Learn Chinese from Chinese songs
Learning Chinese can be fun and relaxing through listening to Chinese songs. Not only can you improve your Chinese listening skills, you can also expand your Chinese vocabularies. From the lyrics in the Chinese song, you can even learn how to form sentences from the Chinese words.
The Chinese song I have chosen is a very popular love song in the 80’s. The belated singer, Teresa Teng, sang this Chinese song called Tian Mi Mi. It is a Chinese love song describing a woman and a man falling in love at first sight. In the Chinese song, the woman’s smile is as sweet as honey. Moreover, her smiling face is like flower blooming in spring’s breeze. However, the smiling face is very familiar to the man as if he has seen it before. But he can’t remember for a moment where he has seen the face. Then it came upon him that he saw her in his dream. The woman is actually just a lover in his dream.
The singer of this song, Teresa Teng (29 January 1953 – 8 May 1995) was a Taiwanese singer. She was known for her folk songs and ballads, such as “When Will You Return?” and “The Moon Represents My Heart”. She recorded songs not only in Mandarin but also in Taiwanese, Cantonese, Japanese, Indonesian and English. She also spoke French fluently. A long time sufferer of asthma, she died from a severe respiratory attack while on vacation in Thailand in 1995, at the age of 42.
People all over the world, especially the Chinese communities, love to listen to her Chinese songs. The Chinese song “The Moon Represents My Heart” 月亮代表我的心 is also a very famous and popular Chinese song till this day. We will learn this song in our next listen on learning Mandarin Chinese from Chinese song.
Tian Mi Mi
This is a very easy Chinese song to listen and sing along. There are lots of repetitions in the lyric of this Chinese song. Repetition is good because it helps you to remember the Chinese words and in turn helps you to expand your Chinese vocabularies.
Lyrics of the Chinese song – Tian Mi Mi
甜蜜蜜 Tián mì mì
你笑得甜蜜蜜 nǐxiào dé tián mì mì
好像花儿开在春风里 hǎo xiàng huā er kāi zài chūn fēng lǐ
开在春风里 kāi zài chūn fēng lǐ
在哪里在哪里见过你 zài nǎ lǐ zài nǎlǐ jiàn guò nǐ
你的笑容这样熟悉 nǐ de xiào róng zhè yàng shú xī
我一时想不起 wǒ yī shí xiǎng bù qǐ
啊~~在梦里 a ~~zài mèng lǐ
梦里梦里见过你 mèng lǐ mèng lǐ jiàn guò nǐ
甜蜜笑得多甜蜜 tián mì xiào dé duō tiánmì
是你~是你~梦见的就是你 shì nǐ ~shì nǐ ~mèng jiàn de jiù shì nǐ
在哪里在哪里见过你 zài nǎ lǐ zài nǎ lǐ jiàn guò nǐ
你的笑容这样熟悉 nǐ de xiào róng zhè yàng shú xī
我一时想不起 wǒ yī shí xiǎng bù qǐ
啊~~在梦里 a ~~zài mèng lǐ
在哪里在哪里见过你 zài nǎ lǐ zài nǎ lǐ jiàn guò nǐ
你的笑容这样熟悉 nǐ de xiào róng zhè yàng shú xī
我一时想不起 wǒ yī shí xiǎng bù qǐ
啊~~在梦里 a ~~zài mèng lǐ
