Zhongguo hua

Today I want to write about a Chinese proverb which I came acress and which I like.

Proverb about Friendship
路(lù)遥(yáo)知(zhī)马(mǎ)力(lì), 日(rì)久( jiǔ)见(jiàn)人(rén)心(xīn) . German transcription by me: "lue yau tschi ma ri tschju tschjen ren schin".
This is a Chinese proverb literally saying: "Over a long distance you learn about the strength of a horse (马(mǎ), over a long time you learn about the character (心(xīn), literally: heart) of a friend. It is used positively to praise a true friend or negatively to criticize friends that can't stand a test.

For those of you who haven't come in touch with the Chinese language a lot: the tricky things are the pronunciation (tones) and the writing. So if you follow my German transcription, but use the wrong tones out of the five available tones, still nobody might understand you.