User Comments - auntie68
auntie68
Posted on: Chinese Green Eggs and Ham
March 3, 2008 at 2:31 PMDear earlybird, no no no, you did not ask your question in the wrong "space"! Your question was a good one. It's good that you asked it. It's just that I -- ie, auntie68 -- have a very bad habit of going into too much detail in the "newbie"/"elementary" levels, which is bad for morale when people are really concentrating on getting to know the "basics" of Chinese. Just keep an open mind with Mandarin; some words just "go together", others don't, you will get a sense of what to simply accept, and what can be worked out using logic. All the best!
Posted on: Chinese Green Eggs and Ham
March 3, 2008 at 2:15 AMDitto, tucsonmichael. Sorry to ventilate such a question on a newbie comments thread... still counting on everybody's patience.
Posted on: Chinese Green Eggs and Ham
March 3, 2008 at 1:40 AMOh no, tucsonmichael, I don't need a translation of that note for myself, but it's easier for the Chinese CPOD staff to understand why we were asking this question if they can simply read the explanation in Chinese. If you look at the examples: eg. 生日愉快 ("Happy Birthday"), some of the examples will start to kick in very soon even for Newbies.
Posted on: Chinese Green Eggs and Ham
March 3, 2008 at 1:27 AMSorry, some finger trouble there: one of those examples should have been 你不高兴（＊愉快）干就别干了 Thanks so much, CPOD, for looking at this. And thank you, any genuine Newbies and Elementaries out there, for allowing this kind of question to be ventilated in "your" space! I wish all the best in your Chinese studies!
Posted on: Chinese Green Eggs and Ham
March 3, 2008 at 1:23 AMOh. clay, I've just found a specific note on 高兴 vs 愉快 in my dictionary, the Chinese is fairly simple but I don't feel up to the task of translating it properly: [QUOTE] 形容词 “高兴“ 和 “愉快“ 翻译成英文基本相同， 但很多情况下不能换用。 “愉快“ 有 “快乐“ 的意思； “高兴“ 有 “兴奋“ 的意思。如： 愉快：工作愉快（＊高兴）／ 生日愉快（＊高兴）／愉快（＊高兴） 的家庭／ 愉快（＊高兴） 的假日。高兴：他不高兴（＊愉快）了／ 别高兴（＊愉快）得太早／ 你不高兴奋（＊愉快）干就别干了／ 他高高兴兴（＊愉愉快快） 地走了。 [/QUOTE] I think the * means that the word in the brackets is not interchangeable? Help!
Posted on: Chinese Green Eggs and Ham
March 3, 2008 at 12:52 AMrich, thanks. Now I am going to sprint over to amazon.com's China site and try to buy a copy of 维尼熊 for myself, so that I see how they managed to translate that lovely, whimsical section at the beginning of the book where Christopher Robin digs his heels in and makes it clear that it's Winnie-THE-Pooh, not Winnie Pooh. Hmm...
Posted on: Chinese Green Eggs and Ham
March 3, 2008 at 12:16 AMrich, that's just great! Thanks. You know, I sometimes wonder how somebody would try to translate "Winnie-the-Pooh" into any language lacking a definite article. Like Chinese, say. That would be a tough one...
Posted on: Chinese Green Eggs and Ham
March 2, 2008 at 11:29 PMdear earlybird, your 高兴 vs 愉快 question is a good one, but I think this one is best left to Amber or Jenny to explain. Welcome to this community!
Posted on: Chinese Green Eggs and Ham
March 2, 2008 at 11:18 PMhi nishizhutou. Pronouncing 尽量 as jin3liang4 is absolutely correct and standard. If you look up 尽 in a good dictionary, you will be directed to two separate entries: One for 尽 (third tone), and the other for 尽 (fourth tone). The meanings are close enough to cause confusion sometimes, but they are not interchangeable. Hope that puts to bed your worries about CPOD teaching "non-standard" Mandarin or even regional accents! Jenny's accent is about as neutral as I've heard in a Chinese person.
Posted on: Chinese Green Eggs and Ham
March 3, 2008 at 2:37 PMearlybird, if the exact question you asked was the subject of a special note -- in very simple Chinese -- in my little dictionary, which was written with non-native learners like you and me in mind, you can take it that it was a serious question that you asked. Whether or not you knew it!