Translation - help

You're right, I misread the character. No wonder I couldn't figure out the meaning ;-)

laodai - 啊，对对。我忘了。谢谢你！

That's right, an annoying similarity in Chinese: one has to look carefully to notice the slight difference between the 己jǐ in 自己zìjǐ (self) and the 已yǐ in 已经yǐjing (already)

己已

BTW, Frank，self-study is 自学zìxué.

Typo?

Should be 已 I guess (collegue said there is no 己经).

Ahhh. Thanks. I learn something new every day here. :-)

So what role does the 己 play then?

Frank,

that would be

开始学

Just discussed that with my Chinese co-worker who confirmed that 开学 is a fixed expression for "school opening".

Eek. Henning, where are you getting the school part from? I would have thought that the 己 next to the 学 would indicate one's self and not a larger institution.

I'll take a stab:

"When did you start (self)studying?" or "How long ago did you start your self-study?"

Bear in mind, I'm still a Newbie/Elementary learner, so it's not likely to be spot on, but I think that's the gist of it.

For how long has the school (or the University) already been opened?