Something new for the new year: a fictional bilingual dialog between a US and Chinese Gen Z showcasing some popular words of the year and slang from 2025.

The brief migration to RedNote (小红书, Xiǎohóngshū) in early 2025 of Western TikTok refugees (TikTok 难民, TikTok nàn mín) led to meetings with Chinese peers on a Chinese platform. Here both sides entered into a rare online cultural and linguistic exchange … as translated by AI tools like Google Translate and Youdao. Enjoy!

… Hooman: Hey Xiao Ming. New on RedNote. TikTok ban panic. Felt like a hard reset. [Google: 嗨，小明。我刚来小红书。TikTok 禁令的恐慌。感觉像一次硬重启。]

Xiao Ming: 欢迎。我们管这叫“赛博对账”。你们终于来核对账目了。 [Youdao: Welcome. We call this “Cyber Accounting.” You guys are finally checking the books.]

Hooman: Is that what this is? Back home it’s just rage bait and AI slop. Total dead internet. [Google: 原来是这个意思？在我那边，全是引战内容和 AI 电子垃圾。完全是死亡互联网。]

Xiao Ming: 理解。但今年中国对 AI 和机器人真的挺兴奋。很多展示现场都很 炸裂 (Zhà liè)。 [Youdao: I get it. But this year in China people are genuinely excited about AI. The public demos are mind-blowing.] ….