Chatting: Text messages from China

I never got Jenny's mobile number, I got Eileen's but that probably won't work now she's left China.

蓝天去哪儿?

好久不看他的评论。

他放弃了没有?

After about 6 months, I finally got Chinese input working on my phone again. :) I had it stuck in stroke/traditional mode for ages and couldn't work out how to get the right characters. It turned out it was pretty easy to switch to pinyin/simplified mode.

Now if only I was on txt terms with someone who understood Chinese.

On 不好意思: in Taiwan, restaurant staff use it A LOT - when giving you the dishes, when asking about your order, and so on. It seems pretty much equivalent to "excuse me." It'll even be used when I'm sitting back and don't need to move at all.

35 = ok dont b l8

i dont use 喔 i use 哦

k c u ltr

Re: (35), I think the 喔 is great, though it seems mostly used by women.

BTW, I usually think of 不好意思 as "I'm sorry to impose on you" or "It's such an imposition". I wonder if there is another word in Chinese that translates the specific English term "imposition"...?

For those of you who have habits like mine, here's a reminder:

(35) 好的不要迟到喔

Would "you" have used that last hanzi? :)

不好意思 does mean to be embarassed (actually, I think there might be a qingwen on this...not sure), but means a lot lot more. There is some overlap between it and the other apologetic terms, but there are times when 不好意思 makes sense, but other words do not.

Here are some usages:

(1) You shouldn't have! Someone buys you something as a gift and you feel "unworthy" of the gift (or you pretend to), you will say 不好意思. Here, you mean something like "you shouldn't have."

(2) I feel bad! Similar to (1), but could be translated as "I feel bad" when you feel you are imposing on someone else. You could be 不好意思 because you are staying at someone's house and they are being hospitable to you. Or, you could be 不好意思 to say anything (i.e., I feel bad saying this, but Susy is getting fat). In that sentence, you might say 不好意思 to translate "I feel bad". This is the 不好意思 plus verb structure. You will often hear "我不好意思说。。。"

(3) Sorry! I think this 不好意思 is sometimes interchangeable with the other ways to say sorry, but whenever I hear it, I think it is somewhat disingenuous, because it is over the top. That is, you aren't really 不好意思 , but you say you are. For this reason, it is reserved for less serious offenses that really aren't offenses at all.

These things you just have to get a feel for, I think. The best unifier of all the usages of 不好意思 I think is to simply go back to its original meaning. 不好意思 is used when you are embarassed/sorry because of an awkward situation that makes you feel somewhat bad, even though the other person will have no reason to blame you. For that reason, it is not a sincere apology for wrongdoing, but a way to show that you are aware of the awkwardness of the moment, an awkwardness that your conduct has "caused."

Wow, I pretty much just make this up as a I go along. Please do not rely on this as gospel! ;-)

seems to be a good idea for a Qing Wen topic :-)

So... how where 不好意思 stand in relation to 对不起 and 抱歉? I always thought it meant something like "I'm embarassed about that"...

maybe once this becomes a special section on the homepage with a weekly sms to translate :-)

I was just thinking that this has got to be the most prolific thread by anyone, poddie or academic team. Good job, lantian!

Is this the most-commented thread of all time?

34 = b l8 10 sry

(34) Sorry, I will be arriving approximately 10 minutes late.

(34) 对不起, 我大概晚到十分钟.

Usually I am pretty die-hard about engaging and learning in a full Chinese environment, I usually don't want my teachers speaking English. But sometimes, it's good if there is someone that really understands the nuances of both English and Chinese, and who is really fluent enough to explain things in English.

I too have heard the simple explanation in English, "Dui bu qi is formal", then I also heard "biao qian is very formal." After logging this in my head, it quickly bumped up against the real world encounter of hearing friends say it to each other...in rather casual circumstances.

Pulosm's clear explanation, is the first clear explanation I've really ever read. (sprinkled with some salt of course). It was still fine dining!

Wow....very good clarity on the 对不起 and 抱歉．When I learned that in class the teacher just said that 抱歉 was more formal, but I came to realize (just not as clear as pulosm) they weren't. I hope I too can use my experiencing of getting the right and clear meaning of words to help everyone.

Lantian, you are too kind. :-) I kind of just make things up, so please don't rely too heavily on those things! Thanks for the fun text messages, btw...

NO SORRIES! - That was about the best darn explanation I have ever seen, anywhere. Cpod, you all should hide in shame at the beauty and clarity of pulosm's explanation. ;p

Pulosm, where in the world did you get that kind of clarity on those words? If it's in a book, I want that book! If it's just in your head, then keeeeep talking! thx

There has been much talk about 抱歉 and 对不起. They have different usages, mostly. But, there are also other differences. That is, they are not ALWAYS interchangeable.

Keep in mind:

对不起 literally means "to treat wrongly" (对 here is a verb and means "to treat." 不起 is used with lots of verbs and it means that the verb wasn't or isn't done in a way that doesn't rise to the normal level. E.g., 看不起，了不起，etc.).

抱歉 literally means "to harbor regret."

