User Comments - sclim
sclim
Posted on: Rowing a Boat
May 28, 2011 at 6:43 AMQuestion for Instructors:
While we're on the subject of the generality of 划, can 划 be used to mean rowing from the stern, Chinese style with a long stern oar on a pivot, to propel the boat forward, somewhat fish-like as in the photos from cinnamonfern? And what about poling a boat, i.e. a punt? My dictionary makes an obscure reference to Karlgren's discourse on the origin of 划 originally meaning "to pole a boat", without actually saying whether it could still mean that too.
Posted on: Rowing a Boat
May 28, 2011 at 6:06 AMHey!
I've listened to the 3 repeats of the audio dialogue a million times: I'm sure the guy isn't saying 我划左边，你划右边。Sounds something like 我在左边，你在右边, but I can't tell for sure. But when Jenny says it slowly for us, suddenly it's 我划左边，你划右边 like the text tells us it's supposed to be. Tell me it ain't true, Jenny! 真的假的?
Posted on: Rowing a Boat
May 28, 2011 at 5:50 AMIt seems that the Chinese term 划 is more generic (i.e may mean either form of manual boat propulsion) than the English, which has to specify either "to paddle" or "to row." I agree with toianw that in the photo, in the red boat in the foreground, the man in the front is definitely paddling, but the lady in the back has her hands definitely high on the oar handle on the inboard side of the gunwale, which would be inefficient if not impossible for paddling. Therefore, she must be rowing, although the photo is too small for us to actually see the oarlock. One thing that seems to be unique about Chinese rowing is that the rower pushes forward on the oar handle, causing the oar blade to sweep backwards, causing the boat to go forwards. Western rowing is achieved by pulling on the oars, causing the boat to go backwards which must be a real nuisance since you can't see where you're going. I don't believe I have ever seen a Western boat set up where the normal rowing direction is "forwards".
Posted on: I don't smoke
May 20, 2011 at 4:05 AMAha, I happen to know that one, having grown up in Singapore. Malay for rice growing in the field is "padi", hence English transliteration "paddy". Interestingly, in common with Chinese, another culture where rice is a staple, in Malay different words are used for rice in the field, rice as grain before cooking , and cooked rice.
Posted on: I don't smoke
May 16, 2011 at 3:58 AMI seem to remember in other dialects, say Cantonese, 吃烟 was used. Would this be acceptable in putonghua?
Posted on: Asking Height and Weight
May 14, 2011 at 6:04 AMQuestion for our Instructors: I understand the requirement for all the other length units to be preceded by 英 "yīng" for the imperial equivalent because these units chǐ, cùn etc. preexisted as traditional Chinese units of length measurement But was there ever a traditional 镑 "bàng?" or is the word bàng itself a new loan word for "pound". If so, than yīngbàng 英镑 is actually redundant, isn't it (if there is no other kind of bang4) ?
Posted on: Asking Height and Weight
May 14, 2011 at 5:50 AMA further clarification: it seems you are correcting an implied erroneous conversion in the lesson that 60kg is 120 pounds? If this is your impression, actually "jīn" doesn't mean "pound", but was the old traditional chinese weight measure and is only approximately a pound and a bit; in modern times it has been rationalized to officially convert to 0.5Kg or 1.1 lb..
I live in Canada, so I can tell you officially we metrified in 1977, but we old timers still, in our minds at least, cling to the old "imperial" units (inch, foot, yard, mile, pound, ton..) which are still shared with the US neighbours (hope you don't mind my spelling) to our south. There are a few catches though...the units of volume are different in absolute amount US vs Imperial. (US Gallon ~ 3.79 L; Imp Gallon ~ 4.55L). Canadian born people don't use "stone" as part of the weight vocabulary.
Posted on: 5000 Years of History
May 11, 2011 at 5:47 AMSTEPHENFOX: Jīn was a traditional trade unit of weight in China and South East Asia, termed "catty" or "kati" in Malay and possibly other languages, and probably varying slightly in absolute weight equivalence in different locales. It was used in Singapore/Malaysia when I grew up 50+ y ago, and was just over an imperial pound weight, now replaced by the metric system. I gather, it must still be used in China traditionally, or informally, in parallel with the official metric system. The kilogram (the metric unit of weight/mass) is gōngjīn. I wondered if, unspecified, the Jīn could refer to the gōngjin1, but that would mean (in the sentence) a weight of 90 kg, or 198 lb, which wouldn't match the context of the sentence (thin girl), so I guess they are referring to the traditional jīn; 90 jin would be a little over 90 lb weight.
Posted on: Rowing a Boat
May 28, 2011 at 7:37 AMSubtle error in Writing Practice:
In the Dialogue and Instruction, the Audio gives a consistent correct pronuciation huǐ of 会 in the sense of "in a moment", as in 一会儿 yīhuǐr. This is a tricky point, as I find it difficult to assign the correct tone, as the "er" is supposedly neutral, but I think it colours the tone of huǐ a little, but I can imitate the native speakers OK. Anyway, in the Writing Practice section, unfortunately, the test assigns the tone value of 会 in 一会儿 as huì, as though 会 was supposed to mean "to be able to", so that when after you write the word correctly you give the correct 3rd tone value, it marks you wrong and tries to correct you to 4th tone, with supposedly supporting dictionary definitions which are, in this context, quite misleading. Can this be corrected, please? It was quite a confusing point for me in the first place and it took me a while to get it right, so I would imagine this would be very confusing to other students.