User Comments - changye

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changye

Posted on: Wang Wei's Diary: The Importance of Brains
August 6, 2009 at 9:45 AM

Hi joeborn

That's a good (and difficult) question. I can't translate those "subjunctive" English into proper "subjunctive" Chinese without using 如果，要是 or 假如. What do you think about these translations?

I wish we had tests every day.
如果每天考试就好了。

Your (late) grandfather wouldn't hope to see you like this.
你爷爷如果还活着，不希望看到你这样。

I hope someone could help us.

Posted on: Is China Scary?
August 6, 2009 at 9:06 AM

看样子最近大中国总不高兴，该怎样哄中国人才好呢？

Posted on: Amusement Park
August 6, 2009 at 7:41 AM

Hi suxiaoya

The 再 in "我要休息一下再去玩" doesn't mean "again", but mean "then, 然后". So you can express "去玩 after 休息" or "休息 before 去玩" by using the 再. Let me show you another example.

等他回来再说吧。
Let's talk about it when he comes back. 

Posted on: Amusement Park
August 6, 2009 at 3:11 AM

Hi zhenlijiang

正像你上传的图像那样，《花屋敷》过山车轨道就挨着房屋，所以车辆飞速下滑一定会让你感到飞机在香港国际机场着陆时一样的恐怖。二十年前，我为了保持父亲的威严不得已和孩子一起做过山车，但是因为现在我的两个孩子都已经成年了，谢天谢地，我再也不需要冒着生命危险坐过山车！Cassie刚才发的帖子你看了吗？

Posted on: Amusement Park
August 6, 2009 at 2:35 AM

Hi cassielin

Maybe the passengers have to pay "extra fares"!

Posted on: Amusement Park
August 6, 2009 at 2:00 AM

Hi frosty1

I guess that 雲霄飛車 (云霄飞车) might be mainly used in Taiwan (or Hong Kong). Owing to a separation and some cultural differences between Taiwan and the PRC, both people sometimes use different words for the same thing, just like difference of vocaburary between British and American English. For example, "tube/subway" is called "地铁(地下铁道)" in the PRC, but "捷运" (jie2yun4) in Taiwan.

Posted on: Why Are You at Home?
August 6, 2009 at 1:16 AM

Hi carlos

You can 上/下 a lot of things in Chinese, for example,

上车，下车 car
上船，下船 boat, ship
上山，下山 mountain
上班，下班 office, work
上课，下课 class, school
上楼，下楼 floor
上床，下床 bed

Please be noted that 上床 usually means "make love" in China, hehe. You can say 上/下 高速公路 (expressway).

Posted on: "Thinking" in Chinese: 觉得 (juéde), 认为 (rènwéi) and 以为 (yǐwéi)
August 5, 2009 at 11:05 PM

Hi user5494

Almost! I think "我以为你已经走了 (yi3jing zou3le)，但是你还在这里。" should be better than that. FYI, "I thought you had been to China" is translated as "我以为你去过中国。"

Posted on: 疑病症
August 5, 2009 at 7:49 AM

Hi xiaophil

I can't think of a good translation (with 宁愿) for "Many Americans would rather have perfect white teeth than get thin." I don't think that using 宁愿 is semantically appropriate in this case, perhaps. Here is my try. I used the "与其～不如" structure instead of 宁愿.

许多美国人认为，与其拥有苗条的身材还不如拥有白洁的牙齿。

Anyway these kinds of structures (宁可，宁愿，与其，etc) are rather formal and not frequently used.

Posted on: The Dice Game
August 5, 2009 at 7:17 AM

Hi desluo929

Actually, both "tǎolun tǎolun" and "tǎolun taolun" are correct and incorrect. It's a little difficult to exactly show the tones of "讨论讨论" with Hanyu pinyin, but one thing I do know is that the second "tao lun" is usually pronounced more lightly (and less clearly in terms of tone) than the first one. Of course, it also depends on speaking speed.