User Comments - changye

Posted on: 还是 háishi OR 或者 huòzhě

Hi kangleilei,

is it normal to respond to a haishi question by saying "no"?  If I ask somebody a favor, and I say, can you give me a cigarette 还是 some rolling tobacco

I think, in this case, you can say "你可以给我A或者B?" or "你可不可以给我A或者B？", and its answers should be "可以" or "不可以". If you want to be more specific, you might say "可以，我给你A" or something like that.

If you ask a question like "你给我A还是B？", its answers would be "我给你A" or "我给你B". Of course, you can just say, for example, "两个都不给！" according to the circumstances, hehe.

P/S. To tell you the truth, I'm not so sure about my explanation on 或者 anymore after reading zyfjcty's advice, but at least it's very interesting to look into the usages of 或者. I thank you for raising such an intriguing question!

Guys, your opinions, please.

Posted on: 还是 háishi OR 或者 huòzhě

Hi zyfjcty,

Thanks again for your quick response. Actually, the examples (A) ～ (D) are from『现代汉语疑问句研究』(邵敬敏1996) and 『现代汉语复句句式研究』(徐阳春2002). The authors say that (C) and (D) are quotes from 李志伟《与星星有约》and 叶圣陶《潘先生在难中》respectively, which are somewhat formal sentences.

Actually, the examples (1)～(4) in my first comment are simplified (and conversational) versions of (A)～(D), which is the reason why I thought they would be also natural and grammatically OK in Chinese. Probably my self-made examples are not well-modified, hehe. I found the example (5) on the Internet.

P/S. Furthermore, there are typos in the example (4), sorry!

Posted on: DVDs and the Mao Suit

Hi henning,

Have you ever seen Star Wars dubbed in Russian and subtitled in Chinese? Here in China, unfortunately, I happened to get one before. It's rather hard to believe it's an American movie, which should be titled Star Wars The Communist State Strikes Back !

Posted on: 还是 háishi OR 或者 huòzhě

Hi zyfjcty

Thank you very much for the precious advice! I agree with you that 或者 is not frequently used in interrogative sentences.

Furthermore, probably “或者” is a somewhat formal word, which doesn’t often appear in everyday conversation, anyway.

Now, would you give me further advice? How about the following examples? Do they also sound unnatural (别扭) to natives? Thanks.

(A) 难道可以当着外人的面责备丈夫，或者演戏?
(B) 你们是不是正在举行营火晚会，或者化装舞会？
(C) 一个女孩子，怎么不喜欢逛街吃零食，或者看看言情小说呢？
(D) 又时时停语侧耳，惶惶地听外边有没有枪声或人众的喧哗。

Posted on: 还是 háishi OR 或者 huòzhě

Hi kangleilei,

Where can I find wine or beer?

I would just say, “葡萄酒，啤酒什么的在哪卖？” or “～在哪能买到？” I don’t think that you can use “还是/或者” in this case, because these words basically connote “selection/choice/alternative”, but your example sentence is not an alternative question, of which emphasis is placed on “where”, not on kinds of beverages.

The usage of “或者” is tricky. You are generally supposed to use “还是” in interrogative sentences, and “或者” in affirmative/negative ones, but actually “或者” is sometimes used, in combination with an interrogative, in questions or ironic expressions. In short, “或者” itself doesn’t have an interrogative function, but "还是" has.

(1) 难道可以欺负民工，或者嘲笑？
(2) 他是不是美国人，或者是法国人？
(3) 一个孩子，怎么不喜欢看动画片，或者看漫画书呢？
(4) 你去看看外边有没有马或者牛？
(5) 北京或者上海，哪家医院最好？

In these example sentences, emphasis is put on interrogative words, such as “难道” and “是不是” , but not on “A或者B”. For instance, in the example (4), the speaker wants to know if there are some animals outside, but doesn’t show much interest in the kind of animals. If the speaker wants to know whether it’s a horse or a cow, he would say “你去看看，外边有马还是有牛？”

I look forward to other guy's opinions.

Posted on: 鲁迅

我今年要读语言学。
我今年要读语言学专业。
我打算今年读语言学。
我打算今年读语言学专业。

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Beijing

Hi hwangd01,

Thanks a lot for your quick reply. According to the article on 짜장면 in Wiki (Korean), Korean people sometimes add vinegar when eating 炸酱面 (really?), which might be the reason why it is 酢醤麺 in Korean.

If so, "酢醤麺" should be pronounced "초장면" theoretically, but not "작장면" (sorry, correction). "酢" is one of the few multi-reading Chinese characters in Korean, which has two sounds, 초 (vinegar) and 작 (have a drink together).

P/S. Haha, your face is placed not only over Dokto (Takeshima), but also over Donghae (The Sea of Japan). Don't worry, I don't mind that!

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Beijing

Hi hwangd01,

At first I thought 짜장면 (or 자장면) would be 炸酱麺(面) in Chinese characters, but it is 酢醤麺(面) according to my Korean dictionaries. Exactly speaking, 酢醤麺 is “작장면” in Korean characters, but strangely it is actually pronounced as “짜장면” in modern Korean. Probably the sound has been already localized to make it easy to pronounce.

P/S.1: 한국식중화요리 = 韩国式中华料理

P/S.2: That’s a nice avatar. I can see 高句丽，百济，新罗，and 加罗 (伽耶) in the map. I guess it’s the ancient Korean Peninsula around the 5th century, when 高句丽 had the largest territory.

Posted on: DVDs and the Mao Suit

Hi hitokiri,

Let me just copy and paste info from 百度百科.

孙中山，原名孙文,  幼名帝象，学名文，字德明，号日新，后改号逸仙，旅居日本时曾化名中山樵，“中山”因而得名. 1912年民国成立之后，孙氏本人于所有公私档案均以“孙文”署名。

Gee, I only have one name. How many names do you have?  Looks like that Sun Yat-sen regarded "孙文" as his official name at least after 1912.

Posted on: DVDs and the Mao Suit

Hi 陈博士

Thanks for your supplement. Interestingly and ironically, Japanese people usually use "孙文" when mentioning Sun Yat-sen， not "孙中山", and on the other hand, Chinese people commonly refer to him as "孙中山". I suspect a lot of Chinese people believe that "孙中山" was named after "中山县"!! Actually, it's the other way around as you said above.