365 Happy New Year

It’s nearly the start of a new year, have you made any new year’s resolutions yet? In today’s episode, Jesse and Josh from Transition are both guests in the studio and discuss some of the differences between the “western new year” and the “Chinese new year,” which involve completely different ways of celebrating (although the Chinese word for happy new year is the same for both new year occasions)!

Josh tells his experience of spending his first Chinese New Year in Taiwan which rather reminded him of Christmas, the way that families came together around a big meal. In terms of the western new year, the biggest event in Taiwan happens at Taipei 101 where a massive concert and firework display take place, with millions of people gathering to watch every year. ShaoLan describes finishing a late work meeting one new year’s eve and getting so stuck in the crowd near Taipei 101 that she decided to stay and watch the fireworks too!

The way to say “Happy New Year” in Chinese is 新年快樂/新年快乐. The first character 新 means “new,” the second character 年 means “year” and 快樂/快乐 means “happy.” 快樂/快乐 can then be broken down into 快, which means “fast” and 樂/乐 which can mean “music” or “happiness.” You can remember it by imagining that when you are happy you listen to fast music!