Chinese Words for Life at School

Posted on by tiffany

Chinese Vocabulary · 中文词汇

Chinese Words for Life at School

校园生活词汇 xiàoyuán shēnghuó cíhuì

Okay, quick reality check before we dive into vocab: school life in Taiwan (and China) is strict. Like, uniform-every-single-day strict. Back in my own high school days, there was an actual hair rule — nothing past 3cm below your ears. Every morning, teachers did sock inspections, literally checking the color and the length. Makeup, hair wax, nail polish, earrings, colored contacts — all banned. Dyed hair, permed hair? Forget it. The logic, drilled into us a hundred times: you’re a student, your job is to study, not to look cute.

As for the actual school day: mornings usually kicked off with some kind of quiz on a random subject, then four 50-minute classes with a 10- (sometimes 20-) minute recess between them, and a lunch break that somehow only lasted an hour. Then rinse and repeat until 5pm. Sounds brutal, I know — but honestly, I loved it. You spend that much time in the trenches with the same group of people, and they end up being your best friends for life.

Feeling brave? Try an actual Taiwan high school English exam.

What’s on the timetable

Life at School — Subjects

ChinesePinyinEnglishKoreanJapanese
科学kēxuéScience과학科学
历史lìshǐHistory역사歴史
音乐yīnyuèMusic음악音楽
数学shùxuéMath수학数学
语文yǔwénLanguage언어言語
体育tǐyùPE체육体育
地理dìlǐGeography지리地理

Putting it all together

Examples

我wǒ不bù喜欢xǐhuan读dú历史lìshǐ跟gēn地理dìlǐ I don’t like to study history and geography.

我wǒ的de数学shùxué很hěn烂làn My math sucks.

What’s in the backpack

Life at School — Objects

ChinesePinyinEnglishKoreanJapanese
筆bǐPen펜ペン
地图dìtúMap지도地図
作业zuòyèHomework숙제宿題
功课gōngkèHomework숙제宿題
黑板hēibǎnBlackboard흑판黒板
句子jùziSentence문장文、文章
字zìWord글자字、単語
教科书jiàokēshūTextbook교과서教科書
年级niánjíGrade학년年級
考试kǎoshìExam, test시험試験
问题wèntíQuestion, problem문제, 질문質問、問題
画儿huàrPainting, drawing그림絵

💡 作业 (zuòyè) and 功课 (gōngkè) both mean “homework,” and most of the time they’re interchangeable. 功課 has a narrower use, though — it’s really just homework. 作業 has a wider range: it can also mean a task or operation, and it can even work as a verb.

💡 That “painting/drawing” row isn’t just a script difference — Taiwan says 畫 (huà), China adds the erhua sound: 画儿 (huàr).

Putting it all together

Examples

老师lǎoshī给gěi的de功课gōngkè太多tài duō了le The teacher gave too much homework.

黑板上hēibǎn shàng的de句子jùzi我wǒ看不清楚kàn bù qīngchǔ I can’t read the sentences on the blackboard clearly.

Test yourself

Vocabulary Quiz

HSK1
Do you like it? 🙂