User Comments - changye

Posted on: 日本人的起源

Hi tvan,

As for "大陆", I think that “大陆 vs 台湾” would be much more acceptable politically to the people in the PRC than “中国 vs 台湾” is, because the latter one seems to imply bluntly that they are two different states. I’m sure that, in this sense, most Taiwan people would prefer the “中国 vs 台湾” combination.

They say that “大陆” and “大陆人” carry a little negative connotation when they are used by people in Hong Kong or Taiwan, and therefore they, especially in Hong Kong, recently favor using “内地人” instead of “大陆人”. Some people in the PRC might hate using “大陆人” due to its negative implication.

Posted on: Seoul

Hi hwangd01,

You have no need to change “Cairo” to "al-Qahira" at all. The how-to- pronounce-北京 problem is peculiar to East Asian countries, where person/place names are (or can be) written in Chinese characters. Conversely speaking, the use of Chinese characters causes this kind of problem. The issue is basically different from ones such as “Beijing/Peking” or “Cairo/al-Qahira” arguments.

It would take the media, en masse, to started publishing 베이징 for this new appellation to catch on.

I must agree with you. Actually, the same thing has been happening in Japan, and the problem is more complicated in Japan, where 汉字 is still in use, than in Korea. For example, 胡锦涛 (hu2 jin3tao1) is recently called “フーチンタオ (hu chin-tao)” based on its native pronunciation in Japanese newspapers and news shows, while some people prefer to use its Japanese reading, i.e. “コキントウ” (ko kin-tou).

I personally favor using Japanese readings of Chinese characters, because it’s the easiest way for ordinary Japanese people to read/memorize Chinese names. As you know, Chinese people also pronounce Japanese names based on their own readings of 汉字, which I think is a very rational way. You don’t need to stick to “native pronunciations”. Anyway, it’s impossible to exactly transliterate original sounds.

For the record, Google hit humbers for 北京 and 上海 are as follows,

베이징 (be-i-jing)......1,380,000
북경 (buk-gyeong).....1,330,000

상하이 (sang-ha-i).....3,190,000
상해 (sang-hae)........7,440,000

I imagine that the use of 베이징 (be-i-jing) is on the increase probably partly because of the Beijing Olympics. As for 上海, 상해 (sang-hae), the reading based on Korean readings of Chinese characters, still has an upper hand at present, but I guess that 상하이 (sang-ha-i) would probably catch up with 상해 in the near future, just like 베이징 (be-i-jing). Thankfully, 上海EXPO is on the horizon!

Posted on: 日本人的起源

Hi tvan,

There was the dynasty called “朝鲜王朝” (Joseon dynasty, 1392-1910), and the ancient kingdom governed the Korean Peninsula for more than six hundred years. During the period, 朝鲜-related names, such as 朝鲜半岛, 朝鲜语, and 朝鲜人, took root deeply in neighboring countries.

Actually, “朝鲜” is a word that has a very long history. There were ancient dynasties named “箕子朝鲜” (1122 B.C.? – 194 B.C.) and “卫满朝鲜” (195 B.C. – 108 A.D.) in the Korean Peninsula more than two thousand years ago, although very little is known about the two ancient dynasties.

As you pointed out, the two countries, China and Japan, often agree on historical issues, contrary to all expectations, although they are limited to ancient history! I hear that Korean historians tend to have perspectives slightly different from those of Chinese/Japanese historians.

For example, not a few Chinese and Japanese scholars believe that Japan had a political/military influence in the southern Korean Peninsula around the 5th – 6th century, based on the descriptions in ancient history books in China, but Korean historians usually don’t buy this theory.

Posted on: Buying a Plasma TV

Hi su1xiao3ya3,

There is another option for you,

我新买的液晶电视放在那儿了。

Posted on: Seoul

Hi hwangd01,

Thanks for your invitation, haha! I understand why modern South Korean prefer, e.g. 베이징 (Be-i-jing， 北京) to 북경 (Bukgyeong, 北京).The reason is simple. Korean people usually don’t use Chinese characters anymore, so they’ve already given up the idea to transliterate Chinese/Japanese names based on the sounds of 汉字, which consequently led to the invention of transliterations based on local pronunciations.

I guess that perhaps the same holds for North Korea, which completely abandoned using Chinese characters long before South Korea started the same movement in 1970s. On the other hand, Korean-Chinese, who mainly live in northeast China, still pronounce Chinese/Japanese names basically based on the sounds of 汉字, because, of course, they can read Chinese characters, unlike South/North Korean people. 

Posted on: 日本人的起源

Hi tvan,

Names written in Chinese characters sometimes become an issue especially in East Asian countries, i.e. China, Korea, and Japan. The latest one is the “Seoul/汉城/首尔” controversy happened a few years ago. You would find a detailed discussion on this issue in the thread of an elementary lesson “Seoul”.

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/seoul/discussion

There is also an intriguing problem on names, i.e. Korea/朝鲜/韩国, among East Asian countries, which is similar to the “中国/支那” issue. Actually, the “朝鲜/韩国” issue is far more complicated than “中国/支那” one. It’s a very interesting argument historically, politically and emotionally.

For example, there are two kinds of term that indicate “the Korean language” in China and Japan, namely 朝鲜语/韩国语, and both of them are commonly used. Furthermore, people in ROK call the Korean Peninsula “韩半岛”, but it’s exclusively called “朝鲜半岛” in China, North Korea and Japan.

Good or bad, derogatory words exist, and in a sense, they are both inevitable and indispensable in human societies.

Even the PRC, an autocratic state that is extraordinarily skilled in undermining freedom of speech, cannot eliminate outright (and traditional) derogatory terms such as 小日本 (Japan), 日本鬼子 (Japanese), 洋鬼子 (westerners), and 高丽棒子 (Korean), let alone Japan and other democracies!

Posted on: When 比较 (bǐjiào) becomes 更 (gèng)

Hi excalibur,

比 and 比较 are different two words. In the sentence “你比我认识的时候更漂亮”, 比 functions as the English word "than".

Posted on: When 比较 (bǐjiào) becomes 更 (gèng)

Hi architpol,

In addition to xuchen's advice, there is another option. Chinesepod的课我都喜欢。

Posted on: Afraid of Dogs

Hi penhuizc,

In that sense, my chubby dog is also a fencejumper, but I'm afraid that she is too fat to jump a fence, hehe. As for "shiba-inu mix", just saying "混种柴犬" would be OK. Probably my chubby dog is not a 纯种西施犬, but a 混种西施犬！

Posted on: Afraid of Dogs

Hi penhuizc,

柴犬 is much more commonly used on the Internet than 西巴犬 is. I don't think the transliteration "西巴" is good because it doesn't sound "Japanese", but sounds somewhat "Brazilian" (巴西), haha！

A mixed-breed dog is "混种狗/混种犬" in Chinese, and the latter is more formal than the former. A purebred dog is "纯种狗/纯种犬". My chubby dog is "self-proclaimed" 纯种狮子狗 (西施犬, Shih-tzu), but I doubt it.

Your lovely dog is "柴犬和fencejumper的混种狗" or "柴犬与fencejumber的混种犬". I don't know what a fencejumper is like. What kind of dog is that? Incidentally, Japanese people love 柴犬. They are really lovely.

P/S. Be careful not to use "杂种狗", since 杂种 usually means "bastard", a curse word, in Chinese.