Learn Chinese Word for Anniversary

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“If you are curious, you will find the puzzles around you. If you are determined, you will solve them.” --- Erno Rubik

This year 2014 marks the 40th anniversary of Rubik’s Cube invented in 1974 by Professor Erno Rubik. Since its birth, Rubik's cube has been an instant success, becoming the best-selling toy in the world. Even though millions of people were stumped and frustrated by this little Magic Cube, they are still obsessed with their Rubik's Cubes.

However the popularity, little did Ermo Rubik expect that Rubik’s Cube would become the world’s best-selling toy ever. As a teacher, Ermo Rubik first used the Cube as a model to help him explain to his students about 3D objects.

As time goes by, Cubic fans are finding more challenging ways to solve a Rubik’s Cube, including speedcubing (or speedsolving) which is the practice of trying to solve a Rubik's Cube in the shortest time possible. The current world record for single time on a 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube was 5.55 seconds set by Mats Valk of the Netherlands in March 2013. How long does it take you to solve a Rubik’s Cube?

Learn Chinese Word

The 40th anniversary of Rubik’s Cube is a great day to remember, but do you know how to say ANNIVERSARY in Chinese? In Chinese language, it is 周年纪念日(zhōu nián jì niàn rì). 周年 means “the whole year”. As you may know, 年 already has the meaning of “year” in Chinese, but we add the Chinese word 周 meaning “a circle” or “round” before 年 to make it “a whole, round year.” The Chinese word 纪念 means “to remember” or “to recall”. 日 means “day.” So, the phrase 周年纪念日 literally means “a whole year day to remember” which equals to “anniversary” in English.

In Chinese, we put a Chinese number before 周年纪念日 to specify "how long" the anniversary is. To specify what the anniversary is about, we state the activity before "周年纪念日". e.g.

jiéhūn shí zhōunián jìniàn rì

结婚十周年纪念日

the 10th anniversary of marriage

Dialogue

Lily, nǐ jīntiān kànqǐlái hěn ɡāoxìnɡ ā!

Zoe: Lily, 你今天看起来很高兴啊！

Lily, you look happy today!

shì ā，jīntiān shì wǒ hé wǒ lǎoɡōnɡ jiéhūn yī zhōunián jìniàn rì

Lily: 是啊，今天是我 和 我 老公结婚一周年纪念日。

Yes, today is the 1st anniversary since my husband and I got married.

zhēn de mɑ？ɡōnɡxǐ nǐmen！

Zoe: 真的吗？恭喜你们！

Really? Congratulations!

xièxiè nǐ！

Lily: 谢谢 你！

Thank you!