Mandarin Review: 成／to become

One of the chapters in New Practical Chinese Reader is called 你快要成“中国通”了/you are almost becoming a "China hand". It is pronounced as chéng, and the character has the same pronunciation and tone as 诚 (indeed/if).

Example sentences of 成 also include 成了明星/he became a star. In the meaning of "accomplish," example sentences are 成不了大事/cannot achieve great deeds; 他是个能成大事的人/he is a great achiever. You can also use 成 to indicate that something is alright. E.g.成！就这么办 / ok, go ahead or 没有你可不成 / (we) are not ok without you. 成 can also mean "one tenth" as in 三成／ thirty percent.

Synonyms include

• 成为 （為）： 成为热门话题／become a hot topic (conversation).
• 变成: 把水力变成电力/the water was changed into electrical power .
• 为/為: 一分为二 ／ divide into two。
• 做： 用这间（這間）房子做教室／turn this room into a classroom.In Japanese 成 (the na in nasa) can mean to achieve or make. e.g. 大事をなす / to achieve greatness, and 意味をなさない / doesn't make sense.

In Cantonese, 成 means "succeed" and is used in the word 䏲成 ／regard as.

It seems to have a positive connotation of completion.

下年我成四年级学生。也留学生。所以，我会在大学宿舍住。

Mandarin Review: 宿舍 (dormitory/hostel)

宿舍 means “dormitory,” or  “hall of residence.”（I'm writing this with with the pinyin keyboard and trying very hard not to inadvertently write characters).

It is pronounced sùshè, which, if one wants to be clever in the literary sense, has the same pronunciation as 速射，which means "rapid fire."

宿 on its own means "stay," basically, as in 借宿一晚, to rent for or ask for a night (of lodging). 宿 can serve as a phonetic marker (as in they all have the same pronunciation) for 缩（contract），樎（rare character），蹜（also rare).

舍, on the other hand, does not have its own meaning and generally comes at the end of words that are associated with some kind of building, such as a hotel 旅舍，school building 校舍, personal home 舍下，or a humble abode 寒舍.

The two of them combined together come to meaning something like "a building to stay in."

Other means include use as a precursor for younger siblings (Oh! now I can say 我有三个（個）舍弟妹 — I have three younger siblings), or with a third tone, "give up," e.g. 舍药（藥).

A synonym includes 招待所 ／ Zhāodàisuǒ ／ guest house. I suppose the 所 is generic term for some sort of place, but whatever place it is, because of 厕所, it sounds like it might be a hole. But it is certainly not! They are much like the the famous Japanese 旅館/ryokan, usually very upmarket, and sometimes especially marketed for sexual deviants. It seems that 所 is just a very generic word for "place." This is mirrored by the Japanese 宿屋/yadoya which is specifically a Japanese style 旅館 (nice to know! Even if the etymology is Chinese *evil grin*)

Another synonym is 旅店, which means hostel. It literally translates as "travel spot," but it actually seems to mean "motel" based on a quick Google Image search I did.

In terms of writing, I always found 宿舍 difficult to remember because it has few phonological similarities with other characters. This, however, makes it easy from the point of view that you can't confuse it with other words. When I was first learning it,  I always remembered 宿 as the character that had "100 people under a single roof" and 舍 as a tongue wagging under a different type of roof. 宿 means "inn," which is self-explanatory, but 舍 actually means "cottage," and it is a type of place in which communication occurs.

Alas, there is no written equivalent in Cantonese (or my dictionary, which only offers 饭店 for "hotel," just sucks). Like, how am I supposed to talk about my awesome international dorm with the new Cantonese friends I make?

Mandarin Review: 年级 / 年級 / niánjí / level, grade

While I'm in Hong Kong, I will be studying Mandarin/Pútōnghuà. And my Chinese final exam is on Thursday. So every day this week, I will do an article on a new Chinese word with pronunciation, example sentences, character meaning, etymology, usage, special notes on stroke order, and if I can manage it, usages in popular media, twitter and/or literature where they are relevant. I want to learn Traditional characters, so wherever the traditional commonly differs from the Simplified I shall include them after the simplified or in brackets where there is only one or two different characters in a sentence. My assumption in these articles is that they are not for absolute beginners of Chinese: Ideally, they are suited for people at my level: People who have been studying Mandarin for one year outside of China.

