“Spring Has a Stepmother’s Heart” 春天後母心: A Taiwanese Phrase for Unpredictable Spring Weather. But Is It Still Appropriate Today?
🎧 🌸 有聲版本這裡 The audio versio available on Patreon here (邊聽邊讀 listen & read)
今天是三月二十號，現在是春天!
Today is March 20th. It’s spring now!
我很喜歡春天，有種期待感，但是又有種不穩定的感覺
I really like spring. There’s a sense of anticipation, but at the same time it also feels a bit unpredictable (unstable).
我很猶豫要不要教你們這個句子-
I was actually hesitating about whether I should teach you this phrase:
這個句子其實是臺灣的俗語 this phrase is actually an old saying from Taiwan
春天後母心 “Spring has a stepmother’s heart.”
上禮拜我先生他說:「哇! 昨天好熱，今天變這麼冷」
(ㄨㄚ！ㄗㄨㄛˊㄊㄧㄢ ㄏㄠˇㄖㄜˋ，ㄐㄧㄣㄊㄧㄢ ㄅㄧㄢˋ ㄓㄜˋㄇㄜ ㄌㄥˇ
wā! Zuótiān hǎo rè, jīntiān biàn zhème lěng )
Last week my husband said:
“Wow, it was so hot yesterday, and today it suddenly got so cold.”
我說:「對啊，春天! 春天後母心」
(duì a, chūntiān hòumǔ xīn, ㄉㄨㄟˋ ㄚㄔㄨㄣ ㄊㄧㄢ ㄏㄡˋ ㄇㄨˇ ㄒㄧㄣ)
I said, “Yeah… it’s spring.” “Spring has a stepmother’s heart.”
然後他也點頭說「春天後母心」
Then he nodded and repeated: “Spring has a stepmother’s heart.”
我突然有點覺得怪怪的
Suddenly it felt a little strange.
這句話是我去年教他的
很開心他學會這句話，但是又覺得這句話的本意真的蠻奇怪的
I was happy he learned the phrase, but at the same time I felt that the original meaning of it is actually a bit… odd.
(也許是我自己想太多)
(Maybe I’m overthinking it.)
老實說 有點後悔教他這句話
Honestly, I kind of regret teaching him this phrase.
大家知道是什麼意思嗎
Do you know what it means?
這句話的意思是
This phrase means:
春天天氣多變化、天氣不穩定，一下冷，一下熱，
所以要小心，不能相信春天的天氣
Spring weather changes all the time. It’s very unstable—cold one moment, hot the next.
So you have to be careful. You can’t really trust spring weather.
春天 – spring
後母 – stepmother
心 – heart
早期的台灣社會，對後母印象不好
In early Taiwanese society, stepmothers had a pretty negative image.
後母可能一下對你好，一下對你不好，
很善變
A stepmother might treat you nicely one moment and badly the next.
Very unpredictable.
你不知道她真心對你好還是對你不好
所以要小心，不要太相信她
You wouldn’t know whether she was truly being kind or not.
So you had to be careful and not trust her too easily.
所以「春天後母心」的意思就是
So the phrase “春天後母心” basically means:
春天的天氣像後母一樣無常，忽冷忽熱，必須要小心
Spring weather is as unpredictable as a stepmother — one moment cold, the next hot — so you have to be careful.
現在這句好像不太適合用在現代社會
Nowadays this phrase doesn’t really feel very appropriate anymore.
繼父就不善變嗎
I mean… aren’t stepfathers capable of being unpredictable too?
我在想是誰發明這句俗語的呢?
Sometimes I wonder who came up with this saying in the first place.
也許是我自己想太多了
Maybe I’m just overthinking it.
覺得很有趣，想分享給你們
But I still find it interesting, so I wanted to share it with you.
下次試試看，如果臺灣人覺得春天的天氣怎麼忽冷忽熱，一下冷一下熱
Next time, if Taiwanese people are talking about how spring weather keeps changing—
cold one moment, hot the next…
你就回這一句「春天後母心」
you can reply with this phrase: “Spring has a stepmother’s heart.”
看到這裡，你是不是正在想—- 不要! 我不敢用
At this point, you’re probably thinking, “No way! I wouldn’t dare use this.”
但是我想跟你們說，如果你用了，真的就很像一個臺灣人
But I want to tell you, if you actually use it, you’ll really sound like a local Taiwanese person.
(也可以測試一下你臺灣朋友或是臺灣家人的反應，也許他們有不同的看法)
(You can also try testing it with your Taiwanese friends or family — maybe they have a different perspective.)
我還是覺得這個句子很重要，畢竟在社群、跟老一輩的人講話還是會常聽得到
I still think this phrase is important. After all, you’ll still hear it a lot in social media and when talking to older generations.
這個小時候國語課本出現的俗語 (春天後母心)也都還存在我們的心中
This old sayings (春天後母心) that appeared in our childhood Mandarin textbooks still exist in our hearts today.
Some phrases for spring for you
一下冷，一下熱
Cold one moment, hot the next
忽冷忽熱
Suddenly cold, suddenly hot
春天後母心
Spring has a stepmother’s heart
天氣不穩定
The weather is unstable
Dialogue
A: 天氣一下冷，一下熱
A: The weather keeps changing—cold one moment, hot the next.B: 對啊，今天突然好冷，忽冷忽熱
B: Yeah, today suddenly got really cold. The temperature keeps going up and down.
A: 春天嘛，很不穩定，
A: Well, it’s spring. The weather is really unstable.
B: 春天後母心
B: Spring has a stepmother’s heart.
P.S..
最後想說的話 final notes
Again, I really hope this blog post helps you understand our way of thinking and a bit of Taiwanese society. Sometimes it’s truly hard to explain, even thought it’s my own culture.
I also try not to generalize everything since it’s just based on my own experience.
That’s why I really want to encourage you to use new phrases with different people and see their reaction:)
Phrases like this come up all the time in conversations with locals. In mycourses and Zoom sessions, I guide my students through dozens of expressions like this, so they can truly understand the cultural nuances behind them. I’m extremly grateful to be able to do so.
Hope this blog helps! I made an audio version for Patreon members.
If your goal is to converse with Taiwanese people more naturally and deeply, feel free to check out my online course or contact me to learn about my future coaching program.
先這樣，下次有靈感來的時候，會再跟你們分享更多❤️ 謝謝你們，下次見
That’s it for now. Next time when inspiration strikes, I’ll share more with you
❤️ Thank you, and see you next time
小心不要感冒，春天後母心🤭
Watch out for colds! Chun tian hou mu xin! Spring has a stepmother’s heart
