User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Table for Three
December 7, 2008 at 1:45 PMHi hipposquirrel,
Looks like the difference between "大概" and "大约" is more difficult to explain than I thought, due to the fact I'm not so sure about their usages, hehe.
When they are used in the sense of "probably", I think they are interchangeable, just like "他大概是开会去了" and "他大约是开会去了". My hunch tells me that 大概 is more commonly used in conversation than 大约.
On the other hand, it's not so easy to use them properly, at least for me, when they mean "approximate/approximately" or "about". Let me show you some sample sentences.
(A) 我想买一台五千元左右的电脑。
(B) 我想买一台大约五千元的电脑。
(C) 我想买一台大概五千元的电脑。（？）
As far as I can see on the Internet, these three examples seem to be all OK, but I still don't like (C) version very much. Perhaps, native speakers might be more flexible in usaes than we learners thought. Please someone help!
Posted on: Table for Three
December 7, 2008 at 6:04 AMHi hipposquirrel,
If you want to say "about 一个小时", you should use "大约（da4 yue1）", but not 大概", like "大约一个小时".
Posted on: 长征
December 7, 2008 at 4:27 AMIn Chinese history, especially after the era of Tang dynasty (唐朝, 618-907), the official history book of a dynasty has been traditionally edited by the next dynasty that took over the previous one. In short, a victorious dynasty writes the authentic history book on a vanquished dynasty, and this automatically means that there are sometimes exaggerated, distorted or fabricated facts in those state-sponsored historiographies for the purpose of enhancing legitimacy of victors.
For example, 元史 (the history of Yuan dynasty) was written by 明朝 (Ming dynasy), and 明史 was by 清朝 (Qing dynasty), but interestingly, there is still no official history book of 清朝 in the PRC. I hear that it’s going to be probably published in several years. I understand the reason why it takes so long to write the history of 清朝. I guess that there are a lot of politically delicate issues in it, which need to be "favorably interpreted" for the PRC government.
P/S. Republic of China (Taiwan) already published 清史, but the PRC doesn’t authorize it.
P/S.2 Who will write the history of the CCP, haha?
Posted on: 长征
December 7, 2008 at 2:35 AM夸大事实就是胜利者的特权。
Posted on: Often: Using 常常，经常，通常 (chángcháng, jīngcháng, tōngcháng)
December 6, 2008 at 2:21 PMHi azerdocmom,
Your info about tonal neutralization is very intriguing. After reading your comment, I also found the same info on the Internet. I would like to know about 轻声 in southern dialects in mainland. Does anyone know about it?
Posted on: Often: Using 常常，经常，通常 (chángcháng, jīngcháng, tōngcháng)
December 6, 2008 at 1:36 PMHi calkins,
The tone of the last character in a frequently used word (in conversation) tends to become neutral to save energy, perhaps. I guess that "常常" is also a "frequently" used word.
Posted on: Table for Three
December 6, 2008 at 1:25 PMHi mikenotinjubei,
I don't know much about calligraphy, but they say that left-handedness is generally disadvantageous for traditional brush calligraphy from the standpoint of technique. As you know, Chinese characters are written on "top-to-bottom" and "left-to-right" basis.
Incidentally, when writing Chinese or Japanese vertically, you are supposed to write from right to left, but actually this is not so reasonable because wet ink possibly stain your right sleeve. Why is it so? The answer lies in scroll paper often used in ancient times.
Do you still remember the giant scroll appeared in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics? When you write something on scroll paper, you need to hold a brush with your right hand and open the scroll gradually with your left hand, which is the reason you have to write from right to left.
Posted on: Table for Three
December 6, 2008 at 2:37 AMHi ababardwan,
It's a good question. The answer is NO. In Chinese, 左 usually comes first, such as 左膀右臂，左顾右盼，左邻右舍，左右逢源，左右开弓，左右手，左右为难，左支右绌.
The logic behind it is simple. In China, especially after the era of Tang dynasty (唐朝), 左 （left) has been considered "superior" to 右 (right), probably because of 阴阳思想 (Yin Yang theory) where 左 represents 阳, and 右 represents 阴, or because your heart is located on the left side of the body.
The same goes in Japan. In ancient Japan, there were two important posts in the government, 左大臣 （left mister） and 右大臣 (right minister), and of course, 左大臣 was higher in rank than 右大臣. 左大臣 usually stood/sat on the emperor's left.
Posted on: Borrowing Money
December 8, 2008 at 3:56 AMHi Chinesepod,
I have a question. Who usually translate sample Chinese sentences in the expansion into English? Native English speakers, or local Chinese staff? If the latter, are those examples proofread by natives before uploading? Thanks.