To me, the difference between these two is that 抱歉 expresses being sorry about the situation in general, while 对不起 expresses being sorry about something you have done specifically.

Let's say you are getting on the bus and you accidentally bump someone. Your bumping them didn't really create a bad situation, so "sorry" is just a polity phrase explaining that you didn't mean to do it. So you have to use 对不起.

But let's say, I show up at a store that I wanted to buy something at. The storekeeper is closing up though and I can't come in, she'll say: 真抱歉，我快关门了！She can't say 对不起 because that's too personal. She didn't really do anything, she is just regretful for you about that the situation.

I would say that when we say 对不起 is informal and 抱歉 is formal, what we really mean is that the former is personal, while the latter is not. The former implies your own wrongdoing (however big) is what there is to be sorry about; the latter implies that regardless of who did the wrong thing (again, it could be you!!!), you are sorry about the situation.

This might be confusing, so if so, I'm sorry. Just get the feeling for them by considering what the missing words are in the sentences:

(我）真抱歉

I am truly sorry.

（我真）对不起（了你）

I truly wronged you.

My explanation is far from perfect, but I know how/when to use these, I just don't know how to explain it just right....I just know what sounds right. Sorry! or as I would say here: 真抱歉

so in which context was it? Since it was a sms I´d say it probably was the last one of the rephrased translations that was meant, right?

Hi Ex,

I'd rephrase your translation to:

"Why haven't you said anything lately"

"Why so quiet lately"

"Haven't heard anything from you lately."

Lantian, you would have to try very hard to bore us. ;-) I always look forward to seeing new text examples and it's only getting funnier as I'm able to understand more and more of them without 'cheating'.

(33) why didn´t you say anything recently?

Don´t worry it´s a very good idea to give us this seldom taught apology. :-) It realy is interresting :-)

(33) 最近怎么不说话了？

Hi Ex,

Nah, no trap, but I thought it might be interesting for others to see the use of 抱歉 bao qian, sorry. It's usually not taught much in comparison to 对不起. While many books/teachers will emphasis 抱歉 as a really heavy, serious expression, notice that this stranger has sent me a message using it! I dunno, I thought it was interesting? People out there, did I just bore ya to death?

(32) sorry, I dialed the wrong number.

That seems to be realy easy but maybe there´s a trap in it changing the meaning ?!?

(32) 抱歉，打错电话。

EX,

It's more likely to have that meaning when said as 丫头. In this case, it has absolutely none of that association!

ähm... ChinesePera-kun translates 丫 as slave girl (in the expanded explanation section it says forked, bifurcation)

so (31) lit. would be something like: haha, good slave girl

°~°

PS. I even have the impression of an affirmative sense of 丫. Like the German Ja is understood almost everywhere...

(31) haha, good one, yes

Great! I've been wondering quite long about the 丫. I guess it's mainly used phonetically as one of those many aahs and oohs that Chinese love to attach to end of phrases. I also guess 丫 enforces things a little bit.

Did you tell a joke or a funny story and that's the answer?

(31) haha, good one-yaa

?

(31) 哈哈 好丫

Thanks, guys. Those are terrific explanations of some subtleties of the word 家. Here's a question along a slightly different line: could 国贸哪家 be the answer to a question asking which family you belong to in 国贸? Or, would you have to say it this way: 国贸哪家人？

Az, the reason you know it's not a house is because if you are referring to the house as a building, you won't use 家, usually, because it has a tinge of family, it's more like "home"...you wouldn't say in English "which home in Guo Mao?," right?.

If you read that sentence, it is pretty clear that it is a restaurant, because although 家 can be a measure word for many things, it is most frequently used as a measure word for restuarants.

Also, as Lantian points out, it isn't the measure word for "home." The measure word for houses (fang1zi) is "zuo4" (sorry, can't type Chinese at this computer, but it's the character for "sit" inside the "yan3" radical (the one that in simplified characters means guang3 as in guang3zhou1). Anyway, that measure is used for large immovable things, such as mountains, bulidings, bridges, etc.

I AZ,

Hmm...actually I don't think so, I'm not sure what the measure word is for a "house" which is known as a "villa" here, or for apt for that matter. And then it would be kinda too ambiguous to ask "which building" with just the measure word, one might I think instead use the various general terms for apartments like "公寓“ gong yu.

Actually, the specificity of that measure word almost "gives away" the context...if you know the use of the measure word. heh :)

Anyone know the measure word for apts or villas?

一家家??

好象你说的对. =)

Ai ya, tricky lantian. Of course you are right that without context, who'd know this is in reference to a restaurant. But, if the sender was asking which building you lived in in that district, it would have meant "which house is it?" Right?

wow, I was right then.

keep up the good work, lantian. This is really fun!

I provided (30) 国贸哪家？ to demonstrate the glory of measure words! 家 jia, is the measure word for restaurants and buildings.

My friend was asking, "Which (restaurant) in Guo Mao?"

I wonder if anyone was thinking "Which house in Guo Mao?" ;p

Asking for directions? Which building (hotel) in the district of Guomao?

I am totally guessing...