My first object of analysis is niánjí 年级, which is the word that you use when you're talking about which "year level" or grade of school you are at. It's a counter word, so it always comes after numbers and before nouns, as in the sentence 你几年级？／ Nǐ jǐ niánjí? ／lit: you how many year level? / trans: what is your year level? 是三年级学生 / Wǒ shì Sān niánjí xuéshēng / I am a third year student. Next year, after I complete my exchange, I will be a 四年级学生. 我的妹妹唸几（幾）年级？Wǒ de mèimei niàn jǐ niánjí? 我想。。。我的姐妹都在TAFE唸一年級。

Synonyms include 等级, Děngjí, which I guess, since 级 means "level" by itself and 等 can mean "grade/class" on its own e.g. 共分三等 /Gòng fēn sān děng / (something that has been) classified into three grades, indicating a more general meaning than 年级, which literally means "year level." 品级 / Pǐnjí can be used for "grade" as well, but since 品 means goods, it may refer to the quality of merchandise or something. 级别 / Jíbié refers to one's level within an organisation as opposed to their year level within the marking system, e.g. 教授级别 / Jiàoshòu jíbié / professor level. or 学生级别 / Xuéshēng jíbié. For instance, 可以申请教练级别的对应关系 / 可以申請教練級別的對應關係 / Xuéshēng jíbié kěyǐ shēnqǐng jiàoliàn jíbié de duìyìng guānxì / Students may choose the teaching level curriculum (That's not the literal translation, but if you check the website, which is one of many martial arts schools in China, you can tell the meaning from context.) 年度 ／niándù refers to the the calendar year, e.g. 年度计划 / 年度計劃 / Niándù jìhuà / annual plan.

Now for the characters: 年 can be tricky for beginners to write nicely because they don't realise that the vertical line through the middle must go last. But as a basic character with a similar pronunciation to the Japanese nen, it is self-explanatory. 級 has the phonetic component ji which it shares with 及 and极 (as in 好极了）, and the radical means "silk," which I have no idea how to explain. I mean, why on earth would you use a wood radical for 极？

You may notice that a lot of words have two characters with the same meaning, such as 等级. I'm not sure myself yet why this is the case, I think it has something to do with how Classical Chinese has had to adapt to European style writing. Another thing you may notice is that when reading Chinese and trying to get the meaning, you often have to read the entire sentence (at the very least) to get the meaning of the various components. This is because Chinese, like English, is highly inflected, meaning that meanings are dependent on the location in the sentence.

The meaning is the same for written Cantonese (pronunciation: nìhn4kāp1), but not for Japanese (nen), which omits the 級. The first part of 三年学生　sannen gakusei sounds almost similar to Mandarin!

＊Note: Example sentences are taken from the Cambridge Chinese dictionary or scribe origins.

10 Things I learned from applying for an exchange programme

1. It's always worth applying for and finishing exchange programmes even if you don't think you'll make it.
2. Institutions that are involved in the exchanges are primarily concerned with filling spaces with reasonably adept candidates.
3. It's always monumentally easier to get all paperwork done in person if possible.
4. It can be difficult to find teachers to give you academic recommendations, but this is easier if you do the exchange later on in your degree.
5. Some universities have 2 semesters, whilst others have 2 terms. Timetabling always varies.
6. Many courses in Hong Kong are taught in English.
7. Cantonese has a lot of glottal stops.
8. Hong Kong is not a popular place to go on exchange in Australia (everyone wants to go to China or Japan).
9. It's like a job application: You have to explain what you have to offer and why your exchange is worth all the fuss.
10. The more communication with staff from institutions and fellow exchange students, the easier it is to fulfil all the requirements.