Whilst reading the blog post above, I came across the expression “你知道你吃几碗干饭么”.

This expression refers to knowing one’s own limitations – to know the reach and limits of one’s abilities. Quite literally it means knowing how many bowls of dry rice one can eat!

Here are some other common Chinese expressions which share a similar meaning:

人贵有自知之明

To know oneself is true progress. Self-knowledge is wisdom.

没有金刚钻，别揽瓷器活儿。

If you don’t have a diamond cutter, don’t become a ceramist.

Basically all these expressions suggest that one must have a clear-headed understanding of oneself – without which it may become easy to take on a haughty air and cause trouble.

Whilst reading the somewhat controversial BBS post quoted above, I came across the expression “肥水不流外人田”

I found a definition of this expression on 百度知道：

原意是自家田里的肥水不要流到别人家的田里，引申为是有利益的东西不分给别人。自己的利益不让给别人

The word 肥水 [féishuǐ] can be translated as

Water with fertilizers; used as a metaphor to refer to interests or benefits.

This expression could be translated in a literal sense as “To be unwilling to allow nutrient rich water in one’s own fields to flow into other people’s fields.” This can be extended to mean keeping all benefits for one’s own people or for oneself.

Possibly the best and most commonly used translation of this expression would be “Charity begins at home”. In case you are not familiar with this english expression, here is a definition:

Something that you say which means you should try to help your family and friends before you help other people

I also came across a few other possible translations of the expression which share a similar meaning but which are used less frequently:

• Rich water should be kept in one’s own fields
• No rich water should be let out of one’s own fields.
• One should always keep all benefits for one’s own people.
• Every miller draws water to his own mill.
• Keep it in the family

Whilst reading the article entitled “Relance : Sarkozy bat la mesure”, I came across the expression “prime à la casse”:

L’accent est mis sur la relance de la demande grâce à une prime à la casse de 1 000 euros, instaurée jusqu’à la fin 2009 sur les véhicules particuliers et utilitaires légers de plus de 10 ans.

The word “prime à la casse” means:

Scrappage premium, a benefit given to people in order to encourage them to get rid of their old vehicles and replace them with newer, more environmentally friendly vehicles.

Scrappage is defined as: the scrapping of discarded objects (e.g. automobiles)

Hence the whole sentence could be translated as:

Stress is placed on the revival of consumer demand thanks to a 1000 euro scrappage premium for cars over 10 years old which will be valid until the end of 2009 and which applies to all private vehicles and light vehicle users.

On the blog “Tat à l’OEIL”, I came across an article entitled “Se la couler douce”

The French expression “se la couler douce” means:

To lie back and have a good time

In the article entitled “Feliz cumpleaños”, I came accross the expression “à donf”

“à donf” is actually french argot or slang for the expression “à fond” which means:

All-out, wholeheartedly, giving it everything you’ve got

I came across the article entitled “Le Prof déjanté”

The word déjanté means:

Crazy, mad, off their head/nut/rocker

“Une jante” is actually the rim of a wheel in French. Hence the expression means a wheel that has lost its rim – somebody that is completely crazy!

The title of the article in english could thus be “The crazy teacher”

Whilst reading the article entitled “En Altitude”, I came across the french compound word “pince-fesse”:

Prémices du salon du Bourget, la société Aviaxess a récemment organisé un pince-fesses à l’héliport de Paris

The word “pince-fesse” means:

Bash, cocktail party

Hence the whole sentence could be translated as:

First fruits of the Bourget air show, the company Aviaxess recently organised a bash at Paris’s heliport.

In the article above I came accross the expression “bayer aux corneilles”.

Et quand une touriste espagnole s’ennuie, elle ne baye pas aux corneilles, elle se met à danser à la sévillane.

The expression “bayer aux corneilles” means:

To daydream

The whole sentence above can be translated as:

And when a Spanish tourist gets bored, she doesn’t daydream – she starts to dance a Sevillana!

The expressions “kézako” or more correctly “quésaco” are both derivatives of the provençal expression “Qu’es aco?” which means:

Qu’est-ce que c’est?

You usually add it to the end of a sentence, for example:

Le pod-casting, kézako?

In English, it means:

What is it?

Whilst reading the article entitled Quai Voltaire, I came across the expression “composer avec”:

Une fois l’ex-président emménagé, ils devront également composer avec “le bruit et l’odeur”.

The expression “composer avec” means:

To make do with, to deal with

Hence we can translate the whole sentence as:

Once the ex-president has moved in, they will also have to make do with the “noise and smell”.