~ My Letter From China!! ~

不客氣！

谢谢你.

You can just understand 脑 as the organ inside our heads. Grey matter.

So 脑 would mean organ-brain, not mind-brain correct?

You're absolutely right! I forgot 脑袋, it has multiple meanings, the meaning of Head, Brain and also Memory.

Xiaohu, you overlooked 脑袋 nǎodai. I think it's not familiar, could you possibly confirm? 感谢你贵重的帮助!

Sorry, my previous post had some wrong characters, the actors name is not 照本山, it's 赵本山，he's extremely famouse all throughout China.

Yeah, 脑 means brain, also: 脑海， 脑筋， 脑子， 脑髓，and 脑汁 all mean brain.

脑子， and 脑筋 are probably the most common, but be carefull, if you want to refer to your MIND not the grey matter in a literal way but just the conceptual idea of the mind as your gatway to though and feeling then you should use 脑海。

By the way, if you want to see some of the best work of 照本山 and 范伟，get a series calle, "马大帅", the stories are great, the humour is great, the acting is great and it will REALLY excercise your Chinese muscle (albeit alot of the language is what's called, 北方话 the dialect of the Northeast part of China, which is fairly close to standard Mandarin).

lol, 谢谢你. So does 脑 mean brain?

Oh by the way here's my other favorite passage that uses 脑筋急转弯, the first part of the passage is so famous in China that it's preinstalled into alot of cell phones as a ring tone.

您好，这里是见你，见你，一眼会一眼防忽悠咨询热线，我是自身上当者老范，凭借多年上当经验，对你是否被忽悠了做出明确判断。~~~有人卖拐请按1，有人卖车请按2，有人出脑筋急转弯儿请按3，有人卖担架直接拨110！

赵本山： 你好！

范伟： 你好！

赵本山： 请问您是范师傅吧？

范伟： 啊~你是哪位？

赵本山： 我是~~~有一个问题想直接咨询你老一下。

范伟： 啊，你说！

赵本山： 我们家有头老母猪啊，黑地儿白花的，早晨起来打开圈门以每小时80迈的速度向前疯跑，咣当撞树上死了！

范伟： 撞死了？这个猪的视力是不是有什么问题啊？

赵本山： 俩眼睛都是1.5的！

范伟： 会不会有什么心理疾病啊？

赵本山： 心理可健康了呢！

范伟： 那怎么会撞死呢？

赵本山： 因为那头猪不会脑筋急转弯呗！

范伟： 我说你这个人不讲究啊，你不按套路出牌啊，出脑筋急转弯你得按3啊。既然这样的话我也咨询个问题！

赵本山： 你说！

范伟： 过年了，我们家什么年货也没买，就剩下一头猪和一头驴，你说我是先杀猪呢，还是先杀驴呢？

赵本山： 那你先杀~~给你们俩个机会！

蔡维利： 驴肉好吃！先杀驴！

赵本山： 先杀驴！

范伟： 恭喜你答对啦，猪也是这么想的！ ~~~小样儿，~~~~哼！

THESE GUYS CRACK ME UP!

Sorry Angelea,

I thought I'd expound a little on the meaning of

脑筋急转弯, or at least a give a simple translation. It doesn't mean "Brain abruptly turning the bend".

If anyone has seen 赵本山 and 范伟's, 功夫小品，then they would have come accross this word several times.

Here is one of my favorite passages:

范伟：组团忽悠我来了啊，不好使了大忽悠，只要我们这些善良的人对你提高警惕，你还会什么？啊？不就会几个脑筋急转弯吗！地上1个猴，树上7个猴，既是两个猴，又是8个猴！

赵本山： 也可能三个猴，还可能9个猴！

范伟： 怎么又变了呢？

赵本山： 怀孕一个猴！

This word is very vivid, that's why I like it. 脑筋急转弯, is literally saying, "Brains hastilly turning the bend" but it's conveying the meaning of: (a question) you have to turn over and over again in your mind. So the best and easiest English translation might be, "brainteaser" or "riddle", (personally I prefer BRAINTEASER).

By the way if you haven't seen, "功夫＂and / or the whole series 卖拐，　卖车，功夫　Jenny and company refer to it in their lesson about Chinese Dialects. It's worth going out and picking it up.

Oh I am Angelea, not Angela. Sry

Sunmun,

Thanks for helping better explain the meaning of 抒情音乐, I couldn't quite think of a translation into English that sounded smooth, maybe "easy listening, soft rock, smooth music, (smooooooth Jazz, JK!)" something like that would sound appropriate? What do you think?

抒情 you can comprehend as soft and chill-out music

with slow beat and lyrical

thankyou

Here's my take on it.

Dear Angela,

I wrote this letter of reply in a hurry, and didn’t have time to write an English letter, please forgive me.

Your question seems to be something of a brain teaser right? I’ll think it over some more and tell you next time.

I already took down your address, I’m in the process of translating my address into English layout, so, I’ll tell you next time.

