In Mandarin Chinese when you want to talk about playing a musical instrument, there are quite a few different words you could use, depending on the type of instrument. <\/p>\n
– \u62c9 (l\u0101) is used for bowed instruments such as the \u4e8c\u80e1 (\u00e8rh\u00fa), violin (\u5c0f\u63d0\u7434 xi\u01ceot\u00edq\u00edn), viola (\u4e2d\u63d0\u7434 zh\u014dngt\u00edq\u00edn) and cello (\u5927\u63d0\u7434 d\u00e0t\u00edq\u00edn), and also means to pull, drag, draw or chat.<\/p>\n
– \u5f48 [\u5f39] (t\u00e1n) is used for the piano (\u92fc\u7434 [\u94a2\u7434] g\u0101ngq\u00edn), and string instruments such as the guitar (\u5409\u4ed6 j\u00edt\u0101), and also means to pluck, spring, leap, shoot , fluff, flick and so on.<\/p>\n
– \u5439 (chu\u012b) is used for wind instruments such as the \u7b1b d\u00ed (flute), \u7c2b xi\u00e0o (bamboo flute) and clarinet (\u55ae\u7c27\u7ba1 [\u5355\u7c27\u7ba1] d\u0101nhu\u00e1nggu\u01cen) and also means to blow, blast, boast, brag and to end in failure.<\/p>\n
– \u6253 (d\u01ce) is used for the drums (\u9f13 g\u01d4) and other percussion, and also means to beat, strike, hit, break, type, fight and so on. As well as meaning to play\/beat a drum, \u6253\u9f13 (d\u01ce\u200bg\u01d4) also means to be nervous. \u6253 also means to play games such as golf – \u6253\u9ad8\u723e\u592b\u7403 [\u6253\u9ad8\u5c14\u592b\u7403] (d\u01ce g\u0101o’\u011brf\u016b qi\u00fa), and also to play cards – \u6253\u724c (d\u01ce p\u00e1i).<\/p>\n
If you want to talk about playing music in general without mentioning a specific instrument you could say \u6f14\u594f (y\u01cen\u200bz\u00f2u) – to play a musical instrument, to perform music. I thought there wasn’t a general term like this in Chinese and that was what promoted me to write this post.<\/p>\n
In other contexts, there are various was to translate to play in Chinese, including:<\/p>\n
– \u73a9 (w\u00e1n) is the most common one and can mean to play games (\u73a9\u904a\u6232 [\u73a9\u6e38\u620f] w\u00e1n y\u00f3u\u200bx\u00ec) or to have fun. In English the phrase “Are you coming out to play?” is usually only uttered by children, but the equivalent in Chinese, \u4f60\u51fa\u4f86\u73a9\u55ce\uff1f [\u4f60\u51fa\u53bb\u73a9\u5417\uff1f] n\u01d0 ch\u016bl\u00e1i w\u00e1n ma?, is used by both children and adults.<\/p>\n
– \u8e22 (t\u012b) means to kick and to play ball games such as football (soccer) – \u8e22\u8db3\u7403 (t\u012b z\u00faqi\u00fa).<\/p>\n
-\u5f04 (n\u00f2ng) means to play\/fool\/mess\/toy with, to fix, do, manage or to handle – a useful word that can used in a variety of contexts.<\/p>\n