Mandarin Monday: How to Talk About the US Election in Mandarin

Well well well, if you haven't been talking about the US election for the past week, let us be the first to congratulate you on regaining consciousness from your coma.

For those of you who have been talking Election '16, you may have been hearing a whole new slew of Mandarin phrases that sound unfamiliar to you. If you are going to be literate in current affairs, you'd best get familiar with a few new terms, particularly those Sinified names of new front-facing figures that do not always sound identical to their English names when converted to Mandarin.

We'll start with Donald J. Trump, whose name appears in multiple sinified formats. The most formal is 唐纳德 (Tángnàdé) 特朗普 (Tèlǎngpǔ), which is the one Xinhua, China's state media and defacto stylebook for the rest of the country, uses. However, 川普 (Chuānpǔ) is also common, and gets equal billing on Baidu's Wikipedia-like page about him. We prefer the latter as it sounds like "chew on poo," describing a little too aptly how it might feel to live in America over the next four years. It also literally means Sichuan Mandarin (四川普通话, Sìchuān pǔtōnghuà i.e. Mandarin with a Sichuan dialect). We've also heard 床破 (Chuáng pò, literally "broken bed") tossed about.

You’ve probably seen more than a few Chinese posting memes featuring the text “DT in the House” (see above), but if you’re not a fan of Mandopop you may not get the reference to the sappy David Tao/Jolin Tsai pop ballad “Today You Will Marry Me” (今天你要嫁给我), which contains multiple irritating repetitions of the couplet “Jolin in the House! DT in the House!” in English.

Below are a few other words and phrases that you might want to begrudgingly force into your Brave New World lexicon:

Hillary Clinton 希拉里·克林顿 Xīlālǐ Kèlíndùn – Not to be confused with her spouse, and former President, Bill 比尔·克林顿 Bǐ'ěr Kèlíndùn

President 总统 zǒngtǒng, as in "Not my president" 不是我的总统 Bùshì wǒ de zǒngtǒng

Democratic Party 民主党 mínzhǔ dǎng

Republican Party 共和党 gònghé dǎng

Demagogue 煽动者 shāndòngzhě 

Right wing 右派 yòupài 

Left wing 左派 zuǒpài 

Elitist 精英主义者 jīngyīng zhǔyì zhě

Racism / Racist 种族主义 / 种族主义者  zhǒngzú zhǔyì / zhǒngzú zhǔyì zhě

Sexism / Sexist 性别歧视 / 性别歧视者 xìngbié qíshì / xìngbié qíshì zhě

Homophobic 恐同性恋的 kǒng tóngxìngliàn de

Patriotism 爱国主义 / 爱国主义者 àiguó zhǔyì / àiguó zhǔyì zhě

Pantsuit 裤装 kù zhuāng

Intolerant 心胸狭窄 xīnxiōng xiázhǎi

Ignorant 愚昧 yúmèi

Sexual predator/pervert 变态 biàntài

Creep (lit. creepy uncle) 怪蜀黍 guài shǔshú

Trump (British English: a fart, to fart) 放屁 fàngpì

Protest 抗议 kàngyì

Conspiracy theory 阴谋论 yīnmóulùn

Leaked emails / Email-gate 邮件泄露 / 邮件门 yóujiàn xièlòu / yóujiàn mén

FBI 美国联邦调查局 Měiguó liánbāng diàochá jú

Electoral college 总统选举团 zǒngtǒng xuǎnjǔtuán

Libtard 白左 báizuǒ

Popular vote 普选 pǔxuǎn

Campaign slogan 竞选口号 jìngxuǎn kǒuhào

Brexit 英国退欧 Yīngguó tuìōu

Calexit 加州退出美国 Jiāzhōu tuìchū Měiguó

Wikileaks 维基解密 wéijī jiěmì

Love Trumps Hate 爱战胜恨 ai zhansheng hen

And finally some phrases to toss about:

Make America Great Again! 让美国再次伟大！ Ràng Měiguó zàicì wěidà.

This event marks the death of democracy. 这一事件代表了民主制度的死亡。 Zhè yī shìjiàn dàibiǎole mínzhǔ zhìdù de sǐwáng.

Putin is a hot piece of ass. 普京简直太性感了。 Pǔjīng jiǎnzhí tài xìnggǎnle.

We'll see armageddon soon. 我们很快将看到世界末日。 Wǒmen hěn kuài jiāng kàndào shìjiè mòrì.

I am so sick of this shit, can we please move on? 我真受不了了，我们能聊点别的吗？Wǒ zhēn shòu bú le le, wǒmen néng liáo diǎn bié de ma?

Images: p5w.net, fx110.com, lady.163.com