That music you gave me was pretty good, I especially liked the second song, really. Do you have emotional music? If so send some to me.

Oh right, sorry, when you write an international letter, what do you have to pay attention to? What’s the layout? (If you can, I wish you could send several pictures for me to look at, okay?)

Thank You.

PS: Since next Sunday, our school will have a final exam, so I’m not sure If I can often get online, if during the week I can’t return your e-mails in a timely manor, please understand. After we finish testing, then I can chat with you. Sorry!

Your friend.

Ew

Braaaaains!!!

I don't knw when to trust Dave...that zombie face is freaking me out though

This reminds me of an email I was sent two weeks ago by a friend. It was a bit of a shock as I am quite adequately able to communicate in written chinese and this was a real wake up call to just how far I have to go. Took me two weeks to decifer exactly what was meant as many of the concepts were different from how Pera-Kun translated them and when I took cartain sentences to friends they said it was hard without knowing the context of the email to even translate a sentence. So I guess what I'm saying is just keep on looking at and thinking about it for a few days, Its a great way to learn to be thrown in the deep end.

P.S. When have you known Dave not to Joke?

Scared me for a second...

Be careful with penpals. My ex-penpal from 20 odd years ago, was adamant that my letters were full of my undying love and devotion. My refusal to get down and dirty with him when we eventually met was met with disbelief. Translations can be tricky indeed. A casual word here and there can be totally misinterpreted.

Yes, it was a joke.

Franch and Dave, you guys are joking right?

Dear Angelea,

There is a great website where you can copy-paste and get a good translation for Chinese texts, here it is : www.chinese-tools.com/tools/annotation.html it is very useful.

Julie

My favorit song is kryptonite from 3Doorsdown (hopefully I wrote the bandname correct )

Henning, SoaD is indeed pumped up with tears and rosewater. He's expecting soppy music, for Julio's sake :)

Dave, I think he hasn't been that explicit... let time carry on its rewards - lol _

Huh????

Why didn't you guys tell her about the marriage proposal?

System of a Down?

So he wants pop music with action....any suggestions??

为什么我回复R，系统不把内容给我？

I think that means he can not send you any content and he don´t know why and asks you for help.

抒情 is temperamental so he want´s musik with action I guess (ahh I love ChinesePera-kun it makes things much easyer)

Yes, I agree on that too.

Angelea,

It may be helpful for some poddies to go through the exercise of reading a native Chinese's written correspondence. But, I am of the strong opinion that (out of respect for privacy) that you should not do this without explicit permission from your penpal; that is, if you haven't obtained it yet : )

Oh and franch, were you saying that I should post all the letters he sends?

Thanks so much guys!!! Coudl you help me just one last time? He just replied as:

为什么我回复R，系统不把内容给我？

No more questions after this!!! I think I've worn everyone out with all my questions!!!

Thanks again,

Angelea

Fp00n, with all due caution, I think Yves is right:

脑筋 nǎo jīn = brains, mind ; 转弯 zhuǎn wān = to turn back, revert ; 急 is used as an adverb here, meaning "hastily, suddenly" : 急转 jí zhuǎn : to change abruptly.

As for 抒情 it means sentimental, lyrical. So any Chinese music could fit in, lol.

Italiana, thanks for opening your mail to the community, it's been most useful to me. Keep your penpal uncapped :)

About the "emotional/moving music", your friend said that he really enjoyed the second song, not the second track (首 shou is a measure word for one song)

Then he asked if you have any 抒情 (shu1 qing2) music.

抒 - shu1: to pour out

情 - qing2: emotion, feeling

So if you have that kind of "emotional-pouring" music, send it over! =)

As for "This problem you mention..." did you ask him a question in your previous email to him? I don't think he's saying it "suddenly changing your mind." He's saying that it's a really difficult question, so he'll think more about it and get back to you. 脑筋转 - means to think...so 脑筋急转弯 - means to really think hard....so he's really thinking hard over your question.

Hope that's helpful!

just gave that one a try, sorry, someone else maybe?

One more wuestion: do you know what Zhouwei means by "emotional/moving music"?

Thanks....I wonder what he means by "This problem you mention looks like "suddenly changing your mind","??? Hmm....Thanks again!

Here's my take :

Cara Angelea，

I reply to your letter in a hurry, please forgime me for not writing in English.

This problem you mention looks like "suddenly changing your mind", I have to think it over, will let you know next time. I already wrote down your address, I am translating mine into English, I will give it to you next time.

The music you gave me is quite good, I particularly like the 2nd track, seriously. Do you have emotional/moving [??not sure about that one] music? if so please send it to me.

Oh, by the way, I'm really sorry, can you tell me what to pay attention to when writing international letters (enveloppes) in English? How do you write the address (could you send me a postcard so I can see how it's done)

Thanks

PS next Sunday our school organizes final exams, so I'm not sure I will be able to go on the net very often. In the meantime, please bear with me if I can't reply to you by post. As soon as our exams are over, I'll have time to communicate with you. Sorry!

Your Chinese friend Zhouwei