Really Azer.....hmm...so what's it about? ;p Other's better jump in quick before she gives it away...or not...哈哈

I think I understand it. It illustrates the brevity, efficiency of the Chinese language.

Lantian, I think I get it, but I will refrain to let others have a stab at it. It is very tricky though (i.e., hard out of context).

I think pulosm explained everything perfectly! Fabulouso!

(30) 国贸哪家？

It's a bit of a trick on my part...but what does it mean? 国贸 (guo mao) is a common name for a city district.

Pulosm, Amber, like AzerDocMom I really appreciate your explanations. Thanks a lot!

Amber, thanks a lot. That makes sense to me now.

Pulosm, those are fabulous explanations. They make sense to me intuitively because my first language is Mandarin Chinese (from Taiwan.) Thanks.

(1) In case there is any confusion, 这会才看见。抱歉，下次和你去哦, should be translated as: "I just saw this [text message]. Sorry, I'll go with you next time." The 才 here is kinda like "just" but to be clear, its role in this sentence is to express lateness in seeing the text/note/whatever, maybe like "only just". The reason it is important not to confuse this with "gang1cai2" type of "cai2" is that it is BOTH a comment that it just happened AND that it is too late to do anything about.

Also, you can tell it's a girl writing because she used 哦. Guys don't really use that.

(2) The 什么的 does imply a missing noun, and asks kinda "what kinds of things have you been up to these past few days". You could ask the question without the 的, but that would make it sound like you are asking for a specific, comprehensive list. The use of 的 softens the question and makes it sound like less of an actual request and more of a greeting.

The 呢 is used here to give the text a sense of follow up. Again, it is not necessary, but adding it implies that a converation has already begun and this is a second or third question in a series. It isn't that far from it's meaning as "how about x?" which is how we probably learned "x 呢?".

Hi AZERDocMom,

For (28), this 这会 (zhèhuì) (which is often heard used as 这会儿 zhèhuìr) means "at this moment" or "at present."

I think the 做什么的呢 is very colloquial. I hear that a lot.

Something like "What have you been up to these past few days?"

(29) these past few days, what have you been doing?

The "...的呢?" part sounds a bit odd to me, but I think the long version would be: 这几天做什么的shi4qin2呢 ?

Regarding (28), what is "这会" referring to? this time? this text message? clearly, the sender is saying that she just saw "这会" and apologized for not seeing it earlier. Or, was it a typo on her part?

(29） 这几天做什么的呢？

Hi Anne, et al.

The message was sent to me about an hour later after I asked someone to a function. So I think it is safe to say, she was referring to not having immediately answered. Next time though!

I still guess the first part is about seeing the message too late

"I just saw that opportunity"

Hi Anne, wildyaks, and markt:

I've known this person for over a year....

heh, I think I just figured it out! ...think text messages. The first part would likely change considerably had we been talking on the phone. :)

(28) We've only just met? Sorry, I'll go with you next time.

The first part is not clear. Could it be about a meeting? the 'cai' indicating that sth. only just happened?

(28) We only met at this meeting. Forgive me, next time I will go with you.

Did you ask someone to go somewhere with you? But he or she saw your message too late to join in?

(28) 这会才看见。抱歉，下次和你去哦。

I picked this one because I think that although all the hanzi are quite common and familiar, the ordering is so very much Chinese-like. You'd never get this if you started from English and then translated TO Chinese.

I hope other Cpodders will help break it down, first one is still a little fuzzy for me. Notice the mix of formality and casualness with the choices of hanzi used. I'll give more clues to the conversation if others don't figure it out. :)

P.S. And only now I found the latest conversations all-in-one-feed down there... :-)

Lantian, since the conversation rss feeds stopped working quite long ago, I found this gem-of-a-thread only today. Please keep on posting!

为何 is just "weishenme" or "why." They are interchangeable. 何 is the formal word for "what."

(26) 。。。为何问这个。(why do you ask this?)

如何 is like "zenme." Basically it means "how." You can use it interchangeably with "zenme," though below I think it is used maybe like ". . . zenme yang?" or "how about . . .?"

(27) 下午打球如何？(without more context, this probably means: "How about we play [tennis, baseball, pingpong, etc.] this afternoon")

One example that just came to mind is in Coco Li Wen's song "不爱你了", the chorus says: "要如何让你明白我用尽我的爱" (how can I make you understand that I've exhausted my love?). I kinda love that song.

@ Sputnik AKA Goulniky I like both names but wonder why you changed your name (to the name of a russian satelite [literally translateable to companion])

'史泼尼克’ - 为什么不呢？我们这儿有几个选择了有一点即怪的名字吧... We all have our own reasons for the name we choose and I would guess many times they make sense only to us.

btw this is one of my favourite "threads"!

@ Lantian,

thanks for the explanation!

the 'he' ones:

26 why would you ask this?/ why ask this?

27 would you like to play (a ball game) this afternoon?/

what about playing tennis this afternoon?

@sputnik, yexu ni de mingzi you dianr guoshi ba ;-)

excuter，你不喜欢‘史泼尼克’ （shǐpōníkè） 这个名字吗?

