往 (wǎng)
go_manly
April 26, 2010 at 02:40 AM posted in I Have a QuestionI have a question regarding 往 (wǎng).
If we want to say we are going to a certain place, we use 到 (dào). In that case we are giving a destination.
往 (wǎng) is used to say we are heading in a certain direction. I have been through all of the Elementary expansion sentences, and 往 is always followed by a direction indicator, such as east, the front, outside, etc.
Can 往 be followed by a specific location or landmark, such as a library or police station, to indicate that we are headed in the direction of that landmark, without it being our destination?
For example, how would we say 'As I was heading towards the library, I bumped into an old friend.' ?
xiao_liang
April 27, 2010 at 08:09 AM
go_manly, your chinese is about a gazillion times better than mine. But I'm going to have a crack, because I have a few minutes and want to practice. Sorry, not what you want at all:
去向图书时，我撞上了老朋友
(confession, I was searching nciku for "bumped into" and copied most of the above phrase from this example:
lujiaojie
April 28, 2010 at 03:24 AM
我们的产品从中国走向世界
wǒmén de chǎnpǐn cóng Zhōngguó zǒuxiàng shìjiè
Our products go from China to the world
go_manly
April 28, 2010 at 02:38 AM
Thanks jiaojie. I'm not sure I understand the meaning of your last sentence though - "from China head towards the world???"
lujiaojie
April 28, 2010 at 02:33 AM
"走向图书馆时"sounds weird. 走向 always matches with abstract things, for example,
走向明天 zǒuxiàng míngtiān
走向未来 zǒuxiàng wèilái
从中国走向世界 cóng Zhōngguó zǒuxiàng shìjiè。
go_manly
April 27, 2010 at 08:45 AM
So how does 走向 work? (As discussed below). And can you explain your choice of 往 over 向 ?
xiao_liang
April 27, 2010 at 08:43 AM
Ah, so it should be 去往 rather than 走向 ? Or do they both work? (referencing go_manly's comment below).
G_M: Apologies for missing the 3rd character, and my overestimation of your ability can only be a good thing, right? :)
xiaophil
April 27, 2010 at 05:06 AM
I am certain that you can use it this way. I found a lot of examples on nciku.com that support this.
go_manly
April 27, 2010 at 05:37 AM
Thanks for that. I don't know why I didn't think of Nciku. By the way, is the Nciku site looking weird to you? I need to scroll down a page now to see the dictionary.
Back to the question. I have also checked the Intermediate lessons, and the only examples I've found are ones like:
往马桶里 (wǎng mǎtǒng lǐ) and 往车上 (wǎng chē shàng).
So even these contain a direction indicator (里 and 上). Perhaps CPod could think about including some examples without these direction indicators in future lesson.
Also, if anyone could properly translate my example sentence, it would be greatly appreciated.
lujiaojie
April 27, 2010 at 08:40 AM
往can be followed by a specific location or landmark, such as a library or police station.
For example,
他往图书馆去了。
Tā wǎng túshūguǎn qùle.
他往警察局去了。
Tā wǎng jǐngchájú qùle.
However, that sounds formal. Here 往 is preposition and 去 is verb.
go_manly
April 27, 2010 at 08:28 AMThe sentence seems good for the most part, but I'm wondering about the 去. I think perhaps 走 (zǒu) works better here. In fact, on Yellowbridge, 走向 (zǒuxiàng) is listed as a word meaning 'to move towards, to head for', so that seems to work.
Also, probably just an oversight, but you are missing the 3rd character in túshūguǎn.
I'm still struggling with lower intermediate, and still asking plenty of questions about Intermediate expansion sentences, so I think you have the wrong impression of my ability.