Chinese Idioms in English The Chinese idiom in English or Chengyu 笨鸟先飞 (bèn niǎo xiān fēi) breaks down to stupid (笨 – bèn) bird (鸟 – niǎo) first (先 – xiān) flies (飞 – fēi). Simply translated in English: a ‘stupid bird flies first’ or ‘the clumsy bird flies early’. These refers to those that[…]
Chinese Chengyu – 狗急跳墙 – A Nervous Dog Jumps Over the Wall The chéngyǔ 狗急跳墙 (gǒu jí tiào qiáng) breaks down to a dog (狗 gǒu) nervous (急 jí) jumps (跳 tiào) wall (墙 qiáng) Or, in more standard English, ‘A nervous dog jumps over the wall.’ While it may make sense on the surface,[…]
Animal Chengyu – Drawing a snake and adding legs to it? Animal Chinese Chengyu 画蛇添足 (huà shé tiān zú ) breaks down to drawing (画 huà ) snake (蛇shé) add (添tiān) legs/feet (足 zú). In English, we would say “drawing the snake and adding legs to it” or simply “adding legs to a snake.” This chéngyǔ[…]