May 28, 2026
When my dad was visiting me, we would have giam(7) chai3 during every single meal. My aunt packed two jars of it so I wanted to get through a little bit each day. Sometimes I would put the giam chai in small bowls, but other times I would use a little saucer. I referred to it as a dih8, but my dad would tell me, actually it's a dih(4) gian2.
Wait you can't just say dih8?
Maybe, but people will understand you better if you use dih(4) gian2
dih gian? Like little?
Little is dih(8) gian2. Saucer is dih(4) gian2
Ahhh, I see.
May 26, 2026
Family visits always throw me off, but I'm trying to get back into regularly practicing my teochew! I've added a few more translations:
- meal
- snack
- to pick up the phone
May 25, 2026
My dad and cousin visited me last week, and as part of that, my aunt gave them a whole bunch of food, so I didn't have to cook for them at all! One of the dishes that my aunt made was cheng1 bou(6) liang5 清補涼, a Chinese herbal soup that has pork and a lot of ingredients that I don't know the name of! My dad told me that it takes a long time to make, and you typically wouldn't find it at a restaurant. I asked him to break down the name of the soup, and this is how he described each syllable:
- cheng1 - "clear"
- bou2 - "vitamin"
- liang5 - "cold"
He also told me that bou2 means to mend clothes, and he seemed to think that was a different word than the bou2 in the name of this soup, but after searching around a bit, I think they are the same bou2!
So with this context, I was able to find 清補涼. I went down a little bit of a rabbit hole searching this term, and I learned that this either refers to a warm, savory soup OR a sweet, cold drink! But they're like, two variations on the same dish I guess. Also the internet tells me it's a Cantonese dish: "Ching po leung". I even found the Woks of Life recipe for it!
May 15, 2026
Did you know that I sometimes add flavor text to my translations? I just added some for the entry "only"!
May 13, 2026
I was re-listening to a converation that I had with my aunt a while ago, and from that, I've added these words:
- to stick into
- to sprout
- to jump
- dirt
We talked a little bit about her basil plant that she tried to grow. She also told me how easy it was to plant my own herbs, but I do not have the time and energy for that now.
I realized that I had a bunch of words under the "Outside" category and I've finally added a new category called "Weather" and moved a bunch of those outside words over to weather.
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