How to describe essay formats?
xiaophil
May 17, 2010, 01:34 AM posted in I Have a QuestionHello everyone,
I have to assign an essay to some students who struggle with English. I would like to be able to tell them the Chinese words related to page formatting if need be. Below is a list of related terms followed by my incomplete (and possibly erroneous) translation of them. Do any of you know how to translate the missing terms? Any other corrections?
Essay format:
- 2.5 to 3 pages
- single-sided
- A4 paper
- Helvetica or similar Font
- Font size: 12pt
- Double-spaced
- 2.5 cm margins
文章格式：
- 2.5至3页
- 单面
- A4纸
- 赫 尔维蒂卡或者类似的字体
- 字体大小:(don't know)
- (don't know)
- 2.5厘米页边空白
Note: I'm especially interested in the best way to indicate '12pt'. When I use Chinese computers, I notice that there are two font size systems. The one that is listed first in the drop down menu is the specifically Chinese system. (I hope this makes sense.) I wonder which Chinese size is the equivalent of 12pt?
Thanks in advance.
xiaophil
Thanks Suansuanru,
I think I didn't communicate well. By pt, I mean the font size. In English, the standard font size is usually 12pt, for example.
Double-spaced should be right on.
xiaophil
May 18, 2010, 01:52 AMHelp, help!
Actually, I have to give my students exam preparation material today.
I'm still unclear about this:
What is the equivalent setting/way of saying '12pt' in Chinese? I know someone is working on a Chinese computer out there. Can anyone see?
Also, can anyone tell me what the standard margin settings (in centimeters) are for an A4 sheet of paper in Microsoft Word? My mind still works in inches, so I don't know.
Thanks a bunch!
bodawei
May 18, 2010, 02:09 AMThe standards side/top & bottom margins in Word seem to be 2.5 cm.
Can't help much with 12 pt, and nor can my dictionary :). Could you use 点 - just 12点 should be okay? 字型 zìxíng is font.
xiaophil
I just did some sneaking around, and I think the size is called 小四. I wonder why they don't just call it 12pt?
bodawei
Another dictionary I have refers to the font size as 字号。 Font is described as 同样字体和字号的。 (style and size) I wonder if 小四 is just size (12pt), or a particular 同样字体和字号的？
changye
Hi xiaophil
They are traditionally used in Chinese printing industry, perhaps for the same reason that some western people can't stop using the imperial measurement units.
xiaophil
Changye
That makes total sense. I'm curious if Japanese use a similar system to the Chinese one?
changye
Hi xiaophil
According to Wiki Japan, “号” is also used in Japanese printing industry, but as far as computer/Internet concerns, only "point" system is used now.
baby383252136
真是纠结，看了你们在楼上的讨论还挺激烈的呀！为了一个字号讨论这么久可真是有探究精神呀。佩服佩服，还有就是日本的文字是从中文演变来的哦，也就是说中文是日文的老祖宗，嘿嘿！我是中国大学生，偶尔注册了chinesepod，来发表一下感慨！
changye
Hi baby383252136
汉字虽说是日文中的一个重要部分，但从语言学的角度来看汉语和日语分别属于两个完全不同的语族。就语法结构来说，日语很接近朝鲜语，同时，日语的发音和印度尼西亚语等有些南岛语很相似。日语的起源问题比你想像的还要复杂，现在还没有定论。
bodawei
May 18, 2010, 11:57 PM南岛语是什么意思？
suansuanru
南亚岛语的意思吧。
bodawei
I feel really dumb, I have never seen this before. Is 南岛 a reference to Taiwan?
changye
南岛语系一般指的是“Austronesian language family”。
bodawei
Oh, I have never come across it before - it seems to exclude Papua New Guinea (where I grew up). I wonder why that is, because they speak mainly Melanesian languages like much of the area included in Austronesian.
changye
May 19, 2010, 03:03 AMHi suansuanru
请你看下面的朝日英对照。这三个句子指的是相同的意思。百闻不如一见，谁都很容易看得出朝文和日文有很相似的语法结构。我认为古代时候日文语法受过朝鲜语很大影响，与此相反，现代朝鲜语中能看到许多受现代日语影响的痕迹。在下面朝文句子中红色的单词都是从现代日语借来的词语。
(朝文) 저의会社의社長님이百貨店에서洗濯機와冷蔵庫를샀습니다.
(日文) わたしの会社の社長が百貨店で洗濯機と冷蔵庫を買いました。
（英文） Our company's president bought a washing machine and a frig at a department store
changye
Hi suansuanru
Here are more exact Korean/Japanese translations of "our company". "うちの会社" is semantically equal to "わたしたちの会社" (our company), but the latter is not so commonly used in Japanese.
Our company = 우리会社(회사) = うちの会社
As for your second question, yeah, you're very right. Modern Korean basically doesn't use Chinese characters with rare exceptions. To my regret, Korean people abandoned using Chinese characters a few decades ago, despite the fact their language contains tons of Chinese words and even chengyu.
I purposely used Chinese characters in the Korean sentence so that you can clearly see how similar the two sentences are. I have a Korean book titled "朝鲜汉字音研究" (Study of Korean hanzi readings) published in 1969, which is written using both Korean alphabets and Chinese characters. It really looks like Japanese.
suansuanru
May 17, 2010, 08:48 AMpt=point 磅 1pt=0.35146mm 约等于0.35mm
Double-spaced：两倍行距。