英国大选 - some basic vocab
sebire
May 07, 2010, 07:07 PM posted in General Discussionhttp://chinesehacks.com/2010/04/word-of-the-day-general-election/
Saw this link, which has some vocab on it. Came across a couple of others too:
点票 - diǎn piào - to count votes
党 - dǎng - party
多数 - duō shù - majority
Was trying to find a word for "hung parliament", but haven't been able to find it yet. Does the term exist in Chinese?
sebire
Hehehe, I like the way QQ is supporting the Conservatives - the big banner they have is actually the Conservative party election slogan.
changye
May 08, 2010, 02:11 AM英国出现了36年以来的首次“悬浮议会”(xuan2fu2 yi4hui4)。
sebire
May 09, 2010, 10:22 AM悬浮? Hanging Floating? Suspended? nciku is a little unclear.
tvan
Well, since Mainland China's government doesn't seem to have ever had a “悬浮议会”(xuan2fu2 yi4hui4)", maybe that accounts for the confusion. I wonder if this is one of those Japanese loan words?
changye
Hi tvan
I'm afraid there is no term for "hung parliament" in Japanese. For the record, 磁悬浮列车 is "maglev train/linear motor car".
tvan
Hmmm, yeah, I guess Japan's been mostly a one-party democracy at that.
On trains, the express train I take most frequently (上海到青岛） is called 动车。I don't think it's as fast as it's European brethren, but it's definitely a lot faster than the conventional variety. Did this term come from Japanese? I'm guessing from your example, that the answer is no.
changye
Hi tvan
The word “列车” is a Japanese loan word, but “动车” is not. I came across this word, as well as “动车组”, a few months ago, but honestly I don't know what these words exactly mean. Probably it's a kind of “高速铁路”, or a kind of Chinese counterpart of Japanese bullet trains “新干线” (Shinkansen). Actually, the loan word “新干线” is often used, figuratively, in Chinese.
Images of 动车
http://image.baidu.com/i?tn=baiduimage&ct=201326592&lm=-1&cl=2&word=%B6%AF%B3%B5
tvan
@changye, yep, that's it and it's a Chinese variant of a bullet train. I did some more research. The name 动车 seems to have derived from the fact that each car is powered (vs. a single/few locomotives for whole train).
I guess that ends this thread-jacking... back to parliments!
sebire
Nothing wrong with a good thread-jack, we love 'em.
bababardwan
你出轨了，呵呵 ：）
sebire
May 09, 2010, 10:23 AMHehehe, I like the way QQ is supporting the Conservatives - the big banner they have is actually the Conservative party election slogan.
tvan
May 09, 2010, 11:06 AMWell, since Mainland China's government doesn't seem to have ever had a “悬浮议会”(xuan2fu2 yi4hui4)", maybe that accounts for the confusion. I wonder if this is one of those Japanese loan words?
tvan
May 09, 2010, 11:32 AMHmmm, yeah, I guess Japan's been mostly a one-party democracy at that.
On trains, the express train I take most frequently (上海到青岛） is called 动车。I don't think it's as fast as it's European brethren, but it's definitely a lot faster than the conventional variety. Did this term come from Japanese? I'm guessing from your example, that the answer is no.
tvan
May 09, 2010, 01:13 PM@changye, yep, that's it and it's a Chinese variant of a bullet train. I did some more research. The name 动车 seems to have derived from the fact that each car is powered (vs. a single/few locomotives for whole train).
I guess that ends this thread-jacking... back to parliments!
chinesehacks
May 10, 2010, 07:59 PMHi all,
Not sure what mainland China usage would be, but in Taiwan '僵局國會' or 'deadlocked parliament' seems to be in wide usage:
http://news.chinatimes.com/world/0,5246,11050401x112010050800113,00.html
xyngift
May 12, 2010, 03:01 AMin mainland ."僵局" is the exact word .
tvan
May 12, 2010, 11:04 AMOK, I'm clear on the Chinese, which is the point of this web site; but I'm still trying to get my American mind around the parliamentarian concept. I understand that the literal meaning of "hung parliament" means no one party is in control; but since the head of state is elected directly in Taiwan, it doesn't seem like they "form" a government in the manner that Europeans and their ersatz brethren (i.e. Canadians, Aussies, and Kiwis) do. So, is "hung parliament" an appropriate term in the first place?
On one final parliamentary digression, the Taiwan Parliament is the only legislative body to win a (lg) Nobel Peace Prize for "...demonstrating that politicians gain more bypunching, kicking and gouging each otherthan by waging war against other nations."
bodawei
It seems that in both systems, the US and Taiwan on the one hand, and the good guys on the other (just kidding), legislation is passed by the legislature. So if one party cannot command the numbers you have a 'hung Parliament'? For 'parliament' read 'legislature'. Whether or not the head of state is elected does not seem to affect that does it? The term 'form a government' I think refers to the Executive. They do form a Government in different ways but you can have a hung Parliament in either case? (I'm definitely no expert on the US).
xiaophil
May 08, 2010, 12:45 AMWell, I'm sure this is not what you had in mind, but if such a term as hung parliament exists, surely you will find it here:
http://news.qq.com/zt2010/2010england/index.htm