User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: Celebrating the New Year with Visitors

simon,

Yellowbridges commentary sums it up best:

Confucianists believe that people are born pure while Christians believe that people are born sinners.

Posted on: The North Has Central Heating

bodawei,

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings mate but chanelle's pic is coming up nice n clear here.

Nice photo Chanelle with the two cats framing the heater.

Posted on: 游孔庙

Jason,

Thanks for confirming that mate.

I think what was going through my head at the time was that the pillars they're talking about are in the Great Hall

..oh right,I see what you mean;thanks for explaining.I suppose if that section of the dialogue was in isolation then possibly this may have made it clearer for some,but given the context [at that point we had the benefit of being most of the way through the dialogue] I think it was easily inferred [and I'd rather infer what is meant to be inferred],whereas deviations make me wonder why or if I'm seeing a meaning there that there isn't meant to be.Anyway,I'm not meaning to sound picky over a minor point.I suppose the thing is I should just be more confident with what I think is being said.I do think though that to a degree those not bothered by discrepancies between ones interpretation and the translation are those at a level that don't need the translations.Actually,generally I use them for the most part to confirm what I think is being said more or less.When my interpretation is a bit off I can usually see why and this is where the translations are very instructive [so thanks for that].But if there's a discrepancy I can't account for then that's where it's nice to ask these clarifying questions,so thanks again.As an aside,because in this case we were talking about the Emperor [the all powerful one] and my lack of knowledge about Chinese history,I really wasn't sure that he would come and venerate Confucius so this was my other reason for wondering if it was significant that it wasn't translated that way.

You'd think someone with so much power wouldn't get jealous so easily!

hehe,yeah good point.It sounds a bit like myth to me,and would certainly impress the tourists.

As a further aside,this sentence is amusing:

"儒家思想影响了中国封建社会几千年"

几..how many thousand would that be? Even if we translate it as a few and not several,I tend to think of a few as being at least 3 or so.Sounds like 过头话

Posted on: 游孔庙

I'm curious about the translation of this from the diagologue:

据说皇帝来曲阜祭孔时

..which is translated as:

"It's said that when the Emperor came to the great hall"

I would have taken it more literally to be:

"It's said that when the Emperor came to Qufu to hold a service for Confucius."

..ok well I can see they mean more or less the same thing,but while the Great Hall is that place where such a service takes place,I think it is not entirely certain from such a translation that he did come to hold a service...after all the current day tourist is just there to behold,and he may simply have been there inspecting.I mean it just seems to me that it opens up some small degree of doubt,or have I the wrong take on this?

Posted on: Rhetorical Question Marker 难道

pauley,

hehe:

"对越来越进步看起来越来越出问题"

..reminds me of the old adage.."a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing"...still,it's all fun n games,hey,哈哈。

Posted on: Celebrating the New Year with Visitors

Gorgeous photos;thanks John.

Ah,guilty of only having a squiz at the wikipedia articule and not reading it all.不好意思 [sorry].Didn't see the link first time so thanks for pointing that out.

Checked out the 三字经[3 character classic]..really cool...I hadn't come across it before.I like that it not only teaches kids 3 characters per line at a time,but also summarises some Confucian thought.

Posted on: Celebrating the New Year with Visitors

呵呵，Josephine听起来那么可爱，而且她的哥哥们很酷。这个播客是我最爱News and Features因为孩子们让我笑。【hehe,Josephine sounds soooo cute,and her brothers so cool.This podcast is my favourite news and features because the kids made me smile and laugh].I'd love to know the words to the rap Josephine sang...all were very impressive.I'd also be interested in the best way for a family to use ChinesePod [I presume families are all using one account...or am I wrong there?]...what is the best way to use vocab management and archiving of lessons [with labels I guess].Any tips anyone?

I was reminded of WC Fields being quoted as saying "never work with children and animals" but John did a superb job and was up to the task.Great stuff.Thankyou :)

Posted on: 游孔庙

从小我学会基督教的名言“do unto others as you would have others do unto you".以后，不过还早就我听说孔子的名言翻译“what you do not want for yourself,do not impose on others"。。当时我觉得两个名言一样。你们同不同意？无论，我认为都是非常英明的名言，而且现在我知道中文的原来名言。

Interesting that：

有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎

和：

学而时习之，不亦说乎

have the same final stucture:

不亦x乎

I'm wondering what different nuances of meaning is given by the choices of 乐 和 说 in this structure[though I notice that while the character is given as 说 it's not pronounced shuo,but rather yue4...is this a traditional rendition of the character?].I'm also wondering if this is an older or more bookish type expression.In fact this use of 乎 is reminding me a little of yesterdays lesson on 难道 as it's also sounding rhetorical,though at the end of the sentence instead of the start.

Posted on: 游孔庙

我想起来在这个课程：

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/tomb-sweeping-festival-%E6%B8%85%E6%98%8E

。。有“杏花村”，但是我觉得那个和这个课程的“杏坛”不一样。我猜古代中国有很多的“杏”地方。

其他的水果：

桃李满天下

呵呵。。peaches and plums from the whole sky come down...it's raining peaches and plums....Li of course can be a surname...how about Tao? ...反正，我喜欢这个句。

Posted on: Rhetorical Question Marker 难道

难道有人没听说"Google wave"吗？

。。那，其实，实在，我没有听说。。我不好意思。。。。不过，现在我听说，呵呵。