你为什么给你新的名吗

exactement, in China you can do such things, the sky is the limit :-))

sputnik, you changed your name!

I fiddled with MonsterChinese some more and found out it does have some predictive input which I simply hadn't activated (自动送字） - it has 地价 and 地线 but not 地方 or 地铁！

Here's two which use "he" 何 in interesting ways. Actually, I'd like to hear from others who know how to use it, as I kinda don't really....

(26) 。。。为何问这个。

(27) 下午打球如何？

Hi Goulniky,

On my China-bought mobile phone the pinyin is predictive, after I enter in the first pinyin and select a character, it then brings up another screenfull of common hanzi associated with the previous character.

Hi Lunetta,

The dian 点 is a very common way to say "a little" and when used with a time word, it comes after. For example,

早点 as in "let's go a little earlier" just in case

晚点 as in "a little bit later“ tonight.

Hi Lydia,

People often go out to get late night snacks, around 10 pm or later at various street stalls. Shao kao is basically barbeque of various meats, vegetables, on kebob sticks.

(25) should really be read out loud. It's a little fun lymeric (sp?). People love to send around little poems, jokes and stuff. I wouldn't interpret it to literally, it basically means "Hey, little text message, run run, when you find a friend, say hi!"

...and that's not to mention reading those messages, I have to copy into a text editor to get a legible fontsize.

I've been using the keyboard on my smartphone to send 短信，it's bad enough that there's no predictive input, it's character by character with MonsterChinese at least I haven't found otherwise.

I'm curious how do Chinese write hanzi with numeric keypads on their cellphones. I guess I'll find out with friends today...

My translation would be the following:

24 let´s have a late barbecue together.

25 a little sms goes faster than meet a friend just to say hello

烧烤 is any sort of vegetable or meat sliced or in other shapes that can be cooked fast and easy. They are fried over hot coals and a lot of hot chili and other spices applied. Very tasty. Another kind available is that the food is first thrown in hot oil, then fished out and fried on a hot metal plate for a few minutes. Again, add lots of spices and then ENJOY!

I haven't followed this thread for a long time. But this is really cool stuff. Thanks, Lantian, for all the effort you have put into this.

ehm.. i'm not sure about the shaokao, but:

24 let's eat roasted food together in a little while

25 a little text message runs quickly, if it (?) sees a friend it has to say hello

i wonder what that means!

Yay, more text message fun!

I definitely get the meaning of 24 but would like to know more about the combination of 晚 and 点 and what exactly is 烧烤.

The second one is about the benefits of text messages but the language is more difficult to decode, especially the second half.

(24) 晚点一起吃烧烤吧!

(25) 小小短信快快跑，见到朋友要问好。

hi Lantian,

Do your friends still allow you to use their tm for educational purposes? :-) If so, please send in a new one for all of us to guess, they're really fun!

Thanks for the help

Hi Wongfeihung,

The "le" is indicating a change in circumstance, ie. from sleeping to being awake.

qi chuang, hmm...I think it's common too, but maybe a little direct. Much like the English, Have you gotten out of bed yet? versus Have you gotten up yet?

Lantian: late question, but regarding "get up!" -- do people use also 起床 (qǐchuáng) or is 起来了吧 more common? (Also, what's the function of the 了there?)

I hope you got more buddy, appreciate all the work you did

goulnik,

you took over, thank you :)

Some programs need extras eg Works

I just use wordpad or write.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/results.aspx?pocId=&freetext=chinese%20ime&DisplayLang=en

well see the think is, ive pressed shift adn alt together and nothing happens :( do i need to add a special feature from microsoft word?

thank you leviathan

欢迎 welcome

http://chinesepod.com/help/

Technical Questions >

Writing Chinese Characters

哈哈 Chinese onomatopoeia for laughter http://dict.chinesepod.com/search.php?search=%E5%93%88%E5%93%88&x=0&y=0

and what does 哈哈 mean? (hehe im fairly new ^.^ )

I was just reading over the whole conversation, and thought that that was a great idea! I just have one question, how do you guys write on the computer in chinese? The only way that i have been able to do that is by coppy and pasting individual characters, and as you can immagine that is quite tedious and time consuming :P

Thank you for your efforts Lantian

我們中國人以前都是用正體中文，只是後來才改用簡體的，但是一般的知識分子都可以輕易讀懂繁體中文！現在中國大陸很多廣告，古書也是正體中文。。。。。。。。當然，我國臺灣省，香港。澳門特區用正體中文，還有南洋，北美很多華人同胞也用正體中文！

我喜歡正體中文，因爲那是原汁原味的中華文化！

Centerland,

你不是中国人，怎么会用繁体字写了。 逗你玩儿。

大家好，初來乍到，請多多關照!

我是中國人，希望和大家做朋友！

22 when do you leave beijing?

23 I still feel alone sometimes

don´t we all do that some times (not part of the translation ;-) )

(dui bu dui ne)

And since I kinda already gave (21) away, here's (22).

