Zhōngguó jiā yóu! - Go China go!

Now that the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games have already started, it is just about the right time to practice some sports terms in Chinese, so that you'll get the tones right when cheering for the Chinese team!

The Chinese have two commonly used terms to designate the Olympic Games. The more official and longer version is aòlínpĭkè yùndòng hùi, and as you might guess, the aò-lín-pĭ-kè part of it is more or less phonetically derived from the relevant English term “Olympics”. Yùndòng hùi stands for “sports event”.

Another short and practical term used to refer to the Olympics is aò yùn hùi, in which you have the first characters of the above long version compiled together. Well, that's ever more practical for the foreigners!

Chinese cheer for their own -- and other athletes -- by chanting jiā yóu! Literally speaking jiā is the verb “to add” and yóu means “oil”. In front of jiā yóu you just place Zhōngguó (China) or whatever country or athlete is your favorite one.

China has such a mighty team attending their own Olympics, that the Chinese team, Zhōngguó duì, is very likely to lead the Olympic medal count. If that really happens, it will be celebrated as the number one country, dì yī míng (第一名) , of the 2008 Olympic Games.

The Fuwas welcome the Olympic guests to Beijing. (Image: Radio86)The cute Olympic mascots, Fúwá 福娃 , are named:

Bèibei 贝贝
Jīngjing 晶晶
Huānhuan 欢欢
Yíngying 迎迎
Nīni 妮妮

The names of these mascots (written with characters that have similar pronunciation) spell out:

Běijīng huānyíng nǐ! 北京欢迎你, “Beijing welcomes you!”

Beijing Paralympic Games Běijīng cán aò hùi, which will take place in September have their very own cutie as mascot, Fú Niú Lèle 福牛乐乐 “The Happy Cow”, that is!

Some Olympic vocabulary:

Zhōngguó jiā yóu! 中国加油! Go China Go!
aòlínpĭkè yùndòng hùi 奥林匹克运动会 / aò yùn hùi 奥运会 Olympic Games
duì 队 team
Zhōngguó duì 中国队 Chinese team
jīnpái 金牌 gold medal
yínpái 银牌 silver medal
tóngpái 铜牌 bronze medal
Guójiā tĭyùchăng 国家体育场 Olympic stadium (= National stadium)
Niăocháo 鸟巢 Bird's Nest
Shuĭlìfāng 水立方 Water Cube ( = National Aquatics Center)

If you do not wish to learn any more Olympic vocabulary, how about the slogan for the Beijing 2008 Games?

“One world, One Dream” - Tóng yī gè shìjiè, Tóng yī gè mèngxiăng 同一个世界, 同一个梦想