Doing a little fun tech and design has taught us a new word in Chinese: 迷你 (mínǐ) or ‘Mini’ 🙂
My daughter has gotten into the ‘Mini Kitchen’ craze! Everything in this kitchen is handmade by my daughter, workable, and 迷你 MINI!
In Chinese the word for ‘mini’ 迷你 is a loan word, so one that ‘sounds’ like the western translation. It is used for Mini Coopers and Mini-skirts! The 迷 (mí) means to ‘bewilder’, and can also mean ‘an enthusiast, or a fan of something’. This is a really good phonetic to use for the ‘mi’ part, as often something ‘mini’ is made for a trend, (like a mini-skirt or a car!) or something to bemuse or bewilder us! The 你 (nǐ) part means ‘you’. So basically something 迷你 (mí nǐ) kinda means something made mini as a trend to bewilder / bemuse you!
There’s lots of Chinese we can integrate into such a fun project 🙂
First we have to plan, get the materials and make the 迷你厨房 (mínǐ chúfáng) ‘mini kitchen’
设计迷你厨房 shèjì mínǐ chúfang Plan / Design Mini Kitchen
迷你厨房材料 mínǐ chúfáng cáiliào Mini Kitchen Materials
做迷你厨房 zuò mínǐ chúfang Make the Mini Kitchen
Some things in the 迷你厨房！
迷你厨房水池 mínǐ chúfáng shuǐchí ‘Mini Kitchen Sink’
迷你粘土烤炉 mínǐ niántǔ kǎolú ‘Mini clay oven’
迷你锡罐烤炉 mínǐ xīguàn kǎolú ‘Mini Tincan oven’
迷你厨具 mínǐ chújù ‘Mini Kitchen Utensils’
迷你蛋糕 mínǐ dàngāo ‘Mini Cake’
迷你食谱书 mínǐ shípǔ shū ‘Mini Cookbooks’
Here’s a video of the 迷你厨房 in action:
做迷你蛋糕 (zuò mínǐ dàngāo) ‘Making Mini Cakes – Fun Mandarin in Motion 🙂