Niubi: American Book Teaches Chinese Crude Language

From Mop (1 and 2):

See how Americans learn Chinese!! Shocking

Niubi!: The Real Chinese You Were Never Taught in School. Sure enough, even the front cover is amazing…shocking….


These images of the book have appeared on many Chinese BBS forum as well as the popular Kaixin001 social network.

Comments from Mop:

wangyupengzl:

This post is going to be hot, must leave my name here first…

iorychan:

Too shocking.

发誓不再吃鱼:

English textbooks don’t teach “FUCK you” either.

retrtrdf:

……….speechless…

peterlin456:

Considering buying one…

gāмê dēsīgиér:

Amazing!!!

芣苡幸福:

Niu bi.

caizhu2010:

Why do I feel like this is saying us Chinese are uncivilized?

快乐的小处男:

Americans are awesome!!!

春哥暴了曾哥菊:

Stop polluting the Han language.

荷韵青云:

That’s obviously chinglish.

小坏坏O:

This page shows popular words commonly used to address Korean people.

暗骚难防8:

Honestly speaking, that’s rather human/practical. [Imagine] in a few months the laowai coming to Shanghai will have niu bi speaking skills. TM, it will be awesome!

ljc138427566:

If you’re going to learn something, learn something that’s useful. Fuck!!!!

人字拖OL:

You’re all still fucking laughing? This is purely insulting us Chinese… as if Chinese people don’t know anything else but dirty language…

天脏了。:

I think I should go buy one just to learn English~~

こ執谜吥~悟:

American bastards, insulting the Han language. What place doesn’t have swear words? America has plenty.

曼卡卡:

Not bad, laowai are finally starting to learn genuine Chinese, the world is starting to catch the Chinese fever.

In a few years we should see laowai in movies using our “grass mud horse”.

潇湘风雨夜:

Grass mud horse” has finally gone global~

孑狐:

Is this book’s author out of her mind? Won’t this destroy our great “river crab” society?!

However….. now I finally know how to write the character “bi”….

嗜血殘陽:

The great “Brother Chun” and the holy “Grass Mud Horse” have gone global now, just missing “Ma Le Ge Bi” now.

处子之心:

Wow, Amazon.com really does sell this “NIUBI” teaching book.

艾米纳扬:

niubility

灰机灰得高:

NEW BEE

hackmax:

Americans are once again misrepresenting Chinese culture.

钻孔机:

Grass mud horse=fuck your mother’s horse

、xiaoFx。:

My grass mud horse fa ke you!!!!

对着便池喝啤酒:

We use their “fa ke you“, now they steal our “grass mud horse”.

我新手很低调:

Aiya, Americans are way too talented, it’s no different from Chinese people learning English from “o ye” [oh yeah!], “ka mu ang bei bi” [come on, baby!], “o xie te” [oh shit], “fa ke you” [fuck you].

If you are interested, you can buy the book from Amazon.com for ~$10 USD.

卡姆昂北鼻! chinaSMACK personals.

67 Comments

  1. I need to get a copy. brilliant

  2. Seems like these netizens aren’t aware that there’s an industry here for books about the vulgar, colloquial side of every language.

  3. This is the book that would help American born Chinese kiddies learn the language their parents never taught/exposed around them. Yay

  4. Hahahahaha I have this book. What’s the fuss about though? I learned most of the profanity I know in Mandarin Chinese from friends I made in Beijing, not from a book made in America. The average person is going to want to know the swears in the language they are learning. When you are frustrated how else would one truly express their feelings? :)

  5. As usual, the Taiwanese are 10 years ahead of the Mainland and have published an equivalent book for English swear words: http://www.silkbook.com/book_Detail.asp?goods_ser=kk0033305&flag=1

    Although as an English speaker who owns it, I find it hilarious and not particularly accurate.