(22) 你什么时候离开北京呢

Ohh, but that was too easy for some of you. So here's something with a little more emotion!

(23）我还可以了，只是常常感到孤单 。

Okay everyone, try writing "I'm speaking with my friend about something right now," before reading below. I bet you don't come up with this!

(21) 我在跟个朋友聊点事

oops, I meant "don't think I'm trying to ...."

don't try I'm trying to take over henning 'cos I'm not, and I don't want to - luckily I'll be away next week and may not have a chance to contribute much (except, from my smartphone may be :-))

Lantian,

any new ones?

[and actually this is an attempt to get away from that dreaded most active user throne]

powerfull insights, where did you got it from?

Number 20 is definitely tricky. One of the difficult things was in the last sentence 发错了你!

Whenever you hear '了你' at the end of a sentence, someone is angry. Instead of 你发错了， the 你 is moved to the end of the sentence (and usually this results in a rise in volume and a threatening gesture.

A more common one: 干吗了你. This would be 你干吗了 in common speech (what did you do?) But with the 你 on the end 干吗了你 this becomes much more threatening, and might be translated differently (what the F do you think you're doing, byatch?)

If one were to open the windows of one's Shanghai apartment and yell out 你干吗了out at the street below, no one would probably react. People shouting things are quite common here, and passers by would assume I'm just having a conversation with someone. But if I were to just change the syntax a little and shout 干吗了你 with the 你 on the end, people would probably stop what they were doing and look up, to see what the fuss was about. They might get out their cameras to take photos of the brawl that looked like it was about to happen.

Lantian, thank you very much for taking the effort and time to do this. I find it very valuable to get an idea of the usage of the language.

One thing is being able to analyse it grammatically and another is being able to make sense of what's actually being said. Take for example the last phrase (20). It's easy enough to make out the diffent components (nouns, verbs etc.) and their function but I still didn't get the meaning.

One thing that might help would be to see the whole exchange of text messages and hear a little about the context in which they were made as such much understanding is tied to the way we exchange the words and not the words themselves.

RSS text review - After doing this, it struck me that it would be cool to have previous text from the Cpod dialogues put out in a RSS feed. A way to make me review old content without much effort.

