User Comments - paulinurus
paulinurus
Posted on: Love Tangle 2: A Lover Returns
November 23, 2009 at 1:08 PMChangye,
想当年独闯广州，什么苦没吃过
literal translation: to think that time (I) rushed to Guangzhou, any/what hardship (I) have not encountered.
A rhetorical statement/question does not require a response/an answer since the speaker/author's meaning is obvious. For example "Damn it's hot today" when the day is indeed hot.
In this sentence, the 什么苦没吃过 is more linked to the time he rushed to Guangzhou 想当年独闯广州 and not as obvious that it refers to the time while he was in Guangzhou (which would then make it a rhetorical statement). Since it is not obvious, how could one conclude for sure that that it is a rhetorical statement? Pete's interpretation could also be OK. The author's writing style could intend to mean "at that time I rushed to Guangzhou, I had not encountered any hardship at all" implying that this wasn't the case while in Guangzhou.
If there is a question mark after 什么苦没吃过 it would be clearer that the author wrote a rhetorical question to mean "I suffered hardships while in Guangzhou".
But anyways, no big deal.
Posted on: Playing Wii
November 23, 2009 at 11:34 AMWII 在加拿大的价柯是差不多二百块钱，在中国呢？The price of WII in Canada is about 200 dollars. How much is it in China?
Posted on: Love Tangle 2: A Lover Returns
November 23, 2009 at 4:02 AMI think a translation should be as close as possible to the way the Chinese text was written.
In the sentence 想当年独闯广州，什么苦没吃过, the essence of what he said was 'he has never suffered before he ran off to Guangzhou', so I think a translation of "Think of when I ran off alone to Guangzhou, I had never suffered back then" would be a pretty close translation of how the Chinese text was written.
Readers will obviously read in context between the lines that he suffered in Guangzhou (and persevered) as further confirmed by the following sentences in the Chinese text:
但我心里一直有个坚定的信念..
想当年你父母不同意我们的婚事，我一气之下跑到广州......
Posted on: Introducing Catherine
November 22, 2009 at 5:27 PMAmerican thanksgiving is an opportunity to shop at fantastic discount off regular prices. The one day sale would make or break retailers profit targets for the year... sales volume even bigger than any Christmas shopping day in December. Family members away also return home for thanksgiving family get-together same as Canadians do.
Posted on: Which Time Zone?
November 4, 2009 at 12:57 PMWelcome all new counselors! I think it is an excellent initiative to have native Chinese counselors looking after the boards. Already I have pasted many useful phrases in my study folder, and from a Newbie forum ！！
Nice work Cpod.
Posted on: Regional Accents Part I
October 24, 2009 at 1:13 AMAha, it is really pleasing to hear the expansion sentences spoken at a moderate speed for me to easily catch the pronunciation and tones of the words. I wish all the expansion sentences were spoken in the moderate speed as in this lesson. Once understood, I can easily speed up speaking the sentences myself.
Posted on: Snacks
October 22, 2009 at 12:06 AMI'm puzzled as to why the speaker in the Expansion sentences pronounced 营养 ying2yang3 with three syllables instead of just two syllables.
Sounds like she pronounced 营养 as yanying2yang3 instead of just ying2yang3. Is this a stylistic way of pronouncing ying2?
方便面没有营养，你最好少吃。
Posted on: Buying a Bike
October 20, 2009 at 12:01 PMVocabulary words missing in the HTML dialogue file..
Posted on: Light and Dark Colors of Clothing
October 13, 2009 at 9:29 AMI think this podcast is among the best. John's clear explanations timed in with Jenny's Chinese made the show an outstanding one. Also, I think Jenny has found the solution to bridge the proverbial gap between Ele and Inter... speak a mixture of Chinese and English inbetween the dialogue text. Great job!
p.s. Excellent job on the podcast of the expansion sentences too!
Posted on: Love Tangle 2: A Lover Returns
November 24, 2009 at 4:31 AMWell, I hope people don't speak to me rhetorically when I'm in China.. I would get the opposite meaning to what they say.
Changye, thanks for clearing it up for me.
Zhen, see here why "Damn it's hot today" is a rhetorical statement. As for Pete's translation, I posted my understanding of this sentence on the West Brain/East Brain site while he was still around.