笔友
gesang
February 01, 2010 at 11:58 AM posted in General Discussion
bi3you3
simplified 笔友
traditional 筆友
我从来没见过我的笔友。I never met my pen pal.
我的笔友给我写信了!我高兴死了！ My pen pal wrote me! I am soooo happy!!
（I hope these sample sentences are correct! I was not sure about the first了...)
Related voacab:
信箱 xin4xiang1 - mailbox
短信 duan3xin4 - SMS
寄信 ji4xin4 - send a letter
发电邮 fa1dian4you2 - send an email
gesang
February 03, 2010 at 01:26 PM
@changye
I see... well, I think it is much more easy to understand/ get the right translation in a sentence context as usual... !
...about your other answer...if 笔友 is a transliteration, isn't it strange? There was paper in China more than 1000 years before it came to/was also made in Europe...
But they never thought of an own word for pen pal? Just joking- don't take the question too serious ;).
How do you say pen pal in Japan? You had paper since about 600 AD ;-)...
changye
February 03, 2010 at 01:43 PM
Hi gesang
笔友 is called "ペンパル (pen-paru)" or "ペンフレンド" (pen-hurendo) in Japanese, which are respectively transliterations of "pen pal" and "pen friend".
> 笔友 is a transliteration, isn't it strange?
Probably Chinese people don't like writing a letter very much, hehe.
cassielin
February 02, 2010 at 11:53 AM
ha, this post also reminds me some other related words.
网友wang3you3=net/cyber friend
票友piao4you3=those people who love traditional chinese opera
酒友jiu3you3=those people who love to drink beer.^_^
牌友pai2you3=those people who love to play poker.
changye
February 03, 2010 at 11:52 PM
Hi kimiik
That's a good example of Chinese homonyms! For the record, “黩武” is a formal written word and not so often used in modern Chinese. You can say "好战的国家" (hao4zhan4 de guo2jia1, war-like/belligerent nation), and I think that "军国主义" might be more appropriate as a translation of "militarism".
kimiik
February 03, 2010 at 05:51 PM
All of a sudden I understood that a 华夏独舞者 is not some kind of chinese solo dancer.
kimiik
February 03, 2010 at 01:43 PM
Hi Changye,
酒鬼 (people who love alcohol)
I guess 战鬼 doesn't exist.
黩武主义 (militarism)= 独舞主意 (plan to dance alone)?
changye
February 03, 2010 at 12:31 PM
Hi gesang
"酒友" means "drinking pal", and more exactly speaking, it means "a friend with whom you often drink". The same logic applies to "笔友". So, 战友, of course, doesn't mean "people who love a war/fighting", but means "a fellow soldier".
gesang
February 03, 2010 at 08:29 AM
Hi casselin,
thank you for your answer above and for the prove of an almost post-yellow mailbox in China ;-)!
In Germany yellow is used in most parts of the country for the post service since late 18th century and a special yellow pigment was used, named Narzissengelb (daffodil yellow), Chromgelb (chrome yellow) or: Postgelb. (post yellow).
As it was found out that the lead portion in this pigment is harmful to peoples health it was replaced by Ginstergelb (broom yellow).
...if I look at your list of 友 vocab above, 笔友 could also be understood as "someone who loves calligraphy painting/writing", right? 哈哈:)
gesang
February 02, 2010 at 09:53 AM
:-) funny how the pen pal post changed into a mailbox post. Even though I thought 笔友 is a very nice topic and interesting that it is "writing brush friend", very close to pen pal...whereas in German we say Brieffreund (would be letter friend or 信友 ;-))
Maybe mailbox is just a better topic for a vocabulary PICTURE group :)!
And thinking about mailbox I want to add/ask:
I can find
邮箱 you2 xiang1
信箱 xin4 xiang1
信函 xin4 han2
信筒 xin4 tong3
Could you say...信筒 is more used for public mailboxes in the streets, 邮箱 and 信箱 for a private mailbox at your house/apartment or email-inbox. And 信函? Maybe a box inside an office (or on an office desk) for 'to be answered/to be sent out' letters?
... or is there no differentiation at all..is it just personal preference which term for mailbox is used when?
changye
February 02, 2010 at 12:11 PM
Hi gesang
"笔友" is the literal translation of the English words "pen-pal/pen friend", perhaps.
cassielin
February 02, 2010 at 11:43 AM
hi gesang,
We use "邮箱" to mean mailbox, which is 方形squareness. We use "邮筒"to mean mailbox, which is 圆形roundness (like a cylinder).
And also 邮箱is very common used to mean email. 信函is a very formal expression about a letter.
BTW, thank you for your post. I learn a lot of interesting things about mailbox's color.^_^
zhenlijiang
February 02, 2010 at 02:28 AM
Apologies for taking up all that space with the pictures. I'm not very good at math ...
zhenlijiang
February 02, 2010 at 02:23 AM
这是日本（现在）的：
我小时候经常看到的类型：
我最喜欢的（到1970年代还经常能看到）：
更多（法国的，英国的，美国的，新西兰的也有。好像在新西兰蓝色的是民营的，红色+灰色的是国营的）
changye
February 02, 2010 at 01:37 AM
刚才我发现台湾的邮筒有两种颜色，一个是绿色（慢件），另一个是红色（快件），甚至还有红绿两色的。台湾也有红色的邮筒，这会不会跟台湾被日本统治的历史有关？
http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/1c/cb/a4f69124b07ced9317e3021c1c3c8c0e.jpg
http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/39/74/d3d10696116fee504438ff4dc4b823a2.jpg
kimiik
February 02, 2010 at 10:23 AM
Hi Changye,
关于"黑夜里的乌鸦", 这固定说法好像"all cats are grey in the dark"(la nuit, tous les chats sont gris). 我另外听说"黑夜里的乌鸦在飞"的意思完全一样。飞的或不飞的, 黑夜里的乌鸦都难识别。
changye
February 02, 2010 at 09:07 AM
Hi kimiik
欧盟成员国中也有采用红色邮筒的国家呀，善哉善哉！我今天才得知日本的红色邮筒是过去从英国正式引进的。据维基百科说，在那之前日本竟有黑色的邮筒，晚上找邮筒当然不容易，这可以说是“黑夜里的乌鸦”，哈哈。
kimiik
February 02, 2010 at 08:38 AM
我觉得欧盟不想统一邮筒的颜色。这不同颜色一边是一个旧"民族"传统一边产生"民族"自豪感。比利时(Belgium)在欧盟中心是一个典型的例子。比利时的邮筒是红的。
changye
February 01, 2010 at 02:34 PM
我一直以为美国的邮筒也是红的。不同的地方有不同的东西，看来这个说法很准确呀。那么日本红色的邮筒到底是从哪一个国家引进的？有没有人看过“条纹”邮筒？也有黑白的吗？哈哈
changye
February 01, 2010 at 01:06 PM
Hi gesang
哎呀，没想到是黄色！黄色的东西爱脏，对不对？不过，仔细想下，黄色很显眼，引人注目，所以黄色的邮筒很容易找到。德国人和瑞士人的思维方式还是很合理的。
gesang
February 01, 2010 at 01:21 PM
哈哈 I never thought about this! 对啊，黄色的东西爱脏。。。但是信筒总是很干净! 好像有人清洗信筒。。。虽然我从来没看过他们 ；－）
anlulu
February 20, 2010 at 06:11 AMHI !! 大家好 我今天才剛加入 :D
這是台灣的郵筒
紅色的是航空郵件&限時郵件
綠色的是寄台灣本島的