324 Baby
Silvia Cruz is the VP of Finance & Strategy for EF Education First. She also has three young girls and so in this episode ShaoLan teaches her how to say “baby”. Interestingly, the Chinese word for “baby” actually means “treasure,” so it can be applicable to anyone who is “precious” to you, no matter what their age is! ShaoLan expands to teach how to describe children as “cute” and tells a funny story of the way in which traditional Chinese modesty caused her own parents to call her ugly!
The way to say “baby” is 寶貝/宝贝. The first character 寶/宝 means “treasure” and 貝/贝 means “shell” or “seashell”. In ancient China, shells were used as a currency so the words together, “treasure currency” give a real sense of something or someone who is precious to you!