Vocab List for (1-20), courtesy of ADSO

在 zài at PREP ZAI01

老家 lǎojiā native place NOUN

有事 yǒushì to be occupied NOUN

吗 ma ONOMAT QUESTION

你 nǐ you PRONOUN

会 huì can AUXV

骂人 màrén name-calling NOUN

哦 é chants VERB

好的 hǎo de good ADJT

谢谢你 xièxiè nǐ thank you PHRASE

你好 nǐhǎo hello OTHR PHRASE

忙 máng busy XING

还 hái also AUXV

记得 jìde remember VERB

我 wǒ me PRONOUN

的 de PARTICLE DE01

中 zhōng China COUNTRY

文 wén culture NOUN

还是 hái shì still ADVB

很 hěn very ADVB

不错 bùcuò not bad ADJT

噢 ō Oh! NOUN

早 zǎo early NOUN ADVB

天 tiān day NOUN

亮 liàng light NOUN

了 le COMPLEMENT

起来了 qǐlaile get up VERB

吧 ba ONOMAT

天 tiān sky NOUN

好 hǎo good XING

黑 hēi black NOUN

要 yào must AUXV

下雨 xiàyǔ rain VERB

啦 la INTERJECT ONOMAT

关于 guānyú regarding PREP

面谈 miàntán chating person-to-person VERB

如果 rúguǒ if OTHR

可以 kěyǐ can AUXV

的话 dehuà NOUN

下周 xiàzhōu next week NOUN

安排 ānpái arrange VERB

时间 shíjiān time NOUN

您 nín you PRONOUN

看 kàn see VERB

行 xíng row NOUN

我 wǒ I PRONOUN

吃 chī eat VERB

小笼包 xiǎo lóngbāo Xiao Longbao NAME

你 nǐ your PRONOUN

下午 xiàwǔ afternoon NOUN

家 jiā home NOUN

人 rén person NOUN

啊 ā ONOMAT

健康 jiànkāng health NOUN

平安 píngān safety NOUN

真的 zhēnde really ADVB

是 shì is VERB SHI01

最重要 zuìzhòngyāo most important ADJT

刚 gāng recent OTHR

吃完 chīwán finish eating VERB

回来 huílai return NOUN

困 kūn group NOUN

死了 sǐle dies VERB

回到家 huídàojiā home-coming NOUN

上班 shàngbān goes to work VERB

还 hái still ADVB

没 méi not ADVB

想好 xiǎnghǎo thinks VERB SENTINTR

呢 ne ONOMAT

哇 wā sound of childs crying NOUN

在 zài in PREP ZAI01

微波炉 wēibōlú microwave oven NOUN

里 lǐ in DIRECTIONAL

怎么 zěnme how NOUN

睡 shuì to sleep VERB

得好 déhǎo to obtain VERB

对不起 duìbuqǐ I'm sorry OTHR

电话 diànhuà to telephone VERB

可能 kěnéng might AUXV

给 gěi to PREP

错 cuò mistake NOUN

了 le PARTICLE LE01

现在 xiànzài now ADVB PHRASE

做 zuò do VERB

什么 shénme any ADJT

五 wǔ 5 NUM

分钟 fēnzhōng minutes NOUN

就 jiù then OTHR

到 dào going VERB

她 tā her PRONOUN

也 yě also OTHR

喜欢 xǐhuan likes VERB

拉 lā to pull VERB

肚子 dùzi belly NOUN

你们 nǐmen your PRONOUN

两 liǎng 2 NUM

刚好 gānghǎo just NOUN

一 yī 1 NUM

对 duì right OTHR

哈 hā Kazakhstan NOUN

傻 shǎ foolish ADJT

阿钟 ā zhōng A Zhong NAME

什么 shénme what QUESTION

呀 yā ONOMAT

干 gān dry ADJT XING

嘛 ma aahhh NOUN

发 fā issue VERB

*Note, the vocab list excludes duplicates and simple pronouns. Note to adso, sometimes I'd also like the dups and pronouns in the list, then I just can 'read' thru text with the definitions alongside.

Time for a Review (1-20)

(1) 在老家有事吗？

(2) 你会骂人吗？

(3) 哦 好的 谢谢你

(4) 你好。 你在忙吗？ 还记得我吗？

(5) 你的中文还是很不错噢

(6) 早，天亮了，起来了吧！

(7) 天好黑, 要下雨啦！

(8) 关于面谈，如果可以的话下周安排时间，您看行吗？

(9) 我吃小笼包的，你下午在家吗？

(10) 人啊，健康，平安，真的是最重要！

(11) 我刚吃完回来，困死了。

(12) 我刚回到家。

(13)

B: 上班，还没想好呢。

(14) 哇，你在微波炉里怎么睡得好。

(15) 哦 对不起 电话 可能给错了！

(16) 你现在做什么的啊？

(17) 我五分钟就到。

(18) 她也喜欢拉肚子，你们两刚好是一对

(19) 哈哈哈哈傻阿钟。

(20) 好的！ 什么呀好，你干嘛！发错了你！

Haha, I think MW translation is pretty close. I don't remember exactly what the whole exchange was about, I think maybe I had sent a message to the wrong friend accidentally.

Here's a more word-by-word breakdown:

(20)

好的！Good, alright!

什么好，Anything's good,

你干嘛！What are you doing?

发错了你！You sent this to the wrong person huh?

呀 - ya, a mood particle of exclamation

嘛 - ma, a mood particle, another version of 吗, with the same meaning, but maybe more rhetorical in tone.

"Whatever is fine, cool! But what do you mean by all this exactly?! You sent this to the wrong person didn't you! (dork!)" haha

Alllllrighty then! What do you mean by 'good', puny mortal! You sent the SMS to the wrong person!

Hi excuter,

Nah, I think you're kinda off on this last one. Anyone else? ;p

OK ! If your so good, you ask! I show you your failure!

Is it something like this?

(20) 好的！ 什么呀好，你干嘛！发错了你！

顽皮但是那个给我们加油。;-)

(19) 哈哈哈哈傻阿钟。

阿钟 (a zhong) is the name of someone who this texter was trying to text. Unfortunately, they got me instead! And as I kept answering and saying stupid things....I got the above response. ;p 呵呵

谢谢蓝天!

people don't understand me when i use 拉肚子.

wo la du zi

shenme?

Lantian, I like this thread!

Most of my SMS messages are boring, 'Where are you' or 'Why are you late', 'We are at (somewhere), do you want to come...'

Why are yours so interesting and varied?

i got the last one easy,

Great idea Lantian, SMS Learning. 谢谢

Hi Maxiewawa,

Your translation is perfect, although probably the 'meaning' of the first part is more like "You two are really prone to getting big-D", guess that's why the phrasing is funny.

The rest of the conversation is 'premium' content. ;p

She likes diahorrea too, you two are perfect for each other.

Eh? Is that right?

I'm dying to hear the rest of that conversation!

(18) 她也喜欢拉肚子，你们两刚好是一对

Hi Lydia1981, okay then!

I'm sure most people know all the hanzi in this example, especially if you've gone thru the Cpod elementary lessons. But I doubt you'll ever see them arranged quite this way!

Just remember, often times both new visitors and those who have grown up in China...can be culinarily challenged.

i'm looking forward to the next message Lantian! :-)

good ...then I´m technically correct :-)

goulniky, sorry I don´t know about that at all...,-(

can s.o. explain how encoding works within SMS? I'd like to exchange 短信 with friends in Shanghai but I want to make sure it works. Before I had a smartphone I resorted to pinyin but it turns out my Chinese friends aren't too comfortable with this.

My smartphone does have GB support and I was able so send myself messagesin hanzi, but some other folks I tried this with got rubbish.

Hi ex,

Yah, I was just kidding. Technically 左右 means "about"

hah,next one...

