February 16th is Chinese New Year. Join Jia Jia and I so you can greet your friends, saying Happy New Year!
Charity: Hello, 你好, and welcome to Mandarin Minute. I’m Charity Lee Jennings.
Jia Jia: 你好, 我是 Jia Jia.
Charity: Jia Jia, thanks for joining us today. I’m glad you made time, even though it’s almost Chinese New Year.
Jia Jia: 是的。新年快到了。
Charity: Chinese New Year follows the lunar calendar, so for us Westerners, it’s at a different time each year.
Jia Jia: 是的。Chinese New Year is on the first day of the first month. This year it’s on February 16th.
Charity: So on the 15th we won’t sleep much, right JiaJia? There will be fireworks going off all night, as people welcome in “the year of the dog”. There are so many traditions leading up to New Year. Which is your favourite?
JiaJia: I like having a reunion with my whole family.
Charity: Oh, a family reunion. That’s pretty nice. Especially since families are so spread out these days.
Jia Jia: 是的。 我生长在一个大家庭，我奶奶生了11个孩子。
Charity: Wow, your grandma has eleven kids?
Jia Jia: 因为人太多了，所以只有每年过年才能聚全，我很喜欢和兄弟姐妹在一起的感觉。
Charity: Oh, yeah. It must be nice to see all of your family members, and cousins you don’t see any other time of the year. Well, JiaJia, when I go to Canada, people want to tell me the Chinese they know. And they often say 恭喜发财。
Jia Jia: 恭喜发财。
Charity: Right, “Wishing you wealth and prosperity.” In China, people often say this at New Year. But let’s teach our friends how to say Happy New Year, in Mandarin.
JiaJia: 好的。新年快乐。
Charity: Happy New Year.
Jia Jia: 新年快乐。
Charity: Alight, let me try. 新年快乐。
Jia Jia: 新年快乐。
Charity: Ok, let’s break that down.
Jia Jia: 新 means new.
Charity: 年, year
Jia Jia: And 快乐 means happy.
Charity: Well, thanks Jia Jia. I hope you have a Happy New Year and a wonderful family reunion. And thanks, friends, for joining us for this Chinese New Year Mandarin Minute.
Interested in learning more? Read The Days Of Chinese New Year.