quickly went to report. The Monkey King pulled out the Gold-Banded Staff, donned his golden armor, pulled on theContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 6.3”
Etymology Adventures 