    • As usual…

      I wonder how long it will take before some zealous Chinese national goes ape-shit over your characterization about China’s backwardsness with over-hypenated semi-retarded retorts and same ass-wipe generalizations which you people seemed so fond of.

      oh wait…

      ;(

  6. this lady was already interviwed by jeremy goldkorn last year just go check it out on danwei.org unfortunately if you aren’t running on vpn or some sort of proxy you can’t see it. why the hell did danwei have to be rivercrabbed it was a good website.

  7. Why do comments take so long to show up now? And sometimes they don’t show up at all. What’s going on here :(

    [Note from Fauna: Your comments are appearing in Spam folder. You can email me for more information.]

  8. For $10 I might buy a copy. Might be more useful than “Making Out in Chinese” which wasn’t quite as vulgar. It was only a matter of time before this book came out–they have them for most popular languages.

  9. Wow I found that book in Borders one day while Christmas Shopping I read through a few pages and thought about Buying it but didn’t damn I sure made the wrong choice

  10. They should do a Cantonese version! Cantonese profanity is way more vulgar than mandarin.

  11. I got this book for my mum for Christmas after hearing about it on danwei;

    http://www.danwei.org/featured_video/danwei_interview_with_eveline.php

    • nice interview. i like how the author, eveline chao, explains what “fisting” is. i would like to fist her.

    • Just wanted to post same link. Interview explains what this book is about and why some words aren’t there.

      Anyway, dictionaries of colloquial languages are very popular and useful books, if you are really into that culture.

  12. In Korea someone published a book teaching people English using what they already knew from playing Starcraft as a starting point. I’m not kidding, I found some pictures here:

    http://www.siliconera.com/2008/01/21/master-english-with-the-power-of-starcraft-english/

  13. I can’t believe people pay to learn swear words. Swear words in any language should be learned with ease from a native speaker.

  14. Could have used this several years ago.

  15. Welcome to ChinaSMACK Papito!

  16. TAI NIU BI LA! ZHEN NIU BI YA!

  17. This book’s been on sale in China for ages, I have seen many times in the Sh book city. I am surprised the MOP people didn’t find about it before.

  18. Lets compare:

    Jesse Sheidlower’s book: The F-Word – 270 pages (in the updated edition) of phrases and slang just using the word: fuck.

    Eveline Chao’s book: Niubi! – 188 pages of mixed curse words.

    I think someone has been fucking slacking off.

    You can do better.

    Try harder.

    Add oil!

    ____________________________________

    Some links:
    http://www.amazon.com/F-Word-Jesse-Sheidlower/dp/0195393112/ref=sr_1_36?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264572911&sr=1-36

    also:
    http://www.amazon.com/English-Second-cking-Language-Effectively/dp/031214329X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b

  19. You’re all a bunch of cow cunts!

    COW CUNTS!

  20. The Chinese who are insulted by this should be excuted.

  21. sill got in stock?

  22. 垫子咬者 maybe

  23. Agree with MM. Mandarin lacks the piquancy of Cantonese swear words. ‘Cao ni ma’ sounds a little too polite compared to a good old fashioned ‘diu nei lo mo.’

  24. Nothing new here. There are plenty of similar books out there. Never had a look at the “Foreign Language” section in your book store?

    1994
    Outrageous Chinese [978-0835125321]

    1995
    Mutant Mandarin [978-0835125437]

    And many more….

  25. Outrageous Chinese is a great book. Picked it up at my uni library while studying Chinese. Should have seen the teachers face when she came into class and b was written on the board as the actual character. Haha

  26. I guess it’s better than learning the words accidentally, like when people translate “to do” from Chinese to English and use the “informal” version.

    Yes, that’s why there are so many mistranslations where they use the f-word instead of some form of “do” … (see http://www.engrish.com/adults-only/ for examples).

