Are You Totally Obsessed with Chinese?

HSK 3 quiz

Do you have one of those friends who is just obsessed with something she likes? What about a friend who does nothing but talks about their favorite TV show?” In Chinese, we have a specific slang phrase for this type of manic love for something. The word is used for someone being totally obsessed with something, or being something’s biggest fan.” This phrase is meant to describe the person who can get put into this kind of frenzy. This phrase is “发烧友 (fāshāoyǒu).”
(Must know knowledge about “fans” in Chinese.)
“发 烧 友 (Fāshāoyǒu)” is a unique expression in Chinese which describes a type of person who is totally obsessed with an activity or an object.

Let’s break this phrase down to better understand it:

发烧友 (Fāshāoyǒu): fancier; enthusiastic fan.

发 (Fā): dispatch; send out. (Do you know how to use “发 (fā) ” in Chinese?)

烧 (Shāo): burn; bake; heat; roast.

友 (Yǒu): friend; companion; fraternity. (Most common relationship: “朋友 (péngyǒu).”)

This word essentially describes someone who is such a fan of something, they feel akin to it, as if they have a special relationship to it, and this emotion really connects them and energizes them to the object itself as well as the world around them. I have a few friends who are totally obsessed with yoga. They talk about it all the time. Whenever I refer to one of them, I use this phrase because they could honestly talk about it all day. They get excited when they talk about it.

Where did this term come from?

The term “发烧友 (fāshāoyǒu)” is derived from a phrase that originated in Hong Kong. It started out more specific to audio equipment, actually, meant for just people who were very interested in that in Hong Kong. But now it is used as a general term for anyone who has a special interest and appreciation for certain things.

Here’s the type of sentence structure I use that is correct in Chinese:
Sentence Structure

Noun + 发 烧 友 (fāshāoyǒu)
1. 动漫发烧友 (Dòngmàn fāshāoyǒu): animation enthusiast; animation fancier

2. 电子发烧友 (Diànzǐ fāshāoyǒu): electronic enthusiast; electronic fan

So you put the object of what that person is obsessed with at the beginning of the sentence. Then you add the phrase “发烧友 (fāshāoyǒu).”

Example:

Wǒ shì yì míng dòngmàn fāshāoyǒu.
我是一名动漫发烧友。
I’m an animation fan.

Tāng mǔ rè’ài yíqiè diànzǐ shèbèi, tā shì yì míng diànzǐ fāshāoyǒu.
汤姆热爱一切电子设备,他是一名电子发烧友。
Tom loves all electric devices, and so he is an electronic enthusiast.

HSK 3 quiz

Which person below couldn’t be described by the word “音乐发烧友 (yīnyuè fāshāoyǒu)?”

A. Jack is always excited to talk about great music.
B. Mike has been a huge music fan since he was seven years old.
C. When Tom feels sad, he often listens to music.

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