User Comments - xiaohu
xiaohu
Posted on: 好莱坞大片
January 28, 2008 at 7:58 AMAuntie68, Yes 变形金刚, biàn xíng jīn gāng is the Chinese title for the "Transformers". 变形 means to "change shape" or "to transform" and 金刚 loosely translated means, "warrior". So that gives us, "Transforming Warriors". 你明白吗?
Posted on: #34
January 24, 2008 at 9:05 PMJenny, Oh, I get it, so 朝秦暮楚 is basically talking about one who, in the morning aligns themself with the 秦 Empire, and in the Evening aligns themself with the 楚 Empire, hence becoming a metaphor for someone who's fickle, inconsistant or constantly changing loyalties! To be honest the 成语 is one of the the main reasons I love this language so much. There is so much depth, a vast ocean of meaning behind each word! So why is it that 朝三暮四 became equal in meaning to 朝秦暮楚？
Posted on: Choosing a Chinese Name and Safety
January 24, 2008 at 8:59 PMMy first Chinese name was a simple transliteration of my real name, but the Chinese name that stuck 小虎, the Chinese people always say is very cute and they like it very much. My private tutor who gave me my first Chinese name said it's better not to have a name that sounds Chinese. Later on when I adopted the name 小虎 I began to see that the Chinese people actually prefer us to have names that sound Chinese. I guess it's the same as in America, we much prefer the name "Jet Li" as opposed to "Li Lian Jie", or perhaps the name "Connie" as opposed to "Kang Yi" etc., it creates a feeling of a closer relationship right away.
Posted on: #34
January 24, 2008 at 8:07 AMCorrection to my last post, I meant 心理不稳定.
Posted on: #34
January 24, 2008 at 8:06 AMJenny, I was looking forward to hearing your story about the origin of 朝三暮四, so there was this Monkey right? And then....? Doesn't 朝三暮四, essentially describe someone who's 心路不稳定? Someone who is never satisfied, always looking for the new thing? I suppose playing the field and always looking for the new hook up is one aspect of that, but isn't the word itself more general?
Posted on: Extreme Chinese - 不得了 (bùdéliǎo)
January 22, 2008 at 9:05 AMNicolas: To get Chinese pronunciation really authentic it's not that easy, but just remember, if you really want your pronunciation to be perfect, then it's a combination of careful study of the pronunciation guides (I think the ones here on Chinesepod are really good) and careful listening. If you really listen and repeat and compare your pronunciation with the native speakers, then you'll know what you're doing wrong and the pronunciation guides give you the tools to fix it quickly. I'll give you an example from my own experience, the three sounds, "ji, qi, xi" I always had trouble with. From the beginning I knew there was something wrong with them but didn't have any idea how to fix it. Most pronunciation guides (as well as my private tutor) only concentrated on the sounds, "Zhi, Chi, Shi and Ri", since if we pronounce our "Ji, Qi & Xi" with an American accent, then no misunderstanding will arise, and besides I was always told my pronunciation was really good and that I had a special gift for pronunciation. Not just by my teacher but by all the Chinese People I came accross with...so you'll see sometimes scrutiny and fair, constructive criticism can help you immesurable more than emply compliments! I would listen to native Chinese speakers and the speakers on my Pimsleur CD's, and would hear things like, "在一起" (zai yi qi) and when I would make the "Qi" sound, it just never quite sounded right. I'd say some of the most basic words, like “谢谢" and "小姐" (xie xie and xiao jie) and absolutely cringe at the sound of my own voice because I KNEW EMPHATICALLY there was something I was doing wrong...but I couldn't figure it out! Even my $50 dollar an hour private tutor said there was nothing wrong with the way my "Ji, Qi, Xi" sounded! But that's only because when I would say the sounds all alone I couldn't really clearly hear what I was doing wrong. When you say the words in a sentence, then you can plainly hear the American accent come accross. But I'll get into that more in a minute. Then just about a year ago I went on John Pasden's (Chinesepod's John Pasden) website sinosplice.com and discovered his pronunciation guide for correcting the common mispronunciation of "Ji, Qi and Xi" and I knew I'd found the answer I was looking for! Keep in mind this is after FOUR YEARS of study of this language...and I STILL couldn't get a handle on what I was doing wrong by listening alone! As it turns out, these sounds are completely foriegn to English speakers but they are much harder to correct than the Ü with the 2 dots (umlaut) because you can't SEE what you need to do to pronounce it correctly! As in the case of the Ü with the Umlaut, you can see the lips rounded in a tight hole and the dimples forming in the cheek so saying words like 绿茶，and 身略 (LÜ Cha and Sheng LÜe) are pretty easy to figure out because it's VISUAL, but with the "Ji, Qi, Xi" it's INTERNAL! It's a sound produced from