...give or take 10 minutes? I sought 左右 would be about,around, aproximately...°_°

excuter,

I think your translation for (17) is spot on, 左右 give or take 10 minutes either way. ;p

my translation : I´m there in 15 minutes.

correct? (I´m quite shure about this) ;-)

(17) 我五分钟就到。

Hi Lunetta,

Actually I don't really know how the "de" works there. Maybe someone else knows. It's probably referring to some adjective that was unspoken.

The "啊“ I don't think in this case was to express a mode of surprise, more just a friendly query, to end off the sentence more gently.

Actually, maybe you have a good idea about the "de" making things more specific, lots of people like to ask me what it is that I do here in China. :)

My turn! :-) What are you doing now? My questions are: 1: What does 的 do? Does it make the question more specific so it more means what job do you have and not just whatever you're doing right now? 2: What does 啊 do? It marks a question but also surprise? As in what are you now doing?

Nah, I got that from you :

2) 她想什么？remember the conversation started with me asking her what she was doing later.

Sorry, I was mistaken, I thought you were translating it. I got it now ;)

(16) 你现在做什么的啊？

Hi Wongfeihung,

Was "她想什么" your own sentence? That would mean "What is she thinking?" not "What are you doing later".

(15) yup, that's pretty much it. :)

Lantian: so 她想什么 means 'what are you doing later?'

And is 15 like 'oops, i dialed the wrong number' ?

Thanks very much for putting these up :D

I am new to this whole podcast idea and networking and all that. What utility or program are most of you using to write Chinese characters in your messages?

Hi Lydia一九八一，

You got #14 pretty much perfect, I thought it was one of the funnier text messages I've gotten!

(15) 哦 对不起 电话 可能给错了！

哦 é oh is that so NOUN

对不起 duìbuqǐ I'm sorry

电话 diànhuà telephone VERB

可能 kěnéng might AUXV

给 gěi to PREP

错 cuò mistake NOUN

了 le PARTICLE

nr 14 something like: "pff, how can you sleep well in a microwave!" ???

thank you Lantian for sharing these textmessages with us. Did you tell your Chinese friends about it? I think they'll find it funny to know that their messages are being used as learning material :-)

Lydia

Ken often talks about the almost telegraphic style of Chinese communication and Lantian makes a good point when showing the long fake Chinesesentence above. One of my pet peeves when it comes to learning a language is avoiding following the patterns or scripts of your native language and accept the fact that the other languages do things differently. That's one of the reasons why I like these examples so much. They challenge me to think differently and are short enough for my current level.

In this short chat, I was complaining about the heat and got this response.

(14) 哇，你在微波炉里怎么睡得好。

Hi Lunetta and excuter,

I think you two should (1) simplify things, and (2) maybe ask yourself a question with the verbs used, then the meaning will leap out. Try before reading below and let me know how it works.

1) 上班，还没想好呢

attending/at - work, still - not think - good - mmm.

2) 她想什么？remember the conversation started with me asking her what she was doing later.

My interpretations:

上班，还没想好呢

I'm at work, I haven't thought about it really yet.

Working, still haven't given it much thought.

Still at work, haven't thought of anything good yet.

Still at work, I haven't thought any good ideas yet.

Notice if I "translate" from one of the English sentences I get some long fake Chinese sentence ;p "我在上班，哪些我还没有想好，不知道之后要做什么。“

怎么了？ :)

I guess it means: I go to work and after that I don´t (have to) do anything, good right / isn´t it ?

I'll be quick and get the easy one :-) (12) I just came home.

The other one baffles me, I get the single words but not the full meaning.

Hi Lunetta and Dottie,

These two are just for the two of you! Thanks for the support.

(12) 我刚回到家。

(13)

A: [What are you doing later?]

B: 上班，还没想好呢。

... second thought ...

It makes more sense when I read vertically. ;)

What the meaning of 576 here ?

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1312/961619983_4e11cebf98_o.jpg

我去了 ?

ChinesePod should do a text message version of the practise plan where you just have to reply to a text message every day.

Does 9958 or 958 really work for S.O.S. ?

Lantian, what a cool idea to post text messages. Have you seen the list of Chinese pager codes on yellowbridge? http://www.yellowbridge.com/language/pagercodes.html

My NYU instructor passed out a list of chat codes to us in class one day last summer. We all thought it was fun; and anything that makes learning a new language fun is a good thing in my book.

Am I the only one who would love to see more examples of Chinese text messages? For a newbie like me they're just the right length and I always learn something from them. The last one: ? I just finished eating, I'll pay? and come back (home?), I'm dead tired. ? Here I'm picking up words like 刚 and 困 which are frequently used word that I haven't met before.

(11) 我刚吃完回来，困死了。

关于(2A)

IMO bargaining and mocking/insulting people is a fine art in China. Verbal virtuosity is highly prized. With that said, the text exchange basically went like this.

A: So I was making fun of her.

B: You can insult people (in Chinese)

A: Yah, how about you?

B: Why don't you try to insult me and see.

A: blah blah blah and I insulted her mother.

