Learning Through Song: Ni Wa Wa

In a previous post titled 10 Simple Ways to Make Language Learning a Lifestyle, we talked about a variety of ways to make language learning a natural part of daily life.  I strongly believe that memorizing long lists of vocabulary words is a poor way to permanently learn a language because those words are only committed to temporary memory and are quickly forgotten.  In contrast, using language daily and repetitively works.  To that end, this post highlights an interesting video I found on YouTube that ought to sear a few words into your brain to the extent that even if you wanted to forget them, you'd be out of luck.

The video below contains a children's song, "Ni Wa Wa" ("Mud Doll"), which, in my opinion, is pretty darn catchy.  Add to it the fact that there are children dancing around in some kind of field throwing a doll around and we're got ourselves a winner.  But don't jump to the video just yet - stick with me for a minute here because I want you to get the most out of this that you can.  Before we view the video, we're going to go over the lyrics and learn a few new words.  Then you'll be able to recognize the words as you follow along with the video, which is subtitled in pinyin as well as Chinese characters.  Don't worry about remembering all of the words right away - just read through them once or twice.  Many of the words repeat themselves throughout the song, so after reading through the lyrics a couple of times you may find that you're already starting to recognize and understand some of them.

Here are the lyrics in Chinese with detailed translation:

Ní wáwá ní wáwá

(mud doll, mud doll)

ní mud

wáwá doll

Yī ge ní wáwá

(a mud doll)

yī one

ge measure word (for more info, see my post about measure words)

**the words "yī" and "ge" together mean "a/an"

ní mud

wáwá doll

Yě yǒu nà méimáo

(also has eyebrows)

yě also

yǒu has/have

nà that/those (doesn't translate directly in this context)

méimáo eyebrows

Yě yǒu nà yǎnjīng

(also has eyes)

yě also

yǒu has/have

nà that/those (doesn't translate directly in this context)

yǎnjīng eyes

Yǎnjīng bú huì zhǎ

([her] eyes can't wink)

yǎnjīng eyes

bú not 

huì can

zhǎ wink

Ní wáwá ní wáwá

(mud doll, mud doll)

ní mud

wáwá doll

Yī ge ní wáwá

(a mud doll)

yīge a

ní mud

wáwá doll

Yě yǒu nà bízi

([she] also has a nose)

yě also

yǒu has/have

nà that/those (doesn't translate directly in this context)

bízi nose

Yě yǒu nà zuǐba

([she] also has a mouth)

yě also

yǒu has/have

nà that/those (doesn't translate directly in this context)

zuǐba mouth

Zuǐba bú shuōhuà

([but her] mouth doesn't speak)

zuǐba mouth

bú not 

shuōhuà talk

Tā shì ge jiǎ wáwá

(She is a fake doll)

tā she

shì is; are; to be

ge measure word

jiǎ fake

wáwá doll

Bú shì ge zhēn wáwá

([she] isn't a real doll)

bú not  

shì is; are; to be

ge measure word

zhēn real; really

wáwá doll

Tā méi yǒu qīn(g)'ài de māma

(she doesn't have a dear mother)

tā she

méi not; doesn't

yǒu has/have

qīn(g)'ài de dear; darling; beloved

māma mother 

Yě méiyǒu bàba

([she] also doesn't have a dear father)

yě also

méi not; doesn't

yǒu has/have

bàba father

Ní wáwá ní wáwá

(mud doll, mud doll)

ní mud

wáwá doll

Yī ge ní wáwá

(a mud doll)

yīge a

ní mud

wáwá doll

Wǒ zuò tā māma

(I'll be her mother)

wǒ I; me

zuò become; be; make; do

tā she

māma mother

Wǒ zuò tā bàba

(I'll be her father)

wǒ I; me

zuò become; be; make; do

tā she

bàba father

Yǒngyuǎn ài zhe tā

([I'll] love her forever; [I'll be] loving her forever)

yǒngyuǎn always; forever

ài love

zhe indicates a continuous action; "-ing"

tā her; she

Now go ahead and watch the video.  After watching it once or twice, play it again but instead of watching it, listen to it while you read through the lyrics above. 






If you enjoyed this post, or if you have an idea for a future post,  please let me know by leaving a comment below.

Don't forget to check out the interactive vocabulary list for this post.