Mountain Climbing vs. Hiking

Many times I ask the question, "What did you do in the weekend?"
I get varied answers but a common one is "I went mountain hiking"

WOW, awesome, adventurous and outgoing. Not what I expected at all.

Unfortunately my student didn't really go mountain climbing. PaShan

Pa = climb
Shan  = Mountain

Ok, so that's the literal translation. But not the correct activity in English.

You would have gone hiking. I.e. you walked up/around a mountain. Mountain climbing is when you climb Mt. Everest, you might have to do some rock climbing too. (This is not exactly true when talking about the mountains in south america as they're not so steep so you can hike up them, but they are so high, you'd definately say it's mountain climbing)

If you and your family friends are walking around Yangminshan, or Gushan et.al. then you'd be hiking.

I when hiking around GuShan on Saturday with my family. We saw some monkeys.

Personally I hate hiking. Why? Because I had to do it all the time when I was in Elementary and Junior High School. Hiking in the forest...again. Oh look, a tree, a bird...again!

Mountain biking might be more my cup of tea.

Would you like to go mountain climbing? Or simply go hiking?

How to learn new vocabulary?

A common question, a common problem.

I can't remember the vocabulary! Don't worry, you're not alone. Me too! I can't remember all the Chinese words I'm trying to learn.

But try this. Actually use the new vocabulary and use it as much as possible over the next couple of days.
It's not enough just to understand this word means this. It's better to learn the new words in context, i.e. as it's used, either in a book, article or conversation.

Example.
Diaphanous

During summer many ladies wear a diaphanous top over their t-shirt. It's more fashionable, protects their skin from direct sunlight, yet allows air to easily pass through keeping her cool.

"She was wearing a diaphanous shirt so I could see what she was wearing underneath!"

Now, from these two examples, what do you think diaphanous means? Guess!

I hope you guessed. If you guessed something like see-through, transparent you are correct.
Now you have to use it!

Do you have any diaphanous clothing? (When you answer make sure you use the vocabulary word!)
   - Yes, I have a pink diaphanous shirt.

Now when you're walking down the street, or riding your scooter, and you see someone wearing a diaphanous top, say to yourself, "Ahh, that top is very diaphanous" Do this for a few days and congratulations, diaphanous, is now a part of your vocabulary.

Now do this for all your other vocab words. If this can work for a word that most native English speakers don't know, it can work for any other word too!