Quick question about "about."

Óo about j ust picking it up from there, Frank? there are more elaborate ways, but just a straight forward 我想跟你讲奥林匹克。 Wǒ xiǎng gēn nǐ jiǎng Àolínpǐkè. might be what you're thinking of.

Hmm. Okay. Thanks, all. I see that this isn't strictly a vocabulary or grammar issue. I've got to "empty my cup" a bit and come at this from a different angle. Not quite the quick fix I was hoping for, but I appreciate the help! Onward and upward!

You can always use the old 关于奥林匹克, Guānyú Àolínpǐkè, or 说到奥林匹克, Shuōdào Àolínpǐkè, or 谈起奥林匹克, Tánqǐ Àolínpǐkè,

My Chinese friend gave me these examples. What is that book about? 那本书是有关什么的？ Nà bĕn shū shì yŏu guān shénme de? It's about cats. 是有关猫的。 Shì yŏu guān māo de. I seem to remember a Chinese Pod lesson teaching "Speaking of..." as "...的话." ("...de hūà.") I think it was something like this: "暑假的话，你有计划吗?" "Shū jià de huà, nĭ yŏu jì huà ma?" "Speaking of summer vacation, do you have plans?" I believe "think about" would be "想到/xiăng dào." So maybe (this is a guess): "I was thinking about China." "我想到了中国." "wŏ xiăng dào le Zhōngguŏ." Again, I'm not sure about the last two examples, so you might want to ask someone else or check another source before commiting these to memory.

Frank, If you expect to get any guidance on this matter I suggest you rephrase the question. Let me help... Dear Chinesepod, how do you say "aboot" in Mandarin? How can I put something in "contaxt"? There you go, Frank. That should get you the answers you're looking for. Tai Pan

Frank, If you expect to get any guidance on this matter I suggest you rephrase the question. Let me help... Dear Chinesepod, how do you say "aboot" in Mandarin? How can I put something in "contaxt"? There you go, Frank. That should get you the answers you're looking for. Tai Pan

TaiPan - Oh, yah, eh? I shoold have thought of that myself, eh.

Laodai - Thanks for the helpful response! I'm looking for something a little broader, so that I can use it in other contexts. I'm looking for how we refer to a subject. In English, the common sentence structure would be along the lines of, "I was thinking about seashells...," or "Speaking of the Olympics, I saw on the news last night that...," or "If you were talking about horses, you'd be correct, but these were rabbits." See what I mean? I'm looking for the way to refer to things.

tabifu said: "I was thinking about China." "我想到了中国." "wŏ xiăng dào le Zhōngguŏ." 我想到了中国 means something more like, "I thought of China." The context could be: "I was trying to think of somewhere to go on my next vacation, and then I thought of China." "I was thinking about China" is more likely to be something like: "我在想中国." "wǒ zài xiǎng Zhōngguó." (The context would make it clear when the thinking was going on.)

Hi Frank, For your example, "I would like to talk to you aboot the Olympics" there is a sentence structure you can use, but it sounds very formal: 我想跟你谈谈有关奥运会的事。 (Wǒ xiǎng gēn nǐ tántán yǒuguān Àoyùnhuì de shì.) 我想跟你谈谈关于奥运会的事。 (Wǒ xiǎng gēn nǐ tántán guānyú Àoyùnhuì de shì.) It's true, there are many ways to make "aboot" sentences in Chinese. I think by listening more, you will naturally start to use them in their different contexts. Like John says though, it's about divorcing the English from your mind first and foremost. Taipan, Although the American dialect of English is pervasive and insidious, we will never succumb. We are "real stubborn."

See Frank, I told you that would work. Now they're dropping knowledge like 'Galileo dropped an orange'. You just gotta learn the nuances of a language to get what you want.

ha ha. Canadians even write "aboot". :P That was funny Amber. Some day we Americans need to invade Canada as well and take care of your aboot's and ey's. ;) So, I have to ask, when saying 关于 do you say "goon yu" as well? Okay, bad joke. I leave now.

哈哈,Taipan 你说的好笑！ Frank, a very colloquial way to bring up a topic is to use "事". 我要跟你讲 "奥运会“ 的事/事情。 It could however be construed as somewhat ominous or serious as the typical phrase is often used like "John Michael Tomas I have something to say to you!" 我有事跟你说。 Aboot the Chinese word for Olympics, is there any official versus non-official term for it, I have heard two. a) 奥运会 b) 奥林匹克

Lantian, When you start talking about 事 (shì), in your examples as well as Amber's, it starts to get a little more formal. In 奥运会 (Àoyùnhuì), the 奥 (Ào) is short for 奥林匹克 (Àolínpǐkè). So even though it's shorter, 奥运会 (Àoyùnhuì) contains more information.

Frank, I think you may be falling into the trap of thinking too much in English. The truth is that the word "about" is frequently not necessary in Chinese. (Its necessity is actually pretty arbitrary in English as well... why do we say "think about something" but "consider something" doesn't use "about"? "Talk about" but "discuss"? There are tons of examples like these.) Laodai's example was perfect, and would work for cases, I think. Examples of not needing "about": 谈X (tán) - talk about X 说X (shuō) - talk about X 想X (xiǎng) - think about X 争X (zhēng) - argue about X