    Oh well, I’m sure they get plenty of amusement out of those “Chinese” tattoos that are pure gibberish, where some poor sod tried to write their name using ridiculous, incomplete and sometimes backwards characters. For example, that one guy who tried to “spell” his last name by finding a character where the first letter of the pinyin matched the letter he wanted. He ended up with “三草哈你愛愛人耳” on his arm.

  27. ohh yeaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh, I gonna post in this legendary threadddd

  28. lol man, i’m chinese but indonesian born,don’t be too stiff. this is purely for entertainment purpose LOL. I couldn’t speak chinese well, with this, it will be even better HAHAHAHAHHHAAHAHA

  29. Why do people want to learn to swear in Chinese? How will it benefit them – to annoy people when they are drunk? Making Out in Japanese in the 90s just taught a load of dreadful expressions that sound ridiculous when spoken by a foreigner. Swear in your own language!

  30. lol fun book XD i want it- this would be funny in my language too hahaha~

  31. I bought this book in Hong Kong a few months ago….it is quite interesting.

    For foreigners working in China having knowledge that someone is swearing at you, dissing you is very powerful.
    Being able to drop a correct word or phrase at the correct time is incredibly powerful! I don’t use the book to learn/use ‘swearing’ as such – I use it to show that I am ‘above gutter talk’ and can handle ignorant and rude people in a polite manner…..the fact that I know what they are saying and refuse to be drawn into it is quite compelling. This always impressses the onlooking crowd in the daily interactions we have!

    In fact, I had heard many of the phrases while living here – mostly in jest and ribbing of others around friends – so actually knowing their full ‘shock value’ is important around others, especially if you don’t wish to offend. I have had ‘bad translations’ of these by my ‘friends’ who think it is funny for a foreigner to use them in general conversation…..sure, it is…but not in all situations!

    The experience of China is in many ways cultured and in many ways crude – enjoying it for both things is the essence of the culture. I have been in situations where people can quote beautiful ancient verses and play on words and ideas, and also ones where a simple ‘crude’ expression sums up the situation perfectly!

  32. It’s also useful to be able to understand when someone is swearing at you in Chinese. LEARNING the foul words and expressions, does not mean you have to SAY them.

  33. 宁愿牛B不要装B,宁愿装B不要傻B。。。

  34. I was once on a train in Hebei and a very young Chinese girl wanted to practice her English on me.
    During our faltering conversation, she produced a book from her bag. I saw that it was produced by an American living in Beijing. I took a quick look at it and found such expressions as: “Hell Man, I mean shit! where can I buy some condoms?” I was quite at a loss how to explain to this innocent young girl, that this was not entirely English.

    If there was ever an oportunity for exports to China from the West it should be cultured English books from the UK.
    WE of course have speakers of ‘rubbish English’ here, but thankfully they don’t get into print on how to instruct others.

  35. Why is that “shocking” I tought 18 year old kids in Beijing for one year and every second phrase contained Niu Bi and beyond—it’s just the way people talk today…No problem..

  36. This story made me think of this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26UA578yQ5g

  37. I’m actually considering buying this. As a female laowai I could hardly come across anything harsher than ‘sha bi’ as my a)Chinese girlfriends refused to tell me any vulgar words, b)Chinese guys were too ‘nice’ to say them around me.
    It’s just nice to know, you know.

  38. I do not think that this is actually a ‘testbook’ in the sense that is is used in a classroom. It looks like a book that an individual person would buy for themselves . I think it is important to understand that point, that this is not a text book, a school book. It appears to be the type of book you buy in a book store and learn on your own.

    While the book is in bad taste in my opinion as an English teacher here I also usually have to deal with words like ‘shit’ ‘fuck’ and ‘bitch’ on the 1st day of class from my Chinese students, usally from boys. These words are not only learned from western movies but from stupid foreign teachers. I am American and am ashamed sometimes to hear of the type of ‘lessons’ some wai jiao give in class. I do not think dirty words or sex ‘lessosn’ belongs in a language classroom and these teachers give all wai jiao a bad reputation. When I ask them why they think it is ‘cool’ to tlak that way in front of the teach they say ‘all Americans’ speak this way because of movies and music. In some cases they say there previous teacher taught them how to use the bad words properly. What!!! I want to say that not all foreign teachers have this type of thinking. I simply try to get them to practice oral English and use of bad words equals a low grade or being dismissed from my class. It usually stops after the 1st day.

