Lesson1: Introduction 加油 JiaYou

Probably you have heard a lot about 加油 (jiayou | ㄐㄧㄚ 一ㄡˊ ) (as it is written on the title) in every competition. So what is the meaning actually? Let's break the word down into 加 and 油. 加(jia | ㄐㄧㄚ) means to add and 油 (you | 一ㄡˊ) means oil. Thus, the combination is to add oil. BUT, the real meaning is to give support. Here, you can see that 加油 is literally translated into to add oil but the real meaning is to give support. And this is the reason why you hear it a lot especially in competition.

Now, what if you want to say "I want to add oil". You can simply use the same word which is 加油. Don't worry to be misunderstood because it will have a different meaning when used in different situation. It doesn't make sense when you are holding a bottle of oil and your friend misunderstand your word to "to give support" instead of "to add oil".