梦里梦里见过你 mèng lǐ mèng lǐ jiàn guò nǐ
甜蜜笑得多甜蜜 tián mì xiào dé duō tiánmì
是你~是你~梦见的就是你 shì nǐ ~shì nǐ ~mèng jiàn de jiù shì nǐ
在哪里在哪里见过你 zài nǎ lǐ zài nǎ lǐ jiàn guò nǐ
你的笑容这样熟悉 nǐ de xiào róng zhè yàng shú xī
我一时想不起 wǒ yī shí xiǎng bù qǐ
啊~~在梦里 a ~~zài mèng lǐ
Lyrics of the Chinese song in Traditional Chinese
甜蜜蜜 Tián mì mì
你笑得甜蜜蜜 nǐxiào dé tián mì mì
好像花兒開在春風裡 hǎo xiàng huā er kāi zài chūn fēng lǐ
開在春風裡 kāi zài chūn fēng lǐ
在哪裡在哪裡見過你 zài nǎ lǐ zài nǎlǐ jiàn guò nǐ
你的笑容這樣熟悉 nǐ de xiào róng zhè yàng shú xī
我一時想不起 wǒ yī shí xiǎng bù qǐ
啊~~在夢裡 a ~~zài mèng lǐ
夢裡夢裡見過你 mèng lǐ mèng lǐ jiàn guò nǐ
甜蜜笑得多甜蜜 tián mì xiào dé duō tiánmì
是你~是你~夢見的就是你 shì nǐ ~shì nǐ ~mèng jiàn de jiù shì nǐ
在哪裡在哪裡見過你 zài nǎ lǐ zài nǎ lǐ jiàn guò nǐ
你的笑容這樣熟悉 nǐ de xiào róng zhè yàng shú xī
我一時想不起 wǒ yī shí xiǎng bù qǐ
啊~~在夢裡 a ~~zài mèng lǐ
在哪裡在哪裡見過你 zài nǎ lǐ zài nǎ lǐ jiàn guò nǐ
你的笑容這樣熟悉 nǐ de xiào róng zhè yàng shú xī
我一時想不起 wǒ yī shí xiǎng bù qǐ
啊~~在夢裡 a ~~zài mèng lǐ
夢裡夢裡見過你 mèng lǐ mèng lǐ jiàn guò nǐ
甜蜜笑得多甜蜜 tián mì xiào dé duō tiánmì
是你~是你~夢見的就是你 shì nǐ ~shì nǐ ~mèng jiàn de jiù shì nǐ
在哪裡在哪裡見過你 zài nǎ lǐ zài nǎ lǐ jiàn guò nǐ
你的笑容這樣熟悉 nǐ de xiào róng zhè yàng shú xī
我一時想不起 wǒ yī shí xiǎng bù qǐ
啊~~在夢裡 a ~~zài mèng lǐ
Chinese Vocabularies
甜蜜蜜 tián mì mì sweet / happy
笑 xiào smile / laugh
开 kāi open
春风 chūn fēng spring breeze
笑容 xiào róng smile
熟悉 shú xī familiar
一时 yī shí temporary;momentary
梦见 mèng jiàn to dream of
Chinese Grammar Notes
甜蜜蜜
甜蜜蜜tián mì mì is the vivid form of 甜tián. In order to convey the adjective in vivid form, just duplicate the adjective in the Chinese grammar form of AA+BB or A+BB. For example, 酸溜溜 Suān liū liū (jealous / sourish); 明明白白 míng míng bái bái (clear);大大方方 Dà dà fāng fāng ( gracefully / natural)
笑得多甜蜜
Verb + 得 + 多 + adjective is an exclamatory sentence. The Chinese word多 is an adverb expressing the degree. 多+adj modifies the previous verb. For example,
a. 他的汉字写得多好啊！ Tā de hàn zì xiě dé duō hǎo a！His written Chinese is very good!
b. 他睡得多香啊！Tā shuì dé duō xiāng a! He is sleeping very well!
开在春风里
The Chinese preposition 在 in this sentence means “in” and not indicating an action in progress. For example,
a. 电脑在桌子上 Diàn nǎo zài zhuō zi shàng The computer is on the table.
b. 他在读书 Tā zài dú shū He is studying (action in progress).
想不起
The Chinese grammar structure verb + 不 + 起 indicates not being able to meet the requirement or achieve the objectives. For example,
a. 看不起他的朋友。Kàn bù qǐ tā de péng yǒu To look down / despise his friend.
b. 鱼翅太贵，我吃不起。Yú chì tài guì, wǒ chī bù qǐ Shark’s fin is too expensive, I can’t afford to eat.
Impress your Chinese speaking friends by singing this song during your next Karaoke session.