User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 2: Pregnancy House Ar-rest
January 31, 2009 at 4:55 AMHi tvan,
The basic meanning of 团团转 is "run around a circle", so it has a derived meaning "as busy as a bee". And it sometimes connotes "anxiously" in a certain context as miantiao said.
Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Hunan
January 31, 2009 at 1:51 AMHi stanimal,
The 微 (slightly, mildly) in 微辣 (or 微甜，微小，微暗) is an adverb. This usage is somewhat formal, so people usually use "稍微" (shao1 wei1) or 有点 (you3 dian3) to mean "a little, slightly".
Please be noted that 有点 (or 有点儿) is often used when you feel dissatisfied about something. So 稍微热 is basically neutral, but 有点(儿)热 (a little too hot) connotes negatively.
Posted on: New Clothes
January 31, 2009 at 12:58 AMHi evasiege,
Both 还是 and 还 are also used as "still", and it's a primary definition of these words.
Posted on: Birth by Chinese Zodiac
January 30, 2009 at 1:08 PMHi chanelle77,
Did you enjoy staying in Japan? I'm sure that 鎌倉大仏 (Kamakura Daibutsu) gave you a big welcome there!
Posted on: All About 所有 (suǒyǒu) and 都 (dōu)
January 30, 2009 at 12:33 PMHi dubb,
You have several ways to express "future" in Chinese, and the most certain way would be to use some words that clearly means "future", such as 明天，后天，下周，下个月，明年，以后，将来 and so on.
Posted on: Birth by Chinese Zodiac
January 30, 2009 at 12:00 PMHi zhenlijiang,
I understand how your Chinese teacher feels about Japanese. Modern Japanese language still preserves not only ancient readings and meanings of Chinese characters, but also archaic Chinese words and phrases that are only used in formal Chinese writings today.
For example, 今日/昨日, both are frequently used in Japan, are also used in China, but they are rather formal words in modern Chinese. Chinese people commonly use 今天/昨天 instead of them. Conversely speaking, serious Chinese writings are not necessarily very difficult for Japanese people to read.
The same goes for some sayings. "羹に懲りて膾を吹く" is occasionaly heard in Japan, but its counterpart chengyu "惩羹吹齑" is rarely used in modern Chinese. Another good example is "龙头蛇尾" in Japanese. Chinese people usually use "虎头蛇尾", which is the newer version of 龙头蛇尾. In short, the 龙头-version is already "out of date" in China.
As you know, ancient Japanese inteligencia absorbed Chinese culture mainly through books, dictionaries and Buddhist scriptures, which means that our ancients primarily learned written Chinese words. And those words have survived over more than thousand years and are still used in modern Japanese.
哎呀，没完没了，今天到此为止了！
Posted on: Birth by Chinese Zodiac
January 30, 2009 at 10:39 AMHi zhenlijiang,
一休さん (Ikkyu-san) is very popular among Chinese children, too. It's called "聪明的一休" in Chinese. The pre-modern reading of 作麼生 was something like "tso-mo-shan", and therefore its Japanese transliteration そもさん (so-mo-san) really makes phonetic sense.
Your comment reminded me of a word "なむさん" (na-mu-san, 南無三) used in the theme song rylics of the Japanese anime. 広辞苑 says it also ogirinated in a Chinese buddhist term "南無三宝", but とんちんかん seems to be a made-in-Japan word, unfortunately (?).
Come to think of it, Japanese 国語辞典 is a rather "unique" dictionary. Frustratingly (especially for foreing learners of Japanese), you can't look up a word without knowing how to read it beforehand. If you don't know it, you have to go get a Kanji dictionary (漢和辞典).....gee.
Posted on: New Year's Cash
January 30, 2009 at 7:30 AMLet me give a supplemental explanation about 压岁钱 from 百度百科. The goblin the mother mentioned in the dialogue was called "祟" (sui4), and "祟" has the same sound (谐音) as "岁" (sui4, age, year).
And, 压 (ya1) connotes "repress" in Chinese, so 压岁(= 祟)钱 means "压抑邪祟(= 岁)的钱" (the money for repressing an evil goblin). By the same token, you can also use the word "押岁钱" instead of 压岁钱.
In the case a younger guy gives an elderly person 压岁钱, the word is literally interpreted, "the money for compressing age (= become younger)". In other words, it's 祝你健康长寿. Please give me 压岁钱！
Posted on: New Year's Cash
January 30, 2009 at 6:56 AM我老觉得，中国小孩儿真能说话！
Posted on: Birth by Chinese Zodiac
January 31, 2009 at 5:09 AMHi chenelle77,
I'm please to hear you've enjoyed your trip to Japan. Yeah, your are very right, Japan is very different from China in many ways, and difference makes things even more interesting!