Which chengyu should I know by heart?

[Amdir_Flassion]

I'm really bad with chengyu （成语）， and there are so many that I can't remember them off the top of my head. So I want to know what are the most commonly used ones that I should remember, to attain an intermediate level of Chinese?

Thanks

[Quest]

I think even the most commonly used ones are too many to list here. You just have to expose yourself to the language environment to pick them up.

[confucius]

It's a fair question. Let's try to help this guy!

I'm trying to think of the last several chengyu that I actually used in real life...............

*

lin shi bao fojiao

lin lang man mu

mei bu sheng shou

huo bu dan xing

xin bu zai yan

jing di zhi wa

da hai lao zhen

Ban men nong fu

Shu quan fei ri

yi jian ru gu

gan da lei bu xia yu

gua yang tou mai gou rou

hua she tian zu

*

Those are the ones I recall using within the last year. Of course I learned hundreds more a long time ago, but most have long since been forgotten due to the plain fact I just don't walk around using hundreds of chengyu every day in China. You'll remember the good ones and forget the most obscure. The first one I listed is one of my favorites. The best way to learn chengyu is by listening to what the elder natives say in their environment. You'll also see a lot of chengyu appearing in Chinese advertising copy. Good luck to you! Learning chengyu is a lifelong passion. Huo dao lao, xue dao lao!

[akdn]

I'm trying to think of the last several chengyu that I actually used in real life...............

Here are some related to the character 瞒．Man2. To decieve.

瞒上瞒下 man shang bu man xia = You may cheat the high-ups, but you cannot cheat those below you.

瞒上欺下 man shang qi xia = Decieve those above and bully those below.

瞒天过海 man tian guo hai = cross the sea under camouflage = Pull the wool over somebody's eyes.

...all of which I've had cause to repeat to my boss (in jest, of course!)

Going slightly off-topic:

When my boss is being particularly demanding I like to use Mao's 大革命不是请客吃饭 (da geming bu shi qing ke chifan = Revolution is not a dinner party)．To which unfailing comes back with the rejoinder 大革命就是请客吃饭 (da geming jiu shi qing ke chifan = Revolution IS a dinner party. A reference to corruption in the communist party)！

It's a laugh a minute in my waiban's office....(I wish).

[skylee]

Take a look at this topic, and join the game.

[confucius]

"ren shan ren hai" is another popular easy one, especially in Shanghai.

[Guest jping]

Check this document out:

http://web.singnet.com.sg/~swgoh/chengyu128-jieshi.doc

Including 128 most used 成语

[channamasala]

I can't remember the actual Chinese off the top of my head, but I remember liking "building castles on clouds", "grasshopper stopping a chariot" and one about teaching by going over lots of general points to get more broad material in (I can look that one up).

[serpentino]

well, i always wonder if it is bigger fun to learn chengyus or to use them under wrong circumstances, but it is great fun anyway. well worth the time. In my first chinese textbook in fourth or fifth lesson, while I was still struggling with NI and HAO characters, there was a bonus at the end of lesson: 熟能生巧 - shu neng sheng qiao, "Practice makes perfect."

[horas]

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http://www.hanyu.com.cn/en/htm_idioms/idioms.asp

http://schiller.dartmouth.edu/chinese/Texts/Proverbs/proverbs.html

http://www.wku.edu/~yuanh/China/proverb.html

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[nubix]

Thanks jping!

Check this document out:

http://web.singnet.com.sg/~swgoh/chengyu128-jieshi.doc

Including 128 most used 成语

[amego]

Well I think it'd be a good idea to show the Chinese characters so you can look it up and learn

lin lang man mu 琳琅满目

mei bu sheng shou 美不胜收

huo bu dan xing 祸不单行

xin bu zai yan 心不在焉

jing di zhi wa 井底之蛙

da hai lao zhen 大海捞针

Ban men nong fu 班门弄斧

Shu quan fei ri 蜀犬吠日

yi jian ru gu 一见如故

hua she tian zu 画蛇添足

ren shan ren hai 人山人海

* The following are 俗语 su2 yu3, not 成语.

lin shi bao fojiao 临时抱佛脚

gua yang tou mai gou rou 挂羊头卖狗肉

gan da lei bu xia yu 干打雷不下雨

[wan_neng]

Great to see all the helping hands extended. For my tuppence I would advise that if you want to learn idiomatic speech in any language, to the extent that you can whip out the idioms right when needed, then you need to know the story behind them.

If you used the phrase "boy who cried wolf" in front of a non-native english speaker, and they asked you what it meant, what would you do? You'd tell them the story.

The same goes with chengyu. If you hear the phrase 此不隐三百两 / ci bu yin san bai liang, and someone tells you it means "there's not three hundred taels of gold hidden here", then that means nothing. But if you read the story about the guy hiding his stolen gold, then putting up a sign where it was buried denying that the gold was buried there (to deter anyone who guessed it might be there from bothering to dig); then you'll get the idea that this chengyu should be uttered the moment you see someone denying something they could have got away with, thus drawing unwelcome attention to themselves.

Hola's link http://www.wku.edu/~yuanh/China/proverb.html seems quite helpful as it does have translations of the chengyu ( a nice starting point). And I haven't hade a chance to check the document someone nicely attached (still downloading).

But I can tell you with certainty, that if you want to learn some chengyu, then go to Amazon and spend a tenner on the book "Best Chinese Idioms". It will be monet VERY well spent. http://www.amazon.com/Best-Chinese-Idioms-Situ-Tan/dp/962238093X

Happy learning!

Wan Neng

[skylee]

此不隐三百两

IMO it is usually 此地無銀三百兩.

[wan_neng]

no wonder i couldn't find it in google...