completely inside the mouth. The "Ji, Qi and Xi" sounds are actually made by pressing the tip of your tongue on the bottom of your lower teeth, with the center of the tongue touching the Alveolar Ridge. The way we make the sounds in English is with the tip of the tongue turned up, touching the Alveolar Ridge, thus giving the American sound to it. That's why the Chinese describe it as being a "flat tongue" sound, and that's why you hear a sort of soft hissing sound with this group of sounds, as the air travels downward on a slope accross the surface of your tongue and out of your mouth. Needless to say I was ELATED! I finally had the answer to the question that had been plaguing me for all those years! Needless to say correcting these sounds didn't happen overnight, I had to constantly concentrate on proper tongue placement, as well as having to learn how to move the tongue smoothly through quick combinations between, the flat tongue and rolled tongue sounds, words like 洗手间 (xi shou jian...bathroom) were especily difficult because it's a quick transition between Flat Tongue, Rolled Tongue, Flat Tongue...but after a months of constant work I finally got it. So...that being said my Chinese speaking abilities gained newfound confidence! I know it sounds corny but it's true, and actually, finally getting that group of sounds correct led me to totally re-examine my pronunciation and by being honest with myself I found there were plently of other sounds I wasn't pronouncing correctly either! Since then I've gone on to fix pretty much all the pronunciation problems and I honestly feel my pronunciation is really really close to sounding totally Chinese! To tell you the truth, when you want to blend in perfectly with a society, the more like them you SOUND...the more like them you LOOK! One time I was out with a group of my Chinese friends and we went to a place where it was necessary for me to speak English, so I was busy conversing with the Clerk in English and when I came back to my group they said that, when watching me speak English one of them remarked, "哇， 小虎的英文很厉害啊" (Wow, Xiao Hu's English is really great!), the others started busting up and said, "小虎就是美国人并不是中国人，当然他的英文很好呗！" (Xiao Hu is American, not Chinese...of course his English is great!) The other told me, "我已经这么习惯跟你说中国话好像我完全忘记你是美国人！" (Apparently I'm so used to speaking Chinese with you that I totally forgot you are American!) It sounds kind of dorky to say I owe it all to John Pasden, but I do! So, the point of my long winded story is just that if you want to correct your pronunciation, first consult the written guides to give you the clues on how you are supposed to place your tongue, lips, etc., and what you are supposed to do with the passage of air out of your mouth, once armed with that knowledge, then go back to the Pinyin sound chart and listen to each sound individually. Having previously studied the pronunciation guide you will know basically what to do to replicate those sounds, after which, MIMIC, MIMIC, MIMIC! Mimic the sounds individially first, then start combining them into words, and finally sentences, and before you know it, you yourself will actually become widely regarded by the Chinese People as a true 中国通！ ＰＳDon't forget if you need my help you can ask anytime! 小虎
Posted on: Presentation on Trends
January 21, 2008 at 7:11 AMchittywangbang It sounds to me as if your Chinese friend is a real BBC! (Brittish Born Chinese) BBC 一次 BBC 两次。。。BBC 天堂！
Posted on: Getting Your Hair Done
January 15, 2008 at 9:17 AMJenny, 好像上海的理发员都很厉害，因为把头发弄得像Mullet, Spike 和 Afro 组合挺费劲！
Posted on: Extreme Chinese - 不得了 (bùdéliǎo)
January 15, 2008 at 9:04 AMJenny, I think it's kind of funny that the transliteration of Ovaltine into Chinese was 阿华田, and not 阿华甜！ I like the transliterations that also carry meaning the best like, 可口可乐 for Coca Cola. In the case of Ovaltine, the first two characters work well because 阿 sounds like what you say after taking a satisfying gulp of a tasty beverage (aaahhh!), the 华 works well as it means "magnificent", but then they use 田，the character for "Field", instead of 甜, it seems to me the character for sweet would have been a natural in this combination to give both a transliteration of sound and a meaning!
Posted on: 橄榄球在中国
January 28, 2008 at 9:20 AMuser34695: I think Jenny's translations all work fine. 分一杯羹: literally "Splitting a cup of Custard" is quite close to our English, "Get a piece of the Pie", which is the same meaning as, "getting a cut of the action". Likewise: 套近乎 "To curry favor with" is the same thing as "to kiss up to". The only difference is that what you've listed off here are more colloquial ways of expressing the same meaning, however in texbooks and institutional educational materials they never really define any words in their most colloquial terms, and with good reason! Most slang terms can be too regional and obscure., so for ease of learning you should always define new terms in their most general and mainstream way.