Chinese/English homophone confusion
bababardwan
March 20, 2010, 11:49 AM posted in General DiscussionAs English is spoken so widely in the major centres of China there may be times at first contact point between a 老外 and a 中国人 where if only a word [or two ] were spoken it may be unclear which language was being used and where there is meaning in both but different.
ok,well I'm imagining a scenario.Perhaps it is two American guys ,one an ABC and they're off on a holiday in China.They decide to buy some presents for their girlfriends back home.They're in a bit of a hurry,no time for bargaining or chit chat and the prices are very low anyhow and clearly marked and there's a line up.So the ABC guy just hands over the dough for the gift and as the vendor hands back the change he says : "给“。Now the ABC guy is standing there "What'd he call me"?
Any other examples of important Chinese/English homophones not to mix up?
bababardwan
I hadn't struck that one before.Wang btw.Good point. This made me think of something.Does anyone also kinda mix it up a bit...talk half English/half Chinese? I can see it particularly happening in a case like this where you may know [or have looked up] the Chinese word for something particular your shopping for but for some reason want to speak mainly in English for example.
bababardwan
March 20, 2010, 01:23 PMI hadn't struck that one before.Wang btw.Good point. This made me think of something.Does anyone also kinda mix it up a bit...talk half English/half Chinese? I can see it particularly happening in a case like this where you may know [or have looked up] the Chinese word for something particular your shopping for but for some reason want to speak mainly in English for example.
go_manly
March 20, 2010, 02:46 PMFrom my very first Mandarin lesson, I was never going to forget 不是, because it sounded to me like BS, with what I thought was a very similar meaning.
(By the way, I've just noticed in my online dictionary that 不是 can also mean 'blame' or 'fault'. Has anyone come across that before, and how would it be used? What is the connection to the usual meaning?)
lujiaojie
不是 bùshi n. fault; blame
For example:
你打他了，这就是你的不是。Nǐ dǎrén le, zhè jiùshì nǐ de bùshì.
You hit him, that's your fault.
不是 here means: 不对，不正确
lujiaojie
March 22, 2010, 03:13 AM不是 bùshi n. fault; blame
For example:
你打他了，这就是你的不是。Nǐ dǎrén le, zhè jiùshì nǐ de bùshì.
You hit him, that's your fault.
不是 here means: 不对，不正确
xiao_liang
March 20, 2010, 01:09 PMYou might have some trouble if you went into a shop looking for a new NIC for your computer. Or a 网卡 (wǎnkǎ)