Cultural Life
Explore Chinese words for festivals, family, music and food. Every word comes with its characters, pinyin to help you say it, and the English meaning.
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Cultural Life
Cultural life is about festivals, family, food, music and traditions. In this module you will learn the key Chinese words for them. Chinese is written in characters. Every word below is shown with its characters, the pinyin in brackets to help you say it, and the English meaning.
Key words (1)
Learn these four cultural words:
Match each word to its meaning
- 节日 (jiérì)
- 家 (jiā)
- 音乐 (yīnyuè)
- 食物 (shíwù)
- festival
- family
- music
- food
What yīnyuè means in Chinese
What does the Chinese word 音乐 (yīnyuè) mean?
- music
- food
- family
- festival
Key words (2)
Now four more words about celebrations:
Match each word to its meaning
- 春节 (chūnjié)
- 传统 (chuántǒng)
- 舞蹈 (wǔdǎo)
- 歌 (gē)
- Spring Festival
- tradition
- dance
- song
Cultural life
Select the TWO things that are part of cultural life.
- Celebrating festivals with family
- Enjoying music and dance
- Ignoring all traditions
- Never celebrating anything
Choose the Chinese word
In Chinese, the word for 'family' is _____, and the word for 'music' is _____.
Characters and tones
Chinese is written in characters, each standing for a syllable or word. The pinyin in brackets shows the sound, and its tone marks (ā á ǎ à) show the pitch. The 春节 (chūnjié), or Spring Festival, is the most important festival, celebrated with family, food and fireworks.
A special day
What does the Chinese word 节日 (jiérì) mean?
- festival
- homework
- school
- the weather
Cultural life in action
Think about how cultural life works, using the words you have learned.
- During Spring Festival, families gather to share...
- The Chinese word 音乐 (yīnyuè) refers to...
- Traditions, 传统 (chuántǒng), are...
One more
The Chinese word for 'food' is _____, and the word for 'festival' is _____.
Your turn: write in Chinese
Write two or three sentences IN CHINESE about a festival and what people enjoy at it. Write in characters - the pinyin in brackets is a reading aid only.
- Name it: 节日 (jiérì - a festival) or 春节 (chūnjié - Spring Festival)
- Say what it has with 有 (yǒu - to have, there is): 节日有食物 (jiérì yǒu shíwù - a festival has food)
- Join two things with 和 (hé - and): 音乐和舞蹈 (yīnyuè hé wǔdǎo), or add 歌 (gē - song)
- Mention 传统 (chuántǒng - traditions) or 家 (jiā - home, family)