User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: 中国鬼节
August 7, 2008 at 2:25 AM日本”正宗传统”的幽灵具有一个特征。日本的鬼一般没有腿，身子悬空不落地。它们很喜欢晚上出现在柳树下，但是我不知道为什么是柳树。不管怎么样，因为这个事情，日本有如下一个陈腐的老玩笑, “哎哟，兄弟！好久没见你了，你还活着呢!”, ”别废话了，你好好儿看，我有两只腿啊!” 如果你在日本不幸遇到幽灵的话，就仔细观察它们的下半身吧，很可能没有腿。
Posted on: 中国鬼节
August 6, 2008 at 8:55 AM“鬼”这个字挺有意思。这个汉字的本义是指人死后的灵魂，在当代汉语中”鬼”的最主要意思也是幽灵，所以包含”鬼”字的词语自然就有负面的意思。比如说，鬼话，鬼混，鬼怪，鬼把戏，鬼主意，鬼天气，酒鬼，烟鬼，胆小鬼，讨厌鬼，吝啬鬼等等，都是贬义词。我一看”酒鬼”就感到十分内疚！
尤其最具有典型性和代表性的好像是”鬼子”，就是一个老外非知不可的常用关键词。”鬼子”是过去对中国侵略的外国人的憎称。这个词分为两种，洋鬼子和日本鬼子。前者指的是西方侵略者，后者当然意味着日本侵略者。你在中国看所谓”爱国抗日电影”的时候经常听到”日本鬼子”这个骂人词语。
另一方面，有些与”鬼”相关的词语并不带有贬义，却属于褒义词，如鬼才，鬼工，鬼头，鬼道等等，都含有机灵或者奇才异能的意思。其中鬼头和鬼道专门用于形容聪明的小孩儿，小鬼也是个对小孩子的亲昵称呼。过去有一部美国喜剧电影叫做”小鬼当家”。大家猜一猜，其英文原名到底是什么？
Posted on: 汉语大赛
August 6, 2008 at 6:07 AMHi henning,
I got it. It's just hilarious. Etymologically speaking, I guess that it might have something to do with the name of my country, hehe. Anyway, I hope that the new definition will not be shown in dictionaries in the future.
Posted on: 汉语大赛
August 6, 2008 at 5:42 AMHi henning,
Sorry, I can't get the point of your post well. What do "这种帖子", "这种粗俗的字" and "this character" in your comment refer to? Are there something wrong or nasty in the 优酷 video? Thanks.
Posted on: Sales Call
August 5, 2008 at 8:24 AM小姐，请问，你的手机号码是多少？
xiao3 jie3, qing3 wen4
ni3 de shou3 ji1 hao4 ma3 shi4 duo1 shao3
Young lady, may I have your cell phone number, please?
Posted on: Getting Internet at your Apartment
August 5, 2008 at 7:31 AM中国因特网除了速度缓慢，频频断线，网站封杀等问题以外，还存在着另一个严重缺陷，就是垃圾信息非常多！比如说，我每次在网上查航班列车时刻表的时候都感到很气愤又很无奈，因为我经常发现在百度谷歌第一页显示的都是垃圾网页，有的时刻表好几个月没有更新，甚至有的是几年前上传的”古董时刻表”，我想说我不是个考古队员！其实在中国网上查到最新可靠的信息真的不容易，查起来相当费劲。与此相反，乱七八糟没用的博客和论坛层出不穷，特别是过期的商业和出行信息不计其数，真是头疼！看样子在网上没有人打扫卫生，可能只有政府派遣的网络警察和监控员。
Posted on: 汉语大赛
August 5, 2008 at 3:23 AMHi shalmaneser,
谢谢你的回信。虽然有点不好意思说，但是我还以为你所用的”歧视”这个词不太恰当。黑人亚洲人在美国的情况和西方人在亚洲国家的情况还是不一样。从我的眼中看在华老外开心果，他们并不是只会唱歌跳舞的一般猴子，而是会说流利汉语的国家一级保护动物大熊猫。
众所周知，国宝大熊猫因为既可爱又稀少而很受百姓欢迎。我知道不少亚洲民众可能会用好奇的眼光看西方演员，但是最起码亚洲百姓一般不把西方人看做歧视的对象。所以用不着担心，你也踊跃参加汉语桥比赛吧！老外”大熊猫”不仅能吸引许多人的眼球，还会挣一笔钱啊！
Posted on: 汉语大赛
August 4, 2008 at 12:50 AMHi shalmaneser,
我看你的想法太认真了！其实事情很简单。
百姓需要开心果，老外也想要出名，就是那么回事儿。
Posted on: War Zone
August 3, 2008 at 3:30 AMHi inland,
To memorize 500 characters, as a first step, is a very good idea. You can also learn the meanings of most radicals while studying those basic characters, which enables you to effectively look up a Chinese dictionary. There are about 200 radicals, and they are very important and helpful when you guess the meaning of a character that you don’t know. They are just like prefixes and suffixes of English words, which are originated in Latin and Greek.
As for etymology, let me just say that it is not a main dish, but a very tasty dessert (or spice?). I recommend you look into it only when you have interest and room for “dessert.” Please be noted that there are often a few etymologies for one character, and some of them are rather forced (牵强附会, qian1 qiang2 fu4 hui4) or just an afterthought, although they are seemingly very plausible. Conversely, it’s up to you to select your favorite (or right) one.
An etymological approach is not necessarily an effective and efficient way to learn Chinese characters. On the contrary, it’s sometimes very inefficient. But inefficiency, or a roundabout way, often makes things interesting. Actually, I also don’t know much about etymologies. I have neither enough time nor an intention to look into every character. And that is just why I thank your post that triggered my interest in the character “冲” this time.
Good luck!
Posted on: Getting Internet at your Apartment
August 7, 2008 at 3:44 AM差别 (cha1 bie2)
差异 (cha1 yi4)
差不多 (cha4 bu duo1)
差不了 (cha4 bu liao)