We’re trying to raise Baby-Ao to be trilingual, so the language I’m responsible for is Mandarin Chinese, which is a big ask, since my Chinese is laughably crap. I went back home for my friend’s wedding this past November, and the guys who knew me from back in the days were quite stunned that I was speaking so much Chinese – probably more Chinese in the course of several hours, than they had ever heard from me during the years they had known me.

Anyway, since it’s difficult to get toddler Chinese books in the UK, of the type I’ve grown to really like for kids (e.g. “Dear zoo“, “Wow! said the owl“), which I would have previously thought were ridiculous and overpriced (What… so few words on a page??), I tend to just live translate the books for Baby-Ao. This works fine if the vocabulary is sufficiently simple. But there are some books which I really struggle with, e.g. “The Bad-tempered ladybird“, because I don’t know virtually all the names of the animals in the book, which is why I’ve never read that specific book to him, for example.

So, I have to do some homework / self-study, in order to be able to read the book to him in future. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but have kept procrastinating until now.

Below are some animal-themed Chinese vocabulary from two specific books on my to-translate list, for the sinitically-challenged.

Bad-tempered ladybird | 坏脾气的瓢虫 Huài píqì de piáo chóng

• Ladybird | 瓢虫 Piáo chóng
• Aphid | 蚜虫 Yá chóng
• Wasp | 黄蜂 Huáng fÄ“ng
• Stag beetle | 锹形甲虫 Qiāo xíng jiÇŽ chóng
• Praying mantis | 螳螂 Táng láng
• Sparrow | 麻雀 Má què
• Lobster | 龙虾 Lóngxiā
• Skunk | 臭鼬 Chòu yòu
• Boa constrictor | 蟒蛇 MÇŽng shé
• Hyena | 鬣狗 Liè gÇ’u
• Gorilla | 大猩猩 Dà xÄ«ng xÄ«ng
• Rhinoceros | 犀牛XÄ« niú
• Elephant | 象 Xiàng
• Whale | 鲸鱼 JÄ«ng yú

Panda, Panda, What do you see? | 熊猫,熊猫, 你看到什么?

• Panda | 熊猫 Xióng māo
• Bald eagle | 白头鹰 Bái tóu yÄ«ng
• Water buffalo | 水牛 Shuǐ niú
• Spider monkey | 蜘蛛猴 ZhÄ« zhÅ« hóu
• Green sea turtle | 绿海龟 LÇœ hÇŽi guÄ«
• Macaroni penguin | 马可罗尼企鹅 MÇŽ kÄ› luó ní qì’é
• Sea lion | æµ·ç‹® HÇŽi shÄ«
• Red wolf | 红狼 Hóng láng
• Whooping crane | 鸣鹤 Míng hè
• Black panther | 黑豹 HÄ“i bào