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en: OneDuolingo forum topic: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/25218246
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You always have to start at 一 before you can get to 二 or 三!
As 老子 (Lao Tsu) wrote, “千里之行始于足下”
A journey of a thousand li (Chinese miles) starts beneath one's feet
Pensando en la inmortalidad del cangrejo • Flags Are Not Languages
Yes, that is a very common Chinese proverb. It shows the power of "one". One step begins a journey. One character (which is literally the character for the number one) begins your journey to learning a bunch of other characters that you need for your next life in China.
By the way, there is a famous story that almost every child in China knows about: 写万字 (xie3 wan4 zi4, Writing the character for "ten thousand"). It goes like this:
Once upon a time (a bit cliché in English, but I'll still use it), there was a little boy who was learning how to write numbers in class. His teacher said, "To write the number one, you draw one horizontal line, like this: 一. To write the number two, you draw two horizontal lines, like this: 二. To write the number three, you draw three horizontal lines, like this: 三." And the child thought, "Hey, numbers are SO EASY! I know how to write every number now! So four is four horizontal lines, five is five horizontal lines, etc." He gaged his attention away from the teacher and the blackboard.
The next day, the child's father told him that there will be a guest coming to their house with the surname of 万 (wan4, "ten thousand" in Chinese). His father told him to write a letter welcoming him to the house. Of course, when you're writing a letter, you can't forget the receiver's name. So the boy got out a piece of paper and started drawing lines upon lines upon lines...
But of course, one piece of paper (front and back) was not enough for him. He stacked pages upon pages upon pages...
Then, Mr. Wan rang the doorbell and entered the house. And guess what? That's right; the child still hasn't finished writing the letter. He hasn't even finished writing Mr. Wan's surname.
An hour has passed, and it was time for the guest to leave the house. And you guessed it: the child still hasn't finished writing the letter.
THE END
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HeavenBender wrote: ↑Sat Jun 04, 2022 7:28 pmThe next day, the child's father told him that there will be a guest coming to their house with the surname of 万 (wan4, "ten thousand" in Chinese). His father told him to write a letter welcoming him to the house. Of course, when you're writing a letter, you can't forget the receiver's name. So the boy got out a piece of paper and started drawing lines upon lines upon lines...
That was his mistake... he should have simply written "it's 万derful to meet you"
Pensando en la inmortalidad del cangrejo • Flags Are Not Languages
luo-ning wrote: ↑Sun Jun 05, 2022 12:33 amHeavenBender wrote: ↑Sat Jun 04, 2022 7:28 pmThe next day, the child's father told him that there will be a guest coming to their house with the surname of 万 (wan4, "ten thousand" in Chinese). His father told him to write a letter welcoming him to the house. Of course, when you're writing a letter, you can't forget the receiver's name. So the boy got out a piece of paper and started drawing lines upon lines upon lines...
That was his mistake... he should have simply written "it's 万derful to meet you"
Haha, that's so funny! Combining languages is always a fun thing to do. But the characters probably didn't know English.
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