User Comments - changye

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Sichuan

A recurring topic among foreign people in China, 麻辣汤 (tang1) vs 麻辣烫(tang4). Here is an excellent article about it by John.

http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2007/12/16/filthy-delicious

Posted on: Good Morning!

Hi calkin,

I hear that “你好” was “officially” adopted as a greeting after the middle of twentieth century, because there wasn’t a Chinese greeting exactly equal to “How are you?” in English until then.

At first, 你好 was a little awkward greeting used mainly when Chinese met foreign people, which is the reason why this famous phrase is not so frequently used among natives even now.

And I guess that the same can be said for 早安 and 晚安, which I think were probably introduced as counterparts of “Good morning” and “Good night” relatively recently. Just a wild guess.   

Posted on: Measure Words for Counting People

Hi light487,

Dependents are translated as 受抚养人 or 抚养家属 in Chinese. In the history of China, "吃饭的问题" (food problem) has always been very important, so it's understandable why they selected 口 (a mouth) as a measure word for family members.

The measure word 口 is usually not used for people other than family members, but one of my dictionaries says that it is also sometimes used when talking about the population of a village （a kind of a large family?）, just like 这个村子有多少口人？

Posted on: 日本人的起源

Genetically, culturally, and linguistically speaking, Japan is a crossbred country. You can find many kinds of elements, from north, south, east and west, in Japanese people, culture and language, mainly because the Japanese archipelago is located at the far east side of the Eurasian continent.

In a sense, Japan is a kind of a terminal station, or a terminal treatment plant (?) of people and culture. My chubby dog, a Shi-Tzu-hybrid dog, often tells me that a mixed-breed dog is generally healthy and intelligent. Let’s just hope so. I believe that you love TOYOTA hybrid cars, at least.

Posted on: Ping Pong Nation

Hi auntie68,

In Japanese, 凹凸 is called "でこ(凸)ぼこ(凹)".

Posted on: 日本人的起源

因为今天是星期一，我在办公室比较忙，而且刚才我总算写好了一条关于量词的帖子，所以我还没把今天的课听完呢。日本人和日本文化的起源，其实这个题目对我们日本人来讲并不是个敏感的话题。日本人对于所谓起源问题的态度比较开放，反过来说，日本人早就想开了！我有时开玩笑这么说, ”反正什么都是从中国来的吧!”

大多数日本人都知道自己传统文化的大部分主要是从中国朝鲜传来的，有的日本学者甚至说日本天皇的祖先也从朝鲜半岛迁移来的。但是很多日本人却欢迎这种话题，很喜欢看有关古代文化传播的历史书和电视节目，可一点委屈的感觉也没有。日本人基本上都珍惜舶来的东西，中国也有一个俗话”远来的和尚好念经”，对不对？

说实话，我们日本人对自己传统文化和社会比较有自信和自豪感，所以对这种文化民族起源问题却很恬淡。换句话说，没有自信的人或者国家更拘泥于自己文化的起源或者正统性，并且总是说”这个东西原来是我们的祖先发明的，那个东西其实是起源于我们国家的”。那么，我下班回家后慢慢学习课文吧。大家，不用客气了！再见！

Posted on: Measure Words for Counting People

Hi xiaoanolga,

As you said, the number of measure words used in classical Chinese is very small. You can say that 文言 is far more word-saving than modern Chinese.

Let me show you some important 量词 seen in 文言. Interestingly, a measure word was sometimes placed after a noun, like 马三匹, in classical Chinese.

乘 (sheng4, coach, horse, boat), 辆 (coach), 个 (arrow), 根 (plants and trees), 次 (times), 度 (times), 匹 (horse, a roll of cloth), 本 (root of plants, book), 下 (action), 件 (matters), 条 (law, rule)

On the other hand, measure words are, of course, more frequently used in 白话 or conversational old Chinese than in 文言.

In 老乞大, a series of textbooks for Chinese conversation published in Korea during the 14th ～ 18th century, there are some measure words often used such as 一个人，三个人，一碗饭，一条路, 一件～ and so on.

I can also see some measure words used frequently in some 白话文 edited after 元朝 (13th century), such as 个 (person) and 下 (action). I’m sorry that it’s just a very simple (and inexact) overview.

Posted on: Measure Words for Counting People

sorry, I posted the same comment twice, so let me delete this. tks.

Posted on: Measure Words for Counting People

Hi sirup,

Chinese measure words for livestock are generally determined not based on their overall size, but based on characteristic parts of their bodies, in other words, which part of the body you pay most attention to when you count the number of pigs, cows, horses, sheep and etc.

And that is just why 头 (a head), the most noticeable part of the body, is generally used as a measure word for animals. Naturally, some people look at other part when counting, for example, 口 (mouth) is used for a pig (一口猪) probably because a pig eats much (?)….hehe.

As for a horse, its authentic measure word is 匹 (pi3), not 头 (tou2). The character 匹 originally meant “a pair”, and some scholars say it indicates a pair of large buttocks of a horse. Maybe, the buttocks of a horse are more noticeable to Chinese people than the head.

By the same token, 一条牛，一条狗，一条驴 (donkey) are also right words to refer to those livestock. They all have a thin and long tail, and Chinese people selected 一条尾巴 as a measure word, but I don’t know why they are not 一尾牛/一尾狗/一尾驴, but 一条牛/一条狗/一条驴. 

一只鸟 (a bird) is an interesting word. The traditional form of 只 is 隻, and its etymology is “a bird (隹) on a right hand (又)”, which consequently became a measure word for a bird and small animals, such as a dog, a rabbit, and a cat. You can say both 一头羊 and 一只羊 (sheep).

Actually, 头 connotes a big body, and 条 a thin and long body , but the size of a body is not essential for measure words for livestock, although it’s an important factor. 量词 are rather confusing even for native speakers, which is why you often see 约定俗成 in modern Chinese.

By the way, there is the word 一条好汉 (a nice male guy) in Chinese. I always think it’s a very intriguing expression. Why do they use 条 for a man? Is it because a man is tall? Does it indicate 一条辫子 (a braid) that was popular in 清朝, or a genital organ？Just joking!

P/S. My chubby dog always wags its long tail pleasantly when I get home, which is one of the most attractive features of her, as well as her big eyes.

Posted on: Measure Words for Counting People

Hi sirup,

In the case of 狗 and 牛, the measure word "条" is used because their tails are thin and long in general. You can say 一条牛 even though 牛 doesn't have a long body.