B: 你会骂人吗？

A: 我会啊。你会骂人吗？

B: 会啊，你骂我看看，看我怎么骂你？哈哈

I didn't take her up on her challenge, my ego is not that strong. ;p

(10) 人啊，健康，平安，真的是最重要！

I'll give it a try:

(9) I ate xiaolongbao, will you be home this afternoon?

(2a)

yeah, see if you can curse at me, see how i curse you? haha

[ I don't really understand what the texter is trying to say]

(9) 我吃小笼包的，你下午在家吗？

(2a* bonus!)

会啊，你骂我看看，看我怎么骂你？哈哈

I love these. Give us more please!

(and still goes on...) :-)

啦 final particle of assertion (ChinesePera-kun transl.)

the sky is very dark, it´ll be raining! (started while I´m writing this)

I meant to say: 在丹麦，天也很黑。

Well, goodnight then :-) 在丹麦，天很黑。要下雨啦！

Hi lunetta,

天好黑, 要下雨啦！You've pretty much got it now. "The sky is really black, it's gonna rain!" would be my translation.

The 啦 is just a mood (modal) particle that is adding emphasis. It's almost like having two exclamation points in that sentence. Here's some more examples, 啦， is use alllllll the time to emphasize, soften a sentence.

要下雨

要下雨啦

我要走

我要走啦

我要走了

It's taken me a long time to get used to how Chinese uses '要’ all the time, it's almost like "will", "is". I guess imagine it this way, an old farmer looks up at the sky and says

"Well, looks like that sky is pretty black, that's gonna want to rain, for sure."

我好困，要睡。 :)

?The sky is (very) black , it looks like rain? The combination of 要 and 啦 is confusing me...

Hi lunetta,

Tian 天 in this sentence means sky. Does that help crystalize the sentence for ya?

Okay, I'll try number 7... ?It's a gloomy day and it's going to rain?

A Re-Cap:

(1) 在老家有事吗？

(2) 你会骂人吗？

(3) 哦 好的 谢谢你

(4) 你好。 你在忙吗？ 还记得我吗？

(5) 你的中文还是很不错噢

(6) 早，天亮了，起来了吧！

(7) 天好黑, 要下雨啦！

New!!!

(8) 关于面谈，如果可以的话下周安排时间，您看行吗？

In this much more businesslike text message, notice the use of 您 and I thought it interesting the use of 看, and also the brevity of the next week--schedule--time.

Hi Bazza,

About number (2), 骂 ma4, means to mock, curse, insult and can be used in a serious or jocular tone. In this text message someone was inquiring about my ability to 'verbally fight back' in Chinese! 我会！ ;p

大家，

Are people out there reading this? Or am I quoting text into the big internet mist?

Is 2.00 something about swearing?

I get all but 2:00. Any clues? I love this! Thanks for sharing. It a great way to learn from real life.

Hi Ex & Bz,

Tian liang means sunrise. Day-beautiful. Cool huh.

In "起来了吧！” the 'ba' is friendly and encouraging, thus the phrase implies strongly "get up!" Are you up, would more likely be phrased "你起来了吗？“ The whole sentence would be, "Morning. Sun's up. Get up!"

7:00

天好黑, 要下雨啦！

or get up! ?

Morning, lovely day, are you up?

In the morning the daylight begun to shine! ?

6.00 早，天亮了，起来了吧！

5.00 你的中文还是很不错噢

噢，哦，喔，啦，啊，喔，呢

I understand 4.00 easily. :)

Hi Frank,

A hint, basically she is throwing three thoughts together in rapid, clipped sequence, you have to 'know' the clumps to get it. The clumps are very very common though. Nothing 'classic Chinese' or anything in them. Try this way, and let me know what you get...if anything.

1.00 没什么想回家看看老妈。

没什么

想回家

看看老妈。

4.00 你好。 你在忙吗？ 还记得我吗？

kinda interesting.

good way of learning chinese

I understand no 3 ok. :)

I think I might understand the other two now.

Yeah, I know every character in the first one, but can't make a cohesive thought out of it. :-\

Hi Rich,

Nah...I'm not 'really' following the points anymore...

关于你的小故事，他没想到你是美国人，但是他猜了你是新疆人。 哈哈

Bazza,

Before I give it away by translating, I think you know most of those characters right, try thinking in Chinese and read them slowly. The messages aren't related to each other, two different people, two different conversations.

Here's a hint, it's likely that the initial texts from me were something like this:

1.00 在老家有事吗？

2.00 你会骂人吗？

And here's another:

3:00 哦 好的 谢谢你

Well I don't understand those two.

I was wondering if you were just doing this for conversation points, but I guess you don't get any for posting in your own conversation.

我大部分的中文用的也是为了写短信。我几年以前跟一个没见面的中国人发了几条短信。他刚刚从上海来天津所以一个上海的朋友用短信给我们介绍。他有一天才有时间和我见面了，所以我告诉他在那里见面，也说了我是美国的白人，很容易找到我。他马上给我回信，这次用英文说“You're American??" 他真的觉得我是中国人。I brag about that too much, but it did make me feel good, and that was 2 years ago before even getting to advanced level.