    The above book is for private use and not classom use I think. It should be noted that the wrtiter of the book has the Chinese family name of Chao (Western style spelling). I do not know what that means really but it is an inetersting aspect that no one has explored yet.

  39. I’ll take a copy!

  40. Excellent! I’ve just ordered this book so I’m looking forward to learning some real Chinese as well as including some expressions in our courses! Great to see more people becoming fascinated by the language. I’m a great believer in anyone learning everything about any language and that includes swear words. We learn best when we’re emotionally involved and swear words are perfect for this!
    I’ve also ordered:
    Dirty Chinese
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1569757275?ie=UTF8&tag=scifioz&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1569757275
    and
    StreetWise Mandarin Chinese
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071474897?ie=UTF8&tag=scifioz&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0071474897
    Anyone read these yet?
    Cheers!

  41. i want this book, where can i get it

  42. does anybody know, is it possible to buy this book smwhere in Dalian?

  43. Haha, chui chian 3 chi means he’s leaning/extending forwards 3 chi (I dunno how to convert that into metric)

  44. I don’t see how this insults the Chinese language. Every language in the world has cuss words, including English. It’s just for giggles. I’ve seen books specializing in cuss words in other languages, including Spanish, Japanese, and French

  45. The guys who say this book misrepresents Chinese culture are only right if the people who read it think it is all of Chinese culture. English speakers (most of them anyway) do not use the english equivalent in every sentence either. Some people never use them. Some people use them a lot.

    I am guessing the same is true in China, but clearly these words do exist, and to suppress them in the hope people will think Chinese does not have such words is about as stupid as expecting the Great (fire) Wall of China will stop people using Feys Buck.

  46. My Chinese girlfriend moved to Japan for graduate school. As part of learning the language, she wanted to learn Japanese dirty words, and asked a fellow lab worker. She replied innocently “Oh, we don’t have words words like that in Japanese!”

    HINT: Every language, including Japanese, has dirty words. And most learning a language want to become familiar with them.

  47. As an American, I don’t think this is insulting or derogatory toward Chinese culture. This is just practical stuff that foreigners want to learn. If being ripped off by a taxi driver, or assaulted by a punk teen at a club, it’s nice to know how to say something other than “You are a bad person!!”

    I bought this book a few days ago and it is really interesting and great at “translating” the words so we know in what context and what degree of profanity it is used.

  48. Yea, Making Out in Chinese was pretty crappy. My friend had it.

    This was my mums Christmas present as she always seems to want to learn some Chinese from me.

    From what she said on the phone early (Cao ni ma son) it’s going well.

  49. you’re mother told you to fuck your mum? I’d be worried.

  50. I don’t discriminate when it comes to sex (except for Japs), for someone who’s so obsessed with my posting you should have remembered what I said about Lou Jing.

  51. Okay, now I finally do know that PP must be a fake. Japanese girls are better looking than mainland Chinese by a long way, anyone who knows anything knows this, no ‘Playa’ would let political shit distract him from this fact. Here in Osaka girls are the easiest and not bad looking at all, the only draw-back is the way that so many of them are deader than raw sushi in the sack, but this is a prob everywhere I’ve been in East Asia.

  52. Japanese girls have great teeth and great legs…

  53. What the *uck are you talking about?

  54. The writer is this woman, Eveline Chao.

    http://www.danwei.org/featured_video/danwei_interview_with_eveline.php

    You can also find her on face book as well as several other sites. Just thought it would be better to know for sure then to presume to know.

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