F0858-lesson - Question on the Expansion

Hi henning, I am afraid that my poor English command doesn’t enable me to get the point of your posting. All I can say is that even the writer of that Chinese sentence perhaps didn’t expect someone to raise such a profound question.

changye, Sorry, that *my* English command does not enable me to post understandable sentences. OK, let me rephrase: Is 家庭 in the given example a) an abstract entity type ("the situation of the average Chinese family reflects [...]") b) an entity instance (a concrete family like family 张 with iits members 陈丽, 张亮 and 张小东西) ?

Henning, It's choice (a).

Thanks, John. :)

Hi henning, Some variations, but without quality guarantee! Please consult with your 爱人. 中国家庭的变化也能折射出我国这20多年来的发展。 一个家庭的变化也能折射出中国这20多年来的发展。 连我的小家庭的变化都能折射出中国这20多年来的发展。

Thanks a lot, changye, my collegue confirmed that your Chinese is impeccable once again. Let me highlight the variations that I see: Ex. 1 is similar like the original CPOd statement - albeit more exlplicitly referring to the *Chinese* family. Ex 2 has a different toch as it basically says "you can pick one familiy out and it will reflect the changes in society". Ex 3 is the most concrete. It is specificially naming one representative case - and that one is my own family. The evidence becomes more and more anecdotal from 1 to 3, but on the other hand it .becomes more concrete, personal, and convincing. Ex 1 could be the result of a longitudinal statistical study, Ex 2 a report in a political magazine, and Ex 3 a blog entry...

I can't believe it, but I actually do understand the point you are making. There was never any doubt, Henning, that your Chinese is light year ahead of mine, but I'm beginning to think your English is too. It must take you forever to get through a lesson with that kind of analysis!

Hi henning, Thanks for your semantical analysis on the three Chinese sentences I modified. Your interpretations are more profound and precise than I myself thought. I just understood what made you ask that question yesterday. As you know, Chinese language, as well as Korean, Japanese, Malay or Indonesian, has no article, no definite article, and almost no plural forms, except for 我们 or 学生们. Moreover, Chinese nouns have no declension. In other words, nouns in Chinese often lack some kinds of information that European languages usually carry, which may be one of the reasons why you questioned the definition of “家庭”. But, at the same time, I wonder how you tell “concrete family” from “typical family” in German or English sentences without an additional explanation?

Henning, 家庭 can means an abstract entity type and also an entity instance, it really depends on the context of your sentence. Chinese words are very flexible, you can modify its meaning by modifying its context. The only thing that does not change is the original meaning of the individual character.