HSK 2: Media & Culture

Media & Culture: Vocabulary for entertainment, music, and film

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Pinyin is the standard romanisation used to show Mandarin pronunciation using the Latin alphabet. You’ll often see tone marks on the vowels to show the four tones (plus the neutral tone), for example mā / má / mǎ / mà / ma. “Numbered pinyin” shows the same tones using a number after the syllable instead of tone marks, for example ma1 / ma2 / ma3 / ma4 / ma (sometimes written as ma5 for the neutral tone). Numbered pinyin is handy when you can’t easily type tone marks, while tone-mark pinyin is usually easier to read once you’re used to it.

报纸

  • Pinyin: bào zhǐ
  • Numbered pinyin: bao4 zhi3
  • English translation: newspaper

春节

  • Pinyin: Chūn jié
  • Numbered pinyin: Chun1 jie2
  • English translation: Spring Festival

故事

  • Pinyin: gù shì
  • Numbered pinyin: gu4 shi4
  • English translation: story

广告

  • Pinyin: guǎng gào
  • Numbered pinyin: guang3 gao4
  • English translation: advertisement

过年

  • Pinyin: guò nián
  • Numbered pinyin: guo4 nian2
  • English translation: to celebrate the New Year

  • Pinyin: huà
  • Numbered pinyin: hua4
  • English translation: to draw, painting

画家

  • Pinyin: huà jiā
  • Numbered pinyin: hua4 jia1
  • English translation: painter, artist

画儿

  • Pinyin: huà r
  • Numbered pinyin: hua4 r5
  • English translation: picture, drawing

节目

  • Pinyin: jié mù
  • Numbered pinyin: jie2 mu4
  • English translation: program, show

流行

  • Pinyin: liú xíng
  • Numbered pinyin: liu2 xing2
  • English translation: popular

明星

  • Pinyin: míng xīng
  • Numbered pinyin: ming2 xing1
  • English translation: celebrity, star

晚报

  • Pinyin: wǎn bào
  • Numbered pinyin: wan3 bao4
  • English translation: evening newspaper

晚会

  • Pinyin: wǎn huì
  • Numbered pinyin: wan3 hui4
  • English translation: evening party, gala

小说

  • Pinyin: xiǎo shuō
  • Numbered pinyin: xiao3 shuo1
  • English translation: novel, fiction

笑话

  • Pinyin: xiào huà
  • Numbered pinyin: xiao4 hua5
  • English translation: joke

笑话儿

  • Pinyin: xiào huà r
  • Numbered pinyin: xiao4 hua5 r5
  • English translation: joke (colloquial)

新闻

  • Pinyin: xīn wén
  • Numbered pinyin: xin1 wen2
  • English translation: news

音乐

  • Pinyin: yīn yuè
  • Numbered pinyin: yin1 yue4
  • English translation: music

音乐会

  • Pinyin: yīn yuè huì
  • Numbered pinyin: yin1 yue4 hui4
  • English translation: concert

影片

  • Pinyin: yǐng piàn
  • Numbered pinyin: ying3 pian4
  • English translation: film, movie

照片

  • Pinyin: zhào piàn
  • Numbered pinyin: zhao4 pian4
  • English translation: photo, picture

照相

  • Pinyin: zhào xiàng
  • Numbered pinyin: zhao4 xiang4
  • English translation: to take a photo

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