Cracked.com’s list of the top 10 foreign words the English language needs is truly hilarious. Yes, the English language should have a word for someone with nothing but bad luck (that’s schlimazl, from Yiddish) or the look that passes between two people with the same desire but no ability to initiate it (mamihlapinatapai, from Yaghan). But I was sad to see the list didn’t have any Chinese words on it. I think there are a couple of worthy contenders:
- 麻烦 (mafan): This is an all-purpose word for annoyance or trouble. It can be an adjective or a noun, and if you have the misfortune to tangle with Chinese bureaucracy, you will use it a lot. Police won’t process your paperwork without a red stamp? It’s a mafan. Spend an hour chasing down a cool restaurant you read about, only to find it’s disappeared? It’s a mafan.
- 差不多 (chabuduo): It’s the Chinese equivalent of “comme ci, comme ca,” but so much more versatile. When you’re buying vegetables at the market, you can ask for “chabuduo yi jin” — roughly one jin, or 500 grams. If you’re trying to explain that you’re from New Jersey, and your interlocutor keeps thinking you’re from New York, you say it’s chabuduo.
I fully expect to keep using these words when I get back to the States. They’re just too useful.
And I’ll add one bonus to the list: 老外 (laowai). I don’t think English has much use for it, but it’s one of the most common words you will hear in China. Literally, the two characters translate as something like “old outside”; actually, it means “foreigner.” While not as pejorative as the Cantonese “gwailo,” or foreign devil, it isn’t exactly polite, either. Once you’re out of the laowai-filled neighborhoods of Beijing and Shanghai, you’ll hear this all the time as people tell their friends to stare at you.
(Thanks to Gadling for the link.)
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